email from Alison September 22, 2009 7:44:48 PM PDT:
Eric and I are packing for our 6 day train trip to northwestern China. We’ve heard from fellow travelers we’ve met (who have loved the trip) that internet connectivity does not exist where we are traveling, and even cell phone is iff-y. So we will not be sending or receiving email from today through Tues. Sept 29.
We fly home from Shanghai to Boston on Wed. Oct. 1. We’ll be back in touch then.
Just wanted to let you know, if you wondered why blog posts and e-communications have stopped.
Brian, we’re thinking of you as you make your way across one continent, and we cross another.
We’re really enjoying the trip. Eric Lee is just off to Beijing, so we parted ways and we subway to the train this afternoon. 2300 mile train journey west.
That’s it for now.
Text message from Eric Wed Sep 23 4:18pm:
Good morning. We just woke up somewhere in Henan province & I am about 2 eat a bowl of inst noodle soup. It is very cloudy. –er
Wed Sep 23 8:03pm
About 2 x into Shaanxi province. Beautiful hills. We’re supposed 2 b in Xi’an at 12:15pm.
Thu Sep 24 1:36am
Just entered Gansu province; the mountains and valleys are spectacular.
[Editors note: Gansu is a long California-sized province that separates Mongolia (on the east) from Xinjiang. We entered Gansu at the southern edge and traveled 3/4 of the way north which took us 18 hours of continuous train travel, mostly overnight. That is why our communication ends here — we didn’t try to TXT until the next morning, by which time we had entered the “communications bubble” of Xinjiang where mobile phones could only communicate with others inside the province, but not outside the bubble.]
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