She took the midnight train going anywhere

Well, not really. The train left during the day and was actually headed to Shijiazhuang. The train also marked the end of my ridiculous summer travels, but not the end of my summer fun. Since Tibet had been ruled out Jon and I decided to head home, but there aren't any trains back to Handan from Chengdu so we had to ride to the Shiz and then make the trip from the Shiz to Handan.

For 22 hours I watched China fly by my train window, listened to my summer mix on my mp3 player, read "Eat, Pray, Love" and reminisced about all the things I had experienced during the month of July.

I learned how much it can suck to burn the tops of your knees while riding a camel through the desert.

I learned that you should never say you are an experienced rider when you've never really been on a horse before.

I learned Mongolian cheese is awful and tastes nothing like cheese.

I learned that apparently there is some sort of radar on me that makes people think it would be fun to steal my things.

I learned that it really is a beautiful world that we are living in and occasionally we need to slow down long enough to soak it all in and appreciate it.

I learned that it is much easier to climb up steep rocks than it is to climb down and I should probably just avoid both in the future.

I learned that people are weird, crazy and fantastic all at once and I love meeting new ones.

I learned that I love old cities just as much as modern ones, but for very different reasons and that I can only visit old cities and need to actually live in those modern ones.

I learned that pandas are more fantastic in person than in movies and that holding them is really like cuddling a teddy bear.

I learned that everything in life is what you make of it and you have to create your own adventures from time to time.

I learned that you have to go with the flow and not be afraid to change your plans, that life comes at you fast and you can't set everything in stone because you never know what can come your way.

I learned that those unexpected changes can bring great new things your way and that I will always be up to the adventure.

All in all it was fantastic and for those of you who weren't counting I spent a grand total of 160 hours on trains, planes, vans and buses during my travels.