No school today! I got up at 6:30 and struggled for a long time with my computer. The internet here at the Happy Hotel is very sketchy……Skype access goes in and out, I have and then don’t have Internet access. Finally Melody, our 18-year-old videographer was able to change some settings on my computer and I had access again, but it went back out later in the afternoon. So glad we had much more reliable access during the past month. I know have a pile of blogs ready to post, but haven’t been able to upload. Hopefully will catch those all up in the next day or so.
This morning, seven of us went on a small boat ride on the Li River. Three on one boat, four on the other with a driver and a motor on each. We had a lovely about hour and a half ride upstream, looking at all of the lovely scenery along with way.
The shores are covered with giant bamboo and the karst mountain formations surrounded us the whole time. The riverboat traffic was less scenic, however, with there never being a time that we weren’t’ surrounded by these little boats or larger double decker ones with a hundred+ people on board. It was lovely to see this great landscape. This was one of Dick’s favorite things when he was in China in the 1980’s, and we have a framed print for this area hanging in our family room. So it was so special to be actually on this famous river. Our other boat with the younger travelers had a lot of water fights with other boats. It was really quite fun.
We stopped for a snack and then I was THRILLED to find that there was another of the stands that let you try on traditional costumes and take photos.
These clothes are worn by the people from Inner Mongolia (I know, you are thinking, I thought it was Outer Mongolia…but to have an Outer, you must have an inner.) You may say, didn’t you do that yesterday and a week or so ago? Yes I did, and it was just as fun this time. Don’t we look lovely?
Then we had a little snack. I had a patty of sweet potato fried and on a stick. Delicious!
Then back down stream with the current for another half hour. The time went quite quickly. The van ride from our hotel and back was rather hair-raising. We heard from our young Chinese staff person who was along that there are no rules for driving on the roads in the countryside, you can drive on whatever side of the street you want and pass whenever and however you wish. It sure feels like it, with many near misses and white knuckled turns! Yipes!
The afternoon brought Jenny and I a nearly 4-hour nap. Things have finally caught up with us and slowed down enough that we rested. Up at 5:00 pm and out for dinner and more shopping.There are so many fabulous and wonderful stores, it is hard to stop, and the prices are so cheap that it just seems like you need to buy two of many things. Getting it all home still is feeling like a challenge!
We heard that some restaurants in China are now hiring white people to sit in the front of their restaurant and eat so that other white people will know it is a good place to go eat. We thought that this may be a new career move for Jenny and me.
To bed and downloading photos. Tomorrow is our last day here and then back on a flight to Shenzhen. Time flies!
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