Yangshuo

Whether or not you know it, you've probably seen Yangshuo. It's legendary mountains are in every chinese scroll painting. What you don't know and will find out when you get here is that the ATM machine is next door to the KFC.

Yangshuo started out as an impoverished fishing village, that is, until the tourists came. Famished, I walked out of our hotel room this morning in search of a hearty breakfast and stumbled upon a cute little place two doors down called "7th Heaven." I had the 7th Heaven breakfast, which included fresh squeezed orange juice, loose leaf green tea, fried eggs, toast, and banana pancakes. The cafe across the street offered cappuccino and baguette sandwiches.

Our hotel is gorgeous, with beautiful cherry wood panels and an open landscaped courtyard. My room overlooks brick walls on both sides...lovely. I woke up to the sound of rain this morning. We were supposed to go on a lovely bike ride through the country, but I think there may be a change of plans.

My friends, Juan, Dennis, and Edward are all enjoying themselves tremendously. Juan especially loved Hong Kong -- when asked by a student conducting a survey if anything can be improved, he just said that everything was perfect. I could picture myself living there too, and I miss it a little already. When I finally got around to checking my email yesterday, I realized that my aunt had written me to let me know that my cousin lives in Hong Kong. I was able to call up my cousin, whom I have not seen for about 20 years, and we met up for a lovely lunch on the rooftop terrace of the new IFC building. So many years had gone by that we hardly recognized each other. It was wonderful to be able to catch up, and there was a LOT of catching up to do, and I was very excited to see her again.

Sorry about not posting photos, I haven't yet found a way to download my pictures. I will post them online when I get home, so please be patient for now. A word of warning: we've been taking a lot of silly pictures.

Looking forward to the adventures ahead.