We arrived in Yangshuo around noon the following day and were greeted with a very warm welcome the second we stepped out of the car. Ashlee and Amy from Buckland showed us to our room at the hostel. We were pleasantly surprised. Emily and I had a room to ourselves with an extra bed (read here: extra comforter). I was not fully prepared for the cold weather in Yangshuo. I had done my research and knew that it would be a few degrees warmer than Toronto. Not too shabby, right? Nothing I can’t handle. WRONG. One of my first lessons on Chinese culture was that indoor heating is very rare. Our room did have an air conditioner that doubled as a “heater”. The amount of heat emitted from said heater was probably enough to properly heat a small wardrobe. Our pajamas turned into layers of leggings, sweatpants, doubled up socks, and so on. It wasn’t until our demo lessons at the near by open-air school that we (actually Emily deserves the credit here) discovered mini heaters. Emily watched a few female students plug a little multi-coloured bag into an outlet. Soon after we purchased our very own mini heaters. I haven’t let Cute Panda out of my sight since she came into my life.
Our lovely hostel at Buckland.
Back to Yangshuo… Our second official meal in China was extremely fancy. It didn’t take us very long to find the local McDonald’s. Our jet lag, combined with our lack of luggage depression, combined with our empty bellies lead us directly down West Street in search for something familiar.
Full and happy, we nosed around our new temporary ‘hood.
We decided that we should treat ourselves and forked out a whopping 30 yuan ($5 Canadian) for a shampoo and blowdry. Salons back home could learn a thing or two. Our wash included a blanket, a bed, and an amazing head massage.
No comments:
Post a Comment