Today was the first day I felt like a human since Sunday afternoon and it was a huge relief. Yangshuo was just what the doctor ordered. After going from one bustling city and major tourist attraction to another, we suddenly had time to slow down the pace and just enjoy the beauty of China. I have definitely decided that the smaller cities are my favorites: Yangshuo and Nanping have so much personality and let you feel like you're actually a part of them.
This morning I slept until 6:45, which is, by far, a personal best on this trip. I really needed it as the nights have been hard for me lately. We took a leisurely stroll to the Retreat's restaurant - all of about 100 steps. The craziest part of this retreat in the boondocks of China is that it is mostly occupied by, and caters to, westerners. Listen up, people, you can get LEGIT French fries here! (And I did, twice!) For breakfast, however, I went with the "Apple pancake" since a person can do noodles just so many times and was pleasantly surprised with a decent crepe with apples atop it.
We rolled out of the retreat SUPER late today - at 10am - to head down to Yangshuo proper for our cooking class. This was something I had looked forward to ever since my first glimpse the the itinerary. "Cloud 9 Cooking School" totally lived up to its name today. The remains of our travel group (down to 5 families) all took part in a class in which we learned how to make three Chinese dishes. Our instructor was self-taught, both in cooking and English, and did an impressive job of teaching children and adults at numerous levels. I do have to say that the room where we were cooking was a "bit" - okay, oppressively - hot while we did our prep work. Oh! Wait! Let's turn on 20 woks at once! Can you say
"inferno"? We were all dripping sweat into our dishes, but nevertheless I throughly enjoyed myself and look forward to making all of the dishes when we get home.
Spring Flower looks so evil in this photo that I'm surprised anyone let her have a cleaver.
The coolest part was that you eat what you cook. So after exiting the inferno, we all trooped downstairs to the (air conditioned!) restaurant and once again had ten times more food on the table than we could ever hope to eat.
My dumplings. For the win!
After lunch we had an hour to spend in Yangshuo's adorable market. LOVED this market. There was some of the super pushy sales tactics but not nearly as bad as other cities and there was a nice variety of things to choose from. The girls chose a few really cute items and then washed it down with a refreshing mango smoothie. Except it was 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity. So a smoothie ain't touching that.
After the market we had to say goodbye to two of the travel families who were headed off to orphanage visits. It's remarkable how hard it is to part with people you just met 10 days ago but trips such as these tend to forge some pretty strong connections. The Mountain Retreat was a lot quieter this afternoon.
HOWEVER, we made the best of an "afternoon off." Tony and I took a walk with sweat pouring down our faces and then rewarded ourselves with two pint sized Tsingtaos riverside.
It was a perfect afternoon, watching life in China float by and enjoying life. At one point, we were even graced with the presence of Flying Sparrow. I wish I could say she was seeking our company, but the truth is, she was Jonesing for another Retreat milkshake.
FS, post-milkshake and feeling refreshed.
Next on the agenda was dinner with the last two remaining families. We shared a big outdoor table alongside the river and had a great evening. Good food, great people, lots of laughs and sharing. We did have to move the party indoors when some pesky thunder and lighting arrived, but that just gave us an excuse to order dessert. Other than the repeated appearance of a bizarre man who was wandering the the hotel in a bathrobe, it was a perfect evening!
Tomorrow morning we are on the move again. A new driver is rumored to be appearing here at 7:30 tomorrow morning to drive us to the Yangshuo train station, where we will catch the new bullet train to Guangzhou. We received a huge surprised today when we were told that none other than SOPHIE will be meeting us there! We are hoping that she'll be taking us on Flying Sparrow's orphanage visit, but don't wan to get our hopes up too high. In any case, SOMEONE will be taking us from the train station in Guangzhou on a five-hour car trip to Maoming tomorrow afternoon. Jealous much?
See you in Maoming! Our next-to-last stay!
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