Yan An Hotel Anshun

... here, Guiyang at 6pm, for a taxi driver to then take us round the block (and about 2 doors away from the bus station we got off at!) to our hotel for 10yuan, nevermind.<br>The hotel is clean, with aircon and a soft bed (3 things that your lucky to get in a chinese hotel) the bathroom is completely covered in plastic. It is literally a porta-loo cabin complete with sink, bath and step in shower, just placed in the corner of the ...

We wake up very early as always, to have a quiet walk near the hotel, we get into a vegetables market, and see how the people make their businesses. It starts raining, so we go back for some breakfast, and then we go to the first visit: The 1000 peaks forest. It is a zone with so many hills, it seems they never end. They are sorrounded by rice fields, and the visit is quite nice, except for the little rain. We ride a little tourist train with a chinese ...

... example, and generally expected the price to be low, so we figured we would bargain for all of the batiks together. Our first mistake Once we had selected six or so batiks of varying sizes and quality, she quoted us several hundred yuan-more than our hotel for four people for two nights had been. We chuckled a little and counteroffered, at which she started to scold us indignantly. This is highly unusual in China. Bargaining is a matter of course ...

... friends on bejeweled cell phones and twitter when they try to speak to Dad. My father has been in China two weeks, and in that time has mastered one useful phrase: "I want a beer." He tells them, optimistically, that he wants a beer. They giggle, but provide no pleasing beverages. The costume renter, a tiny woman wielding a photo album of past clients, finally gets annoyed at the girls and calls them back to disrobe. We continue down the path. My camera ...

... and take the main road which to our disappointment and frustration led to the heart of the large city of Guiyang! This polluted, noise infested hell hole was a place we didn't want to spend the night. In dire straits we follow the first sign heading west! We were then trapped on what at the time seemed like a super sonic highway (in comparison with the previous excuse for a road). Like a tired bitten donkey trapped on a horse race track we held on onto dear life as ...

... about the Wenmiao Temple. Sure enough it was the next stop. We looked around for a restaurant before going to the temple, as we hadn't eaten yet today. Nothing very interesting, so we walked along the road that led to the temple. Suddenly there were dozens of stalls selling a variety of street food. We had a meal of things on sticks, where the vendor used a hair-drier to dry the items as they cooked. It was not bad but Yoong was not pleased when she ordered some sticks ...

... Sichuan. All the other passengers had begun their tour in Guiyang, and, we found later, were paying less for it, despite the extra travelling time and distance. At first we thought there would be a big problem with communication as the guide spoke only Mandarin, and I was the only gweilo on board. However, it turned out there were passengers from San Francisco, the UK and Malaysia, who not only spoke Cantonese but reasonable English as well. Despite the little ...

... our possession. The second thing we did, at the same counter, was buy our tickets to Anshun, for this morning. We've heard the bus trip is long and bumpy and the train claims to take under one and a half hours, so we'll go by train at least one way. Tickets were about the price of a local MTR ride in Hong Kong. There were three hotels near the station in Guiyang. The first offered rooms for Y100, but when we actually went up to the lobby we ...

I've been lazy with updating, lately. I guess that means I've settled into a bit of a routine, and things are not so new or, well, foreign anymore. School has been going well. Jenn gave her first quiz this week, and I'm giving my midterms toward the end of the month. We consider our classes fairly easy, and I think most of our students would agree. Because we're teaching students about our own age, who have been teachers themselves for a ...

... school, so it will be interesting blazing the curriculum trail. Four different classes to prepair for also sounds difficult, but I'm sure I'll manage. I only teach in the afternoons and evenings so I'll have the mornings and weekends to prepair. Jenn and I are going to a site where two amazing volunteers are leaving. We've spent some time with them and learned a lot. They've made a huge impact in a lot of people's lives, and are great teachers. While it is ...