Jumping forward to the last leg of our trip, I finally have WiFi that allows me to upload this blog. I could do Facebook easily, so that is where I was posting.
So....we stayed in 3 hotels with Jackie, in Beijing, Yangshuo (SOUTHERN CHINA, GUANXI province), and Ping An, to visit the mind-blowing, ancient rice terraces. Twice we have had our own hotels, and got upgraded to suites both times. SUITE!!! (Haha). We are at the Narada Yu Gardens boutique hotel, about 15 minutes from the Bund. Beautiful hotel, great location, English speaking staff and good price. Perfect. And an upgrade. Shanghai is so much more cosmopolitan than Beijing and Zhenghzou. After the morning thunderstorms let up, we walked to the Bund, along Huangpu river waterfront promenade, which has old elegant buildings from late 1800s, then took the trippy light show ride under the river tunnel to the business district called Pudong. Wow. The skyscrapers there are only 20 years old. Pedestrian bridge pathways, designer malls, parks with cool statues, etc. It makes Chicago look tiny. It was a shocker after spending time in this village in the mountains, near the Longji rice terraces. The minority people there sat around fire pits, dressed in native dress, chickens roamed the streets, and they hauled things in woven baskets across their shoulders like they have probably been doing for 1000 years. Well, the terraces are 700 years old anyway. Such a fascinating contrast.
We stayed in the village of PingAn. Minority peoples,the Zhuang and Yao, live and work in the town and fields, and you can see them go about their business. Chickens roam the streets. Buildings all of dark wood. Super cool and interesting.
hanging out around the fire....
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