Sunday

NOTE: I'm having internet issues here in Changsha, so I can't send any pictures.  I'll post pix ASAP when we get to Sanya. Today is Sunday and we've had a rather relaxing day. The morning began with the girls not being able to get to the toilet, because the French people who are sharing the floor with us were using the shower, so the girls had to figure out how to go downstairs to the lower floor to go. Oh well, never mind, the French people are gone today and it doesn't look like we will have any other guests. Jorg went down later to find some hot water to make some coffee, while he was down there, he started talking to a Chinese family that were staying in the hotel. I went down to drink coffee with Jorg and this couple ended up inviting us to eat breakfast with them. For breakfast we had: tiny fried fish with hot green peppers, eggs fried with green peppers and onions, fried potatoes, and egg and tomato soup. Not exactly my perfect breakfast, but it was tasty and filled the belly. After breakfast, we all decided to go together to walk to the big waterfall. The walk was relatively flat, on a stone pathway which was lined by rice paddies and vegetable fields. It was nice easy walk, about 5 KM total, probably less. The waterfall itself, was very large, and was made even larger by the fact that we had been deluged over night and in the morning by some very nice rain storms! We were actually a little afraid that we might be stuck inside all day, but the storms cleared, the sky brightened and we were able to go on our walk. Jorg, the girls and I were enjoying our relaxation by the river, watching the Chinese tourists cross the river and take pictures. The family we hiked in had to take off early, so we exchanged email addresses and they walked back. About noon or after, we decided to walk back to our hotel. Jorg and I wanted to nap, and the girls wanted to play, so we compromised. I set the girls up with a video on the computer (Follow that Bird, a classic) and Jorg and I slept. After nap, Jorg took the girls to the part of the river we walked to the first day, which had some really nice areas to play in, and that is where they are as I type this. I decided to stay back and sit on the veranda and enjoy the town life. A few tour groups came barging through town, but now it is quiet. The old ladies selling fried fish on the bridge are closing up shop and starting to go home for the night. The rest of the town is washing up, and getting dinner ready. Our family is the only foreigners in the hotel tonight. Dahang is a very easy going village. The people selling things are not pushy and they usually give a price that they don't want to haggle on. There are mostly old people and children here, I guess the "middle" people are either in town or out in the fields. There a few 20-50 year olds, of course, but there are many more old people and children. The babies and kids under 5 will run around with no pants on, or no clothes at all, It doesn't matter around here. Of the old people, there are mostly old women. You'll see an old man around here and there, but it's mostly old women, and they usually are wearing their traditional clothing (the little boy of the house, about 4 years old, just came tromping up the stairs with nothing on other than his shoes. He is miffed because I'm not doing something more interesting with my computer). It is quarter to 6 in the evening as I'm writing this and Jorg and the girls aren't back yet. I expect to see them coming down the path any minute. I am getting a little hungry since we didn't eat a proper lunch, and I'm wishing I had some Lonely God to munch on!! Irritations: Piggy people throwing their trash all over the pathway. There were all manner of food wrappers, empty drink bottles, empty cigarette boxes, and old skewer sticks littering the pathway. These were dropped there by the bus tourists that come through the little town. It's not because there are not trash bins along there way, there ARE trashbins, about every 500 meters! Some people are just piggy and it bothers me that the people don't care enough to keep the natural areas clean. The other irritation is somewhat my fault I suppose, but when I left the girls to watch a movie, Laina couldn't resist the computer and messed around with something and managed to turn the touchpad off. FINALLY I got it working again. I don't know exactly how, but I did. I was really worried for a bit! Laina isn't allowed to have the computer anymore—at least unsupervised!