China Arrival

We made it! China...Leg 5- We had a short layover in Hong Kong after our 14 hour flight.
On the plane just ahead of me in the isle and across from the boys a gentleman started throwing up as soon as we left the gate and it seemed to cause a delay, at one point there were 4 or 5 flight attendants trying to talk him into getting off and going to the Dr. Alas he stayed and only threw up 4 other times through the 14 hours. In all a good flight. It was strange to basically miss all of Tuesday.

Once we arrived to Guilin and got through security it was a 90 min ride to Yangshuo and it was awesome to see the mountains and how they just jetted up from the ground. We were surrounded by them.

Yangshuo was great! The hostel we were in, Tiffany's (named after Breakfast at Tiffany's) was nice and had a good little restaurant and good view.

Yangshuo is really a tourist town and that is where we were able to go through a week long orientation and class. Here is west street, kind of like a 16th Street mall (Denver) or Pearl Street Mall (Boulder), BUT watch out for the electrical scooter that sneaks up on ya.

We also got the chance to get over our jet lag, which wasn't that bad since we did get to sleep some on the plane. While there we got the chance to go with some new friends to the Mud Caves.

 It was sooooo worth it! There was a tour of the cave and then you get to go play in the mud and there was a slide and all! You would just lay back and float effortlessly. There was also a hot springs right after the mud and there were different levels of temperature pools. Something I would recommend to anybody venturing to Yangshuo.



Also there was a chance to climb a peak of one of the towering mountains and we got a great view.

The weather was so hot and muggy everyday while in Yangshuo. It was almost unbearable. Thank goodness for A/C units. Also since the plane ride we have been eating with noting but Chopsticks...we are getting better. The beds in China are hard, like really hard. Really it's just a box spring. It's supposed to be better for the back. We are getting used to the hard beds and still get some good nights sleep.
We have met some great people that were in our training group from Australia, Ireland, Scotland and all through through the US from Seattle to D.C. from MN to TX  doing the same thing as us and going to different places through out China to teach english. We hope to stay in touch for a long time to come.