Just NB

Alrighty. My first China vacation post with pictures! These pictures were taken on the Li River, located in Guilin, which was our third stop on the trip. This was my favorite part of China...basically because it felt quaint more than anything else. We had a fantastic guide (with a fantastic name, Sandy Song. Song is also one of the Dynasties in China). Our second day there, we went on a lunch cruise. The river itself is 437km, but our tour was about four hours long and 80km. It all felt kind of surreal to me until I saw the Chinese flag. I'm not sure why.  I totally thought "grotesque" meant disgusting or hideous. I just looked it up on-line. I was wrong. Jokes on me. Correct Translation in China: 1; Incorrect Translation in China 192,658,364.  It was super foggy out, but we were pretty used to that coming from Shanghai and Xi'an (which I learned is pronouched Shee-an). But the fog was actually fog and not pollution! A first! To me the scenery...

I love Guilin and Yangshuo. Love, love, love, love. It's so beautiful here and ssooooooooooooooo green! I would have canned a few days in Beijing (especially since we didn't get to really visit Tianamen Square - just drive by) and spent more time in this area. So gorgeous. However, you won't be seeing any of those pictures today. Today you'll be seeing pictures of snakewine.   I kept telling myself that if I acted like I wasn't sick and pretended I wasn't sick, I wouldn't be sick. I Advil'ed up, took some extra vitamin C, and dressed warmly.   It didn't work. I kept going....thinking the feeling would pass and no. Body aches, sweats, sore throat. I went to sit inside and our guide Sandy Song (love it love it love it) told me that my mom had ordered a glass of wine, but not snake wine, and the wine that she was drinking was only 15%. Also, she was outside and taking pictures and talking to other people. Apparently, he would go upstairs and gi...

Ahhhhhhh my day of rest combined with sleeping a lot today and a traditional foot reflexology and massage (for $20USD at this place across this street from our hotel!) and my qi (chi) is back. Traditionally, men give the massage, and since I was fully clothed, I thought it would be ok. I'm kind a freak when it comes to massages and even if the guy is super proffesional, it doesn't work for me. My guy was good, except he wouldn't stop giving me googly-eyes. At that point I just started talking to my mom (something I detest when I'm trying to relax) because his googly-eyed-ness was making me uncomfortable. The massage was awesome and I can't wait to write a more detailed post on reflexology, it's truly amazing even though I had to go to get it done first (years ago) before thought it was like, real. I'm still pretty tired and will try to go to bed early tonight, I've been fighting off a mini-cold or some kind of sore throat so I still want to rest a ...