Saturday, August 20, 2011

Rock Candy

Yangshuo holds so many good memories for us. For two weeks, it was our base and thanks to a few fantastic people, it felt like home.

Atilla and Candy, the couchsurfers I mentioned in a previous blog were so wonderful to us, and we really do owe a lot of great experiences to them. Not only did they set us up with Zhou Yue English College, but they also included us in so many of their fun adventures. They showed us the best swimming hole, the best steam buns, the best place for an evening tea, and the best ay to loose two pounds before seven am, by huffing your way up a mountain for jaw-dropping views. They took us out into the un-touristed countryside as bike tour guides, showed us around expert bonsai collections and generally made us feel very comfortable, welcome and included.

Another great person we met through couchsurfing was Mila, a Malaysian living in Yangshuo. We met up at a local pub with Mila and a bunch of her friends, for 'quiz night' and had a great time. Mila was so friendly, welcoming and funny. It felt like we spent the whole night laughing! She was even nice enough to invite us back for the next weeks quiz night, even though our answers to the quiz questions were almost all very wrong. Who actually knows what 'jpeg' stands for anyways? More importantly, who needs to know? People who want to win quiz nights, I suppose.

While volunteering at Zhou Yue, we also had the privilege of meeting Mark and Rachael, a great American couple on a five week Chinese adventure. We had a great time hanging out with them and chatting about travel, life and books. Its great when you meet people that you feel like you connect with right away. Rachael gave Jonathan a book called 'Born to Run,' and he devoured it. I read it after as well. It was a super interesting read, and we would recommend it. The story inspired him to take up jogging, something that I never imagined him doing. Shocking, right Cathy and Gord? He even dragged me on a jog once. (Once.) If we thought people were starring before, it was nothing compared to when we bounced by, heaving. Guess this running thing needs some practice.

Again, thanks to Atilla, Candy, Mila, Mark and Rachael. We can't imagine Yangshuo without you! We sincerely hope that our paths will cross again! Soon!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi J and K,
I'm glad you had such a good time while in Yangshuo. It was great to meet up with such good friends. The folk at that Quiz must be brainy people if they knew what "Jpeg" meant ! By the way, I have sent a few Emails off, but have no way of knowing if they reached you. If you tell your Dad, he can let me know when he phones me each Saturday.
With best wishes as you j
journey on.
Pappy.

Mark said...

Awww, thanks for the shoutout, you two! It was really a pleasure spending some time with you in Yangshuo. Hopefully when you come back to North America we'll be able to run into you again. Maybe we can do some backpacking with you in your beautiful country?

Keep up the awesome blogging!

-Mark