Guilin/Yangshuo: Day 8, What a view

I really enjoyed my shower at the Sheraton. It didn’t have the water pressure issues which were really my only complaint with the YMCA in Hong Kong. The room was quite luxurious and the breakfast buffet even more so. They had a full Chinese buffet plus a regular western buffet, a waffle station, and an omelet bar. We indulged a little too much and had to rush to check out and meet our guide at 8:40. Luckily we were not too late, and we arrived in time for our boat cruise on the Lijiang river to Yangshuo.

Our guide (Angela) got us an upstairs table together with a pair we recognized from the airplane yesterday and the hotel: a Jewish spine surgeon from New Jersey and his 17 year old daughter. It turns out their guide worked for the same company as ours. They were excellent company, and we were disappointed to learn that we would soon part ways as they were off to Shanghai the next morning. The reason for their trip was a coming of age present and a special bonding opportunity for a father who normally is quite busy with his career. He has three daughters, and at the age of 16 they may choose a two week dream trip anywhere in the world. I thought that was a wonderful idea.

The trip itself was spectacular with gorgeous scenery unfolding with every turn of the river. The water level was very low. This is the dry season, but it’s been even dryer than usual. I suppose more water would have made for better reflections, but not knowing what I was missing, I loved it anyhow. Local peasants on bamboo rafts would hitch rides on the tour boat and try to sell fruit and souvenirs. For me, they added local flavor to the foregrounds of my pictures. The weather was cloudy with intermittent showers, but according to the guide that made for better visibility that clear weather. She also said that Chinese like it “misty” because it sets the mood. Besides pollution, I think a major contributor to the haze problem is the tradition of trash burning. I lost count how many of these smoky and smelly fires we passed. Every few minutes, the guides would reappear to point out sites like an ancient village or hill that’s supposed to look like something.

It was in the 40s (~10 C) so most people spent a lot of time going back and forth from their indoor table to the deck to take pictures. The weather forecast I’d that I’d found just before we left Hong Kong was for the 60s (~15 C) this week in Guilin, so I’d chosen not to bring my long underwear, hat, and gloves. Luckily, I still had plenty of clothes with me and didn’t miss them.

Lunch was also served on the boat, and it was pretty good. There were a few things that I didn’t want to try, and a few things that were not so palatable for me, but for unknown Chinese food, I was quite pleased. Our companions struggled to find something to eat since kosher food is very difficult to find in China. Fortunately, they planned ahead and had pockets stuffed with granola bars.

When we arrived in Yangshuo, we had to walk down the main tourist street to get to our hotel. The peddlers were especially aggressive, chasing after people even if they hadn’t given their wares as much as a glance. Our guide explained that the economic crisis had really decreased tourism, and these people were desperate to sell anything. My mom stopped and bought two wooden ducks for 10 yuan (~$1.40). A moment later she was chased down by a pack of duck salespeople, one of whom eventually sold her seven more for only 10 yuan. Angela just shook her head.

Angela pointed out to us to a shop that specialized in the handicrafts of several of the area’s native peoples. In China, most “Chinese” are Han Chinese, but there are also dozens of minority groups who are the native people in different regions. The Guilin region is known for having over 1/3 of its population “minorities” which is the highest in China. I found this very interesting.

We had a VIP river view room at the hotel, which was quite luxurious. Mom took a short nap, then we went back for a little shopping before dinner. Usually the guide and driver eat separately since the meals are included in the tour, but we invited them to join us. This way we got twice the variety of dishes, and it turned out to be a very good decision. I really liked the tofu dish that wound normally not have been served to tourists, and there ended up being much more food than we could possibly eat.

After dinner we went to see “the show.” It was a huge thing with a 2 km long “stage” on the river and 600 performers directed and choreographed by the guy who did the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony. It was outdoors and quite chilly, but we were reluctant to rent the used (and not so pleasant smelling) Chinese army jackets that were available. Luckily we were sheltered from the breeze, so we were okay. Since I’m not particularly interested in mass performances like Olympic ceremonies, I was expecting to be a bit bored here, but I was not. The show was a little over an hour long, and that was perfect for me. The performers were either on bamboo rafts or on piers, and the lighting made it quite spectacular. The plot, based on a famous Chinese movie, was pretty much lost on me since all the songs and dialog were in Chinese, though I gather it was a love story.

Hong Kong/Guilin: Day 7, off to China

Our flight to Guilin was at 5:25 PM, but our day was devoted to getting ready. Rather than dragging everything with us on this excursion, mom and I each packed a small bag for this trip and stowed the larger suitcases at the hotel. The hotel has laundry facilities, so we also did two loads of laundry. Instead of breakfast, I picked up the local equivalent of a chocolate chip muffin. We were able to extend our checkout time until 2 PM which worked out perfectly. Mom has a tendency to stress over packing and traveling, and it didn’t help that both Uncle L and Aunt R wanted to come keep us company while we packed. Instead, we all went to lunch at the Macau style restaurant. I really wasn’t feeling up to Chinese style food, so I ordered the “crispy bun” that my cousin recommended. The waitress was surprised that I did not want a pork chop or fried egg on it, but I hoped plain would sit better with me. It turned out to be a “fralla” or French bread like roll, and it was pretty dry plain, but that’s all I ate for lunch.

There were many options for getting to the airport, and I discussed them with the concierge. After lunch, mom had time for a quick nap. Then we checked out from the hotel and walked a few blocks to the bus stop. Without the big suitcases, this was not a problem. I was pleasantly surprised that the bus was one of the faster options, and it was by far the cheapest. I was also pleasantly surprised that the bus trip was quite scenic.

We got to the airport in plenty of time. The Chinese security and immigration guys were more serious and less talkative than their counterparts that I’ve encountered elsewhere in the world, but they got the job done without any hassles. (I recognized one of the passport checking guys when he got off duty, and then he was all smiles, so the seriousness must be part of the job.) We were getting a bit hungry, so we had some noodles (mom) and a burger (me) before the flight. As the plane took off, I was amazed to see so many boats in Hong Kong harbor. It looked like Hong Kong was being invaded by an armada of container ships. Unfortunately, we were soon above the clouds, and it remained cloudy for the rest of the flight. The flight was only an hour long, but they managed to serve drinks and cookies. Guilin airport seems very new and clean and not very big (only 2 baggage claim carousels). We were met by our guide and driver who brought us to the Sheraton.

The hotel looks very luxurious and even has a gym, but we’re only here for one night now, so we’re just taking it easy. Tomorrow the guide takes us to Yangshou.

Hong Kong: Day 6, The gamble of shopping

This was the first day that we did not have any morning commitments. It was nice to be able to sleep in and take it easy getting ready, and we were still ready to leave the room around 9 AM. We went to a Macau style restaurant that had been recommended by my cousin for breakfast, where I had egg custard tarts—yum. (Macau is a Portuguese colony in the area which has now become the Las Vegas of Asia.)

After breakfast we took the metro to Hong Kong Central because mom wanted to show me a couple of her favorite department stores where her mom used to take her as a child. They were rather like Macys with a whole lot more staff and an odd lack of theme/flow to the departments. I think the clothes were arranged by manufacturer and not by intended use. I was also surprised how small the children’s departments were with relatively much for babies but not to much for older kids.

Then we went to a market street where the real bargains could be found. However, no prices were posted, and if you weren’t careful, you could get ripped off. I would have loved to spend more time poking around here, but it was soon time to meet Uncle L for lunch. This time lunch was at a fancy members-only Chinese restaurant where high-powered businessmen went to show off. The food was good, and there was lots of it, but I was having difficulty getting into the mood. I think I would have preferred a sandwich or salad. Mom and uncle had some business to take care of, so I was on my own for the rest of the afternoon.

I went back to the market streets and spent the afternoon haggling and bargaining. I got ripped off by my first purchase, and that really made me angry, but I learned a lot and was much more careful afterwards. This resulted in some real good deals, I think. One of the shopkeepers noticed that I understood some Cantonese, and I think that had given me an edge without even

realizing it. I admit to understanding some Mandarin, but Cantonese is quite different (maybe like spoken Swedish and Dutch). I stopped about 4 PM and headed back to the hotel because I couldn’t carry any more. So for an afternoon in the shopping equivalent of Las Vegas, I broke even, and unlike Las Vegas, I had something to show for it.

Like gambling, competitive shopping like this is also rather addictive, and I definitely feel the urge to do it again. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), suitcase space and weight are a limiting factor.

Soon it was off to dinner again, once again with Uncle L and Aunt A at a fancy Chinese restaurant. This was in an upscale mall in a different part of town, but it was reached with one simple subway transfer. The whole time, mom was stopping people and asking directions, which rather irked me because I was confident in my map and sign reading skills.

It seemed to me that the Chinese food was just getting weirder and weirder with each meal, and I just wasn’t up to it anymore. I made mom sit next to uncle so that I was out of range for him to serve me (a dreadful Chinese tradition in my opinion where you honor people by putting more food on their plate—it’s not enough to offer them some before taking yourself, you actually pile stuff on people’s plates despite their objections, then they’re obliged to eat it.) I drank the broth and ate the veggies from my soup that featured the stomach lining from a fish. I ate the buns that accompanied the roast duck. I picked some mushrooms and asparagus off a dish of something I couldn’t identify and didn’t want to think about. I forced down some sweet and sour fish even though it tasted rather fishy. It didn’t help that the servant ate the fish head and tail. I thought they were joking, but she seemed to enjoy it. I couldn’t face the giant prawns that were bigger than crayfish. This was fine for me after the huge lunch, but Uncle didn’t think I was eating enough and ordered me a plate of potstickers (without asking, of course). This was really nice of him since I love potstickers, but I honestly wasn’t hungry. I forced myself to eat three of them, but by then I really wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t even try the dessert.

Mom had suggested some shopping on the way home, but I really wasn’t feeling up to it. (Yes, shops are still open at 9 PM on a Tuesday, or any other day, for that matter.)

Hong Kong: Day 5, Honoring the family

We started the day off in a panic by oversleeping. My mom was so sure she’d wake up early that she did not set the alarm clock. We must have been really tired since I was the first to awaken at 7:45 (45 minutes late)! Luckily, we were able to make up the time by eating breakfast in our room as we got ready (fruit, tea, and the emergency crisp bread I’d brought in case I really didn’t like a meal.) An hour later, my cousin picked us up and drove us to the family plot.

The graveyard was on the side of a mountain on the far side of Hong Kong island. Graves with a view are highly coveted, and this was one of the best locations with a magnificent ocean view. The family plots were about halfway up the mountain, which meant a lot of stairs. It was no problem for me, but it couldn’t have been easy for Uncle L or Aunt R (Aunt A did not come—it would have been impossible for her anyhow).

We started by sweeping the graves and arranging the flowers—various relatives getting different yet very specific combinations of flowers. On the top level, there was only the grave of my mom’s parents. Her father was buried where he died in China during WWII, but Uncle L made a tremendous effort and retrieved his bones and had him reburied with his wife in the 1980’s. At this grave, we lined up and bowed three times, then three more times on the behalf of all the relatives who were not there. Then we moved down a level to the grave of mom’s grandfather and uncles, and we repeated the bowing thing. Then we moved down yet another level to the graves of mom’s grandmother, grandfather’s first wife (the oldest grave in the bunch), and a few other relatives. Again, we repeated the bowing thing. It’s interesting that the graves are arranged that the highest grave has the highest place of honor, but the lower two levels are now full. Hopefully the ancestor’s ghosts are practical and will understand that whoever dies next and gets the remaining spots on the top level are not claiming the places out of disrespect or anything like that.

After the graveyard, my cousin had to get to work, so he dropped mom, Uncle L, and I off downtown. Mom had an appointment to take care of some visa related stuff, so that took a couple hours, then Uncle took us out to lunch at a wonderful buffet which served both western and Chinese dishes and a lovely selection of desserts. After lunch, he wanted to take us on the double-deck tram to the end of the line and back in both directions to see the city. He said this would take about 45 minutes, so off we went. He pointed out the history and a lot of interesting facts. At the end of the line, we spent a few minutes walking around an open air market that sold mostly food (very interesting, but not particularly appetizing to somebody who is used to seeing meat handled under sanitary conditions and wrapped in plastic. By the time we got back to our starting point in the middle 2 ½ hours later, we convinced him to skip the other direction. Then he wanted to show us his office. After that we had to hurry back to the hotel so that we could meet Aunt R for dinner.

Dinner was at an Austrian restaurant together with Uncle A from Las Vegas who just happened to be in town for the day. Again, it was another excellent meal. After dinner, mom took me to a shop where she had found a particularly good deal because she wanted me to get some black slacks. I found some for about $15, and I got a suit for $50 too.

Hong Kong: Day 4, a lesson in humidity

This morning we went to breakfast at a restaurant recommended by my cousin E who visited recently from the states. I ordered scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, and tea. The place certainly was a bargain with the full meal for about $3, but it was not so good. Sausage turned out to be hot dogs, and I think the eggs were powdered and undercooked. Oh well, we’ll try someplace else tomorrow.

My mom went back to the hotel to meet her sister for church, so I went for a walk in Kowloon Park. Despite the heat (~25 C/77 F) and extreme humidity, there were a lot of people of all ages there exercising in one way or another: jogging with i-pods, doing tai-chi or yoga alone, or doing tai-chi-like martial arts (with or without swords) in large groups. The park had an exercise trail with built in equipment and instructions.

After church, we took the ferry over to Hong Kong Island where my cousin V and his wife picked us up. We drove to “the peak” which is a mall at the top of the mountain. There is also a tram that goes up there, and it has long been a tourist destination because of the spectacular views. Unfortunately the humidity was manifesting itself as a dense fog up there, so we could hardly see from one building to another. If we get a clear day later on, maybe we’ll go back, but this mountain really feels like a rain forest to me. Stepping out of the air conditioned car felt like walking into the bathroom right after somebody had taken a hot shower. It was almost hard to breathe. I found myself checking my glasses and camera all the time because I thought they’d fogged up, but they hadn’t; it was really just the humidity. My cousin said it is often so damp in the high-rise apartments that seem to have sprouted out of the sides of the mountain that people regularly have to wipe off their furniture with a towel and ring it out into a bucket (indoors!).

My mom treated us to lunch at the restaurant that had been recommended in her guidebook. The menu was a curious blend of Indian, Thai, Mexican, and western. Unfortunately, we were ordering family style where we share the dishes, so Mexican was out. I’m not so fond of Indian food, and the pad thai that I ordered wasn’t very good, but I did not leave hungry.

I asked if there was anything like an “old town” or historic neighborhood in Hong Kong, so they tried to show me some older buildings that dated to before WWII, but they were few and far between. The property values have been very high for quite some time; therefore much of the old has long since been torn down. We were luck enough to stumble across a street performance with Lion Dancers which was fascinating. Unfortunately there was no place around to park legally, so I only got to watch for a few minutes. We also got to see a Buddhist temple, an herbalist shop, and a selection of other places, all while my cousin double parked. I was so impressed with his driving skills, both for being able to find his way around this maze of one-way streets and dead-ends (few of which are straight due to the hilly landscape), and for doing all this without getting hit by a bus, trolley, or taxi which zoom around like crazy.

We dropped his wife off because she was invited out by friends, then we continued the tour around to the other side of the island where the old fishing villages had been converted into beachside resorts/luxury living. Here the sun was almost reaching through the humidity creating some very nice light. We were lucky enough to find a parking place, so we all got out and walked around for a while. Then we made a quick visit to my cousin’s beautiful apartment before heading off to the yacht club for a delicious buffet dinner. We ate outside where we should have had a fantastic view of the Hong Kong waterfront and Kowloon, but it was so foggy that we could barely see Kowloon, and once again the light show was pretty much lost on us. The lights reflecting off the fog made for an eerie brightness.

Hong Kong: Day 3, Full Stomach, Tired Feet

(View from hotel room in the morning.) I had no problem with jetlag whatsoever and slept like a log from 10:30 PM to 7 AM. Still full from yesterday, a cup of tea in the hotel room was sufficient for breakfast. We took the bus to Uncle L and Aunt A’s place. On mom’s request, I took some portraits of them. Then it was off for dim sum at Maxim’s Palace—THE place for dim sum.

The restaurant is donut shaped to facilitate the counter-clockwise flow if the dim sum carts. The restaurant can seat 3000 people, yet there was a line already when we got there at 10:30. They don’t take reservations, but they recognized Uncle L and lead us directly to a table that was still being cleared. I noticed that at about ¼ of the tables, there sat only one or two people drinking tea and reading newspapers. I guess it’s a tradition that somebody has to get there early and claim a table. As always, Aunty A’s servant was there, but it really surprised me when the first thing she did was to gather up all the dishes and utensils and rinse them one by one with tea in a small bowl. Apparently this tradition developed because people are uncertain how clean these items are and like to reassure themselves. Now I must point out that this is a very fancy restaurant, and it’s unlikely that the dishes sit around getting dusty. It seemed very odd that they would provide the tea and washing bowl so that customers can splash tea all over their white tablecloths. Even odder, there were no napkins provided at this restaurant even though dim sum includes several items that are usually eaten as finger food. All the places we ate yesterday provided prepackaged moist towelettes along with the napkins so that one could wash their hands before eating (something I really appreciated in the absence of my Purell), but this restaurant did not.

Aunt R was to meet us there, but I can’t imagine how she could have found us if the servant hadn’t gone to the entrance to wait for her. As anyone who’s ever been to a dim sum restaurant can probably imagine, the noise level here was nearly deafening. It didn’t really matter to me though since the conversation and the explanation of the various dishes was in Cantonese, and they didn’t pick up the baskets to show off the contents, so I had pretty much no idea what was being ordered. I would have liked to try some new things, though not necessarily the things that were ordered (like sea cucumber, black eggs, and chicken feet). I filled up on barbecue pork buns, red bean buns, a few other dumplings, and noodles with mushrooms.

After lunch, I went with mom and Aunt R to the flower market to buy flowers to take to the family grave sites on Monday. I questioned buying flowers on Valentines day, but I was told that they needed so much prep in order to be suitable for the graves that her servant would need the time. On the way to the flower market, we walked through a regular market with a wide variety of stalls selling everything from underwear to fruit. My attempts at bargaining were met with “we don’t bargain here,” yet my mom and Aunt didn’t pay full price for anything.

The flower market was overwhelming. The variety of flowers was impressive to say the least, but even more impressive were the hundreds of mostly young men buying Valentines bouquets. Roses were the most common, in every imaginable color (though I doubt the blue ones exist in nature), but the orchids and unusual flowers were the most interesting to me. I’d never seen long-stemmed decorative cabbages before. (If roses say "I love you," what do cabbages say?)

Mom and Aunt R bought so many flowers that R’s servant had to come to carry the flowers home for her.

After the flower market, we went to the Bird garden. I was expecting an aviary, but instead it was more of a marketplace where people sold caged birds and their accessories. It was also a place for bird people to socialize, and they bring their caged birds to interact with their friend’s caged birds. Even the restaurants in the area have hooks for people to hang their birdcages. While I felt sorry for the birds, I was glad they’d taken me here because I never would have gone their otherwise.

Then it was back to Aunt R’s apartment for a while. The school my mom went to was right next door, and she wanted me to take her picture there. There was some sort of festival going on, so we walked right in. A minute later we were chased down because we didn’t pay admission, but after some negotiation, my mom got her picture and we left. I teased my mom about being in trouble with the nuns again, but she said it was okay since the security people weren’t nuns.

Like Uncle L’s apartment, the centerpiece of Aunt R’s apartment was a gigantic built-in knick-knack shelf stuffed full. Once again, we were asked to each choose something from their knick-knack shelves to bring home with us. I thought that was pretty weird, but my mom thought it was normal. For me, it was a test in Chineseness. If I picked something too valuable, that would be greedy. If I picked something too cheap, I might insult them. If I picked something with sentimental value, I might put them in an awkward position. Balance that with the thought that I’d have to get it home, so it shouldn’t be too fragile, large, or heavy, and then I’d have to store it in my own knick-knack shelf until faced with my own mortality I felt compelled to pass it on to the next generation.

In the evening, we took the bus back to the hotel for a nap/a little blog time. It wasn’t until around 7 that I started to get hungry enough to think that I actually wanted dinner. Being Valentines night I figured all the restaurants would be packed, but the guidebook mentioned a deli in the area, so we went there. It turns out it was a pretty fancy restaurant with American food, but we arrived during the nightly 8 PM light show that they do at the waterfront, so we were able to get a table. After dinner we walked along the waterfront which was lovely but very crowded. I’ll probably go back some other day to catch the light show.

Hong Kong: Day 2, no rest for the weary

Despite having been on the road since very early the previous morning, we hit the ground running (or at least walking) as soon as we arrived. Our hotel room wasn’t ready for us, so we had breakfast at the hotel cafeteria with my mom’s brother and sister (Uncle L and Aunt R). I had stir-fried noodles with dim sum. Then as we were leaving to go for a walk, we found out that our room was ready. It was really nice to be able to change clothes since it was about 75 F/ 2X C and phenomenally humid. So maybe an hour and a half after breakfast, we went out for lunch at a Shanghai style restaurant where we tried their variant of dim sum. The wonton soup was great, but the potstickers weren’t as good as I’d hoped for. There were also some soupy buns—be careful eating these because they tend to either squirt or dribble broth down your chin.

Then Uncle left us and Aunt went window shopping with us. We started by going to my mom’s favorite optician to order glasses. I ordered a pair of prescription sunglasses for under $200. I should mention that compared to these two, my mom moves like lightning. It was really difficult for me to walk so slowly and hundreds of people pushed their way by us. Eventually I got their blessing to meet them back at the hotel in a few hours and headed off on my own.

I was amazed at the variety in this part of town. One block would be just packed with signs for a thousand shops, then the next would be lined with fabulous old banyan trees. There were fancy malls with high end designer wares, and other shops that were probably really alleys. And if you looked up, you’d see how a lot of people live in rather run down high-rise buildings. Condensation from the hundreds of old air conditioners rained down on the sidewalks, and every store had their doors wide open and air conditioners on full blast so the further into a shop you walked, the cooler it got (quite an enticement on a day like this). Clearly electricity is too cheap here. Each store also had an abundance of clerks and an additional person who stood on the sidewalk and tried to talk people into visiting the store with coupons or promises of huge discounts. The sidewalks were also lined with men (most appeared to be of Indian descent) muttering or calling out, or even chasing you down the sidewalk if you accidentally made eye contact with offers of custom tailored, suits, imitation Rolexes, or copies of designer purses. I was warned that these guys are associated with shops either above or below street level, and that they would want me to follow them away from the crowds, but I wasn’t up for that.

I was surprised to discover that many of the discount stores do not allow you to try on the clothes. Considering how much bigger than average I am around here, I wouldn’t even consider buying anything without trying it on. It seemed like about every third shop was either a restaurant of some kind or a jewelry store. Camera and electronics stores were also very common. None of these seemed particularly busy, but there somehow must be enough business to go around.

By 4 PM I ended up back at the hotel for a well deserved shower. At 6 PM, Aunt R picked us up to go out to dinner with Uncle L at his wife’s favorite Cantonese restaurant. Uncle L’s wife (Aunt A) has always been quite a character. While she used to hold an import and respected job, she is now retired to life as a princess. She is far to dainty and delicate for any sort of vigorous or strenuous activity. The more she complains, the more Uncle L pampers her, so she is now pretty much completely helpless. She has a full time servant who pushes her around in a wheelchair, serves her food, and keeps her napkin tucked in. She refuses to take medicine or supplements since the pills are too big for her to swallow, thus she suffers from osteoporosis. A month ago she fell and broke her wrist. This was such a horrible and painful experience for her that she could not eat or drink and consequently needed to be hospitalized for over a week. The hospital staff could not cater to her adequately, so her servant had to sleep there with her.

Dinner started out with FRESH shrimp in my honor. Now I don’t particularly like shrimp, and I prefer not to eat things that filter for a living, so there was no way I’d be able to eat giant shrimp that had only moments before been boiled alive and were served intact with eyes and feet and all. I could swear that the antennae were still twitching. I fear I may have angered Uncle L since Aunt A ordered it specifically for me. Sorry, but I have my limits. The second course was soup which was pretty good (I avoided the mystery meat at the bottom). Then came duck skin. Then roast chicken, artfully cut up and presented artfully as though it was flying (complete with the head). Then something that could have been sautéed romaine lettuce with nuts. Then the rest of the duck chopped finely and served in lettuce cups. Then fried rice with pork fat. Luckily I was not the least bit hungry after the two previous meals.

Another thing about dinner was that the restaurant was so loud. It appeared to have normal sound dampening like carpet and such, but it was full on a Friday night, and Cantonese is a loud language. It is not spoken, it is yelled. I had a hard time following the conversations, and besides ringing, my ears actually hurt. Luckily our hotel room is on the 8th floor so the traffic noise isn't so bad. And the view is amazing!

Now I’m thoroughly exhausted, and the internet connection (that we had to pay extra for) is so slow that I can’t even load a weather forecast. I’ll try to upload some pictures, but since it’s now 10 PM, I won’t spend long trying tonight. We have to get up early tomorrow so that we can meet Uncle L and Aunt A for brunch.