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Published: April 9th 2010
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Day 132: Thursday, April 8th, 2010.
Hua Shan, China.
After breakfast (I pass since we're about to do a 2 hour walk), we head out to explore our surroundings. We stop at the nearby town whose main part consists of maybe 5 mud and stone buildings. It's interesting to see the everyday lifestyle and, considering how the outside looks, I'm amazed when people emerge from their homes and they look clean and well dressed for the day. I don't see how anything around here can be clean. We see, from afar, the local school and we head back to our bungalows. We break for a couple of hours (Dick is the only one in the mood for lunch) and then we meet up again to go do a river boat cruise that will take us down the
Zuo River to see some rock paintings. Halfway on our walk to the dock my stomach gave a gurgle (had already gotten sick twice during our lunch break) and I tell the others I'm out and head back and crash in the room. While there, I glare at my computer and decide to give it another try. It starts up (that hasn't been the
problem) but the battery symbol has a giant "X" on it and indicates that it has nothing left. Meanwhile, the cord that plugs my computer into the wall has a light that indicates power and it is
barely glowing (you have to cup your hands around it and peer close. However, my computer is up and running so even if there is only a little power going thru, it seems to be enough. i just need it to stay alive long enough to jot my thoughts down and load pictures onto. Come on computer- you can do it!
The others return from the cruise (it was a 3 hour tour, feel free to sing "Gilligan's Island", I am) and tell me I didn't miss much. The paintings are being refurbished so the side of the mountain is covered in scaffolding. Plus, the very slow moving boat had very hard seat and both Judy and Rita commented on their butts hurting. So, looks like my stomach saved me from fun- yea! Plus, while they were gone I also had time to hose down all my clothes (which are all dirty- someday I'll be able to do laundry again) with a
mosquito spray that I've had with me the past 4 months. It's intended to go on the clothes and it's supposed to be a repellant for 6 months, even with washing. So, here's hoping it works. So far the nasty mosquitos (or "mossies" as the Aussies call them) have found that the repellant on the bottom of my feet wears off fast and keep getting me on the soles of my feet. So, no more sandals for me for a while.
Dinner that night was a bar-b-que and it was great. We had skewers of chicken, beef and pork, along with roasted pumpkin, grilled corn and, of course, rice. I ate quite a bit and not just because I was starving, but because tomorrow is another long travel day and I won't be eating until tomorrow night. So, one good meal for the road. Plus, I'm getting acclimated (albeit only slightly) to my nature surroundings. So, I didn't flinch as much during dinner tonight. Still, I will be happy to move on in the morning.
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edna
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So glad you enjoyed Vietnam as much as you did. I hope as time goes by that things get better in China.