Well I'm finally awake, alert and in a clean shirt having woken from a very sound night's sleep, albeit on the hardest bed in the known Universe, to find my luggage had caught up with me. A quick shower, a stroll down to the college for some breakfast and I was feeling very happy with the world. I decided after breakfast to take a stroll up to West Street where all the touristy things are and there I sat outside a cafe for an hour watching people go by in the rain. Life, I am sure, doesn't get much better than this.
For those who don't know let me tell you a bit about Yangshou - not actual facts you understand, because you can get those from the internet, but rather feelings and impressions. I have of course been here before and it's a very tourist-centred place. Well, West Street is anyway. It's a beautiful part of China and it's great to be back. I pottered around for a while before and after that coffee, bought a couple of (probably overpriced) notebooks for my journals and poetry and a (definitely overpriced) umbrella.
I've definitely made the right choice in coming here again.
I saw...
three girls with umbrellas, taking turns at photographing each other, singly and in pairs, avec et sans les parapluis, in the rain...
a Chinese family with two toddlers mumified in transparent ponchos, one yellow, one blue
a girl on a bicycle vainly tring to steer and hold down her (white) poncho as she went
a tall German guy trying to negotiate a better rate for a room at the cafe across the street
a dozen street salesmen trying to sell me umbrellas, books, photographs, T-shirts, flowers and other random paraphenalia.
I strolled past empty restaurants with their forelorn chairs and tables, too early for the main tourist rush and too wet for the casual breakfast trade.
More lately - a friend just came on line and we're chatting.
