We just got back from a fantastic weekend visiting friends (and practicing a lot of language) in Yuxi - about 1 hour south of us. We have some friends who used to live here so they prepared us for what we would find. We beginning to regret going at all because it was SO nice! Now we know what we are missing.....! This place has a beach, mountains, parks, NO traffic, quiet streets and GRASS!! When you've lived in a city filled with buses, taxi's police whistles, motorbike alarms, people and concrete, you really start to appreciate those things.
We went down on Friday evening and came back on Sunday afternoon. We hired a car and driver to take us and bring us back, so traveling was no trouble at all. The area just south of here turns rural almost as soon as you leave the city. Lots of corn rows and shingled roofs, mountains all around. Very traditional China. It's probably where a lot of our produce comes from.
This weekend was a great Xiūxí for us - a "rest". The hotel was nice and the time with our friends in a different environment was even nicer. But now we are back home, in our own place, and I have to say - even though it's the city and it has it's quirks - it IS home to us. We feel comfortable and at peace where we are. We're looking forward to another busy week, full of language and culture!
