Lazy start

drama unfolding in the courtyard, mamma has grabbed and is carryng away a girls backpack. The girl having arrived late and tired yesterday is complaining about lack of hot water (supposed to be 24 hours) and wants to pay half the rent. So mamma is in her full performance glory, showboating. I have seen her a number of times tongue lashing her staff too, her husband like many a Chinese man I have seen appers quiet and calm. On the streets while sometimes women (mostly) are having some kind of a outburst verbally, men tend to just look on.

Polish girls - 3 sisters, Anna, Kasha, Ola - were supposed to have left but have returned to the hostel all the way back from the airport as they had taken someone elses backpack. Anna is the eldest, starts every sentece with "to be honest" and tends to tell a story about everything that might arise. Under time constraints like return from cycle ride I had to at times shorten her stories. Ola is baby faced even though she is the middle child, quiet, glasses, petite. Kasha, pretty, chinese speaker lives here to learn the language, has abandoned at least for the time her interest in art.

new arrivals - Geraldine and Sue, Kiwis, sue lives in China as a librarian with her husband. Geralding visiting, in their 50's. I show them round the old town in the evening and we manage to find hot chocolate and apple pie by a stream whild admiring the owners massive 1800 cc motor bike. there is a continuous stream of people taking photos with it.