Clouds slowly drifted over the water-filled rice terraces, lit by the dim light of a rising sun. The view was absolutely mesmerising. I was standing on a small patch of ground some hundred meters away from our hostel in the town of Pugaolao. I was glad I had come to this place, even though a thick pack of clouds drifted in ominously from the valley. After a hearty breakfast, my new Chinese friends and I set off to explore the viewpoints a bit further away. Clouds occasionally hid the views but in all, it was a fine day. The next day we were treated to clear blue skies, and with my new-found friends, I toured the region some more and enjoyed some good laughs.
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I figured it must have been my intonation which caused me trouble, so I tried again: “miniye baa”. The staff of my hostel in Jianshui looked at me with a look as if they thought I had cuckoo. OK, so far for my pronunciation in Standard Chinese, I thought, and showed them my smartphone where the word for “toilet” was written in chinese script. “Miniye baa”, the staff member repeated, still with a look of disbelief on his face. I realised Google Translate must have been a bit off with their translation, so I took out my notebook and showed off my drawing skills. It still took me about 5 minutes before they figured out I wanted to go to the toilet and refused to express it with obscene gestures… I was gradually getting used to having communication problems in China and took it good humouredly. All the easier in this laid back town, with an ancient feel to it and some nice - but to my feeling overpriced - cultural attractions.
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