We just got back from a four day retreat/vacation in Dali, China. This beautiful city, lined with busy streets, 3 famous towers, and a beautiful lake, offered a perfect environment to enjoy walking through streets full of vendors, coffee shops, and wonderful restaurants. The weather was beautiful every single day and made it very easy for us to enjoy ourselves.
We did so many fantastic things in that short amount of time: we went on a really long group bike ride to the lake; we ate at some really great restaurants, ranging from regular Chinese dinners to good ol' American cheeseburgers to Italian lasagna and pizza; we spent several hours talking and reading in a great little coffee shop called the Black Dragon Cafe. That was one of my favorite parts of the trip; sitting in the coffee shop, either reading my book or talking about my upcoming years at UNC.
(Side note: while I have been around coffee-drinkers my entire life, I have yet to try a sip. Reason #1: I have seen many coffee addicts who apparently cannot go a day without the stuff and I am in no hurry to become one of them. Reason #2 (more importantly): I have been planning on waiting to drink it for when I start college. I know that there will be many occasions when I will need to be able to stay awake during class. When this happens, I do not want to have built up any immunity to it to where it would have any less of an impact on me than possible. However, after spending so much time sitting with these college graduates, I cannot help but be excited to have my first cup. Anyway, enough of that long, and probably boring, rabbit-trail)
Oh I had so much fun riding there and back in the "party bus," finishing off my book, having great conversations, and playing fun and intellectually-stimulating games. It was a blast.
To tell you the truth, I really did not want to come back. I enjoyed so much all of the time I spent reading in the coffee shop, walking around, and being with the people that I love and care about... Oh well, I'm still here with the same people, just with less free time.
Tomorrow I'm back into the regular routine of going to campus, meeting new people, and having Chinese language class. On Friday, I get to help my friend Luke again playing music for the youth group. I can't wait.
Anyway, that was a little bit of our trip to Dali. At the top of this blog page, there are some pictures from there. Oh, what a great weekend. Now it's time to look forward to my remaining time here, where I can't wait to see all of the surprises that are in store.
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ReplyDeleteSo you took a vacation from your vacation...it's called a vacation-ation...it's better than a vacation....so...yeah....hahah, glad you had fun man, wish I could have been there with you guys!
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