Deep freeze

Having been so happy to be living in a very nice, new flat here in Beibei, the winter is creeping in and the good appearances are harder to keep up. The temperatures here are currently around 15'C, which could in theory be a nice, warm autumn temperature. But in reality, combined with the everlasting rain and humidity (very much like in England!), it becomes the kind of cold that gets inside our bones and never lets you really feel warm.

As for the flat, we are beginning to realise what it really means to live in a climate like this without heating. Why would they not have it, is another mystery. We do have one little air-conditioner, which you can set on heating, but that isn't much good now either, as just this morning I realised that it was no longer blowing air out. Nice.

(not to mention the broken toilet, the door that doesn't lock...etc, etc...)

In addition, one of the bedrooms is very,very humid and starting to smell quite moldy. It looks like they have used very cheap materials in the constructions, cutting costs as usual. In the past week a wet patch has appeared on the wall and is getting bigger and bigger. But what can you do? We've pointed all this out to the landlady, but I doubt that anything much will happen.

Oh well, I'm starting to mentally prepare myself for the coming winter, when temperatures should be around 5'C. Brrrrrrrr.

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And Mark, right now I'm not living near any borders, but before this I was in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, which is bordered by Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.