Hot bots (by Lesley)

Ali and the girls lounging on the kang

At least a third of our living area is occupied by this built-in kang (stove bed). This traditional sleeping platform is made from bricks and the interior cavity leads to a flu system that channels exhaust from the coal-fired stove in the winter. The kang is widespread in North China, especially in the very cold NE provinces. These days it's hotter outside, and we retreat to the kang to lounge around and read, write our diaries, update the blog, sew etc etc. What we don't do on the kang is sleep, though there would be room for about 8 adults. We have two modern beds in two tiny rooms off this one but we might be tempted to vacate those as the temperature drops to sub-zero, especially given that there is no other heating system in the house, which is single-glazed and poorly insulated. We intend to leave before the winter!

UPDATE: Short slideshow added to Home page this morning.

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