Whilst I was away I was constantly busy, always doing something, seeing, experiencing, preparing, I was rarely by myself with nothing to do . Now that I have returned it's completely the opposite. All that I seem to find myself doing is hanging around, waiting for university. It's hard for me.
Coming home didn't live up to what I can only assume were my unrealistic expectations. I think in my head I wanted it to be a big deal that I was home with people wanting to see me all the time to make up for the past 7 months but it doesn't work like that. So much changed in my absence, in the lives of my friends that I am out of the loop with many of them to a point where I miss them even though they are around now! I feel quite isolated. There are conversations I struggle to be a part of because I just don't follow it, and there's ones that I want to have but don't feel that I can. It's not that i want to talk about China 24/7 but it has been my entire life this year, I have not much else to talk abotu except memories. The question everybody asks is "How was China?" or something to that effect. How can I answer that? It wasn't a 2 week holiday, it was 7 months, you can't sum up that length of time in a few words. It was both good and bad; it was a time of paradoxes and contradictions. When somebody asks that dreaded question, they don't want lots of details, they want an overall impression, preferably in a few words.
That part of life is over, I'm fully aware of it but it's like I'm being made to close the door on it whereas I want to relish in it and relive it and treasure it. I'm not ready to move on yet. My network on facebook is still under China because part of my heart belongs there now.
I'm trying to keep myself busy so that I don't dwell on things. I have a very busy week ahead and I'm meeting up with a fair few people so maybe I will feel more settled in this time next week.
Monday, 1 September 2008
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
homeward bound
Hong Kong was pretty uneventful. Contradicortory to what my mother has told me, my dad was NOT in Hong Kong. We spent the night there and ate dinner at a falsely advertised "veggie" restaurant. I had a phonecall from my sister too which was nice =)
We took a ferry the next morning to Zhongshan, where the office is that we had left our luggage. We spent ages catching up with Doris and letting isobel repack her suitcases (yes plural) before dashing off to get a bus to Guangzhou where... I met my dad!! He flew into Guangzhou for the night to see me. I was very happy to see him and gave him a huuuge hug in the hotel lobby.
The 3 of us enjoyed a nice dinner in the hotel -they finally had to chuck us out just before one.
I got up earlyish for breakfast before setting baout rearranging my bags so that I had the heaviest handluggage I could possibly have.
I sat in dad's room for roughly 45 mins having a good old chat about nothing in particular until we had to get in a taxi and go to the airport.
My suitcase was a little overweight but they didn;t charge me unlike Izzie who was carrying 64kg and got hit with a huge fine to go with it.
I spent most of the flight asleep because I had 3 seats to myself oh yes so it passed quickly. We arrived but Peter (an employee of Isobel's Dad) was late picking us up. The airport was chaso with people and media everywhere. Eventually we made it to a hotel. I realised that I had left the key to my suitcase padlock in Guangzhou and the hotel's solution to this problem was to hand me a rusty saw and a hammer. DIY!
We went out for dinner with Peter, his wife and some of their friends. It was a nice affair with lots of laughing and I was sort of able to follow some of the ocnversations in chinese which pleased me, not that I could join in!
Tomorrow is the day I fly home, i',m currently updating my memory card with Izzie's photos from when i was ohne Fotoapparat.
It's wierd the idea about coming home. I have apprehensions of course but i'm very much ;ooking forward to seeign so many people again. My time in China is very nearly at an end, and whilst I shall mourn it, I'm lookign forward to uni, and home comforts and friends so badly! My next entry... will be from ye olde England!
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We took a ferry the next morning to Zhongshan, where the office is that we had left our luggage. We spent ages catching up with Doris and letting isobel repack her suitcases (yes plural) before dashing off to get a bus to Guangzhou where... I met my dad!! He flew into Guangzhou for the night to see me. I was very happy to see him and gave him a huuuge hug in the hotel lobby.
The 3 of us enjoyed a nice dinner in the hotel -they finally had to chuck us out just before one.
I got up earlyish for breakfast before setting baout rearranging my bags so that I had the heaviest handluggage I could possibly have.
I sat in dad's room for roughly 45 mins having a good old chat about nothing in particular until we had to get in a taxi and go to the airport.
My suitcase was a little overweight but they didn;t charge me unlike Izzie who was carrying 64kg and got hit with a huge fine to go with it.
I spent most of the flight asleep because I had 3 seats to myself oh yes so it passed quickly. We arrived but Peter (an employee of Isobel's Dad) was late picking us up. The airport was chaso with people and media everywhere. Eventually we made it to a hotel. I realised that I had left the key to my suitcase padlock in Guangzhou and the hotel's solution to this problem was to hand me a rusty saw and a hammer. DIY!
We went out for dinner with Peter, his wife and some of their friends. It was a nice affair with lots of laughing and I was sort of able to follow some of the ocnversations in chinese which pleased me, not that I could join in!
Tomorrow is the day I fly home, i',m currently updating my memory card with Izzie's photos from when i was ohne Fotoapparat.
It's wierd the idea about coming home. I have apprehensions of course but i'm very much ;ooking forward to seeign so many people again. My time in China is very nearly at an end, and whilst I shall mourn it, I'm lookign forward to uni, and home comforts and friends so badly! My next entry... will be from ye olde England!
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Bangkok
After my last blog entry, I wandered round the nearby markets as I had not the chnace to explore them fully yet. I had to buy a bigger bag as i was carrying more stuff than would fit into my tiny handbag. After that I wandered towards China town which was a little disapointing and not a bit like China. Next to it was India town if you can call it that. It was very obvious that one had left the thai area as teh attitude of people chnaged from happy-to-help to get-out-of-my-way. It was liberating to wander around at will so I quite enjoyed it with my coke in a bag. I also found the october 14th memorial dedicated to the students who stood up to the government forcing it to resign. Most interesting. That took up most of my day.
We rejoined for the 8 o'clock movie, after which we went in search of the Sex And The City movie which failed but led us to the markets where we sat down at a stall with a bucket of vodka, redbull and coke, this really isn;t as bad as it sounds and i detest red bull!
We spent the day after separately too as there was a crossover in what we wanted to do. We had lunch at an indian restaurant, as i love my indian food. I walked to the dusit complex to see the golden mansion.
This was not a great place for me. I had forgotten my grand palace ticket so had to buy a new ticket. Then had to give a deposit to rent "polite clothing" after that I had no money left to pay for a locker and you weren't allowed to take bags with you. I went to get a refund but the womand refused insisting that I had seen the museum and should now visit other things in the complex. The one other item which looked vaguely interesting cost more which I wasn't going to pay so I wandered round 2 awful exhibitions before finding some free lockers. I dumped my stuff and went back to the mansion to be told I wasn't allowed in because I had missed the last tour. I was not happy.
I decided to move on to Jim Thompson's house but had trouble finding a taxi. I bumped into a french medical student heading in the same direction so we shared a taxi. I ofund out that he's doing an iternship in cambodia, that there was only one cat scan machine in the whole of cambodia, donated by the frecnh and consequently none of teh doctors can analyse it's results properly. Comfortign for Isobel i'm sure.
The tour roundthe house was nice. I said bye to the french studetn (Stan) and headed to the victory monument which was a bit of a disappointment before gettign the skytrain to meet isobel at the shopping centre as arranged.
We shopped, I bought a few items of clothing and we had dinner. We decided to sample the nightlife that night too but it took us until 11 to even vaguely get round to leaving!
We met a bunch of irish people, an australian, a scotsman and 2 english guys, 1 of which is living in the same buidling as me as sheffield and the other comes from bamford and we knew lots of people in common. All was going well until isobel broke my shoe. Instead of receiving an apology I wa smet with "drink more alcohol and you won;t notice it's broken" which infuriated me becuase Isobal is incapable of saying sorry. Thus, we had a nice arguement and I stormed off to the hotel.
We didn;t talk the next morning just packed and got on the airport shuttle bus. After about 15 minutes realised I'd left my phone and my mp3 at the hotel and got the driver to turn around. He drove past the alleyway we had stayed on refusing to stop before finally letting me off a kilometre away. I was less tahn impressed. I collected my things and went straight to the travel agents to demand a refund which I got but it took some hassle.
We got in a taxi and immediately the driver asked if we had forgotten anything which made us burst into laughter and broke the ice between izzie and I. Things went pretty smoothly form then on and we arrived in Hong Kong completing the first leg of teh journey home.
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We rejoined for the 8 o'clock movie, after which we went in search of the Sex And The City movie which failed but led us to the markets where we sat down at a stall with a bucket of vodka, redbull and coke, this really isn;t as bad as it sounds and i detest red bull!
We spent the day after separately too as there was a crossover in what we wanted to do. We had lunch at an indian restaurant, as i love my indian food. I walked to the dusit complex to see the golden mansion.
This was not a great place for me. I had forgotten my grand palace ticket so had to buy a new ticket. Then had to give a deposit to rent "polite clothing" after that I had no money left to pay for a locker and you weren't allowed to take bags with you. I went to get a refund but the womand refused insisting that I had seen the museum and should now visit other things in the complex. The one other item which looked vaguely interesting cost more which I wasn't going to pay so I wandered round 2 awful exhibitions before finding some free lockers. I dumped my stuff and went back to the mansion to be told I wasn't allowed in because I had missed the last tour. I was not happy.
I decided to move on to Jim Thompson's house but had trouble finding a taxi. I bumped into a french medical student heading in the same direction so we shared a taxi. I ofund out that he's doing an iternship in cambodia, that there was only one cat scan machine in the whole of cambodia, donated by the frecnh and consequently none of teh doctors can analyse it's results properly. Comfortign for Isobel i'm sure.
The tour roundthe house was nice. I said bye to the french studetn (Stan) and headed to the victory monument which was a bit of a disappointment before gettign the skytrain to meet isobel at the shopping centre as arranged.
We shopped, I bought a few items of clothing and we had dinner. We decided to sample the nightlife that night too but it took us until 11 to even vaguely get round to leaving!
We met a bunch of irish people, an australian, a scotsman and 2 english guys, 1 of which is living in the same buidling as me as sheffield and the other comes from bamford and we knew lots of people in common. All was going well until isobel broke my shoe. Instead of receiving an apology I wa smet with "drink more alcohol and you won;t notice it's broken" which infuriated me becuase Isobal is incapable of saying sorry. Thus, we had a nice arguement and I stormed off to the hotel.
We didn;t talk the next morning just packed and got on the airport shuttle bus. After about 15 minutes realised I'd left my phone and my mp3 at the hotel and got the driver to turn around. He drove past the alleyway we had stayed on refusing to stop before finally letting me off a kilometre away. I was less tahn impressed. I collected my things and went straight to the travel agents to demand a refund which I got but it took some hassle.
We got in a taxi and immediately the driver asked if we had forgotten anything which made us burst into laughter and broke the ice between izzie and I. Things went pretty smoothly form then on and we arrived in Hong Kong completing the first leg of teh journey home.
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Saturday, 2 August 2008
getaway
I got the meeting place wrong. I was under the impression that I was meeting the others at the hotel at 4. It wasn't until 5.20 that I got a text telling me where they were because they had gotten fed up with waiting for me at the travel agents. They were at an irish bar so I made an appearance and swiftly left again to return to an internet cafe. I attempted to ring home but no-one answered so i settled for agreeing to my uni residence contract which got me all excited and reading up about my course modules (I disovered that I can take chinese)
I returned to the hotel, picking up my laundry and repacked my bag. I then had to move all our bags into the courtyard so teh woner could lock up the office. I had to wait in the rain until the other 2 came back and then literally run off to get some dinner.
The bus journey to Bangkok had more people on it than to Chiang Mai but my porblem was Craig, who was in front of me, put his seat almost horizontal and since the table was broken, I couldn't move without beating myself up. I got an hours sleep at most.
We found ourself a hotel eventually. Istayed int he taxi whilst teh other 2 asked around and I went straigth up and collapsed on the bed.
We eventually got moving around midday. We saw the royal palace with attached temples and museums, walked around the amulet market (an accidental find) an checked out wat arun and wat pho. Wat pho is the one with reclining buddha. It's huge and quite detailed as in he has nipples and toeprints.
Wat arun is the most famous and incredibly step. It fuelled my hatred of steps from huangshan. never again will I opt to be healthy takign stairs instead of an escalator! Comign down was more of a problem as it was windy and I was wearing a skirt. i think a few people got a bit much of a view!
We walked back and whilst I sat in the lounge charging up numerous electrical items teh other 2 went for a rummage round the street market. They came back pretty late and we went for dinner before takign a second glance over. I managed to lose both of them so got fed up and went back to the room. I was so tired. We had made plans for a night out but I decided not to go because I knew I would just be grumpy and wouldn't enjoy it. Craig left this morning. It was a really awkward goodbye because I think he was irritated that I didn't go out last night. Izzie walked him downstairs but she wears a t-shirt and shorts in bed rather than pyjamas in which i decided I probably shouldn't wander around Thailand. So Craig has gone now.
Izzie and I had a disagrement this morning. We bought photos from the elephant farm. One got soaked and is ruined the other is fine. The one that is fine was in my backpack(I used my raincover) but izzie is claiming that on as hers and the damaged one as mine which I thought was unfair and propposed that we went to a developers and had a copy made of the good one. Her response was that it was unfair that she got the damaged one since she wasn't the one who got it wet as it was in Craig's bag. I pointed out to her that wasn't what I had suggested and she bit my head off sayign what was the point in bringing it up. Apparently I'm not allowed to voice my opinion or get things off my chest, or even suggest a solution. we have decided to spend the day separately. You may have discerned that I'm not at my happiest today.
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I returned to the hotel, picking up my laundry and repacked my bag. I then had to move all our bags into the courtyard so teh woner could lock up the office. I had to wait in the rain until the other 2 came back and then literally run off to get some dinner.
The bus journey to Bangkok had more people on it than to Chiang Mai but my porblem was Craig, who was in front of me, put his seat almost horizontal and since the table was broken, I couldn't move without beating myself up. I got an hours sleep at most.
We found ourself a hotel eventually. Istayed int he taxi whilst teh other 2 asked around and I went straigth up and collapsed on the bed.
We eventually got moving around midday. We saw the royal palace with attached temples and museums, walked around the amulet market (an accidental find) an checked out wat arun and wat pho. Wat pho is the one with reclining buddha. It's huge and quite detailed as in he has nipples and toeprints.
Wat arun is the most famous and incredibly step. It fuelled my hatred of steps from huangshan. never again will I opt to be healthy takign stairs instead of an escalator! Comign down was more of a problem as it was windy and I was wearing a skirt. i think a few people got a bit much of a view!
We walked back and whilst I sat in the lounge charging up numerous electrical items teh other 2 went for a rummage round the street market. They came back pretty late and we went for dinner before takign a second glance over. I managed to lose both of them so got fed up and went back to the room. I was so tired. We had made plans for a night out but I decided not to go because I knew I would just be grumpy and wouldn't enjoy it. Craig left this morning. It was a really awkward goodbye because I think he was irritated that I didn't go out last night. Izzie walked him downstairs but she wears a t-shirt and shorts in bed rather than pyjamas in which i decided I probably shouldn't wander around Thailand. So Craig has gone now.
Izzie and I had a disagrement this morning. We bought photos from the elephant farm. One got soaked and is ruined the other is fine. The one that is fine was in my backpack(I used my raincover) but izzie is claiming that on as hers and the damaged one as mine which I thought was unfair and propposed that we went to a developers and had a copy made of the good one. Her response was that it was unfair that she got the damaged one since she wasn't the one who got it wet as it was in Craig's bag. I pointed out to her that wasn't what I had suggested and she bit my head off sayign what was the point in bringing it up. Apparently I'm not allowed to voice my opinion or get things off my chest, or even suggest a solution. we have decided to spend the day separately. You may have discerned that I'm not at my happiest today.
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Thursday, 31 July 2008
Introducing Hoto the elephant
After our eventful morning, we set about exploring the town. We got as far as having lunch before tiredness overcame us and we gave into a lunchtime siesta. This meant we missed the rain thought which wasn't too bad.
We went to look at the most famous wat in Chiang Mai which had some typical buddhist proverbs hung from all the trees. From there we went to the art and cultural centre. we had to skip[ the tribal museum becuase it was too late, but this wasn't a bad replacement ewspeciallys ince we all got in for a student fee. Technically I am a student since I have just accepted my accomodation.
After this we wandered around some lovely night markets.
In a bid to improve Craig's spirits I lifted my pizza ban and we went for an italian. I had pasta with ricotta and spinach which is far too rich for me now as I have become so accustomed to plain rice. This whole food thing could be an issue when I get home (thogh not the only one, I shall have to practice my manners!)
From there we went to the night safari. This had been my choice of activity and when we got there I was really excited especiallya s they were playing the pirates of the caribbean theme song as part of teh water show. Unfortunatly this meant that as i was wearing flipflops I slipped on the wet tiled floor. I only grazed my wrist and my ankle slightly but my brand spanking new camera that was round my wrist is now broken. With the exception of this wretched event, the safari was actually pretty good. I saw a baby zebra and it has to be zebra and not zeebra.
Yesterday we went on a trek. I say trek, but there wasn't much trekking involved because of the rain. We started off at an orchid and butterfly farm which was yawnworthy and moved onto a tribal village. We saw teh long necks. I felt like an intruder, because we just traipsed round the village and people were takign photos of them, they must have felt like a circus! From there we went to an elephant camp where I got to ride an elephant. It was called hoto. I never knew elephants were so hairy, but they are wonderful creatures, I love their trunks. We also had lunch there. Afterthis we were supposed to trek to some waterfalls but we could only make it to the first one as the rocks were so slippery. We then waited for about 2 hours to do some white water rafting, an activity i do so much enjoy. Izzie Tried to push me in several times but failed and gave up after I pushed her over instead. The day was rounded off with some bamboo rafting which was very placid but we couldnt help but think the raft was sinking since it was 3 inches under the water.
we rounded the day off with a meal and had a fairly early night.
Today, Isobel and i took cooking course. Craig opted against this to save money and soent his time, as far as I am aware since I havn't seen him yet, searching for a flight from bangkok to Guangzhou so he can go home. The cooking course was really good, the chef was hilarious and it was all completely hands on. I'm investing in a wok when I come home because I made a mean phad thai!
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We went to look at the most famous wat in Chiang Mai which had some typical buddhist proverbs hung from all the trees. From there we went to the art and cultural centre. we had to skip[ the tribal museum becuase it was too late, but this wasn't a bad replacement ewspeciallys ince we all got in for a student fee. Technically I am a student since I have just accepted my accomodation.
After this we wandered around some lovely night markets.
In a bid to improve Craig's spirits I lifted my pizza ban and we went for an italian. I had pasta with ricotta and spinach which is far too rich for me now as I have become so accustomed to plain rice. This whole food thing could be an issue when I get home (thogh not the only one, I shall have to practice my manners!)
From there we went to the night safari. This had been my choice of activity and when we got there I was really excited especiallya s they were playing the pirates of the caribbean theme song as part of teh water show. Unfortunatly this meant that as i was wearing flipflops I slipped on the wet tiled floor. I only grazed my wrist and my ankle slightly but my brand spanking new camera that was round my wrist is now broken. With the exception of this wretched event, the safari was actually pretty good. I saw a baby zebra and it has to be zebra and not zeebra.
Yesterday we went on a trek. I say trek, but there wasn't much trekking involved because of the rain. We started off at an orchid and butterfly farm which was yawnworthy and moved onto a tribal village. We saw teh long necks. I felt like an intruder, because we just traipsed round the village and people were takign photos of them, they must have felt like a circus! From there we went to an elephant camp where I got to ride an elephant. It was called hoto. I never knew elephants were so hairy, but they are wonderful creatures, I love their trunks. We also had lunch there. Afterthis we were supposed to trek to some waterfalls but we could only make it to the first one as the rocks were so slippery. We then waited for about 2 hours to do some white water rafting, an activity i do so much enjoy. Izzie Tried to push me in several times but failed and gave up after I pushed her over instead. The day was rounded off with some bamboo rafting which was very placid but we couldnt help but think the raft was sinking since it was 3 inches under the water.
we rounded the day off with a meal and had a fairly early night.
Today, Isobel and i took cooking course. Craig opted against this to save money and soent his time, as far as I am aware since I havn't seen him yet, searching for a flight from bangkok to Guangzhou so he can go home. The cooking course was really good, the chef was hilarious and it was all completely hands on. I'm investing in a wok when I come home because I made a mean phad thai!
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Tuesday, 29 July 2008
hospitals
We discovered that in fact pretty much everything was closed. We had a lie and wandered around looking for somewhere open to serve us brunch. It was fairly expensive as it was aimed at westerners obviously. After that we thought a trip to a doctors would be fun. We arrived during the lunchtime break so we checked out a nearby Wat which had some monkeys amling around. We headed back to the clinic to realise, actually, it wasn't opening today. So off to the hospital we went! Izzie got a CAT scan, it was advised to check she was OK for the flight to bangkok. This took a fair amount of time and there was a man with a large wound to his neck bleeding everywhere - really pretty!She in fact has a very healthy brain.
We wasted much of our day in this useless fashion and took in a limited number of shops before rounding the day off with a sunday roast (or jacket potatoe for me) The other 2 hit an internet cafe and I updated my travel journal - lots of sticking in to be done and watching a very dodgy horror movie. Phnom penh was not the most exciting of places for us! Cambodia has not been my favourite stop and I was most glad to be arriving in Thailand yesterday. We flew here and had a dispute at the airport about the departure tax. I was under the impression that it was included in the price of teh ticket but upon further inspection of the terms and conditions just now it says it is only included at SOME airports. Annoying.
We arrived safely in bangkok and took a taxi to a travel agent to book some bus tickets up to chiang mai. We had some spare time so we left our bags at the travel agent, checked out a nearby wat and then hit a shopping mall with an international food court for dinner.
I found an english paper headlining something about Gordon Brown selling out on the queen which got Craig and I started on a political conversation, which led to the novel idea of me setting up my own political party (or merging Lib.Dems and the BNP) in my campaign to be Prime Minister. We even discussed policies. We asked Izzie what was wrong from a foreigners point of view. She came up with 4 things: 1)A-levels are too easy (though she couldn;t tell me what she studied in maths that I hadn't also studied) 2)Britian sucks up to america (that is a misfortunate consequence of having a leader who thinks George Bush is best thing since sliced bread) 3) we drink too much (and she's irish!) and 4)we're all really arrogant and expect everyone else to speak english. My response to the last point was that in the case of the few people who do try to speak a native langauge (i.e. me) i'm met by stubborn people who only want to practise their english which is incredibly frustrating. She was abit offended that I suggested some of her opinions of the british we're unfounded especially when I told her that there are some things I can't bring up around her because of her irish pride she just insults everything british (i.e education) which gets a bit annoying really.
I've just caught sight of the powerpuff girls on the tv playign in the corner! teehee!
We arrived in Chinag Mai no problem. I slept quite well as teh bus was pretty empty so I had 2 seats. It was a struggle working out what to do at 4.30 am but one hostel agreed to let us sit in their courtyard and we could check-in later. We stayed up doing not a lot, then went for breakfast. We went for an amble too. A motorbike fell over onto Craig's leg (sounds ridiculous I know)I hadn't realised how bad it was so whilst he went back to the hostel to clean it up izzie and I ambled a bit more and went back to meet him. After taking some alcohol & iodine to the cut to clean it, we realised it was a pretty nasty gash that would need stitches. To the hostpital we went! It was a relaly nice hospital actually and he got seen almost immediately. The staff that dealt with us all spoke english and were really friendly. The doctor stitching Criag's leg up (5 stitches) even cracked a joke. Craig was in a bit of a state a) because of the pain b) he hates hospitals and c) he was in shock too. So it's 11am on our first day in Thailand, if you don't include yesterday, and we had a trip to the hopsital already! They were joking that it's me next. I just hope it isn't!
We wasted much of our day in this useless fashion and took in a limited number of shops before rounding the day off with a sunday roast (or jacket potatoe for me) The other 2 hit an internet cafe and I updated my travel journal - lots of sticking in to be done and watching a very dodgy horror movie. Phnom penh was not the most exciting of places for us! Cambodia has not been my favourite stop and I was most glad to be arriving in Thailand yesterday. We flew here and had a dispute at the airport about the departure tax. I was under the impression that it was included in the price of teh ticket but upon further inspection of the terms and conditions just now it says it is only included at SOME airports. Annoying.
We arrived safely in bangkok and took a taxi to a travel agent to book some bus tickets up to chiang mai. We had some spare time so we left our bags at the travel agent, checked out a nearby wat and then hit a shopping mall with an international food court for dinner.
I found an english paper headlining something about Gordon Brown selling out on the queen which got Craig and I started on a political conversation, which led to the novel idea of me setting up my own political party (or merging Lib.Dems and the BNP) in my campaign to be Prime Minister. We even discussed policies. We asked Izzie what was wrong from a foreigners point of view. She came up with 4 things: 1)A-levels are too easy (though she couldn;t tell me what she studied in maths that I hadn't also studied) 2)Britian sucks up to america (that is a misfortunate consequence of having a leader who thinks George Bush is best thing since sliced bread) 3) we drink too much (and she's irish!) and 4)we're all really arrogant and expect everyone else to speak english. My response to the last point was that in the case of the few people who do try to speak a native langauge (i.e. me) i'm met by stubborn people who only want to practise their english which is incredibly frustrating. She was abit offended that I suggested some of her opinions of the british we're unfounded especially when I told her that there are some things I can't bring up around her because of her irish pride she just insults everything british (i.e education) which gets a bit annoying really.
I've just caught sight of the powerpuff girls on the tv playign in the corner! teehee!
We arrived in Chinag Mai no problem. I slept quite well as teh bus was pretty empty so I had 2 seats. It was a struggle working out what to do at 4.30 am but one hostel agreed to let us sit in their courtyard and we could check-in later. We stayed up doing not a lot, then went for breakfast. We went for an amble too. A motorbike fell over onto Craig's leg (sounds ridiculous I know)I hadn't realised how bad it was so whilst he went back to the hostel to clean it up izzie and I ambled a bit more and went back to meet him. After taking some alcohol & iodine to the cut to clean it, we realised it was a pretty nasty gash that would need stitches. To the hostpital we went! It was a relaly nice hospital actually and he got seen almost immediately. The staff that dealt with us all spoke english and were really friendly. The doctor stitching Criag's leg up (5 stitches) even cracked a joke. Craig was in a bit of a state a) because of the pain b) he hates hospitals and c) he was in shock too. So it's 11am on our first day in Thailand, if you don't include yesterday, and we had a trip to the hopsital already! They were joking that it's me next. I just hope it isn't!
Saturday, 26 July 2008
Rain Rain go away
I think I've broken my toe. I definitely did break my camera and there is a lovely bruise on my leg from an incident involving a bar stool - I think. I saw the biggest spider imaginable and I'm talking like the size of 2 fists minimum without exaggeration. Craig can affirm this - it was a beast!
We did in fact go to the beach in the rain. Izzie and I jumped straight jumping over the rather ferocious waves and splashing around. Craig sat on the beach, but after a while took all our stuff back to the hotel and brought down some towels. In his absence we got circled by some local boys for goodness knows what reason. We got out and sat on the beach, but the surf was too tempting and sat with our toes in the water, which eventually led to us just diving back in. There were a few pretty big waves, one of which took me unawares. Izzie ducked under and somehow I got flung around landing on top of Izzie, kneeing her in the head. She took a while to resurface so I dragged her back onto the beach especially when she felt a bit dizzy. I sat her down and asked her to follow my finger. She couldn't. So I went on a mission to find a torch to check her pupil dilation. This took a bit of effort and brought me across the path of the Frenchies. I eventually got a torch and her pupils weren't really dilating either. Yes I concussed Isobel. This had got the attention of the French teacher. After explaining what happened, he didn't seem too bothered and after he sat down, he was greeted by whispers of 'qu'est-ce qui se passe?;?'' (what's happening). Craig then reappeared and agreed and we told izzie not to go back in the water whilst we swam. I got a bit of a fright when I turned round and she wasn't where we left her. I responded by yelling '"Isobel zai nali?" i.e where's Isobel in chinese. It took me a few seconds to realise Craig hadn't the slightest clue what I was talking about. She hadn't wandered too far. however we thought it best not to leave her alone. So we sat chatting and I spotted a spider on my leg so I screamed got up and ran around the bar knocking over some chairs. What a way to cause a scene! I asked whether the spider was still there. Craig said yes, Isobel said no. In my rational state of mind I started telling her I hated her. This was being translated into French for entertainment value. I think we decided to go back to the hotel. I had to keep a watch on Izzie and pay careful attention when she was in the shower just in case. She was very giggly and giddy during this whole period.
We went to a place called the snake house. It had lots of snakes in glass cases, including under the table. It was a little disappointing as there weren't as many snakes as we had hoped and we weren't able to hold them as the handler wasn't around.
We headed back, changed slightly (I brushed my hair and for the first time in a very very long time applied makeup) and hit the beach for cocktails. We started in a little restaurant on the far end, but got bored as there was no music so went in search of a bar. Who did we find there? The frenchies of course! They were very drunk (despite it being fairly early) and very stupid. One girl was wandering off with a Cambodian and this is an area that had a very high profile case of rape and several others were stripping off and jumping in the sea. There is a common warning that there are sharks at night. Our responsible sides took over. we found the one sober student who was so happy to have help from french speakers. He explained that their teachers weren't around (because they are nice and cool) so we rushed to their aid. Called the students out of the water told them it was dangerous and suggested they went back to the hotel. One girl was struggling to redress herself so i gave her a hand she looked at me and in that way only drunk people can manage told me I was very beautiful before staggering off. We saw them off. After finding a few stragglers in the bar we decided to see them back to the hotel. Silly silly students!
We carried on with our night out, which overall was an enjoyable experience.
The next morning we went on a boat trip. It was raining so heavily and we got soaked. Izzie was still concussed and Craig got seasick. There wasn''t much wildlife around because of the rain (no tigers or dolphins =[ ) we got back and dried off. I couldn't tell you if I did anything else interesting that day.
This morning we got a bus to Phnom Penh. It is election weekend so no alcohol is being sold (though funny tasting apple juice is readily available ;-] ) and lots of things are closed.
Our tuk tuk driver tried to over charge us to the bus station. I calmly refused to pay him that much so he stopped us getting on the bus, eventually he got very threatening grabbed my arm and tried to pull me backwards and threw my books on the floor. He also tried to throttle Craig. This got the attention of the people on the bus waiting for us. They agreed it was too much, but the driver then said it had nothing to do with money it was because I had scolded him. The only time I did anything of the sort was when he assaulted me and threw my booms around at which point I had yelled ''Do not touch me" It was not a great experience. It got sorted though.
Phnom penh is ok. We went to the palace, though I was turned away as myt shorts weren't conservatice apparently. I told the other 2 to go in as they had bought the tickets already and I went shopping. I bought a new camera. I would have got mine fixed, but I don;t have time and even the one day without a camera was slowly killing me. It was good timing I arrived back at the palace gates just as the other two came out.
We had an amble around and found an english pub full of expats watching a rugby match from the tri nations. They adopted us and we had a good rugby watching sesh. We also walked out without paying, got halfway down the street and rushed back to settle the bill. Silly us.
Since then we've had dinner. I'm hoping not everything is closed tomorrow. It's our only day here so it would be such a shame!
We did in fact go to the beach in the rain. Izzie and I jumped straight jumping over the rather ferocious waves and splashing around. Craig sat on the beach, but after a while took all our stuff back to the hotel and brought down some towels. In his absence we got circled by some local boys for goodness knows what reason. We got out and sat on the beach, but the surf was too tempting and sat with our toes in the water, which eventually led to us just diving back in. There were a few pretty big waves, one of which took me unawares. Izzie ducked under and somehow I got flung around landing on top of Izzie, kneeing her in the head. She took a while to resurface so I dragged her back onto the beach especially when she felt a bit dizzy. I sat her down and asked her to follow my finger. She couldn't. So I went on a mission to find a torch to check her pupil dilation. This took a bit of effort and brought me across the path of the Frenchies. I eventually got a torch and her pupils weren't really dilating either. Yes I concussed Isobel. This had got the attention of the French teacher. After explaining what happened, he didn't seem too bothered and after he sat down, he was greeted by whispers of 'qu'est-ce qui se passe?;?'' (what's happening). Craig then reappeared and agreed and we told izzie not to go back in the water whilst we swam. I got a bit of a fright when I turned round and she wasn't where we left her. I responded by yelling '"Isobel zai nali?" i.e where's Isobel in chinese. It took me a few seconds to realise Craig hadn't the slightest clue what I was talking about. She hadn't wandered too far. however we thought it best not to leave her alone. So we sat chatting and I spotted a spider on my leg so I screamed got up and ran around the bar knocking over some chairs. What a way to cause a scene! I asked whether the spider was still there. Craig said yes, Isobel said no. In my rational state of mind I started telling her I hated her. This was being translated into French for entertainment value. I think we decided to go back to the hotel. I had to keep a watch on Izzie and pay careful attention when she was in the shower just in case. She was very giggly and giddy during this whole period.
We went to a place called the snake house. It had lots of snakes in glass cases, including under the table. It was a little disappointing as there weren't as many snakes as we had hoped and we weren't able to hold them as the handler wasn't around.
We headed back, changed slightly (I brushed my hair and for the first time in a very very long time applied makeup) and hit the beach for cocktails. We started in a little restaurant on the far end, but got bored as there was no music so went in search of a bar. Who did we find there? The frenchies of course! They were very drunk (despite it being fairly early) and very stupid. One girl was wandering off with a Cambodian and this is an area that had a very high profile case of rape and several others were stripping off and jumping in the sea. There is a common warning that there are sharks at night. Our responsible sides took over. we found the one sober student who was so happy to have help from french speakers. He explained that their teachers weren't around (because they are nice and cool) so we rushed to their aid. Called the students out of the water told them it was dangerous and suggested they went back to the hotel. One girl was struggling to redress herself so i gave her a hand she looked at me and in that way only drunk people can manage told me I was very beautiful before staggering off. We saw them off. After finding a few stragglers in the bar we decided to see them back to the hotel. Silly silly students!
We carried on with our night out, which overall was an enjoyable experience.
The next morning we went on a boat trip. It was raining so heavily and we got soaked. Izzie was still concussed and Craig got seasick. There wasn''t much wildlife around because of the rain (no tigers or dolphins =[ ) we got back and dried off. I couldn't tell you if I did anything else interesting that day.
This morning we got a bus to Phnom Penh. It is election weekend so no alcohol is being sold (though funny tasting apple juice is readily available ;-] ) and lots of things are closed.
Our tuk tuk driver tried to over charge us to the bus station. I calmly refused to pay him that much so he stopped us getting on the bus, eventually he got very threatening grabbed my arm and tried to pull me backwards and threw my books on the floor. He also tried to throttle Craig. This got the attention of the people on the bus waiting for us. They agreed it was too much, but the driver then said it had nothing to do with money it was because I had scolded him. The only time I did anything of the sort was when he assaulted me and threw my booms around at which point I had yelled ''Do not touch me" It was not a great experience. It got sorted though.
Phnom penh is ok. We went to the palace, though I was turned away as myt shorts weren't conservatice apparently. I told the other 2 to go in as they had bought the tickets already and I went shopping. I bought a new camera. I would have got mine fixed, but I don;t have time and even the one day without a camera was slowly killing me. It was good timing I arrived back at the palace gates just as the other two came out.
We had an amble around and found an english pub full of expats watching a rugby match from the tri nations. They adopted us and we had a good rugby watching sesh. We also walked out without paying, got halfway down the street and rushed back to settle the bill. Silly us.
Since then we've had dinner. I'm hoping not everything is closed tomorrow. It's our only day here so it would be such a shame!
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Dancing in the (torrential) rain
For our final day in Nha trang, we decided to take shelter from the sun, avoid the beach and be cultural instead. We visited some pagoda or other, a very, very large buddha statue and a gallery for a local photographer whose work was more than impressive. This took until early afternoon and after that we headed for a spa for a mud bath. We figured it might be medicinal for our sunburn. We had to start off with a mineral shower which added a pang of pain. The actually mud bath was great, lovely mud. We poured it everywhere. We were told to get out eventually and get another mineral shower. This wouldn't have been so bad really except for one thing. izzie and I were the only ones using the women's shower and there was a tub full of men leering in our direction and going to lengths to do so. Needless to say we moved on pretty quickly.
We were directed towards a high pressure spray thing. High pressure water isn't the most comfortable experience but put it on sunburtn skin and you have some serious pain! However this wasn't the worst - we still had a hot spa bath to go and at 40 degrees C convincing us to get in took a while. I was first to edge myself in being the least sunburnt it was probably less painful for me. It was ok once in the water but it took some adjusting! Ah it was all in the name of fun!
We headed back to our hotel to pick up some photos, Craig's laundry, and then went for dinner before waiting for our bus. This time it was an actual sleeper bus. We were on the back row on the top with 2 other guys . I made sure I had a bed where I could stick my feet into the aisle instead of having a bed in front of me too. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city (aka Saigon) the next morning. We hopped in a taxi and pointed to a hostel to be driven round the corner. And he made us pay. Phht. There wasn't a triple room ready when we got there so they let us use a different one to shower etc and said they would take our bags up when the room was ready and we went out to explore. We started with the Notre Dame cathedrale (not the famous one form France but yes there is a notre dame.) We had a look around and got away with sitting through a mass of sorts. There was no priest so I suppose it wasn't official. We moved on from there to the war remnants museum. It was really interesting and really explained the war. It had lots of photographs so a little haunting but I'm still not over the real bones at the massacre memorial in Nanjing. Everything closes for lunch so we went and fed ourselves. I say fed ourselves, Craig just about ate a snack - I repeat -he's such a picky eater!
After lunch we went to the reunification palace, which for a palace looked very much as thought it had stepped out of the late 70's, early 80's. We amused each other by guessing the nationalities of fellow tourists.
After we left we headed for a hindu temple but passed a music store on the way and I was distracted by a 19k grand piano. If anybody would like to buy me one I wouldnt turn it down! We did make it to the temple which was extremely small but overtly colourful. Some stalls tried ripping us off with incense but charging 200,000 dong for it. we gave them 30,000 and still felt it was too much.The plagues of being a tourist.
We got caught in some torrential rain walking back to our hotel so we danced and sang and made fools of ourselves and returned dripping wet. We hid out in our room until the road which had become flooded, drained a little. I used the time to update my travel journal which had been abandoned since China. We had a lovely meal before hitting the shops. Our intention was to buy food for our day on the coach yesterday but only bought bread as it was the only thing reasonably priced. We looked round the souvenir shops as Izzie and I both want what we have nicknamed 'backpacker trousers'. That and Izzie wanted to waste her dong. We spent forever in a music shop; they would upload music to your mp3 for a small fee and Izzie is very bored of her limited selection of music so spent a while browsing the selection and picking a number. I also perused the CD's giving into kate nash, casting crown and dj tiesto. As craig was buying 2 as well they said we got one free which I claimed and opted for ella fitzgerald after a lengthy elimination process. It was about 10.30 by the time we left and we still weren't done with the shopping. We eventually went to bed as we were getting a bus at 6.35am so some sleep would be nice.
The bus was uneventful. There was a french school group on board which amused me greatly because they looked so French (it's the nose and the hair).
We arrived in Sihanoukville and had to fight off the tuk-tuks and taxis choosing to walk to a hotel. We underestimated the distance but it didn't take too long, it was just mostly in the dark.
We checked in and sat down for dinner with the full intention of hitting a bar afterwards, something we haven't done since Shanghai. Our plans were foiled. Our dinner took 3 hours from ordering to finishing. Not only that but Craig found glass in his food. I immediately took the plate and marched over to the nearest member of staff. They came over and offered him a free beer. He was going to accept (silly boy) but I jumped in explaining that we had waited for far too long and then to find glass in the food was unacceptable and at the very least he was getting his meal for free with an extra beer. I'm quite good at making complaints, I was calm but firm so he agreed and gave us all a free beer. I would have preferred not to pay for any of the meal as mine was over done and the pasta was stuck to the dish from being sat on a hot plate =( and Izzie's vegetables didn't arrive. We had to ask for them after she had eaten her cordon bleu but I wasn't in the mood to push it. We won't be eating there again. All this took away the desire to do anything but sleep. Izzie and I had a girly chat and then dropped off.
It's a bit wet today as it rained quite heavily during the night but it won't stop us going to the beach! The sea is still the sea ^-^
We were directed towards a high pressure spray thing. High pressure water isn't the most comfortable experience but put it on sunburtn skin and you have some serious pain! However this wasn't the worst - we still had a hot spa bath to go and at 40 degrees C convincing us to get in took a while. I was first to edge myself in being the least sunburnt it was probably less painful for me. It was ok once in the water but it took some adjusting! Ah it was all in the name of fun!
We headed back to our hotel to pick up some photos, Craig's laundry, and then went for dinner before waiting for our bus. This time it was an actual sleeper bus. We were on the back row on the top with 2 other guys . I made sure I had a bed where I could stick my feet into the aisle instead of having a bed in front of me too. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city (aka Saigon) the next morning. We hopped in a taxi and pointed to a hostel to be driven round the corner. And he made us pay. Phht. There wasn't a triple room ready when we got there so they let us use a different one to shower etc and said they would take our bags up when the room was ready and we went out to explore. We started with the Notre Dame cathedrale (not the famous one form France but yes there is a notre dame.) We had a look around and got away with sitting through a mass of sorts. There was no priest so I suppose it wasn't official. We moved on from there to the war remnants museum. It was really interesting and really explained the war. It had lots of photographs so a little haunting but I'm still not over the real bones at the massacre memorial in Nanjing. Everything closes for lunch so we went and fed ourselves. I say fed ourselves, Craig just about ate a snack - I repeat -he's such a picky eater!
After lunch we went to the reunification palace, which for a palace looked very much as thought it had stepped out of the late 70's, early 80's. We amused each other by guessing the nationalities of fellow tourists.
After we left we headed for a hindu temple but passed a music store on the way and I was distracted by a 19k grand piano. If anybody would like to buy me one I wouldnt turn it down! We did make it to the temple which was extremely small but overtly colourful. Some stalls tried ripping us off with incense but charging 200,000 dong for it. we gave them 30,000 and still felt it was too much.The plagues of being a tourist.
We got caught in some torrential rain walking back to our hotel so we danced and sang and made fools of ourselves and returned dripping wet. We hid out in our room until the road which had become flooded, drained a little. I used the time to update my travel journal which had been abandoned since China. We had a lovely meal before hitting the shops. Our intention was to buy food for our day on the coach yesterday but only bought bread as it was the only thing reasonably priced. We looked round the souvenir shops as Izzie and I both want what we have nicknamed 'backpacker trousers'. That and Izzie wanted to waste her dong. We spent forever in a music shop; they would upload music to your mp3 for a small fee and Izzie is very bored of her limited selection of music so spent a while browsing the selection and picking a number. I also perused the CD's giving into kate nash, casting crown and dj tiesto. As craig was buying 2 as well they said we got one free which I claimed and opted for ella fitzgerald after a lengthy elimination process. It was about 10.30 by the time we left and we still weren't done with the shopping. We eventually went to bed as we were getting a bus at 6.35am so some sleep would be nice.
The bus was uneventful. There was a french school group on board which amused me greatly because they looked so French (it's the nose and the hair).
We arrived in Sihanoukville and had to fight off the tuk-tuks and taxis choosing to walk to a hotel. We underestimated the distance but it didn't take too long, it was just mostly in the dark.
We checked in and sat down for dinner with the full intention of hitting a bar afterwards, something we haven't done since Shanghai. Our plans were foiled. Our dinner took 3 hours from ordering to finishing. Not only that but Craig found glass in his food. I immediately took the plate and marched over to the nearest member of staff. They came over and offered him a free beer. He was going to accept (silly boy) but I jumped in explaining that we had waited for far too long and then to find glass in the food was unacceptable and at the very least he was getting his meal for free with an extra beer. I'm quite good at making complaints, I was calm but firm so he agreed and gave us all a free beer. I would have preferred not to pay for any of the meal as mine was over done and the pasta was stuck to the dish from being sat on a hot plate =( and Izzie's vegetables didn't arrive. We had to ask for them after she had eaten her cordon bleu but I wasn't in the mood to push it. We won't be eating there again. All this took away the desire to do anything but sleep. Izzie and I had a girly chat and then dropped off.
It's a bit wet today as it rained quite heavily during the night but it won't stop us going to the beach! The sea is still the sea ^-^
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Some people should never be in control of a vehical
We arrived in our hotel not long before 7am and whilst Izzie ran herself a bath (after a few problems with the plug), I passed out on the bed. It wasn't long before we we suncreamed up and ready to hit the beach. It was nice early on, clean, cool water and a dry heat. We took turns to watch the stuff and to play in the sea, re-applying suncream after swimming naturlly. However, Izzie fella sleep to be woken by me asking if she wanted to go for lunch and Craig is just a typical British male. They were both lovely lobster shades.
During the lunch period, perhaps we shoudl have taken note that the beach became deserted, but we went for a stroll. We underestimated the strength of the sun because by the time we came back we were all feeling a little tender. The lack of humidity blurs my judgement now!! I was nowhere near as bad as it was mostly the backs of my legs and my bum. (pleasant when sitting down)
Craig joined in a game of football with some Vietnamese people. I couldn't tell whether he was red from overheating or from sunburn.
Izzie set her heart on hiring a jet-ski so I hopped on the back for 15 minutes before swapping with Craig. She is a maniac with an engine, went full throttle even when turning. The instructor came with us to show her how to use it and was holding on for dear life as we were thrown around squishing me in the middle every 20m or so. We tipped over 3 times. He was prepared to let Izzie and Craig go by themselves until she tipped over twice before getting anywhere beyond the line of people in the sea and he chased after them. They fell in a grand total of 6 times. I am telling her father never to let her behind the wheel of a car. I must admit that I enjoyed it though. After that we went back to our hotel for showers [cold naturally] and a liberal dose of aftersun.
We went out for dinner where we adopted some cats and played with them. They had huges eyes and even I thought they were cute.
We roamed a few shops and booked our sleeper bus with definite beds to Saigon before hitting the sack. A comfy bed was so very welcome but it's comfort was tarnished a little by sunburn!
Today we went on a boat tour. I borrowed Izzie's board shorts to protect my thighs form the sun. Some people that had been on the bus with us (thought with the luxury of a bed) were staying at the same hotel and had booked onto the same boat trip. =)
The presenter sort of person took a shine to Isobel and serenaded her and well, he was a little bit sleazy really.
We were sat next to a family with a toddler who naturally assumed we were there purely to entertain. He was our little friend. He was especially fond of the rubber ducks we had with us. I'm not sure that the other passengers were too keen on tthe squeaking noise.
At the first island we went snorkelling. This took a little bit of getting used to. I panicked a little at first as I wasn't used to the breathing thing. After a while the breathing wasn't a problem but my mask kept filling up with water which got in my eyes and meant that I couldn't breathe in once underwater or else I got a noseful of sea water. I did get to see some lovely fishies and coral reefs. I scraped my knee on a rock though and got stung by a jelly fish in the most conveniant place, being along my bikini line. We moved onto to a second island. We were given a lunch buffet which was very tasty and a bigger spread than we had anticipated. I enjoyed it. Following this, they brought on a band. The drumkit was old tubs but it was fun. They started asking where people were from and playing songs rom those countries getting people up to sing with them. Switzerland and Germany are the same place and The Beatles are american which is the same thing as English - according to the band at least. I told them I was Scottish which is half true. They took some time to think but later on sang Auld Lang Syne. Now who know sthe words to that?? I threw Izzie up and they surprised her by knowing the Fields of Athenrye (or however you spell it) it was quite entertaining to say the least. They then introduce the floating bar (free of course) so you had to jump into the sea, grab a rubber ring and float around trying not the spill the wine. It was good fun.
I could feel myself getting burnt despite the huge amounts of suncream I was applying.
We made a third stop at a beach where I tried to swim, stubbed my toe on a rock and gave up to lie in the shade. Back on the boat we were given a fruit platter, and there was a lot of fruit some of which I can't even identify. I have discovered a liking for a fruit that is hot pink on the outside and white and black on the inside. If anybody knows the identification of such a fruit, let me know!
Our last stop was at an aquarium but I opted out and sat in a cafe with an ice lolly.
It was a fun day but now I am almost as burnt as the other two. I came back for a cold shower slash bath concoction and a more than liberal dose of aftersun. It is my back that is painful now so I had to think carefully about which top I could wear without a bra.
We are going out for dinner and I am keeping the others waiting. Such a hypocrite!
During the lunch period, perhaps we shoudl have taken note that the beach became deserted, but we went for a stroll. We underestimated the strength of the sun because by the time we came back we were all feeling a little tender. The lack of humidity blurs my judgement now!! I was nowhere near as bad as it was mostly the backs of my legs and my bum. (pleasant when sitting down)
Craig joined in a game of football with some Vietnamese people. I couldn't tell whether he was red from overheating or from sunburn.
Izzie set her heart on hiring a jet-ski so I hopped on the back for 15 minutes before swapping with Craig. She is a maniac with an engine, went full throttle even when turning. The instructor came with us to show her how to use it and was holding on for dear life as we were thrown around squishing me in the middle every 20m or so. We tipped over 3 times. He was prepared to let Izzie and Craig go by themselves until she tipped over twice before getting anywhere beyond the line of people in the sea and he chased after them. They fell in a grand total of 6 times. I am telling her father never to let her behind the wheel of a car. I must admit that I enjoyed it though. After that we went back to our hotel for showers [cold naturally] and a liberal dose of aftersun.
We went out for dinner where we adopted some cats and played with them. They had huges eyes and even I thought they were cute.
We roamed a few shops and booked our sleeper bus with definite beds to Saigon before hitting the sack. A comfy bed was so very welcome but it's comfort was tarnished a little by sunburn!
Today we went on a boat tour. I borrowed Izzie's board shorts to protect my thighs form the sun. Some people that had been on the bus with us (thought with the luxury of a bed) were staying at the same hotel and had booked onto the same boat trip. =)
The presenter sort of person took a shine to Isobel and serenaded her and well, he was a little bit sleazy really.
We were sat next to a family with a toddler who naturally assumed we were there purely to entertain. He was our little friend. He was especially fond of the rubber ducks we had with us. I'm not sure that the other passengers were too keen on tthe squeaking noise.
At the first island we went snorkelling. This took a little bit of getting used to. I panicked a little at first as I wasn't used to the breathing thing. After a while the breathing wasn't a problem but my mask kept filling up with water which got in my eyes and meant that I couldn't breathe in once underwater or else I got a noseful of sea water. I did get to see some lovely fishies and coral reefs. I scraped my knee on a rock though and got stung by a jelly fish in the most conveniant place, being along my bikini line. We moved onto to a second island. We were given a lunch buffet which was very tasty and a bigger spread than we had anticipated. I enjoyed it. Following this, they brought on a band. The drumkit was old tubs but it was fun. They started asking where people were from and playing songs rom those countries getting people up to sing with them. Switzerland and Germany are the same place and The Beatles are american which is the same thing as English - according to the band at least. I told them I was Scottish which is half true. They took some time to think but later on sang Auld Lang Syne. Now who know sthe words to that?? I threw Izzie up and they surprised her by knowing the Fields of Athenrye (or however you spell it) it was quite entertaining to say the least. They then introduce the floating bar (free of course) so you had to jump into the sea, grab a rubber ring and float around trying not the spill the wine. It was good fun.
I could feel myself getting burnt despite the huge amounts of suncream I was applying.
We made a third stop at a beach where I tried to swim, stubbed my toe on a rock and gave up to lie in the shade. Back on the boat we were given a fruit platter, and there was a lot of fruit some of which I can't even identify. I have discovered a liking for a fruit that is hot pink on the outside and white and black on the inside. If anybody knows the identification of such a fruit, let me know!
Our last stop was at an aquarium but I opted out and sat in a cafe with an ice lolly.
It was a fun day but now I am almost as burnt as the other two. I came back for a cold shower slash bath concoction and a more than liberal dose of aftersun. It is my back that is painful now so I had to think carefully about which top I could wear without a bra.
We are going out for dinner and I am keeping the others waiting. Such a hypocrite!
Homemade mud facial gone wrong?
For our final day in Hanoi we agreed on a time to get up and be ready to leave by, since we had to wait for our laundry to be returned to us. However, I got fed up of waiting and was about to leave when Craig chimed in that he was ready to leave too. Izzie said she would be 2 minutes. I said I would wait if she gave me a realistic timeframe but she got irritated and told us to leave and wouldn't talk to us. Craig and I then went off to see the sights of the old quarter starting with the temple down the road from our hostel.
It was a tiny little thing, with christmas trees beside the altars which were covered in cans of red bull, bear, and choco-pies. We moved on to the temple on the little island n the middle of Hoan Kiem lake. Not all of the information boards were in english so I had to translate the french ones, but it made for very good practice! We atually ran into Izzie there but she disappeared again (to the ethnology museum as we later found out) There was a tree that was growing sideways into the water so Crag climbed up some of the branches (all going well) it was his descent fromt he treee that posed some problems. He made the decision to jump back onto the shore. He did not account for the mud. He fell over and covered himself in thick, sludgy mud. I was in hysterics as were any other tourists nearby. Somebody offered him a tissue and he sort of cleaned himself up. After giving up on finding Isobel, we hopped into a cyclo and went for lunch at a veggie restaurant I'd looked up. It was seriously yummy - lots of tofo which makes me happy.
After this we hit the women's museum. The first part was made up of artefacts from women who helped in the war against the USA which wasn't the most fascinating. The second part was about women who had raised several children and packed them all off to uni under difficult circumstances and a woman representative of some political party or other. It was really strange to read about the lengths that these people have gone to get higher education when it's so easy in Britain and is taken so much for granted.
We walked back from there getting a little lost but nothing serious. We stopped to buy ice-cream too. Izzie returned shortly after we did and we all set off to find a supermarket and stock up for our bus journey. This involved some aimless wandering around first. Izzie then popped off to the post office to call her sister and Craig and I had dinner as we found somewhere he could get cheap western food - he really is a picky eater)
We dropped our bags off at the travel agents and went to a commemorative memorial house which showed the type of traditional vietnamese houses, including toilets which is not something I should ever wish to be made to use!
Then came the bus journey. The ride from Hanoi to Nha Trang is long and we had bought seating tickets as sleeper tickets were sold out. We underestimated this. Overnight on a coach seat does not make for the best night's sleep in the world. My knees had begun to really hurt also so I couldn't get comfortable at all. Around 2 o'clock the man I was sitting next to got up to talk to the driver so I curled up over 2 chairs and got some kip until we stopped at a service station at 4am. After getting back on the bus I watched the sunrise and the guy being wide awake didn't want to sit down very much and I was left to curl up again and get 40 winks or so. Craig was extremely grumpy and seemed to think that he had it worse than everybody else. There wasn't much point in talking to him really. The bus stopped in Hoi An, originally on our itinerary but scrapped to save time. We were then informed of a 5 hour break. Most people were a little disgruntled because it meant a second night on the coach but I was quite positive because the only time we lost was a night in a hotel, and we got to see some of Hoi An. It was very quaint, we had dinner and ambled round the odd sight, if you can call it that. The main part of our time was spent wandering in and out of the tailoring shops. I got myself a dress since the only one I had packed had broken and had thus been thrown out.
We eventually got back on the bus. I was sat next to Craig this time. I threatened him with castration should he grumble or complain so he didn't and just huffed a lot and didn't keep still and took up lots of room. I got really fed up with him around half one and took a hint from some Vietnamese people, stole a blanket and lay on the floor. It was much comfier though I wish I could have stolen the hammock one man had strung between some of the chairs. I was made to get up off the floor around 5 being told that we were arriving when we were in fact an hour away form our destination. Ah lack of sleep!
It was a tiny little thing, with christmas trees beside the altars which were covered in cans of red bull, bear, and choco-pies. We moved on to the temple on the little island n the middle of Hoan Kiem lake. Not all of the information boards were in english so I had to translate the french ones, but it made for very good practice! We atually ran into Izzie there but she disappeared again (to the ethnology museum as we later found out) There was a tree that was growing sideways into the water so Crag climbed up some of the branches (all going well) it was his descent fromt he treee that posed some problems. He made the decision to jump back onto the shore. He did not account for the mud. He fell over and covered himself in thick, sludgy mud. I was in hysterics as were any other tourists nearby. Somebody offered him a tissue and he sort of cleaned himself up. After giving up on finding Isobel, we hopped into a cyclo and went for lunch at a veggie restaurant I'd looked up. It was seriously yummy - lots of tofo which makes me happy.
After this we hit the women's museum. The first part was made up of artefacts from women who helped in the war against the USA which wasn't the most fascinating. The second part was about women who had raised several children and packed them all off to uni under difficult circumstances and a woman representative of some political party or other. It was really strange to read about the lengths that these people have gone to get higher education when it's so easy in Britain and is taken so much for granted.
We walked back from there getting a little lost but nothing serious. We stopped to buy ice-cream too. Izzie returned shortly after we did and we all set off to find a supermarket and stock up for our bus journey. This involved some aimless wandering around first. Izzie then popped off to the post office to call her sister and Craig and I had dinner as we found somewhere he could get cheap western food - he really is a picky eater)
We dropped our bags off at the travel agents and went to a commemorative memorial house which showed the type of traditional vietnamese houses, including toilets which is not something I should ever wish to be made to use!
Then came the bus journey. The ride from Hanoi to Nha Trang is long and we had bought seating tickets as sleeper tickets were sold out. We underestimated this. Overnight on a coach seat does not make for the best night's sleep in the world. My knees had begun to really hurt also so I couldn't get comfortable at all. Around 2 o'clock the man I was sitting next to got up to talk to the driver so I curled up over 2 chairs and got some kip until we stopped at a service station at 4am. After getting back on the bus I watched the sunrise and the guy being wide awake didn't want to sit down very much and I was left to curl up again and get 40 winks or so. Craig was extremely grumpy and seemed to think that he had it worse than everybody else. There wasn't much point in talking to him really. The bus stopped in Hoi An, originally on our itinerary but scrapped to save time. We were then informed of a 5 hour break. Most people were a little disgruntled because it meant a second night on the coach but I was quite positive because the only time we lost was a night in a hotel, and we got to see some of Hoi An. It was very quaint, we had dinner and ambled round the odd sight, if you can call it that. The main part of our time was spent wandering in and out of the tailoring shops. I got myself a dress since the only one I had packed had broken and had thus been thrown out.
We eventually got back on the bus. I was sat next to Craig this time. I threatened him with castration should he grumble or complain so he didn't and just huffed a lot and didn't keep still and took up lots of room. I got really fed up with him around half one and took a hint from some Vietnamese people, stole a blanket and lay on the floor. It was much comfier though I wish I could have stolen the hammock one man had strung between some of the chairs. I was made to get up off the floor around 5 being told that we were arriving when we were in fact an hour away form our destination. Ah lack of sleep!
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
nothing but trouble
I went back to the hotel in
We got up super early to book our bus tickets to
Driving through the countryside of
We booked ourselves into a hotel where the dorm room more resembles a corridor than a bedroom but is acceptable and cheap (this was after my conversation with the taxi driver about English football teams. sadly he was more knowledgeable than I) there was little time for anything other than dinner as it was already early evening. We plonked ourselves at an outdoor roadside restaurant. We were just getting comfy by the edge of the canopy when the heavens open. Somebody may have well as s been throwing buckets of water at us it was that heavy! Eventually we moved further under the canopy and away from the rain. The workers had to dash in between buildings and had invented a few unique ways of keeping the food dry whilst transporting it. The rain had lessened but hadn't ceased when we set off back to our hotel getting slightly wetter than we already were.
I got a little worried as I hadn't heard from Craig who was due to fly into hanoi that day and we had no way of contacting him as our chinese phones don't work and I have once again reached my international credit limit on my home phone (sorry daddy yet again but that phone call to katie really can be classed as a necessity!) I managed to send a free text from o2.co.uk giving him the name and address of the hotel. He showed up around 12.30am until which point I had been lying awake waiting for some acknowledgement that he hadn't been killed or something horrible. Silly boy.
We started the day with a little disappointment for Izzie who had really wanted to go to the museum of ethnology. I wasn't interested and as it both expensive to get there and expensive to get in, said that I should like to opt out. craig followed suit and izzie refused to go by herself. We went to the temple of literature.
We moved on to find somewhere for lunch. we wandered around aimlessly for a while. Both Izzie and Craig seemed unwilling to try anywhere without an english menu (pointing works well enough for me) and we only settled on the first place we found because we got caught in another downpour.
We went from there to the Ho Chi Minh mauseleum complex. As it was lunchtime almost everything was shut.
Izzie managed to say something which offended me. She realised this but instead of apologising chose to avoid me. I ended up sat on a bench by myself waiting for the museum to open. I went to see if it had done and had no idea where the other 2 were. They spotted me after a while, came over , said nothing and promptly left again. They came back, again saying nothing and sitting a good few metres away.
The museum opened and neither said a word and once inside the museum walked off in the opposite direction. I left this and walked round by myself. The first part was not the most enthralling but the second part I really like. It incorporated lots of modern art into the message and story of Ho Chi Minh, who from what I have learnt today, seems like a very wise man. I also read all the information in french rather than english a)to practise my french and b) it was less complex language and thus contained less mistakes.
I took my time around the exhibition as I genuinely found it interesting. As I came out izzie and craig were sat waiting and asked what I wanted to do next. Perhaps not the most rational response but I was pretty annoyed by this as it just made me feel that they can't make a decision to do anything by themselves and they need me to organise them. as much as I like to have myself organised, I hate making decisions for other people. I began to flick through the lonely planet and they both went outside.
Craig was by himself swatting away a wasp (or so he says) I had assumed he was avoiding me because he thought I was being moody which is a reasonable thing to do but he said he realised I was upset and didn't want to upset me more by talking to me which is a very insensitive thing to do. After trying to talk to him just got annoyed with him as well as Izzie and walked off. I knew they were following me so eventually but they were quite far behind as they are not quite as good at crossing roads here as myself and as I really didn't want to be around either of them I jumped on a motorbike taxi. I went back to the hostel and from there enquired at a few agencies as to the cheapest way to get to Nha Trang (we have decided to skip Hoi An) It would not have occurred to the other two that needs doing as it's always left to me to organise, a role I am beginning to resent.
Izzie still hasn't said anything other than 'here's your book' and as skipped off somewhere. I could wait forever for an apology from her but that's a stupid thing to do and now that I have had time to cool off, I'm perfectly happy.
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Monday, 14 July 2008
Sometimes, people are just irritating
Yesterday morning, I packed Craig into a taxi, armed with directions, instuctions and advice and told the taxi man where to take him. He has to got to HongKong to renew his visa before joining us in Hanoi. Izzie took her own sweet time again preparing to leave that I handed in my key and went to the bus stop. I think she got the hint as she soon joined me there. We made our way to the train station and jostled through the masses of tickets to be told that there were no tickets to Nanning. I had almost been prepared for this, so we went for lunch and booked oursleves into a hostel then used a travel agents to book a flight. We are here in Nanning now and it is a case of working out how best to get to Hanoi tomorrow. I found myself very irritable on the flight and just after as I had a headache and Izzie was being her usual 'I'm-an-experienced-traveller-yet-am-completely-useless' thing yet again, that and Craig was asking some useless questions. The boy has so little common sense it's a wonder he manages anything at all!! Izzie is also unwilling to pay back money that she owes me, which is a little unfair I feel. I have crept away to find this internet café, as I was in dire need of blogging, after failing on 3 previous occasions. I shall shortly go for some dinner too. I think it has been good to spend some time by myself, nobody to grate on my nerves then but myself and that doesn't happen too often! I wonder how much this is going to cost, I've been here a while now!
Prodigal teachers (warning - may contain tears)
After arriving in Guangzhou airport, we hopped in a taxi who got lost. I kept pointing out roadsigns to him, but he didn't want to take advice from a foreigner obviously, though it would probably have been a better idea than driving around and asking the nearest person when he rolled down the window where to go. In the end we followed a motorbike taxi.
It felt so good to get back to the school, like returning home, which indeed I was as Nanguang has been my home for 5 months now. I bounced around with a grin on my face and snuck up on some of the teachers to announce our arrival. We were met by broad smiles.
We extricated ourselves and went to none other than our noodle place for dinner. Not much else can be said of our evening. It was rounded off by creating a makeshift bed for Craig, blaring some well missed music and writing more postcards. I rose early the next morning which had more to do with the stampeding noise of children than my alarm clock. Craig and I went out. I bought some sunglasses as I broke my 3rd pair on the train to Huangshan and have been fed up of squinting ever since. I also went to the post office to get rid of the mound of postcards that had been building up.
Upon returning to the school I knocked up a bowl of couscous to keep me going before heading up to my beloved P6 to do my very best to help before the ceremony. I helped a few boys with their make-up which entertained me far more than the girls, I let Craig experiment with mohicans on some students, generally chatted and put lipstick on Craig. After realising that I was more in the way than of any use to anybody I removed myself to my K3 class.
I couldn't even make it through the doorway before the dozen or so students in the room at the time flung themselves at me, on me, around me, with cries of 'Seona!!' As much as I may complain about this kind of rough treatment it would all be in vain because anybody who knows me will now that I loved the attention. The second half of the class arrived and the process was repeated. I hadn't realised how much I missed that class, with my little darlings, Martin smothering me in kisses, Jason attempting to sit on my knee whether I was sat down or not, Jacky claiming piggy back rides, the boy I don't know the name of attaching himself like superglue to my leg and Trent just being around. of course the girls were all affectionate too, and they got their share of attention but just had not won my heart as my boys had done. We had to leave as the class were preparing to be ferried to the theatre by school bus. We waited downstairs and came across Candy, a P1C girl in tears. Having no clue why, I picked her up and Izzie and I went through if you're happy and you know it. We made it as silly as possible and eventually she joined in with 'if you're happy and you know it, hit Craig' the tears stopped and she introduced us to her little brother. There may even have been a smile as she left with her class.
We went into P1B's classroom where Kaka was, a most fantastic person if ever I met one, and we had a bit of a banter with the students. She translated my question about who wanted to come home to England with me. I should probably warn my mother about the arrival of the 14 kids who not only screamed yes but charged at me as if I were to whisk them away that very moment.
Craig, at this point had been left to the mercy of P2A boys and they are merciless. I entertained the girls by being my usual silly self and one straggling P6 girl told me how stupid I looked. We managed to get onto a bus. 14 seats and 25 people makes an interesting journey, though thankfully not a long one. I was sat on Izzie's knee and she is more than happy to vouch for the following achievement - I no longer have a bony bum! Score!
We reached the theatre and students were milling around everywhere, half backstage and half not caring. I spied some boards detailing the school around and went for a nosy only to discover some rather awful pictures of myself upon them. I knew nothing good could come from there being a camera in the classroom. There were a few nice non-candid photos though. I do believe that these photos may have been the explanation for the nods and smiles I had been receiving from what I can only assume were parents.
I posed with a few students for an endless stream of snap happy people, debated with P3 over whether Craig was my boyfriend or not (I won this one in the end by telling them he was Isobel's boyfriend) and came across my kindergarten class all over again.
I was filled with my share of felicity and elation at being surrounded by students who were hugging me and telling me that they had missed me.
I seated myself once realising that the show had begun. I watched every act with a sense of pride and joy with a tint of sadness too. My favourite had to be the dance to Dr. Jones as I had seen it practised so many times, plus it was such a cheesy song!
We hopped into a school bus to be ferried back to the school. We immediately went up to P6 as it had been their graduation. We came across only a few students all in varying states of melancholy. Mary and Candy were in tears, so we comforted them and hugged them. It was only after a while that I noticed the huddle of boys in the corner. My heart went out completely upon seeing Kenny (who I must confess had been a favourite) crying. I went over and he just wrapped his arms around me. I used this moment to teach the concept of a group hug. I was beyond the brink of tears, even manly man M-I-K-E Mike was doing his best to hold back the waterworks. Another girl came in crying and came over to hug me and said "I miss you Seona"
I hadn't realised how attached I had become to the school and each of it's pupils, even ones I do not know the names of still, but they have taken a place so deeply ingrained in my heart that I feel it is a part of me.
We eventually had to leave the classroom and found Marina, one of our colleagues, downstairs. She has become a dear friend of ours and we of hers and she also was reduced to tears by the idea of our leaving. This goodbye was so much more emotional as this time, it was a final goodbye.
It felt so good to get back to the school, like returning home, which indeed I was as Nanguang has been my home for 5 months now. I bounced around with a grin on my face and snuck up on some of the teachers to announce our arrival. We were met by broad smiles.
We extricated ourselves and went to none other than our noodle place for dinner. Not much else can be said of our evening. It was rounded off by creating a makeshift bed for Craig, blaring some well missed music and writing more postcards. I rose early the next morning which had more to do with the stampeding noise of children than my alarm clock. Craig and I went out. I bought some sunglasses as I broke my 3rd pair on the train to Huangshan and have been fed up of squinting ever since. I also went to the post office to get rid of the mound of postcards that had been building up.
Upon returning to the school I knocked up a bowl of couscous to keep me going before heading up to my beloved P6 to do my very best to help before the ceremony. I helped a few boys with their make-up which entertained me far more than the girls, I let Craig experiment with mohicans on some students, generally chatted and put lipstick on Craig. After realising that I was more in the way than of any use to anybody I removed myself to my K3 class.
I couldn't even make it through the doorway before the dozen or so students in the room at the time flung themselves at me, on me, around me, with cries of 'Seona!!' As much as I may complain about this kind of rough treatment it would all be in vain because anybody who knows me will now that I loved the attention. The second half of the class arrived and the process was repeated. I hadn't realised how much I missed that class, with my little darlings, Martin smothering me in kisses, Jason attempting to sit on my knee whether I was sat down or not, Jacky claiming piggy back rides, the boy I don't know the name of attaching himself like superglue to my leg and Trent just being around. of course the girls were all affectionate too, and they got their share of attention but just had not won my heart as my boys had done. We had to leave as the class were preparing to be ferried to the theatre by school bus. We waited downstairs and came across Candy, a P1C girl in tears. Having no clue why, I picked her up and Izzie and I went through if you're happy and you know it. We made it as silly as possible and eventually she joined in with 'if you're happy and you know it, hit Craig' the tears stopped and she introduced us to her little brother. There may even have been a smile as she left with her class.
We went into P1B's classroom where Kaka was, a most fantastic person if ever I met one, and we had a bit of a banter with the students. She translated my question about who wanted to come home to England with me. I should probably warn my mother about the arrival of the 14 kids who not only screamed yes but charged at me as if I were to whisk them away that very moment.
Craig, at this point had been left to the mercy of P2A boys and they are merciless. I entertained the girls by being my usual silly self and one straggling P6 girl told me how stupid I looked. We managed to get onto a bus. 14 seats and 25 people makes an interesting journey, though thankfully not a long one. I was sat on Izzie's knee and she is more than happy to vouch for the following achievement - I no longer have a bony bum! Score!
We reached the theatre and students were milling around everywhere, half backstage and half not caring. I spied some boards detailing the school around and went for a nosy only to discover some rather awful pictures of myself upon them. I knew nothing good could come from there being a camera in the classroom. There were a few nice non-candid photos though. I do believe that these photos may have been the explanation for the nods and smiles I had been receiving from what I can only assume were parents.
I posed with a few students for an endless stream of snap happy people, debated with P3 over whether Craig was my boyfriend or not (I won this one in the end by telling them he was Isobel's boyfriend) and came across my kindergarten class all over again.
I was filled with my share of felicity and elation at being surrounded by students who were hugging me and telling me that they had missed me.
I seated myself once realising that the show had begun. I watched every act with a sense of pride and joy with a tint of sadness too. My favourite had to be the dance to Dr. Jones as I had seen it practised so many times, plus it was such a cheesy song!
We hopped into a school bus to be ferried back to the school. We immediately went up to P6 as it had been their graduation. We came across only a few students all in varying states of melancholy. Mary and Candy were in tears, so we comforted them and hugged them. It was only after a while that I noticed the huddle of boys in the corner. My heart went out completely upon seeing Kenny (who I must confess had been a favourite) crying. I went over and he just wrapped his arms around me. I used this moment to teach the concept of a group hug. I was beyond the brink of tears, even manly man M-I-K-E Mike was doing his best to hold back the waterworks. Another girl came in crying and came over to hug me and said "I miss you Seona"
I hadn't realised how attached I had become to the school and each of it's pupils, even ones I do not know the names of still, but they have taken a place so deeply ingrained in my heart that I feel it is a part of me.
We eventually had to leave the classroom and found Marina, one of our colleagues, downstairs. She has become a dear friend of ours and we of hers and she also was reduced to tears by the idea of our leaving. This goodbye was so much more emotional as this time, it was a final goodbye.
birthdays
I think Isobel thoroughly enjoyed her birthday. We went out for a meal in the evening at a vietnamese restaurant. I enoyed it. The german girl whose name I do know, joined us again. She was most useful since her chinese is excellent. Midway through I got a phonecall from Esther which made me very happy for it has been a while since I spoke to her. A brief catch up was all that could be comprised form such a short phonecall but she is under strict instructiosn to send me a rambly email thought I know not when she will write such a thing!
I dashed off soon after muching to get back to the hostel and make the final preparations. However, most of the work had already been done by the hostel staff. They had hung the banner I had made earlier saying breith la shona duit (happy bithday in irish) put tinsel and banners everywhere. All thatw as left for me to do was wrap up the pass-the-parcel prizes, squirt some silly string around the place and blow up a few balloons. I did have to make a phonecall instructing them to hurry back as they were late. they had been distracted once izzie had gotton onto the subject of the Irish education system yet again. she can talk about it for hours. I don't think she was completely surprised but was more than pleased to be greeted at the door and each corner following ont he way to the bar by party poppers.
Everybody wanting to enter the bar, since the hostel had allowed us to take it over, was forced to drink some rice wine. A number of people showed up and joined in our silly, children's party games. Fun was had by all I believe. Dick, a staff member, was such a trouble maker and wanted to throw water over everybody. We allowed it only for the birthday girl. Lots of staff and even the odd guest bought Izzie present's which I thought was really sweet especially when they were only identifiable by nationality and not by name! I am fairly certain that a number or odd things happened through out the night but it seems so long ago now and this is teh 4th time I have attempted to write this entry. perhaps I shall be more successful if I do it in stages.
The day after these events turned out to be a little stressful. There were no train tickets to be had back to Guangzhou (the train, it would seem, is not my luckiest form of transport) We ended up getting a flight instead for twice the price.
Being a little stressed by all of this I made a phonecall to my sister who did a wonderful job of cheering me up but it will have cost my parents a fgair amount of money so sorry mummy and daddy!
We finished our second time in Nanjing and checked out for the 4th time, yes 4th, but this was to be our last. With the exception of the birthday party, we had done very little and roved little farther than 10 minutes walk form the hostel. We are so cultured!
I dashed off soon after muching to get back to the hostel and make the final preparations. However, most of the work had already been done by the hostel staff. They had hung the banner I had made earlier saying breith la shona duit (happy bithday in irish) put tinsel and banners everywhere. All thatw as left for me to do was wrap up the pass-the-parcel prizes, squirt some silly string around the place and blow up a few balloons. I did have to make a phonecall instructing them to hurry back as they were late. they had been distracted once izzie had gotton onto the subject of the Irish education system yet again. she can talk about it for hours. I don't think she was completely surprised but was more than pleased to be greeted at the door and each corner following ont he way to the bar by party poppers.
Everybody wanting to enter the bar, since the hostel had allowed us to take it over, was forced to drink some rice wine. A number of people showed up and joined in our silly, children's party games. Fun was had by all I believe. Dick, a staff member, was such a trouble maker and wanted to throw water over everybody. We allowed it only for the birthday girl. Lots of staff and even the odd guest bought Izzie present's which I thought was really sweet especially when they were only identifiable by nationality and not by name! I am fairly certain that a number or odd things happened through out the night but it seems so long ago now and this is teh 4th time I have attempted to write this entry. perhaps I shall be more successful if I do it in stages.
The day after these events turned out to be a little stressful. There were no train tickets to be had back to Guangzhou (the train, it would seem, is not my luckiest form of transport) We ended up getting a flight instead for twice the price.
Being a little stressed by all of this I made a phonecall to my sister who did a wonderful job of cheering me up but it will have cost my parents a fgair amount of money so sorry mummy and daddy!
We finished our second time in Nanjing and checked out for the 4th time, yes 4th, but this was to be our last. With the exception of the birthday party, we had done very little and roved little farther than 10 minutes walk form the hostel. We are so cultured!
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
I'm never taking the stairs anywhere ever
Let's start in Nanjing. It was a while ago so things are a little muddled, hence the lack of chronology in this entry!
We went to an Irish bar. It was rather quiet and our night was cut short as my flipflops broke. Gah. I had to hop around on one foot but not before attempting to sellotape and staple them back together. Instead we came back to the hostel, Craig cracked open his rice wine, whereas Izzie and I stuck to beer and we played the dice game on the rooftop. It was a good night. We headed to Purple Mountain also. There were a few navigation problems. The taxi dropped us off at Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum, however Izzie and I have had quite enough of him in Guangzhou! We eventually found the cable car to the top. We amused the rare other passengers with songs or Craig practising his chinese, the extent of which is currently 'I'm kidnapping you'. Oddly enough a taxi driver politely declined this request. Anywho, on the way down from the mountain we took a longwinded route and half thought we would end up in the middle of nowhere!
That may have been the entire activities of the day. We attempted to get a train to Huangshan but it didn't exist so we had to come back to the hostel. They were most surprised to see us again. We did make it onto a train the next day. That train wasn't the most pleasurable experience in the world as it was lacking in air-con. It was 39 degrees! Much too hot to be sat on a stuffy train. On the plus side, Craig and I worked through any awkardness. His apology for sulking helped. Eventually someone on the train fixed the fan so I spent the majority of it sprawled out on the top bunk where I could make as best use of the fan as possible. We did have a nice moment sticking our heads out of the window, when we suddenly realised that we could see stars and constellations by the dozen! It's been a while, normally pollution blocks out the stars so we were very happy.
We took a very long, expensive taxi ride from the station as we had missed the last minibus to Tangkou at the foot of the mountain. The hotels were all booked up so we stayed with a family run sort of hotel over a restaurant. The family loved having us. Over lunch the next morning, we spent a long time entertaining a baby boy. He was in fits of giggles from our silly antics and faces, so much so that he eventually wet himself. That made us giggle!
After this we set off for the easiest Eastern steps up the mountain. It was definitely a mistake to take our backpacks with us though. Climbing a mountain with backpacks in the heat was tiring work. Izzie gave up after 1km or so and went back down to get the cable car. Craig and I perservered with much laughter and encourgaement from those descending the steps. We eventually made it just as I felt my legs couldn't take anymore without eating first. I ate a massive dinner! It was also the most expensive meal I've had in China after the one the next day. We went to bed fairly early as sunrise on the mountain is a must.
Izzie woke me up in the middle of the night to start waffling about fires and flames. It turns out she sleep talks! I left the hotel around 4.30am and walked a kilometer to a peak to watch the dawn. It was freezing, but I made friends with a bunch of chinese people there. I went straight back to bed after that.
Craig hadn't slept very much so I refused to let him hike down the Western steps, which were twice as long and steeper. He begrudgingly gave in and took the cable car agreeing to meet us at the bottom.
So Izzie and I began our descent. Oddly this included climbing up to the highest peak in the process so it wasn't much of a descent to begin with. We awarded ourselves with medals at the top.
At a very popular view point, we distracted a tour group and became the object of photos for a while. A queue actually formed. We laughed it off. We passed through 'gleam of sky' a very narrow, incredily steep set of steps between some sheer rock faces. We had to battle the torrent of tour groups coming up but we made it in the end.
We were adopted by a tour group at one point. They showed us the right direction, told us our path was closed for maintenance, gave us a map and set us on our way. Coming down one side we saw a very very steep set of stairs ahead of us and hoped we would not have to go that way. A group of chinese people ran past at this point heading for these steps encouraging us to go with them. We told them they were crazy. Somehow, I got it in my head that I wanted to climg it though. Izzie stayed at the bottom with our bags and I went off with the Chinese people of a 4km, 1.5 hour hike (I didn't realise that at the time!!) up to the second highest peak. It was hard work. The Chinese people kept telling me I was the best and how proud they were of me.
When we made it to the bottom we could see that dusk was on it's way and with 7km still to go, we had to move. I was extremely tired yet reluctant to rest. Darkness fell pretty quickly especially after we were then under cover of trees. We covered the last 5km in under 40minutes wuithout stopping once. I was ready to collapse. We actually thought we had further to go until we saw Craig waiting. I have never been so happy to see anyone. We grabbed the last taxi who again couldn't find a hotel for us so resorted to Mr Cheng, a man recommended by the Lonely Planet who speaks excellent english. He fed us, booked our bus tickets and found us somewhere to stay. He had been warned about the stupid Brits who took their bags up the mountain. Massive lol - getting a reputation!
We got up early in the morning to catch a bus back to Nanjing. Our plan had been to get a train from here to Guilin, however, nothing goes to plan. There are no train tickets to Guilin until late next week by which time we plan to be in Vietnam. We came back to our hostel. They laughed when they saw us checking in for the 4th time. We immediately set about laundry. Everything but what I was wearing went in. I'd had to come down the mountain in dirty shorts as only my skirt was clean!!
We thought about our options and have decided to stay put here in Nanjing.
Yesterday afternoon we went shopping, clothes shopping. My luck with clothing has not gone too well. So far the list of broken items is as follows;
1 dress
1 pair of shorts
2 flipflops
1 top
These are just the ones beyond repair. Others have been fixed by my sewing kit. Not great huh!
We went out for a Mexican. I saw a poster for it and had a craving for my favourite kind of food! It was a really good meal actually, lots of veggie stuff so I left stuffed! Izzie went to bed pretty early, but Craig and I plotted. Today is her birthday. We bougth her a number of silly presents wrapped in newspaper which are being distributed throughout the day, we have been planning a surprise party with the hostel staff, and generally getting lots of stuff ready for some fun tonight. It does mean that we have to create lots of distractions for either Craig and I to disappear but we managed it. I took her out for lunch today and we all went for a massage with a German girl from our dorm. That worked out some of the tension in my muscles! I'm excited about tonight now. I've been doing my best to spoil her since she's away from home. We wrote a birthday mesage on the wall for her. I think it's going down well =)
We went to an Irish bar. It was rather quiet and our night was cut short as my flipflops broke. Gah. I had to hop around on one foot but not before attempting to sellotape and staple them back together. Instead we came back to the hostel, Craig cracked open his rice wine, whereas Izzie and I stuck to beer and we played the dice game on the rooftop. It was a good night. We headed to Purple Mountain also. There were a few navigation problems. The taxi dropped us off at Sun Yat Sen's mausoleum, however Izzie and I have had quite enough of him in Guangzhou! We eventually found the cable car to the top. We amused the rare other passengers with songs or Craig practising his chinese, the extent of which is currently 'I'm kidnapping you'. Oddly enough a taxi driver politely declined this request. Anywho, on the way down from the mountain we took a longwinded route and half thought we would end up in the middle of nowhere!
That may have been the entire activities of the day. We attempted to get a train to Huangshan but it didn't exist so we had to come back to the hostel. They were most surprised to see us again. We did make it onto a train the next day. That train wasn't the most pleasurable experience in the world as it was lacking in air-con. It was 39 degrees! Much too hot to be sat on a stuffy train. On the plus side, Craig and I worked through any awkardness. His apology for sulking helped. Eventually someone on the train fixed the fan so I spent the majority of it sprawled out on the top bunk where I could make as best use of the fan as possible. We did have a nice moment sticking our heads out of the window, when we suddenly realised that we could see stars and constellations by the dozen! It's been a while, normally pollution blocks out the stars so we were very happy.
We took a very long, expensive taxi ride from the station as we had missed the last minibus to Tangkou at the foot of the mountain. The hotels were all booked up so we stayed with a family run sort of hotel over a restaurant. The family loved having us. Over lunch the next morning, we spent a long time entertaining a baby boy. He was in fits of giggles from our silly antics and faces, so much so that he eventually wet himself. That made us giggle!
After this we set off for the easiest Eastern steps up the mountain. It was definitely a mistake to take our backpacks with us though. Climbing a mountain with backpacks in the heat was tiring work. Izzie gave up after 1km or so and went back down to get the cable car. Craig and I perservered with much laughter and encourgaement from those descending the steps. We eventually made it just as I felt my legs couldn't take anymore without eating first. I ate a massive dinner! It was also the most expensive meal I've had in China after the one the next day. We went to bed fairly early as sunrise on the mountain is a must.
Izzie woke me up in the middle of the night to start waffling about fires and flames. It turns out she sleep talks! I left the hotel around 4.30am and walked a kilometer to a peak to watch the dawn. It was freezing, but I made friends with a bunch of chinese people there. I went straight back to bed after that.
Craig hadn't slept very much so I refused to let him hike down the Western steps, which were twice as long and steeper. He begrudgingly gave in and took the cable car agreeing to meet us at the bottom.
So Izzie and I began our descent. Oddly this included climbing up to the highest peak in the process so it wasn't much of a descent to begin with. We awarded ourselves with medals at the top.
At a very popular view point, we distracted a tour group and became the object of photos for a while. A queue actually formed. We laughed it off. We passed through 'gleam of sky' a very narrow, incredily steep set of steps between some sheer rock faces. We had to battle the torrent of tour groups coming up but we made it in the end.
We were adopted by a tour group at one point. They showed us the right direction, told us our path was closed for maintenance, gave us a map and set us on our way. Coming down one side we saw a very very steep set of stairs ahead of us and hoped we would not have to go that way. A group of chinese people ran past at this point heading for these steps encouraging us to go with them. We told them they were crazy. Somehow, I got it in my head that I wanted to climg it though. Izzie stayed at the bottom with our bags and I went off with the Chinese people of a 4km, 1.5 hour hike (I didn't realise that at the time!!) up to the second highest peak. It was hard work. The Chinese people kept telling me I was the best and how proud they were of me.
When we made it to the bottom we could see that dusk was on it's way and with 7km still to go, we had to move. I was extremely tired yet reluctant to rest. Darkness fell pretty quickly especially after we were then under cover of trees. We covered the last 5km in under 40minutes wuithout stopping once. I was ready to collapse. We actually thought we had further to go until we saw Craig waiting. I have never been so happy to see anyone. We grabbed the last taxi who again couldn't find a hotel for us so resorted to Mr Cheng, a man recommended by the Lonely Planet who speaks excellent english. He fed us, booked our bus tickets and found us somewhere to stay. He had been warned about the stupid Brits who took their bags up the mountain. Massive lol - getting a reputation!
We got up early in the morning to catch a bus back to Nanjing. Our plan had been to get a train from here to Guilin, however, nothing goes to plan. There are no train tickets to Guilin until late next week by which time we plan to be in Vietnam. We came back to our hostel. They laughed when they saw us checking in for the 4th time. We immediately set about laundry. Everything but what I was wearing went in. I'd had to come down the mountain in dirty shorts as only my skirt was clean!!
We thought about our options and have decided to stay put here in Nanjing.
Yesterday afternoon we went shopping, clothes shopping. My luck with clothing has not gone too well. So far the list of broken items is as follows;
1 dress
1 pair of shorts
2 flipflops
1 top
These are just the ones beyond repair. Others have been fixed by my sewing kit. Not great huh!
We went out for a Mexican. I saw a poster for it and had a craving for my favourite kind of food! It was a really good meal actually, lots of veggie stuff so I left stuffed! Izzie went to bed pretty early, but Craig and I plotted. Today is her birthday. We bougth her a number of silly presents wrapped in newspaper which are being distributed throughout the day, we have been planning a surprise party with the hostel staff, and generally getting lots of stuff ready for some fun tonight. It does mean that we have to create lots of distractions for either Craig and I to disappear but we managed it. I took her out for lunch today and we all went for a massage with a German girl from our dorm. That worked out some of the tension in my muscles! I'm excited about tonight now. I've been doing my best to spoil her since she's away from home. We wrote a birthday mesage on the wall for her. I think it's going down well =)
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
nomad
Shanghai was a very pleasant place to be. On Sunday night, our friend Andeep (fellow TTC intern) discovered us in the common area of the hostel as he was aslso staying there with his friend Marcel. We did indeed stay up to watch the football (though I was sensible making sure that I got a an hour or so's kip before rising at 02.30. I was most upset that Germany lost =(
We continued our cultural excursions the following day (one couldn;t possibly refer to the morning) by visiting shanghai museum. We put our umbrella duels on hold for this. It was a nice museum but my favourite exhibition was about the greek olympics which isn't very Chinese at all!
We moved on from this back to the Bund but this time we crossed the river. We took the sightseeign tunnel, which was tunnel and lots of flashing lights with a voice narrating what it was supposed to be i.e a meteor shower or the sea. It was so awful it was funny. Included in the price of the ticket was entrance to possible the worst fish museum/aquarium one could ever imagine. We did each choose our favourite style of fishing net. Entrance to a sex museum was also included. This was more interesting - it showed the old methods of sex education. Nothing to do with STD's or anything but more ornements or pictures that a mother would show her daughter before her wedding night. just so she knew what she was in for!
We headed back, opting for the ferry this time to get us across the river. I think we may have walked back to our hostel and eaten somewhere along the route... wait yes we did! I remember now. Upon our return to the hostel we spyed Andeep in the cafe bar and went to join him. We chatted to him, his friend and 2 american guys. We sat down with a few beers and had some crazy conversations about very trivial things which reminded me of my friends and made me miss them. The americans suggested going to a bar on the 87th floor of some famous tower across the river. Everyone consented so off we went. It was a very expensive bar, the cheapest option being to split a bottle of wine. It had lots of tables by the windows, yet after circling the bar and inspecting the lovely if smoggy views, all 7 of us ended up stood down a little dead end corridor. It had windows tru enough but who knows why we didn't pick a good seat!
We got thrown out of this bar at closing time (surprisingly early) and moved onto bar street for a few games of dice. It was around this time that I said something that wasn't taken too well by Craig. It wasn't anything offensive, mean or insulting but perhaps too blunt in stating the truth. Craig is not one to argue so sulked so Izzie took it upm herself to have a chat with him on the way back to the hostel. I had to stay. Not that I minded I have a great time with the guys.
The private chat contined over breakfast, to which I was not invited. I took the chance to talk to Andeep and Marcel who both said that it wasn't my fault he got upset. It left me feeling like a third wheel that my 2 friends who had only recently met were going off without, I didn't much enjoy it.
After they finally reappeared we had to wait for my washing to finish but then we disappeared to a propaganda museum. It was full of posters of Mao's time in power which was actually very interesting. My knowledge of Mao was non-existant before I came to china allowing many people to despair of me. I am now fully updated .. sort of. We moved on from there to the temple. during the taxi ride there, I treid to translate a message from a friend of my Dad's. Reading Chinese is like breaking a code! I got halfway through but gave up on the last half and asked the first english speaking Chinese person at the temple to translate it for me. It was a small but nice temple with an impressive artist working upstairs. They had some ginormous koi fish too. There was a vegetarian restaurant attached so guess where we ate! We chilled out for a while back at the hostel, I updated my travel journal and wrote a few postcards before going to a very nice italian restaurant in an old tram carriage. Yum yum.
We plonked ourselves on a sofa for some chatting but I went back to the room to pack before the other 2. I chatted to our roomies about elephants. I was asleep before they returned because of an early start. Those two seem fond of sleep deprivation though I am more aware of what kind of monster I turn into when tired and hungry.
We are now in Nanjing. Craig made friends with our taxi driver who tried to teach him Chinese, although we couldn't tell you what. We grabbed some lunch (I was heartborken by the lack of a veggie burger in Burger King) and headed to a musuem dedicated to "the Rape of Nanjing" when the Japanese invaded. It was a haunting and vaguely creepy place, built on the site of a 10,000 mass grave. There were no replicas and there was an area semi-excavated so that you could see the skeletons, actual skeletons, up to 7 one on top of the other as 30,000 people died in total. We moved on to a confucian temple which was a bit more enlightening. Actually in between these two sights, Izie got herself a tattoo. She got her chinese name liya pn her foot. We had to amuse her when it was being done to avert her attentions and I held her hand. I can't say i think that much of it, but it means something so at least it's not an ugly tattoo for no reason! Not that I dislike Nanjing, which is a very pretty, little place, but I miss Shanghai!
Play Live Search Charades and win £5000 Think you know your TV, music and film?
We continued our cultural excursions the following day (one couldn;t possibly refer to the morning) by visiting shanghai museum. We put our umbrella duels on hold for this. It was a nice museum but my favourite exhibition was about the greek olympics which isn't very Chinese at all!
We moved on from this back to the Bund but this time we crossed the river. We took the sightseeign tunnel, which was tunnel and lots of flashing lights with a voice narrating what it was supposed to be i.e a meteor shower or the sea. It was so awful it was funny. Included in the price of the ticket was entrance to possible the worst fish museum/aquarium one could ever imagine. We did each choose our favourite style of fishing net. Entrance to a sex museum was also included. This was more interesting - it showed the old methods of sex education. Nothing to do with STD's or anything but more ornements or pictures that a mother would show her daughter before her wedding night. just so she knew what she was in for!
We headed back, opting for the ferry this time to get us across the river. I think we may have walked back to our hostel and eaten somewhere along the route... wait yes we did! I remember now. Upon our return to the hostel we spyed Andeep in the cafe bar and went to join him. We chatted to him, his friend and 2 american guys. We sat down with a few beers and had some crazy conversations about very trivial things which reminded me of my friends and made me miss them. The americans suggested going to a bar on the 87th floor of some famous tower across the river. Everyone consented so off we went. It was a very expensive bar, the cheapest option being to split a bottle of wine. It had lots of tables by the windows, yet after circling the bar and inspecting the lovely if smoggy views, all 7 of us ended up stood down a little dead end corridor. It had windows tru enough but who knows why we didn't pick a good seat!
We got thrown out of this bar at closing time (surprisingly early) and moved onto bar street for a few games of dice. It was around this time that I said something that wasn't taken too well by Craig. It wasn't anything offensive, mean or insulting but perhaps too blunt in stating the truth. Craig is not one to argue so sulked so Izzie took it upm herself to have a chat with him on the way back to the hostel. I had to stay. Not that I minded I have a great time with the guys.
The private chat contined over breakfast, to which I was not invited. I took the chance to talk to Andeep and Marcel who both said that it wasn't my fault he got upset. It left me feeling like a third wheel that my 2 friends who had only recently met were going off without, I didn't much enjoy it.
After they finally reappeared we had to wait for my washing to finish but then we disappeared to a propaganda museum. It was full of posters of Mao's time in power which was actually very interesting. My knowledge of Mao was non-existant before I came to china allowing many people to despair of me. I am now fully updated .. sort of. We moved on from there to the temple. during the taxi ride there, I treid to translate a message from a friend of my Dad's. Reading Chinese is like breaking a code! I got halfway through but gave up on the last half and asked the first english speaking Chinese person at the temple to translate it for me. It was a small but nice temple with an impressive artist working upstairs. They had some ginormous koi fish too. There was a vegetarian restaurant attached so guess where we ate! We chilled out for a while back at the hostel, I updated my travel journal and wrote a few postcards before going to a very nice italian restaurant in an old tram carriage. Yum yum.
We plonked ourselves on a sofa for some chatting but I went back to the room to pack before the other 2. I chatted to our roomies about elephants. I was asleep before they returned because of an early start. Those two seem fond of sleep deprivation though I am more aware of what kind of monster I turn into when tired and hungry.
We are now in Nanjing. Craig made friends with our taxi driver who tried to teach him Chinese, although we couldn't tell you what. We grabbed some lunch (I was heartborken by the lack of a veggie burger in Burger King) and headed to a musuem dedicated to "the Rape of Nanjing" when the Japanese invaded. It was a haunting and vaguely creepy place, built on the site of a 10,000 mass grave. There were no replicas and there was an area semi-excavated so that you could see the skeletons, actual skeletons, up to 7 one on top of the other as 30,000 people died in total. We moved on to a confucian temple which was a bit more enlightening. Actually in between these two sights, Izie got herself a tattoo. She got her chinese name liya pn her foot. We had to amuse her when it was being done to avert her attentions and I held her hand. I can't say i think that much of it, but it means something so at least it's not an ugly tattoo for no reason! Not that I dislike Nanjing, which is a very pretty, little place, but I miss Shanghai!
Play Live Search Charades and win £5000 Think you know your TV, music and film?
Sunday, 29 June 2008
on the road
After anticipating leaving on Friday we actually postponed our departure. Craig wasa to say the least very tired and had also made a trip to the school doctor for feeling particularly unwell. We stuck to western food that night to upset his stomach as little as possible.
I gave him my bed and shared Izzie's. This didn't give either of us much sleep as we ended up in giggles after trying to terrify each other. I also had an early phonecall reminding me that I was to teach at 9am but to ask whether I would ask Izzie if she wanted to teach at 8.30. She definitely did not.
The lessons went well, a little bit extra cash in hand. After eventually getting the pair out of bed around midday, we went for some noodles at a street vendor. This was just after forcing Craig to try the octopus balls which in all fairness aren't that bad. We packed and said goodbye and got ourselves on a train to Shanghai. It was along journey and not all that interesting, as train journeys rarely are but it passed amiably enough. I was luckier than the other two. I was in a seperate train carriage away fromt he screaming child that they had to put up with.
We havn't done an awful lot today. It took us a while to find a hostel, where the newlock for my luggage got stuck and had to be plied open by the hostel owner with his toolbox. then we had a late lunch. We thought maybe we would look at a nearby museum until we saw the queue to get in so we setted for a walk in the park, some bumper cars and a stroll along the bund. Again, with the full intention of intorducing him to local cuisine, we offered Craig squid on a stick. he reluctantly tried it and promptly spat it back out again. Poor thing.
We are off for some dinner soon. We have full intentions of staying awake to watch the germany vs. spain match tonight =)
Get fish-slapping on Messenger! Play Now
I gave him my bed and shared Izzie's. This didn't give either of us much sleep as we ended up in giggles after trying to terrify each other. I also had an early phonecall reminding me that I was to teach at 9am but to ask whether I would ask Izzie if she wanted to teach at 8.30. She definitely did not.
The lessons went well, a little bit extra cash in hand. After eventually getting the pair out of bed around midday, we went for some noodles at a street vendor. This was just after forcing Craig to try the octopus balls which in all fairness aren't that bad. We packed and said goodbye and got ourselves on a train to Shanghai. It was along journey and not all that interesting, as train journeys rarely are but it passed amiably enough. I was luckier than the other two. I was in a seperate train carriage away fromt he screaming child that they had to put up with.
We havn't done an awful lot today. It took us a while to find a hostel, where the newlock for my luggage got stuck and had to be plied open by the hostel owner with his toolbox. then we had a late lunch. We thought maybe we would look at a nearby museum until we saw the queue to get in so we setted for a walk in the park, some bumper cars and a stroll along the bund. Again, with the full intention of intorducing him to local cuisine, we offered Craig squid on a stick. he reluctantly tried it and promptly spat it back out again. Poor thing.
We are off for some dinner soon. We have full intentions of staying awake to watch the germany vs. spain match tonight =)
Get fish-slapping on Messenger! Play Now
Friday, 27 June 2008
leaving
Hong Kong has left me feeling more than a little bitter and with the overwhelming feeling of being financially raped. We finally got our visas but we had to use an agent as the embassy was not issuing double entry visas to anyone and so we paid through the nose for it. Whilst we were there typhoon signal 8 was also hoisted, though we were asleep at this poitn and it had been reduced to a level 3 when we woke up. We spent a very pointless day doing nothing but wandering around in the rain waiting to collect our passports. The bus home was not the most enjoyable. It took nearly 7 hours (4 longer than supposed) because of flooding and traffic and oh it was not fun!!!
I also did not have a greta day yesterday. We intended going to Zhongshan to leave our luggage at the office between 12 and 2. I knocked on Izzie's door just after 12 waking her up and we didn;t leave until half 4 despite reminding her that the office wasn't open 24/7. They had to wait for us as we were so late. We also got off at the wrong bus station and paid a very large amount for a taxi and then had to rush back to get the last bus. I was not a happy bunny let me tell you!
Today, however, is much better. I was awoken by Craig ringing to say that he had landed at the airport. I went down to teach (the cash in hand extra lessons) and after the first i\one ended literally ran out of the room to hunt him down as another phonecall mid-lesson had informed me of his arrival.
He's been getting a few stares from the students amd he sat through my lessons which were impossible to do because as the assistant informed me, they wanted nothing more than to play with him! We are slowly introducing him to China which naturally involves taking him to our noodles place and RBT and a vague attempt at teaching sme basic chinese. Currently he is massacring the language but he will learn.
We set off on our travels today. It will not be my last entry., never fear, I shall keep you all updated but now I am very excited and very happy to have one of my best friends here in China. Yay!!!
Get Started!
I also did not have a greta day yesterday. We intended going to Zhongshan to leave our luggage at the office between 12 and 2. I knocked on Izzie's door just after 12 waking her up and we didn;t leave until half 4 despite reminding her that the office wasn't open 24/7. They had to wait for us as we were so late. We also got off at the wrong bus station and paid a very large amount for a taxi and then had to rush back to get the last bus. I was not a happy bunny let me tell you!
Today, however, is much better. I was awoken by Craig ringing to say that he had landed at the airport. I went down to teach (the cash in hand extra lessons) and after the first i\one ended literally ran out of the room to hunt him down as another phonecall mid-lesson had informed me of his arrival.
He's been getting a few stares from the students amd he sat through my lessons which were impossible to do because as the assistant informed me, they wanted nothing more than to play with him! We are slowly introducing him to China which naturally involves taking him to our noodles place and RBT and a vague attempt at teaching sme basic chinese. Currently he is massacring the language but he will learn.
We set off on our travels today. It will not be my last entry., never fear, I shall keep you all updated but now I am very excited and very happy to have one of my best friends here in China. Yay!!!
Get Started!
Monday, 23 June 2008
Russians do like their vodka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n15JhRcKtv4
This is a link for a video of some of my kindergarten students being their delightful selves =) plus if you watch it lots I might win some money!
So let's begin with yesterday morning. We didn't stick to the timings as planned as I spent ages in the post office trying to collect my parcel. They were being fussy because I didn't have my passport with me. Most annoying.
Eventually we set off for Shenzhen, carrying one rather heavy holdall between us. (Sorry Daddy!) There was nothing of interest about the journey. It took us a while to find our bus in Shenzhen, but we managed it eventually and hopped on. That was one long bus ride. It came as quite a surprise when we found ourselves on the road we needed to be on and missed our stop. Oh the joys. We headed straight to the irish bar, left the holdall in a corner (I almost left saying only "my dad will collect it soon") They remembered me from picking it up though so they understood.
We went for a very nice indian meal. I was spoilt for choice... I havn't seen such an extensive vegetarian section in far too long! Enough to say that I enjoyed my meal. Last night proved to be an expensive one, lots of food and drinks. We sat talking to some russian guys. 1 of them didn't speak any english at all but seemed quite happy to nod along and smile bless him. Then I lost the room key. We eventually returned to our room around half 5, just 45 minutes before our wake up call. Izzie had taken some persuading to leave as obviously she was enjoying herself far too much. Suffice to say we didn't make the ferry as planned.I was still up when the wake up call arrived so I went and had breakfast.I brought some back for Izzie but she was feelign a little worse for wear and didn't want to eat anything. I promptly feel asleep. We checked out at noon, much to the amusement of the clerk who was around when we had arrived that morning without a key.
We got oursleves on the ferry to Hong Kong which did nothing to ease the queasiness of Izzie's tummy. The object of being here is to extend or get a new visa. However, they visa office said we shouldn't do this because of our current visa. We didn't understand what they thought we should do and now we are at a complete loss and have possibly made a fruitless yet expensive trip. I love wasting money, especially since I'm up to my ears in it. Phht.
Anywho, hopefully the TTC staff will get back to us asap and we will find a way round this little dilemma. =)
Now go watch my video!!
This is a link for a video of some of my kindergarten students being their delightful selves =) plus if you watch it lots I might win some money!
So let's begin with yesterday morning. We didn't stick to the timings as planned as I spent ages in the post office trying to collect my parcel. They were being fussy because I didn't have my passport with me. Most annoying.
Eventually we set off for Shenzhen, carrying one rather heavy holdall between us. (Sorry Daddy!) There was nothing of interest about the journey. It took us a while to find our bus in Shenzhen, but we managed it eventually and hopped on. That was one long bus ride. It came as quite a surprise when we found ourselves on the road we needed to be on and missed our stop. Oh the joys. We headed straight to the irish bar, left the holdall in a corner (I almost left saying only "my dad will collect it soon") They remembered me from picking it up though so they understood.
We went for a very nice indian meal. I was spoilt for choice... I havn't seen such an extensive vegetarian section in far too long! Enough to say that I enjoyed my meal. Last night proved to be an expensive one, lots of food and drinks. We sat talking to some russian guys. 1 of them didn't speak any english at all but seemed quite happy to nod along and smile bless him. Then I lost the room key. We eventually returned to our room around half 5, just 45 minutes before our wake up call. Izzie had taken some persuading to leave as obviously she was enjoying herself far too much. Suffice to say we didn't make the ferry as planned.I was still up when the wake up call arrived so I went and had breakfast.I brought some back for Izzie but she was feelign a little worse for wear and didn't want to eat anything. I promptly feel asleep. We checked out at noon, much to the amusement of the clerk who was around when we had arrived that morning without a key.
We got oursleves on the ferry to Hong Kong which did nothing to ease the queasiness of Izzie's tummy. The object of being here is to extend or get a new visa. However, they visa office said we shouldn't do this because of our current visa. We didn't understand what they thought we should do and now we are at a complete loss and have possibly made a fruitless yet expensive trip. I love wasting money, especially since I'm up to my ears in it. Phht.
Anywho, hopefully the TTC staff will get back to us asap and we will find a way round this little dilemma. =)
Now go watch my video!!
Saturday, 21 June 2008
quarrel
I think the rainy season must be over now and with the rain gone, most of the humidity has disappeared leaving me to enjoy a dry heat of 35°C +
We actually missed most of the beautiful weather on Thursday being holed up in RBT. We made major progress with our travel plans, which as you may have realized were thrown into chaos momentarily. We sat here for 5 hours, with guide books, paper and notebooks strewn across the table. All of the glitches have also been ironed out, and we are ready to book the flights. Wahey. That may have been the day we got takeaway form the noodle place and walked to the lake and observed the fish. They were very big goldfish/carp. The actual species remains unknown. It was a pleasant evening.
Yesterday was thrilling. We had made plans to visit the Zumiao temple, a must for people visiting FoShan as we were told. I was ready around lunch to set off but Izzie hadn't slept well and wanted to take the lunchtime nap as the children do. Fair enough, 2 hours later I knocked on her door to make sure she was up. She said 10 minutes to get ready. It is always a reasonable assumption to double or even triple Izzie's time frames. However, an hour later, was she ready? Of course not! She insisted 'just 2 more minutes', which she didn't keep to so I refused to go anywhere. Having spent the entire day waiting around, which felt like a huge waste, I chose to walk to the temple. I had a vague idea where it was as I had briefly glanced at a map. I set off enjoying the evening sun and cursing myself for bringing only a 100 元bill as paying for a 1 元bottle of water with that would not have been appreciated. My sense of direction astounds me still. I wandered aimlessly without the slightest clue where I was for the majority of the time. I was going to give in to the heat, sat myself down and bought a drink (trusty, old McDonalds never complain about the size of the bill) when I realized that I was in fact around the corner from my destination.
I had a lovely time at the temple actually. It was early evening but still hot, and the temple was full of trees and was incredible. I would have been happy just to sit there for a few hours, it felt a lot like a garden and only a little like a temple.
Upon my return, Isobel was knocking at my door in want of ice. A car had hit a bike with a trailer and something had flown from somewhere and hit her in the face. Surprisingly, she doesn't have a black eye. We had a good giggle about really random things. It will probably help that neither of us hold grudges!
I somehow ended up in a P3 water fight yesterday too. Stupid children fell for "Can I have a look?" and handed over their weapons. They resorted to throwing leaves at me. Phht.
I have just had a conversation with the waitress about why I like green apple tea so much, whereas she much prefers milk tea. Does that mean I order it too often??
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Thursday, 19 June 2008
China - greener than the UK? Who'da thunk it
This morning was a very pleasant morning. With it being the rainy season at the moment, it is very rarely not cloudy and overcast and that's only when the heavens haven't opened and the rain isn't falling by the bucketful. However, this morning, the sky was actually blue. I liek my sunglasses too as they are blue tinted which makes the sky seem even more blue. Very nice. I also discovered that China is slowly, ever so slowly, turning green. One is now charged for plastic bags at the supermarket. 
so let's think about how I have been spending my week.....
After our session at the internet café (where I currently am and most embarrassingly the waiter asked if I wanted my usual
) we went shopping. Izzie bought some new trainers, she tried them on without socks and I said that they were a little tight anyway, therefore she should buy the next size up but she didn't listen. They have caused her lots of pain so she went back today to buy a second pair, a size bigger. lol. We also raided number 2 storehouse (our favourite shop) and indulged in a bit of retail therapy.
Tuesday was a busy day. I got us out of bed and on a bus to Guangzhou nice and early (relatively speaking) in order to find the Vietnamese embassy. 42 pounds for a visa! phht.
We came back and met up with Aviva for some lunchtime kareoke. Yes we know. It was just the 3 of us but we had a rave singing old cheesy songs and classics. We also had a go at singing some Chinese songs, much to Aviva's delight. We somehow spent 4 hours there. How time flies when you're having fun!
We wandeed past a children's clothes shop and I found myself in there awwing over clothes and making purchases for sally's bump who berate dme for doing so. IT"S MY MONEY! lol
We returned to Guangzhou yesterday to collect our visas. We haven't really done much else. Izzie did manage to get robbed yesterday, but the only thing that was stolen was my umbrella, which she had borrowed. nothing of her own, oh no, she got robbed of MY stuff! Typical!
The students seem very happy to still have us vaguely around. I've had numerous students launch themselves at me. Ben, very small child, actually took a running jump at me. He was stood on a table at the time as well. We've taken to watching P2 practise a dance routine but we have to be careful not to distract them, otherwise instead of listening to the PE teacher they wave and shout "Seona! Isobel!"
I'm learning how to play chess too (not chinese chess... one type at a time!) I suck. the things I do to fill my time! Buuut...... Craig arrives a week tomorrow yeah!
so let's think about how I have been spending my week.....
After our session at the internet café (where I currently am and most embarrassingly the waiter asked if I wanted my usual
) we went shopping. Izzie bought some new trainers, she tried them on without socks and I said that they were a little tight anyway, therefore she should buy the next size up but she didn't listen. They have caused her lots of pain so she went back today to buy a second pair, a size bigger. lol. We also raided number 2 storehouse (our favourite shop) and indulged in a bit of retail therapy. Tuesday was a busy day. I got us out of bed and on a bus to Guangzhou nice and early (relatively speaking) in order to find the Vietnamese embassy. 42 pounds for a visa! phht.
We came back and met up with Aviva for some lunchtime kareoke. Yes we know. It was just the 3 of us but we had a rave singing old cheesy songs and classics. We also had a go at singing some Chinese songs, much to Aviva's delight. We somehow spent 4 hours there. How time flies when you're having fun!
We wandeed past a children's clothes shop and I found myself in there awwing over clothes and making purchases for sally's bump who berate dme for doing so. IT"S MY MONEY! lol
We returned to Guangzhou yesterday to collect our visas. We haven't really done much else. Izzie did manage to get robbed yesterday, but the only thing that was stolen was my umbrella, which she had borrowed. nothing of her own, oh no, she got robbed of MY stuff! Typical!
The students seem very happy to still have us vaguely around. I've had numerous students launch themselves at me. Ben, very small child, actually took a running jump at me. He was stood on a table at the time as well. We've taken to watching P2 practise a dance routine but we have to be careful not to distract them, otherwise instead of listening to the PE teacher they wave and shout "Seona! Isobel!"
I'm learning how to play chess too (not chinese chess... one type at a time!) I suck. the things I do to fill my time! Buuut...... Craig arrives a week tomorrow yeah!
Monday, 16 June 2008
fortunate
Let me start by saying thank you to all the people praying for me. TTC (the company responsible for me) spoke to the school and convinced them to provide our accommodation for the rest of the month. I have a roof over my head, which is what I need really. The little details have been sorted though we would like to know whether we can still eat in the school canteen or not. Most people complain about TTC saying they are useless but whenever I've had a serious problem (being evicted, being robbed, needing medical attention) they couldn't have been more helpful.
Instead of our Mandarin lesson on Thursday evening, Joy, our teacher, took us out. First we had a meal at a place on the side of the road where you pick whatever you want and they throw it together and cook it for you. We hadn't been brave enough to try it ourselves. It was nice though. She also convinced us to try octopus balls. Not the worst thing I've ever eaten but I'd prefer to stick to it being a one off. It was an enjoyable evening. Upon returning, we were getting ready to meet our friend Angel at a bar until I slipped in a puddle and cracked my head on the floor. It was pretty painful so it put an end to those plans.
I couldn't bear to tell my kindergarten class that I was leaving but I did get lots of photos and gave out sweets. One little boy wanted another to give to his big brother so at the end of the 'lesson' we went to find his brother. The rest of the boys in that class tried to con my poor kindergartener out of his sweets until I intervened. This same little boy also told me that I am not going home ever, I'm going to live with him, his brother and his dad. We actually spent our lessons playing games, taking photos and giving out sweets (we spent an excessive amount of money on sweets - we emptied the shelves of both corner shops)
P2A nearly cried when I informed them that it was my last lesson.
We ran around at the end of the school day with bags of sweets, attempting to avoid the P6 boys who barricaded us in a classroom which resulted in climbing out of the window. That move took them by surprise I think.
We were treated to dinner by some of the teachers on Friday, just after we found out that everything was going to be ok =) We had a good giggle together and they all want us to keep in touch when we leave.
I took my kindergarten class on Saturday morning as usual and in the afternoon Isobel and I took some lessons at the middle school. It's all cash in hand so the government doesn't know lol Following this we met up with Aviva in a park. I say park, it's like an outdoor gym with athletic track, basketball courts, and non-electrical gym equipment naturally. We borrowed somebody's badminton racquets and had a bat around. It was fun.
Yesterday, I did very little. I remained in bed for the majority of the day until we went out for dinner. After that, I didn't fancy going back to my room so I went for a meander. I ended up buying some DVD's (6 series of scrubs) I also got my hands on Prince Caspian, which yes I do realise this is not real and was quite obviously filmed from a cinema and at sporadic intervals a figure would wander across the screen. I did spend a while trying to remember which number it was, finally settled on number four and was then bamboozled and the name of the 7th book, which eluded me. I got as far as 1)The magician's nephew 2) the lion, the witch and the wardrobe 3)the horse and his boy 4)prince Caspian 5)the silver chair 6) voyage of the dawn treader. 7)?? the dawn treader was my personal favourite.
There may be a few confused students around as we did tell them we are leaving, whereas we are still around but not teaching. Coco actually called Isobel a liar for saying she was leaving!
Currently, Izzie and I are the only people in the café and are consequently sat on opposite sides using both computers. The waitresses remember us and said welcome again. Oh dear!
Instead of our Mandarin lesson on Thursday evening, Joy, our teacher, took us out. First we had a meal at a place on the side of the road where you pick whatever you want and they throw it together and cook it for you. We hadn't been brave enough to try it ourselves. It was nice though. She also convinced us to try octopus balls. Not the worst thing I've ever eaten but I'd prefer to stick to it being a one off. It was an enjoyable evening. Upon returning, we were getting ready to meet our friend Angel at a bar until I slipped in a puddle and cracked my head on the floor. It was pretty painful so it put an end to those plans.
I couldn't bear to tell my kindergarten class that I was leaving but I did get lots of photos and gave out sweets. One little boy wanted another to give to his big brother so at the end of the 'lesson' we went to find his brother. The rest of the boys in that class tried to con my poor kindergartener out of his sweets until I intervened. This same little boy also told me that I am not going home ever, I'm going to live with him, his brother and his dad. We actually spent our lessons playing games, taking photos and giving out sweets (we spent an excessive amount of money on sweets - we emptied the shelves of both corner shops)
P2A nearly cried when I informed them that it was my last lesson.
We ran around at the end of the school day with bags of sweets, attempting to avoid the P6 boys who barricaded us in a classroom which resulted in climbing out of the window. That move took them by surprise I think.
We were treated to dinner by some of the teachers on Friday, just after we found out that everything was going to be ok =) We had a good giggle together and they all want us to keep in touch when we leave.
I took my kindergarten class on Saturday morning as usual and in the afternoon Isobel and I took some lessons at the middle school. It's all cash in hand so the government doesn't know lol Following this we met up with Aviva in a park. I say park, it's like an outdoor gym with athletic track, basketball courts, and non-electrical gym equipment naturally. We borrowed somebody's badminton racquets and had a bat around. It was fun.
Yesterday, I did very little. I remained in bed for the majority of the day until we went out for dinner. After that, I didn't fancy going back to my room so I went for a meander. I ended up buying some DVD's (6 series of scrubs) I also got my hands on Prince Caspian, which yes I do realise this is not real and was quite obviously filmed from a cinema and at sporadic intervals a figure would wander across the screen. I did spend a while trying to remember which number it was, finally settled on number four and was then bamboozled and the name of the 7th book, which eluded me. I got as far as 1)The magician's nephew 2) the lion, the witch and the wardrobe 3)the horse and his boy 4)prince Caspian 5)the silver chair 6) voyage of the dawn treader. 7)?? the dawn treader was my personal favourite.
There may be a few confused students around as we did tell them we are leaving, whereas we are still around but not teaching. Coco actually called Isobel a liar for saying she was leaving!
Currently, Izzie and I are the only people in the café and are consequently sat on opposite sides using both computers. The waitresses remember us and said welcome again. Oh dear!
Thursday, 12 June 2008
It's a Chilli Business
This was going to be a happy blog, cheerful and full of nice tales about my students. However, circumstances have changed. I am somewhere between heartbroken and furious. We got fired today. The chinese government says we are not qualified to be teachers so we're being fired. On top of this, we are being evicted; we have to move out by the weekend.
Most of the teachers don't know yet, but the teacher that did was visibly upset, which doesn't make me feel any better. I've decided not to teach my lessons tomorrow and instead I'm going to use the time to say goodbye to my students. It's so unfair to give us so little warning about it, and it is in breach of our contract. The whole thing is in breach of our contract, but none of that matters to the Chinese government.
I don't even know what to think.
I've laughed because the situation is so ridiculous. I nearly cried because it's heartbreaking (I struggled to think of a synonym). I yelled and grimaced (at nothing in particular) because I can't believe they're doing this to us now. Right now, I feel a little anxious and dejected.
I'm a little worried about money. I'm losing 1650 yuan in wages, on top of this I now have to pay for food and accommodation for the next 18 days which definitely were not in my budget. I had it all planned out - I knew exactly how much I had to spend every day after accommodation and transport. My budget does not accomodate for this; I was spending all the money I have to my name on this travelling. The school is also supposed to pay for our return to Beijing but who knows if they will still do that other wise that's another 500 yuan.
I am at a complete loss about what to do. We have spoken to our area manager from TTC who is trying to get the school to give us the 10 days written notice but I honestly don't what we can do. I am at a loss
Let's move on to the happier things now.
I was used as a climbing pole by a very determined child yesterday. I refused to pick him up, despite his incessant jumping up with outstretched arms. he obviously didn't like the favouritism being shown to his younger sister, whom I had just set back down on the floor, so instead, climbed up my legs and wrapped himself around my waist.
I enjoyed a lovely natter with my sister last night for over an hour! I miss her lots and lots. I made her giggle lots with my silly stories. She found the idea of me standing in front of P5A (that infamous, wayward class) singing S club 7's 'Reach' hilarious and started singing "weach for the stars" to herself. The story of the little 6 year old unremittingly flipping me off, regardless of the shocked expression on my face also proved to entertain her somewhat. These children have character by the bucketful.
I decided to tire myself out last night by going for a run round the school track. After returning a pleasant plum colour, I came across some students wandering the corridors. Naturally, I queried their actions. They were looking for a chilli or two to put in their noodles for some flavour. I had a packet in my fridge and acquiesced and handed over a few. (That word reminds me only of pirates of the caribbean now - "I am disinclined to acquiesce your request" - just pretend you can hear me putting on a voice) Despite my attempts to shut the door behind me, they still wandered into my room. Now imagine I had started with my anecdote with 'I had two boys in my room last night.'
This chilli business did not stop at these two though. Shortly after I heard a knock at my door. I had just got out of the shower and was wrapped ina towel and, upon the assumption that it would be Isobel knocking, thought it safe to open the door. To my surprise I found 2 more boys stood at my door in want of chillis. They took the packet away, further to my surprise, and returned in later, when I was in my pyjamas, which to some extent is a better outfit, but still not the most appropriate, to be seen in by students. They paid me 5 mau for them too, the cutiepies (that's about 3pence)
My my, this entry is on the long side. Sorry!
Most of the teachers don't know yet, but the teacher that did was visibly upset, which doesn't make me feel any better. I've decided not to teach my lessons tomorrow and instead I'm going to use the time to say goodbye to my students. It's so unfair to give us so little warning about it, and it is in breach of our contract. The whole thing is in breach of our contract, but none of that matters to the Chinese government.
I don't even know what to think.
I've laughed because the situation is so ridiculous. I nearly cried because it's heartbreaking (I struggled to think of a synonym). I yelled and grimaced (at nothing in particular) because I can't believe they're doing this to us now. Right now, I feel a little anxious and dejected.
I'm a little worried about money. I'm losing 1650 yuan in wages, on top of this I now have to pay for food and accommodation for the next 18 days which definitely were not in my budget. I had it all planned out - I knew exactly how much I had to spend every day after accommodation and transport. My budget does not accomodate for this; I was spending all the money I have to my name on this travelling. The school is also supposed to pay for our return to Beijing but who knows if they will still do that other wise that's another 500 yuan.
I am at a complete loss about what to do. We have spoken to our area manager from TTC who is trying to get the school to give us the 10 days written notice but I honestly don't what we can do. I am at a loss
Let's move on to the happier things now.
I was used as a climbing pole by a very determined child yesterday. I refused to pick him up, despite his incessant jumping up with outstretched arms. he obviously didn't like the favouritism being shown to his younger sister, whom I had just set back down on the floor, so instead, climbed up my legs and wrapped himself around my waist.
I enjoyed a lovely natter with my sister last night for over an hour! I miss her lots and lots. I made her giggle lots with my silly stories. She found the idea of me standing in front of P5A (that infamous, wayward class) singing S club 7's 'Reach' hilarious and started singing "weach for the stars" to herself. The story of the little 6 year old unremittingly flipping me off, regardless of the shocked expression on my face also proved to entertain her somewhat. These children have character by the bucketful.
I decided to tire myself out last night by going for a run round the school track. After returning a pleasant plum colour, I came across some students wandering the corridors. Naturally, I queried their actions. They were looking for a chilli or two to put in their noodles for some flavour. I had a packet in my fridge and acquiesced and handed over a few. (That word reminds me only of pirates of the caribbean now - "I am disinclined to acquiesce your request" - just pretend you can hear me putting on a voice) Despite my attempts to shut the door behind me, they still wandered into my room. Now imagine I had started with my anecdote with 'I had two boys in my room last night.'
This chilli business did not stop at these two though. Shortly after I heard a knock at my door. I had just got out of the shower and was wrapped ina towel and, upon the assumption that it would be Isobel knocking, thought it safe to open the door. To my surprise I found 2 more boys stood at my door in want of chillis. They took the packet away, further to my surprise, and returned in later, when I was in my pyjamas, which to some extent is a better outfit, but still not the most appropriate, to be seen in by students. They paid me 5 mau for them too, the cutiepies (that's about 3pence)
My my, this entry is on the long side. Sorry!
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
changes
true to a distinctive chinese style, the school has changed some details last minute. I rephrase that, a month in advance is a lengthy forewarning by chinese standards, but there it is, they changed the date of the school's graduation ceremony. It was supposed to be on the 10th but is now on the 12th. I suppose that I should be glad that I hadn;t booked any flights yet which I had intended on doing yesterday but it caused chaos for my plans. I got myself a little worked up thinking that a) we would have to get an expensive flight so as to waster no further time, b) sacrifice a destination on our travels or c) not go to the graduation. All 3 were not things I wanted to do. However, today I am thinking much more clearly and have realised that I don't need to see the great wall or the summer palace again (as much as I would like to) thus we set our plans back a few days and I lose time in Beijing. There is a solution to everything! Now this means that I get to see my version of Snow White 9written by yours truly) perfromed on stage by my darling P6B. I think I may have been quite cruel to them yesterday, but it was all for my own amusement!! You must understand that I had a reason for this! They seem to have a problem with the idea of Prince Charmingconfessing his love, to a girl of all things!! so we played honey,do you love me? It was hilarious especially after they targeted Michelle (their new english teacher) and myself. So much hassle over telling someone you love them. Well they are at that age. I also focused on the final scene. I removed the life giving kiss (too risque!) but replaced it with a dance. Trying to get them to even vaguely appear as though they were dancing together had the boys in hysterics and the poor couple cringing. I was suitably entertained!
There could be more that I can waffle on about but now does not feel like the time. I am far too happy that I have found a solution to a ratehr depressing prospect. I did learn 2 new words yesterday (english ones) puerile and puckish and to think I'd call myself a fluent speaker!
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There could be more that I can waffle on about but now does not feel like the time. I am far too happy that I have found a solution to a ratehr depressing prospect. I did learn 2 new words yesterday (english ones) puerile and puckish and to think I'd call myself a fluent speaker!
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