Day 18 - October 22nd

Wake up and check out. Internet is down at the hostel, so don’t get to check up on my Facebook before my long train journey! I get in a cab for the train station and pass the bus station which I arrived at. The meter showed Y10… I paid Y72 on my way in… fucking cowboy taxi driver!

I feel that in Qingdao, I’ve been neglecting my blog entries, so 8 hour train journey with no reading material should help me with some good blog material! I get on the train (1^st class baby!!!) I decide first class IS the way forward! It’s clean and plenty of leg space… important factors for 8 hour journeys! And I get warm water on demand! Wow!

A steward walks pass with her hair tied up in the back with a hair net… looks like a bollock! We pass the Qingdao Malting Mill… I’m annoyed that I went Qingdao and didn’t have a single beer… I was offered two free ones and all!!!

Hour and half into the journey, I decide to go check out the facilities! I press the button for the automatic door for the toilet… it flings open and there’s a Chinese guy pissing… ARGH!!! Pretty embarrassing! I don’t stick around to say sorry!

I notice there are less people to watch in 1^st class compared to my last train journey! Though the guy who’s seat should be next to mine keeps moving away, but moving back as more and more people board our train. Past Jinan and Tai Shan… I hate back tracking!

I chat to Matt Earley on the phone… maybe I should have taken a trip up to Beijing. Korean saunas sound interesting! I have a thought; have I learnt more then I would from reading a book? Maybe I should talk to more people? Don’t really feel like it!

Pass soo much countryside! I see new sprouts in the field. It’s such a contrast from 2 weeks ago! I notice I’ve taken a lot less pictures this week. Suppose everything looks pretty much the same now! I decide to go to the restaurant car for some luncheon and pass the peasant’s seats! They don’t look too bad and maybe it doesn’t look like a Y100 difference, but I’d rather be where I am than with the common folk!

The train crew are cute. I test the water; "do you have any English magazines?" … they’re not digging it! I eat a shitty microwave meal for Y20. A thought comes to my mind… do I get food in my moustache when I eat? Would any one tell me?

I return to my seat to find the business man sitting next to me studying the safety manual pretty intensely! He’ll know all the safety exits very soon. Maybe I should start a conversation with him…

Speak to him after an hour of twiddling my thumbs! He asks me if there are poor people in UK. Odd topic we talk about! We exchange business cards after a while. Shit! I didn’t study his intently enough as he did mine when we exchanged. He must think I’m a barbarian! Turns out he’s a salesman for machinery which makes glassware. He’s been in the industry for 30 years and at his current business for 20 years. The job he had before was before the industry got privatised and he was working for the state.

I pass wind.

The man gets off the train an hour and a half before me and then a really camp guys sits next to me! I decide against talking to him! I take a nap but wake up to him trying to chat up a steward (girl). She is not impressed… he’s old enough to be her father!

Why do so many Chinese people smell of preserved cabbage?

The train had been playing the same music over and over again, but then a new CD gets put on and I get to hear the BeeGee’s ‘How Deep Is Your Love?’. The train passes a bridge which is one of Nanjing’s tourist attractions. It’s dark outside so I see nothing!

Get off the train and into a taxi. The taxi driver is rubbish! I tried making conversation and he just ignores me. Bastard! It also takes two phone calls for him to finally find the hostel I am staying at. The worse bit was when he pulled over to call the second time. He was there for a good 5 minutes talking to the girl from the hostel before he told me to get back in the taxi where we proceeded to turn around and drive 30 metres and arrive at the hostel! To be fair, there were no signs at all saying it was a hostel!

The staff at the hostel are pretty crap too! It takes ages for me to check in and the girl needed a calculator to multiply 35 (cost of the room) by 2 (nights I was going to stay). She then forgets to get me to sign my signature and give me keys to my room!

I put my things down and then head to the common area. I kick a puppy by mistake! He was under my feet and I didn’t notice him! He’s the cutest thing ever! Name is Simon! Hostel looks pretty nice, but empty. Not a single whitey yet! Maybe I will be speaking Chinese again! I order food and some hot milk. I’ve really got into it! I bet I get a layer of milk on my moustache!

I meet an Aussie couple who are travelling to UK via the rest of the world! Then I meet an Indian guy, Joe and we proceed to play pool… it was the worst two games ever! A group of Danish guys then come in and put on a Guns ‘n’ Roses DVD. We hang out and play a card game called donkey. This carries on till 1 in the morning when we decide to go get some food. I feel a bit bad as whilst we were eating, the conversation gets started on weird foods in China and I give them all the stories I have heard and experienced (monkeys, seals penis etc.). I put them off their food and they don’t finish their food! Return to the hostel to find an American girl in my dorm. Try to make conversation, but she seems really weird and non-talkative!

Miles walked: 113.960m

Day 3 - October 7th

We check out of the hotel and proceed to go to the safari. It was actually really good for Chinese standards. There were some pretty cool animals like snow tigers and my favourite, the lesser pandas. One of the enclosures had both lions and tigers together… how silly of me, of course, they hang out all the time in the wild! One of the great things about China is that you could get away with things like buying bananas and throwing them at elephants or buying some fish and chucking them at the seals! We chose not to go to the bear show… apparently they dress them up in human clothes and make them push prams around.

Get on a plane to Zhengzhou and arrive at around 11pm. Initial reaction; it’s a bit nips here. Then I think it really hit me when I looked out onto the concourse, “Why is everyone here wearing jumpers?” Oh dear!!! I looked pretty out of place in my shorts and t-shirt! I had a really pleasant taxi ride to the hotel I was staying in. I get chatting to driver and tell him my plans of travelling for three months. He is impressed, though warns me of the dangers. He tells me that I should call my parents as much as possible as they will be worried. I find out that he has a son just a year younger than me. He tells me that I seem like a friendly guy and won’t have any problems finding friends to travel with. Makes me feel good about myself. I call home that night. No answer!

Miles walked: 15.613m
Steps taken: 39,728

Day 1 - October 5th

So only had 3 hours sleep last night. A mixture of worrying, getting stuff ready and digesting the all-you-can-eat sushi and seafood! I meet my Uncle and we make the journey to the border crossing to Shenzhen. From Shenzhen my uncle decides to take me to a place called San Xuang, where I later find out that he owns properties for rent. It was a pretty odd two hour bus journey. I saw at least five car crashes, including one really bad one where it looked as though a truck carrying logs caught fire!!! I think this may be the most car crashes I’ve ever seen in one day!

We leave San Xuang at 2pm only to be caught in more traffic behind yet another car crash. I’m beginning to think that if I wanted to stay in traffic jams, I should have stayed in Hong Kong. My original plan for the day was to go visit my Nan at an old people’s home in Guangzhou, but we don’t arrive in town until 6pm. My uncle suggests it may be too late to go see her. I feel I have wasted the whole day and I could have stayed in Hong Kong for a few more hours’ kip. Fuming!!! We stay in my uncle’s holiday home in Guangzhou. I didn’t sleep well that night.

Miles walked: 2.223m
Steps taken: 5,657