Day 46 - November 19th

10am wake! Latest I’ve slept in to for a while! I find out that my toilet is blocked and then all the water overflows when I flush it. I leave it and try and pretend it wasn’t me! I check out and have lunch. I wait for a taxi outside the motel for a good 15 minutes and then a man comes up to me and tells me he will take me to the bus stop for the airport and that a taxi will cost at least Y50! I go back into the motel and ask reception. They tell me to take taxi from across the road. I cross over and if by magic, a cab appears straight away! As I jump in, another guy asks me if I was going to the station and if we could share a cab. We arrive at the station and the meter says Y14.90. Y50 my arse!!!

The train to Chengdu is a double-decker train. Not much happened on the train ride up, I slept a bit, read a bit and also spoke to Lisa on the phone, but gave up as the phone cut out every few km as there were many tunnels! The journey took me past things of China which I haven’t seen in a long while; palm trees and rice paddies, but then soon it got cold again as we travelled higher and higher. Saw the sun in the first time in ages!

I arrive in Chengdu after 5 hours and decide to go to the Dragon Town Hostel… it was on a street named 宽 which is my name in Chinese! The taxis in Chengdu all seem to have webcams in for some reason, which reminds me of the daytime TV game show in UK called Cash Cab! A London cab would drive around London and pick up people and then quiz them in the cab whilst they are on their journey and the contestants win money!!! Great show! I arrive at the hostel and put my washing in the machine. It finishes, but hasn’t spun dried at all! I also book a tour to the panda sanctuary for Y90. I know I could do it much cheaper on my own, but I didn’t like the idea of catching buses at 6 in the morning (pandas sleep most the day so have to go in the morning), and I got a free panda bear!

I decide to stay close by for dinner and eat at a posh looking restaurant next to the hostel. I order the burger for Y22, which turns out to be a bit of burger meat in a baguette! Not the best burger I’ve ever had! I then realize that I have been wearing the same pair of trousers for a week and half and that I must have left a pair of shorts in Shanghai at Eamonns.

I decide that I want to fly to Kunming to meet Jane my sister on Sunday, rather than take the 18 hour train! Only cost Y390! Meet Terry (another Londoner) and then later find out that in our room, there is another Brit and an Italian!

Miles walked: 303.427m

Day 34 - November 7th

Wake up and check out. No internet!!! I get a taxi to the train station, and listen to some real funny radio ads. Both were selling apartments, “In London, you have the Thames lifestyle. In Hangzhou, you have the West Lake lifestyle!” and “I’m always first to the football pitch because I live at the Cambridge Complex”. I leave my backpack at the left luggage place at the train station and then jump into a mini van to the long-distance bus station. The driver was actually mad!

I get on a bus for Wuzhen, another water town which my mother suggested I go to! It takes a good hour to get there and then I jump into a rickshaw and he takes me on a tour for Y30... it was pretty shit! Haha! He took me to the old crappy part of town and to a wine wholesaler as I said I wanted to buy some! Cost me Y30 for 2 bottles and they look pretty nice! Tasted it... not too nice! He then took me to some old woman's house and I gave her Y1 for her to talk to me about her house. Apparently it was about 500 years old and there was these wooden panels which were supposed to be important. He then took me to some other back streets which were pretty crappy, though I did see a lot of local workshops with old folk making stuff!

He then took me to the main touristy area where he said it’s not really worth going to see. I look around the outside and like it so decide to pay the Y100 to get in. It was like the old town, but renovated and more pretty! Walked around the ‘scenic spot’, but a lot of the shows were not on as it is off season! Looked at all the sites inside, was okay, but the things that stuck out were the opera in the main square and the puppet show!

On the bus ride home, I sit next to a Chongqing University graduate and we get chatting. He tells me that there is another place nearby which is also a river town, but it is much much better and is free. On my return to Hangzhou, the traffic is chock-a-block. I manage to get on a taxi back to the train station, but the next train was in an hour and 45mins. It seems that Hangzhou has always got it in for me for travelling! I decide to spend my time in a Internet cafe/massage parlour/brothel! Strange combo place next to the station! Funny as I see a guy and his g/f, where his g/f is saying "let's go" but he’s saying back to her "let me play a little longer"! This goes on for a while. I have a little titter!

I have an urge for KFC so I go, but I was running out of time so run out of the place to catch my train. I think I actually forgot the chicken wings, but i don’t really know what I ordered! I get the usual stares on the train and can smell Bai Jiu everywhere. I don’t know if it’s me or what? I’m getting a real disliking of it now! I spend the rest of the train journey brainstorming what I need to do when at Yiwu (my next destination where I meet my uncle for work). The sweets in my pocket melt.

I arrive at Yiwu earlier then intended and jump in a cab. I share it with some other woman; cabs here are soo retarded! I get to my hotel and tell the receptionist that my uncle has booked me in and such. They take me up to the room and no one is there. I tip the bellhop; I was staying at a nice hotel, what can I do? Meet my uncle and eat dinner, then go to the street market and buy some more socks!

Miles walked: 231.078m

Day 33 - November 6th

Wake and take a taxi to the Tea Museum, where the taxi driver waits for us (I meet Andrena there) whilst we look around the museum. He gets pissed off as we take a good half an hour when he suggested that it only takes a few minutes to see everything! He then takes us to Longjing Village (Dragon Well Village) to buy tea. The first 'tea house' we went to tried to charge us Y500 a catty (500g) for the tea, so we walk out! We carry on walking up the road and get to the village proper. The air is so clean here! On our stroll, an old lady comes up to us and asks us if we wanted to take pictures! She then grabs us and grandma-handles us to get into the perfect poses for pictures with the mountain as backgrounds and surrounded by tea plants (trees?). She could have been a film director with her demands of “stand this way… no, no, point the camera this way!” We end up going to her tea house and buying tea from her. Y250 for a catty! Half the price, so I buy 3 tins!

Time is running short as Andrena has to catch a train back to Shanghai, so we get a taxi back to town and get some food. We go to a Muslim place for a quick bite, which turns out to be the slowest meal to cook ever! And the spiciest as well! The food takes so long that Andrena actually misses her train back to Shanghai, so we go for drinks at the hotel opposite (originally coffee, but then saw that alcohol was same price!). Safely get her on the train on our second attempt!

I then decide to go for a wonder around the city which takes me to Carrefore (French food store, like Tesco). I walk past the car park and see a man going to all the mopeds and hitting the boot compartment and setting all the alarms off. He had the BIG and CLEVER look on his face! I then went to the Temple of King Qian, the king of the area many years ago who led the local people through many years of peace and prosperity whilst joining with rival kingdoms to create China. I saw the tiniest squirrel in there! Very different to the grey ones at home! It seems that I had just missed something, as a lot of photographers were walking out and there was gold clothe on all the walls and pillars.

I then found a book store and replenished my reading literature and got a paper which I sat by the lake and read as the sun went down. Was very old man like! As the sun went down I returned to my hostel by bus this time. Hangzhou’s bus system is strange in the fact that I got a coach with the bus route on and there are also mini vans which run the same route. So it’s not one company with a fleet of buses, but many people running the same line.

I get back and have dinner; West Lake fish again. I’ve realised that I am eating well again - hurrah! I then chat with the reception girl at the hostel all night, showing her pix of my travels so far and testing her English! I’m surprised that she didn’t recognise Marx and Engels in one of my pictures. Early night.

Miles walked: 223.15m

Day 30 - November 3rd

Late wake up again! Woken by Pierre, French guy who’s living at the apartment at the mo, losing his phone. He must have dropped it in the taxi when he was returning from the office (on a Saturday!). Pretty annoying, as the person called my phone back, but when I tried to talk to them, they didn’t answer. Stolen! Decide to get my shit together and go down to Pizza Hut for lunch! I eat 4 of the 6 pieces of my pizza and save the other two pieces for later! I’ve turned into such an old man! Haha!

I bid Eamonn farewell, even though he says he will meet me tomorrow in Hangzhou. I face the metro system with all my luggage. Pretty hard work! I get to the train station after an hour and go get a ticket. The Lonely Planet suggests it will cost Y40, I get a ticket for Y24. I notice later that I have got the slow train! Everyone seems to be looking at me. Just staring! The train stewards here are sooo anal! He had to make sure all my straps from my backpack were tucked into the over head shelf which took a good few minutes! So anal for something which is perfectly safe! I suppose he was trying to make his train look neater or something? He seemed to have missed the fact that the trains are just DIRTY! The Tannoys start blaring out Backstreet Boys. I decide it’s time to listen to my iPod!

After 2 hours, I arrive at Hangzhou. Whilst leaving, I talk to people and they warn me that I shouldn’t tell people I am from Hong Kong! So what should I tell them? I come from England? Rip me off even more? The taxi ride is crazy! We get to a traffic jam, where people are getting out of their cars and yelling at the police! Apparently, there is a fireworks display today and all the roads are closed! The taxi driver stops and tells me to get out and walk the rest of the way to my hostel. Its just a few 100 metres down the off ramp of the highway. Okay… so I get out and walk.

Turns out my hostel wasn’t ‘just’ down the road. Its miles away! I call the hostel and the original one I wanted was fully booked anyway… first time I’ve had trouble with bookings! Then the second one I choose say I should get a taxi to get there. So I wait for a taxi… and wait… and wait. A good half hour passes so I decide maybe I should move and try to find a better place. I walk pass many massage parlours with red lights… hmm. When I say lots, I mean a whole bloody block! Maybe this ain't the best place to hang out! After an hour, I give up getting in a taxi (after several actually don’t let me in!) and decide the best course of action would be to go to an Internet café and chill for a bit until the traffic is better (this is at about 10pm).

After an hour, I still can’t seem to get a taxi. So I call up the hostel and ask them which direction I would have to walk. Better to walk half way and find a cab then sit around with nothing! On my walk, I get people laugh at me “so you can’t get a cab?”. I finally get a cab after walking a good 4 blocks. “Why do you want to go to that youth hostel? There’s one just around the corner…” I decide that I started walking to this hostel, by god am I gonna get there!

I arrive (3 hours after getting off the train!) and check in. I am greeted by a Chinese lady who was from the states who can talk Cantonese. We talk in 3 different languages! She seems nice enough, but then after a few hours, she leaves with some other people to go to Yellow Mountain.

I see a mouse run out of my room! I eat my 2 remaining slices of pizza!

Miles walked: 195.750m

Day 26 - October 30th

Wake up and drag myself up! I’m such a bum nowadays! I’ve woken up the last two days when Max gets back from Uni at midday. I tell him I’m going to the Shanghai Museum and set off to get some foodage! I force the food down me, but I’m not really enjoying it any more! Feel pretty miserable! I talk to Lisa, which cheers me up, and then I decide it’s probably best to just go home and sleep. So I go to the supermarket and get myself some snacks and fruit and then head home.

I sit and watch some more BBC News and then I hear a key rustling at the door. Now, I know Eamonn is at work, and Max had just gone to Chinese class… it’s the third house mate who I have not met yet! She walks in with her mum and uncle; “hello! I’m Eamonn’s friend” I’m glad she didn’t find me in my underwear with a beer in my hand (the thought had crossed my mind… what? No one was in the house!?!?) Was still pretty awkward though! But they left after a bit so I was left on my own again!

Nap!

Wake up to Max returning after lessons. “Do you want to come play football?” My answer? “Hell yeah!!!” So he lends me some shoes and a t-shirt and we’re off to play football with the French. Most fun I have had in a long time!!! Showed my skills and most importantly formed part of the Great Wall of China in front of our goal!

Return home HUNGRY! Have a shower and shave my scraggly beard! Go and have dinner with the French… order the typical Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet and Sour Pork. Get a call from mum and wish her happy birthday. What a great son I am, I make her call me to wish her birthday wishes! The French guys go up to their apartment to have a smoke. I decide against it, as I feel the high is not worth the risk. I was told that it’s not that risky, as most police officers don’t know the smell of weed, so even if they investigate, they wouldn’t know what it was! Though life sentence in China doesn’t sound that appealing for me for a few drags and a high!

Spend an hour and a half trying to find credit for my phone and panicking so that I could call Olivia and meet up for drinks tonight. Her mobile wasn’t working, so I was relying on her calling me, but you can’t receive calls in China unless you have credit. Gay system! I finally get credit at around midnight and receive call from Olivia. It was only her 2^nd attempt to call me! As usual, she wasn’t even ready or packed (her flight leaves tomorrow at 6am). We decide to meet at 1am! Girls ey?

We go for drinks and stay out until around 4. No sleep for her tonight! Taxi home was pretty scary, the driver was actually falling asleep at the wheel! I decide to talk to him to keep him awake!

Miles walked: 173.083m

Day 25 - October 29th

Wake up and try and make it to the Shanghai Museum. Decide to meet Neith for lunch, though it takes me about an hour to find where she works! We have a good natter about missing home and eat a sandwich! I then try and find a bus back into town for People’s Square, but I’m not sure which one to take so I ask someone. Their first reaction is "are you from Hong Kong?"

I decide to get into a taxi and have a nice chat with the driver! He thinks I am a film director! The topic gets onto people from UK and about class differences and such. I know I might be heading for a particularly sensitive subject so just decide to tell him that at the end of the day, everyone is the same everywhere and so are governments! Phew! He likes me and says that I am a descendant of the Yellow Emperor! He then asks me about the doll in UK. I tell him I know little about it!

Make it to People’s Square, but it’s too late to go to Shanghai Museum (3 o’clock by now… I’d need a good 4 hours and it closes in 2) so I settle for the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum instead! Pretty good museum, though it got rather tedious at the end as I don’t really care too much about Shanghai to be fair :P

Read in People’s Square and then decide to go for a walk. This walk becomes a mammoth walk which gets me lost and covers around 10miles!!! I just started walking and couldn't stop!

Meet Olivia (friend from BLCU who was visiting Shanghai too) at around 11pm. Tell her how fed-up I am of travelling! She tells me I look very thin and I realise that I haven’t actually been eating lately! Maybe why I keep doing stupid things! We hang out at McDonalds!

Miles walked: 166.903m

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 13 - October 17th

I check out and go to Zoucheng (Mencius’ hometown). We drive past a street full of shops selling cannons and artillery pieces! Sat next to a really cute Chinese baby – she was being taught numbers! I’ve got to say, anyone out there who wants a cute Chinese baby… I am willing to spread my seed!

I get a motor cab from the bus station to the Mencius Temple. Lonely Planet suggests it’s a Y10 ride, I get it for Y5, but the more I think about it, I could have got it for even cheaper! A thought comes to my head; I’ve never seen a Chinese person blow their nose before! Is that why they always spit? I think more research is needed on this matter!

I start to feel really ill so get bus back to Qufu. A beggar at the bus station starts to really annoy me. I tell him I have nothing to give him and he gets annoyed with me. I mean, I’m not a mean person and maybe he got down on his luck, but him getting annoyed at me for not giving him any money is just stupid. He’s lost all pride in himself.

The bus journey to Qingdao was pretty crazy! The driver was just weaving in and out of traffic like a madman! A few near misses! Hold a pee in for a good hour and half… almost wet myself!

Once in Qingdao, I jump in a cab. Turns out the bus dropped me off in the suburbs and the hostel I want is in the city! The taxi man is very talkative. I miss most the things he says, but he seems very proud of his city and seems well travelled (Korea, Hong Kong twice) which begs me to think, how could he afford it as a humble taxi driver? Turns out he used to work in garments in Guangzhou!

Arrive in the hostel, turns out to be Y20 a night! The cheapest I have had so far in China! I meet an American guy called Greg in my room. He seems alright, but also speaks me ear off! It’s all good though, the first English convocation I had with some one face to face in ages! I think it was the same for him!

I have some freshly made noodles in a hole in the wall restaurant. Was so nice that I have a second bowl! Fat bastard!!! Play guitar in the common area… first time I’ve touched a guitar in a few weeks. They turn on the music which annoys me so I move out to the foyer and serenade the reception lady! She is nice to me from now on!

I return to my room to sleep but an American Hong Kong lady talks at me even though I tell her I am ill and need sleep! We get into an argument about Britain, she claiming that it fucked the Hong Kong people over and that they don’t let Hong Kongers into the country to work. She seems odd, doesn’t want to speak Cantonese even though I know it would have been easier for her! Odd lady! Funny… there are three stages of people in the room that night; me (young and about to start career), Greg (mid life crisis and looking to do something totally different with life) and the Old Lady (old and retired and seeing the world with her spare time)!

Miles walked: 90.559m
Steps taken: 30,432

Day 10 - October 14th

Not a great night’s sleep. I kept on being woken up by knocks on the door and phone calls asking if I needed any ‘special services’. By the time it was midnight I get pissed off and tell the lady on the phone to fuck off! Dodgy dodgy dodgy!!!

I wake up in a windowless room. First time I’ve ever slept in a windowless room. It’s strange because you just don’t know what time it is. It’s just dark! I also have to let you all in on a secret. I’m afraid of the dark so whenever I stay in a hotel on my own, I will always leave the TV on. My TV was turned off this morning and I don’t remember waking up to turn it off (it would have been a mission as the remote didn’t work so I would have had to get off my arse).

I go to a book store to pick up a few reads for my journey. The selection in the biggest book store in town was pretty lame. Just kids reading books or business ones! I take a two hour bus journey to Tai'an, the town at the foot of Tai Shan (the most sacred Taoist mountain in China). They show a Bollywood MTV on the journey.

I’m greeted in Tai'an by a taxi driver who almost convinces me to stay a night in a hotel in town and climb tomorrow morning. He argues that it will cost a lot tonight (weekend) and that there will be many people on the way up. He almost had me, but I was sticking with my guns. He still seemed awfully nice and I gave him a nice big smile and wave when I drove past him on a motor taxi! He wouldn’t take me to the place I wanted to go even though I requested he take me!

I decide to leave my backpack at the bus station and then do the traditional route for climbing Tai Shan. This started off at a temple at the foot of the mountain called Dai Temple where I brought some incense for my journey up. I wanted to retrace the steps of the old emperors and leave offerings at every temple I pass on the way to the top. I buy a ticket for the first temple and I give the lady in the ticket booth a big smile. Her face changes and she has an even bigger smile back! I doubt she has had anyone smile at her in a long time.

At the foot of the mountain I also meet two Chinese students. They turn out to be the soundest people I have met. They were so hospitable and offered me everything they had like a friend. I am so pleased to have met them on the journey up the mountain! We walk four hours up to the midway point where they negotiate a stay in a room for Y100 between the three of us. I was probably going to go to a hotel for Y200 upwards! The original plan was that we sleep outside… okay for me, as I had a sleeping bag, but I don’t know how they would have survived! I decide to buy them some Tai Shan baijiu (rice wine) for us to drink. First impression… not bad! Second shot… hmm?!?! Third shot… get that shit away from me! I end up having to leave the bottle outside out room as even the smell of it made me welch!

We head to sleep around 9pm. I forget my toothbrush!

Miles walked: 66.446m
Steps taken: 69,076

Day 9 - October 13th

5.30am wake up for my train to Jinan! Took a taxi to the station which cost me Y8, same journey took me Y5 the day before… apparently the night fare is different!

It was one of the worst train journeys of my life. The train was full of… I’m going to say it, filthy people! There was no seats when I got on so I had to sit on my backpack in the hall way. I should have asked for a bunk! A fight nearly breaks out near me an hour into the journey! I didn’t really understand what was going on, but I think I heard cursing of each others provinces! The police on board the train manage to stop the fight!

Half way through the train journey there is a mass exodus of people from the train, so I get a seat for the last four hours. Every so often I ask some one what stop we are at. I can’t figure out what they are saying but I hear the town Suzhou at least two times for different stops!!! I finish my book. Lots of thoughts enter my mind. I look around and see all the dirty people with dirt on their hands. In contrast, I have ink from my leaky pen! I listen to my iPod and whack on some Black Eyed Peas. Probably one of the oddest mix with the dirtyness around me. Yep, I have mentioned the word dirty and dirt a lot in these two paragraphs. All I can think about is how dirty everything is!!! Why do some people just look unclean? My iPod dies and I still have 3 hours to go!

Chinese comedy is blaring out the train Tannoy system. It’s not bad. A little like the Two Ronnies! A lady tries to make convocation with me. I can’t be bothered! I watch an old man with a can of spam. He is dumbfounded by the key contraption used to open the can. He spends a good ten minutes… it was great watching him! He finally gives up and eats an egg instead! I look at my boots. They are dirty! Even from the rain yesterday. Normally, the rain will wash my boots as I step in puddles back in the UK, but here, they have got even dirtier! A highlight of the journey was the saleslady on the train selling batteryless torches. It works on a sort of press/lever system which powers it up. Apparently pressing the lever for one minute giver you two hours of power! I buy one for Y10!

There is an announcement over the Tannoy. “Is there a doctor on board the train? A child is sick in train carriage number six”. I see a moth on the train and wonder where it must have got on board from. It must be far from its mates! Karl Pilkington… you are a genius! We go past Taishan (my next destination)… it is huge!!! Bloody massive thing. Then a girl sitting next to me vomits into a pot noodle box.

You can tell that I had fun on this seven hour hard seat journey... I slowly went insane! Mental note: no more hard seat long journeys… buses are the way forward!

I arrive in Jinan and a lady ushers me into a taxi. There are already two people on board. I’m just fed up and ask her to take me to my hotel. She takes me to another one which turns out to be cheaper. She scams me off of Y20 for a distance I find out I could have walked. The bitch leaves me her number to take me around the area. Like fuck I am going to call her up! I chill the rest of the day and use the internet. The sun comes out… first time I’ve see the sun since I arrived up north!!!

Miles walked: 58.425m
Steps taken: 48,665

Day 6 - October 10th

I had trouble sleeping last night… must be the dodgy kebab I had for dinner yesterday! A group of lads from Leeds also turned up last night.

Cold this morning, so I go and have breakfast. This consisted of slurp and greasy cake (congee and some sort of pancakey thingy!!!) which I didn’t finish! The cake was alright though, so I brought an extra one on the go. I walk past the sex shops again… it’s 7 in the morning, who in the world needs a blow up doll or a dildo at that time??? I walk to the bus station and the attendants ask where I am from. I tell them I am from Hong Kong. They call me ‘tong bao’ which means we share a womb (the womb being China) and I manage to get on a mini bus which cost me only Y6.5. The Lonely Planet suggests Y20 for the bus ticket! Sweet!!!

The mini bus journey takes me through all these villages (no wonder why it was Y6.5) and to my horror, people on the bus start smoking. Mainlanders aye? We go past a village called Lau Village.

I get to Shaolin Temple and pay the entrance and find out Chinese guides are only Y50! English guides are Y200, so I decide to go for it, learn about the place and practice my Chinese on the way… worth Y50 I think! She was actually very useful and informative and told me loads of odd facts which I would never have found out. Like how all the pagodas in the Pagoda Forest odd numbered levels as a monk has to be celibate, therefore cannot be in twos (evens). Also, all the pagodas were facing the mountains apart from one, the smallest one which is in honour of a child monk who was very good at kung fu and his pagoda faces Shoalin Temple to protect it!

Although I do get sort of scammed! I go to burn incense and make three wishes (yes… a bit like a genie!) and the monk asks for a donation as he oversees the ritual. Shit… no change. Only hundreds! Oh well, I suppose it’s good to be pious once in a while! Afterwards I ask the guide if Y100 was a lot. She said no! But then she asked me how much the pound was compared to the Yuan. I tell her and I tell her that I’m sort of on a budget, travelling for three months and all! She tells me that next time, maybe I could give a little less. A few kuai would be enough!

After the temple, I decide to have luncheon… a pot noodle! I then take on the mountain. I start walking in the general I direction indicated by the Lonely Planet, but I start to lose heart. But then a group of monks approach and I ask them which way. They decide to help me on my quest (proper kung fu stylie!). I really didn’t know how to make conversation with monks. What do I say? Phwoooar, look the rack on her? So you fancy a drink lads? They were sooo charitable! We stopped at a store and they brought me some water and biscuits. Our paths then diverged as they were heading to their temple and I was heading up the mountain. They point me in the right direction and I start my ascent. After about an hour, I reach a path way and see more tourists. They had come up the cable car. I then look around and head even higher until the path sort of ends and there was a sign in Chinese. I didn’t understand it all, but I could see two characters which meant tourist. I decide to ignore the sign and carry on climbing, at this point sometimes on my hands and knees! I finally get to a peak and peer over to see a cliff edge. I have gone up the wrong mountain!!! There’s more mountain further on, but I can’t get to it as it was far too dangerous. Those monks! Sent me up the wrong mountain!!! Worse of all, it starts to rain and I have definitely not brought enough layers for this hike!

I then decide to come back down the mountain on the scariest cable car ride ever! Things got even worse. As I get off the cable car a man approaches and shows me pictures of the places I wanted to see today and said he would take me there for Y5. So I jump on, only to find he drives me to the exact spot that I met monks. I couldn’t be bothered to walk on as I was cold and wet so I make him take me back. I give him his money and told him sarcastically in front of his friends ‘I hope your business goes well’ they laugh at him! Next I get fleeced again! I decide there are a few more places in the Lonely Planet which is near by which I can see. I ask directions and the tour assistant shows me to this booth to buy tickets to these attractions. So I buy tickets to two things. I get on the bus and then the driver explains to me, you’re not going to get a chance to see both, it’s too late in the day! Pretty gay! I get talking to two guys on the bus from Gansu and I go to see one of the attractions. The… library; it was shit!

I then manage to get to Dengfeng (the nearest town) to try and get a bus back to Luoyang. It was pretty hard finding a cab. I chat to the cab driver and he asks me what language they speak in Hong Kong? I’m amazed!

I go home cold and tired!

Miles walked: 37.489m
Steps taken: 95,392

Day 5 - October 9th

Rough night last night. The Singaporean old guy was snoring all night. Some how I managed to sleep straight away, but when I woke at 4am I just couldn’t get back to bed! I had to go get my ear plugs to shut out the noise!!! It was a sort of two-tier snore - the first part was heavy breathing, but at the peak of his breath, it was like all the flappy skin inside his nose was vibrating!

I braved the communal showers and didn’t manage to get raped or anything… phew! Then I had breakfast with Sam who was really surprised how cheap you can get food for in China. We went to a scummier looking restaurant then she usually does, which doesn’t have an English menu. Pays to be in the know ;)

Even with all the savings and food, I couldn’t convince her to stick around and go to the Shaolin Temple and go to Kaifeng together! So I walk her to the station and we walk past sooo many sex shops!!! The whole street opposite the station was full of them! How strange!

I got on the bus to go to see Guanlin Temple and the Longmen Grottoes where a man sits next to me and decides to start a conversation. He catches on that I’m not Chinese-Chinese and we just chat about stuff. It’s a shame, but I wish I had videoed it, but I played my first Chinese ‘what’s in the bag???’!!! It turns out he owned a fruit cart and had just picked up some fruit from the market and was taking it back to his wife to sell. So he had fruit in the bag!!! Wouldn’t have guessed that! Then I did one of the most dangerous things ever! I told him I was going to Guanlin Temple and he tells me that I’m actually on the wrong bus, I should take the no.55. We chat for a bit more where he decides to see if I know much Chinese and shows me his ID with his address for me to read. He also tells me how he has a kid who is in a Wusu school next to Shaolin Temple! He is about to get off the bus and then I ask him, would it be easier for me to get to Guanlin Temple if I jump off here and get a cab? He says yes, so I jump off with him. He then tells me that he will take me there as it is near by and it was his day off work after he drops off his bag. So he makes a call and his wife comes peddling along on her bike/shop. He then takes me across the road and says, oh, you can buy clothes over here if you want. I’m like, errr, no, I’m okay, can we go to the Temple now? So we jump into the nearest motor taxi and drive to the temple. Then I think maybe it wasn’t the best idea to go off with a stranger who I met on the bus! My reckoning was that the guy showed me his ID and his address, no one would do that if they’re about to rape you! We drive past a church! I carry on chatting with him and he says to me that ‘your father is in a business, and so am I, but mine is a little smaller!’ which I found very humbling. In the end we arrive at the Temple and HE pays the driver Y2. I buy my ticket and then I try to give him some money for his troubles. This was what I thought I should do. A man did a service for me, so I should repay him. He wouldn’t accept it and in fact I think I might have offended him! He says that he doesn’t want my money and that he has loads… which I did see he did! So I suppose the moral of the story is… sometimes there are random acts of kindness and that not everyone is after the foreigner’s money!

The Guanlin Temple was pretty cool. In the gardens of the grounds is an earth mound which is where the severed head of Guanlin is buried. I move on to Longmen Grottoes where I am in two minds whether to stay until dusk when the lights light up the Buddha. I decide to leave around 4pm as I get bored!

Early night tonight, going to climb a mountain tomorrow and hang out with the monks!!!

Miles walked: 27.822m
Steps taken: 70,795

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