Day 16 - October 20th

My pedometer looks all mangled so I reset it. I feel my asthma playing up so sleep in until 10.30 today. People can be sooo noisy when they get ready for the day. It took the people in my room a good hour to get ready and get out of the room, making as much racket as possible! I suppose that's what I get for paying Y20 for a seven person dorm and I probably make lots of noise at night before I sleep!

I walk around looking for suitable food – I feel like eating macaroni… what my mum always made me when I was ill when I was younger (that and congee). I find a sort of fast food restaurant Chinese stylie, and order me some fried fish. It’s the most fish I have ever eaten on my own! I paid Y22 and seven six inch fishes turn up! In the end, it was just a pile of bones! I am pleased with myself!

The rest of the day is pretty shit and not really worth commenting about, but I will;

• Go to library and read a book
• Go to internet cafe
• Eat
• Internet cafe
• Sleep!

Funny thing though; I ask the reception girl if I can have a bottle of water in Chinese. She says “in English”. I’m like “what?” “Say it in English”. So I say “Can I have some water, please?” making sure to pronounce everything! She says she likes the English accent! I think I’m in! Everyone loves the British accent! Though I doubt she would have enjoyed it as much if I said it in my Watford accent! “Wor-ah!”

Miles walked: 103.763m
Steps taken: 65,030

Day 15 - October 19th

Wake up and go for a massage with Anna. Just what I needed, though I am still ill and getting worse. Anna gives me a lot of advice on travelling alone and she tells me that it looks like I had hit traveller rock bottom (with my illness) but I still had a smile on my face. This made me feel better about myself already. I go to the pharmacy to get me more drugs. I am so glad that we had the ‘going to the doctors’ lesson at BLCU (Beijing Language Cultural University).

Say good bye to Anna, she was on her way to Korea to find a job. I’ve still not hung out with anyone for more than a day! Starting to get to me a bit! I hang out at the hostel for a bit and then decide that I want to go see the sea. It’s always nice to sit and chill and watch the sea.

I find some street food boiled stylie. Basically there’s a table in the middle of the road and a pot in the middle with fish balls and different types of sea foodage! I eat five skewers and only pay Y2.5! Bargain! I go to the internet cafe for a few hours and then come out and eat at the street food place again! The lady recognised me! I want to get some fried fish, but all the fish vendors had closed.

Go back to the hostel and have a spag bog and watch Night at the Museum. A big crowd of Chinese guys gather to watch the film. I’m the only person to laugh at the subtle English jokes… feel a bit of a plonk! It was like when I watched that Hugh Grant film in the cinema and I was the only one laughing at the music based jokes... on my own!

Not much to write when I am sitting about recovering from illness!

Miles walked: 100.343m
Steps taken: 55,454

Day 14 - October 18th

Sleep in today as I’m feeling pretty ill and I thought I would take Greg’s advice and just be as lazy as possible! I finally haul myself up and shower. I ask the reception girl if I can get my laundry done anywhere near by. I had asked her last night and she said I could do it myself at the hostel. Fuck that am I going to scrub my own clothes and hang them out to dry! She directs me down the road and round the corner to a dry cleaner’s. Turns out to be Y10 a piece!!! I decide to do my undies myself and gave the lady all my over garments. I have to haggle off the time she can get it done for me… how strange!

I go back to the hostel and find Greg. We go and have breakfast together. I don’t think he was overly impressed with my choice of hole in the wall restaurant! To be fair it was a little manky! I then go to an internet cafe for four hours! Longest I’ve spent… manage to upload a lot of pix though!

I then buy some soap and prep myself to clean my own undies! I go back to the hostel and decide I’ll go explore what facilities they had… I find a washing machine… and a tumble drier!!! GAYNESS!!! I just spent Y66 on dry cleaning and Y2 on a bar of soap! The machines cost Y8 each and when I was using the tumble drier, for some reason it worked without me putting money in!

I decide to sit in the common area and play guitar to chill out. All is well until the owner comes in and tells the bar staff to put on some music. This I do not take kindly to! So I play louder and sing a few songs! After twenty minutes, the bar man comes over and gives me a beer. It was from the owner! I think I made my point! I’m feeling very petty today!!!

I finish my washing and decide to go for a walk and explore the surroundings. I do a big loop around and walk down the high street. It definitely seems more European, especially the high street. Just like back home. I think to myself, if I was home right now, the Christmas trees would be out! I see kids playing on the street; they are jumping up and then off steps. One of the kids accidentally kicks the other one mid jump and he lands on his face! It looked painful! He cried! I eat at the same restaurant as last night. Wish I wasn’t ill and I could eat all the yummy grilled seafood! It looks sooo nice!

I head back to the hostel and watch Die Hard 4. It was wicked! Scottish girl called Anna arrives. She seems pretty nice! We watch Pan’s Labyrinth until the last ten minutes where the disc is too scratched! Pretty annoying… dodgy Chinese DVDs!

I had asked for a cup of tea whilst watching the film and when everyone had left and I was on the internet, the barman tells me that the tea was Y5! Tea!!! In China!!! Y5!!! I am fuming… so I turn off the computer when I finished just to spite him! I’m feeling REALLY petty today!!!

Miles walked: 94.312m
Steps taken: 39,982

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 12 - October 16th

Bitten by mozzys last night on the eyebrow!!! Who bites the bloody eyebrow! This makes me angry all night and I try and find the culprit! I find lots of mozzy splats all over the walls in the room!

Wake up still ill! I think about how I want to spend the day. My original plan was to see all the attractions in Qufu and leave for Qingdao tonight. On second thoughts, I feel I need to rest and take it easy so I haggle my second nights stay at this hotel for Y50! I then get a rickshaw driver to take me to all the sights for Y20 for the day! He even took me to get breakfast and medicine for my cold!

First stop is the Confucius museum, where I get a free guided tour! The girl who gave me the tour got sooo annoyed as my Chinese was poor and I had to stop her every so often to ask her what she meant! She got really frustrated! It was hard work for both of us! Apparently she is a descendant of Confucius and was training to be a vet!

On the way to the next stop, I spy a music shop so I jump out the rickshaw and go in. I buy a harmonica, but they didn’t have any small travel size guitars! Just as I was beginning to like this place, the rickshaw driver takes me to this tackiest shittiest waxworks! They precede to rape me several places… entry, incense sticks and gay hand wash which they said was from blessed water. I should have known better, but I was caught unaware! Spend Y56 in there for stuff I really didn’t care about! I tell them I am disgusted with their behaviour and they seem to be a bit embarrassed and I tell the driver never to take me to a place like that again! He is also embarrassed! We then go past a youth hostel! The taxi driver from yesterday said there wasn’t any in town!!! I am pretty pissed off at that point!

I am then followed by a lady on a bike who insists that she gives me a tour of Konglin (the burial ground of Confucius and his descendants). She starts at Y20 but I tell her I am not interested, then she drops to Y10 and I tell her it’s not about the money, I’m just pissed off and tired from the last guided tour! She follows me all the way into the cemetery and starts chatting to me. I get into the grounds and she offers to lend me her bike for Y5 as the grounds are pretty big. I go for it! And I take her offer on the tour as courtesy! I have a great time on the bike riding around the cemetery! Other people take the motor cart thingies which cost Y10 and are just ushered around! Suckers! The lady says it should take me 20mins to ride around… I take my sweet time and end up going for 35mins!

I return to the starting point where she gives me a tour of the main Confucius’ tomb. I take this opportunity to ask her as many questions as possible and make her write things down for me… get my moneys worth! I get jipped again at his tomb where I pay my respects but pay for some flowers! She is confused why I am so stingy so I tell her about my intended three months travels and how everyone is ripping me off. She relates to me and then as she begins to understand my predicament, a lady comes up to me and starts telling my fortune. I try to run away, but I feel bad so I ask my tour lady if it’s okay to do this. She says go ahead. Now, I’m no expert in palm reading, but I know some of the stuff she was saying, I could have made up myself too! She says I am single minded and independent, not relying on my friends or family to get what I want (good guess for someone who is travelling on their own!) She said something about my 68^th birthday where I will get a gift from my son (haha) and I had to do something with that gift or I will have a premature death, otherwise, I will live for a long time (the split in my life line supposedly)! Also, I will not be rich this lifetime, but my kids will be rich from my work! Also there are two/three women in my life but I must only choose one of them. Thanks for the insightfulness! I didn’t know I was only allowed to marry one person at a time! She then asks for some money, even though at first she said she wasn’t in it for the money! I’m very reluctant, so give her Y3 (3 is a good number in Confucianism)! She is not happy! My guide tries to explain my money situation. We end up at Y6. I am not pleased and tell my guide. She now relates to me more! She then spills the beans and tells me a lot of the inside secrets and tells me never to tell anyone that she told me. I am paying far too much for things and need to be a bit more stubborn and have a goal when I arrive in towns for the first time. She turns out to be really nice and she says that she has a son of her own who is eleven. I think I play the poor ignorant son card very well!

I have a pot noodle special for lunch. The special bit is the sausages I get for it!

I visit the Confucius Temple and the Confucius Mansions. This is when I realise that if I waited, then all the Chinese tours would just go away! I started to flake out a bit so chilled out in the Gardens of the Confucius Mansions. It smelt of farm! Languages started to blur for me now as I started to hear Cantonese everywhere and talking in Chinese for so long has started to really get to me! I swear the Tannoys in shops were speaking in Cantonese, but that would make no sense at all in the north of China!

Have dinner at the same restaurant/tent I ate at last night. I tell them that I am a little ill so they tell me I should have some fish soup and they give me ginger water (no, not orange water!). Bernice (old class mate from Beijing) was actually saying the other day that chewing on ginger helps the immune system! The food seemed cheaper today… I think I must have befriended them! I have liver for dinner… it was actually really nice! I leave and the couple who own the restaurant/tent tell me to get more rest and take medicine!

I watch my favourite TV add so far. It shows a factory worker and tells of the bad conditions people are working in. Then it compares the conditions as like that of a fish swimming in dirty water! It then cuts to a picture of somebody’s lungs all black and minging from inhaling dirt and dust. Cut to fish dying and floating up to the top of the fish bowl (my fav. bit!). It then has people dressed in industrial protective gear and they all have smiling faces! The fish is now happy… I swear it must be smiling too! The ad was brought to you by Shandong Provincial Government!

Watch the replay of the England match and sleep.

Miles walked: 84.886m
Steps taken: 15,996 steps

Day 11 - October 15th

3am wake-up call!!! Didn’t get that much sleep last night. The boys were snoring, I was really cold and there was a mozzy buzzing around. I don’t know how mozzys survive in this cold. If I was them, I wouldn’t bother coming up here to feast!

We climbed the rest of the way up to the peak of the mountain. It was really cold and we did it in the pitch black. It took another three hours hike up some real steep steps. Saw the sunrise… it was beautiful!

I dunno why, but there’s something about cute Chinese girls in big army jackets! And as usual, they’re with their douchebag boyfriends! I catch a cold on the peak as I sweated so much on the way up and I don’t think the Bai Jui (rice wine) we had last night helped at all!

I treat the boys to more slurp at the peak even though they thought it was a bit too expensive up there… I was hungry! Coming down was harder then going up. Though physically it wasn’t as demanding, I really had to concentrate on my footing as my boots were too big for the steps! We walk to the midway point again and decide to take the bus down as we were all knackered. I leave Tai Shan a little Shan (mountain) of my own in the toilet! Maybe that’s why I’m ill! I have angered the gods with my poo!

Arrive in town and then leave the boys as they want to stay in Tai'an for another day whilst I want to go to Qufu (hometown of Confucius). We decide to meet again in Qingdao in a few days. The bus to Qufu was playing the same film as from Luoyang. Something about the Japanese and guns… I don’t get it!

I arrive in Qufu around midday. It looks like a real old town and the walls are still intact around it! I can’t see a single tower block. I’m guessing that would interfere with the feng shui (apparently the train station was built a few miles away from the town for the same reason). The cab driver takes me to a hotel (one that I didn’t ask to be taken to) but I was too tired and ill to argue. I haggle the room from Y120 to Y70 a night, not bad I think! I have a shower and then chat to Lisa on the phone. The first time I’ve spoken English in 3 days! I sleep for an hour!

In my wanderings around the town, I don’t know how I understand the people. I ask them a question, but then they talk at me words I just don’t know (must be Shandong dialect or really accented) but I seem to know what they are on about! I really like the look of this place, very peaceful for China! I spend the rest of the day on an internet bar and still not manage to get all my first days pix online!

Eat at the food market. I think this is the nicest place I’ve been so far… maybe it’s the drugs talking! But all the trees had fairy lights on and it looked like Christmas! I retire to my room around 8pm. Watch Bewitched in Chinese… did the trick for putting me to sleep!

Miles walked: 76.155m
Steps taken: 93,779

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