Nobody cares about footy (anymore)

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Hello everybody.

Just quickly, some statistics. The world's population is 6,706,993,152. Victoria's population is about 5,500,000. Assuming an equal distribution among clubs, that means that, at best, there are 343,750 fans of the Geelong AFC, although they only have 37,000 members. That's 0.00000552% of the world's population. Troy, it's just not that important. Sorry mate. The outcome of the latest table tennis championships is statistically more important. On the other hand, the Broncos losing the semis is devastating to the entire world.

OK, I'm done now.

We've had pretty full days for this week, so it's not through boredom or laziness that I haven't written anything for the last few weeks, we have genuinely not had enough time! So that's a nice change to the last few weeks of being sick! Today, Lloyd flew out to Inner Mongolia for some work he has to do every couple of months, so that just left us with Kate, so we went and got a bit of a guided tour of the city. First thing we did was to go back to Wanfujing to check out the handicrafts store I mentioned a few entries ago because Susie hadn't seen it yet. And my plan almost worked. The prices there are ridiculous, so I thought we could go and see some stuff without having to actually buy anything, and almost got away with it but we ended up buying a couple of little things. We went through Snack Street again too (for the third time), just to gross Susie out. They had a few extra things this time, like bigger scorpions and more beetles, which nobody eats, I'm sure they're just there for show, and then we checked out the markets that sit behind them. And I ate my first street food! It wasn't very adventurous though, it was just grapes dipped in toffee and stuck on a stick in a line, but still...street food.

After that, we went to where another snack street is that only opens at night - just down the road from the one I've been to a million times. I have to make sure that I get there at some point because it looks great. Much bigger than the one I went to (although the one I went to is the "official" one that's been there forever). Since it was only lunchtime, there was nothing there yet, but you got a feel for how huge it would be at nighttime, and by looking at some of the pictures on the menus above the stalls, you got a sense of how completely gross it would be too! From there we walked down a strip park in the middle of a road for a few Kms until we got too tired and caught a cab to where Kate used to live. We checked out their old apartment - from the outside of course - and then found a cafe Kate used to love. If you ever feel like a holiday based solely around food, Kate's your guide. We had a coffee and lunch there and checked out a few of the shops across the road, and then walked to Confuscious street and saw the old temple and the college just next to it (according to the sign, it follows the ancient principle; Temple on the Left, College on the Right - I've heard better ancient principles than that one though). Then at the end of the road is the Yonghe Lama Temple, which I may have written about quickly before. It's the Buddhist Temple where the Dalai Lama is technically chosen...well something like that. Maybe where he's appointed, because I think the theory is that the Dalai Lama is a being who has achieved a state of enlightenment at which he is able to choose who he is reincarnated, so in reality he choses his new body, so the Temple can't chose who the next one is according to tradition...I'm confused. And not overly interested.

Anyways, the place was crawling with monks but it was too late for us to have a look through the temple, so we wandered around, Kate found a French Restaurant that she though had been closed, (but wasn't to her delight), and then we went for dinner at an Indian Restaurant. We went for a foot massage afterwards, and the nasty girl that I got had the strength of 15 elephants, and so it hurt to walk the next morning - I don't know what I did to upset her!

So yeah, we had a great day - very full but lots of fun.

Hope everybody is well, we'll catch up with you all soonish.

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Photos

Kate with gigantism
Just a little set of statues in Wanfujing - Sue refused to pose for me!

Little kid
The girls wanted a photo of him from behind, but he turned too quick

Street Stall
Just a vendor selling leeks etc

Cool gate
With old men, either pointing at me out of interest, or telling me not to take a photo - a mystery lost to the ages

The College
From the street - too late to get in

Roofs
I love the traditional architecture - still not bored with it

Confuscious
Competition - best "confuscious says" joke is the winner

Arch in a Hutong
I really, really wish I remember who lived here. I think it was a general

Red doors
Gate to the hutong where the arch for the guy I can't remember used to live

Bike
It took at least 1,000 shots to get this one. We're still not 100% on it.

Comments

[anonymous]

hey mate when do you come home? i need a beer buddy