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Published: October 2nd 2011
More on that later though…The flight to China was pretty cruisy, we were only slighted delayed due a typhoon in the South of China. I was actually pretty surprised with the service on my flight with China Eastern Airlines. There were copies of the paper, two rounds of hot towels, plenty of food and a choice of wine all for free!
It looked like I might miss my connection to Xian so I grabbed the nearest hostie and told him of my predicament. I was then immediately whisked up to business for the last half hour of the trip. There I enjoyed my massage seat before being let off the plane first and being whisked through customs to the next boarding gate. It didn’t actually matter though because the flight was delayed. Still I was grateful for the awesome service. Then Shanghai to Xian and picked up by my friendly no English speaking driver. The first inkling I got that I was in a different country was when I tried to put the seat belt on. The belt was there with the buckle but conveniently the manufacture hadn’t bothered installing the buckle bit and had also bolted the belt to the wall to stop you even pretending to feel safe.
After speeding down the highway dodging tuks –tuks, huge trucks and running over a few panda bears we got to the accommodation at the legendary time of 3am. I sunk gratefully into my super comfy bed which consisted of a layer of cardboard, then a yoga mat and rested my weary head on a pillow filled with rice…no lie! First thing I am buying is a mattress and a pillow ASAP.
The accommodation is pretty good but basic. The coordinator parent’s (They are affectionately known as Mumma and Bubba) live with us, cook and clean. It isn't actually a house but rather a apartment that takes up two floors. Boys live downstairs while girls live upstairs. At the present moment there is an retired Scottish couple in the room next to mine, an American and Singaporean girl upstairs and me all alone in my room with a choice of six different beds. I succeeded on blocking the toilet for about two hours on my first day much to my embarrassment. I shamefully watched as Bubba who is a rather older gentleman had to go gold mining with a stick then a plunger then a huge piece of steel cable with a rubber ball on the end. Definitely a ice breaker all round though. The rest of the day was spent going over the basics, heading out for a quick look around and enjoying a huge bowl of noodles with pork buns for the princely sum of $4 aussie dollars.
I will try and write a decent update each week as well as an observation update where I comment on something that I find cool or different in China. You can subscribe to the blog so they ping you an email when I update. You can also swing me a message. So zai gain from China and I hope photos will be up soon!
Zinny
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penny claringbull
non-member comment
Great to hear about your first day - gave us all a good laugh! Poor Bubba (why am I not surprised...) Glad to see you have managed a sense of humour about it all. Where are you located? In the city, is it big/busy etc? Looking forward to hearing more and seeing the pics.