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Published: April 15th 2010
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It's my last day in Xiamen today. Yes, many entries are missing, I'm hoping to fill in the blanks when I have settled in Shanghai. I spent much of today wasting time in cafès. I woke up and headed out for my poison. One of my roomies
was out sitting on the bench outside our room and I planted my ass down there. He has a telephone interview later and is looking for a quiet place around the area. I quickly mentioned the cafe the young girl told me about on bai he Road. As we sat around and conversed, my eyes were roaming around the common area. Another roomie stepped out of the shower and our conversation quickly ended as Roomie 1 headed to take over the bathroom. As soon as Roomie 1 came out from the bath, i went for mine. I went for breakfast at the cafe in the hostel and met a couple from Xiamen who stayed at the hostel because they were too drunk the night before to head home. The girl is really friendly and we spoke quite a bit. Her name is Beanca and she is my age as well! She had met her husband Dongcai because of she had one day dialled the wrong number on her mobile. That was 2weeks ago. Yes, they got married after knowing each other for just 2weeks; actually, they got married 5days after that mis-dialed number incident. As fairy tale like as it sounds they seemed really happy and some sort blissful.
A little quick packing after breakfast and i headed off to the cafe called 'The House' on bai he road. It is actually more of a restaurant than a cafe. I ordered a cuppa Joe and a plate of Calamari and started button pushing on my DS. I was passing time till it was time for my train at night. After warming the chair for a couple of hours, the restaurant manager came by and introduced herself. I can't remember where she is from but she is a not from China. We had
a pleasant conversation and she left to attend to her duties. I took a walk in zhongshan Park to stretch my legs a little and stood around watching the local folks play with cards. The park is generally quiet with occasional shouts when someone won a good hand. I headed back to the hostel after a bit and sat down on the couch watching Sex in the City with Roomie 1 and another hostel mate. When it was time to leave, i picked my as big as me yellow backpack and strolled to the streets and hailed a cab towards to train station. As i sat in the over filled waiting room for my train to Shanghai, i thought about what i did in Xiamen and sighed softly to myself. 2days in Xiamen - 5cafes visited, 1 island trip, 1 pair of shoes bought, 1 tee shirt bought and 10 pretty manicured fingers. It seemed that all Xiamen was to me was endless cafe visits. I told myself that this was not the way to be spending time in each city i visit and promised to be a more outdoorsy me from then on.
I took a soft sleeper for my ride to Shanghai. It's my 2nd time on a soft sleeper. As i swang my backpack on the sleeper and sat in anticipation of who my cabin mates will be. A middle aged man walked in. His friends were in the next cabin but he was in mine. He contemplated switching cabins with one of the guys in his friend's cabin but decided not to make the switch. ALERT! Panic rose in me again as no one walked into our cabin even after the train left the Xiamen station. As the conductor came to switch our tickets into cards, i asked if we would be expecting anymore passengers on board the train. She told me a very convicted Yes. I felt slightly better for a while until it was 11pm and no one else came. As i slept that night, i had my little pocket knife tucked under my pillow.
For lunch the next day i headed over to the dinning cabin and ordered some stir-fried beef. I took a look at the dish when it was brought to me; it was more like beef in oil rather than stir-fried beef. I took the plate by the sides and tilted it so that the excess oil flowed into this saucer. In less than 1min the saucer was filled with oil! Pttf! I headed back to my cabin after lunch and read my book as the train inch towards Shanghai...
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