Week 5 onwards!

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Sunday 28th March:

We were all up very late after our big night out and got up in time for lunch - burger and chips :D ! Unfortunately, Mel felt very ill all day as a result of our partying so i spent most of the day with Helen and Helen. We went to the bank, post office and a HUGE street market where they sold anything and everything very cheaply! After this, we slept again, had dinner and i packed as my flight from Chengdu to Beijing was early the next morning.


Monday 29th March:

I was up at 6.30am and caught a taxi at 7.30am to the airport...it was very sad to say goodbye to Mel and Andy and the two Helens but we have all agreed to meet up and have a BBQ in the summer and when Mel and Andy get back from travelling in another years time! The flight went fine and in Beijing i caught the shuttle bus to the central bus station. Once there i was hassled but loads of taxi and rickshaw drivers and eventually i gave in and agreed to this guy to take me the the hostel i had booked. As he was showing me to what he described as his taxi i realised it was actually a ricksham (bicycle with seats on the back) and although i wasnt too happy about that i just really wanted to get to the hostel and went with it. We agreed a price and then he cycled off with my clinging to all my luggage in the back! We cycled for about 20minutes and then he pulled over, said he wasnt sure where my hostel was anymore but that it was 'near' and started taking my bags off the rickshaw and putting them on the street. I wasnt too happy about this as i couldnt see the hostel but i knew it was a pestrianised area anyway so guess he couldnt cycle down there....! Once off, he tried to change the agreed price and charge me 40 american dollars rather than 40RMB which i refused to do! I walked off feeling very sorry for myself, in the middle of Beijing not knowing where i was and with 3huge bags!! I eventually got a taxi to the hostel and learnt from my mistake and will never take a ricksham again!! At the hostel i had a lovely warm welcome and i organised to go and see the famous Beijing Acrobatics show in the evening - it was amazing and one of the stunts was 5motorcycles in 1small-ish spherical cage!! MAD but VERY GOOD!! The female acrobatics made everything look so easy and everyone in the audience kept taking deep inbreaths when they did new stunts and made their bodies into even more weird and wonderful shapes!! After the show i had dinner and an early night because i needed to be up early for my Beijing tour the next day.


Tuesday 30th March:

I was up at 6.30am as i was being collected at 7am for a group tour of the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. The tour guide collected me first and we drove round the hotels collecting the other members of the group and then got on our way to the Ming Tombs (Underground Palace). On the way we stopped off at a jade factory and saw how they made all the jade jewellery and learnt how to tell the fakes from the real ones 😊 . We then got to the Ming Tombs... it was very foggy and raining but most of it was underground luckily. I imagined it would be a lot more ornate that it was... just large red boxes that had dead emporers and empresses inside. Though apparently most of the 'treasures'' had been removed when the tomb had been broken open. We then drove for a while and stopped off at a local cafe for lunch and then went onto the Great Wall and Mutianyu. It was SO foggy and wet we had to use the cable cars to get up and unfortuantely the slide down was shut. Although i could only see about 20m in front of me it was still an amazing experience to be standing on the wall and seeing where the soldiers would have slept and lived on the wall in the towers. I was surprised at the size of some of the steps - some tall caucasian men were struggling with their size so i have no idea how the teeny ancient chinese men coped living there!!
On the way back from the great wall i haggled and bought quite a lot of souvenirs and then the whole group was dropped off at a silk factory and we saw how silk is made from the silk work and got to try and make some ourselves (we werent too good!). This was the end of the day tour and i got dropped back at the famous Beijing 'Snack Street' on the way home where they sell EVERYTHING you could imagine on a stick - scorpians, baby sharks, snakes, other bugs and bettles, starfish.... the list goes on! I didnt try anything but it was really good to see for myself as i found it hard to believe that someone would eat a snake off i BBQ stick - but they do!! Again, i went to bed quite early becuase i had a Beijing city tour the next morning 😊 .


Wednesday 31st March:

I was up very early again to pack my bag for check-out at the hostel and to be collected for my tour around Beijing. On the tour was a retired Australian couple that had been on the previous days tour too so it was really nice to see a friendly face! Once everyone in the group had been collected we went to the Forbidden City (forbidden because back in the day no-one but the emperor or his people/lovers could go in!) in central Beijing and then onto Tianamen Square. After this we were taken to a chinese medicine ''factory'' where we were given a speech on the ideas behind chinese medicine and how they use the products. We also got given foot massages! You could also receive a free 'full body check up' which basically involved an old chinese man in a white coat telling everyone we were doomed unless we bought copious amounts of his expensive herbal medicine! After this, we drove to the temple of heaven and had a huge lunch in one of its large reception rooms. Later on, we drove to the Summer Palace which is where the empresses would stay during the summer - they did seem to be spoilt rotten - and then onto a pearl factory where we saw how pearls are found and collected and made into jewellery! After the tour, i had a lovely dinner of burger and chips and chatted/watched films with other people at the hostel until 4.30am which is when i was collected by the taxi to take me to Beijing airport to fly to Fiji! :D


Thursday 1st April:

Flew from Beijing to Hong Kong and then from Hong Kong to Nadi in Fiji....landed on Friday 2nd April!


Friday 2nd April:

Arrived early in Nadi airport and caught the sun bus to the Coral Coast and Mango Bay Resort where i would be staying for the next 3 nights. Mango Bay was BEAUTIFUL and the typical tropical beach scene! All of the huts where we stayed faced the ocean and were about 30seconds away from the sea! I tried to call mum but it took over an hour for the phone to connect and by this time i was a tad tired/pissed off and upset to say the least but speaking to her made things seem a lot better and i relaxed and started to enjoy myself afterwards! At dinner some other girls staying there invited me to their table and for the next few days i spent most of my time chatting and doing activities with them such as sea kayaking, snorkelling, beach vollyball, jewellery making and lots of other silly games and activities (which were all free!) every day! :D


Saturday 3rd April:

In the morning i went on a waterfall hike and we all got to swim in the plunge pool and behind the waterfall which was great fun! 😊 The rest of the day was just chatting and relaxing by the pool/on the beach with the girls! :D ....i also got totally savaged by mosquitoes!!


Sunday 4th April:

For some unknown reason i was given a free upgrade so i spent some of the morning packing and swopping rooms to a 'safari lodge' which was even more gorgeous that the previous accommodation and had 4beds inside just for me!! I then swam in the sea for a bit to cool down (its been SO hot ever since i arrived!) and then ate lunch, went sea kayaking, celebrated easter by throwing raw eggs at each other in a game the mango bay staff made up (very funny!) and sunbathed/snoozed! I absolutely loved my time at Mango Bay and it was so nice to relax after the stresses of finding my way around Beijing and the airports in the previous few days!

Monday 5th April - Friday 9th April:

Was collected by the Frontier staff and met all the other volunteers and until now we have been getting to know each other, buying lots of food, alcohol, and other important items to take to the island of Gau with us on Friday (later on this morning...4am ish!). Every night we have been out drinking and dancing and generally having fun and i cant wait to get the island, learn to dive and then do the conservation programmes! :D I will try and write my next blog in 10weeks time when im back from Gau. (There is no interent/electricity/running water etc on the island so communication through blogs/facebook/email is impossible! 😞 !! )

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