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Published: February 8th 2008
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Sorry guys for not updating my blog but we have had quite a few issues to deal with over the last few days. This is mainly because of Chinese New Year and the fact the Chinese public transport is not adapted to deal with a small bit of snow!!!!
Here is a brief overview of China's brilliant public transport that I have used in the last 9 days...
1. A 3 hour bus ride to the Yanzee River ended up as 15 hours!
2. A 7 hour boat ride to see the 3 Gorges.
3. What we thought would be a 15 hour train ride to Shanghai turned out to be 36 hours!
4. Instead of spending 2 days on Putuoshan Island, we were stranded and had to spend 3!
5. On top of that I have been on th bus, coach, ferry and metro.
Yes this was a fairly stressful time for all of us and wasnt helped by Ross' food poisoning but we did have plenty of fun and sights to view on our long journeys.
A few of them include...
1. Little Farm man.
This "Event" occured on the 15 hour bus
ride. After hours of boredom I looked outside to see 4 poor farmers trying to stuff their bags of rice in to little farm mans 3 wheeler go-cart.( Litttle farm man was about 4 foot tall) A police car pulled up and the police man had a word with the farners but little farm man spat at him! The police man furiously kicked him in the face. The police man got back in his car; however a minute later the little guy mentally got out his car, pulled open the police cars door and hit the 6 foot police man. It got a bit grusome after that but that little man had balls!
2. Seeing the 3 gorges.
These were beautiful sights; towering cliffs cut up by the Yanzee River. The snow made it look like a postcard. Although the boat was too quick to appreciate them fully.
3. "The Golden Ticket"
In Shanghai James was given a voucher with his Mcdonalds meal. He scrathed it off to reveal what looked like a free meal or some tacky prize, we were not entirely sure what it said as it was in Chinese. The following day
we decided to take it to Mcdonalds to claim the little prize. As soon as James handed the voucher over the staff gasped and they all gathered round. James had apparently won 2008 RnB= equivalent to about 200 pounds! We had the best day watching the superbowl having 2 fry up meals each and we are going to purchase some speakers for our hostel room! RAVE!
4. Putuoshan Island
This is what is seen as the traditional China viewed on postcards. It is an attractive Island a few hours boat ride from Shanghai. In my opinion it is very much like the Island which can be seen on the TV programme "Lost".( Which I am currently missing) It has bamboo forests, Temples, peaceful beaches and a small fishing village. It was a shame there wasnt that much to do when it was raining. Unfortunately this kept us from returning to out hostel in Shanghai where our bags were! so we were very limited on belongings and all stunk.
5. Sleeper Train
After 24 hours we were all stood up, bags on just about to jump off the train on to Shanghai soil; when a Chinese boy
laughed and pointed to his watch 1 more day!!!! Apart from this slight miss-calculation the sleeper train was a fun, new and exciting experience. 3 bunks either side with the train corridor running through the middle. We had only stocked up on food for 1 day (mainly Oreos biscuits) so we were often very hungry. However sometimes the odd occasion arose when one could jump off the train buy something off a street seller and get back on. This was very amusing as we very fussy with our food ( after Ross' food poisoning) and often ventured too far away from the train. This resulted in a full sprint back sometimes making it by inches!
6. Karate Kid
W e were on he train once again and me and Ross were the only ones awake. We had noticed a shaven head, extremely broad strong chinese man. He kept staring at us and pulling mean faces. He had drank a whole bottle of Kognac! He later walked up to Ross and flexed his muscles to him and shouted something in Chinese. He then grabbed Ross' hand and had an arm wrestle with him. Ross lost but the man then
Shanghai
Pearl Tower in the background starting singng and beating his chest. He then gave Ross a game of mercy..which Ross won! He was not happy and went back to his family to sulk.
7. Putuoshan Island Pop Idol.
We couldnt find anywhere to eat on the Island so decided to try this 5* hotels restaurant which was suprisingly very cheap. However after the meal we explored the hotels facilities and stumbled upon a room with its own bar and waiter service. There was also a massive widescreen TV and a Karoke bar. After being served fresh watermelon and beers we had a good old sing song. "My heart will go on" by Celine Dion was a favourite. After 3 or 4 songs the waiter showed us the bill which was 1000 RNB 100 pounds! To make matters worse he said 1 million RNB to begin with. We told him we were in the wrong room and abruptly left.
8. Shanghai
Shanghai is probably one of my favourite destinations so far. We have been stationed here for one week which has been great as we have had time to settle in. Our Hostel is situated overlooking the skyscapers the main one being
the Pearl Tower ( One of the tallest buildings in the world.) The view is magnificent at night with all the lights from the buildings and boats crossing the river... and obviously a chilled beer.
We have had a great week absorbing the culture and viewing the City. We have climbed the Pearl Tower, experienced a Chinese New Year, eaten traditional Chinese meals, walked the Bund, experienced the night life.
New Years Eve was great fun. We started the evening overlooking the City in our hostel and then went out for Chinese hot pot where we ordered double of all the meats on the menu. Best moment was when we left and Rick shouted happy new year in chinese to the waiter. The waiter responded along with a few families near the bar, we shouted it together this time and then the whole resteraunt (60 people) all shouted back to us!
We the took a walk along The Bund (main shopping street) and firecrakers were exploding all around us. These fireworks are twice as loud as ours! We then arrived at a club called Bon Bons. We payed 9 pounds on the door and then were told
it was a free bar!! Had an excellent night meeting folk from all across the globe. We were invited in to so many VIP booths to meet Chinese boys and girls who are obsessed with Westerners. The next thing I knew we were in our hostel room all with slightly sore heads. I also dont think the maid was to happy when she was cleaning our room on New Years Day.
On New Years Day we walked "Th Bund" again and were joined by thousands of people all out with their families. We went to take a picture and ended up with loads of Chinese families wanting pictures with us. We were there for quite a while and found it hard to say no as we wanted to get lunch. We decided to tease them and told a few families we were a band and to look us up on the internet.
Anyway thats a brief overview of our last week and a half and we shall by flying out to Hong Kong tomorrow. (Saturday 9th) Also would be much appreciated if some one can tell me the United score when we beat City on Sunday!!!
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Huntz89
Richard H
Lets drink!!
After one night of recovery, we need to ht the bars again!! This time Jonny, dont venture for 4am crisps and dont be sick over the entire room!! Happy days mate. x