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The day began with a weird moment when we arrived at 4am in Chengdu and nobody moved from their beds. We asked if we had arrived and were told we had, but, from what we could fathom the bus terminal does not open for a couple of hours and so people were not being kicked off the bus and were able to finish their nights sleep before they were actually dropped at the terminal. We got off however, had fun trying to find the way out and then took a taxi to the Mix Hostel. First impressions are that this is a good place to stay, and we’ve put in quite a bit of effort to getting to know it. For the first time in ages, today we stayed inside for almost the entire day, a 20 minute walk around the block our only venturing into Chengdu. Instead we spent the day trying to cure our computer from its newly acquired virus and observing our fellow residents who have travelled all the way to western China to also stay in the hostel all day. Ed’s mum calls this type of person a ‘drongo’.
As not a lot happened today, it gives us a convenient opportunity for a diversion. In next year’s Beijing Olympics the medals have been designed to symbolise nobility and virtue, featuring jade for the first time and, interestingly, “… are the embodiment of traditional Chinese values of ethics and honour.” Having been in China for a couple of weeks, we can propose a set of more contemporary Chinese values: loudness (they shout aggressively all the time), grossness (wherever you are you are never out of earshot of someone producing phlegm to dispose of anywhere at all) and rudeness (we have been stared at by half of China’s 1.3 billion people and shoved out of the way by the other half in queues). As you can see we are still excited by the world’s cultural variety after over 300 days away.
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Carrie
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Jane's coming to China
As I write Jane's on a plane and arriving in Shanghai tomorrow - Wednes 16th. Check email when you can for details I've to pass on. I don't know where you're up to now though as Chengdu on the 5th is latest we have here and at the rate you guys go you could well be on another continent 10days on but worth a go. Keep trucking your way back home kids - see you soon xxxx