Farewell Riverland, it's been emotional.. Literally

So I've finally left where I've spent the last 3 months of my life, in a town called Kingston on Murray in the Riverland in South Australia. I was staying in a (shit) hostel called Nomads on Murray. When I first arrived I got work straight away, enjoying job after job for the first few weeks. That was short lived, as for some reason the hostel manager decided to stop giving me work for no apparent reason. I was here with no job for a month at one point, yet seeing new people come in time after time and taking work which should have been mine. After a couple weeks I went in and spoke to her to see what the dance was. She apologised, said she didn't realise, she didn't see it from my point of view and that she would sort it out. Great, no danger. So a week goes by and I see more new people getting work over me.

Tony had some work, not much, but he wasn't out of a job as long as me. But when an opening came up at his job and he saw new people on the bus he was raging, so he text her a message asking what the hell was going on. She text him back that the reason she wasn't giving me work is because she can't have me standing around all "catlike" (?????)

This really upset me as any job I've had I've always worked very hard, because I know out here as you're casual labour they don't hesitate to get rid if you're not pulling your weight. Anyway, went in for a rant and the shouting and swearing route got me what I wanted.

Next thing she tries to purposely rip me off with rent by $600 dollar! Duno what her problem was. Either way, we're well outta there! Hurrah!

We had a call from our pal saying he had work for us in Maffra, Victoria. With the little money we had we'd blow pretty much everything on getting there so it was a risk. Bollocks to it, bought a decent motor for $1k and then we drove down here and checked into the hostel. At $170 each per week AND it was dorms (!!!!!) it was a no goer from the start. We spent two nights in the hostel and we were so miserable!! All we wanted was somewhere to relax and chill out and have a natter and when you're sharing a room with 8 others its impossible. We'd just spend all day sat in the car discussing how miserable staying in dorm rooms makes us. We'd leave the hostel as soon as we woke up, then return only to sleep. Haha sad bastards!

Well we've worked two days at the job so far. We just walk or crawl down rows of lettuce and pick out the weeds. We get paid $930 dollars per week, each. Easy money!!!

Yesterday we'd decided enough was enough and we needed to get out of the hostel. We drove around for hours looking at caravan parks, campsites, estate agents (which were all closed!!).. As a last ditch attempt, after thinking we'd tried all the keywords on Gumtree, I took a punt at 'house share', thinking having our bedroom would be enough, we wouldn't mind sharing the rest of the house. Well we dropped lucky! I just dialled the first option that came up from the search and as it turns out the guy answered straight away, we went to see the house, $180 rent between us, fully furnished, ready to go. We arranged it there and then and we went to collect our stuff. And the best part is it's a five bedroom situation with no one else living here. Place to ourselves. Good times!

... Our own gaff, a great paying job, a car, brew, smoke and an XBox. Ahhh this is the life..

Forgotten Cambodia Tales

I hate that I stopped writing the blog. It's great to have a record of my stories and adventures. I love looking back and reading my accounts of the things that I've been up to that I may otherwise look back on with a hazy memory or have completely forgotten. When I think of something that I've previously done in the nine months of absent blogging, I'll have to randomly drop it in a post.

For example, yesterday I remembered when I visited a floating village in Cambodia. This village was completely surrounded by water thus making it mandatory to get there by boat taking approximately thirty minutes to arrive from the mainland. All the wooden houses were built high up on stilts so that in the wet season the locals homes wouldn't be washed away. When I paid my visit it was dry season, so there was some land to walk on once you got there.

I was with my pals JP and Kate. We'd heard there was a school at the village with plenty of children, so we thought it would be nice if we took some sweeties to share out between the kids. Before we reached the village, we decided to have a leisurely boat ride through the nearby lagoon. I call it a boat, it was a tiny little wooden situation with a local woman with an ore as the driver, and if you so much as thought about peering your eyes to the side you'd be arse over tit in murky water and swamp critters.

So between us we had two big share bags of sweets for the children. This ride through the lagoon lasted at least half an hour. We were sat there looking at these bags of sweets. We thought it'd be fine if we just opened one bag and had one each, just for a taste, y'know, just to check and make sure they weren't poisonous before we gave 'em to the sprogs and all that! Needles to say, girls will be girls and we smashed off the whole bag of sweets.. And we might have opened the other bag for a sneaky couple too!

Our slight pangs of guilt quickly depleted. When we arrived at the village the children were out of school and playing football in the dusty dirt track that ran between the two rows of huts. Kate lifted out the bag of sweets and BAM! Kids came flying at her from all angles. Snatching the food, swinging off her, pulling at her dress, climbing on her. They were relentless! She looked a bit shook up. Ah well, guilt free!

We went into the school there, it was only one classroom, but this was a proper building made out of bricks and mortar and it had all the gear you needed in it. It was by no means high tech, but it had a blackboard, benches, etc. I noticed a plaque at the entrance of the school and a couple from Shrewsbury had it made for them. Go team England!

Another thing I've thought of! Again in Siem Reap in Cambodia, myself and a girl I met at my hostel, Amy, met and got chatting to a monk at the temples. He said he ran a class teaching English to children so many times a week and he asked if we would like to attend. So a few days later we went down and met the monk at his home. He invited us in and it was the Cambodian equivalent to a bed sit. It was about the size of a standard double bedroom, with his bed in one corner and a bit of a kitchen area on the opposite side. I didn't notice a bathroom, though I guess he'd use a bucket for that. He sat us down whilst he waited for the children to arrive and he told us a bit about himself and what he does in his spare time. All he did was read, and I don't mean just normal books, I mean proper intellectual books on philosophy, physics, politics... All in English. We asked him to read out an extract so we could get a grasp of how hard these books may be to read. "no", he says, and pulls out a 500 hundred page stonker, "I have this book memorised". And so he did. He read out at least two pages worth completely from memory. I was impressed!

We went out to the classroom which was comprised of the gap between his house and next doors, with a wheely white board at the head of the enclosed alley, with say ten benches lined up behind one another reaching back to the front of the two houses. I'd say there were about thirty kids in total, aging from about seven to ten years old, some of them having nowhere to sit. Definitely an incentive to get there early! They had text books but it was just a book with paragraphs in that they just read from, they were learning about tenses but from that thing there was no way, it barely made any sense to me. The monk asked us if we would like to take the class, and so we did. Amy went to the front to teach whilst I sat at the back with the stragglers. They were really confused and asking a lot of questions, some I couldn't answer as with having the language barrier I sometimes struggled to gasp what they needed help with. However, at the end I gave my group a test to see if my efforts had been of any use. Well blow me they all got it bang on. I felt great knowing that I'd helped a few kids, even if it was minor. Plus I managed to bag myself four ten year old Cambodian husbands there too, result!

After the class we regrouped in the monks house. We chatted some more and he asked our thoughts on the class and so on. Whilst he was talking I noticed a little brown worm wriggling around at my toes. I kept toe flicking him away but he kept coming back. He was no bigger than about 6cm. Next thing I know the monk is screaming at me, "NOOOO DO NOT TOUCH IT!!!". I shat myself didn't I, thinking 'balls, I've offended a sacred creature or something'. Apparently it was a very deadly snake and even at that size, one bite and I'd be brown bread. His way of dealing with this highly poisonous specimen was not to kill it or chuck it out the door, oh no. He just picked it up with a pencil and put it in the bin. Great.

Guess who's back!!!

So it's been a while since I last updated the blog, nine months to be precise! What can I say, I've missed keeping you guys back home updated on my trials, tribulations and downright weirdness.

With me and Lee breaking up I thought it insensitive of me to continue the blog, but the time has come to continue keeping you regularly updated on my antics! Get excited bitches!I have nine months of blogging backed up so no doubt this post'll be a stonker so apologies in advance.

*Get a brew and a bickie*

I left off before I arrived in Chengdu, China. In a nut shell: I saw pandas, 'twas amazing, except I noticed they have a tendency to enjoy slouching with their legs akimbo whilst playing with their shit stained rusty bullet holes. Still adorable though! I also finally experienced a Chinese phenomenon called 'KTV'. It's basically glorified karaoke, except you get your own private rooms, the size depending on the amount of people in your party. Inside the room is your mike and tv set up, along with disco ball, maracas, little drums, tables, couches etc.. It's great! I'm not usually one for karaoke but I was lovin' it! That was a fun night. Otherwise (from what I can remember, it is slightly hazy), the rest of the time in Chengdu was spent on a session. Go to bed at 8am, wake up at 4pm, get the tube to McDonalds, then just come back and do it all over again (probably the reason why my time there now seems rather hazy).

I had fun times there and also hard times. Choosing to leave Lee was the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I hate the way I did it, just leaving him there in a strange country by himself, but I also knew it was something I had to do. Thankfully, it really has been the best decision for me. I'm a much happier person now, in a much happier place and I've learnt so much about myself and who I am. Had I not have done what I did I would never have had the opportunity to do that, so for that I am thankful. Unfortunately Lee refuses to speak to me anymore, which is a shame, but from what I can make out he has met someone and he is really happy too :)

So after that debacle I decided I needed to get my behind to Thailand and get to a beach and do some serious relaxing. Relaxing I did. I was so laid back I was horizontal. Just what I needed. I didn't spent long there, I think around a month. I only managed to get to Bangkok and a small town called Hua Hin. I was traveling alone for the first time, well, it was the first time I'd ever done anything for myself really, before this I'd never stood on my own two feet, so to say it was scary would have been the understatement of the century. I didn't yet have the confidence to travel around too much. I was weary and felt more comfortable seeking solace in familiar places rather than moving on every few days into the unknown.

Naturally the first thing I did when I got to Bangkok was make a beeline for Topshop (of course, what else?!). Straight after Topshop I had to take a visit to MAC and buy myself the brightest red lipstick I could find. Mad how much a bit of lippy can cheer you up and give you confidence!

After experiencing Bangkok for a few weeks I needed to get away from the hustle and bustle and get myself to that beach I was talking about to feel some sunshine on my skin. I chose the closest beach on the map which was in a tiny retirement town called Hua Hin. The first day I arrived it was raining hard and the water was up past my knees. I was walking for ages trying to find my hostel. I was walking past a bar when I heard, "hey girl, get in here and we'll buy you a beer!". I went into the bar and got chatting to this group of English men, say about my dads age. They'd all retired here or had their own little businesses. To cut a long story short, one of the guys, a Geordie lad paid for me to stay the night in the room above the pub. He said it was because when he was in the army his Sargent was a scouser and he was an amazing man who really helped him out when he needed it. He said he never got to thank him as he got moved somewhere and he's never been able to make contact since. So his way of thanking this Sargent was to help me out because I was scouse. He was my saviour that day, I was having a hard time. By the way, the room was LUSH.

The day after I found my hostel stayed there for two weeks and saw only two other people. I was in an 8 bed dorm by myself the whole time. I was worried about getting lonely but that was some seriously good, well needed me time. By day I'd wake up and go and lay on the beach, in the evening I'd walk to the night market and get a chocolate and condensed milk rotti (YUM X1 thousand!!!), then head back to the beach. On my way I'd always stop at the 7/11 and treat myself to a can of Fanta. Id always go back to the same stretch of beach which I knew would be silent and peaceful at night. I'd sit there by myself for a few hours just watching and listening to the waves crashing against the rocks and watch what would seem to be the everlasting storms far out at sea. Ahh reading that back it makes me want to cry, oh dear I'm crying haha! What's wrong with me! I'm just picturing myself sat there on my tod, Aw poor me. I'm so thankful of that time though, it really changed me. Anyway, enough self pity! I really enjoyed getting used to my own company in Hua Hin. Thailand was a massive learning curve. I realised I wasn't an absolute useless mare and I was capable of surviving in this big, scary world all on my lonesome. I don't need no one me, I'm hardcore!!!

So after Thailand (which I will return to and see properly one day!), I headed to Cambodia. Love Cambodia. By this time I felt a lot more confident and comfortable with doing things alone, speaking to people, traveling around every few days... I was starting to find my feet - and it felt great. I got pretty much everywhere in Cambodia. Seeing Angkor Wat and the other temples in Siem Reap was breath taking.

My friend who I'd met up with who I'd met in Chengdu was an absolute temple buff. So of course he just had to get to Angkor Wat for sunrise. I wanted to see this, but I knew the view wouldn't be as amazing as that of the top of Adams Peak! (see previous posts) I'd have rather have stayed in bed to be honest. But being the trooper I am I agreed to wake up at 3am and cycle on my own in the pitch black to meet my mate there and make sunrise. To those that know me well you'll know how horrifying my sense of direction is, so a bike ride that takes over an hour is never going to end well let's be honest. After falling off my bike not once but twice trying to dodge imaginary lying dogs, and after cycling 20 minutes in the wrong direction, I finally made it there in one piece and in time for sunrise with a half hour to spare! (It wasn't as good as Adams Peak).

That same day me, my friend JP and his friend Kate decided that we'd hire a guide to learn the full history of the place. The guide was very knowledgable and passionate and clearly loved his job. However, he did tend to go off on a tangent, plus he wasn't capable of walking and talking. It took us over an hour to actually get inside the temple as he kept stopping to engorge us with his knowledge. He asked if we wanted to sit down for 5 mins. I expected him to shut up during this time but he kept going to no avail. Next thing I know I'm waking up with my face in my hands, slobber on my chin, and I look over at Kate and she was fast asleep too, haha. I spent the rest of the day trying to contain my giggles and I kept busting out laughing in the guys face. Why is everything so hilarious when you're tired?? Poor man.

Another great place in Cambodia was Sihanoukville. I'd decided I'd spent a little too much recently (thanks Topshop!), so I thought I'd get a job. The 'Dolphin Shack' was my new place of employment. It was a bar on the beach. I worked as a promo girl. My job description was to hand out flyers and free shots from 7pm - 11pm, then after that get pissed! I had a tendency to dance on the bar every night. It wasn't mandatory but it was fun! The boss ended up dubbing the top of the bar my 'office'. He still messages me to this day and says he misses me not being in my office haha. I worked there for I think just shy of two months and I had a whale of a time and met some amazing people. Wasn't a bad deal, free accommodation, free food and as much booze as I could drink ;)

Next I went to Vietnam and Mum and Dad came out to visit!! It was fantastic seeing them and getting them to travel around with me. I even managed to get them on an overnight sleeper bus! Haha. My Dad wasn't impressed initially but to his surprise he got a good kip in :) ..We did all the usual tourist stuff which was nice as I'd kind of lost interest in seeing sights etc since I'd been by myself, not sure why. But we had a lovely two weeks together and all three of us had the inevitable tears (sorry Dad!) when they had to leave. But they are coming out to Australia to visit me in Sept/Oct and we're gonna rag it round in a camper van convoy and mow down some kangaroos, woohoo!! Can't wait!!

So after Vietnam I went back to Sihanoukville on my way back to Bangkok to catch my flight to Aus. I stopped in at the Dolphin Shack to say a last goodbye to what was left of my pals that were still there, then overnight bus back to BKK, then caught my flight to Australia!Soon as I got on the aircraft I was surrounded by Australians and I began questioning my motive as I suddenly realised I couldn't bare the Aussie accent. I guess it grows on you, I don't really notice it now. I arrived in Melbourne and went to live with a lad who I met at the Dolphin Shack with him and his pals. I was there for a month and had some great laughs. I also experienced my blondest moment to date. We were having a stoner conversation about playing scrabble. My Dutch friend said it would be unfair as he isn't good at spelling in English. My friend Ria said she can speak German and so could he to a similar ability so they should play in German. After being quiet and just listening for a while, I suddenly pipe up, interjecting with, "yeah, but where the hell are you gonna find a German scrabble board around 'ere?!'. Needless to say I got the shit ripped out of me for a good while.. Anyway moving swiftly on...Sadly I couldn't find a job in Melbourne and I was desperate for money. I heard Aus was expensive but I wasn't prepared for just how so. The cheapest box of fags you can pick up is $18, a vodka cranberry was $12. Jesus.

I spent days ringing round rural working hostels to see where had availability and farm work going. I finally decided on a place called Nomads On Murray in Kingston On Murray, South Australia. It's been the worst thing and the best thing all at the same time. I've had pretty much eff all work, I've almost come to blows with the hostel manager, I pay $175 p/w when there's no water in the pool, there's no drinking water and you have to buy your own shit paper. Piss take! But I did meet my boyfriend here, Tony, and he's an absolute angel so it was definitely worth it.

So this pretty much brings me up to the present day! (Thank God I hear you say). The plan is now to save as much as possible and buy a camper van for our second year as its much easier to make money that way as you open up so many more doors job wise with having your own transport, plus no overheads, only fuel. Then if we save enough we will take a holiday to Bali before we start our second year, then get back over here and strap on the nose bag and eat some serious work!!!!No doubt there'll be nothing to report for a while as its just the same dance here, but I am officially blogging again. Yay! Xxx

Yangshou

Sweating my vagina off as I type this on yet another train to Chengdu. This train also doesn't have air con but atleast the fan works. This journey is 24.5 hours. After all these trains the 4 hour coach to Liverpool will be a piece of piss.

We enjoyed Yangshou, apart from the lack of sleep. We were in an 8 bed dorm. Me and Lee shared a bunk, I was on the top one and him on the bottom. There was a Chinese lad staying on the top bunk across from me. He was only there for 2 nights but by the end of it I could have strung him up by his stupid pony tail. He came to bed around 5am each night, obviously staying up to watch the Euro's. But what he'd done is set an alarm for 2.45am on one of his phones to wake him up for the games, not that he ever went to bed beforehand anyway, he was always downstairs from 10pm onwards. He then left this phone in his locker. So 2.45am comes and we get woken up to the sound of some shit Chinese RnB song which lasted about 30 seconds. At first we just thought it was a call so we tried to go back to sleep, but it kept going off every minute for about 15 minutes. We were on the 5th floor so going down to get him wasn't an option. After a while Lee had enough and went over to the lads locker and ragged it open and gave me the phone. I couldn't get the battery off so I had to just switch it off. I saw another alarm was set for 7.20am but because everything was in Chinese I didn't know how to switch that alarm off. Needless to say we were woken up again at 7.20am. This was after him coming in at 5am waking us all up again. I leaned over and shook his bed to wake him up and he went down to turn off the alarm and went back to bed.

I was visibly angry so you'd have thought he'd turn his alarms off, but the next day the exact same thing happened. I was so angry. I shook his bed so hard and shouted at him. He shit himself he didn't know what was goin' on getting woken up by some crazy white girl swinging off his bed going nuts.

We hired a couple of mountain bikes and went for a cycle round the river. It was really nice. Haven't been on a bike in years, I was kinda scared when we set off thinking in my head that it was an absolute given that I'd return with bloody knees and no teeth. The last time I was on a bike I put my head straight through a parked car so as you can guess I'm not the most competent of cyclists. After a while I found my feet and got my confidence back and I was grand.

On our ride we saw loads of water buffalos and hens with their chicks, and we took a bamboo raft across the river with our bikes. At one point we stopped and had a dip in the river. It was so nice, but when we got out we were covered in what looked like tiny leeches and some other bugs. We stood there for about 10 minutes whacking these bugs off, they were everywhere!
The ride took about 5 hours so we treated ourselves to a fat burger and chips afterwards mmmmm...

We met a few lads there who we went on a night out with. There was an Englishman, a Dutchman and an American. Sounds like the beginning to a bad joke. They had all taught there at some point. We went to a hostel bar called Monkey Jane's as that was the only place open showing the football. It was a place especially for foreigners, so when Jane started saying she hates foreigners infront of the whole place it really pissed me off. So I shouted at her, "how are you gona say you hate foreigners when every single person in here is foreign?!! We pay your fucking wages you silly lady! Absolute idiot!". She had pissed us off before that too. Lee ordered noodles and they cost 4 and Lee gave her a 5 note then quickly realised he had the right change and swapped it and she said, "fucking rich people wasting my fucking time". WHAAAAT I didn't hear this at the time but when Lee told me I was fuming. Why would you make your business for foreigners if you clearly hate them? She was a tosser though. When people stopped paying attention to her to watch the football she went over and turned it off. She seemed like a bitter middle aged woman having a midlife crisis. You know the type.

What annoyed me the most though was that the people we were with were making excuses for her, saying "don't take offense, it's just the way they are". No. No it isn't. That was just rude to a different extent. It annoys me how everyone keeps making excuses for these people. What would it take before they say enough is enough? Argh!!!

So I'm finishing this entry in Chengdu now. Our hostel is boss but it's a bit creepy and they're playing creepy music which doesn't help. We met a Chinese girl on the train who, shock horror, was really very nice! To make sure we got to where we were going she took us to our hostel (which was two buses from the train station) and even up to our room bless her. We like Chengdu already. Can't wait to see the Panda's, woohoo!!!!

'Road to Yangshou'

Fenghuang was really quite nice. It was really old; buildings on stilts on the river side, all the guesthouses are all wooden. There were loads of old tiny, cobbled lanes like in Brighton and that was really nice for a mooch. Got lost sooo many times though. Some things there looked so traditional. More often than not we'd see a man on a tiny wooden raft fishing wearing one of those hats that looks like the lid off ya duck pancakes pot. The people were much more friendly there. It had a bit of everything really. It was lovely to walk around in the day and it seemed to have a good nightlife too.

We stayed in Fenghuang for four nights, our next scheduled stop was Yangshou, but it would seem that it is virtually impossible to get to. You have to get a 1 hour bus to Tongren, 12 hour train to Guilin, then another 2 hour bus to Yangshou. We thought fuck that for a game of soldiers, so we stopped over at each segment of the journey.

Tongren was a bit of a shit heap to be fair, but we had to get a room as our train left from there at 4.46am. We were just going to sleep rough in the station but it stunk off piss and vinegar, so we got a hotel across the road from the station. We paid over the odds (£14.80) but we had to be close by as we're not sure what the taxi situation is like after hours. Anyway, the hotel was LUSH. So lush infact that it had a plaque in the room with a picture of a girl with her tits practically out and a number underneath to dial. Oh and a pack of prophylactics with Sarah Michelle Gellar's face on some one elses body. Poor girl, bet she hasn't got a clue.

The train to Guilin wasn't as good as our other sleeper train. First of all there wasn't a ladder to get up to the top bunk were we were. There was a teeny fold away step on the inside part of the lower and middle bunks, so you couldn't even use them really without poking someone in the eye with your big toe. You had to do some Spider Man shit to get up and down, which left you sweating. That brings me to my next point: there was no air conditioning. And to add insult to injury there was a fan in each of the cabins, but ours didn't work. I was hotter than the sun. Oh and the beds hadn't been changed from each person to the next. When we got on I thought a section of my pillow felt wet. I sniffed it and it smelt like sweaty, greasy barnet, ew!

We've been stopped for photo's countless times now. Really don't get it. I know they're very blocked off from the rest of the world and on TV and on billboards it's only Chinese people, but they see honkies in films and stuff so why the fascination? One lad the other day, must have been about 18, 19, after he took the photo he walked away and actually shouted out "YES!!!", (well the Chinese equivalent), and punched the air. Really though???! We don't mind at all but we just can't fathom it.

We're in Guilin at the mo, leaving tomorrow for the bus to Yangshou. Oh that rhymes. It's okay here but not much to do really. It's got hotter as we doth venture south. Yesterday we just walked into a big hotel, asked at reception where the pool was and spent the day there. We tried the same again today but we got caught. They wanted to charge us 8 squid each just to use the pool!! Erm jog!.. So we walked about a half hour to the next hotel instead and they only charged us £3 and we got towels too. Good times.

Arr I am going to miss the kitten at this hostel, he's sooo cute. He's the smallest kitten I've ever seen. I've named him Barry. Don't know what his proper name is but I think he'd prefer Barry given the choice. Shit, think I've burnt me face again. Will I ever learn?

王八

We're in Fenghuang now, in Hunan Province. We arrived last night from Zhangjiajie. The mammoth 20 hour train journey to Zhangjiajie from Shanghai actually wasn't so bad after all. We've learnt that for any long train journey a sleeper is an absolute must. It didn't feel like 20 hours at all and the beds were quite comfortable so we got a half decent sleep. There are about ten or so doorless cabins to a carriage with six beds inside each, with two bottom bunks, two middle and two top. We had the two middles and we're so glad we did. Every Tom, Dick and Harry comes and sits on the bottom bunks during the day because they have enough head room to sit up properly, whereas the other bunks don't. The Chinese people don't seem to mind this, but if I were on the bottom and people came and sat down on my bed I'd be drop kickin' them off quicker than they could say chicken fried rice.

In the train station before we left, Lee went to the shop to get some drinks for us and a Chinese girl came and sat next to me waving her phone in my face. I guessed she wanted a picture. So she took about three snaps of me smiling very awkwardly, then when Lee comes back she thrusts the phone at him and he had to take a few pictures of me and her together. We always notice people taking sly photos of us, but that was the first time some one's came up to us. I didn't mind but it's still a bit bizarre!

Since we've been in China we haven't seen any big supermarkets, so when we stumbled across one the other day we got all excited and went for a wonder. It's incredible what entertains you when you're away. We think it's the dogs bollocks wondering around supermarkets comparing prices and seeing what weird shit they have. They had turtles for sale at the fish counter in this place, they were tied up in little net bags and they were alive too. I devised a plan to set them free so they could at least have a shot but Lee wouldn't let me. It made me sad, I like turtles.

We had a butchers at the noodles as that's pretty much our staple diet out here, that and street food. We were well impressed when we spotted free tubs attached to the multi packs of noodles. We were contemplating buying a tub each so even when there's no kitchen at a hostel we could still have something to eat our noodles out of. When we saw we could have free ones...Oh my. AND they were microwaveable AND they have a seal so nothing spills!! We were buzzin' off our tubs until we went to bed on the train the next day. Told you it's incredible what entertains us.

Whilst in Zhangjiajie we went to their National Park. It is apparently the place where James Cameron got the inspiration for Avatar. His crew allegedly came here and took 4,000 shots of the mountains and then based the floating mountains in Pandora on them. I don't know whether this is true or whether the Chinese authorities have renamed one of the mountains 'Hallelujah Mountain', as a money making gimmick. Either way there is no denying the similarities. The views were absolutely spectacular. We were both in awe. I've bunged a couple of photos on Facebook but they don't do it any justice what so ever. If you're ever in China I would definitely say it was worth a visit, but make sure you take the Avatar DVD and a device to play it on because you don't half crave a watch of it when you get back from the park!

The next day we went back to the park and followed a different trail which takes you along the stream. It was pretty at first but it takes about 4 hours so it got a bit samey after a while. There were quite a few wild monkeys on this trail. We would stand back and take a picture and go 'ahhh' and move on. The Chinese people badger them, poking them with things, getting right in their faces to try and get the best possible pictures. Once one person goes close, another person gets closer, then another, etc. This dynamic goes on until the monkeys feel threatened and start to squawk and brace their bodies as if they're going to attack. One monkey was so close to attacking this man but a cleaner came past with a broom and waved it at the monkey and he backed off, obviously scared of the broom. Of course, we thought it would be brilliant if we saw some one get attacked because they would absolutely deserve it. Plus, ourselves and the locals haven't exactly been the best of pals up to now. So on our way out there were tonnes of monkeys chillin' out at the entrance/exit so we decided to just sit and watch for a while as we felt like it was a matter of time. Along comes this lady with a lovely big see-through bag of crisps, biscuits, sandwiches and...bananas!! This big monkey with her baby wrapped round her belly jumps up on the woman and snatches the whole bag of goodies out of her hands. She screams and legs it leaving the bag, and all these monkeys materialize out of nowhere, easily about 30 of them, and try and grab what they can. It was hilarious, every one was screaming and running and we were just sitting on the sidelines laughing our heads off watching the drama unfold. One little monkey took a pack of biscuits and shot back up the tree. We watched him carefully open the packet, eat a few, then opened the packet fully and sprinkled down the rest of the biscuits for his pals below.

We got speaking to an English lad in our hostel who's been studying out here in an English university for the past 6 months. He was with two Chinese friends. We couldn't believe some of the stuff he was telling us. In the university they keep foreigners and locals in separate parts of the building, and the foreigners have swipe cards so they can come in and out when they pleased, but the locals get literally padlocked in their rooms at 11pm. We thought it was absolutely crazy and their response was "why do we need to leave the room after 11pm? We have a toilet, the shops are shut...". This seemed quite logical and we couldn't actually answer the question, but wowzer. Can you imagine the consequences if they tried to do that in England??!

We have also found out that people that work at international hostels have to have checks every year which basically asks them about their values. Pretty much making sure they're not becoming westernised.

We're also always kept separate from the locals. In our hostel in Shanghai there was a Russian lad who's been living there for 2 months as he's working in Shanghai and waiting to sort out proper accommodation. Anyway, he had some Chinese friends that were coming to stay in the hostel. His room had 5 empty beds, he was in there by himself, so he told them to ask for his room number so they could stay together. They asked and they were told that that room was fully booked.

Last night we were watching the England France game and the TV room backs on to a dorm. A Chinese girl pops her head out and very rudely tells us to turn it down. I explained it was on volume 1 and it couldn't go any lower, but that wasn't good enough so she stomps out her room and comes back with the man who works at the hostel. PATHETIC. anyway, the point is we had to sleep in separate dorms that night as they were fully booked, but both rooms only had men in. The woman on reception knew this wasn't right as she asked me if I'd be okay being on my own in a room full of men. When I put my head in that girls room there were at least 3 free beds in there. So they're prepared to potentially risk my safety than to let me mix with the locals. Great thanks for that. I just squished into Lees bed in his dorm as neither of us were happy with me being alone, but still. Not the point.

We've never felt hostility like it, we're made to feel so unwelcome sometimes. Having said that, the other night we went out for an explore and an aussie girl came with us. We went into a bar and we were just standing on the sidelines taking in the differences. For example the man going round making people balloon bracelets, the dice games on each of the tables, the men dancing on the podiums and tables instead of the women. Then a man and a waitress come over to us and grabbed me and took me to their table. The other two followed me over and the men just bought us beers all night. I don't like beer so I stayed sober but Lee filled his boots. It was a great night. I got up on the stage dancing then Lee and Ellie got up, then the whole bar was up, doing the conga and all sorts, it was so fun! Haven't been out sober for a long time and it was the best night I've had in ages.

At first we found China really difficult but we're getting used to it now and we've found ways around most things. Picking up the language is impossible. We've learnt four words. Couldn't do the characters like but we know how to say them. Hello (nee-how), thank you (xie-xie), turtle (wang ba) which is an insult, pretty much means son of a bitch. And the most important, Vodka (foto ja). Sorted. We can go in a shop, say hello, buy vokda, thank them, then get pissed and abuse some one. That's our Saturday nights sorted.

Shanghai

We've been in Shanghai for 3 nights now, tonight is our fourth (well, not sure when it is 'cause I have to email this to me Mum to paste as kel surprise Blogspot is blocked in China too). We have enjoyed Shanghai. Not really much to do here apart from wonder about, but there's alot of lovely places to wonder about in.

We're staying on East Nanjing Road which is very central. It's in Peoples Square which is a massive high street at this end, then further down the road is a huge park called Peoples Park which is very nice. We passed through there the other day and there was a group of kids with their speakers out, Shufflin'. We were waiting for them to do something good but that was the only dance they could do. I was tempted to go and show 'em how it's done but I refrained. Thought I'd spare Lee the embarrassment.

We planned to soak up some culture whilst we were here as there's quite a few museums about the history of Shanghai etc etc.. We did try to go to one the other day, but we got a bit lost and stumbled upon the Insect Kingdom! Much more fun! There was loads of crazy shit in there, all different kinds of creepy crawlies we'd never seen or heard of. What we didn't like were the tags at the bottom of each cage; Thailand, Malaysia, Thailand, Malaysia, Malaysia, Thailand... Can't wait to encounter these bad boys, or not. The Stick Insects were our favourite, we were looking at the cage for ages before we spotted them, then when we did they were frickin' everywhere, they really do look like twigs! Doesn't take much to amuse me.

There's a place here that reminds us of Brighton. It's called the French Concession, and it's an area that has little lanes with boutiques, coffee shops, restaurants and bars. That was cool for a stroll. There was so many of what we call "shit shops", basically a shop that sells loads of different shit that is not useful to anyone, but everyone loves a mooch around and usually ends up buying some useless shit that just clogs up your house. Anyway, we love them, and the ones here are filled with really small cute stuff :-)

Earlier on we went and had a look at the national football stadium and Shanghai Shenhua's stadium to see where Anelka plays, then we came back and went for a walk around The Bund which is also a 2 min walk from our hostel. This is a walk way that takes you past the river were you can see all the buildings lit up, it was really pretty.

Haha the other night we were wondering around one of the many shopping centres and we were chatting away and I stumbled. I looked down and there was black and yellow tape covering one of those cases that covers wires, it was quite a biggun though. Lee was laughing because he said he noticed it right away and stepped over it, but 3 different people crossed it at the same time as us and they all tripped too. We got the idea to go to the floor above and stand and watch to see how many people tripped. It was hilarious, so many people fell over it. We made a video which I've just watched again now and I've got snot everywhere were I was trying to hold my laugh in so I didn't wake up the rest of the dorm. Definitely Youtube material.

This is our first experience of dorms. It's okay I suppose, it's annoying having to be dressed all the time, it wastes clothes too! Plus you have to bloody whisper all the time and you feel guilty if you get in late. It's okay though. I bet we'd meet more people this way too, the people that have been here have been mostly weird.

Despite my last post we have a lovely 20 hour train ride ahead of us tomorrow! We have a bed this time though. We're going to Zhangjiajie (don't quote me on the spelling there). James Cameron got the inspiration for Avatar from there. Remember the floating mountains in the film? They are in Zhangjiajie, except they are attached to the ground obviously. Can't wait. Oh and we have no internet in the hostel we're going to, so don't worry again if you don't hear from us, we're fine and dandy.