Let's dance.

Ok so im finally getting down to writing this blog which has taken me forever to complete! So, after our exams, which I hope went pretty well, not that they mean anything, I went travelling around China. Well, to two places pretty much, but it was still awesome!

YangShuo 阳朔

I went to YangShuo with Josh, Lucy, Ollie and Nick, taking a flight from Shanghai (on which we took the Maglev to the airport - one of the worlds fasted magnetic trains!!), to Guilin, staying in Guilin one night and then taking the coach to YangShuo. Guilin was awful. Armpit of the world, it felt like I had just walked into a an area my mother would probably label as “rough” (and then lock the car doors). Anyway, there were a lot of brothels, prostitutes and it was generally grey and dire. The hostel we stayed in was fine, clean and welcoming but the centre of the city was horrible. Alas, we went to the coach station the next day and got the bus to Yangshou, dreading what the next place was going to be like. We arrived into the town which appeared to be incredibly small and got a golf buggy-esque taxi to the hostel (which was 2km out of town). Arriving at the hostel, I saw chickens, trees and nothing but nature, which was to say the least, a little disheartening. However, I was about to be proven massively wrong. The hostel was incredible and I would love to spend a week or more there! It was ran by a Dutch couple (well actually, I think the guy was English), and the staff were SO helpful it was amazing. We arranged to do things during the days at discounted rates and the food was a mixture of Chinese and Western but so tasty!! The first day was really hot so we went down to the river for a swim which was incredibly fun! After that we went into the town and found the main tourist street where we went shopping, had dinner and drank an awesome oreo and banana milkshake! The next day we went rock climbing in the morning, which for my first time I was pretty impressed with and then in the afternoon went for mud baths and hot spring spas at a cave down the road! So much fun and my skin felt great afterwards!

Hainan Dao 海南岛

The next day, Josh and I got a flight to Hainan Island, Southern China (past Hong Kong) to meet Ros, Sarah and Laura. As soon as we got off the plane the heat and humidity hit us hard! Hainan is a big tourist resort island in China due to the hot weather. After getting a taxi to our hotel (in the resort of Sanya 三亚), we met the girls on the seafront for cocktails and dinner. Most of our time (4 days) in Hainan was simply spent sunbathing in the daytime either on the beach or by a hotel pool! It was such a strange place because it was full of Russians and loads of the signs were in Russian and Chinese - maybe I should have spent my year abroad there? The food was so-so, nothing really authentic and over processed tourist stuff. But it was great to relax and we often went out for cocktails or a stroll around the market in the evening! One thing we did eat was something called “Hainan stir-fried fruit ice” (海南鲜果炒冰) where the lady would chop up your fruit selection, blend it with water and sugar and then the guy used this flat plate type thing to freeze the mixture (I think it had a chiller unit underneath) so you would get a sorbet type mixture out of it! Really refreshing on such a hot evening!

All in all travelling was great. I had an active holiday combined with a relaxing beach holiday for just the right amount of time! At the start and end of travels we stayed with the girls in Shanghai and had delicious food and nights out. Shanghai is such an amazing city!!

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while now but have been rather busy doing other things (nothing exciting, just general mooning around). Anyway, last weekend was the weekend of the Grand Prix and it was in Shanghai so we all (I say ‘we all’ I mean ‘the lads’) bought tickets and set off for a much needed long weekend away from campus. We went on the Thursday and settled into our hostel (a different one from last time) in Jing’an district, Shanghai. It was a lovely area and we had a really nice dinner at a new restaurant called ‘downstairs’. The food was incredible and it was liking dining back in the UK which made a refreshing change. I had sheapard’s pie and an amazing tiramasu for desert (which was recommended by the chef’s Russian PR director)! The next day we decided to have a shopping day (well the boys went to the track but it was sunny and I needed things so shopping obviously took priority). I bought a couple of things from various places and had a great lunch at Element Fresh on Alex’s recommendation. Element Fresh is a phenomenal oasis in China from the usual noodles etc. and the salads are INCREDIBLE. I’m not even joking, it’s just delicious, fresh, diverse and I cannot wait until my next visit (next weekend). On the Friday night we went out to a club called Shelter which was pretty cool although we finished the night rather early. Saturday we spent relaxing in the morning and eating lunch (at Element Fresh again)! We then went to the fake market as some people hadn’t been the day before and took a nice walk in the sun. In the afternoon I decided to head over to the track and meet the boys seeing as the weather was nice and I wanted to find out where the track was. Another night out on Saturday but it all went a bit pear shaped as Muse was packed and we didn’t have a table so it was all a bit of a let down. Race day came and after having food out I headed over to the track. Being in China and seeing as most things don’t make sense, the obvious thing to do on a massive event like the Grand Prix is to close the racetrack’s metro station. Meaning that you have to get off a stop before then get a cab to the main gate. The race was… good. I suppose. I enjoyed it but I did not enjoy the rain/cold/wind. If it had been sunny I would have had a much better day but there were times I sat there and thought “im sat, outside, in the rain and wind, watching cars drive around a track”. Anyway, I still had a really good day. Getting back downtown was another nightmare (because of the metro closure). All the taxi’s were charging ridiculous amounts to take you anywhere so we got in the horrific small minibus (8 guys) which had fly in it and the door fell off as we got in… needless to say I was not impressed. Anyway, he drove us to basically the middle of nowhere (after trying to get out for ages) so we gave him 10 yuan each (£1) and told him to jog on. Luckily the road was quite busy and we managed to get taxis straight away and it might have worked out for the better. All in all the weekend was great and I love Shanghai. I think i’m going to move there for a month after I finish here before Singapore to see the expo and do some work experience. I’m coming to the realisation that I can’t handle China in it’s purest form and I need the dilution: Big cities with Chinese characteristics. Note to China: when big events are on, please do not do stupid/irritating things like closing down the nearest form of public transport. Massively annoying. Thank you.

爱 xxx

This weekend we went to Hangzhou. Hangzhou is one of the prettiest places in China and the weather was warm and sunny which made the weekend perfect!

We stayed in a really charming hostel in a 10 person dorm (8 of us) which was full of character and right near West Lake.

We departed Ningbo on the Friday and took a bullet train to Hangzhou. When we arrived we settled in (after a bit of lost-passport drama by one of my friends - for those of you wondering if the Embassy is some superpower safe haven out here - it isn’t. Let’s just say thank God she hadn’t been arrested/kidnapped as an answer phone message is not the most helpful thing in the world).

Anyway, we went for a stroll in the sun, took some photos around the lake (along side the numerous wedding day on non-wedding-day photos in ill fitting clothes/random dresses), which was really nice, then attempted a night out. 

Not the attempted part, seeing as it wasn’t overly successful as we couldn’t find the bar. Prior to that we ate at “Hangzhou’s most famous restaurant with grumpy staff but good food”. The staff were on top form (in the sense of grumpy) but the food wasn’t that great to be honest and the hostile environment didn’t help matters.

The next day a few of us went for a morning run (whilst being papped by random Chinese people) and then a mini cave exploration before breakfast.

After eating we went into town and explored a famous street market and some of Hangzhou’s centre. Shamefully, I didn’t eat any Chinese food that day and regardless of the photo by Ollie on Facebook, I DID NOT have both Dairy Queen and McDonalds. Only the one! :P The only thing I bought from the market was Tiger Balm (worked wonders for my headache) then we went back to the hostel to get ready.

The night out was really fun, we went to a Reggae bar (where I met a crazy middle-aged Finnish woman who said she understood Russian, a little English and then kept screaming excitedly in Finnish). She came and danced for a little bit though but she was too drunk (another thing she howled at when I said “你喝高了” - you’re drunk. 

We then moved on to a Chinese club which was similar to the ones in Ningbo but a lot bigger and the music seemed better. Lot’s of podium dancing and new Chinese friends!

On the Sunday we got up relatively early and decided to attempt to hire bikes.   Epic fail on that part as we couldn’t work out where to buy the IC card from nor where to pay etc. so we took a cab to a tea village on the outskirts of the city. For the first time ever in China the taxi driver ripped us off, we were so angry! It was basically two minutes down the road we were on but seeing as we only had a magazine with no address on, we put our faith in him. A 150RMB drive later (£15 - bearing in mind taxis generally cost £1-2) we argued with him (saying in our best Mandarin that we had just driven past the sign for the road we were on and seen the tourist signs for the zoo opposite our hostel) a bit but ended up paying the full amount as he laughed driving away.

Anyway, the tea mountains were lovely and we sat enjoying a tea in the sun. Well, to be honest, I didn’t really like the tea that much as it tasted a bit like grass, but nevertheless it was cultural.

Finally in the afternoon we went for a trip on the lake on boats. Another annoying service moment as 4 people paid for theirs then right after when we went to pay for ours the woman screamed at us STOPPED. Angry again, we went to the other side of the lake where someone rows the boat for you and had a good old moan!

That was the end of Hangzhou, it was great and I loved it. It felt like a health retreat weekend (which i’m trying to find btw!) and the weather made it perfect!!

Enjoy the pictures!

爱

xxx

Pre Shanghai

I was going to write a whole blog about this but I didn’t have time. So I decided to go and get my haircut here as it was getting long and mopey, hello Toni & Guy. Now, normally im not a fan of the UK Toni & Guy salons, I find them just, well, awful. Anyway, I wasn’t willing to risk my beautiful hair at the hands of some Chinese scissors so off I went. It was INCREDIBLE. I had a 30 minute head massage/wash before my haircut which consisted of laying on these leather chair things in a warm cosy room and then just having mass products/massage on your hair! I loved every minute of it and was such a nice change from the rain/quick 5 minute uk wash! The cut itself was not bad either! I had a creative director (not by choice, just the one given to me although I wasn’t complaining) and he took ages cutting my hair, going over every detail bit by bit. Now the cut is slightly Chinese-esque and not as good as my usual fabulous hairdresser Lyndsey does, but I was quite good for here. We also managed to get by with my limited Chinese hairdressing vocal and imitation. I think I got through that my hair was really thick and needed thinning out! I then had another hairwash/massage (only 10 mins this time) followed by blow dry and style. Cost = £13. All in all, impressed. Kyle Lin did Toni & Guy China proud - his dream was to go to a London salon he told me!

Shanghai

We decided to go to Shanghai for the weekend and i’m so pleased we did. There are no words to describe how amazing it was! We got the bus from Ningbo which costs £20 return and takes about 2/3 hours. A little slow but manageable and direct. Got to our hostel which was very central and a really cool area. Problem: we didn’t bring our passports. Apparently living in a socialist country means the police always have to know where you are, which I kinda knew from Russia (although it’s not communist anymore) but copies were always fine. Not here. Mass debating, arguing etc. took us to a restaurant to eat and consider our options. We decided either: KTV for the night (a karaoke place where you can hire private rooms), a massage parlour (not the kind with a ‘happy ending’) for the night or train home. Luckily Sarah spoke to some German guys who gave us the number for their hostel and we gave them a call, luckily they were prepared to take us for the night and we had a place to stay! We did actually go to the massage place someone had recommended that night and thank goodness we didn’t stay there - it would have cost loads!! We did get a massage somewhere else that night, which was great and really sorted out my knotted back! Although the woman though it was funny to keep cracking my back and making Alex laugh at my pain. I love how they presume that I want a woman massaging me. Anyway, the next day we walked around and did a bit of shopping/getting Sarah’s computer fixed/Starbucks/moving hostels. The weather was really nice which was great, then we went for dinner with Sarah’s friends. Lovely restaurant of (North-Western I believe) Chinese food, dancing and random arabic-eqsue music! We then went on for drinks and a crazy night at JJs. I felt a bit bad at some points as, being western, whenever I went anywhere bouncers would push the Chinese people out of the way in the isles to let you through. The next day (Saturday), Josh and I went to Chinese gardens for a bit of a cultural morning. They were so beautiful, very touristy, but nice. We also had tea which was great! WuLong was my favourite, kind of tasted like Cherry and Almond cake! Mmmmm! In the afternoon (prepare for this, some people may think this is incredibly sad) Lucy and I went to a gym and went to a body pump class!! It was so much fun/weird being half in Chinese half in English but we loved it! Had to lie to the gym saying that we were expats moving here, but it was all in jest! Sorry Mr. Membership Man!! Dinner time took us to a Sichuan restaurant with other people from campus - soooo spicy but my tolerance has risen now and I really enjoyed it! Its great just ordering dishes and trying random things, a great way to eat à mon avis! In the evening we went to KTV Partyland, a massive Karaoke house where we had a private room, sang the night away and got drunk! We then went on to MINT, a smallish club in a tower (I think), with shark fishtanks, champagne and grey goose - amazing night again. On the last day Josh and I went to a shopping centre near Peoples’ square the girls had been to the previous day! It was full of all the fun Chinese stuff kitsch stores at home are full of! But like 90% of the price!! I bought some fun photo stickers, stamps (as in rubber print ones) and a USB key (4GB, tiny and cost £9!!!). All in all a great weekend, cannot wait to go back! Shanghai, baby!

爱 xxx