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Me: Seventeen, toilet
Myself: huh, what?
Me:Seventeen, Toilet!!!
Myself: *feels stomach rumbling* oh toilet right, what the hell is seventeen though
Me: Just get the toilet sorted for now
Myself: *feel my way around the dark room with pack of tissues and room key in hand*  Man I don’t feel too good, I’m glad I woke up there and thought of going to the toilet.
Me: Why did you get a room down the complete opposite end of the corridor to the bathrooms
Myself: Man I don’t know what it is but I feel terrible, why I am starting to sweat.  Aw man this is really bad.  I feel awful, what the hell.  Did I get a bite today because I think I got Dengue Fever or something.
Me: What if you did get it, seriously isn’t that what Tara got, that wouldn’t be cool.  Aw man if you mess up this trip with that disease I’m going to kick your ass.
Myself: Wait a second are these even the symptoms of that at all.
Me: What I don’t know, why dont you ask Phil, I’m not a doctor. 
Myself: Wait a second this doesn’t feel like anything serious I think I am just being a paranoid idiot.
Me: What you, well eh ok, but, what if it is the Dengy thing.  You will need to get this sorted, you won’t be able to go on the Great Wall tour.
Myself: It’s probably just food poisoning, I’ve had similar feelings after the time I had the chicken in New York.  Remember, it was pretty much the same reaction as this.
Me: Hrmm ok well you have been in here for a while and you don’t seem to be getting sick so what is this.
Myself: I don’t know but I’m heading back to bed, I’m tired and don’t feel like I need to be down here anymore.  Wait a second did someone just turn off the lights in here.  What a jackass, I’m gonna…
Me: Woah there, you can’t really be shouting at people at this hour to turn the lights back on in here.  You’ve been in here for ages and besides, with the way that you feel, you must look like crap.
Myself: Thats a fair point, right well grab the card key and let’s go, what time is it anyway?
*Pads back to the dorm in darkness so no-one can see me and look at my phone when I get back there*
Myself: 4:15am, aw man, I have to get up in an hour, I probably won’t get to sleep for ages now this always hap……..
Phil: You know it’s 5:30 am right
John: Huh, aw yeah man, yeah, just getting up now (said in my best yeah I’ve been awake all the time. the one you give your boss when he rings you to ask why you are late and you have just woken up)
Me: You don’t feel nearly as bad as earlier, but don’t go near that bacon for breakfast just yet.

Now I should probably explain the above for you because it must be quite confusing and weird to hear how my head works.  Its bad enough for me and I live with it every day. 
Well this part picks up from the next lucid moment I have after going to bed after the beers the night before with the Israeli lads.
I woke up to an awful feeling and the above played out.  I didnt get sick or anything and after taking time to think about it the only conclusion I can think of is that it was food poisoning of some sort.  After all I am in China.  Phil didn’t have any issues but then again I do have quite the picky stomach as my parents know well after 23 years.  Once I was lucid this morning I was also able to understand the ludicrousness of me thinking I had Dengue fever. 

Anyway I’m fine, I had some breakfast and then more food in the minbus on the way to the Great Wall.  It all stayed in my stomach where it should have and I haven’t had any trouble since.  This part is for the few people daft enough to worry about me and my well being.  I’m fine honestly!  Now just keep reading.

So we hopped into the minbus at 6am after checking out of the hostel and took the roughly 3 hour car journey to Jinshanling pass to start the 11km hike that we had ahead of us to the Simatai gate.
It was awesome, excuse my American.  The views were absolutely breathtaking.  The weather, perfect.  The number of other hikers on the same portion, minimal to none at times.  The difficulty, well now that’s another thing.

In my previous post I mentioned the pollution, sibsequently we have read a sandstorm caused this look of pollution.  Funnily enough, this is only on the Chinese news sights, then again it was bad enough to prompt this sort of coverage so who knows.  Well out on the wall is a different story. 
The amount of greenery certainly helps but there is still a very noticable haze.  Whether this is because the area is humid and hazey or the pollution reaches up here I’m not sure.  Those of you cynical enough go and join Phil in the pollution though corner.
The rest of the weather however was great, just enough sun and plenty of heat, but not a debilitating amount.

The portion that I mentioned above is one of the roads less travelled on the Wall itself and there were only six of use in our group.  This meant that once we spread ourselves out we would be fine and we would only meet oncoming hikers and locals hawking tat.  Which worked out perfectly for us and we spread ourselves out just enough so that we had enough time for the wall but would also reach our destination by 2pm for the return trip.  We also met a group of about 40 men and women doing a charity 5 day hike for Marie Curie Cancer Care, congrats to them and I hope it is still going as well as it was today.

As I said the views, well they really were beyond words.  The pictures can’t tell the story properly, the wall is enormous and you look the length of it and all you see is undulating hills with towers atop them as far as the eye can see in the haze.  It really is breath taking.  I have pictures and Phil has better ones but to do this justice you really have to see it.

The difficulty as I said was altogether different.  We were told this wasn’t a stoll in the park but we didnt think it would be what we got.  The wall itself is incredibly stepp at some points and then you throw decay into the question.  All of a sudden you have some very tiresome inclines and very awkward dsecents.  (Please don’t let this turn you off it, there was an elderly couple climbing it at theiur own pace and having no issues, they were also smart enough to be ready with the right shoes and hiking sticks.)
Initially I was pushing Phil to keep the pace but once we both got used to it we were fine and we had no issues with keeping it going at a managable pace that allowed us to see the views and make the trek in time enough. 

The one thing you really get surprised by is the tenacity of the locals to follow you to sell their tat.  We had a local each following us for the about 5 five minutes after about 20 minutes into the walk.  The woman follwing me was supposedly a Mongol who lived nearby, she was also half my height.  As a result when I wanted to get rid of her I stepped up the pace, those little legs gave up on her I left her behind thankfully.  Phil wasn’t so lucky, his guy persisted for a bit linger but enventually got the message.  About every third tower we went through however and there are 67 on this stretch had more locals waiting for you to try and sell you cold water, coke beer or tea or coffee.  Yeah hot drinks were available.  I dont get it.

Once we finshed up on the wall we made it to the destination restaurant and had lunch, cheap cheerful and very tasty.  Then we hopped into the minibus for the trip home.
This is somehting that myself and Phil liken to an extreme sport.  Getting in a vehicle in China is quite the trip.  Road markings and traffic lights are but a recommendation and using your signals, nah thats no fun.
Phil made the point that we shoudl tkae the so called “advanced drivers” from the Hibernia Insurance course and see how they do on the roads.  I reckon they would rather hand in their licence then continue driving on the roads here. 
There really is only one way to learn how to deal with the driving here and that is by use of a simulator.  I don’t mean any normal one I mean by playing Grand Theft Auto on a computer.  Half the time the people her drive the car like they have stolen it.  Completely reckless.  Overtaking and forcing the oncoming car to duck out of the way.  Changing lnae without looking or doing any kind of signalling.   But always beeping your horn.
That seems to be the only rule here.  If you are going to break the law then just beep your horn before some beeps at you and you’re fine.  I can’t see this ending well.  The main cause of death over here is also by road traffic accident.  Thank god we are flying to all of the rest of the locations from now on.

Once we passed that gauntlet we were able to pick up our gear from the left luggage room in the hostel and head to our next place to stay.  Which is where I am writing this from.  Raffles of Beijing.  It’s fantastic.  It’s a five star hotel and it was well cheap for us to get, compared to home.  We decided we had to do one night of this while we were here and we are glad we did after all the walking of today.  I’m currently in the executive lounge of the hotel wearing the complimentary slippers which I must say are pretty cool and surprising that they fit out foreigner feet.  Most of them don’t over here.  The lounge was part of the deal and gives us a drinks cabinet and the use of the laptops etc.
We also have use of the gym, spa and pool aswell as free breakfast.  Quite the deal and we are going to make every penny count. 
The best part is all of them trying to be curteous etc to the two of us after we got in this evening.  we looked like knackers and they still had to treat us like royalty.  Thank god for the internet special offer price. 

Anyway as always I am rambling and need to go to bed.  I want to use this gym, jacuzzi and pool before I check out tomorrow.  My leg is really quite good now my physio would be happy to hear, it didnt give me any trouble and the climbs today.  Here’s hoping it will stay that way and I can get some snowboarding in NZ.

Oh and if anyone has any ideas why I was thinking of seventeen please let me know.  I don’t know why but it was one of my thoughts, I can’t come up with a satisfactory answer yet.
I have a very convoluted idea as to what it is but it will just make me look even crazier.
Also by me referncing my phone being on you have probably worked out that my phone is now working in China.  I can receive call but can’t make them.  I can send and recive texts also.  Phil is the same but with the ability to make calls. I dont need my phone to make calls yet so will leave it be for now.

Till next time, Same bat channel, same bat place……

Yes the whole city is under renovation.

We landed here on Tuesday morning after a 10 hour night train from Qingdao.
It was not the best way to do it but one we are happy we have “experienced”.
We were in the “plush” soft sleeper cabin with four sleeping berths.  We had two other people in the cabin, both Chinese.  It wasn’t that busy in the “plush cabin but the other cabins, hard sleeper and the “seats” (you just get a seat for the journey, no bed. this is not the best as there are hard and soft seats, those with and without cushions) were quite a bit fuller.
Obviously we figure this is due to the price difference for the tickets, to us the 300 worked out to be 30 euro roughly but a beer here will cost you roughly 5 of their yuan so you can see how “cheap” it is to the locals.
Coming to the ticket cost we still don’t know how we got the tickets for the journey.  With a little of my phrase book and a few other remembered qords of Mandarin aswell as a bit of sign language it all eventually worked out.  We were able to figure it out because we klnew the train number and then confirm they had charged us for the right thing.
All really by the skin of our teeth really don’t want to depend on this again, a local and enriching experience you might say.  We say a pain in the ass and likely to get you on the wrong train in the wrong cabin.

Anway we tried to get some sleep in the train, it was fleeting, not the most comfortable compared to what we had in Japanese trains. The real pain was the heat however the air conditioning really wasn’t up to much for us.  The two locals however were fine, they slept the whole journey.  That is until aout two hours before we arrived, they started announcements and ticket checking.
I say announcements because there were many of them.  In fact we figure the only way they could have stayed on the intercom for the whole time was to e reading the paper to the people.  Maye this is something they do on Chinese trains ut we have no idea ecause it was all in foreign.  None of it however repeated so it must have been somewhat interesting.

Anyway we stumbled off the train around 6am into the throngs of taxi drivers outside the station just wanting to help us to our hostels.  Nah you’re ok mate we know where we are going…..don’t we?

Well yes we did but the sleep deprived state made it all the more interesting and difficult.  We got t the hostel after a quick go on the new Beijing metro line.  Still under construction and the ticketing machines weren’t running so the good old reliable tearaway stubs it was for us.
Checked into the hostel and noticed how filthy we were.  The pollution was crazy.  We finally got ourselves ready to roll and into Forbidden city area, this also includes a fairly famous square.  I just don’t want the blog to blocked from us like Phils email is.

Once we got here we were then aware of the pollution properly, the sky was brown.  Yes that’s right brown, this can’t have been meteorological, anyone know of a natural way to cause this let us know.  So we can only assume that it is technological.  This makes it quite weird to walk around the city dring the sunny hours.  It’s hot and humid and the sun it there it is just dulled.  Could we have even got a sun burn or even a tan.  Well we have no idea but the feeling is little unnerving to say the least.  You feel like you want to hold your breadth the whole time.

We have to say though that both the square and the house of goverment building to the side were quite a let down.  Now hold on a second before you decry us for the lack of cultural insight.  The whole place is huge yes but well quite samey really.  Maybe it is because we have seen so many temples and shrines in Japan that look quite similar that we are kinda let down. I dunno the whole place doesn’t have that historic feel, what with the fresh paint and cement and the plethora of cctv cameras.  Yeah every lampost has speakers, microphones, may lights and multiple cameras.  This surely is for the peoples protection.  What is also for the peoples protection are the hundreds of police officers and cars aswell as military infantry on patrol.  Most of the cars and officers are just awaiting a call at the side of the square the rest of them are walking around watching you walk around.  Just ready to come to your aid, should you need it. hrmm something about that sounds weird.
Anyway we progressed into the Forbidden city and to say it is vast is an understatement but that seems to be the main point to it. The colours and architecture are very samey and then the other parts that you can’t go into, bout 30% of it is under renovation.

This all is underlined by the clock at the side of the square, showing the countdown to the start of the Games.  79 days today, I think they will be all built in time but I don’t know about ready.  These guys work through the night here on construction and it seems to fly up. All construction is under budget and ahead of schedule.  But that’s the problem, until then the city is in chaos, we went to a restaurant listed in the guide book to find the whole street closed off and under constrcution.  The whole street.  Imagine tearing down Grafton St, road buildings and everything and then rebuilding it.  That’s waht’s happening here.  Difficult to believe but very true. 

As a result we don’t know what the pollution is from, building dust, cars, thei infamous coal fired powerplants.  Who knows.  Anyway we were wrecked after all the walking and heading off to get food.  One whole roast duck for the two of us. Fantastic.  The whole thing was very opulent, carved in front of us by the chef and surroundings all gold and red and sparkley. Well actually just tacky then.  this however was just a chain restaurant.  And it was huge, five or six floors of huge areas for tables and the main dish for everyone to get was the roast duck. Well worth doing it properly.  The beer however was quite the let down.  Don’t get the Lan Jing “Ice beer” stick with Tsingtao outside of this place.  They don’t serve Tsingtao for some reason.

Headed back to the hostel and had another shower to wash off the days grime. We washed our hands in the restaurant and were horrified to see the amount of dirt come off from one dys walk around.  Met some Israeli blokes and had some beers and a few games of pool.  Cool guys, they’re heading to the mountains that are to the west, you know that place that is closed to foreigners.  They think they may have a way in. Search for the ceiling of the world if you want to know where we are talking about.
headed to bed earlyish as we were going to do the Great wall on Wednesday, more info on the next post.

Cheers

Well not quite but we are in China and they all look like him, so it’s all the same.

I’ll start off in Hiroshima because we didn’t really get that covered for you.

So we hit the Peace memorial museum up and really just wanted to see the Peace memorial park which encompasses the museum and a few other monuments to the bombing.
We hit the display areas before the main museum and it was empty which was great, we had seen hordes of school kids on our arrival.  This however turned out to be the type of area that was described in the guide books.  The basement is where we started and they have artifacts from the bombing and paintings from the survivors along with a large amount of photographic evidence from the incident.

It was in one word devastating.  This both describes the bombing and the effects of it on the area and us.
We walked around the whole place in complete silence, not one snigger at some mistranslation or immature joke we made.  For those of you who have been lucky to escape being left with Phil and myself then be assured this is very rare.  The sombre mood continued when we passed a room where a survivor had been giving a talk to a roomful of students.  From there we continued upstairs to the main display.

This area was packed to the gills with school kids however and for me made it a little bit easier to walk through the display.  As I said it was likened to Auschwitz but the constant bustling of kids and the running back and forth of them made it much easier to no get sucked into what was on display.  I and others we stopped by many kids either looking for us to write a note for them in English or just to say “Hello”.
Auschwitz on the other hand is quiet and sombre and you can feel the horrors all around you.  The kids alleviated the mood, constantly running and chatting, giving the room life.  They seemed to make you think of the peace and what could be instead fo the 150,000 or so people killed by the “Little Boy” dropped from the Enola Gay.
Most of you are probably quite perplexed by reading the above but it’s not me being drunk.  The reason for this optimistic and possibly even altruistic writing is really because of the museum.
The whole place though it is documenting one of the most devastating moments in the 20th Century is also dedicated to bringing the notion of “peace” to the world.  It is constantly making references to human kinds need to disarm and look for a better way to resolve differences.  While it is gratifying to see you also sometimes get a feeling that they are losing their energy to continue this.
Every year for example they have a new peace proclamation, calling the world to disarm and so forth.
Every time a nuclear weapon is tested the mayor of Hiroshima sends a letter to the ambassador of that country to protest.  Copies of each of these letters cover two large pillars in the main display area.  At first they are venomous letters attacking the people for carrying out such testing.  They show real pain in people who are one of two cities who have felt the pain of being bombed by one of these weapons.  As they continue they however lose their vigour and almost look like they feel like it’s not worth it anymore.
It’s worth noting that this seems to  a common feeling across Japan, some of their ministers are calling for use of Nuclear research and at least to start using Nuclear power plants.

As I said however we also went to other areas of the peace park, there are a number of peace memorials for different things such as the eternal peace flame that will be lit until all nukes have been disarmed.  Then there was also one of the buildings that survived the bombings, it is simply now called the A-Bomb dome.
It is a building that was very very near the hypo centre, the point just below the explosion of the bomb. For those of you who don’t know the bomb was exploded 600m above the ground.  This building was shredded but the dome in its ceiling stood after the bombing, the metal structure was strong enough to resist.  They use this as a symbol to show they have stayed standing.

Anyway after this we didn’t do too much else in Hiroshima, food drinks etc.

That afternoon we left for Shimonoseki and hit our hotel.  The Tokyu Inn, quite bland boring and well everything a budget business hotel is, pretty shit then.  The city of Shimonoseki was also, well, shit.  There really seemed very little to do so we pressed on with our dinner.  The famed and dangerous Fugu.  The fish Homer eats in the Simpsons and it has all the poison in it.  We took the Lonely Planet recommendation for which restaurant to go to.  Got there and ordered the two different variations we could get in the typical Japanese manner of sharing the food between us. 
Fugu is known better for it’s ability to kill you if ill prepared but the taste is not going to rock your world.  Well that’s being kind to it.  It was shit, it tasted like rubber and ate like rubber.  Our teeth bounced off the food more then jelly babies.  The first part was raw fish and it was horrid, the rest of the meal continued like this for pretty much the whole thing.  There was a short respite when we drank our draft Kirin beer, good, and the time we fried some of the fish, passably like chicken.
Put simply we got “F’ed in the A” by Shimonoseki.  For those of you who don’t get that it is a south park reference.  You will be able to look it up.  But beware of doing this, it is not the cleanest phrases.  It is not safe to read the below link in work.  (NSFW)
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=F’ed+in+the+A

The next morning was a splurging of the breakfast buffet and a quick shopping trip to pick up supplies for the boat.  The boat was well interesting, bland and full of Chinese people.  This was not surprising as it is the cheapest way to get from Japan to China.
It was pretty uneventful until we were tempted by the amount of beer we had consumed, because of the boredom, to go up and join the natives in some karaoke.  Sense and nearing sobriety won over however and we didn’t.

We finally go off the boat today anyway and got through immigration.  Took a while, my J1 Visa to the states raised a few eyebrows and they searched both mine and Phils hand luggage.
Once out however it was culture shock.
The stories of China being dirty are so very true, we just left the cleanest and most organised place in the world and landed in the most hap hazard and dirty one.  We stumbled around trying to fins our way to our hostel.  We were impeded by not knowing where we were and not knowing where we were going.  So we just kept walking.  Eventually we gave up and got the hostel to direct a taxi we picked up to the hostel.
So we’re here now and the hostel room that is costing 10 euro a person per night is about one and a half times the size of the hotel rooms we stayed in Japan for 3 to 5 times the price.  So things are looking up on that front.

We still don’t know what the story is with how badly the earthquake has effected our travel plans but we fired off a few mails to the hostels to find out.  So now it is time to get food and washed, the some beers and sleep.  Phil however has been waiting to do this for the past 30 minutes so is now pacing the room and reading this over my shoulder.  I shall as a result bid you adeu (I did German so my Frenchy is horrid, my mum is horrified reading this).

Till tomorrow everybody.