Today I moved house - back to being a solo traveller, though a
few of the others were still staying on so I would still be seeing them. I
stayed at Hostel 161 - excellent service, comfortable rooms and a great
environment (fish tank, birds and a good public seating area). Best of all, it
was in a Hutong - (one of the narrow alleys where a lot of the local life
happens).
I then joined Alex to eat at a local restuarant were we were attended to by 4 staff due to them not expecting Westerners! I ate unidentifiable meat!
Later that evening, I joined Vika, Eva, Alex and Dennis to see a Chinese Acrobatic show. It was amazing, including contortionists, a man who can change his mask at lightening speed, and the grand finale, five motorcyclists racing around on the inside of a small metal sphere!
On the way, I spoke to a British couple who were intending on
touring China on the train... due to a massive local Chinese holiday season,
many routes were booked up for up to 10 days in advance, meaning that they would
have to fly. Let's see how this affects me!
I also posted lots of souveniers to Cathy in Bristol, to help
get rid of some of my big load... it's only afterwards it I discovered that the
parcel will take 2 to 3 months to arrive. Possible, arriving after me, or when
Cathy is with me in South East Asia!
Tomorrow is an exciting day, since Stu will be flying in from
the UK to join me for 2 weeks in China, which I am really looking forward to. I
think the last time I saw a familiar face was on June 18th (today is July
12th).
