Bangkok

Bangkok

Friday 

The flight wasn't so bad, my extreme lack of sleep over the past few days helped me to have a wee nap on the plane which made time go by quicker! After landing and finding my luggage (thank goodness!) I went to go and check Emma's arrival time. Her flight wasn't on the board. She was at a different airport... bloody typical!!! Not the sort of thing we thought to check when we presumed Emily at STA travel was going to give us as similar flights as she could! So then I pottered around a bit trying to make sense of where to go, realised I needed help and so asked at the info desk and they told me to get on the a4 bus. I honestly have no idea where I'm going to get off but I'm just going to hope for the best! Life is a lot harder without data on my phone! Although luckily google maps was working offline (thank god) so I managed to work out where to get off and it was only a 5 minute walk from the 'bus stop' which was good! I checked in, the receptionist told me that Emma had already been here but I have no idea where she has gone! I went for a wee wander around the immediate area but I don't understand the currency yet so there's not all that much point in me buying anything yet! I then just chilled out in the lobby for 15 mins hoping emma would come back anytime soon! It wasn't long before I checked in and omg he room was soooo nice compared to all the hostels we have been in! The shower was honest to God the best shower I have had for a very long time and I got out feeling fresh as! I was just wondering what Emma was doing when there was a knock at the door and in came Emma rocking her new mani- pedi! We decided to get some washing done and then grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant.  I then decided to have a Thai massage, as it was the equivalent of about a fiver (absolute bargain). I was expecting a nice relaxing massage to prepare me for the nap I was going to take afterwards, however this couldn't have been further from the truth! I think I should've read up about Thai massages before

getting one as it says that they combine acupuncture and helping into yoga poses. Anyone that knows me know show extremely inflexible I am and I honestly could not stop laughing about it... shit out to the masseuse though she got my legs in places I never thought they would go! And I think she cracked just about every bone in my body including my whole spine a fair few times! She was the cutest and even asked me if I felt ok at the end of it! Afterwards I went back to the hotel room, I thought at that point I didn't need a nap but after reading a massive 2 pages I fell asleep for a couple of hours. Unfortunately it was a bad nap and I woke up feeling sicky but I ignored it and went for a swim in the rooftop pool before coming back, ordering room service and watching greys anatomy until going to sleep! All in all a great first day! Very excited to start the Contiki tomorrow and meet the people we will be travelling with! 

Saturday 

We had planned to have a nice long lie in today, which went to pot when we were both wide awake at 7am again! Honestly I can't believe my body clock is still so messed up! We went to grab breakfast and on the way asked about our room for Contiki, luckily they said we could stay in the room we were already in which is amazing!! After breakfast we had a wander around, and then for a bikini wax which was an... interesting experience! Feeling fresh now though! We went back to the hotel and chilled out by the pool, and also bumped into a couple of girls on our Contiki so we went and got lunch with them later on in the day. After lunch, we went back to the pool for a bit before chilling in the room before our meeting at 6. We went through all the classic bits of information and stuff we needed to know, also had to decide what extra activities we want to do... I decided to do most of them as a mostly everyone else was and in total it came to around £260 which is less than a quarter of the amount I spent on extras on the Big Tiki! I'm super excited for the elephant park.. especially as it's an actual legit one that treats the elephants well. We then all went out for dinner and I really wanted to try mango sticky rice but unfortunately they had sold out! So I panic ordered fries and regretted it as usual! I felt like crap so Emma and I and a few others headed back but I believe mostly everyone else stayed out! 

Sunday

Still didn't feel to good this morning, and woke up with no appetite which was worrying! (Luckily it came back by lunch time!) I forced myself to eat, I wish I was hungry as there was a whole spread of food for breakfast! The pineapple was super yummy and very sweet, just like the pineapple in Fiji which makes me so happy. Afterwards we headed out to the Grand Palace which is absolutely beautiful! We also fed fish outside of another temple on the river before heading back to the hotel to pack, sort out money for the excursions and get ready to leave Bangkok! 

Bali - Kuta Beach

Thursday 24th August -

Thursday
I was on a pretty basic plane with no in flight meal sadly, but this was all a ok as I had a whole aisle to myself which meant I got some great napping time in! Unfortunately, it took frigging ages to get my bags and I was getting more and more hungry, tired and grumpy as the time ticked on. Eventually I got out and went to look for Emma, it proved difficult as I had about a trillion men shouting TAXI TAXI in my face haha! She had already got us a taxi driver so we hopped in and went to our hotel, pop hotel Kuta beach. It's a pretty cool hotel, reminds me of the one we stayed in on the Contiki in Christchurch! (Just no cool lights) it was pretty late by the time we got there so it was straight to bed for us!

                 
                                             

Friday
First I woke up at 2am, then 3:30, then 5, then 6 and finally I got up at 7am. Probably shouldn't have napped on the plane! I was absolutely starving as all I had to eat last night was a couple of tim tams. We went straight on out after getting dressed and, thinking we had an included breakfast, went to go and grab some but we were then told it was not included! (I mean we're paying £11 a night so can't really complain!) somwe decided to head down to the beach and grab something from somewhere. We found a cute little restaurant and got a delicious smashed avo on toast brekkie! After chilling out for a bit, we decided to hitch a cab to a local market to do a spot of shopping. It was a bit strange getting back into the swing of haggling but eventually I managed to pick up some cute shorts and an elephant singlet for about £3 each! Bargain! We spent a couple of hours wandering before heading back to the hotel to chill in the air con/ have a nap. After a while we decided we were too hungry so we went out for dinner. I had some delicious noodles, the best thing about the restaurant however was that they had a soingebob themed kids menu!

After dinner we had a lovely little beach walk before going back to the hotel for an early night. 

Last day in Fiji

Saturday 11th March 2017

Last night was potentially the worst nights sleep I've had for a while! No one turned the lights off so I woke at around 3am to them glaring in my face, I reluctantly got up to turn them off. 2 hours later the alarms from the girls next to me kept going off every ten minutes from 5:20 for an hour. One of them being a continuous quacking that the girl would not turn off. So that was lovely!

Emma was still sleeping so I grabbed breakfast around 8 and then sunbathed and read until it started to rain. We then grabbed lunch, and the waiters and waitresses thought I was weird for having a crepe for lunch and kept asking me if I had a good dessert!

The weather had been pretty miserable all day, so we spent the whole day in Emma's room watching Grey's Anatomy! It's so crazy to think that this is our last full day together after a month and a half of being with each other the majority of the time!

The past month and a half have honestly been the best of my life. From skydiving to walking on a glacier, to swimming with sharks, to being able to see where my grandparents used to work, I have definitely had the experience of a life time and made some memories I'll never forget! But now it's time to settle into Kiwi life and I'm just as excited for the next 5 months working as an Au Pair.

Matacawalevu Island and Drawaqa Island: Bula Combo Pass

Sunday 5th March - Monday 6th March 2017

We got up early today to go to church, on Sundays they don't run any activities so it was nice to have something to do to pass the morning!

Breakfast was really good, I had weetabix, apples and the most delicious custard slice I've ever had! It just melted in my mouth! We were leaving to go to the church at 8 so I just about had enough time to brush my teeth and sort my bags out before getting the boat round to the part of the island the village is in.

We walked up an extremely muddy path and eventually came to the church. This village is Catholic, but the majority of the churches in Fiji are Methodist. The ceremony was beautiful, everyone sang the hymns with the most amazing harmonies and it brought a tear to my eye not gonna lie! It was so nice having communion - it's been a while! Everyone is so friendly and kind, Fijians have such a wonderful way of life!

We then went down to look at the primary school, I was surprised to see Jolly Phonics stuff in class 1&2! It brought back good memories of working at nursery!

We then wandered around the village for a while, Jacob (he's part of the family that runs  Long Beach Resort) carrying his baby sister Cara, showed us around for a bit. Although it felt like he was just taking us places to kill a bit of time! He showed us a whale tooth in one of the houses, not entirely sure why but it was cool! There was also a hideous looking spider with a bright green body that he pretended to flick on us. He also told us we weren't allowed to take photos, before wetting himself laughing! Let's just say he likes a joke!

We then got the boat back round to the resort, and brought or bags round to the main but. It just started to torrential rain again and it was only 2 hours before getting true speedboat out to the big boat so we prayed it would stop soon!

For lunch we had spicy tomato pasta which was good, although it tastes like something I would've made for myself at uni! The sun came out for a bit but the clouds were still looming and the wind had picked up a bit. This made the ride in the small speedboat less than fun... I thought it was bad yesterday, well it had nothing on today! I just plonked myself in the middle and prayed I wouldn't fall in!

The ferry ride wasn't much better, the rain came in and the waves rocked the boat a fair bit - it wasn't as bad as the ferry from Wellington to Christchurch though! We had a covered boat to get to Barefoot Manta Resort which was good! Two girls greeted us on the boat who are volunteering at a nearby school for a month which seems cool!

Barefoot Manta is more expensive than the other resorts, it had a set meal plan of like $90 a day and wifi is $24 a day so I won't buy it today, and probably won't tomorrow unless it's raining all day again! Hopefully the sun will be out so I can get back to sunbathing and swimming! Emma got wifi straight away so I had a wander by myself for a bit. The island is stunning. They have three beaches, but sunset beach is my favourite. There are so many crabs it's crazy!

I then had an early shower as the weather still isn't great so I didn't fancy a swim this evening, but as it finally stopped raining I sat on the bench just outside our Bule and read for a bit until it was dinner time. We were a bit early for dinner, as Emma wanted to use her wifi, and when we got there hey we're doing a hermit crab race. This time we got to pick our own crabs and decide on the number, we had two rounds and a final. Emma's crab won the first round and mine won the second! So either way  one of us would win! In the end, my crab won but it was for a double kayak so it worked out perfectly!

Everyone we met had said that the food at Barefoot Manta was the best out of all the islands so I was super excited for dinner. However, I didn't find it to be that exciting! The pumpkin soup and pineapple upside down cake was amazing but the main course was mediocre - a super chewy beef patty with a jacket potato and veg.

We had met a load cool people here so we actually didn't go to bed straight after dinner for a change! We chilled out, playing cards (well I watched as there were so many people playing already!) and went for a night swim which was amazing - there was a storm at the same time and the lightning lit up the whole sky making it look like somewhere out of a movie.

Nacula Island and Matacawalevu Island: Bula Combo Pass

Saturday 4th March - Sunday 5th March 2017

It had rained through most of the night - so at least it was a bit cooler! We had a continental breakfast
at 8 and as the weather was still overcast we just chilled out watching Grey's again! As we were
going to Long Beach Resort today, we had to checkout at 11, but at around 10 someone came to get our bags which was a life saver! He had my bag on his back and Emma's on his front... Christ he must've been strong as we have not packed light!!

I was feeling a bit funky... (probably either the curry, gone off coconut or water!) so I asked for plain food for lunch. The others had fish curry so I just had the rice and an apple and orange segment which was nice but I could've done with a bit more! The curry smelt amazing but I didn't want to risk it!! We just chilled out on the deck before our boarding call came, at around 1.

The speedboat was crazy this time round! There were 6 of us and all our luggage so I don't know if that's why it felt rockier or if it was because the sea was choppier I don't know! But there were a few times where I was a tad scared for my life! The water was so clear and shallow though so I could see all kinds of fish which was awesome. I tried to concentrate on them to distract myself from the feeling like we were going to fall in!

It only took us less than an hour to get to Long Beach Resort, and we hadn't filled in our accommodation pass yet so it was touch and go for a while if we were even going to get in there! Eventually it all got sorted - literally seconds before our boarding call which was lucky!

At first sight, long beach isn't as stereotypically pretty as Oarsman bay lodge, but it's beautiful in its own way. There are loads of palm trees and there are various rock formations around, plus coral in and around the water. The bay is pretty shallow, we got in at low tide, and we were warned not to go in snorkelling or swimming as a girl got stung by a stingray a few days ago - not that there was enough water to go swimming in anyway! We were greeted by a gorgeous dog called Toni (he has a longer name but I can't remember it!).

After checking in, we were taking to our dorm, a room with about 8 beds and one bunk bed. I was on the top bunk and I noticed that there were bugs crawling all over my bed. At first I thought they were bed bugs but then I noticed a trail of them going through the window and to an ants nest outside. I mentioned it to the owner and luckily she sorted it all out as there were none in my bed when I went to sleep!

It had started to get quite stormy, so after chilling out in the hammocks reading for a bit, we were forced to wait under the shelter whilst the torrential rain poured outside. A few people were drinking Kava, and we were invited a few times but as it wasn't a proper ceremony and just for tasting I politely declined! I've had enough Kava to last me a lifetime!! Whilst we were waiting for the rain to die off, a little boy came up to us - he had followed us around whilst we explored the island a bit and has seemed to take a liking to us! He can't have been more than 4, and his English wasn't great but he understood a basic amount. He pointed at my phone so I showed him the camera and he took a few selfies before having a look through my photos. He kept clicking off it then going back on, and every time I tried to help him look at different photos he told me off! It was pretty funny! After a while an older man came and took him away - he started crying but I didn't know what they were saying so didn't want to get involved!

After a while the rain had gone and we went back on the hammocks as they dried off reasonably quickly. I finished the book I was reading - Diary of a Fat girl by Moira Mugweni - it was a very easy read but quite amusing, I enjoyed it! I then went for a walk down on the beach with Toni, and he was loving life trying to catch the fish in the sea! By that time, food was nearly ready so we went to get ready (definitely made sure we had enough insect repellant on!!) and went to sit down for food.

Dinner was good, but I've definitely had better! We had potatoes and BBQ chicken or fish, and the most delicious vegetables I have had for a while! I think they boiled them and mixed them together with mustard and something else but they were so tasty!

At long beach they only have electricity for a few hours in the morning and evening, so we headed back to get ready so we wouldn't miss out on the water and light! Most people decided to have an early night - when there's so few people here and I'm so tired I'd rather get up early and go to bed early!

Pacific Harbour, Suva, Nasautoka and Rakiraki: Whole Hula

Wednesday 1st March 2017

Another early start this morning as we were off to Suva, the capital city of Fiji. We stopped off there to grab some stationary for a school we were going to go to in the afternoon  Linga also showed took us to Tappoo to show us the view of the city and pointed out the tallest building, only 18 stories high!

We then had a mini coach tour around the city, pointing out parliamentary buildings and we stopped off outside the President's house.

After this, we had a 2 hour journey to Nasautoka Village. We had an opening ceremony initially and had to pick a Chief, and Alex took on that role! We all drank Kava and one of the villagers blessed us all.

We then made our way to a local school that was destroyed last year in the cyclone. They have rebuilt half the school but the headteacher kept apologising for all the mess around the school. Most of the children were pretty shy, a few of the younger ones were messing around and kept grinning up at us with a twinkle in their eyes. However the year 5s were much more energetic and we're excited to make conversation with us... especially when we were taking photos! Then, just as we were about to go, a sweet little girl in year one came up to me and showed me her work book and her drawings of fish. She was literally so cute, I could've taken her home! After a manic round of high fives with all the year ones it was back to the house for more food!

The food layout was similar to yesterday, laid out on the floor on a table cloth and a help yourself lay out. It was predominantly vegetarian food but they also had chicken and prawns. It was pretty tasty!

We then got up and stretched out legs for a bit and a had a group photo, before going back in to say goodbye with more Kava and handshakes. We were supposed to go bamboo rafting afterwards, but as they've had a lot of heavy rain the river banks have all caved in and the water is pretty dirty so they decided it was safer not to do it. Which is a shame, but not the end of the world!

We then made our way to the Golden Point resort for our last night with Feejee experience. It was slightly overcast but not too bad so Charis and I decided to go kayaking. It didn't look to rough until we got in the kayaks , mine was super light and our paddles were flat so it made it really hard! I paddled around for a bit but kept getting knocked into rocks, so I gave up and went back to shore. My GoPro had run out of battery as well so I didn't even get any pictures! The water was so warm though, like getting in a hot bath! Unfortunately, there was so much broken coral around that it made it uncomfortable to walk in so we went back and got ready for dinner. I had chicken chow mein and it was sooooo good I could've eaten it all over again! We then chilled out on the deck with a shisha. The sun sets at around 6:30 and it gets so dark so quickly that 9 feels like after midnight so I've been having a few early nights (well going to bed to watch Greys anatomy anyway!)

Paihia - The Big Tiki

Saturday 3rd February - Monday 4th February 2017

Today was the day we finally started our Contiki tour, 'The Big Tiki' - a 19 day trip from Auckland - Christchurch around both the North and South islands of New Zealand.

Our first stop on the trip was 'Tâne Mahata'' the oldest Kauri tree in New Zealand (I think) and apparently you get good luck if you give it a hug or a cheeky kiss... hence the photo!

Our second stop before Paihia was at a small town called Waipu where we stopped to grab a bit of lunch before finishing the coach journey. There was a pretty harbour and a clock museum (not that we went there) but that was about it!

We checked in to our hotel in a three bed room and it is such a nice change to not be sharing with twelve other people! As it was only a short walk from the beaches, we headed straight down for a swim! It's been so lovely meeting and getting to know the rest of the people on our Contiki trip! So far everyone's been so lovely!

We then all went for fish and chips as part of our included dinner... but we didn't realise it was going to be at the ex-serviceman's association - the equivalent of a British legion! I presumed it would be a takeaway! But it was really nice, loads of salady bits and vegetable dishes to go with it and it was definitely awesome to not be paying for a meal!

Afterwards, we went to a bar for a few drinks, but they closed the outer deck at 9 (NZ is definitely
more strict with alcohol regulations than England!) and it got so crowded, so we decided to move on to another place just down the street. It was a ten dollar entrance fee, but we managed to haggle it down to two-fifty and we went on in expecting it to be just a normal Saturday night with a dj set. However, it turned out to be a local rap group performance.... and it was interesting to say the least! But it was a great first night out!

The next day, Emma went off early on an all day sailing trip so I spent he morning going on a hike to Haruru falls. We needed up walking the road way to the falls and the scenic route back, but it was pretty awesome! We also found hot dogs (well a sausage in a slice of bread) for $2 so we snapped them up! They were delicious - even though I burnt the roof of my mouth on it.

Then, in the afternoon, Katie, Alec, Steve and I went kayaking to an island and up an estuary for a bit. It was so much fun, even though I cut my foot on a rock in the sea!

After going back to the room and getting changed etc, Emma and I decided to wander into town for food as we were starving. On the way down we were dreaming about all the different options we had, our mouths watering at the thought of delicious food. But no, there was a power cut which lead to the majority of shops and restaurants closing! We were so sad - and hangry! We ended up finding a cheap cafe where I got a date scone and a brownie, which were nice but not a proper dinner so we went back into our room just chilled!

Paihia was truly beautiful.

Thrown in the Deep End.

Wednesday 12th September 2012

Today we had to take a test to see if we could make it onto CIC Camp as a facilitator. I don't really know when it changed from TIP to CIC! Georgia and I figured we could blag it, and just used our designated practice time to have a little chat  and explore the experiment centre instead.

In the afternoon, we had the test. We basically had to pick one thing to facilitate as a pair. Georgia and I decided to do 'blow wind blow' as I had facilitated it before, and it is easy to do! 

After everyone had finished, we found out that eight of us will be going on camp, whilst the other four stay behind in the city. The four not going on CIC camp this time round were Emma, Alex, Ollie and Dan. Emma and Alex were completely relieved, Dan was completely nonchalant, and Ollie was rather annoyed. I still don't know why Ollie wasn't picked, as he was one of the more confident members of the group, and he was good at 'facilitating',. 

Most of us then went to a steak house in the shopping centre with the aquarium.  It worked out to be the equivalent of £5.80 for a decent cut of steak and chips! Normally, I would go for my steak to be medium rare - medium. They didn't give us a choice here. It came out rare. At first, I wasn't too sure, don't really like the look of blood on my food, but now I have tasted it, I have never gone back!

We decided to go to Walmart for some last minute bits before going back to the apartment. We were in there for quite a while, so long that we must have coincided with closing time as the lights started to go off. We panicked and ran outside! 

Thursday 13th September 2012

This morning Georgia and I went to the market to go shopping. I thought we went to the same place as last time, but we must have come in at a different angle and we ended up in a completely different place, this time with a load more clothes stalls! This was definitely more up our street. We didn't buy anything, as we were just trying to navigate our way around the market, and pinpoint areas of interest.

After leaving the market, we went to CC Experience Centre to find we actually need to go straight to the Qinyin branch. Communication isn't CC English school's strong part. After we got there, we were told to have a rest before going into classes, and this time we were not to be in partners, we were flying solo!

Thinking it would be like the other classes we have been in, I felt quite confident that it would be good. However, when I got into the class I just got told I would be leading  the class. I can't speak mandarin. How on earth was I suppose to teach children when I can't speak their native language! Thankfully, I managed to blag it, by starting with a game, and then using the textbook activities to guide me along. Improvisation was key!

We then had another rest before going into another classroom. Luckily, this teacher was way more prepared and she had already planned out her lesson for me to teach. I familiarised myself with their routine before going into the classroom, and this made me feel a lot more comfortable in a teacher's role. 

We had a 'traditional Chinese tea', I'm pretty sure they just call everything 'traditional' to make it more appealing to us. This was a lot more appetising than KFC. Although, you have to watch out for some of the more spicier dishes! They are definitely more generous with spice in China than they are in England!

In my final class of the day, I actually did what we had been told we were going to be doing before we came to China. I assisted the teacher. The only thing she made me do by myself was teach head, shoulders knees and toes. All the students were really responsive to me, despite the fact they could only speak limited English and I couldn't speak any Chinese/ I love how excited they all get when we go into a classroom with them. It's so weird to think that most of the students in that classroom as never met a 'westerner' in real life before.

Ollie also hijacked my iPad at some point today. I'm ending this on one of his delightful selfies. Enjoy. 

First Day In The Classroom.

Saturday 8th September 2012

We had to get to CC English school earlier today, so, after a late night and early start, I'm knackered. We were in the same groups as yesterday, and we went to a different branch of CC English school, but this time we were actually in classes with the students. About time, this is what we were told we would be doing every day!

We were split up into partners as soon as we got there, so I went with Georgia. The first class we went in was grade 10. At CC English school, they split the children up with ability rather than age, so grade 10 had a mixture of students aged between 8 and 11. The teaching environment is completely different to that of an English classroom, the teachers can literally say whatever they want! She introduced one of the students to us as 'fat' and another as 'small eyes'! To make matters worse, when the student she referred to as 'small eyes' came over to talk to us, she put her hands on his eyes and gently pulled them open and said "Open your eyes Tony, open them!". Georgia and I couldn't stop laughing, no matter how hard we tried. Good job Tony could take the banter!

Three of the girls did a dance for us, apparently they had been practicing it for weeks to show us! Bless. Obviously, Georgia and I were then required to do a dance for the class, and the teacher picked 'Baby' by Justin Bieber. Seriously, I had no idea how obsessed the Chinese were with Justin Bieber until I went out there, they play his music constantly!

Our next class was full of slightly younger children and they 'taught' us a tongue twister in Chinese. It was ridiculously hard, and every time we attempted saying it, they all laughed at us. Obviously our pronunciation was not quite as spot on as we hoped.  One little girl latched on to me, and followed me literally wherever I went. She was really sweet but her breath smelt so bad! It was so hard to speak to her without gagging bless her!

Afterwards, surprise, surprise, we had to teach them an English song. We went for 'Head Shoulders Knees and Toes'  as it is by far the easiest song to teach. We weren't so good at hitting the high notes though. 

For lunch we had Pizza Hut pizza. Actual pizza from Pizza Hut. This was literally one of the best things that could've happened to us. I'm not particularly partial to cheese, but I do love a good pizza. They even brought a Hawaiian pizza. We were in heaven. It tasted exactly the same as English pizza. Thank goodness.

We then had two more classes, where we did a similar sort of structure. We started off by introducing ourselves: saying our names, where we come from and what we like. The students then asked us questions, some of them only have a basic understanding of English, so we got asked the same questions repeatedly, but some of the questions were really well thought out! We then played some games and then finished off with a dance. Apparently the teachers from our previous classes had been discussing how good at dancing we were in the lunch break. I don't know who they were looking at because Georgia and I are horrendous at dancing! We had to improvise quite a bit, so we cracked out some vintage 80s moves!

My chamily then came and picked me up, and we went out for dinner with the two families who came to Hebin Park with us. Lory also brought her friend, Linda, along for the trip. Luckily, for me, Linda spoke English too, so I could actually have a conversation with them, rather than sitting there in silence! The restaurant we went to was another all you can eat, I do love those places. We played a few card games before tucking in! 


When we got back to my chamily's house, we played a few more card games before having another meal about two hours later. Honestly, they seem to eat constantly! Not that I'm complaining!

Our First Day in GuiYang.

Friday 31st August 2012

Today we had a nice leisurely start to the morning. This was largely to do with the lack of breakfast. We were told that breakfast would be between 7am and 9am in a room downstairs so, as we were getting picked up at 9am, Georgia and I decided to go down to breakfast at around 8. We went downstairs and could not find this 'breakfast room' anywhere. A couple of the others came down and they couldn't find it either. Nobody else in the hotel could speak English. So this wasn't ideal! Luckily, we still had some nibbly bits left over from our train journey, so we had some of that before getting ready for our first day in GuiYang. 

For those of you who don't know, GuiYang is the capital city of the province Guizhou, and is located in southern China. If you want to know more about GuiYang, I found the website http://www.chinahighlights.com/guiyang/ particularly helpful.

The first thing we did on our tour of GuiYang was a tour around the experiment centre branch of CC English School. I didn't really know what to expect from the school, as it is a school simply for learning English, and the students come in after school and on the weekends. The school we went to was based on the third floor in a building across the road from Zhucheng Square. We all bundled into the lift, baring in mind that someone always has to push the button to keep the doors open or you will get trapped between the doors.

The first thing we saw when we got p into CC English school, was a massive poster with each of our year 12 - and in some cases year 9 - photos on it. I think it was an advertisement for host families. How delightful. I'm the one with the roots.

After having a look around the school, we went down a floor to a restaurant. We were all given menu's and had to basically guess what we wanted through the pictures, with a little bit of guidance from the CC English school teachers we were with. They recommended we had some 'ice cream'. This was back in the days when we were naïve and we took all the Chinese translations literally. When it came out, it was more of a milkshake rather than an ice cream, and the flavour was rather peculiar. It tasted a bit like rose soap, not overly appetising, but it was one of the flavours that although you're sure you're not overly keen on it, it's addictive to keep eating it. I ended up having spicy noodles for lunch and I was very thankful that I actually enjoyed them! 

View from the restaurant.

We then went to another CC English school branch to have a meeting to sign our contracts, and discuss the sorts of things we will be doing during our stay in GuiYang. We had snacks on the table, and a few of us went to go and try the grapes, thinking they were the same as the grapes in England. These grapes however, have ginormous pips in them, and, once we had committed to putting them in our mouths, we had no idea what to do with the pips. It was rather awkward. Luckily, I found some tissues in my bag, so we could discreetly dispose of them. It's so weird how the littlest of things seem like such big issues at the time, but to anyone else reading this it probably doesn't even seem like it matters!

We were also given our itinerary for the next three weeks:

September 2nd Family day
September 3rd One day tour in GuiYang city; tips for living in GuiYang: survival, Chinese, city, transport, food etc.
September 4th T.I.P training
September 5th A visit to Jinianta and Xinhua branches of CC English school
September 6th T.I.P training
September 7th School activities in Yanan and Jinyang branch
September 8th School activities
September 9th Family day
September 10th Visit to Qinyan ancient town
September 11th T.I.P training
September 12th Visit to Museum and Weiqing branches
September 13th T.I.P training
September 14th End of host family stay, move into new accommodation
September 15th Visit to Anshun city with overnight stay
September 16th Visit to Huangguoshu waterfall and return to GuiYang
September 17th Free day
September 18th Launch of T.I.P training program for teaching staff and check in to accommodation on training site
September 19th T.I.P training for teachers
September 20th T.I.P training for teachers
September 21st Free day
September 22nd School activities
September 23rd School activities

So it felt like we were going to be super busy! The idea of staying with host families was absolutely petrifying, especially as we would all be separated. But, it was only for about two weeks which made it less daunting.

We then went back to the hotel to have a 'rest', this grew to be a common theme throughout our stay in China, and then we went to an all you can eat restaurant. I was getting worried, we hadn't been to one for a while. The restaurant was really pretty, with fountains and a koi pond greeting you. The food here was less exciting as the all you can eat's in Beijing, there was a lot more fish and everything seemed to be a lot spicier. There was a whole fish on the table, that none of us fancied picking at with our chopsticks so, naturally, Ollie turned it into 'Mackerel Kay' and provided us with the entertainment for the evening. 

This was the first time we tried the fried sweet dough and the most delicious sauce. It tastes quite similar to condensed milk. We were all hooked, and gutted there was only enough for two each!

After we had finished eating, we made our way to Walmart in Zhucheng square. It's pretty cool how futuristic it all looks. The Walmart was underground, which was pretty cool and it was massive. 

The main reason for going to Walmart was so that we could get a mobile to stay in contact with each other. They had a lot of imported phones, that were at least double the price they were back home, God knows why, pretty sure everything is made in China. Eventually, we found the cheaper phones, but boy were we in luck. We found flip up phones that had light up flowers and fairies on the front as well as a mirror. Georgia and I fell in love.

The photo doesn't quite do it justice.

As tomorrow was the days we were going to host families and not living with each other for a while, we naturally spent our last hours together at the hotel attempting to get a good internet signal. That was a challenge in itself when we were all trying to FaceTime or Skype our friends and families back home. Eventually, we found that the hallway was the best place to get a good signal, so a few of us congregated around the stairs with our various gadgets. 

Apparently we were causing a scene, as a few people in their rooms came out to gawp at the 'English friends'. Some of them were worried about us sitting on the floor apparently it was too dirty for us to sit on, so they went to get us plastic bags to sit on! One girl in particular stayed and chatted with us for a while, as apparently any sort of communication with a native English speaker can greatly improve their English. Well, we were there to help! She grew rather fond of Alex, whom she believed looked like 'Bella from Twilight'. Obviously, we found this hilarious, so we egged her on saying she actually was Kristen Stewart, but she couldn't tell anyone as she didn't want the paparazzi to come. It was hard to see whether she believed us, or was just playing along, but she wanted a picture with Alex, and asked for her autograph aswell! 

Making friends

Beijing Day Three and the Train Journey to GuiYang.

Wednesday 29th August 2012

Going to sleep at 4am and waking up at 7am does not result in a particularly satisfying sleep, particularly when we still hadn't heard anything from Georgia. We had waited in the foyer for 3 hours, before deciding to go to sleep as, let's face it, we weren't helping her anymore sitting on the sofas then we would have done sleeping in our beds!

As soon as I woke up, I woke Emma up and then we rushed to Emma and Alex's hotel room to which, thankfully, we found Georgia! She was attempting to wash blood out of her 'I love BJ' top Note: BJ refers to Beijing... and her white shorts. She told us that she had to have four stitches in her head and two injections. She is also sporting a lovely bald patch on her head. Alex then produced a white mesh hat thing that was supposed to be put on Georgia's head to keep the dressing in place. It definitely lightened the tone of the injury as she looked absolutely hilarious in it! We can laugh about it now, but at the time we had to pretend it wasn't that bad to try and get her to wear it. She knew it was that bad. She barely wore it.

Anyway, now that we had found Georgia alive it was time to pack as it was our last day in Beijing. We had a quick breakfast, although Georgia didn't want much so we made it as brief as possible. Our cases were being taken separately down to Guiyang, as there wouldn't be enough room in our train carriages to take them. We all had to make sure they had a lock on them and then they were sent off. We were simply hoping that we would see them again!

Before we caught the train, we went to visit the Summer Palace. I couldn't tell you exactly what it was for, as I wasn't particularly listening to our tour guide it was quite difficult to understand him anyway. I think it is like a holiday retreat for the emperor's families? Anyway, if you really want to know what it is that bad you can google it!

The best way in which I can describe it, is that it is a massive lake with different islands and fancy buildings surrounded by mountains. As we didn't want to be late for our train, we only had about 30 minutes of free time so we didn't get to see much of it. It's so big you could easily waste a day looking at all the breathtakingly beautiful scenery. One of the most interesting things about it, that I can remember, is that the lake and all the mountains are man made! Those emperor's had it good!











We then went on a dragon-shaped boat to get from one of the islands to the other side of the Summer Palace Gardens. Once we got off, we went through some cages filled with bamboo. Because I'm absolutely hilarious(?), I thought I would point into one of the cages and say "Look, it's a panda!" Note: I didn't think anybody would believe me. This lead to the majority of our group looking into the cages to see if they could see the panda! I found this way too funny, particularly the look on their faces after they realised I was joking.

We then saw the stone and marble boat. Apparently it's very well-known, but none of us had ever heard of it! We also saw some turtles swimming around in the lake by the boat which was pretty neat.

Unsurprisingly, we went to another all you can eat for lunch. Luckily, this one had chunky chips! It was the most exciting thing any of us had seen in a long time, particularly as quite a few members of the group were mid-hangover.

Afterwards, we went to a convenience store to get food for our 36 hour train journey ahead of us. Between us we pretty much bought all of the shops:

• Plain/ beef/ chicken instant noodles 
• Oreos
• Crisps
• Water
• Coke

Amongst some other things. Basically, if we recognised it, we bought it! 

We then said goodbye to the coach, which also meant that we had to take all our stuff with us. In the shop, I was to busy worrying that I will be starving and parched that I didn't even think about the fact I had to carry all this stuff to the train, along with my case, my coat and that conical hat I bought at the Great Wall. Adding to this was the scorching hot sun baking us underneath all our layers. Uncomfortable was an understatement. 

Similarly to all the other buildings we had already seen in China, Beijing train station was huge and beautifully decorated on the inside. However, the inside became a mad rush of passport and visa checks pushing against the tide of people swarming the centre of the hall. I have never been somewhere so manic before in my life, it was worse than the tubes in Rome! Adding to this was the pungent smell of sweat and sewage making the wait for the train agonising.

Luckily, we were managed to be booked into what we were told was a 'VIP' room, meaning we were all able to sit down finally! I wouldn't have called it a VIP room though... it was mahoooosive and it seemed like pretty much everyone getting on our train was in there anyway! 

Trying to get on the train itself also proved a challenge in itself. I never thought I'd miss English railways! It was interesting to see that they don't raise the platforms, so we had to climb up step ladders to get on the train. Finally we made it to what we thought was our compartments.

Apparently nothing on this trip was going to go to plan. The tour guide had told us that he had sorted out the compartments so that we wouldn't have to share with anyone we didn't know.  There were four beds to each compartment, so that should have resulted in us having three compartments between the twelve of us. Wrong! Everyone else managed to get compartments together, but Emma and I ended up in a compartment two carriages down to share with two random Chinese people. We couldn't speak Chinese so we had no idea what anybody was saying to us! 

Meanwhile, in the compartment that James and Ben were in, only one of the other passengers had shown up to claim a bed. The tour guide asked him if he minded swapping, I guess he agreed as five minutes later Emma and I were moved into that compartment! It didn't look as if anyone else was going to show up so we thought we were ok. 

We said goodbye to our tour guide and he left us on our way down to the southern city of GuiYang, where we shall start working at the CC English School. Literally as soon as he left the train, some random Chinese man came and claimed one of our beds. With our translator gone, the only thing we could do was to ask Mr and Mrs Smith to see if they could do anything about it! Mr Smith only knew basic Mandarin, so he attempted to sort it out with the guard. Unfortunately, most probably because we couldn't communicate what we wanted to do, the random Chinese man had to stay in our room. James had to take one for the team and go and sleep on the floor of the boys' compartment!

Hi Emma!

We had been travelling along for about ten minutes, when Mr Smith came and informed us that they would be checking our tickets. Now, anyone that knows me can tell you that I constantly misplace things and then get all panicky about where I put it until I find it. This happened with my ticket. I checked my purse, bags, clothes, down the side of my bed, in the pillow cases... pretty much everywhere I could! I genuinely thought I had lost it. My heart sank. If I couldn't find it then I would be kicked off the train. That was a scary thought. I even went back to the other compartment with Emma to see if it had fallen out there! Unfortunately, it hadn't so we just looked like prize idiots trying to explain to strangers why we needed to go into their cabin. To make this even more embarrassing, when we got back to our compartment I double checked my purse, and it was tucked behind one of my cards. My brain never ceases to astound me. I had tipped all the contents of my purse onto my bed, yet I could not see it. Annoying is an understatement.

I don't know if it was the jet lag or the relief of finally being able to rest, but somehow I managed to sleep for 15 hours from 7pm! Thankfully, that meant that about half the journey was over. Also, according to Emma who for once in her life didn't sleep as well as me, random Chinese man left and was replaced twice in the night. Unfortunately, random Chinese man #3 had a hacking cough. At least once every fifteen minutes he had a coughing fit that left me genuinely worried that I would catch swine flu. One of the worst things about it was that he spat his phlegm into a metal bowl left by his bed. This is one of the worst habits that the Chinese have. If any of you go to China and happen to hear someone coughing up a juicy bit of phlegm make sure you know which direction it's coming from pronto to avoid being hit!

The worst bit about the train ride was the toilets. Hands down. There were two toilets; one at the end of each carriage. One was a hole, the other a 'normal' toilet. Another tip to anyone travelling to China would be to avoid 'normal' toilets at all cost! It appeared that nobody knew how to use these toilets, so they weed all over the seat, leading it to drip on the floor. I learnt this the hard way, as my joggers fell in a nice puddle of someones urine. Delightful. Luckily this was after I had had a sleep, so I just got changed into my other clothes!

We passed the last 10 or so hours watching 21 Jump Street and reading until we finally reached GuiYang.

Our welcome to this strange, new city was incredible. Two teachers from CC English School, Terry and Natasha X, along with some others were waiting just outside the train station holding a massive banner welcoming us to GuiYang, and gave us lei's. After such a long journey, it was so lovely to finally feel welcome in a place that is thousands of miles
from home. 

Apologies for the awful quality, it was the only photo I had of the banner!