I had been sent an email which included some Chinese written instructions that could apparently be understood by a Chinese person as to whereabouts our hostel was. I had written them out as neatly as I could, showed them to our taxi driver, he nodded and we set off. It was a little bit funny not knowing any details about where we were going but our taxi driver was very helpful and helped us find exactly where our hostel was.
It was probably the best hostel we had stayed in throughout our trip - which was a really nice finish to our busy journey. We were all quite tired and a little cranky, so a cosy hotel and a really nice bed was just what we needed!
We only had one full day in China, and we wanted to use it up to see a theme park called 'Window of the World'. It was a large park with giant scale models of famous landmarks around the world! It was really fun and interesting! There were lots of performances and a few rides too.
I love these Olympic mascots! China is getting pretty excited about the games - I was just a little bit disappointed I had to hug this little critter from behind Plastic! :(
The biggest model was of the Eiffel Tower in the centre of the park. It was pretty huge! We visited Australasia, passing the Sydney Opera House, into Venice, through the Pyramids, next to New York closely followed by Washington DC, stopped back off in London to see the Palace, Big Ben and the London Bridge, then the Vatican, and Russia and the Niagara Falls! It really was fun and took up our whole day.
It's quite unlikely you'll probably see the Eiffel Tower and the Pyramids together anywhere else!
A bit of reflection by Notre Dame
Venice was having quite a lot of Chinese custom that day!
You'll all be pleased to know I went back to England, a healthy and growing lad...perhaps a little too big these days!
I'm in Paris!
Things were pretty cheap in China - Shenzhen brewed some lovely beer in a big bottle for only 5Yuan (about 35p!). That doesn't mean I drank a lot of it at all, but I would have liked to take some back for my dad - if only I was going back to England!
China was a fascinating place. I would be interested in going back to explore more of it!
The next day we had to get up at 6.30am and out of the hostel for 7am in order to get back into Hong Kong in time for our flight at about 10.30am. Through the Shenzhen underground, through Chinese passport control, through Hong Kong passport control. Once we were in Hong Kong we were getting a little bit panicky that we wouldn't make it in time. The metro was a little confusing. We decided to get a train a few stops closer to the Airport and then jump in a taxi. At the border of Hong Kong we had a little bit of Indiana Jones action, because as we were going towards the train, thick metal shutters started to block off the entrance just before the train set off. Myself and Siobhan were through the entrance and then the doors started closing on Kathryn and David! We heard a shriek of panic from Kathryn as she tried to race through the narrowing shutters before they prevented her from catching the train that was about to set off!
It was a little tight but we made to the Airport with a little time to spare in the end! When we arrived in Japan we were back to freezing temperatures. We caught the Shinkansen back up and as soon as we entered into Yamagata, the noticed masses and masses of snow! It had arrived - and lots of it too!
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