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Friday 13th November - KARIOKE IN SHENZEN
No rush to get up, it wasn't far to Shenzen and we had all day to get there. Didn't have any windows in room, so bit unsure on time. First checked it was 8am, so we slept some more and didn't actually get up and out till 10am DOH!! Quickly used the internet again at the hostel and it turns out Bella can make this evening which is brilliant. Passed some shops on the way to the Metro station and picked up some yummy dumplings for brekky. Was strange being on a tube again, haven't been on one since Beijing, kinda feels nice. Had to go to Guangzhou East which took a while, used tokens instead of tickets, bit different but cool.
Managed to ask for train tickets to Shenzen in Chinese, had to use my piece of paper with it written down, but the lady still understood me, so very pleased with myself and picked up a yummy cake to celebrate my success (A coconut covered sponge cake) - ANY EXCUSE!!
Was nice to use the train again, could sit back and enjoy the ride, was much nicer than the buses. Only took about an hour and found our way from the station to the hostel on tube, a few stops away. The directions on a map we were given were pretty straight forward. The hostel seemed nice, but I was a little bent out of shape when I realized the dorms were separate - male and female. It's just so annoying, especially in the mornings when you can't be bothered to get up but have to work out a time to meet. So much easier when we have a room together. Got over it eventually. Checked email and Bella was coming to meet us soon at 7pm, so we hung around. Got playing air hokey in the hostel and annoying enough Ad was thrashing me, perfect time for Bella to turn up.
At first I thought she was someone who worked their coming to tell us to quiet down - I think one of us had just smacked the puck really hard and if flew across the room DOH!! Nope it was Bella and now I recognized her from her pic. She's very pretty and such a sweet lady. We chatted for ages while she played me at air hokey and beat me also. This really isn't my game, can't believe she has never played before. Before being shown up too much more, I decided it's probably time to head out for something to eat.
We chatted all the way to town on the local bus and Ad showed her pic's of some of the places we have seen. Then we tried out our Chinese on her and she understood most of it, which is really good. In town we went to a restaurant near to the university. A place she has always wanted to go, but as of yet, never got the chance.
A busy environment (always a good sign), famous for it's hot pots, which is what we had. I told Bella not to tell us what was in it til the end. Some things were hard not to recognize, like the chicken foot for example, but others were somewhat of a question mark. Nonstop chatter throughout the meal, which actually took a long time to each, we had many veggies etc to put into it and Bella showed us the correct process for eating it, there's really not much to it, just knowing when to add the relevant ingredients. We could not work out why she was tapping a finger next to her cup and saucer whenever anyone would pour water in it for her, then she explained it's a way of saying thank you without actually using the words. Something deprived from the king of China in history. The meal was delicious and funnily enough it didn't put me off knowing that we had just eaten such parts of animals like stomach, lungs etc.
Bella offered to pay and would not take no for an answer, we tried to give her the money but it was no good, bless her, really sweet of her considering she didn't even know us before this night. She's such a sweety. After, she took us to a place called KTV, which I thought was a chain of clubs, but it's actually Karioke booths. Our booth was small but it really didn't matter, we sang our hearts out for 1 hour and had such a giggle. Was shocked when Bella sang in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, is that impressive or what. We really did have such an amazing time and as Bella walked us back to the bus station she gave us our Chinese names, mine being Xing Xing which means Star and Adam's is Long meaning dragon. I'm so pleased we got the chance to meet Bella, she is def someone I want to stay in touch with, such a great person.
Waited for ages for a bus, but just as we thought we'd missed it and was about to pay a fortune for a taxi, the bus appeared. Got off where we thought we recognized, but turned out to be somewhere completely different and ended up having to get a taxi in the end anyway, cost about £3 but seemed a lot for China DOH!!. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.
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