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hello everyone!!! I am back from my holiday now! we had a week off to have as much fun as possible... and me and rom ended up travelling 700km and back! woop! but it was ok, cos we got to go to tibet and do some really bloody fantastic things.
We started out in kunming- its pretty much a typical big chinese city, perhaps a little more laid back, but it felt pretty overwhelming after the unending small town friendliness of simao. searched everywhere for shoes that would fit.. but all i got was laughed at for my silly large westerner feet! we spent 2 nights there, 1 with gappers and the other with people from simao. on sunday we took the overnight sleeper bus (on which, again cos i am a silly large westerner, i couldnt put my legs straight) to Lijiang, which is very famous in china. my mobile got thieved while i was asleep. so that was great too.
however, Lijiang was pretty cool, and made so much better by mama! she ran the guesthouse we were staying in, and it was the most amazing place! she is fierce and friendly, loud and desperate for us to be quiet, helpful and ridiculously unhelpful (she sorted out zhongdian tickets for no fee, yet was an hour late to get us from the bus station on the first day and didnt get us from tiger either). Mama makes great food and likes to force it upon you- 'you sleepy mama 2 you eaty here'- she always brought us another plate of food when we finished one, the boys loved her, and especially her banana pancakes in the morning. I could write about her all day, she's one of the greatest people i've ever met- lijiang itself wasnt great (packed with chinese tour groups) but mama made it worth going back to. I will never forget standing with james trying to sort out cabs to tiger leaping gorge with her just shouting- 'no no you sleepy sleepy early early good bus now no bus you sleepy sleepy!!' ah mama and her crazy chinglish. if any other gappers read this, you must post your favourite mama memories! oh yeah, while we were in lijiang we climbed a pretty impressive hill (it felt like a mountain but then we went to tiger), and we stayed up drinking and me, jamie and geoff stumbled upon the friendliest bbq man ever who because we were foreign and buying 2yuan of bbq gave us free tea, free ciggarettes and had us pose for a photo with his wife! thats what i love about china!
on tuesday we took the 6 hour bus journey up to zhongdian, a small tibetan town. the journey in itself was worth the trip- the most amazing but scary bus ride through the mountains. we were up in the clouds over big valleys, and then suddenly in started to plateau and there were yaks and big barren fields. the guide book says that zhongdian isnt worth seeing, but i thought it was great. the most chilled out town i've been to, with monks on the street, bright sunny days (and really bloody cold nights). unfortunately one of our friends alex got ill, and went into hospital for the afternoon to be put on a drip, which (judging from the hospital) seems to be the norm for chinese medical treatment. while most people were with him me and geoff looked for a hostel- it was really sunny and hot and i had my stupidly large backpack on. i got sunburnt (check the bright red forehead in the photos). we got absolutely lost, had an issue trying to find geoff a toilet and when we eventually found a hostel it turned out we'd spent about 2 hours searching! ah well, it was good in the end- the 6 of us got a room together and went out for a really wierd meal (jamie ordered a yak burger which never came, then he ordered a chicken burger which turned out to be fried chicken, then she wouldnt let us leave. i dont think i stopped laughing the whole time- we were in there for 3 hours!) that night we stayed up (me and geoff with beers- blue ribbon whos slogan is 'a quality beer for all seasons and all people') and jamie made a fort- he's such a pirate! lol.
right, i'm going out to search for shoes, mine are seriously ruined right now- they keep turning my feet bright red, and it won't bloody stop raining here! however the classes are going well- today 1 of my students said the queen had a cute face! i really love being a teacher, i get to be absolutely ridiculous in front of as many people as i like! i'll finish telling you all about last week as soon as i can. love you all. xxxxxxxxx
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