Firstly, I need to apologise for not updating this blog in like forever. I do realise it's been nearly a month since I last wrote and I reached the 6 week mark this week and I'm now in New Zealand. It's crazy to think I'm 6 weeks in. I remember when it was 6 weeks before I was leaving. I know you have been on tenterhooks for the next update - I know you haven't but lets just pretend you have. I know I have a lot to update you on but the truth is, I don't know if I can be bothered to write it all so this will probably be a quick summary.
So after Hoi An we headed back up to Hue. The first night I managed to get myself a huge plate of delicious, hot food for just 30,000 dong (less than £1) and got an early night only to wake to Sarah being sick. Poor Sarah :( In Hue we met the lovely Steph and Kerry who did not manage to convince us to go out on a bike on Hue's trecherous roads. I promise you, Hanoi is crazy but at least it's pedestrian friendly, in that the scooters go around you. But Hue, the roads are wider and these mega busy bridges and the green man doesn't mean it's safe to cross. We spent one day in the Citadel and were pleasantly surprised to see elephants! We spent our nights at Brown Eyes where the Wham and other 80s tunes just kept coming.
After Hue we went back to Hanoi on that lovely bus journey I wrote about. We only stayed the night and got the bus to Nanning, China the next day. The bus was a much more relaxing journey than the overnight train and it's always nice to see all the countryside which you don't see overnight. The border crossing was a bit crazy with a severe lack of queues. Passport control in Vietnam seems to be a bit of a joke and the guards never fail to bring a smile to my face with their comments.
We couldn't face to prospect of a 30 hour train to Shanghai. Also as it was the first weekend in May, it was a public holiday China so it actually worked out about the same price to get a flight to Shanghai. So that's what we did and I do not regret it. It also meant we got an extra day in Nanning. Which meant another night to experience the wonder that is techno line dancing in the park. I tried to start my own little dance going but only one man joined in. Then he was trying to teach me some ballroom dancing but my two left feet and no common language made it a bit difficult. I guess pointing language doesn't work well when learning to dance.
Shanghai is pretty big and pretty different from anywhere else we'd been on the trip. I guess it was quite like Hong Kong but just much bigger. Everywhere we went we were followed by the soundtrack of "Bag, Watch, DVD..." and if that didn't get our attention they'd say "Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton...". Thanks to the Norwegian girl in our dorm who taught us to say something like "Boo yao", which meant we didn't want anything. Whatever it meant, it worked as whenever we said it they left us alone.
One evening we went to The Bund to take in the skyline and get our tourist snaps. What we didn't anticipate was that we were going to be the tourist attraction in a load of random people's photos. We were sat having a drink when a girl came over and asked if she could have her picture with us. We chuckled and said yes. Then when we were walking down the Bund we kept getting stopped by giggling tourists all who wanted a picture with us. It got a bit crazy when a group of about 15-20 adult tourists all got a bit excited and all kept pulling us around to get pictures with us. We could not stop laughing.
Our time in Shanghai was spent doing a lot of shopping and I got plenty of knock off products. My favourite being my Marc Facobs handbag. I swear by the end of our month in Asia, both me and Sarah had become masters at bartering and angered a couple of stall owners at our suggestions for prices. I'm still disappointed I didn't manage to get a Mao watch but at 280RMB the guy was having a joke. There was no way I would get him down to reasonable price for a novelty watch.
We met some girls off Couchsurfer for a night out in Shanghai and like most things in Asia, it was crazy but good fun! We also went to the Science and Technology museum one day and I was amazed by this room that made it feel as if you were falling to one side of the room. It's worth going there just for that room.
So we arrived in Auckland just over a week ago. We both managed to get jobs within a couple of days of being here. Sarah got a job at Ticketmaster and at a bar. I got a job as an au pair. On Monday I will be the au pair to three children aged 4, 3 and 20 months. I do realise I'm crazy but I'm sure it'll be worth it. I taught Sunbeams and they can be pretty crazy.
So far I like Auckland. There's loads of hills, it gives Sheffield a run for it's money. And as for the weather, it gives Manchester a run for it's money. They didn't lie when they said it was 4 seasons in a day. Brilliant sunshine one minute, torrential rain the next. I've had plenty of time to explore the city. I made myself a packed lunch and went up to Albert Park to chill and read my book. As I sat there enjoying the sunshine and taking in my surroundings I had this moment where it finally sunk in that I was in New Zealand. After speaking about it for well over a year and working hard to afford it, i'd finally made it. And there I was eating Ham sandwiches and reading The Last Song in a park in Auckland. In New Zealand.
I'm hoping for good weather this weekend so that I can hopefully get a trip out to Waiheke Island and get some sightseeing in before I start working. Hopefully next time I won't wait too long before another post. And I might bother with putting some photos up. I did add some to facebook but I got through about a weeks worth of photos and then got bored. And then left my memory card in the computer. I'm thankful that it didn't get stolen. I left my straighteners in the bathroom and they got stolen. Mine and Sarah's cheese got stolen from the kitchen and someone took my jam. Outrage I say. Peanut butter and jam on toast doesn't work so well when there is no jam!!!
As we have been staying in the same dorm for a week now we have seen some characters come and go. We've had our fair share of gap yah girls who are out travelling on daddy's money. We currently have some guy who has turned the dorm into his office. His office hours seem to be 11pm to 8am. Yes, just as you're nodding off you'll hear him typing away. He'll go to sleep with his laptop wide open, illuminating the whole room. This morning I was woken up by him on the phone. I love sharing a dorm with such considerate people.
That's all for now, I would like to apologise for all typos as I can not be bothered to proof read. Part of the fun of reading my blog is that you have to decipher what I mean. I'm sure I'll have more to write about soon and I won't leave it as long until next time!
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