shanghai prt2

Yesterday was started with a nice 5.30 wake up to go watch the raising of the Chinese flag. out of 4 only myself and Christina were (wo)man enough to go.

After breakfast all 4 of us trekked to the forbidden city.

Got back to Shanghai this morning. after a 5am start and a hearty breakfast we set out on the subway to the airport. all seemed fine until the Chinese decided we had to go to the other part of the station. on arrival, no matter how hard Chris tried to make himself look and sound like and aeroplane, they wouldn't let us buy a ticket. taxi to the rescue.
Got back and went round to our friends house to a house party followed by a free bar club. Morning wasn't great.
Picked up an Aussie lad called shez who's a good lad. He's tagging along to hong kong.

What a day!!!

where do i start. maybe the guy jumping through sheet ice in a pair or speedos. or maybe or maybe chris almost falling through sheet ice.

I think i start at last night. Peking duck. awesome. well almost. between 11 its recommended 2/3 ducks. so after hearing their recommendation we ordered 5. don't get me wrong it was fantastic. mega celebs such as "Geoff Hoon" and some french dude called Jacques Something or other have eaten there and had there photos on the wall.

We woke up this morning and rented bikes. great idea. until you've tried to cross the 10 lane highway next to Tien'mien square. we road for 2 hours north to the lakes in the center of Beijing. this time of the year they are frozen over, so as anyone would do we rented special bike sleds (photos available when china gets Internet above 1MB an hour). Chris almost killed a child.

Being men, roman,sharan,Chris and i found a Indian restaurant and ate BUTTER CHICKEN with all the works for 70ish yuan about 7.30. After 2 hours of curry we went back to the lakes where we decided to use our road bikes as sleds on the next frozen lake. (pics are hilarious)

Chris almost fell through the ice in a thin point.Laughter ensued.

later we saw a bloke, for no apparent reason stand on the edge of a frozen lake at a point which they had cleared of ice, decide to belly flop into the water, to the enjoyment of the crowd. after this we decided to start getting back. passing Tien'mien we caught the start of the flag lowering ceremony. Being intelligent guys we saw everyone was queuing up behind the barriers with a cycle lane in front, so we stopped in the cycle lane in front of about 2 thousand people. The Chinese solider on guard didn't seem as happy, as we were at our decision (well i say that, i didn't understand what he was saying but a guy with a assault riffle walking towards you screaming at you probably means he didn't like us being there too much) anyways must dash, food.

Beijing

Got to Beijing yesterday after a brilliant train journey from Shanghai. hostel were in is really good. paid to be taken to a remote part of the great wall today. beats the tourist spots. Wasn't as cold as we were told. Yesterday we looked round the temple of heaven and went to a Chinese spring festival market where both chris and i ate a number of different foods ranging from silk work(dont try, honestly, trust me)dog(which was good)
starfish and sheep penis. Tomorrow we've rented bikes to look round the city. if i survive, which i probably wont i'll put another post up. the driving here is INSANE.

Happy New Year

hey,
happy new year everybody. its new years eve. don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight due to the fireworks which have been going on all day. been invited out to a new years eve dinner tonight with a group of very nice danish people.
went out to a "nightclub" last night with out friends from projects abroad. free drinks all night. needless to say Chris and i took full advantage. the night ending perfectly with Chris trying to opening the door to our room with a metro card for a good 15 min!
Booked our train tickets to Beijing today. Our train travels over night and arrives around 10am local time (2am UK) and cost around RMB370 (35quid). meeting up with people we met through our friend Kay in shanghai.
post some pics tomorrow.

SHANGHAI!

hey,



IM KNACKERED. we arrived at the airport around 6.30 local time. Kay our friend in shanghai met us in the middle of the peoples square, the heart of the city. which meant a trip on train from the airport, wasnt just any train though. 430km!! unfortunatly we got the first train of the day which meant it had to be limited to a mere 300km.



What an awsome city though. its incredible! fair enough today all we've rlly done is drink coffee and eat pasta.(i know, it was cheap ok!!!) would love to upload the pics of today but this POS wont let me. i'll try and find a way round it and upload some pics.

hope everyones well.



we were told on landing it was 1*c today. like crap it is. -6 at least with wind chill.

BYE!!!

hey,



If you didn't already know tomorrows the off and i would just like to thank everyone who has helped us get this trip off the ground. Firstly to everyone who has given money to support the trip, thank you so much. Every penny has been greatly appreciated!! secondly to Neill at the flight centre, kudos!! and finally everyone else who has show us love!!!


THANK YOU!!! see you in July!

2 Weeks to go!!!

hey, Guys this page has been set up for you all just to pop by now and again to see how me and chris are doing. 

On our travels both of us will try and update this page as much as possible, with these little posts vids and pics.  Our route starts on the 22nd when we fly from Heathrow to Shanghai. Our route consists of:

22/01/09: Heathrow to Shanghai

13/04/09: Singapore to Melbourne

10/06/09: Cairns to Auckland

03/07/09: Christchurch to Rarotonga(Cook Island)

11/07/09: Rarotonga to Los Angeles

20/07/09: Los Angeles to Heathrow

before i forget, i believe you guys can also comment on anything you like. so feel free. 

well keep everyone updated with our prep