Yes Mum, I'm Eating Vegies

Wow time flies when you’re having fun! Sorry for the lack of updates lately.

I’m sitting on the tiles (sound familiar??) next to the only power point I can find at Beijing Airport waiting for our flight to board to Dubai. We are going to be there for ten days. Ben was only guaranteed 5 days to spend with us, but for some reason he’s got the roster from heaven this month. He has the WHOLE ten days off that we’re there. AND! To top it off, he’s working on our flight from Dubai to New York so we get special treatment. He has a 52 HOUR LAYOVER in New York too, which means that Steph and I get two nights staying in the Sheraton in Times Square for free. The best bit though is that we have 12 days with Benj now, instead of the 5 we were banking on. Awesome!

Beijing. Was. Awesome. It was really cool seeing the family again too. The hockey boys didn’t do as well as they deserved to – coming 7th out of 12 – but they had a few games that just didn’t go their way. Suppose that’s how sport goes though.

The atmosphere at the games was awesome. My favourites would have to be the mens semifinal where the game between Germany and Holland was so close that it went down to a sudden death penalty shootout, and the womens final between China and Holland – they have the most passionate loudest supporters ever.

Taxi drivers in Beijing are MAD. They must all go to the same driving school, where they’re taught to pulse the accelerator. Onnn off. Onnnnn off. Almost get whiplash going along the motorway. They don’t change gear at the right time either. We’ve had both extremes – starting in third gear, and staying in second gear for faaaar too long. All drivers here just toot when they’re approaching other people, and dodge bikes/other cars/buses/trucks/pedestrians with pushchairs – you name it. It’s every man for himself here. The give way rule doesn’t apply. You just go when you want, and you push your way through.

We discovered that people in China move slowly, unless they’re on a hockey pitch or in a queue. There were 9 of us that travelled around together, and we mastered the art of forming our own Great Wall. This stopped people from pushing in front of us when we were getting on buses. Worked a treat. They push everywhere though. This morning I was in the queue at the supermarket, and an elderly woman gave me a shove with her elbow as she walked past. Don’t worry – I gave her one back. Used to playing these games now. ☺

Mum bought a Dunce Cap at the markets (more on the markets soon) which was given to the person who did the dumbest thing of the day. Abby started it off on day one. We got to the train station with the help of a local woman who could speak a little bit of English. We lined up and got our tickets, and then went through the electronic gates one by one. Abby’s turn. She swipes her card. The gate was open from the person before her, so didn’t open again, but it was open. She stood there. Looked at it. Looked up at us through on the other side. Looked at her ticket. Looked at the gate. It closed.
She tried her ticket again, but obviously was locked out. The girl who had shown us how to get to the train station then spoke to the person behind the counter, and Abby got let through a “special” gate.
I suppose I can’t talk though. I earnt the hat by thinking that the Lama Temple we were going to was a zoo. I was surprised when we turned up and were looking at Buddhas. Whoops.

The markets. They were insane. You walk through the door and get hounded. “Lady lady lady! Beautiful lady! You want scarf? You want shirt? Pyjamas? Bag? I have all! Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton. You want watch? Real diamonds! Best quality!”. You get good at bargaining with them though. We got some pretty good deals! Gotta be careful what you buy though. Some of the hockey team bought iphones. $100 each. Bargain! But they’re duds. Hahahahahahaha.

We did so much while we were here. Every day was busy. Every second day was filled with hockey, so we had half the time to spend doing other things. Went to the Beijing Zoo (which was very disappointing and sad – animals in concrete enclosures), Summer Palace (though it POURED with rain – not really “summer”!), lots of temples, Tiananmen Square, markets markets markets…

I was surprised with Beijing. For some reason I expected most people to speak/read/understand English. But I was wrong. We’re now pretty good at sign and body language! At times it’s been like living on another planet. Most people have been very friendly and helpful though.

The city itself is pretty cool. HUGE buildings, and lots of them are extraordinary. Rounded corners. Bits that stick out. SO much glass. The city is massive and just seems to goes on and on forever. Each building is separate though, with nice gardens. The city is much cleaner and greener than I had imagined.

I’m not sure what everyone was talking about regarding pollution. Noone noticed anything! Would have been great to see the city prior to the “cleanup” though to see what changes were made.

The weather was pretty good. It kind of followed a bit of a pattern – a few days of brilliant sunshine, a hazy humid day, and then a day of pouring rain. It’s great being over here where it’s hot and sunny – thinking of all you poor people in the cold wet Southern Hemisphere. ☺

We did make it here for those that have sent emails wondering.

Have been to a few different Olympic events so far - rowing, and quite a few hockey games. Yesterday we headed out to the Great Wall which was interesting, and tiring!

The Blacksticks play Spain tonight, and after their awesome second half performance the other day against Korea we're hoping they can pull one out of the bag. Spain are ranked 3rd in the world though, and we're 10th, so the pressure is on.

Went to the Silk Markets today and did some bartering. I hate it when people grab you "come to my store! You want to buy! Beautiful rady! You want scarf?"

Anyway, lots to do. Will update with more detail later. In the mean time, feel free to email us! It's always good to hear what you guys are up to too.

leepemberton@gmail.com

Steph and I met up at the train station this morning and are now on our huge journey bound for Beijing.

Trains are entertaining. We’re pretty impressed with the AMTRAK trains too. There is heaps of room, so we’re not all squished. The foot rests are really comfy, the seats recline so you can sleep… no complaints at all from that perspective. We do happen to be surrounded by oddbodz.

In front of us is the most retarded bunch of adults – I estimate they’re about 30 years old. They’re from Winnipeg and have been providing us with lots of entertainment.
• They keep trying to play Travel Games to pass the time. Their first Travel Game was to sing a song, but change the lyrics. For example: “Maaaary had a little lamb” became “I like to play with pots and pans”. Their second game was to try to talk to each other in different voices. Like, holding their noses. Third game was Paper, Scissors, Rock. So much fun!!!!!!!!! (note the sarcasm….)
• The man was sitting by the window, looked out, and said “CHOO CHOO!”
• The woman that’s with the bunch of retards looks JUST like Mel from Flight of the Conchords, however she’s not a fan of Bret and Jermaine, but a fan of Stephs. Creepy staring woman.

Next to us is an overweight Chinese woman who has eaten nothing for the whole train ride but boiled eggs. All of a sudden it starts to smell terrible, I look over, and there she is peeling another one.
Chinese woman decided she felt cold and needed a jumper. She asked the lady next to her if she could stand on her chair to reach the overhead locker. Up she goes. She had her hands rifling around in her bags, when BOOM! The seat broke. Yes, I laughed. And no, it wasn’t quietly.

To top things off, behind us is an ANGRY man.
Man: “Did you bring food? Snacks?”
Wife: “No I didn’t.”
Man: “SO YOU EXPECT ME TO STARVE? NOT HAVE ANY FOOD? F**K!”
He then went back to playing his very noisy shoot ‘em up game. It looks like he has enough internal food supply to last him for years, so I’m sure the 12 hour train journey wont kill him.

After our 12 hour train journey from Toronto to New York with a carriage full of monkeys, we have 15 hours to kill before our flight leaves. I’m thinking it’ll take us at least an hour to find our way to JFK and then we’ll take turns sleeping/watching the bags. Saves money on accommodation!

The first leg of our flight is 14 hours to Dubai. We then have 3 hours in Dubai before leaving on our 8 hour flight to Beijing. At least we’re with Emirates and will have a whole lot of movies to watch. Ben has checked online and apparently the flight isn’t full so we may even get more room than normal. Fingers crossed!

After being in New York and Montreal, Toronto was lame. Just another city. Not thriving with culture like Montreal, not bustling with people like New York. Just big tall buildings, a waterfront, a tower…

The hostel I stayed at was in an awesome location and can’t be faulted at all. I made a new friend – Jessica who was from Calgary – on the first day I was there. We had dinner up at the CN Towers revolving restaurant (the CN Tower is SO like the Sky Tower) which was nice. Did some exploring with Jess the next morning through the streets of Toronto.

That night we got another girl staying in our room – Andi who was from Adelaide. We went out to the Hard Rock Café for dinner and had to walk for ages in the pouring rain.

Jess left the following morning, and so Andi and I went and got haircuts (WELL overdue!) then wandered around the waterfront. We went to a Major League Baseball game at night time which was by FAR the highlight of my time in Toronto. It was great going with her as she used to play for South Australia so could explain the finer details to me. We paid $9 each and had awesome seats right behind the home plate.

The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Allstars.
There were 2 home runs (which apparently is unusual).
There was a proposal on the big screen.
Brian Littrell of ex-Backstreet Boys fame was the celebrity pitcher. Yummmmmm

The funniest part was watching grown men scramble for the ball when it got hit into the stands. At one point there were about 20 adults crawling around trying to find the ball. One guy picked it up, and his mate was SO annoyed. He stormed off, and when he returned, sat with his back to his friend.

Canada has been cool, but I have to say that Montreal was by FAR the better city.

Montreal has stolen my heart. It was FABULOUS. We did a whole lot of walking (thank goodness for comfy shoes) and sightseeing, and lots of dancing. There are festivals going on all the time in Montreal.

Nick and Dan had three friends that were in Montreal for the week, so we did a lot of things with them. Went walking (no, charging!) up Mount Royale and had a look at the view of the city. Had lots of yummy meals. Met lots of cool people. This is what it's about!

I'm a bit dumb when it comes to using this site, but I'll try to suss out how to upload photos sometime soon.

I made it to Toronto yesterday morning, but am yet to catch up with Steph. I booked into a hostel as there wasn't enough room at Stephs friends house, and it just happens to be one of the best hostels ever! Went to the CN Tower yesterday with a girl in my hostel, which is the tallest tower in the world (although I think it has JUST been surpassed by a building in Dubai). It cost us $55 for a trip up to the viewing platforms and a three course dinner in their revolving restaurant. Yummmm. Not sure what we'll do tonight as it's POURING with rain and there are big claps of thunder. We had planned on seeing an outdoor movie, but it's not quite the weather for that!

Off to Beijing in a few days to meet up with the family and watch the NZ boys kick some butt at the Olympics. We've got a pretty hectic few days of travel to get there, but it should all be worth it in the end. Hurray!!