Friday started well. A lesson off in the morning which meant a nice relaxing sleep hurraah! The day continued like most others I taught my lessons, had a shower and after quite a lot of confusion about where I was meant to go I met with betty and her father. It was good, a nice trip to Starbucks with my mocha frappechino thing. It was cold and had lots of cream either way so it's got my approval. I took a taxi back to Boxing lu, and quickly ran to the school - the time was about 4.30 and I had to organise myself to get on a train at 6.40...
Uh ohh...where's my wallet! Ahhhhhh where is it!?!? Damn I must have left it at Starbucks!!
Do I have enough money for a taxi? JUST ABOUT but only in change and not enough to get back.
How far? 5 km. Do I know the way - NO.
Please go to Decathlon/Carrefour!!
Luckily when I got to starbucks they actually did have it and it even had everything in it! This good luck far outways the bad luck of loosing it so really the day was going well!
It didn't matter though, I was running late. REALLY LATE. It was about 5.30 now and by the time I got back to boxing lu (after having the slowest taxi ride of my life) I was literally RUNNING back to the school to collect my clothes for the weekend - don't ask me why I didn't take them to starbucks, I don't know.
Take the metro - HA too slow, I'll get there in time if I get a taxi! Oh wait this taxi driver is refusing to take me. Time 6.00 - REALLY REALLY NEED A TAXI. OK now this guy is taking me there, brilliant!
WHY IS THERE SUDDENLY SO MUCH TRAFFIC!
Cut a long story short, it took an hour for the taxi... I took SO long to get through the tunnel to puxi urghhh.
Ok new plan - buy a ticket for later this evening. Only 4 hour sleeper trains left? ...Great... 96rmb. That's 10pounds i'll never see again! Oh and to make things better it meant I would arrive at 12.45am.
Moral was kinda low at this point so I bought a king sized burger king, which was actually really really good! I did feel a bit sorry for myself though sitting there alone...
The sleeper train was actually quite nice, apart from the smell and I managed an hours sleep or so. I had a nice conversation with Betty on the phone only to find out that Jessie thought I was arriving at 12.45PM not AM! I had to phone her and she said that all I needed to do was phone the manager of the youth hostel when I arrived. It was around then my phone started making noises which I had been ignoring for a while but finally realised it was because the battery was rediculously low! Oh dear, if it runs out how will I find the hostel? PANIC PANIC PANIC. oh and wait, how do I know if i'm at Nanjing? It's like 12.45 now? Have I missed the stop? errr
"Nanjing zai na li?"
...
"kgrkghnegnhegohivpoierpoisb[opijepij["
...........
"ok"
1.00am ->1.20 -> 1.30
1.40 we got to Nanjing!
By this point I'd turned my phone off to try and prevent the thing I was dreading most - that my phone would run out. It did indeed turn back on, not without telling me that battery was low though...
I quickly phoned the manager - I think I was talking very fast though because I kept on having to repeat things - who told me that I should give him to a taxi driver. I could only see illegal and unlicenced ones though...
They would have to do. I gave the phone to some random women and she beckoned me to follow her into the car park. She started shouting at people (as the chinese do) and eventually some guy showed me a car and told me to get in. I was actually a bit scared so I took my debit card out of my wallet just in case...
All was well though, he did indeed drop me outside of the hostel and the manager found me. Albin however had decided to switch rooms and as the manager didn't know and was unable to get into his/my room he allowed me to sleep in his bed. I have no Idea where he slept but either way it was a strange ending to a hectic day.
I feel writing down what happened on the rest of the weekend is actually not so exciting as that one evening but I'll give a bit of a synopsis.
Saturday started with visiting a museum, which was quite similar to the Shanghai musuem. Next we went to the confucius temple after having a amazingly cheap hot pot (50yuan including drinks for 6 people!)
Sunday included going to this museum dedicated to the invasion of Nanjing by the japanese. The Chinese have had such bad luck over the years.
I feel I have lost momentum but I'll update with pictures soon!
Benn
But this story does not tell that albin gave ben the number of the new room, where ben was supposed to sleep! It was 868, and ben knew that, but could not find! ;)
hahaha it was 2am!!!