3:10 woke up and its snowed & snowing, dressed into travelling pants, leggings, thermal, netty top & hoody, finished packing met john & nicole 4am hailed a cab 150RMB for an hour long taxi to Nanjing airport, i tried to sleep but the car kept sliding across the wet road
something everyone should be aware of, people in china still spray the roads with water (its meant to stop the dust rising) even when its snowed and icy ?????
Arrived at the airport at 5am and it was closed !Closed!!! what airport actually closes and locks its doors? we were sat outside in the snow but surprisingly it wasn't actually that cold. A snowflake landed on my knee and i could see the points which was so cool.
5.30 the doors opened :) did self check in 13A&B
they delightfully informed us that the temp was -20'c at our destination theres something to look forward too!
There was a temple in the middle of the airport with potted plants leading up to it. checked in 6.13am G8 desk and wow was the woman happy, talk about service with a smile
In the queue next to us there was a guy with the biggest caterpillar eyebrows i have ever seen with a make shift rucksack on his back made from rope !
We went to get food what a joke 90 RMB for NOODLES!!
Great surprise the toilets are WESTERN!!
which was surprisingly odd as I'm starting to get used to the eastern way !
We boarded at Gate 8 at 7.20 and because of the lack of cheap food i had water and a small sprite for breakfast" just as we sat down and got comfy john threw himself over the head rest and was like
"Andy i think we should get off, I've got a funny feeling about this flight"
which got us a few odd looks that for sure.
We landed at our stop off airport at 8.40 and boarded the SAME PLANE we got off, i attempted at this halfway destination, to buy something on my own for the first time
So i went for ice cream, and even that failed !! i only a 100 RMB note which was too big so i had to call on andrew :(
we boarded and we were in the SAME SEATS next to the SAME PERSON
we landed at 11.10 picked up our baggage really quickly but the ordeal started trying to get from the airport to the hostel.
Not before we had been greeted by our first ice sculpture which was amazing and the sky was clear and well i will just let you judge from the picture
Worked out we could get a shuttle bus 20 RMB each and then had to guess when we got off. On the way there were some amazing snowy scenes, just wish i had had the opportunity to stop and have a decent photography camera Sam (he will be very happy hes been mentioned) would of been jealous
Now i know he will kill me for writing this but he has to admit it himself the whole time we were on this bus but more to the end of it Andrew was completely pretending that he knew where we were going and that he had "full belief in the driver" I'm sorry my love but whatever your face said it all !
We got off at the train station and were mobbed by fake taxi drivers, there was black ice everywhere, the train station area was insanely busy and the queue for the taxi wasn't even worth contemplating so we got one of the fake taxis who quoted us 80RMB for a 13 RMB taxi ride but we just paid for it as we were all stressed
the boot wouldn't close !!
me and nicole were turned the other way round the whole taxi ride keeping an eye on our luggage which was sticking out the back. Our hostel was a synagogue that had bambi murals over the walls
The rooms were so toasty and so cool, its en suite, one double bed and then upstairs on the mezzanine level there where two double beds built into the wall !!!
the thing that sleepover dreams are made of
Food search- naturally
we went right out of the hostel and took the second left and poked our head through a door to find a market full of fresh food! NOM NOM i had a wrap with fried crispy cracker type thing, spring onions, egg, lettuce for 4RMB 40P and it was amazing
Having refuelled we walked along the main Russian street and there were so many disney themed ice sculpture including winnie the pooh and cinderella. The winnie the pooh one had coloured ice in it ! not lit up ice actual dyed ice
We went to the bank and i kid you not there was a girl who could of been mistaken for a hooker.
Let alone mad for being dressed in hot pants high heel boots and tights ???? not very practical for black ice and -25'c.... wow i sound like my mother. We went back to the hostel and caught up on some sleep until the guys got here when we went and found more food at 10 pm
We all chipped in and layered the plates of food on the lazy susan
aubergine (my fav), potatoes and gravy, a mushroom selection, peanuts and chicken, fish flavour pork and veg and dumplings yummmmmmyyyyy
however one thing definitely stands out from the rest and that's the snake and reptile infused bijo or rice wine
yes there were actual reptiles decomposing in this bijo which you could drink and of course all the guys wanted to try it, me * georgia refused but andrew drank a whole glass
a whole glass of reptile bijo = smelly salty breath, drunkenness and the loss of any form interaction that occurs within 10 meters of you be warned
