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Ok, well... a short note. I tried to keep a journal during my stay in China, but it sorta didn't work... so this is still a work in progress. Please be patient.. as it will probably take me about 3 days to write each day sweatdrop
Oh, and, feel free to be skeptical about most of the information in here. I've probably exadurated them anyway xd

So.. anyway.

Day 1 - Saturday the 9th


Today... we woke up at 6am so we could get a flight to Sydney. Of course, everyone was lazy the night before, so we were (well... me an' James at least) running around trying to pack thingos we'd forgotten. We were supposed to leave the house at 6:30, but ended up going at about 6:45......... oops sweatdrop

So, we got to the airport and did all the airporty stuff, and then went to the Qantas club, thanks to Dad's platinum card (and Mum's gold card). But we didn't have much time there, so we grabbed a piece of bread (beakfast xp ) and left again, off to Sydney. That was at about 8am.

Sooo... we flew, and then landed again (*gasp* oh wow!) and did some more airporty thingos, like transfering to the international terminal and such. Then we went to the Qantas club again, and had to wait for..... about an hour. But the Qantas club had internet (yay!!) so I was online for a bit. But the only person worth talking to was Cat, so I had a nice long conversation with her. Funfun whee

And... I couldn't get into my account, which was evil, so I used the password retrevial thingo, and then changed my password. So now, I'm not gonna tell anyone my new password domokun scream domokun

Anyway.. after all that, our flight was called, but I didn't want to go, and Dad had to physically pull me from his laptop sweatdrop (10:40am, by the way xp )

Once we got on the flight it was horribly boring. It was only 10 hours, which, compared to the flight from England (23 hours) isn't very long, but I STILL HATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! scream scream

But there was this really weird guy in the seat diagonally in front of me. He was half chinese (I think, because he looked Chinese, but spoke English) and every five minutes his little sister would poke him and ask what he was doing, or how long till they got there, or something. About three hours into the flight, he got really annoyed with her, so every two minutes he started poking her and asking the same questions, until she stopped.

Oh, and because they'd overbooked the flight, Mum was promoted to business class, which was highly unfair, because we were still stuck in Economy.

So, once we got off the stupid long flight it was about 8pm and we were in Shanghai. Of course, that's not good enough for Dad. He wants to go to Beijing domokun And because Shanghai airport (no, I don't know which one, sorry) is fairly new, and hasn't really got it's act together, they mangaged to mess up the bags (which were supposed to go straight to Beijing), so we had to collect them, and get them checked, adn then check them in again. All in the chaos of a disorganised airport. It took AGES gonk And because they've lost Dad's bags quite a few times already, he kept on complaining and called our bags back (twice, actually) to check that they'd done it right. So by the time we were done, pretty much the whole flight was quing up behind us. gonk

So then, we went through a security check and had to walk in quite a few circles (thanks to Dad) before we found our gate (#8 ^^)

And then Dad got the idea that we were starving, so he searched around for a shop that sold food, and dragged us there. Bear in mind that it was about 8:40pm and most shops were closing. So, the only one that was open sold, like, dried fruits and such. But it did sell chocolate, so I was happy ^^

So.. we boarded the plane at about 9, it left at about 9:45, and we got off at 11:40.

When we got off the plane, and round to the arrivals area, there was no one to pick us up (we're doing this tour thingo, called 'China Highlights' apparently. That means in every city there should be a tour guide that picks us up from the airport, and looks after us during our stay in that city) So we sat there for a while, before Mum walked off and looked for our tour guide. Apparently she hadn't been told that we were coming from Shanghai, and had been waiting at the international arrivals.

I guess I should tell you about our guide. Her (English) name is Nancy, and she's really nice. She says "Oh Really?" a lot... and "Tomorrow we will be visiting nice sceneries" XD

Anyway... so, here we are... in China. I'm sitting in the hotel room now ((not while I'm typing this, but when I wrote it on my notepad *nodnod*)) and I'm SLEEPY!!! 6am to 4am. Anyway... G'night! (or Morning.. either way)

Oh, and... Congratulations for reading this far. More will come.. Eventually 3nodding

Day 2 - Sunday the 10th


Today, we had the day off sightseeing, so we all slept in. A lot. Once we were all properly up, dressed and breakfasted, we just kinda.... sat in the room for a bit, while Dad made some phone calls, to random people he knew in Beijing. He arranged for us to meet some of his friends for lunch, and another friend would show us around the city, and then ANOTHER friend to take us out to dinner. Yay.

So, we were met in the hotel lobby, by one of Dad's workmates, and his wife, and they told a taxi where to go (side note - Taxi's are MEGALY cheap over here, but most drivers don't speak English) and we went to some weird chinese restaurant by a river to have lunch. It was yucky, but they had a son ( cool and a daughter (15), and the son was obsessed with the ancient romans, and knew pretty much everything about them. The daughter had cystic fibrosis, which is where your muscles don't work properly (well.. I think so anyway sweatdrop ) so she had to walk with a walking stick, and stuff. But she was cool 3nodding And nice.

After lunch we went back to the hotel for a bit before being met by Dad's friend's wife (called Helen xd ), who took us to a hill that overlooked the forbidden city (I'll explain that later xp ) But not without dilema. To get there we had to take two taxis

.... and then I didn't finish the rest.
It has now been 2 years or something, and I totally don't remember what happens now. So, sorry. I hope you don't mind the lack-of-finishing-ness
>>;