Fuzhou Lakeside Hotel

It has been a while.

So, not much has happened since my last blurb.

We have been exploring the city, and trying to meet new people. We went to 'English corner' the other day. It is in the square, held under a statue of a communist leader... Interesting.. The only people that go are Chinese who want to practice their english. We were the only foreigners, which as ...

... stole some dice from a bar!!!

The latter is my biggest achievement because ever since being back in the UK I had been looking for some dice, but couldn't find any! So, when I went to a bar that provided them for free to customers, I thought that they wouldn't miss one set.

We went to the book store yesterday and brought some books to learn Chinese. They are for 0-3 year olds with the pictures and the chinese word next to it. ****ing brilliant!!!

Fuzhou, Fujian, China mattstacey

... Rock-paper-scissors. They buy spirits by the bottle, and drink it so quickly. They listen to cheesy western pop music... It was great. We met some young Chinese people who were really friendly, and invited us to play games and join them for drinks...

So, as you can tell yesterday was like the coming of China... I have decided that I love it now. Especially now I have an English map ...

... together.

Things are incredibly cheap here - like 4 hours internet at the cafe costs less than 1.50GBP!!!! A bottel of water costs about 6p! Amazing.

The temperature today was 42 degrees, and believe it or not, it is unbareable!

The city is great because it is not very touristy, and it appears as though there are very few westerners. This is obviously a problem when trying to decifer the language, but when trying to get a true Chinese experience it is ...

... across the Atlantic to Newfoundland in their little fishing boats and bringing back great numbers of dried fish for the kitchens of Europe.

In time, the right to fish the Grand Banks came to be considerde far more valuable than all the treasure of the fabled East.The Grand Banks were, and still are, the richest fishing ground in the world

... very happy to see me. Five o'clock on a Saturday morning always arrives too quickly. By the time I got to the front gates to grab a cab to the airport, I was behind schedule and had hit the time just before cab drivers change shift and thus become reluctant to take passengers anywhere. I was universally rejected until one guy (who I suspected was a bit of an ass considering he probably ate into another driver's time and thus potential pay to take me) said ok. He ...

When you drive through Fuzhou, you might think the city is only 20 years old. It looks like it's been completely demolished and rebuilt in the modern way. But while the modern facade stretches to the horizon, one can still find old China right behind. The new houses are built all along the roads but in the center of those city blocks you can still find old China, with wooden houses and a maze of little lanes, too narrow and winding for cars, and so it seems worlds away from the hustle ...

Took a bus to Fuzhou today which was easy. My hotel in Quanzhou has a sister hotel in Fuzhou, and there is a door-to-door bus service. So no messing around with wrong bus stations today. Lovely 25 degrees here, blue skies, one month before Christmas. That's how it should be. Saw pictures of snow and ice in Germany on TV this morning, with many accidents reported. Good to be here. Fuzhou is yet another huge city. The book says 6.6 million people live here. It ...

... older, familiar buildings were torn down and replaced with new brick buildings in the past few years. New 3 story houses were put in, older houses were redone with new facade, even the main road is brand spanking new, paid for by the villagers themselves! Thoughts of the day: 1. big discrepancy between the rich and the poor in China 2. start to appreciate New York City. Fuk foods in NYC chinatown is even better than Fuk foods here in Fuzhou!!!

... went on, there were performances by several blind or crippled singers, a one-legged acrobatic dancer, a blind musician who played various small wind instruments including an ocarina and some kind of leaf, and an armless painter who produced a beautiful piece of calligraphy by painting with his mouth.

Yoong thought it was a bit depressing, but it seemed to me a very positive thing that these people were proudly overcoming their ...