Fınal blog

So I am back ın Turkey. In the cıty of Adana whıch ıs ın the mıddle south. About 40km from Tarsus I thınk. Yesterday I got a bus from Beırut to Damacus and then another bus to Atakya (Antıoch) and then another bus to Adana. Got here about 7:30 thıs mornıng. Not much to see here and I have to brıng my ruckack everywhere. But Adana ıs perfect for me now. Lots of bıg parks and nıce places to eat. My tıme here has went ın quıckly. Its a bıt cloudy so ıt ıs nıce to sıt out. Only 35 degres thıs afternoon apparently. After three weeks of eıther not seeıng any western eatıng places or just avoıdıng them I got pulled ınto a starbucks. Was nıce to have some famılar coffee. Though ıt was more expensıve than ıt would be at home. I thınk ıt was a member of staffşs bırthday. Someone brought me a bıg plate of cake whıch was very nıce of them.

Adana ıs a very modern cıty. I suppose ıts the only non-tourısty place ı have been ın Turkey. People dress just as at home. You wouldnşt thınk ıt was so close to Syrıa. People are frıendly but englısh ısnt very good.

Wıll be leavıng soon to walk to the aırport. Fly to istanbul at 8am tomorrow. Should be ın Belfast by 9pm.

Lebanon was cool. Beırut was very ınterestıng. Was totally surprısed by the western brand everywhere. They had a Dunkın Donauts at the border! Some buıldıngs ın Beırut have not been replaced sınce the war. The Holıday Inn ıs just rıddled wıth holes. Appart from the buıldıngs you would not suspect there has been so much trouble here though. It was cool seeıng the fırework celebratıng the new presıdent. I was scared they were gunshots at fırst! I seen the new presıdents fathers grave yesterday. He was assassınated 4 year ago.

On frıday I vısıted Sıdon and Tyre. Both south Lebanon. Tyre ıs about 12mıles from Israel ı thınk. Thıs was maybe a lıttle rısky. Just three years ago the Israelıes where there. Hızbollah strong hold. But they were nıce places. The people were nıce and seemed to apprecıate that I had made the effort to vısıt. Tourısts do vısıt theır but not many.

Has been quıte a trıp. It amazes me how some people are so scared of muslıms and the muslım world. I guess the governments and extremısts can be scary but they are dıfınıtely a mınorıty. Its such an amazıng place. That saıd however I thınk I wıll be happy to get back to my own bed tomorrow nıght. No more bed bugs!

Syria 2

Just a quick blog!

I have arrived in Beirut. Been here for about 3 hours. It is so different from Syria. There are western brands and english signs everywhere! Seen a mcdonalds for the first time since istanbul. Its very hot and sticky but places have air conditioning which is a relief.

So my last few days have been great. Just after I last blogged last a Japanese guy called Hiro checked into the hostel. We hung out the rest of the day. Got a taxi up to a citadel on a mountain in the evening where we watched the sun set. The ruins were very cool.

The next day we both traveled to Damascus. Hiro disappeared to some Japanese hostel. Met an english guy. He had just arrive the day before and was dying to speak to a native english speaker. We spent the rest of the day (mon) and tue just hanging out in Damascus. The old city is very nice. Lots of nice (but cheap) cafes and restaurants. Did some shopping in the souq. Quite realxing.

Yesterday was more busy. I met another couple of guys and we all went to some museams and stuff. In the evening we went to a Hammam (Turkish bath) Was quite an experience! We got the full works including a message and everything. Was all a bit strange but very relaxing.

This morning I headed to Lebanon. No problems getting here. Its all very exciting. Tonnes of soldiers and UN people. Hopefully heading down to Tyre tomorrow. Beirut is very smoggy!

Ok must go. Haven't got money properly yet so can't afford longer internet than this!

Syria

So I have been in Syria nearly four days. The difference between Syria and Turkey is much more obvious. For a start there are barely any backpackers about. There are a few but it is much quiter than I imagined. I am in a dorm room tonight. But I am the only person in the dorm.

Syrians are indeed very, very friendly. People ask where you are from without looking to sell something. They all love Ireland. I wonder why... I have had my photo taken with many random people. People go out of their way to show ne where to go. Including paying for my taxi! I have also been given free ice cream. And they all say 'Welcome to Syria'. Two people have now told me they are gay and asked if I was. One guy came out to me just after he had shown me into his house. Was a little scary! Quite impressive though for being in a country where you can go to prison for such things...

I spent much of thursday in a Syrian police station trying to get a report of my lost money for insurance. Reporting the loss was no problem. Getting the report required two more visits. I was despretely looking to get out of Aleppo that night. I didnt really like the hostel and had another one booked. I was a bit stressed about getting done with the police in time. Finally got the report i needed at 930 and arrived at my next destination, Hama, at about 12:15.

I did hear what I'm nearly certain were whips in the police station. And cries of pain. It was very loud and none of the other policemen paid any attention. Interesting.

Hama was very nice. I was there on a friday so it was peaceful. Just what i needed after the stress the day before. Met loads of people. Only met one other tourist. A french guy.

I arrived in Homs last night. It was nice enough place. A lot of christians live there. I.e. girls with no head or arm coverings! This morning i went to this castle about 45km out of homs. Its meant to be the best castle in the world. Well its certainly the best I've ever seen! It was huge. Very, very cool. This castle is one of Syrias top attractions. I was there about 3-4 hours and maybe seen 50 tourists. Where is everyone?

I arrived in Palmyra a few hours ago. This is a town in the middle of the dessert. The ruins of the old Palmyra are just out of town. The town is built around an oasis. I've never seen an oasis before. Its very cool. Lots of trees in the middle of desert. Going to expore tomorrow. Should be good. Planning to rise about 7 so i can miss the sun. Will head to Damascus on monday.

I ate dinner tonight in this large outside restaurant. Could probably seat 100 people. There was one other person when I arrive. He soon left. Its very strange. Palmyra is Syria's top attraction. There are tourists about. But very few. I guess 9/11 has not been good for Syria. I'm not lonely like. Its nice to get some peace. Just a little surprised after the hoards of tourists in Turkey.

Rambling

Ok it has been a while! Well I think so. I'm not entirely sure what day it is right now or how long i have been away. It feels like months rather that like 1 week. So what have I been up to? A heck of a lot.

The last time I wrote i think I was still in istanbul. Well not long after I caught a night bus to Selcuk which is 3km from Ephesus. The buses in turkey are the best I've ever seen anywhere. They are all like brand new with tvs and everything. I've heard rumours that some buses have one tv per seat and wifi is common. And they all come with a little man who serves complemetary food. Or two little men as was the case this morning.

Anyway, Ephesus was cool. Its all just ruins but the great theatre is still pretty much in tact. Its a huge 25000 seater ampitheatre. There was this american guy playing 'light of the world' and other such songs on a trumpet. Random. I wandered off the tourist track and found a church where the 3rd Ecumenical council took place. There were no one at all there which was nice. Ephesus was pretty much abondoned in the 4th or 5th century. So you can image what it was like when Paul and co were there.

I walked back to the hostel through the countryside. It was a nice walk. Footpath lined with dut trees so it was shady and gave me food. Met some people on the way. A guy showed me how they get the silk from a cacoon which was interesting enough. Another guy sold me some peaches. He lokoed lonely so I sat in his cafe and talked with him for a while. And then I walked past the temple. Once it was one of the 7 wonders of the world. Only one column remains. But it was a nice place and i seen turtles.

Also in Selcuk this boy showed me into a huge citadel up on a hill. The citadel is closed. He brought me in through a hole! There were fantastic views but i was a little scared he was going to take all my money or something! I took out the little cash i had in my wallet and put it in my pocket. When he asked for money for his services i was safe.

I then took a bus to Goreme. Was sitting beside a tour guide. He told me he would help me find my next bus but then he disappeared and left me standing so i dont like hime so much! I got to the hostel about 8:30 and spontaneously dicided to join a tour group that left just a few minuted later. I was pretty exausted from the bus but i thought it would be good to get to know some people. We seen this underground city. 8 level. 500 people used to live there. Goreme area has a few underground cities and a lot of houses and churches built into the hills. Like petra. Fleeing christians apparently.

I got back to the hostel that evening. I was going to go out for food with some people and then disastor! I counted my money and a lot was missing. I searched my bad thoroughly. I have no idea where it went! This combined with my lack of sleep the previous night meant I was not feeling so good that night. But I talked about it with some people and felt a bit better. Thankful i have a credit card so i can withdraw money. Though its probably costing me a lot.

My second day in Goreme (yesterday) i went hiking with a german guy. He is making his way to nazareth to volunteer in a hospital there. I told him i was probably in that same hospital last june with dieing mark! We must have walked for 7 hours straight. The landscape there is really weird. Its like what id imagine the moon to be like. But with some greenery. People still live in the hills. Like hobbits. Its quite and quaint. Goreme is just a village. And it was not very warm. This made a very nice change from istanbul which was the opposite.

I came back from our hike and i still have the blisters on my feet!

So last night I took the bus to antakya. Near syria. A few other people I had met before were on the same bus including the guy i was hiking with. I like how this always happens. I've only done one bus trip by myself so far.

We arrived in antakya this morning. We were waiting for our bus to take us to alippo in Syria. Suddenly the whole building shock. It was like a train was going by and we were in an old wooden building. But we were in a massive, new, concete bus terminal. And there was no train. Earthquake! It must have lasted only 4 or 5 seconds but everyone had ran out of the building. My legs were shaking after. But it was very exciting. My first proper earthquake!

Arrived in Aleppo, Syria at about 12. Me and this brazillan couple. We were looking for accommodation when this canadian guy showed us his hostel. We were feeling very lost. Syria is so different from Turkey. And Aleppo is a big city. 4million. Its crowded and dirty and hot. The opposite of goreme where we had been the day before.

I spent half of this evening trying to find an atm that would take my card. My money goes so much further in Syria which is great! Then I walked around the old city. There is a nice souq where i bought this robe thing. I have no idea why i bought it. Seemed like a good idea at the time i guess. There is a very cool citadel in Aleppo. You can see right around the city. Hopefully heading out of the city tomorrow evening. Aleppo is ok but I'm not so keen on the tight, dense streets and the smog.

I hope this random ramblings haven't bored you too much. Its hard to write when so much has been happening and i can hardly remember half the things now.

Oh i passed pgce.

Not sure how often I´m goıng to get round to doıng thıs. These keyboards are horrıble. But here we go.

So Istanbul. Bıg place. Lots to see. Been here less than two days and already feel lıke I´ve seen everythıng. But I´m not even close. Hostel ıs ın a fantastıc locatıon. Just a couple of mınutes walk to the bıg stuff. Had no problems gettıng here. Except for some confusıon and embarrısment when I trıed to pay a passenger ın a mınıbus. Forgot about the whole drıvıng on the rıght thıng...

Most ımpressıve thıng Ive seen so far has probably been Aya Sofya. Huge Church\Mosque lıke buıldıng. Was buıld by the byzantınes ın the 6th century I thınk so pretty old. Back when everyone was stıll chrıstıan. Seen tonnes of other ımpressıve buıldıngs Iim not goıng to mentıon.

Other hıghlıghts would be seeıng some of 'the prophets' beard ın the palace as well as a saucepan whcıh apparently belonged to Abraham. Yes. I got the ferry to Asıa today. Was cool just walkıng about away from all the tourısts. Found a nıce mosque whıch I hung about for a whıle. A polıceman gave me a tour and I trıed some Dut (or was ıt dat) berrıes some men had just taken from a tree. Later I found the shop where the fırst turkısh delıghts were ever made. And yes they do taste much better here.

Oh. I also seen a bull dog wearıng a huge whıte and red strıpy jumper attack a cat yesterday. Was very surreal. Cat just about got away.

Goıng to head to the Grand Bazaar tomorrow mornıng whıch I fear wıll be stressful. Gettıng the nıght bus tomorrow to Selcuk whıch ıs rıght besıde Ephesus.

Ok apparently I must go and celebrate someones bırthday. Cake.

Hows thıngs at home?

Wrıte agaın soon. Maybe...

Exciting News!

I'm considering restarting this thing after a two year break. Just for while I'm away this summer. Stay tuned...

The Pony, The Robbery and U2

Here are somethings that have kept me amused over the last week or so.

The Pony
I was driving home from Belfast last thursday and was on the seven towers roundabout outside ballymena. It was rush hour. So I'm driving round and there running right towards me is a Shetland pony. Aw look at the pony I thought to myself while swerving to avoid it. Danger danger. It looked as surprised to see me as I was to see it. And then I drove away. Never found out what happened to that crazy pony. Wonder is it still alive. Lets hope so.

The Robbery
Last thursday I was driving down the Newtonards Road. And I was sitting at lights outside this pawn shop or something. Then I see these two guys in baseball caps running out of the building, jump into their illegally parked car and pull out immediately in front of a rather unamused driver. Then I seen some staff running out of the shop also looking rather unamused. Then when I was driving past it like an hour later I seen a police car parked outside. No idea if it was actually a robbery but whatever was going on was no doubt very illegal. Maybe this kind of thing happens all the time in East Belfast I don't know. Well I'm sure it doesn't. The day before I was thinking about the mural on the westlink saying 'I'm not your stereotype'. Hmm. You might not be but...

U2
Found a nice u2 video on you tube today. Its from the live video Rattle and Hum. This show was recorded on the day of the Enniskillen bombing in 1987. Bono talks a bit about this at the start of the video. Its cool hearing someone like Bono say Enniskillen! Then he goes on one of his rants in the middle of singing Sunday Bloody Sunday. Hes talking about the so called Irish revolution. The passion in his voice just makes me shiver. He sounds like he's just so genuinely pissed off with what had been going on in NI back then. I wish new bands had that much passion and motivation to change the world.

Watch it. Its worth it.



Music
I don't listen to much radio. So the other day in the car I thought I would. Try to get in touch with whats going on out there and all that. But it depressed me. New music sucks. There was seriously nothing good worth listening to. I just can't understand why all the crap music gets put on the radio and all the good stuff doesn't. Idiots.

That is all.

Duke Special, Limo And Flash

Me and Charlotte went to see Duke Special on monday night in the Empire. I'd never seen him in the Empire before so was quite excited about that. So what happened. Well the support was... interesting. Was this German guy called Torsten Harder. He was funny because he was german and played cello. He was real good but not quite a crowd warmer upper. And it was funny cause he played like one song. Then said some stuff about Bach that I couldn't really make out. Then he started playing another song. Then he broke a string and had to go away again. Was pretty funny at the time...

So Duke's piano was in the middle of the floor on a wee stage and we were standing right infront of it. Then out of nowhere he's there at his piano and he starts singing some songs. Which tends to happen a lot at these concerts. The theme for mon night was cinema. So quite a few of the songs were played to films. Crazyness. Then there was this great bit where some of his support came on his wee mini stage. Was the guy from Bell X1 there which some people found quite exciting. And then they sang everyone wants to be a cat. From Disney. Was great. I love that song.

Another interesting part was at the end when they decided they would finish with that song at the start of grease. So they start playing the movie on the big screen waiting for the song. About 10mins later Duke gets bored waiting for the song to start and just plays it himself. Then when that finished it started in the movie so everyone sang it again.

Heres couple of photos I took with my phone. They're rubbish. Forgot my camera :-(.


Claranet guy and Duke (yeah we were that close)

Peter Wilson, Bell X1 guy (Paul Noonan apparently) and Steven Seagal

And thats that.

Was a wedding in the city center yesterday. And they had a limo. And they locked the keys inside the limo and were trying to pick the lock with a big wire. Wish I'd taken a photo. Not something you see everyday.

This one's also about a dream...

I'll not turn this one into a song. But this was a fun dream.

I'll call it...

Enniskillen, a Tiger and Warren

So I was back in Enniskillen again last night. In my dream that is. Only this time it was looking pretty much normal. Me and Aggy were walking down the Dublin Road. Just along were the Model School is. And there we bumb into Warren. Warren is working. This time he has got a job just walking about the place making sure everyone is doing ok. The perfect job for Warren I think.

So as we're talking, this couple approach Warren and ask him for directions to Glengormley. The man says he and his girlfriend/wife are going there for the weekend because its valentines day weekend. How romantic. Glengormley.

Now we all know how to get to Belfast pretty well but none of us are too sure about how to get to Glengormley. So we jump into Chris's car where he rather convienently has a sat nav. Me, Aggy and Warren sit in the back. Man shotgun and woman driver seat. So we're working at this sat nav trying to find Glengormley. Unfortunately for us, none of us can spell Glengormley which makes things rather difficult. Its then that the man says he knows how to get to Glengormley from Belfast. He's just not sure how to get to Belfast. I tell him.

So all is well and the man jumps out of the car goes into his own. Now it must be noted that his girlfriend/wife is blonde. And not just in hair colour. For whatever reason she now thinks that Chris's car is hers and drives off. We just sit there in the back going hmm. So she drives up the road a bit past the Killy and then comes to a road bloack. A branch is blocking the road. This is strange. But not quite as strange as all the cars parked round in a big circle with a tiger sitting in the middle of it all.

The silly woman obviously fails to see any of this. So she jumps out of the car and starts moving the branch. This gets the tigers attention who then makes for her. Then some man comes out of nowhere and pushes her into a car and takes on the tiger. I'd like to say at this point I jumped out of the car and gave him a hand. I didn't. I sat in the car taking photos of the wrestling match that followed. Man v tiger. Might make some money selling these to a paper I think.

Not sure what happened the man. But the tiger did get a good chunk of his arm. Then a Focus races into the circle, the shotgun window goes down and a rifle points out. Bam the tiger is hit. With a dart. And that was that.

What a great dream.

Heres a fun picture.

Look how happy that dog looks. Its insane. Crazy dog. Grumpy cats...

This one's about a dream...

I had a dream last night. So because I've little better to do I thought I'd turn it into a song. Its basically new lyrics for the song Faust, Midas and Myself by the mighty Switchfoot.

Enniskillen, Disney Land and Warren

This one's about a dream
I had last night
How I made a trip back
To Enniskillen
I hadn't been there in 8 months
And was very excited
Fermanagh's great
Fermanagh rocks
Fermanagh is
Possibly the greatest place on earth

I heard the place has changed a bit
Its got bigger
But what I saw I was
Not prepared for
From when I used to live there
Everything had changed
Everything I'd seen
Everything I'd know
Everything I remember about that place

Enniskillen
Enniskillen
You have changed so much

Enniskillen
Enniskillen
You have changed so much

Now in my dream I see
Lots of skyscrappers
And huge big metal bridges
Over Lough Erne
And then most to my surprise
There among it all
Among all the buildings
In what was once very small
Is Disney Land Northern Ireland

Enniskillen
Enniskillen
You have changed so much

Enniskillen
Enniskillen
You have changed so much

Disney Land
Disney Land
What the flip?
What the flip?
Are you doing in Enniskillen?

Enniskillen
Enniskillen
This is so bizzare

I'm sitting inside a huge big Disney Land building
In a little cafe
And who was working there?
Warren Brownlee of course
What a surprise
He never let me know
I felt so out of touch
Left out in the cold
For a place I used to know had become so distant

I could not believe the change
I could not believe the change
I felt so out of touch
I felt so out of touch

What the heck?
What the heck?
What the heck?
What the heck?
How could this all have changed so soon?
What the heck?
What the heck?
What the heck?
What the heck?

I looked out of the window
At the streets outside
They were moving a huge monument
Into place
Then something did go wrong
The monument collapsed
Crashed into the building
That I was sitting in
Taking out the foyer
And that was that

Enniskillen
Enniskillen
You have changed too much

Enniskillen
Enniskillen
You have changed too much

The Great Ebay Scam

I have nearly been the victim of a horrible eBay scam. I had put a mobile phone up for auction and it came to an end last night. And it went for more than I was expecting. Yippee I said. But then I looked at who had bought it. They had only 2 feedback. One positive from years ago and a recent negative one. Ok. They were also American which is odd as I had stated UK buyers only.

So anyway I invoice them and I get an email this morning from 'Paypal'. This basically said the buyer (though the name of buyer they gave was different from the eBay name?) had paid me using Paypal. (Though they had apparently paid £80 more than they should have. And the shipping address was for Nigeria!) Then the email said that as a security measure the money would not be transferred to my Paypal account until I had posted the item and emailed them the delivery code. This is where I got really concerned. I had never seen this before on Paypal.

So I go onto my Paypal account and there was no mention of me being/going to be paid anything. Then I looked at the email again. I had read that the email was sent from a paypal email address. But when I looked at it again I realised it was actually sent by some random email address and whoever had registered it had used the Paypal email as their name. Hence why it came up. The email looked rather convincing with all the Paypal graphics etc. But was definitely a phishing email. I sent a copy of the email to Paypal who also confirmed it was fake.

So before all this I had got a rather confusing email from eBay saying they had removed my item listing. I didn't really get why. But then when I read it later I made more sense of it. Apparently whoever bought my phone did so using someone elses eBay account. So eBay had removed the item so as I couldn't get negative feedback etc. They knew nothing about the Paypal scam nor did they advise me not to go ahead with the transaction. Had to use my own wit to work that one out!

So there we go. Feel a little disappointed. I've used eBay for a while now and have never had any problems. Was interesting to see just how convincing these people can be. If I hadn't already been familiar with Paypal I probably would have been scammed out of a mobile phone. The moral of the story? Never trust emails from these companies. Cause they may not be from these companies. Any emails from eBay are also sent to your eBay account inbox so you can trust what it says there. And never post an item unless you actually have control of the money. No matter what an email from 'Paypal' might say.

So what else is fun. Well HMS Bounty (aka The Black Pearl!!!) is currently docked in Derry! Look. How cool is that! I quite fancy going for a wee look some time.

Got my tickets to see Duke Special today. Still not sure how I got these. I had tried to get tickets a couple weeks ago but every night was sold out. Then out of boredom I tried again a few days ago and it worked. Yippee. I've never seen him in the Empire so its quite exciting.

I see its been over three weeks since my last blog. At which time I was in Beijing. Actually haven't had a chance since then to write anything. Actually was going to bother writing anything anymore anyway. But I have since been inspired to carry on thanks to Mr Alcorn. So there you go.

Flip where do I start?

China (post-Beijing)
So the last thing I wrote on this was that I might be visiting the "Summer Palace" in Beijing the next day. And you know I did. So did Steve. We jumped on this almost random bus which took like 2 hours. Thought we were actually never going to get there. ( Bus cost 3RMB( aprox. 45p ) return btw ) . Summer Palace was much bigger than I expected. Was actually quite awesome. Enjoyed walking around it more than the Forbidden City. Though when I say walk I really mean run. Thans to the bus taking so long we only had like an hour there. Plane to catch you see. Def worth it though.

Day after we got back from Beijing we went to visit Giant Budha in Hong Kong. He was very impressive. Hong Kong is like the biggest smallest place I've ever been to.

Trying to remember what else happened the next week. Hmm probably shouldnt write about that on here. Hmm that would take to long to write about. Hmm. Well we went to visit Changsha. Which is the capital of the province where Mao is from. Very exciting. I visited a house where Mao used to live! Actually seen his bed etc. They love him over there. Or at least they think they do. Odd country. Randomly met a pastor and this australian 'missionary' while we where there. Was very interesting and definetly the highlight of that trip. They told us a lot about what they do and what is going on there in the underground church in their area. They were very open. Some of their stories about what is happening there where just awesome and I know really encouraged me. Maybe I'll write some stuff I learned in more detail some time.

Also went to a city called Kunming. Second time there. Lost my bag on the way :-(. First and only time. Was a rather boring trip to be honest. Maybe we were just tired. Visited this zoo. You have to see my photos. They had wee monkeys all chained up etc. Was rather sad. Actually thought Steve might start to cry! Then that night we stumbled across this computer place. (When I say stumbled what I really mean is we were guided to it by a very nice hotel worker person. She well made up for the four star hotels lack of four starness. Also Steve, for whatever reason, left his wallet on the counter at the computer place. So like 30mins later she comes running back looking so worried. We had no idea why. But apparently someone had found Steve's wallet and the hotel card inside and rang them up. So she came, informed us of this and sorted it all out. Think she was the only peron in that city who spoke English. Well her and that student who seemed to think we should be able to speak chinese and translate some english for her. Odd indeed.) There were actually at least 200 computers in there and everyone was playing lan games. Was hard to find playable games thanks to the Chinese but it was fun. We went back 2 more times. Was also dirt cheap. 2RMB an hour I thing. About 30p.

Then the sunday before we returned home was the 10th Anniversairy of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. Went to this festival thing in Stanley was pretty cool. There was a huge fireworks and lights show planned for that night. We were gutted we had to go home...

So that was that. Oh flying back me and Steve had to sit seperate again. What is with that? We were there 2 1/2 hours early too.

So what have I learned from my 2nd China experience. Lots. Unfortunately I can't really write it up here! But I seen some really amazing stuff happening. And I'm sure there was amazing stuff happening that we have no idea about. It really excites me to think of what is happening to all the stuff we were able to leave all over China. Big difference between this trip and my trip 2 years ago is we were able to meet more relatives and hear first hand about the needs. And they are big! So glad I was able to go and do my bit. Hearing what is actually going on out there is amazing and even bigger than I had really imagined. Example - this person is able to give out books in schools. On average 2/3 people who get one change. That is big!

Maybe they need to restrict stuff here too...

England
So I got home monday morning and then tue morning was off to england for some family caravaning fun. I didn't want to go. Wanted to stay in bed. But it was good. Probably spent half the holiday in bed.

Today
Today I spent too much tme on the internet. I'm addicted. Not having any access for the last 2 weeks nearly killed me. Nearly have all China photos uploaded to flickr now. Check them out. Bed was good last night too. I like my bed.

Tomorrow
Tomorrow I join Portsterart CSSM. Never done CSSM before so not really sure what to expect. Bit nervous infact. Don't really know anyone doing it either. But maybe thats not an entirely bad thing. Probably haven't given this week as much thought as I should. When you go away somewhere far away you tend to not think of stuff going on her as such a big deal. Which is rubbish of course. I should put more importance on doing stuff her saying as its my own country. Anyway.

China, England, Today, CSSM, Relient K and Spot The Difference

I see its been over three weeks since my last blog. At which time I was in Beijing. Actually haven't had a chance since then to write anything. Actually wasn't going to bother writing anything anymore anyway. But I have since been inspired to carry on thanks to Mr Alcorn. So there you go.

Flip where do I start?


China (post-Beijing)
So the last thing I wrote on this was that I might be visiting the "Summer Palace" in Beijing the next day. And you know I did. So did Steve. We jumped on this almost random bus which took like 2 hours. Thought we were actually never going to get there. ( Bus cost 3RMB( aprox. 45p ) return btw ) . Summer Palace was much bigger than I expected. Was actually quite awesome. Enjoyed walking around it more than the Forbidden City. Though when I say walk I really mean run. Thanks to the bus taking so long we only had like an hour there. Plane to catch you see. Def worth it though.

Day after we got back from Beijing we went to visit Giant Budha in Hong Kong. He was very impressive. Hong Kong is like the biggest smallest place I've ever been to.

Trying to remember what else happened the next week. Hmm probably shouldnt write about that on here. Hmm that would take to long to write about. Hmm. Well we went to visit Changsha. Which is the capital of the province where Mao is from. Very exciting. I visited a house where Mao used to live! Actually seen his bed etc. They love him over there. Or at least they think they do. Odd country. 'Randomly' met a pastor and this australian 'missionary' while we where there. Was very interesting and definetly the highlight of that trip. They told us a lot about what they do and what is going on there in the underground church in their area. They were very open. Some of their stories about what is happening there where just awesome and really encouraged me. Maybe I'll write some stuff I learned in more detail some time.

Also went to a city called Kunming. Second time there. Lost my bag on the way :-(. First and only time. Was a rather boring trip to be honest. Maybe we were just tired. Visited this zoo. You have to see my photos. They had wee monkeys all chained up etc. Was rather sad. Actually thought Steve might start to cry! Then that night we stumbled across this computer place. (When I say stumbled what I really mean is we were guided to it by a very nice hotel worker person. She well made up for the four star hotels lack of four starness. Also Steve, for whatever reason, left his wallet on the counter at the computer place. So like 30mins later she comes running back looking so worried. We had no idea why. But apparently someone had found Steve's wallet and the hotel card inside and rang them up. So she came, informed us of all this and sorted it all out. Think she was the only peron in that city who spoke English. Well her and that student who seemed to think we should be able to speak chinese and translate some english for her. Odd indeed.) There were actually at least 200 computers in there and everyone was playing lan games. Was hard to find playable games thanks to the Chinese script, but it was fun. We went back 2 more times. Was also dirt cheap. 2RMB an hour I thing. About 30p.

The sunday before we returned home was the 10th Anniversairy of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. Went to this festival thing in Stanley which was pretty cool. There was a huge fireworks and lights show planned for that night. We were gutted we had to go home...

So that was that. Oh flying back me and Steve had to sit seperate again. What is with that? We were there 2 1/2 hours early too.

So what have I learned from my 2nd China experience. Lots. Unfortunately I can't really write it all up here! But I seen some really amazing stuff happening. And I'm sure there was amazing stuff happening that we have no idea about. It really excites me to think of what is happening to all the stuff we were able to leave all over China. Big difference between this trip and my trip 2 years ago is we were able to meet more christians and hear first hand about the needs. And they are big! So glad I was able to go and do my bit. Hearing what is actually going on out there is amazing and even bigger than I had really imagined. Example - this person is able to give out bibles in schools. On average 2/3 people who get one become a christian. That is big!

Maybe they need to restrict religion here too...

England
So I got home monday afternoon and then tue morning was off to england for some family caravaning fun. I didn't want to go. Wanted to stay in bed. But it was good. Probably spent half the holiday in bed.

Today
Today I spent too much tme on the internet. I'm addicted. Not having any access for the last 2 weeks nearly killed me. Nearly have all China photos uploaded to flickr now. Check them out. Bed was good last night too. I like my bed.

CSSM
Tomorrow I join Portsterart CSSM. Never done CSSM before so not really sure what to expect. Bit nervous actually. Don't really know anyone doing it either. But maybe thats not an entirely bad thing. Probably haven't given this week as much thought as I should. When you go away somewhere far away you tend to not think of stuff going on here as such a big deal. Which is rubbish of course. I should put more importance on doing stuff her saying as its my own country. Anyway.

So thats my life at the moment.

Relient K
Relient K's tour bus burned down. I would definetly read this blog if I were you. I personlly think its a sign they should give up touring the US and come visit Ireland! Aparently they're touring with Switchfoot. Wow.

Spot The Difference

2005 2007

China more

Wow what a day. I got up at 5:45am today. Incredible. So the purpose of this insane behavior was to go visit the Great Wall of China. We went to a section less than 2 hours from Beijing which is pretty close. However it isn't the really tourist bit so it wasn't crowded which was nice. This was my third time at the wall. And it is still awesome. It just seems to go on forever. Took like a million photos. Got totally ripped off coming back down though in the souvenir stalls. Shop people quote ridiculously high prices for stuff so you bargain way down. But even the bargained down price which you think is great is still a rip off as I found out later... Steve managed to buy a hat for 1/5 of the price that I got for the same one. And I thought I'd done well. Got some cool stuff though.

After the wall visited Tiananmen Square. Had wanted to go see pickled Mao but apparently the building is shut for a few months for renovations. Stupid Olympics. Beijing has gone crazy trying to tidy itself up. A whole huge road has been blocked off cause they're developing the whole street. And that was a very main part of the city.

So we hung about the square for a bit. Went into the Forbidden city etc. Then we went and got lost. Then we got taxi back to hostel and spend the night eating a lot of food. While watching Hot Fuzz. These youth hostels are great.

Think we might go wonder about the Sumer palace tomorrow which will be fun. Then we fly out!

China - Day ... who knows anymore

So the whole idea of writing a little about me daily travels is clearly not working. Must go back to recording my daily activities on paper.

So what am I doing right now. Well I'm sitting in a bar in a youth hostel in Beijing. Beijing is cool. Been here before though. We had Peking Duck and a fruit pizza for dinner. Mmm interesting. There are a lot of foreigners in this place which is a little weird cause its all been Chinese people where we've been. Going to see the Great Wall tomorrow. Leaving 7am!! We already seen it last week but it was in a different place and was basically just a mound of mud. Steve of course brought a considerable chunk of this mud back with him which just seems wrong! So tomorrow will be good. Drove past Tianamine square tonight in the taxi which was very exciting.

So how is China going on a whole. I'll give it a 8/8 if you know what I mean. Can't get much better than that!

China - Day 1 (again)

Hello all. Here is a summary of my week. I just know I will forget all this stuff if it isn't written down. So here it goes.

Day 1 - Tuesday
So last time I blogged was last tuesday morning. Right after that we went on our first trip into mainland China. Went just across the border to Shenzhen. Was all rather exciting. Didn't really do a lot once there. Just came back again. But everything went good!

Had some really weird food on the way back from McDonalds of all places. I thought it was an ice cream with kiwi sauce or something similar and chocolate bits. Turned out the sauce was green tea flavour and the chocolate bits were red beans. Yes I had beans with my ice cream. And you know it didn't taste too bad.

That night me and steve decided to wonder the streets of Hong Kong for something to eat. We went to the first non dodgy place we could find which turned out to be HK Hard Rock Cafe. Which played truely awful music.

Rubbish. I just tried running spell checker there and at least half of what I've wrote vanished. I thought they were meant to be incrediably technologically advanced here... Now where was I.

Ok so after food we wondered about the Avenue of Stars. This is like a promanade the overlooks Hong Kong island. Seen this at least twice before and it is still awesome. Then there are hand prints of famous China actors on the ground. I knew of two of them. Oh and there were these performers there. This wee China man was spinning this huge pot on his head and throwing it all over the place. Was a bit crazy.

Drat I've ran out of time. Didn't get very far there at all. Stupid spell checker. And I have so much to say. Ah I'll try not to forget...

China - Day 1

Me and Stephen are in Hong Kong! Finally. We arrived yesterday evening. Flight was pretty normal except BA managed to lose Steve's bag somewhere in London so that was fun. Well fun for me... Delivery man arrived at our apartment door at like 12:30 last night with the bag so all is ok again. Oh also we had to sit at opposite sides of the plane which was odd. But we were able to wave to each other so the separation wasn't too hard on us.

So what is Hong Kong like these days? Pretty dull. Sky is grey and it was raining a little earlier. Also quite hot and humid. So going out isn't much fun right now. Hence why we are sitting in a nice air conditioned library surfing the web. Had hoped to upload some photos here but apparently I'm not allowed... Oh and Hong Kong smells of that smell you get when you go into a Chinese take away. I like it!

Leaving to head into mainland China within the next couple of hours. Just me and Steve going on this trip so that will be fun. Its all rather exciting!

Nothing else to really write about. We haven't really done much yet besides eat some rather interesting food and sleep. But thats about to change!

Cows and Relient K

I met some cows today. This excited me a lot because cows always seem to run away from me. These ones were incredibly friendly. I took some photos.


Anyway Relient K have released a music video for 'The Best Thing'. Its just ok. Great song though. Its funny that many of Relient K's music videos seem to feature a single girl doing something random. And she is always brunette, mid twenties and very pretty! She is also in the video for 'Who I Am Hates Who I've Been' and 'Must Have Done Something Right' and possibly more I haven't seen/can't remember. Go Matt...

China!

So yesterday I finished my exams! Yippee. I'm actually quite bored now. Four months off with nothing to do. Nothing to do? That's a complete lie of course. I think I have too much to do. In less than two weeks I will be in China! Oh yes. Here's a photo of me in China with a fellow 'deliverer' wearing our mega cool Chinese hats and with two random Chinese children who thought we were famous or something... Taken just as we were walking down from the Great Wall (which really is awesome btw).


I am excited about going to China again for many reasons. One of the major reason is three weeks eating Chinese food! Another photo... Taken in a restaurant in Beijing.

Like does anyone know what Beer Duck is?

Fold up bikes, Sufjan and General This and That

So I have lost much of the enthusiasm I had for this thing a couple of weeks ago hence no posts. But I will prevail! Actually I've been somewhat surprised by the number of people who actually bothered to look at it!

So first up I think I should round up the train saga. So the weekend before last weekend I went home and everything actually went smoothly which was nice so no excitement there. However there was a guy on the train with a fold up bike. Seriously it was awesome. He just carried it on. Then he carried it off. Then he unfolded it and rode off. I want one! Where can you buy these? I could carry my bike into lectures and everything. Oh the possibilities!

Actually been discovering many things of interest lately. Like Sufjan Stevens! Now apparently everyone has been listening to this guy for ages. I heard him ages ago and just dismissed him as not my thing. Then out of nowhere I am in possession of four of his albums so I give him a listen. Wow. Second listen to Seven Swans and I was hooked. This guy is genius! His music cannot be described. So I urge you, if you were like me and suffering Sufjan deficiency check him out. Now! Haven't been this excited about new music since getting into Relient K. Good times.

So what else is new and exciting. Ha wouldn't you like to know... Oh watch my bebo video. The making of Switchfoot's video for Awakening. Its all quite incrediable.

16 days till I leave for China!
4 days till no exams...