18th Apr 2006 1:41 AM
Hey guys, tis midnight of our first night here in Nanjing, odd place. kinda reminds me of old school Hong Kong about 1980's.
flight was relatively harmless other than the fact they decided to hide our luggage somehwere completely random, damn their eyes! hostel is a lot less aminable than xi'an, not many other travellers about (well english speaking ones anyway) and generally seems much less helpful.
on last night in xian had a massage from the bloke who does them at the hostel, amazing guy called hans who trained in massgae for about 5 years and knows loads of different types, had a chinese gua sha one which brings all the toxins to the skin where they turn it all red and lumpy (got soime weird pics) then he recommened glass suction therapy (which he did for free) where glass tubes are put on your back and a vacuum sucks all the blood and skin into it (got some more good pics of that, and a video!!) but basically from the look of my back now it looks like i have had very rough and violent sex with a giant octopus.....it was a massage honest..i have video proof! he did some calligraphy for me and paul as well which was kind of cool with our names and dates of when we stayed.
after several bad nights trying to find a cool place to go in xian we return to the hostel and i hear metalica coming form the bar downstairs, turns out the hodtle bar is run by a couple of chinese metalers (one looks like herman li, and another looks like a chinese adrian edminson.) they even started to play theor band they had doing random chinese rock songs. there were only 2 people there but it was cool none the less (got a short video of them) they even let me sing the vocals to sweet child of mine (no video of that unfortunately, but thats for the best)
went round the local nearby scenic spots and some touristy places today, some of the random neon bits are sooooo tacky, but there are loads of little gardens and things that really take you away form the city. very tired now but manged to pick up a few more little bits and pieces for people or if i think they look cool, phear my leet haggling skillZ!! the place is a nightmare to navigate, sense of dierection left me completely and all the maps i have are beyond rubbish.
went to a random (apparently) famous restaurant but they had no english menu but the local thing here is they give a whole range of crazy little dishes about 3 at a time and theres a massive variation in tastes and sensations (most were kinda alright,. couple where very bad) had to instruct paul on how to eat shrimp. was certainly an experiance, but think wee will eat sopmewhere a little more predictable next time (cant wait for some decent seafood now we are on the yangtze).
dont think there is any nightlife to speak of here (well apart form chinese karoke) and i am lacking a guide round this time so things are much more "errrr letsd try this and hope it woks"
not amazing net here, so might not be able to upload anything new, will see how it goes.
Ahhhh already been two weeks in China, just over two weeks left :S
see all you guys later!!!
missing you all!
Law
