The One where the Fish Died

After trying and failing to get in contact with my brother this morning, I took a nap since I didn’t get any sleep on the plane. There wasn’t any leg room, and the lady behind me had her legs pressed up on the back of my chair, stopping me from tilting it back. So I sat upright the whole night. Not happy. But Sex and the City kept me company. LOVE IT! =D! They had that movie, What happens in Vegas, Atonement, Kung Fu Panda, and Madagascar playing. Awesome selection of movies.

When I woke up, my dad suggested we go exploring Beijing ourselves. Our Beijing tour starts tomorrow, but it doesn’t include the Temple of Heaven, so that’s where we went.

It’s honestly so cold here, that my nose was about to fall off. (My mum was like “...who’s that girl? She’s stealing your spotlight” LOL)

When I got back, my brother finally returned my messages, and I webcamed with my mum and told her about my day. My dad is usually the one who feeds my dog, Max and the fish, now that responsibility has been passed down to my brother whilst we’re travelling. During our conversation my brother told me a fish has died. Only one night has passed and a fish has already died. LOL! I laughed so hard when he told me. I swear by the time we get back, there won’t be any fish to come home to. But if Max isn’t there, I’m going to kill.

Tonight marks the end of my first day in Beijing, China (a long way from my Lovers); & this is what I’ve discovered:

• The Chinese drive on the wrong side of the road and don’t use seat belts.
• Even if you’re on the pedestrian crossing, and the man is flashing green, cars and buses will still try to run you over.
• People will come after you if you refuse to buy their goods. I was surrounded by five old ladies with them shoving shuttlecocks, soft toys and fans in my face. Scariest thing ever.
• They will laugh at you when you say thank you in English (maybe they think I’m Chinese and I was showing off my English skills?), but they’ll laugh at you even more when you say thank you in Mandarin with a funny accent. Maybe I’ll just not say thank you.
• The Chinese are perverted. There’s a HUGE window in the bathroom, so you can view from the bedroom. It’s nicely framed and everything. Thank god for the blinds.
• Haggling is not used to get the cheapest price, but the fairest. Apparently they mark up the prices, so only if you know how to haggle you can get the goods for a decent price.
• There are toilets that flush automatically. This scared the living shits out of me (PUN), but yeah, I didn’t know the toilet flushed by itself so when it did, I thought a monster was coming out to eat me.

I’ll leave you with a rare moment where my dad smiles (maybe because he has beer?), this is probably my favourite picture of the day:

So jealous much, Cynthia?