Blog tastic

Tuesday 10^th May 2011

21 days left traveling the world.

MP3 track of the day: X and Y – Cold Play

Weather: Hooot.

It's ironic that, now I had ear plugs at the ready, they weren't needed. I woke up at 7:00am noticing that only half the beds were occupied and the room had a deathly silence. Having nothing urgent on I went back to sleep for another hour before getting up slowly.

Once again I occupied the first wooden table, on the right, within the 'Sweet Tooth' café. With my usual hot chocolate ordered I added a slice of white chocolate cheesecake with berries; when I'd viewed said cheesecake, within the glass cabinet next to the counter, I couldn't see any berries and presumed that they were inside the cake. As a waitress approached, walking extremely slowly fully focused on the over flowing hot chocolate within her left hand, I noticed that said berries had been placed on top of the cake. Once again the cake was delicious and I ate slowly as I read my guidebook; I scraped most of the berries off as they were rich and only a few were needed to compliment the taste of the cheesecake, otherwise they would have consumed it. There wasn't anything left in Dali that I wanted to do; looking out of the window it seemed to be a fine day and so I contemplated going back up the mountains. Even though I'd enjoyed walking along the path two days ago – and given that today was a weekday therefore it would be quieter – I rejected the idea as I couldn't justify spending the money on something I'd already done. I flicked back and forth through the pages of my book until my cheesecake had been eaten and my hot chocolate had been drunk. A decision had been made and, even though it wasn't that interesting, it was something that had to be done.

I went to the local supermarket to purchase chocolate before returning to my hostel. After collecting my laundry I sat down to work on my blog; the end of my trip is coming and this means a few posts need to be written. Firstly a summary of China needed to be done and, as I've been here over a month, I thought I was capable of making a start. After this I wanted to do a round up of my favourite experiences and a blog of valuable information that I could pass onto others who might be planning their year away … How I envy them.

As you can appreciate the above takes time. I'd just finished my China round-up when it was time for lunch. I went into town, more for the walk than the choice of food, and had something to eat before restocking on chocolate and heading back to the hostel. I continued to work late into the evening; on the one hand I was a little conscious that I'd wasted my day however, on the other hand, I'd made a dent into things that needed to be done and the restful day was welcome. Tomorrow I shall head into new Dali to pick up my extended visa before coming back to book my transport to Lijiang. Fingers crossed all goes well.

Another week has rolled by and there isn't much to report other than the Chinese authorities take forever to extend visa's. My daily spending has taken another tumble for the better; it now stands at £29.33 per day.

Toodle Pip!

P.S. As I've been writing said blogs I've had an annoying fly keep landing on my shirt. It's been attached to me throughout the day and, try as I might, I cannot get hold of it. It's a shame that beautiful women don't find me as attractive. I've always said that flies are a good judge of character.