Tuk tuk and dancing shoes

Over the past 7 months, I have struggled to settle into a culture that is so far from my own...or so it seemed. The more time I spend here, the more I realise (spitting and peeing in the street aside) how despite differences, basic human nature is the same. My 14 year old girl students still giggle about the boys they like, Grandparents still dote on grand children and starbucks is always full, even in the tea capital of the world. Some things are just universal and I have discovered that tequila and dancing, is one of them! And the discovery couldn't have come at a better time when home sickness brought on by the festive season was at its peak!


My flat mate and I, gave ourselves a good talking to a couple of weeks ago. We said we can not keep staying in this apartment. If we want a life we have to find the nearest forgein bar and make an effort to drink once a week no matter how much it costs and just get ourselves our there. I am glad to report back that if the universe was giving prizes for the most enthusiastic, we would have it. We have certainly been making a dedicated go of it. In the last three weeks we have drunken called Shanghai from our Club Balcony (Which is now what we call the balcony because it looks like a shebeen every morning after), sang Justin Timberlake's Sexy back and danced on a Tuesday night till 3am, taken a tuk tuk from one club to another, met a German, Spaniard, American, Irishman, Englishman and a very friendly drunk Chinese girl who sloppy kissed us and gave us tequila. I have a sneaky feeling all these new friends we are meeting are less to do with my hot J-Lo drunken dancing at 4am that have been rekindled in full force, and more to do with the fact that Flatmate is tall, blonde, hot and chatty. But hey, I am just going with it here. And as long as it gets me fun and free beer, I am not complaining.

On the last excursion we met some people, they took us to a Authentic Chinese dance club. Cheese and rice! It was pumping with Chinese ass. Not J-Lo and P-diddy hot but they were giving it a good go I must tell you. When we squeezed onto the dance floor I felt like a bit of a celebrity I cannot lie and I was actually flattered that some fat (and I mean American fat not Chinese fat) Chinese bloke tried to hump and grind dance me from behind...who knew my elbow was still such a powerful weapon. The English bloke with us kept talking in an Indian accent, the Irish guy had a Sargent Pepper (you know The Beatles) moustache and I kept thinking of Danial Day Louis in Gangs of New York. and the American girl was pole dancing with some Chinitos like she was Britney Spears drunk at the prom. Classic classic night that I won't soon forget. This is what I have been doing wrong, travelling is not about museums and eating weird god awful food (well not all the time)...no! travelling is about humping, I mean dancing, with the locals and catching a 30 minute taxi drive at 5am and trying not to pass out on the way home in case you wake up sold to some Gangster from Nepal as a sex slave for Arabs...Dudes, I have seen Taken...you can't be too careful.

China has really shown us her fun promiscuous side this last month and we like it! Add some more sunshine days and my visa and I think I could get used to this. And although I thought I was to old to moon walk across a dance floor at 3am, it turns out I am not...although my liver may disagree...and the person who I stood on last Wednesday...but they are just being party poopers. 

The Hugging Revolution

Ahhoy from China 

You know what I have noticed…Chinese people (gross generalization but true to the area I am in and from what I have seen) don’t hug..or kiss or do annoying romantic couply (I know there is no such word but go with me here) things…well not in public anyway. I guess there must be some form of couple activity at home as they do have one child each – well more if they rich.  (Yes, just as in the western world, the more money you have, the more um action you can get)…And no matter how your parents tried to convince you otherwise, babies are not brought by singing bees and dancing birds. But in the streets, at restaurants, on the bus…nothing.  Most of us back home hug and kiss friends hello, and we have no qualms in general about PDA (public displays of affection) with our friends, with our kids, with our boyfriends, girlfriends, friend’s wife…  Hell, I am sure there are couples having activities in buses all around the world. But in Chengdu china…nothing. (Ok I am glad no one is doing the nasty in buses, I have enough bodily function mishaps, with the peeing and spitting in the street, to worry about.  

Anyway, back to the hugging. I find it incredibly sad. That on the outside, everyone is so unaffectionate and almost robotic.  Perhaps I am just projecting because the last proper hug I gave someone was the day I flew off to China (hello Nicky) and that was six months ago. Perhaps I need to hang out at more foreign bars, although they all tend to grope rather than hug. Or I can start a hugging revolution in China. Start teaching the Chinese to rebel against social niceties and “hug” (or whatever) everywhere…in the store, in schools (I mean they do spend 90% of their time there anyway, poor guys), at grannies house, at parliamentary meetings (oh wait, they don’t have a parliament…), going up and “hugging” total strangers and telling them to pay it forward….I could sell T-shirts that's say “Mother Hugger” and “What the hug!”… I suppose if I throw in some free LCD we right back in the 60’s and Buddha knows, the 60’s haven’t happened here yet! 

But, Yesterday as I walked the damp street home from gym and passed a lady lifting a toddler off the ground so she could pee in the middle of the pavement (now we know why the streets are damp), and the Nai Nai (granny) behind me spat a big throaty one…I realised, I wouldn’t want to be hugging anyone here either and what I really desperately need is a weekend at home hugging all of you (And I mean hugging, not “hugging”) 

Wo Ai Nimen (I love all of you) 
Nix 

Travel WISH list...and growing...

Tibet
Hong Kong 
Thailand 
Bali 
Vietnam 
Cambodia 
Sydney 
Philippines
Israel
London 
Japan 
Peru
Nepal 
Chile
Brazil
Columbia 
New York City 
Cairo to Cape Town 4x4 tour 
Greece 
Paris
Burma 
India 

Buddhas, mafia monkeys and impromptu photo shoots - a good way to spend a birthday

Namaste from Chengdu China.

It was undeniably the most sober birthday I have had in some time but defiantly one of the more unique ones. Not quite topping the Knysna Pirate scavenger hunts but coming close. I started my birthday morning like any other…in need of a strong coffee… Mari and I waited at the bus stop during rush hour. Now, I am sure I have told you how full the buses can get, sorry there is no other way of saying this, but they get foking full. People are packed into that thing until some granny (the Chinese name for Grandmother is Nai-Nai…so from now on we will refer to granny as Nai Nai – laugh, its funny!). So they full the bus until some Nai-nai (hahahhahaha that doesn't get old...but nai nai does…hahahaha) is sitting on the drivers lap and people are closer together than at a Justin Beiber concert (or so I can imagine). But that morning the buses where so full that no one was getting on. I am talking arms out windows and squashed faces against the door. Dude, this princess was not going in there! So us two foreigners stood at the bus stop with our little travel bag for 20 minutes, found a not so full bus and hit the road to Starbucks!

After meeting Lin and having a delicious vanilla coffee, some weird sandwich and taking advantage of a western toilet… We marched down through town. The city centre was littered with police and army men hanging around in case some angry Chinese people tried to loot a Japanese restaurant (probably Chinese owned but apparently that doesn’t matter) or attack a Japanese made car because Japan wants to buy (not take or steal but buy) an Island. I don’t pretend to understand but it did make for exciting walking. Although I expected more drama than two army men fighting over a cig and a sleeping policeman but then this is not Africa.  We got to the bus station and in 10 minutes were on a bus heading for Emei Mountain. So easy despite the hundreds of people. They don’t mess around with transport, that is for sure. Side Note: The bus ticket there and Back was equivalent to R150 – which is cheaper than two double brandy and cokes and a bottle of water, or so I hear)

The more I travel the more I realise how beautiful South Africa is! The road there was pretty boring but with all three of us, armed with IPods and excitement, we sure made the best of it. Five years ago it would have been three of us and a bottle of vodka…this time it was no liquids at all in the fear that we would need the loo on the way and have to use Chinese toilets… Touch wood, I have avoided that until now and believe me; I will need vodka to be at peace with peeing on my shoes.  Anyway 2.5 hours later we arrived at The Teddy Bear hotel - http://www.teddybear.com.cn/. This is a strange hostel type hotel that has soft beds, en-suit bathrooms and western toilets and teddy bears (der). We didn’t get to spend much time here but note to anyone going…bring your own booze if you don’t want to drink turps. Bring your own toilet paper because they give you one square per day and don’t eat their food – rather go Chinese.

So after the worst burgers ever but still filled with excitement, we grabbed out camera’s and explored the town at the foot of the Emei mountain. Wood carvings, Buddha’s. Waterfalls, museums, trees, rivers, temples. Stunning! Three photographers on one trip – not too much is left to be discovered and there wasn’t a second without the sound of a shutter speed.  Emei mountain is said to be the second holiest place for Buddhists and the town is a buzzing holiday Mecca filled with Chinese and foreign tourists alike. I didn’t get a chance to find out a lot but I know this. From the amount of stray puppies and kittens (and I know this because Mari nearly brought all of them home) it’s safe to say that Dog and cat is not on the menu there. I do know they like their food fresh as half the restaurants and all sorts of things live that you could choose to eat. I must say the bunnies were super heartbreaking and there was talk of sneaking in the middle of the night to break all the food out.

On the first night we were treated to an awesome fireworks display, arranged by Jackie Siebrits or the tourism office – there is still some debate ;). But it was awesome. Big, bright, noisy! Pink sparkles and yellow twirly things. Some hanging low, some shooting up and half way through one display, another started on the other side of the hotel. We watched from the roof of the hotel and it felt like the whole of China was celebrating my birthday (No that's not narcissistic at all!)

On the second day, we took a bus 2.5 hours up the mountain. In the bus were two monks whose phones kept ringing…some Chinese tourist and hikers and a few worshipers. It was a winding road and I don’t mean that metaphorically, and I am sure we nearly fell off the cliff in that buss more than once but the scenery was awesome. At the top we walked up many stairs along the mountain side – food and curio stalls on one side, cute looking monkey savages on the other. I watched the one bugger steal some Nai-nai’s purse from her hand and then started unpacking it looking for food. Out came shirts and all sorts of things a monkey cannot eat. I don’t like monkeys – just saying. At the top of the stairs we took a cable car to the summit. From there you can see the four headed Buddha which is like a three story building and is coated in real gold – I kid you not. And the view from the top is over the surrounding mountains and clouds. Unfortunately we went on a misty day and didn’t get to see blue skies and enjoy the view fully but it was still fun.

I will admit, we spent most of the time taking pictures of each other but then we are HOT and who wouldn’t want to. I managed to get sunburnt through the clouds and came home with a red nose. I would take the opportunity to go into the spiritual feeling of the place and the history and all that but I have been rambling a lot and there is no humour in that. So I will take you to the bus trip down the mountain in a bus made for midgets. My knees were practically at my chest and Mari who was in the back middle seat, kept sliding off the narrow chair that she had to put on her seatbelt for fear of getting stuck in the narrow passage face down and needing the jaws of life to get her out. So super funny now. Not so funny then. After a long day, we showered, ate a good Chinese meal and watched half a movie about things in the mist with octopus tentacles – I stopped concentrating. Then a bus back to the busy city armed with iPods and chocolate chips cookies and my red nose.

There is so much more to tell but my fingers are sore and I should have poured some wine before writing this to get me through the home stretch… But have a look at my pictures, if you haven’t already. I have loaded them on Facebook.

But here are links for you:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?
set=a.10151021616230806.423600.708510805&type=3&l=25b0b154ea
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151022586330806.423812.708510805&type=1&l=abe537ef64

Is that Dog in my soup?

Today I faced my Chinese food fear head on. Today I decided that I may never eat soup in China again and that I am okay with that. It all started with a lesson on feelings. Sad, happy, embarrassed, shocked, depressed, frightened, ecstatic etc. 

It is very hard to get the kids to speak about anything other than school because that's all these poor kids do, is attend lessons. What makes you sad, getting bad grades. What makes you happy, getting good grades. When were you embarrassed, when I didn’t do well in the test. Who frightens you, my maths teacher. 
Anyway, I asked the student what makes her scared besides school work and she told me her grandmother. Take all the cliché’s and stereotypes you have heard about Chinese people and eating and animals etc and throw them all together and you have this Ouma. Ouma got mother to kill the family dog a few years ago because the meat is not only delicious but keeps you warm in the winter. Apparently in the old days, dog soup was a stable winter food like spag bol or gluwine. 

The family dog, I kid you not. Apparently this woman now walks the streets after dinner and watches all the people taking their family pets for walks and remarks to her family how delicious they all look. So of course I asked, “What about cats,”…No, tiffany said, she will eat them but she doesn’t think they are delicious! 
My student found this conversation highly amusing and I have to admit, when she was telling me how the grandmother comes home after a visit with the family to the zoo just to tell the mother which animal she would like to eat first, I laughed a bit myself, picturing this tiny old Chinese ouma with a carving knife running after a lion. 

I have decided not to meet that grandmother for fear that she might want to taste a bit of foreign meet. That is not a way I want to go…chopped up in dog soup, fed to all the sweet looking marjong playing ladies with grey hair in buns and slippers on. 

P.s – pledged to braai on national braai day so look out for pics. I am not sure if this will get us arrested but for this South African tradition, I am willing to risk it! 

Riding a full bus to Yoga and loving it!

Friends, family and random people who find themselves reading this who like to hear the rantings of an crazy person... Hello 


If you had said to me, 5 years ago, that I would be in a classroom at a private English training centre using a laminater to make Pirate themed flash cards for a class of 4 deliciously cute five year old Chinese kids.. I would have laughed and called you Feng zi (crazy). But here I sit. Surrounded by Chinese, teaching English and in awe by the adventures that have brought me here. To a place so different from where I started five years ago but yet in a lot of ways the same. 


In every community or work place, despite cultural differences, the issues and dynamics are all the same. The one person who thinks they better than everyone else and talks down to everyone.. the likable person that everyone loves as soon as as they meet them... the joker; funny one (this used to be me but I am still finding my groove) that can spin a joke out of anything....The boss who treats the people that make him money like gold and the people who do the grunt work like crap..The miserable person who always complains and hates their job, my close friends will laugh with me on this one as it used to be me. My not so close friends will also laugh and say this used to be me but behind my back. 


It is true what they say...you can not run away from your problems. If you are kleptomaniac in South Africa, moving to Poland is not going to fix that. Seeking some professional help or brandy may fix that...well until you steal the shrinks pen and the ashtray from the bar that is.  Your cat died in China (and probably got eaten in some rural village by a family of 13 kids), the cat is still dead when you go to Columbia...Although I do hear they have very good chemicals there to numb any pain...Er of course I mean the coffee! So you run away from one boss,and when you get to the new place, turns out they all the same. Then perhaps its the approach to them that needs to change? Drinking at work, baseball to the head... all things i have considered... 


We spend our lives saying when I get a better job I will be happy...when I get a man I will be happy... when I learn to pole dance like a professional and drink tequila till it turns me into a stripper...I will be happy. The trick is, to be happy now. In this moment. At this second of the day, as you read this...Just be happy. You hate your boss, you have three choices... rise above, shoot him in the head, quit...but the key is you have choices and you can choose to be happy. Every time I see someone spitting in the street, or hear the know-it-all knowing it all, miss my friends, or get elbowed by some 90 year old woman on the buss... I have two choices, to let it upset me...or to ignore it, turn my Ipod up and just enjoy where I am. You have choices to change the things you can and to ignore or medicate the things you can't (A little creative plagiary as I adapt and steal some AA logic...well not the medication part...


I can not lie. This has not been as easy as it sounds. The first four weeks impossible. Two spitting people, some communication mishaps and the discovery that I may not own another pair of pretty shoes again! But it gets easier, and easier and I have good days and bad days. I started Yoga... I know three bus routes. Enjoyed lunch some teachers. Decided to do at least on tourist thing a month and have made some great Chinese friends who for some reason think I am awesome. I take one day at a time, one moment a time and try (sometimes unsuccessfully) to be happy in that moment. I know it sounds all very Zen but I am in the east and I am tired of being unhappy in a rat race i can't figure out, working for increasing amounts of money that will never be enough...so I figure all this airy fairy thinking can' hurt can it. 


I have this incredible opportunity to travel many places that I have always wanted to go. I have amazing I-can't-believe-my-luck friends and family who have helped and supported and fed me wine every step of the way. It turns out, I am not a bad teacher, I am a pretty good writer, photography is art and one day I will master the fitness to noodle ratio. Life is good. Not perfect, but as when is it ever supposed to be perfect! It is all about how we get there right? And I am enjoying the ride and feel very blessed! 

Power to the People!

Power to the People! 

I am writing this by candle light…well actually it is by rechargeable light that I stole (procured) from my work but that doesn’t sound nearly as poetic.  The power to my apartment compound, has been off since 7am this morning and it is now  11pm and the sense of frustration is making me feel a little nostalgic as it reminds me of Load shedding back home. YAY Eskom! I have to admit, it was fun the first 12 hours until I realised that although my geezer uses gas, I need electricity to ignite it and so does my phone which is dead…and my kindle which I forgot to charge. My iPod has been a real trouper and has lasted with me sporadically through the day but I feel it is on its last breath. 
There is an ongoing fight between the government and our apartment regarding the lot in front of us that they want to build an electricity substation.  I am with them as it will totally ruin my view so yay proteresters. Anyway, this power shortage turns out to be retaliation from the government after the owners took to their fences and bashed them all down. So where does that leave me, in the dark!  


But never fear, when your apartment clearly has some underground movement (in Chinese) as they have taken to the street and armed with loud speakers and pots, they are beginning to make quite the riot.  They have marched loudly down the block to a major intersection where they now stand in the middle of the road voicing their displeasure. The traffic is not moving and all the chaos, although very peaceful and hardly a municipal strike, is reminding me of home.  


Being that I am still only here on vacation, so to speak, I had to fight the urge to run downstairs and photograph this exciting community get together and save myself some Chinese jail time which is not on my travel bucket list, even after Bridget Zones made is look totally awesome with Madonna and wonder Bra. SO hide here and watch from my 17th floor apartment. Having worked – briefly – for the municipality in knysna 12 years ago (god am I really that old?) I once was there as a striking mob descended and I had to escape through the window which luckily was ground floor, so I have had enough danger for one life. 


But what a sense of community. Upper end middle class, standing up for their rights in a dignified, unified way. Imagine if we had done that in Knysna with Eskom…I can see us Sunday night, middle of Main Street unified….but we would have to have a beer. And a braai. Cannot be unified in South Africa with some chop. Maybe some Brandy. Someone’s ford laser playing some epic mid 90’s tunes remixed to a sakkie sakie beat….Ok perhaps they would have joined in the party and ignored the power until the next morning when everyone woke up on the pavement smelling like stale beer and pee…. Not so “dignified”…But far more fun than loud banging chopsticks and angry spitting talk, even if they get the job done! 

Mind the spit! 

People, who know me well, will agree…me and bodily functions don’t get along to well. Yes, not only does it mean that I wouldn’t want to have them over for tea and discuss world politics (yuck) but it is the talking about them that does it; sends shivers down my spine. Or seeing any (god forbid) or hearing about it. It is what happens to other people. 


I don’t talk about bowl movements (oh wait I just did! – besides this) or condom flavours and the thought of squatting in the bush or the pushing out of a baby (the miracle of the birth they call it) leaves me crippled with fear and literally makes me nauseous. Which I tell you, is uncomfortable for someone who would never be caught throwing up in public – unless during the rugby world cup and there were too many shooters drunk and it only happened once! 


So you get it right? Just like I tell myself beef is made clean and fully wrapped, and does not come from a brown eyed cow with long luscious lashes  named Daisy, so I have deceived myself into believing that bodily functions, happen to other people – in the private of their homes – and as far away from me as possible. 


As unrealistic (and somewhat disturbed) this denial is, I packed it up into my suitcase and left for China, Asia. I can hear you laughing. It is okay; get it out of your system. Asia, bodily function issues hahahahahaha. Go ahead! I didn’t say it was rational thinking. 


I stepped off the plane in Chengdu and followed the crowds onto the tarmac on the way through those arrival doors when I heard, from in front of me, a growl. A long phlegm growl which was followed by a spitting noise. I followed it to a man three people in front as he wiped is mouth and carried on walking. I cringed as all my judgemental western words came into my head…Uncultured (the guy was wearing a very quality suite I might add, very cultured), uncouth, rude! 


I walked passed the scene of the crime and kept my eyes down looking for stray “shrapnel”. And for the next two days, I started to hear all the growls and spits around the city, and I caught on that this was not a one off occurrence. I began to watch the pavement as we walked the cobbled streets of old town, or walked through gardens and bright coloured temples. I walked with my head down. 


A funny thing started to happen. I got less shocked with every leftover I saw. And surprisingly there weren’t too many, perhaps if I had looked up I would have noticed a lot of those spits where done into bins and bushes.  I also realised I was totally bored with looking at spit. 


So I started to look up from time to time. A starbucks here, a clothing store there. Oooo pretty lights, some people practising ti-chi in the park. A toasted duck in the window – ok not so pretty. A cute dog, groomed with pretty shoes on. And then it hit me! Like a ton of bricks or like a spit wad hitting the pavement! For three weeks I had chosen to look at spit instead of the city I was here to explore!  


As I slowly come to terms with my bodily function “issue” by googling birthing info and looking at Dr Phil’s website, I have decided to put the fear of phlegm behind me (well unless the wind changes and I get caught in the cross fire, because then, my friends, I will be teaching Chengdu an array of English and Afrikaans  swearwords).  And as Shrek will tell you, “Rather out than in I always say!”…


Mind the spit? Na, not too much! 

Homeland


The mountains stand rooted and unwavering 
Like an acient king…before his men
As the winds of change circle below 
Time moves, and trees speak in whispers
The seas meet in waves of rememberance 
Histories are long forgotten but not forgiven
The people chant, the people dance
The people sing, the people march 
Showered in splendid rays, inviting 
Tribal colours bring energetic peace 
Unique pallets and tastes unite cities 
A nation moulded from clay
By the heart of a working man 
By the hands of many children 
A proud nation, is moulded from clay 

Breaking stereotypes…Ten things I have learned about China so far……

1. Although you have to be 18 to buy liquor, if you and your 14 year old friends (if you are 14 in this scenario not 35 or that would just be weird) go out to a restaurant and feel like a little beer, they will serve it to you. Perhaps it’s because this is not such a drinking nation and I am yet to see a drunken guy stumble around the streets. But it is early days yet and perhaps that will be me after I try my first Chinese drink.

2. There are dogs as pets here, which are walked every evening all over the city and unlike popular belief back home, they are not walking these pets to market as free-range (if you know what I mean) – these are flashy poodles and lassie dogs well looked after and fed and loved. Pets – not dinner. Although they don’t bark and I do have to wonder if they to have heard the rumours and decide to be on their best behaviour in case. 


3. I have seen (and heard at 3am) cats here although they don’t get walked and I don’t see them as often. I did see many at the temple but then monks are vegetarian so that doesn’t disprove any apprehensions and I remain cautious. 


4. Although manoeuvring around the city, watching people walk passed each other without greeting and seeing pushing and shoving (normally between a bus and a scooter) may give you the impression of Chinese being unfriendly – they are not. If you are introduced to someone or invited into their hope it is of utmost importance that you have a happy experience and are fed correctly. The pushing and shoving is just logistics when you live with 10 million other people in one city. Truth be told, if you don’t do it, you will miss your bus stop! 


5. Perhaps it’s better not to learn the Chinese for, “What meat is this”, as perhaps you really don’t want to know the answer. When eating out, it is also best not to look towards the kitchen or wonder to yourself, “How longs has this been standing there!” – blocking it all out when eating makes everything taste a lot better! 


6. There are seriously no fat people in China, or not that I have seen so far. Perhaps there is something about this tofu, pork and lettuce noodle soup after all! 


7. In a country that is now 3 men to every woman, it is now the woman’s family who get to sit back and watch the groom’s family pay for the wedding. Brides are hot commodity and weddings are big business.  People now favour having girls over boys and some men now travel to Vietnam to find brides. In Chinese terms I am an old made and have no hope for marriage as it is important ones daughter is married before she is too old at TWENTY TWO. 


8. Smsing South Africa costs a freaking fortune. In about 30 sms’s and trying to get my phone to load whatapp, I have spent 250 yen which is probably about R300. Cellphone is big business and I phones are everywhere. I also learnt that blackberrys are no where and I might as well have my Nokia 3101 from 1999! It is cheaper to buy a new phone that to try and call home. 


9. There is no cheese and pine burger at KFC and MacDonald’s serves rice. 


10. There is hardly any crime here. People walk the streets at all hours of the night and I have been assured it is safe. The sim cards for the celphone don’t come with pins and when I asked my friend about it, he couldn’t figure out why one would be needed. Obviously one still needs to be aware in any city in the world but with so many people around this city never sleeps and you never walking around alone!

I write this after five lattés, three flights and over 30 hours of travelling has rendered all deodorant mute. And yes…All this while on a bench outside of gate A113 on a plane is heading to Chengdu (I can only hope). I am broken. I know I should be excited and all look at me, I am going to China, how adventures and awesome am I but that is so three weeks ago! I am sure once I get there, shower for the first time in two days and have gotten some sleep and then shower some more, I will be much more capable of doing my victory dance! This airport is super clean, Guangzhou (in case you may be wondering) and besides the nut crumbs that surround where I am sitting (Thos aren’t my nuts promise!), I don’t see a piece of litter anywhere. This leaves me and my Starbucks cup (And okay my nuts) in a precarious situation as I don’t see a bin anywhere. So how do I find myself in China, in an airport that is far to organised for me to understand?

I suppose I could start my 6am arrival at CT international airport as I checked in to my first of four flights after spending and awesome 10 days falling back in love with the Mother city! Back when I was fresh with mug and bean coffee and excitement and nerves fought for my attention. Back before the three hour delay in the very exciting airport of Doha (for my American and slow friends, that is sarcasm) cleaned all the smiley butterflies out of me and replaced them with stomach aching emotional turmoil – although that could have been the 4th cup of coffee and the wheat I had for dinner. I will not lie, it was hard to leave Cape Town after such an awesome ten days with my friend Nicolene, and doing such touristy things like movies premiers, and walks up The Mountain (which needs a Capital if you in CT and a low voice with a blocked nose like the posh talk), trendy apartment parties with my trendy friends nick and Kirst and a very good dose of Friends – the Series I mean. I did shed a tear or two. And it is sad, but that is not where the story ends (if I did, I may not have gotten on that flight I was so drunk with Cape Town…dahrl!)

You could say it started when I joined ships and went through the first set of travelling and where I discovered Naples pizza with nutella (I know right – awesome) and the clear Caribbean waters. Or how I met my Asian friends on the Oasis, after one crap formal night and a plate of rice and viennas it was first suggested “You come to china!” When you worked a 15 hour day on ships, you may just agree to anything but that day, was the formulation of a dream that sparked way before then. Before trips and ships and Starbucks (gosh I love Starbucks), there was me, with a pen and a scrap piece of paper (probably an old window display paper from the Sotheby’s window) and the beginnings of a bucket list and light bulb moments…

So how do I find myself in China, in an airport that is far to organised for me to understand? And for that I thank Oprah!