Just few days after arriving in Beijing with 55kg of luggage, I’m on my way to Nanning, visiting my relatives there. I’m flying with Shenzhen Airlines for the first time. The plane seems to be a bit old, an 737/700. It’s also a bit noisy in here. Seems like I have to get used to it since I have to probably take the same plane back to Beijing.
Well, it was the first time for me going crazy on those karts. Go-kart racing seems to be a fun but expensive sport. It is 50 Yuan for 8 minutes of pure adrenaline. I have to say… definitely worth it! Although I wouldn’t go there a second time (at least not on that track), but I really enjoyed it. We drove a Yamaha K-9 with a top speed of 80 km/h, the real speed you get with all those corners is probably maximum 60km/h. But sitting all low on those karts, it feels so fast!
Somehow is my blog turning into a video blog… Anyway, Frank, my cousin, some other friends and me went to the Shanghai Indoor Skiing Hall. It’s supposed to be the biggest in the world, 380m long, 80m wide. It costs 218 Yuan for unlimited time skiing and 109 Yuan for unlimited time snowboarding. The slope is divided into 3 parts. The highest part was as steep as the second part, but had some small hills on it, where you could perform small jumps. The second part was divided into a fun-area with slide bars and a normal downhill slope. the third part is as long as the other two together. It wasn’t steep at all and is really beginner friendly.
On Sunday 9th, April, my parents, Frank and me went to Qingxiling (Western Qing Tombs). The weather was quite nice that day. At Qingxiling, one of the Tombs was constructed like the echo wall next to Tiantan (Temple of Heaven). You could stand at the one end of the wall and talk. Everyone else next to the wall would hear you clearly just as if you are on the phone with him. It was quite fun. When you were in the center of the echo wall, you could speak quietly and you could hear your voice echoed back pretty loud.
Frank and I are sitting in the plane to Beijing right now. While I was trying to sleep, Frank ordered “pinguozhi” (apple juice) twice in Chinese. But both times they nodded, smiled back really nicely and gave him mineral water. I don’t know why they didn’t understand him, but “pingguozhi” doesn’t sound like “mineral water” at all. Maybe they give out mineral water to everyone they don’t understand?The entertainment program on board is quite funny. They are playing a show called “Gags – Just for Laughs”, where they mock all kind of people. There also was a funny Coke advertisement, where Chinese track superstar saved a guy by giving him, no, not his hand but a coke bottle! Really crazy stuff…
Well, I hope we land in Beijing soon, the flight is really starting to bug me, it’s almost 3 pm and we haven’t had anything to eat yet.
Frank, my girlfriend and me went to Huangshan Mountain for a weekend. Friday March 10th, 2006, we started off at People Square in Shanghai, riding some bus to Huangshan. We booked our 3-day trip for RMB 498 the day before in a travel agency. First day was hell. At first, heavy fog caused the highways to be locked down, so we needed to take an alternative route which cost us 2 hours. Then the food at our lunch break was so bad we almost puked. After we finally arrived at the hotel, their heater was broken. No warm water in a 3-star hotel! At least dinner wasn’t too bad.