Hey Hey and a Big G'Day to Ya
 
Well what can I say?
 
I do know two words I can say
 
One is BUGGER and the other is SHANGHAI.
 
Why do I wish to say bugger you ask? Let me tell you. Last night while doing my double monthly back up on my two 80 gig tiny hard drives (identical back ups. Hey one dies you've got the other. You think I'm stupid don't you..well read on)
MY FREAKIN COMPUTER DIED!
 
Really it did. One minute we were sharing a cold beer and having a great time listening to the Infectious Grooves album 'The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move' and then it just died. No warning, not even a hint that there was something wrong. Well maybe it didn't actually die, more like went into a coma without a hint that it would ever wake up again. I tried everything, I pressed all the buttons and turned it back on, it would begin to come alive and then just go to a blue screen that told me if I did this and that it would maybe wake up and give me back all my documents and photos. The blue screen lied over and over again so I tried what every man would try next, I hit it a few times. Just Nana taps but with an edge and a hint of things to come if it continued to sleep. Then I said bugger it and watched a DVD instead.
 
I was pretty lucky as I had nearly finished the back ups and will only lose one months photos if it can't be fixed when I return.
Thankfully I have a Travelpod and can use those!
 
I can't warn people enough about doing back ups. Just do them and don't only do one, do two! If a computer hard drive can die so can your tiny back up hard drive. If both tiny hard drives die at the same time, mate you really do have a probem don't you. Maybe then you could question whether it's the device or the operater! Save yourself the heartache of losing everything on your hard drive. All those photos and memories. All the documents. Simply just do back ups. Enough said.
 
What was the other word that was rolling around the tip of my tongue. Oh yeah, it would be Shanghai. Shanghai, Shanghai, Shanghai. I'm going to Shanghai. I never thought I'd be taking my pack and sandals to such an environment but hey, I'm packed and I have a ticket for sometime after ten this evening.
 
Shanghai, I'm going to Shanghai and I am really excited about it too!
 
Beers N Noodles to ya...shane
 
ADDED LATER: Well, I'm sitting in bed in Shanghai. The world outside pretty much sounds like everywhere else in China. I can hear horns and people yealling at each other either face to face or by phone. (Most Chinese can't simply talk. Seriously, they can be sitting opposite each other in a quiet eatery and they still yell. It really is amazing to watch and listen to. I sometimes try to comprehend it and give up). Babies and mothers are chirping to each other and I can smell something very beautiful coming through my window on the third floor.
 
Life is wonderful and I love it so much!
 
OK, the journey here. After playing badminton with Hannah who lives at the gate house to the school we grabbed a 7:30pm taxi that the school booked for us and headed towards Wuyi Shan City. When traveling so far (around one and a half to two hours) its best to have someone 'in the know' book you a taxi. The cabbies want somewhere around four to five hundred Yuan for the journey and with the help of Mr Doo from the school Daniel and Alexa have a set price of one hundred and sixty Yuan. This is my first visit so split it three ways and its not really a lot more than the bus which stops long before 7:30pm.

The cab driver we had seemed rather confused for a lot of the journey and for some time we actually wondered if he knew where the hell he was going. Several times he stopped and rang friends and finally nearing two hours later and one traffic jam we arrived at the Wuyi Shan airport.
 
After checking in we sat for what was for the three of us the best coffee we had ever tasted. Maybe it's because its been some time between 'real' coffees or maybe it really was the best coffee ever made in the entire world. But for three people to take one sip, look at eacher other and say, 'WOW mate, that's a bloody good coffee'.
 
And then repeat it after each sip, it really must have been a great coffee.
 
The plane ride took only an hour and went by without a single bump or flat tyre. I'm always happy when the plane I'm on doesn't get a flat tyre on the journey as I don't think it would be a great idea to just stop and change it..do you! When we arrived we went where? Where did we go? We went where any person who lives in a tiny mountain city would go. We went to Mc Donalds of course. The place where plastic tastes so good the first time and then just gets worse each time after. It was really strange though, all the tables had chains attached to them. My guess was you lock your young child to it so you don't have to worry about it being pinched. The lady on the table across from us got a good giggle out of that and told me in broken English that she believed it was to attach your bag to it so it didn't get stolen.
 
As she was rather cute I told her she had a beautiful lap top and maybe WE could chain that to the table.
GRRRR! PRRRRR! YUUUUMMMMY!
She gave me lots of smiles after that.
Maybe she liked the idea.
 
We tried for the bus and was surrounded by taxi drivers at the door of the bus. Lap Top lady walked on by and told us the bus was the best option. The taxi drivers weren't happy with her. We boarded the bus and waited. No lights and no driver. Others boarded and waited and left to grab a cab. We thought bugger this and went to grab a cab to. We flew into 'the old' airport known as Hongqiao Airport which is about 18 kms from the city. The journey takes from half and hour to an hour. Ours took half an hour as it was well past midnight.
 
I think it cost sixty or so Yuan between the three of us. Not so bad.
 
When we hit the city I sat silently amazed as we drove beneath elevated roads that were sometimes up to four levels high. I had never seen anything like that before. The city seemed very neat and very clean from the taxi. There were trees and little parks here and there and the buildings became a little crazier the longer we drove which meant it had to be closer to the City Square area.
 
We were staying somewhere near the bund but really had no idea where we were as the hostel road wasn't on my LP Map.
 
When we arrived we found our little hostel was on a little road just off the big road we had been driving down with the elevated roads above us. Our hostel is called The Summer Hostel and is on Yongshou Road which is just off Yan'an Donglu. Awesome! After doing the passport and money thing we headed out and walked in the direction the girl pointed the river was. We walk and found everything was closed except 7/11 type stores.
 
So much for the city that never sleeps mate!
 
We found the Natural History Museum but had no idea where that was as Ididn't have my map so we decided as it ws nearing three we would grab a few beers and head home instead.
 
Enough for now...Beers N Noodles to ya...shane
 
The soundtrack to this entry was the band Living Colour
The album...if you're a Living Colour fan you really would have the EP 'Biscuits'
BUT, if your like me and you were and still are a huge Living Colour fan you would have searched everywhere for the Japanese release of this EP which instead of having I think five songs on it like the normal ep, this one has around eighteen or so. Its chocas full of covers and live songs. It really is worth the search.