Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya
 
Before me my cheap Mc Donald's coffee is now growing cold.
 
I came in here to get out of the humidity outside but there seems to be no air-conditioner. What there is though, is a big flat screen TV and a growing Chinese crowd around me. Outside and a floor down the city's main night market is being set up. Here a year ago Luo Wei and I spent many happy hours getting to know each other. The foods were new and our friendship was just as new and exciting. Now a year on things in some ways may not be so new but for both of us I hope they are still just as exciting.
 
I guess it helps in some ways to live in complete opposite parts of the country!
 
A man making popcorn from a primitive 'popper' has just turned his light on. Being the first one I guess the naked globe may help him attract attention of those passing by. It is your typical three wheeler mobile eatery. He puts the popcorn seeds into a covered wok with a handle coming out the top. The wok sits on a flame powered by a gas bottle that is also attached to his mobile eatery and the Popcorn Man stands there turning a small handle.
 
When ready he passes the contents to his wife who then adds either icing sugar or honey!
 
His mobile eatery sits on the side of the main road and around him are many other mobile eateries, the most being the Muslim Meaty Treats Eateries which is where I will be heading once I finish here. I may spend an hour or two in Mc Donald's every few days but it is not often I will eat here especially if I have Muslim Meaty Treats or something similar near by.
 
Luo Wei and I did head up the road to the other Mc Donald's for dinner last night.
Last year when I was here there was a clothing store where I sit now.
There were no Mc Donald's in Kaifeng city.
No there are two of the buggers.
 
Four western Backpackers just walked past. Happily when they looked up and spotted me they actually waved instead of diverting their eyes and pretending they didn't see me.
 
Sadly today the 'Beers, Noodles N Amigo' Summer Adventure ended.
 
Yesterday was a huge day. We both had only an hour's sleep from the previous day's adventure upon Guyuan Temple Mountain. We were supposed to head home and go to sleep some time in the afternoon but the evening found us at a beautiful Hotpot Eatery with our friendly Taxi Driver, his wife and his chirpy daughter.
 
As we had a 3AM appointment with a Kaifeng bound train we decided no to sleep. We spent the next nearing twenty hours in a hard seat surrounded by those with no seat and a bastard of a 'I'm Mr Businessman' (who was born with a deep loud and very annoying voice) who began trying to impress the young girl next to him at 4:30am (an hour and a half after we got on) and didn't stop until two hours before we arrived at Kaifeng.
 
She obviously gave him a big knock back!
He for no reason we could figure got up and moved seats.
He walked past several times afterwards but diverted his eyes from her each time.
 
But I for one think that he could actually understand some English as Luo Wei was telling me most things he was telling the girl and from what it seems he actually didn't know much about what he was saying. He was trying to impress her with his knowledge of the towns/cities we were passing by and many of them were towns/cities that Luo Wei was taught about in Tourism School
 
And from what she was saying most of what he was saying was made up on the spot.
 
The guy seriously didn't stop talking for about fifteen hours and each time either of us finally drifted off he would begin with more of his 'stuff'. If was not long after he once again woke Luo Wei up that he moved as when she woke she slammed down the CC container and yelled to him that he had been 'Jabbering Crap' for over fifteen hours now.
 
Ha Ha!
Take that Mr (Chinese) Bean!
 
We arrived into the Kaifeng I know and love. An ancient walled city full of colourful neon lights and no high rise buildings. We then began the 'Cheap Hotel Boogie' and surprisingly were knocked back from the happy hotel I stayed at last year.  
 
This year it is Olympic Year and foreigners must stay in a big and safe hotel!
 
Of course we ended up finding a small hotel just off Zhongshan Lu, the cities main road that runs from the south gate all the way up to Dragon Park Lake. It is also just around the corner from my hotel last year. Last night and today were pretty much spent indoors due to storms. We didn't head outside today until well after three when we headed around to the 'Tain Ticket Office' on Yingbin Lu, which separates the Baogong Lake.
 
There was supposed to be a CITS Office there also but it either scampered when it saw me or it moved office sometime during the last year or so. I wanted to find out about a day trip to Guoliangcun Village or some information on Jigong Shan but as there was no CITS Office I ended up with neither. What I did walk away with is a train ticket to Xinyang City on Friday, which is about an hour or so from Jigong Shan, maybe a bit less (or so we think. It is about >>> that far on the map!). I am sure I can find a bus from somewhere near the train station to the mountain. She sadly has a ticket back to Xian City (on Saturday) the day after I leave. We may see each other before or we may not.
 
We are hoping to catch up at the night market for some BBQ and a romantic walk.
She will spend some precious time with her mother.
I should actually do the same and ring mine.
Sorry Mum, you know how it is mate.
 
I saw Luo Wei safely into a Tuk Tuk home after noodles near the city's Northern Gate. The noodle shop had been there since Luo Wei was a child and after looking around and going into the kitchen to find the Noodle Lady to pay I am positive that it hadn't been cleaned since then either.
 
From the soy sauce bottles on the tables to the windows and exhaust fan out back, thick dark grease covered absolutely everything. Over a long period of time no surface had been saved from the advancing army of grease. But, like I have stated over and over again in my blog, these are always the most popular and delicious eateries to find. They are never expensive and believe me, you will never ever find them empty!
 
So, what of the next two weeks?
 
Like I said before, off to Jigong Shan in two days and if I can find the mountain or at least a way to it I will stay there for a few days. From there I really have no idea. Maybe I will head down into Hubei Province and slowly make my way across to Xian City.
 
Maybe I will get lost!
Maybe I will even take that Yangzi River cruise I promised myself I would never take!
 
Once again it has been a summer full of no plans and no ideas yet another awesome adventure has been slowly left behind by my sandal clad feet. As usual the trail is in provinces I never even thought to visit.
 
Ningxia Province!
Where is Ningxia Province and why would anyone go there?
 
Inner Mongolia!
It is neither China nor Mongolia, why bother going there?
 
Yet now I can tell you a lot about both of them and a month ago I knew absolutely nothing. Not even the idea of going had been born until I reached Datong City in Shanxi Province where I hadn't planned on going either. Like I said prior to this summers Beers N Noodles Adventure;
 
Sometimes I wish I was one of those people who had plans!
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Fat Boy Slim
The album was 'On The Floor At The Boutique'
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