When the parents came to stay.....

On Monday, I took mum and dad to walk around Optics Valley Square, a huge London Oxford Street-esque shopping area. Mum was in heaven with all the shops, mainly consisting of shoes, handbags and coats! We haggled on everything (of course) and I managed to get a lovely coat. Then, we wandered through Spanish, German and Italian streets, which are built to resemble different European countries. However, it was freezing cold so we had to do lots of walking to stay warm! In the evening, I had to tutor back near my apartment so I let me parents loose in China and it was quite a terrifying thought. Que a 10.30pm text stating that they’d not only survived, but they’d also had a few drinks (half a bottle of rum to be exact) and had students helping them buy food and then wanting pictures! Don’t even know why I was worried....

It's still Christmas in China....obviously

Favourite mall at Optics Valley

Jo shopping for twosies

Her first McDonald's in 19 years...

Coca cola bottles!

Beer at German Street

Cultural area

On Tuesday morning, I was up, dressed and packed for our trip tomorrow by 9am but I had to wait for my slightly hungover parents to emerge from their hotel. Finally, after lunch we traipsed to Baotong Temple to enrich my dad in even more culture, seeing as that’s his new favourite thing. The temple has lots of different buildings to pray in and then at the top it has a pagoda, which I wanted to climb. This was definitely a bad idea. The steps were so steep and narrow that we had to climb up using our hands and my mum had to come down backwards. Unsuccessful climb over (we didn’t make the top), we were then covered in thousand year old chalk – fantastic. The afternoon was slightly less traumatic, as we went back to my area where I introduced my mum to Mala Tang and then we headed back to their hotel.

One of the temples

Gold Buddha

Monk's washing...usual temple sight

Tying on a ribbon for luck

Mum watching her mala tang cook!

The Ramada hotel has a revolving restaurant at the top and so we ate there in the evening. After booking in for 8pm, we assumed that this would give us plenty of time to enjoy a meal. Oh no, after waiting 40 minutes for my carbonara (in this time I ate the whole breadbasket and half a salad out of hunger desperation), I was finally presented with my dish just as they started turning the lights off and cleaning up. I think I finished the last of my pasta using the lights from outside! Besides that, it was really exciting watching the city as we revolved as we had fantastic views of the city lit up at night.

Revolving restaurant

Enjoying the view of the city

BREAD!!

Wednesday morning came around and we sleepily caught the subway at 7am in order to get to the train station on time....because we were heading to Xian! For those not overly great on Chinese geography (me included before I came to live here), Xian is home to the terracotta army. We took a fast train there, which travels at over 300 km/h and so it would only take us 5 hours to travel there. The fast train itself was amazing: lots of legroom, reclining seats, western toilets and hot water so you can make hot drinks.

Train selfie at 8am - looking amazing

We arrived in Xian in the afternoon and after heading to our hotel, we decided to go and explore the city. After a quick translation in order to navigate the subway (FYI Zhong Lou means bell tower), we found ourselves buying tickets to see the bell tower just before it closed. We then went to a famous dumpling restaurant for some pork and mushroom dumplings served with vinegar and then wandered around until we found the other parts of the city. We saw the drum tower lit up at night and then wandered down the Muslim market, which was a sensation overload. It reminded me of a market in Africa, because everyone was happy to haggle in English, something I’ve not had happen yet in Wuhan. Well, I was off buying anything and everything- bag for Lozzy, ceramic bracelets, silk scarves and of course, a set of terracotta warriors. In-between this, we ate a nioroujiamo – beef filled pitta, which was tasty. We also got my dad some cake, as he’s currently living on a cake and Pringles diet whilst in China and then headed back to our hotel.

Bell tower

At the top of the bell tower

City of Xian

Muslim market

Making the nioroujiamo

Drum tower at night all lit up

On Thursday, I woke up like a child excited for Christmas as we were going to see the terracotta army! We had to catch a cab to Xian railway station (Xian di tie) and then catch a bus to the warriors, costing 70p – bargain. An hour or so later and we were seeing inside the pits where they excavated the warriors. Quick history lesson for you all now – in 1974, some peasants were building a well in the countryside and saw some heads appear. Of course, they ran away terrified but then on closer inspection, they realised that it was terracotta figurines built to honour an Emperor, who had died. There is Pit 1, which has an estimated 6000 warriors, Pit 2, which is set up to show army battle tactics and Pit 3, where they found two horse and chariots. What surprised me was the size of the warriors, as they’re bigger than me and also, how much detail is on every warrior – every one has a different face.

Restoring the warriors

Pit 1 - over 6000 terracotta warriors

Pit 2 - warriors found in battle tactics set-up

Full size warrior and its horse

In the afternoon, after seeing all the warriors, we headed back to the city centre. We walked along the bottom of the city wall for a while before taking the subway back to Muslim market for food. Here, I ate my way around the market with food like spicy, baby potatoes, rice cake dipped in rosewater and jujube and walnut cake. After the whole day spent walking in the cold, we found warmth in the huge shopping malls before heading down to the big goose pagoda. On the escalator down into the subway, a woman was so busy gawping at us that she tripped at the bottom of the escalator. We started laughing out loud and when she irately said something in Chinese, it made us laugh even more. She shouldn’t have been staring!

Panda disguised as a sheep!

We started walking from the subway to the pagoda, estimating a small walk but 30 minutes later, we still hadn’t arrived (oh Chinese maps, why are you so deceiving?). Finally, we found the fountains and watched the fountain and light show next to the pagoda. The fountains themselves are huge so it looked very impressive. After 13 hours of walking around, we could walk no more and caught a taxi back to the hotel. I slept so well that night that I actually woke up in the early hours confused about where I was!

Dayan (big goose) pagoda

Watching the fountain and light show

On Friday, we went for an hour walk along the bottom of the city walls before making our way back to the fast train station. We set off on our way back to Wuhan, with a quick confusing moment where the train attendants swivelled our seats around as we were changing direction! We made it back on Friday evening, and after I got some dumplings, I headed back to my apartment to sleep. SO.MUCH.SLEEP.

 Saturday morning (aka lunchtime) arrived and my parents headed over to my area for a relaxing afternoon. My dad was feeling poorly but a cheeky downloaded Six Nations rugby game (England vs. Wales) helped him feel better. Meanwhile, my mum is the only person, who has come to China and hasn’t enjoyed the food, so she set about cooking up her own stir fry in my kitchen, whilst I went along tidying up after her (don’t appreciate carrot peelings left on my kitchen floor). After catching up on Broadchurch – important part of my week – I took my parents to Mr Mai’s. They were so excited by the prospect of western style cake that they ordered ALL of it and then after this snack, they were let loose speaking to the Chinese. I think that they enjoyed it, and I also did that evening, well until the woman who I agreed could take one picture of me started recording a video of me talking. I swear at one point that she zoomed in on my face – what a treat.

Sunday rolled around and my dad was still feeling ill (manflu), so we left him in bed and I took my mum to the zoo in Hanyang, so that she could finally meet Wei Wei the panda. Other highlights included a newborn monkey, a rare golden monkey from Sichuan province turning its back as if refusing to have pictures and enjoying a Chinese ice cream with at least 9 different layers of filling. After a few hours in the sunshine, we headed back to make sure that my dad was okay and luckily, he was feeling slightly better. This meant that it was a perfect opportunity to hit the malls in Optics Valley...again.

Ostrich selfie!

Jojo meets Wei Wei <3

Enjoying an ice-cream walking round the zoo

A few hours later and my mum and I had successfully tackled a few more areas of the mahoosive mall. We kept my dad happy by feeding him pizza and I also made my mum try tung bao – little breaded meatballs filled with soup. Even after this food, I still needed feeding – obviously – so we went to McDonalds and then ate it back at the hotel room whilst watching a film...bliss. My taxi ride home in the evening was so terrifying that I had to keep shutting my eyes. To day that we had near miss accidents with at least two other cars and a bus would be an understatement. Given the chance, I would have walked instead.

Monday was a beautiful, sunny day so what better than to enjoy some other areas of Wuhan. We met up with my friend Will (unofficial tour guide for the day) at my metro station, and before getting on the subway, I had the pleasure of a woman running off the train before holding a child over a recycling bin so she could wee. How charming. Anyway, we headed over to Hankou on the subway and walked along Jianghan Pedestrian street before boarding the ferry to go across the Yangzte river. Lucky that Will was with us as we went into what we thought was the boat before realising that it was just the waiting room. If we had been alone then we might have been stood there for a while. The ferry was brilliant, as you could see the shorelines of Wuchang and Hankou, as well as the bridges across.

Mum and Will on the ferry

View of Hankou

Wuchang skyline (looking sunny for once!)

We got off the ferry and walked to the famous Hubu Xian (breakfast alley). This street is more touristy now but still has authentic stalls selling all kinds of street food. We tried some dou pi (rice and vegetable cake), chung fen (a local food from Will’s province), which had pork, mushrooms and lettuce wrapped in a pancake and then placed in a bowl of soup. To wash all these snacks down, mum and I enjoyed a Youzi tea – a grapefruit style fruit. Suitably stuffed (poor dad had yet another bakery item), we headed to see the Yellow crane tower. My mum was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t yellow and because they are doing construction work on it, we decided not to go up. However, I have finally seen this attraction (only taken my 4 months) so I’m happy.

Original Hubu Xian

Characters outside the Yellow Crane tower

As a final part of our trip out for the day, we wandered down through Yanzhi Lu (Tailor Street) and Tanhaulin Lu (Art Street). The tailor street has shops selling fabric and handmade clothes, whilst the art street has tons of shops selling arts and crafts. There are also coffee shops all down here, so we enjoyed a drink in the sunshine. There was a slight translation issue when my dad ordered coffee with milk and only got the milk but it eventually got sorted! My mum also bought me a knitted plant as I don’t have to remember to water it...excellent. As I was tutoring in the evening, I wanted to start heading back so I could relax a bit beforehand, and we took a bus to the subway station. My parent’s first Chinese bus experience and whilst my dad was less than impressed, my mum wedged herself and her newly acquired pottery and was looking very pleased with herself. I particularly enjoyed a few of the locals hopping on the back of the bus so that they didn’t have to pay the 16p bus fare!

My new plant addition - Fleur the flower

Cafe on Art Street

On Monday evening, I pottered around my apartment and then went to tutor my children for the last time before Spring festival (Chinese New Year). Well, last week saw the introduction of a sticker chart by the parents and it worked a charm on their behaviour. However, this week, in a typically Chinese fashion, the sticker chart was left gathering dust in the corner and the boys spent their ‘English’ time beating each other up – brill. At least they had learnt the months of the year (except February – oh February, why are you so difficult to pronounce). I also had a treat with my choice of drinks during the tutoring. Normally, I get some hot water, a traditional Chinese drink, but tonight I had iced water, cold bottled water, hot water AND red bull. I’m obviously doing something right.

On Tuesday, my dad stayed at mine to catch up on the rugby (vital), whilst mum and I fancied a walk. We were planning to go and see the botanical gardens, but ended up walking along the East Lake to end up at Chuhe Hanjie (a westernised shopping area). After our mammoth walk, I fancied a drink so just went to a drinks shop with huge pictures of drinks. The woman in the shop was a complete nightmare and refused to help me at all even when she gave me the wrong drink. I ended up paying at least triple the price of a normal milk tea for her to scoop the unwanted toppings, that I didn’t want in the first place, off! It was so vile I ended up leaving it on a wall...luckily mum enjoyed hers! Anyway, we grabbed a taxi back to mine before heading back out (with dad) to the night market in Hankou. This market is a narrow maze of stalls selling everything from suitcases to chicken feet. My mum was in her element, yet again and I managed to get a couple of bits for my apartment. I also got a travel card holder with a giraffe on because it was an essential.

Han Street

Walking along East Lake

Chuhe Hanjie

Unimpressed with the fish drying!

My local area!

I felt so exhausted after the night market experience that I found waking up on Wednesday morning extremely difficult! I eventually plodded over to my parent’s hotel after waiting ages for a taxi (hating on Chinese New Year atm). We wandered around a different mall near their hotel and I got a new outfit from H&M (in the sale so that’s fine). We also found a Subway for my dad and he stated that his ham, cheese and tomato ketchup footlong sandwich was ‘the best thing I’ve eaten since coming to China’. Excellent, a full and content dad.

His favourite meal of the whole trip!

The Ramada hotel from the outside

After our small adventure, we just chilled in the afternoon and I had a nap before we headed out for dinner. I briefly took my parents around Huashi cultural area (mainly so I could buy falafel mix) and then we went to JJ Fusions to meet my friend Brooke for some food. The food here is from about 17 different countries, so I shared falafel wraps and chicken tandoori. Just in case we weren’t full enough from our dinner, we stopped by at Mr Mai’s to have coffee and cake and have a chat. I then went home to chillax before spending my last day with my parents...sob.

Jo enjoyed this very true slogan

Meal at JJ Fusions...surprise surprise dad had cheese pizza

Today has been their last day in Wuhan and we have mostly spent the day relaxing before they begin the trek home. We tried a 'blizzard' at Dairy Queen - an American McFlurry, but trying to get the order right proved too much for the poor cashier. My dad's supposed fudge ice-cream turned out to be tiramisu. Oh well, at least he is blocked up and can't taste anything. After wandering around the malls again and mum and I finding it hard to leave without a purchase (one scarf and two handbags later), dad and I had a nap until dinnertime. After having some tea, it was time to say goodbye to my parent's. I have had a fantastic time with them over here and although I'm sad to see them leave, I only have 4 1/2/ months until I'm home...

Onesies are so last year (an extract from Jo)

After settling into our hotel & adjusting to China time on Monday, we visited a shopping mall, just one of many in the area. Just to give you some idea of the size, think 4 times the size of Meadowhall. With a purse full of Yen let the shopping commence!, 5 hours later we hadn’t even seen half of it so had to admit defeat & head back to the hotel proudly carrying my new purchases. I really wanted to buy a “twosie” (onesies are so last year) but Tudd wouldn’t let me (might sneak back later to get one so watch this space!)

Which twosie to choose...

My new purchases

Fuggs - fake UGG's

 As Ellis would be tutoring that evening that meant we had to entertain ourselves, ha ha we had spotted an Irish Pub earlier that day, so later that evening off we ventured to Captain Jacks. Most Irish bars are run by Irish people but we entered to be greeted by a Chinese barman who seemed quite pleased to see us as the bar was empty. 1 cocktail and 1 beer later we decided to sample the “Monday Special”: 1 bottle of rum, 6 cans of coke and a dish of peanuts – bargain at 240 yen (£24). As the bar was still empty, we had the peanuts replenished. We had quite a good evening listening to 80’s music, the pub only had four more customers and we still didn’t see anyone Irish.

Half a bottle of Rum later we decided after being in China for a couple of days that we would attempt to buy some street food so off we went clutching a carrier bag with our remaining rum. First stall we purchased a “bread thingy for 10p, had a taste and decided it wasn’t bad and a bargain so with new found confidence we ventured further. We saw a man selling spring rolls and after lots of gesturing and pointing, a young girl came to our rescue and told us we had to buy a sequence of them in other words 8 for 50p – job done but we then decided that perhaps we could have done with Ellis after all to translate. However, we spotted a KFC and decided to end the night with some chips, again lots of pointing and off we trotted with two portions of chips & about 20 sachets of ketchup – result!

We were just eating our “supper” when a group of 10 Chinese students walked past, they said hello and we replied back then suddenly found ourselves surrounded by them all wanting to have photos taken individually & as a group, this went on for quite some time all changing places with each other. One young lad just stood there saying “this is my dream”... still not sure what he meant but if his dream was to have his picture taken with two rather drunk Brits stuffing their faces with chips then I was more than happy to oblige.

We have also spent 3 days in Xi’an this week visiting the Terracotta Warriors, something I have always wanted to see and was not disappointed. It is very impressive even Tudd ( not exactly a culture vulture ) was impressed. Ellis had already prepared us for people staring and we tend to just ignore them but going down an escalator one girl was turning round and so busy staring that she didn’t realise the escalator was coming to the end. This resulted in her falling flat on her face and sending other people flying. We thought it hilarious (she didn’t!) then she picked herself up and stomped off looking very embarrassed (her mum obviously hadn’t told her its rude to stare).... it was definitely one of those you had to be there moments.

Terracotta army

Thousands of warriors

We travelled to Xi’an on the high-speed train, 5 hours travelling at 195 mph, reclining seats – amazing certainly puts British Rail to shame and in every carriage there is an area to get hot water so everyone takes a Chinese pot noodle (choodle) so you can make up your own food – brilliant. Also, on the train two little girls got bored and decided to run up and down the aisle. After being told twice by the attendant to sit down a rather official looking man came and spoke rather sternly to the mother and girls. I don’t know what he said but the girls spent the remainder of the journey hiding under the table – marvellous, a lovely quiet train journey. Couldn’t imagine that happening in the UK (well the children running riot I could but no one brave enough to tell someone else’s children to behave)

Fast train

Settled on the train

Cant believe we have been here in China for a week already and so far I have been impressed with the Malls e.g. how cheap they are and how good Ellis is at speaking the lingo. However, I am not too keen on the pollution I can understand why everyone wears facemasks as every day seems like its foggy and I still haven’t found anything good to eat (poor Tudd’s staple diet is Pringles and cuppa soups). So that’s about all for this week, Bye for now, Jo. 

RIP to the fly that used to be, his days are over....

I will explain the fly story later, I promise but I like to go in order. Soooo on Sunday I lay around feeling very sorry for myself until I realised that antibiotics are available easily in China. Cue me heading out to buy medicine (I gave a quick and impressive performance of sinusitis, which persuaded the chemist that I was ill) and I came straight back home because Wuhan is currently minus a million degrees Celsius. On Sunday evening, Carley and Marie came round to use my internet as theirs wasn’t working and we ended up watching lots of episodes from ‘An Idiot Abroad’. The China episode still makes me cry with laughter every time!

Chinese antibiotics

 On Monday, I did absolutely nothing except watch trashy TV and drink copious amounts of tea to keep warm and then in the evening, I tutored my older children and they were particularly crazy. It annoys me how parents in China just don’t discipline their children because I don’t really enjoy forcing apart two fighting children during ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’. One of the parents told me that I was ‘tired tonight’ – no I’m not tired, I’m just not prepared to tell your children off when you don’t. Anyway rant over, they paid me, which always cheers me up and I went home to relax.

Tuesday was a much more exciting day and I braved the now artic conditions to go and meet Brooke for coffee. We went for a browse around the new shopping mall beforehand and I managed to find something that fit me! It was still deemed a ‘large’ but the dress was very nice, not too Chinese and half price in the sale – a definite win. After my successful purchase, we headed for coffee and waffles, where the trauma unfolded. Brooke and I ordered about a minute apart from each other, yet whilst her waffle came in 5 minutes, mine took 35 minutes!!! I wasn’t even hungry but I REALLY wanted the waffle immediately and as the minutes ticked on I became the person who looks over at the kitchen area every 3 seconds in case the food is coming. Finally, my waffle made it to me and by that point, didn’t even stand a chance. I demolished it all (except the fruit) and my levels of calm just about returned to normal.

A New Year display in a mall

My bargain dress

Unimpressed at how long the waffle took to come...

It started to get really cold in the café as we spent time there, and after sitting with our coats on for a while, decided to go to Huashi cultural street for a wander. I got some new hair bows, Brooke bought some incense, and then we went for more food, because it was cold and it would warm us up. We ended up in ‘Kebab Kingdom’, and even the name of this place excites me. After about 20 minutes of menu deliberation, (even the server was getting slightly irate), I finally settled on Thai curry and a portion of chips. We both underestimated how big the portions were, now that we’re used to Chinese portions and once the curry arrived, I immediately regretted my decision to also order chips. With potatoes also in my curry and a serving of rice, I valiantly struggled through the carb-filled food and ate most of it.

Brooke deciding what to have...

My excitement over a restaurant named 'Kebab Kindgom'

When I’d finished, a fly landed on my remaining rice and I used my spoon to try and swat it away. However, I managed to hit the fly and then had to finish off the murder of said fly until it lay limp in my rice. This now mean that it looked like I’d left my rice because it had been served with a fly in it. We had to make a pretty sharp exit after this incident.

On Wednesday, I was looking forward to doing a few jobs around the house and then having a pampering day. However, when I went to brush my teeth in the morning, no water came out from the tap. The water from the whole area was out. Luckily, I don’t drink Chinese water and always keep bottled water in my fridge, so I was able to have a cup of tea etc but my washing bedding and showering plans were put on hold. It finally came on at 2 ish, just as all the Chinese head back to work so I took full advantage and had the longest shower ever. It was fantastic! Later on, after still not being warmed up by the four heaters in my apartment, I went out to get some spicy noodle soup for dinner.

Vegetable malatang

I woke up on Thursday to eerie quietness, which only meant one thing...SNOW! It wasn’t that bad but people in China don’t seem to use grit on any outside surface to getting to the subway station was a terrifying experience. Luckily, I made it, and after meeting Carley and Paul, we travelled to Hanyang to go to Brooke’s apartment. We first got a cheeky Burger King and then the girls went to have their nails done whilst Paul and I had a wander around Walmart. Now Walmart is an American Asda so there were actually some Asda branded food here – very bizarre! I got tons of freebies on my way around, including some gum, cake, a red wallet and a window sticker both for Chinese New Year. A good hour later, we finally made it out alive and then went back to Brooke’s apartment. The afternoon consisted of attempting a gymnastics session (unsuccessful, now bruised) and gossiping.

First snow I've seen in China

We managed to go home on the subway at rush hour, always a fantastic experience and squashed and cold, Carley and I headed back to the warmth of my place (with a quick stop for vegetable noodle soup, of course). Paul and Brooke came over to mine later on and we just watched lots of TV and relaxed. Brooke then stayed at mine overnight (sleepover!) and when we woke up on Friday morning, I just couldn’t relax! My parents left England Friday morning so I had to busy myself with cleaning and cooking to make the time go quicker. Poor Brooke got abandoned with my hard drive of films but I fed her and watered her like a fantastic host. Finally, I heard the news that their flight had left England, albeit an hour late but they were on their way! I spent Friday night watching films and wanting time to go faster.

On Saturday I flagged down a taxi to go to the airport (fei ji chang) and arrived nearly an hour before they came out of arrivals. As soon as I saw them, I pushed all the Chinese out of the way and ran straight over! I was so excited to see them and couldn’t believe that they were finally here. Their first day was an experience, but I’ll let my mum explain her first thoughts about China in a minute. The taxi driver on the way home thought that we were all tourists and tried to charge me over the odds for a taxi. Quick argument later, he gave me a thumbs up and I got the price down to a more suitable level. First Chinese argument – Ellis 1 : Taxi driver 0!

My dad relaxing on the 'comfortable' sofa

First cup of tea in China!

 Anyway, over to my mum, who really wanted to write on my blog! Well done Jojo:

We have arrived after 24 hours of planes, trains and automobiles! The very nice lady at Air France check-in took pity on my 17kg of hand luggage and checked it in for free alongside my 35kg suitcase and Tudd’s (dad’s) 22kg case. This just left us one holdall, one handbag and one manbag to take on the plane. Thankyou to the lady for not charging us excess luggage and Ellis has received all her nice goodies!

I don’t think Wuhan airport was prepared for the Tuddenham’s reuniting after 4 ½ months and everyone moved quickly out of the path of Ellis running towards us. One emotional group hug later and we were quickly introduced to Chinese culture. A rather interesting ride to Ellis’ apartment ensued, where we disembarked on a very busy main road and had to cart the aforementioned luggage across three lanes of traffic to the middle. Here we had to lift it over a barrier and then again over across another three lanes of traffic – good job we are not the nervous types!

A quick cup of Yorkshire tea later and slightly more revived, we unpacked everything including chocolate and clothes before reliving the traumatic luggage / road experience and flag down a passing taxi to take us to our hotel. The driver loaded the cases but couldn’t shut the boot so off we went with the boot flapping up and down! The hotel is stunning (so glad we picked the deluxe room) and I think that over the next two weeks it will be our saviour! We did briefly venture out that evening and spent more time laughing at Tudd’s reaction to the food that was being cooked by the street vendors.

My impressive hoard

As quoted by a friend...."It looks like you've robbed a supermarket"

At the top of the Ramada hotel

Today is Sunday and this morning we visited Hubei Provincial museum and then decided to go for lunch in an upmarket restaurant. Now, I am quite adventurous and will try most things but when the menu had photos of chickens, ducks and frogs all arranged with vegetables, I opted for the rice. We took a detour later on to the local market to buy strawberries and biscuits for Tudd (lightbulb moment – No35 egg fried rice and No71 chow mein only exists in the UK Chinese takeaways!). We then had a walk to where Ellis works and took the subway back to the hotel, which was fine. Even better, we spotted a McDonalds at the subway exit so I think that will be Tudd’s favourite place over the next two weeks! No doubt there will be quite a few stories to tell during our time here so will sign off for now, Jo.

Sunday snowfall!

Outside the Hubei museum

Chinese afternoon tea

Back to Ellis (quickly!). Tomorrow, we are going to go for a wander around the Optics Valley area where mum and dad are staying, before I tutor in the evening. My parents will be left on their own so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for their survival! Anyway, I have just got home from my parent’s hotel and after having a luxurious bath, I am going to read a BRITISH magazine and enjoy some CADBURY’S chocolate – bliss.

xxxxx