Sunday, July 18, 2010
Hi blog!
Right now I'm still in Hangzhou. I never know from day to day what my plans are. I speak to Mohamed every day. Usually he asks me to come back to the Middle East, but right now, I am not finding the barren lands of the region appealing!
The hostel I am staying in is a mini-Eden in itself, but for the humidity and the accompanying mosquitoes. The common areas are multilevel. Walk in, and to your left you have some dorms rooms. Some nights are spent sitting on the sofas outside them with some beer, some fellow travellers, and the stock standard hostel conversations you become accustomed to.
Walk further, and you have the outdoor area. There's a huge TV they used during the World Cup. Good memories in that area there, with August, my short-term flame/Chinese-Japanese beauty, and Sam, my beautiful new English friend from Leeds.
On the right is the bar area. There are a couple of air-con machines in there, so one must bag their spot and find respite from the air outside! Good memories in there too. Lion, from Chengdu, and his beautiful guitar playing. A bit of The Beatles, Oasis, Nirvana... Yet another friend I am sorely missing.
Further on the left is the bbq area where you can get cheap meat and vege kebab sticks. The corn cobs are always sweet, which is nice. And it beats eating in the bar restaurant!
Now upstairs is the best part!! Go up the stairs and to the left is the manager's art studio. It's full of his works, and he has a couch area with a traditional Chinese tea set. About a week ago he invited me to have lunch with him there, and I told him about my experiences in the travel industry. He has a really cool hostel, it's kind of niche, good places for artists and so forth. I told him not to let Lonely Planet sell the place out! (Literally and figuratively of course).
And then further up there's a deck with yet another chillout area and some tents for people on a shoe-string. I usually spend my nights here chilling out and chatting, sometimes surfing Wikipedia which I love because it's open source. But actually, sometimes if I really like an idea I see, I write to the academic and tell them! I got a reply the other day and it's pretty cool.
Ok gotta go, Christine's on her way to come and have a beer. She loves this place, and she thinks the 'epic' love story between Mohamed and I is 'awesome'!!!
Signing off
Liz ¶ 21:40
Right now I'm still in Hangzhou. I never know from day to day what my plans are. I speak to Mohamed every day. Usually he asks me to come back to the Middle East, but right now, I am not finding the barren lands of the region appealing!
The hostel I am staying in is a mini-Eden in itself, but for the humidity and the accompanying mosquitoes. The common areas are multilevel. Walk in, and to your left you have some dorms rooms. Some nights are spent sitting on the sofas outside them with some beer, some fellow travellers, and the stock standard hostel conversations you become accustomed to.
Walk further, and you have the outdoor area. There's a huge TV they used during the World Cup. Good memories in that area there, with August, my short-term flame/Chinese-Japanese beauty, and Sam, my beautiful new English friend from Leeds.
On the right is the bar area. There are a couple of air-con machines in there, so one must bag their spot and find respite from the air outside! Good memories in there too. Lion, from Chengdu, and his beautiful guitar playing. A bit of The Beatles, Oasis, Nirvana... Yet another friend I am sorely missing.
Further on the left is the bbq area where you can get cheap meat and vege kebab sticks. The corn cobs are always sweet, which is nice. And it beats eating in the bar restaurant!
Now upstairs is the best part!! Go up the stairs and to the left is the manager's art studio. It's full of his works, and he has a couch area with a traditional Chinese tea set. About a week ago he invited me to have lunch with him there, and I told him about my experiences in the travel industry. He has a really cool hostel, it's kind of niche, good places for artists and so forth. I told him not to let Lonely Planet sell the place out! (Literally and figuratively of course).
And then further up there's a deck with yet another chillout area and some tents for people on a shoe-string. I usually spend my nights here chilling out and chatting, sometimes surfing Wikipedia which I love because it's open source. But actually, sometimes if I really like an idea I see, I write to the academic and tell them! I got a reply the other day and it's pretty cool.
Ok gotta go, Christine's on her way to come and have a beer. She loves this place, and she thinks the 'epic' love story between Mohamed and I is 'awesome'!!!
Signing off
Liz ¶ 21:40
