After studying like MAD for a whole WEEK (seriously, I’m about
to Pin Yin someone) we’re off on a school-organised trip. That means the lucky three Summer Tour students get to go on the trip for free, but everyone else had to pay a WHOPPING 850 RMB all inclusive – that’s 56 pounds for a 4 hour bus journey each way, guide (aherm), night in a hotel (AHERM), river cruise (it’s getting old), river rafting (really), and fun with fellow students (now THAT was a highlight). Karaoke and water / drinks / dignity sold separately.After a bright and early start in Shanghai, we clambered aboard our super-deluxe touring coach and settled in for a 4 hour journey to QianDaoHu (literally 10-thousand Island Lake). We had two chaperones from the school – Wendy: coordinator extraordinaire and quite possibly the kindest, most cheerful and most helpful Chinese person I have met so far in my 6 weeks in the country, And Never-Introduced-Herself-but-we-found-out-her-name-is-Echo: she of the Nanjing Lu “Tour”. Oh and our “Guide” for the weekend. Now, you’d think with a bunch of beginners on board they’d stump for an English-speaking guide as per advertising. Noooot. OK, I lie – he knew at least 3 words of English and was convinced he was the next Usher. Unfortunately his attempts to loudly and atonally convince us of this fact at 8:30am in the morning on a tour bus (=moving prison) failed abominably. Perhaps it was his Michael-Jackson-esque dance moves that just put me over the edge. Or maybe I'm just jealous of his X-factor :)
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On a side note – why is it that I always attract the freaks? Mr I’m-The-Next-Usher-If-Only-I-Could-Pronounce-Any-of-The-Words-Oh-Wait-YEAH-Is-Only-One-Word... decided that because I was listening to my iPod and was playing R&B on it, this made us soul-mates.He kept insisting he listen to what I was listening to and giving me his (ICK!) headphones for his mobile phone to listen to his faves. I cunningly thwarted his attempts to sit next to me by ceremoniously dumping my bag on the seat next to me, sitting by the window, putting my headphones on and looking out the window as if I’d never seen a car, road, or blade of grass. It worked marvellously. The nasty side-effect was that Sandra (sitting across the aisle and not having defended her aisle seat) was the next victim. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun observing body language and furious/exasperated glares! Sorry, but in this war its every Woman for herself - Survival of the Rudest and all that. :P
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But I digress... so moving swiftly on!
We arrived in Qiandaohu ready to board the boat, which would take us to another boat, where we would ha
ve lunch and then go explore some of the islands. After a quick stop at the "Pubuc Toilet" before we embarked on our voyage... spelling checker anyone???... we boarded the boats like acrobats accross the 30cm wide and 5 metre long gangplank at an angle of 45+ degrees. This was when I realised that platform flip-flop sandals might not have been the choicest footwear for the expedition!
The lunch was interesting as usual - lots of unidentifiable ingredients and slithery dishes! Like true locals, no one even attempted to identify the meat or origins of the dishes. With everyone taking turns at being the guinea pig we soon came to a consensus along the lines of "this one isn't too bad" and "that tastes like seaweed marinated in the toilet". Shared pain is halved pain :)Our first stop was Snake Island, which is leterally an island where they've dumped a lot of snakes into pits for tourists to look at. You can even hold a large one around your neck for a 
price. Like most chinese tourist attractions, it all seemed a bit surreal and very fake. Mass tourism - ship hundreds of people around a few island on the lake, give them 20 minutes to traverse the "walk" around the island and snap a picture and then move on to the next island (Dragon Island - no one was sure why it was called that, no pits with Dragons to be found).
price. Like most chinese tourist attractions, it all seemed a bit surreal and very fake. Mass tourism - ship hundreds of people around a few island on the lake, give them 20 minutes to traverse the "walk" around the island and snap a picture and then move on to the next island (Dragon Island - no one was sure why it was called that, no pits with Dragons to be found). 
...Admittedly I may be a bit down-in-the-dumps because I am suffering from a truly vicious maladay - the flu. My ears are clogged, my nose is running, my throat is killing me and no amount of snake-pit-fun or mystery meat will cheer me up. But I can still pose for photos :) Priorities there must be!
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