Ok guys expect a long one here. As promised I have had few more hours sleep and I am now ready to portay my thoughts on my trip and subsequent 'Whirlwind Romance', the 'good' and 'bad'...
At 00.00 on the 14th November I stepped into my mates car for the journey to Manchester Airport (England) Just as we started to pull away, a 'Flood' of emotions came rusing into my mind. I will start with the first one, EXCITEMENT. I had been excited for months in the lead up to this moment, except in the 4 weeks previous, and you all know why, it sort of shattered my feeling. Anyway in the car I started to feel excited again because I was going on what was basically my first 'proper' holiday. My first proper flight, and the first time of me going outside of the UK. So I took one last long look at my house as we pulled away and my heart started to race faster.:fi_lone_ranger:
Within minutes I started to feel 'GUILTY'. Guilty because. I knew that although this was a holiday I had organised, I also knew that i was going to be searching for work in the hope of staying there in China. The guilt arose because I was leaving my 2 boy's here in England, with my grandchildren. And also leaving
my 2 daughters who are living in Scotland with the rest of my grandchildren.:s
As the car drove along i wondered 'IF' I would ever see theis beautiful countryside again in the near future.
my mate knew about my plans and kept saying 'Keep in touch and look after yourself' which was unusel because he is NOT the type of guy who normally talks like that, he NEVER EVER shows his feelings. Once we reached the airport as you know, caused me to be there 2 hours longer. It was in the lounge when I started to feel a little 'SCARED'. Scared about the plane rides, I mean you here so many things about terrorism etc and these STUPID thoughts came into my mind.:huh:
When the time came to board, I knew that this was the step I needed to take, and there would be no turning back. I remember seeing planes on the tv and seeing a large screen in the front where everyone watched it. But to my surprise, this wasn't the case. The tv's were on the back of the seats that are in front of you, and you had the choice of fils, radio, cd's to listen too etc. We arrived in London Heathrow in just over an hour, this wasn't so bad I remember thinking:icon_biggrin:
I mention earlier that I met a young lady from Beijiing, (Oh she called me yesterday BTW). The staff were not as helpful as I thought they would be. I expected (I Think) to be lead by the hand through all the stages, being a NOVICE FLYER I expected more help. On the plane to Hong Kong (HK) i got talking to the people that were sat next to me, so all was good, they were English so NO language problems. In we were shuttled to the next departure point, as i alighted from the bus, i qickly lit up a cigarette an was promptly told (firmly) NO SMOKING.. from this point we had to walk for ages to get to the lounge to wait for boarding. it wasn't too long a wait which was fine, my excitement had returned and all I wanted to do was get there.
I took some pictures from the plane of HK and the clouds (as you do hehe), and after 12.5 hours of flying we started to land. After getting my cases, and as I andered through customs, I began to feel 'SORROW'. i felt this way because I knew that this was going to be the day I was meeting Kathy, so many thoughts of her came flooding into my mind. As i walked through the throng of those waiting for their loved ones, i hoped that jennifer had remembered that I was arriving and hoped that she AT least would meet me.. As you know her sister and her husband (Julie and Choochoo) was there to greet me, which made me feel NOT so ALONE. the car journey to the hotel I told you about, but, what did go through my head on the first sight of Qingdao was 'There was no chance I could live in this!!!'
Once at the hotel, which was nice and clean with internet, which was lucky because my laptop wouldn't work. In my room was a tv, couch, table, and somewhere to put my shoes etc and also a kettle and phone. The staff were really very nice and pleasant, and very helpful. after dumping my cases, we went to the restaurant to meet Jennifer, I was really NERVOUS about this. Now remember guy's I had a beef with her, because she blamed ME for what happened about Kathy, so I was NOT looking forward to this. As Mike said, "better keeping her sweet she will be your best contact while there". Once she arrived and we got introduced, we both apologised about the emails, and realised that the emails both ways had been wrongly interpreted.. After the meeting I was driven back to the hotel, and after a short rest I went for my first view of the place.
Here is my thoughts on some of the things I noticed.
Driving
The driving in China is Manic and bloody mad...These people don't seem to notice that there are others on the road, be it cars or pedestreans.. The come around corners, out of alleyways without looking. many times the cars will be within mm's of each other..BUT the noise of Honking Cars, that makes me smile...
Drinking
Apart from my night in KTV, I never saw anyone drink or drunk. Fighting, I never saw one, except an arguement between Anne and her uncle, but you know the story.
People
They were all friendly, excepta couple who just walked past when I asked them a question... It could have been they did not want to try and understand the plight of a Western Gwiloi The always seem to have a smile on their face, unless it was me they were smiling at!!! I don't care, seeing smiling peole makes a holiday for me.
Cleanliness
The city itself was very clean, always people sweeping and clearing up.
Only once did I see any graffiti. I mean clean in that there was no garbage or paper strewn on the pavements or roads.
I have asked myself this question since I got back...Would I have enjoyed my time there, if I had NOT met Anne.. I spoke to willie this morning and mentioned same to him. His answer...YES...Because you would have meet someone else.... Maybe he is Right, or maybe he is wrong, we shall never know now?. The thing I do know, I have one dissapointment from my trip, and that was not getting a job. This trip has has been said by others here, has MANY, MANY pluses.
I know in my heart I intend going back, the main reason of two is of ofcourse for my love ANNE, the second one is to prove to myself that I can get a job.
On my return from China, there were of course much sorrow on my part. BUT, the one thing i remember thinking was , that I am only comming to Barrow, it is NO LONGER my home Home is where the heart is...AND MY HEART IS IN CHINA, WITH ANNE AND FANYUNG...
