Willie thanks for that. And the reason I did not 'listen' to you and others WILL become clearer...I THINK !!!
Ok on the evening of the 27th I was being pestered by Sopie about having to get to bed, because we ..."ARE going to JINAN early 'tomorrow'..." So for about an hour and a half, she kept coming in and pestering me to go to bed, eventually I did.
On the 28th I was woken up at 05.30 with the immortal words.."Baby, breakfast, we need to go soon, it takes 2 hours on the bus". So we leave and go to the bus station where there is a mad dash to find out where the bus goes from. We boarded and settled down for a nice "TRIP & MORNING" in Jinan.
The bus journey was nice enough, nice scenery etc, but the memories of Sophies last trip to Jinan made her break down and cry as we got closer to the place, this was because her father had died there...
On arrival there, we go hunting for this ADDRESS that she has., we finally make it, go into this building talk to the ushers and find what floor the office is on. Once we get to the office, it is CLEAR to me that SHE had made an error. She had taken me to the UK VISA CENTRE, but we went in and she spoke to them, but could'nt get them to UNDERSTAND why we were there. So on BEING told to explain I did, and was promptly told 'THIS IS THE VISA CENTRE, WE ONLY DO VISAS', I thanked her and left the office and phoned the man from London!!!
Outside the offices in Jinan, I had about 2 hours trying to explain to her that if we go to Beijiing, the place will be closed because it was another 5 hour bus trip. So she makes a phone call or 2 or 3, by this time I was NOT in any mood to listen to her. She contacts her friend and they make arrangments for us to stay there for the night..
For 3 months before I came, I EXPLAINED all this to her, that we needed to go to Beijiing, but she WAS very insistant that it could all be done in Jinan...!!!
We take a little tour in Jinan while we are waiting to go for the bus to Bejiing, there was some sort of 'EXPO' on there so we strolled around for an hour or 2, all the time me with my mood worsening
We finally ghet to the bus station AGAIAN for the 'NEW' trip.. settle on the bus and it leaves. % and a half hours later we arrive. Now it is pitch black here for 8.30 in the evening, but the lights from the shops and street make it look like a nice place., as we are leaving the station, HER 'Sister/Friend' pumps the car horn and we get in the car. At least we have a place to stay for the night at no cost I thought, so that a burden sorted...
The sister lives about 15 minutes journey in the car away, so we have a'pleasant' drive, if you can call nearly being hit about 6 times 'PLEASANT', we get to the friends house, have something to eat and settle down for tomorrows events...
In the morning I am again woken up about 5ish, given breakfast, had a coffee and then we left. The friend 'drove' us to the place, having made sure she stopped off at a bank for me.. in the phone call to the office in Bejiing, I was told I could just TURN UP, NO NEED FOR APPOINTMENT. I met an English guy there, the first westerner I had seen since being in China...We find this office, WELL, I say found it, that's NOT strictly true..After getting informnation from a doorman at this building we are told to go through because we can get out the outher side.. Now 'WE' have been'TOLD' were to go, BUT...Sophies sense of direction IS NOT THE BEST HAHAHAHA, we get lost and have to get more direcdtions,eventually find the place, go upstairs, fill in the forms and POST THE BANNS...22 from the 29th september we are tieing the knot...WELL THAT IS IF SOPHIE DOESN'T GET LOST HAHAHA...
the total cost was 1452 yuan approx 121.00 UK pounds...We come from there and the friend drives us to Tiannemen suare, drives us back to the house, and then leave the car and taken there by bus. The place is amazing, I have loads of pictures, I will post as soon as I can...We go from there over to Mao Se Dong's place, and go into the forbidden city.
Man we spent about 4 hours there and still never saw everything, the tourists were thronged everywhere. Once we finally comeoutta there, Sophies sister left us there alone, so we told her we would make our own way back!!!! Anyway, in the forbidden city, it is building after building, after building...I am not sure how long this place is, but I tellyou, I must have walked about 6 inches off my height, but if ANYONE GETS THE CHANCE TO GO, THIS IS A 'MUST NOT MISS' OPPERTUNITY....
We have agreat day, sitting in the gardens of the city eating a romantic lunch, after posting our vows to get married, it was one of the best days I ever had..It is something I will never forget...The thing I found about Beijing was that people DON'T stare at me as much, probably because they are used to seeing western peole...Now we leave there to make our way home...She asked umteen people for directions, BUT me, all I know is RETRACE YOUR STEPS WILL GET YOU BACK
, We walk for what seems like hours getting to the point where we first started, look for the right number bus...EVENTUALLY finding it, we get on the bus, pay the fare, and 5 minutes later, we are outside the forbidden city gates, all we had to do was to cross the road to get the bus...hehehe
...You would think the story is finished here, wouldn't you !!!THINK AGAIN.
4 bus stops from where we are supposed to be, the engine on the bus catches fire and are told to GET OFF THE BUS...I decide look, it only a few more stops up the road (I am good when it comes to remebering my way to places), lets just walk it...So she agrees, we get to the point where we have to turn RIGHT and then a sharp LEFT..NOP, sophie KNOWS BEST !!!!, she continues to lead me for another mile down the wrong way, all the time I am in fits of laughter, because4 I KNOW, we are heading the wrong way...So she asks someone, and of course they point us back in the direction we came from.
Now, 'everyone knows' that a short person cannot walk as fast as a taller one !!! RIGHT...WRONG
she is walking so fast that she ends up way in front of m, so I just take my time...We are NOW at thepoint where we turn right, SHE starts to carry on towards the bus...GGGRrr...BY now I am fuming, so I shout her, and tell her "I AM GOING THIS WAY", she comes running up telling me "NO....WRONG WAY"!!!! I ignored her and kept walking, after all the place WAS just around the next bend... Once we got back into the house/flat, she was telling the sister and they had a great laugh about it..I had some dinner, and went for a shower and relaxed for the rest of the night...
The next morning, we rose at 6am, a late start
we take a walk in this park which is situated at the back of the buildings where the friend lives...IT is 7am and we are strolling through this park...There are loads of people already there, singing, dancing, playing games, rowing, it is Phenomonal to see this..By western standards they put us to shame... This park is HUGE and takes us another good couple of hours to see it al, even then, I'm not sure we did.
