China Dolls, Tales and Tea: Steak and Chips... Chinese cuisine???

Yes I had the most amazing steak and chips on Friday night! Even peppercorn sauce and garlic bread! I had a Chinese beer with it, so at least I'm sticking with some of the Chinese cuisine!! Jeremy, a chinese australian man, a friend we have made over here, and luckily he was born in Ningbo, took us to a place called SuperSteaks in downtown Ningbo. I must go back there! The food has cost me a little more money this week, but every meal has been worth it! I don't know if I could of hacked chicken burger or beef and blackbean with egg fried rice every day for the week!

We went to Lao Waitan after the steak, the taxi driver me and Becca had was just the funniest man I have ever met. We got in and asked for Lao Waitan which then caused him to start screaming Lao Waitan, Lao Waitan Lao Waitan at us... we also managed to teach him 'Cheeky Cheeky!' So for our 15 minute trip in this taxi, all the taxi driver said to us was 'Lao Waitan Cheeky Cheeky' Very very amusing, as he probably had no idea what he was saying! I managed to stay relatively sober, stayed on the beer, with the random shot of B52 thrown in there, defos did not want a hangover as we had a pretty busy day on the Saturday planned! What was meant to be home for midnight turned into a 3am kebab, (pretty grim to say the least) and hometime!

Saturday Morning.... I wake up with a grim cold!! We had arranged to meet Jeremy at Starbucks, and he is taking us to some Historical parts of Ningbo. The oldest Library in Asia, some real parts of China like slum areas, to se how people really lived and Moon Lake, we did want to go to a temple but we didn't have enough time so we will have to do this another time! Moon Lake is what used to be an Island, where Jeremy great grandmother was head of the residence community many many years ago, the island now has been turned into a park, but he pointed out where his family home used to be and even the willow tree that was outside his house! To get to the library we had to walk through some old houses, China have decided to restore a lot of the streets like this, so nobody was living in them, and some work had already been started! It was really interesting to like all the old doors and architecture was still all in tact, the smell however was pretty bad!! especially the parts where they had started to restore. Even the water pot that collected rain water was still there and being preserved!

We arrived at the Library, and it wasn't a Library like I expected, it was more like a Palace. A Chinese family was having their family picture outside the entrance, we somehow thought it would be excellent if we managed to sneak in to the picture... we hovered behind and then posed, which then made them include us in their family picture! The library was called Tian Yi Ge. It is the oldest existing library in China. Founded in 1561 by Fan Qin during the Ming Dynasty, in its heyday, it boasted a collection of 70,000 volume of antique books. Over the years this collections of books has been stolen by theifs and during a war called the Opium War, but they have managed to still maintain around 30000 books. It was really beautiful and some really good photos! Oh yes whilst in the one of the gardens me and Becca, found ourselves a little freak, who offered to let us live in his home and possibly kill us! (JOKE) but no seriously he was really really strange, he tried to get our mobile numbers, NO! he then tried to give us his number! NO! then he offered to be our guide! NO! and then said we could live in his home as he has a room for us! ER defo a NO!! Jeremy to the rescue!! The little stalker then followed us to the toilet, so Jeremy had to stand outside as he was so odd!!

Tea on Saturday... Papa Johns, meatballs to start and a meat feast pizza! Maybe an apple juice will shift this cold, as well as the vitamins Jeremy has given us to help with all our germs!! After tea, we went to have our hair washed! I know what you will be thinking... Lazy, but Jeremy said it is something we have to experience!! And my God he was right... first you sit in a chair and they bring you some tea, and then they was your hair... at your seat, shampoo and a water bottle, for around 20 mins you get a proper good shampoo and a head massage! once they wash it off, they recline your seat and you have 30 minutes of a head, back, neck, arm and hand massage! and then a blow dry however you want it! and all for 70RMB (£7)!! I will defo be doing that again! the best £7.00 I have ever spent!!

A quiet night for us, as we are all feeling a bit grim, tired and dying to get into bed! Well me especically as I have class in the Morning, at 9am, 4 children learning English, with a crappy head cold, I need some sleep!!

Good night!!