The Joys of China

Safely arrived in Xiamen after the journey from Bangkok. Air Asia were pretty good, but was quickly reminded of how things work (or don`t work) in China.

Firstly, i turned up to the hostel who didn't have my reservation and then the helpful receptionist could tell me there was no travel agent nearby but couldn't tell me where there was one. Off i went in search of dinner, and found a very nice Chinese girl who looked up both train and 'plane timetables for me. She found me the cheapest company but, the site would not accept UK bank cards. This meant that she (very very kindly) had to get her credit card (she was successful using the 4th one she tried) and one hour later i had successfully booked a ticket. Only problem was that i had to pay her the money - a simple task involving trying about 8 different cash machines and a 2 hour walk. Ah, the joys of China, the Olympics should be good fun!