06:00am
It’s an early start to my morning, I’m a bit nervous about my exam at 09:00am but I open up the curtains and I’m greeted with an early sunrise and this message “What a delight it is to have friends from afar.” For some reason this makes me smile, I’m not entirely sure if it’s because its such a nice thing to see when you wake up,if it made me think about all the friends I’ve made in China or if it gives me hope and excitement in knowing I’ll be meeting so much more people in a few hours.I’m ready to start my day so I hop in a quick shower, get dressed, eat some from fruit and revise my work before making my way to the exam building on the university. It’s -6 this morning there’s a bit of frost on the ground outside I’m dying for a coffee but I have no idea where the nearest Starbucks is. I’ll just have to be a trooper until my exam ends.
It’s 08:00 I’m in the exam building , I walked in to a room greeted with awkward stares from a group of Chinese girls. My first reaction is to laugh and greet them “Guten Tag”, a smile brushes over all their faces as they respond with the same greeting. I sit down, they shy and don’t speak to me but stare at me from across the table talking in Mandarin and laughing. Everyone seems a bit nervous but I mind my business and go over my own work. It’s 08:40 am , time to go in and prepare for the test , find our seats, get our photograph taken, put our bags in a separate room and then do a sound test before listening to the rules of the exam.
Feeling pretty confident although I’m the only Lǎowài (foreigner) so I need to listen to the rules in Mandarin before its translated to me in English. The examiner is nice and starts talking to me about South Africa and why I’m in China etc. the normal convo that you have when you meet new people. It definitely helped calm my nerves a bit but it’s about to start, Here goes nothing… It’s about to be a long day.
Finally it’s 14:50 pm and I’m done with the exam , feeling pretty good. I think I done well! I walk out the university gates and my eyes stumble across a little coffee shop. COFFEE FINALLY!!! I walk in, order an Americano and sit down next to a heater in the corner of the store, the smell of freshly brewed coffee is oh so heavenly right now. Time to research what to do and find a hostel to stay in. (I traveled without booking in advanced, I suck at planning these things but everything worked out well so far).
I walk to the metro, hop on a train and make my way to the famous Drum and bell tower. I find a hostel that’s about an 8 minute walk from this scenic area and make my way there to drop off my bag before doing some sight seeing.
Walking down a weird alley I find the hostel, walked in and greeted by the friendly staff, I check in and go upstairs to put my bag down before heading out. I share a dorm with 5 other girls but none of them were in the room when I arrived so I put my bag on my bunk and went to explore.
I make my way to Muslim quarter. Its so packed, people are everywhere and there’s a constant smoke of kebabs on the grill! There’s food, snacks and gift stores everywhere, it kind of reminds me of a Christmas night market back home (Somerset west Christmas market). All I want to do is take pictures of the people, the foods, the stalls and the lights it’s just all so beautiful. I always travel without researching because less expectations always leaves places to blow my mind when I actually see it.
I walk through the market and decided to try something new, while being a vegetarian/vegan in a market known for its amazing meat kebabs finding food can be a bit hard. But I managed to find some bread stuffed with the veggies of my choice and a freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.
It doesn’t look like much but it was filling and so delicious! I spent a few hours here just walking around taking pictures before heading back to the hostel.
Dried fruit stall. I just love how the colors of the fruit stands out and I think it’s pretty funny taking a picture of this woman while she’s pissy that I’m looking but not buying.
The gift market is the place of many beautiful Chinese handcrafts and fake “name brands”. I was shocked that most of shop owners here spoke English. You really need to be good at bargaining because they raise the prices for foreigners.
Sugar coated fruits kebabs. It’s kind of like toffee apples but not apples. Strangely delicious if you like sweet things.
A gift shop at the market. I love the colors of the lanterns and how packed the store is with all these colorful random gifts.
I love China at night! Everything lights up and it’s all so beautiful but it’s getting late, time to head back to the hostel and hopefully meet the girls in the room.
Just got back to the dorm, met some of the girls. Seems everyone is traveling alone which is great. There’s a Chinese girl from Chongqing and her energy is great she’s just like me. Insomniac at night, full of positive energy and a real people’s person. We clicked immediately, there’s also a Dutch girl from holland Edmee she’s a bit of a quiet introvert but very nice and friendly. We just all sitting in our bunks making plans for tomorrow, seems like we will go biking around the city wall. Time for some sleep.
I’ll be back soon. Xx
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