Sunday in Ningbo

We treated ourselves to a later breakfast today (it being the day of rest although I'm not sure that applies here) and so braved it at 8.30. We were greeted by smiles and I reciprocated with my only Mandarin phrase (ni hao), which I don't think they understood judging by the puzzled expressions. Of course, intonation is critical with Mandarin and Cantonese (no, I don't really know what I'm talking about) and I could have been using a Monty Pythonesque phrase, such as 'there are eels in my hovercraft', which you have to be of a certain age to understand.

They did have croissants on offer but other than noodles and fried rice, I'm not sure I recognised anything else (apples and melon aside). Still, when in Rome. And everything has to be eaten with chopsticks, which provided the morning's entertainment for the staff and our fellow breakfast diners. The smoking (no restrictions here) and hawking of a fellow diner was a little off putting but otherwise it was pretty good and, of course, an experience.

I decided to send some washing to the hotel laundry today. It all seemed quite straight forward. You complete a form (in triplicate) which details the items you need washing or dry cleaning (and what you want doing with them), you place them in a laundry bag and then....? I collared a member of staff who was passing and tried to explain in mime what I wanted to do, which she seemed to understand. She then got on to her walkie talkie because she didn't seem to know how it worked either. Eventually she took the bag with all three copies of the forms (apparently, I didn't need a copy). It should come back later today but if it doesn't re-emerge, that could be the last I see of it because I have no idea how to mime 'the laundry you took this morning is missing'.

One of the great mysteries of this visit is likely to be the location of the hotel gym. It's publicised on the signage in the hotel but can we find it - no! We've opened every closed door, visited the underground car park, even asked the hotel staff, which is quite a challenge (what is the Mandarin for 'gym' by the way?). This morning, one member of staff tried to provide directions to the gym (hand signals is the only way) and then, when we couldn't find it, the young lady at reception said there was "no gym, solly". I'm confused!

After the not so Lucky Gym episode, Chris and I set off to explore the local area, which is very built up but still has a park and canal on offer. We visited the local mall, which has many recognisable outlets including McDs (I can't bring myself to type the full name) and Starbucks (I wonder if they pay their full taxes here), and a number of premium brands (including Adidas, Nike, Longines, Converse).

It was quite a relief to be in the shopping centre because today is hot and sunny. I might have to take back what I said yesterday about the smog because, although hazy, there's no sign of murk today. Maybe it has Sunday off? In fact, the weather is very pleasant because of a cooling breeze. Everybody seemed to be out for the day and the atmosphere was very relaxed and convivial. We are a bit of a novelty and we came across only one other non-Chinese person during the 5-hour walkabout. The language thing again: try ordering a multi fruit smoothie in China. I've no idea what the fruit was but it was extremely good. Language is a problem but then those of you who know Chris Nottage will be aware of his propensity for excessive swearing.

And then there's the things you need to be aware of when walking the streets. The first is the electric bikes which are like scooters and speed up and down the pavements in complete silence and are, potentially at least, deadly. Then there's crossing the roads, which tend to be three lane highways. There are pedestrian crossings (no subways) but you have to have your wits about you and cars will turn right (as in the US) even if their light is on red if they think they can get away with it.

I'm now back in my hotel room with a pleasant breeze drifting through the window. The downside is the incessant sound of car horns, which provides a backdrop throughout the day and night. I'm  now using the ethernet connection which has helped response times but every now and again I have to restart my Citrix session. It's slow but usable and, I hope, secure. RDP is also better via ethernet but Citrix is slightly quicker.

I'll finish with electricity. My laptop has just finished charging after about 8 hours - they must have a watered down variety here. A bit like some of the beer. Talking of which, the search for a decent beer will continue in an hour from now. Happy Father's Day by the way. And if any of my kids are reading this - the time difference is no excuse!

Selection of pics as follows....