Home Sweet Home

381 miles approx

I experienced the final kind of train travel when I was allocated the top bunk in a hard sleeper. There is approximately 17 inches vertical space so this bunk would not be suitable for anybody bigger than a child.

 

 

The night passed as most nights do on a Chinese train – loudly. Following a journey that has spanned two continents, seven countries, nine time zones and around 9800 miles, I awoke to a beautiful sunrise as we came into Lianyungang which was to become my home for the next six months.

I was met warmly at the station by Mrs He and her husband, who run the school and own the apartment in which I was to live. I was driven first to the school to meet a few people, offered breakfast and then taken to my apartment where a brand new power shower was being installed. Following a rest I spent the rest of the day being shown around the immediate local area.

I ended the day back at my apartment being shown how everything worked. The apartment is in a typical Chinese high rise concrete building, and I am on the second floor.

I asked about heating and discovered that there is no such thing in this part of China. Anywhere south of the Yangtze doesn't bother with such frivolous nonsense. The apartment was cold. And I mean COLD. The kind of cold that makes your bones hurt.

No, this is not a smoke ring. It's bloody freezing.

I later found out that during the winter Chinese people don't shower at home, but use public amenities weekly, as it's too cold to wash at home. My first purchase was a fan heater. 

It costs a fortune to run and only heats up around 4 inches directly in front of it, but any kind of additional heat was vital. The only other option was to set up home inside the fridge, which was a degree or two warmer.

When I asked my landlady what to do with my rubbish, she opened the kitchen window and pointed down to the 'gardens' strewn with litter and debris so naturally I assumed she was going to tell me to throw it out of the window like a crazy person, but no - she pointed to a the mounds of litter and told me, with no trace of irony, to put it in the bin. 

 

I was presented with a mobile, a bike and my own keys to my very own apartment.

Ah! Home sweet home!

 

 

My killer knife set

 Honestly, what modern housewife wouldn't want one of these bad boys?

I finally get one of my very own Chinese sweeping brushes. I think they are beautiful!

 No plates here. I'll have to make conical sandwiches.

 

 

My bed with three duvets and a blanket. I sleep with all of my clothes on too. There is an air con machine here which takes the chill off a little but also dries my face and lungs out. Hmm.

 My laundry room. I later discovered it takes around 4 days to dry clothes.

Spare room if anybody wants to pop over for the night!