Phil Palmer : January 2019

Thursday 31 January 2019

England Day 1 - 31st January 2019 - Birmingham

Today I had my Brompton done and did a bit of shopping and dropped some stuff off at the Big Yellow Storage and then had a late lunch at Mike's pub in Harborne

China3 - Day 119

I have done this trip a few times now and not had any jet lag. Left Yantai airport at around midday

Left Beijing at around 4pm and then followed the sunset all the way across Mongolia and Siberia and landed 10 hours later in London at about the same time! By 7pm I was on the Piccadilly line heading to Euston for the train up to Birmingham........

Sunday 27 January 2019

China3 - Day 117

Okay so this is the last day of 'doing nothing' before coming back to the UK. Tomorrow morning we check out of our budget hotel and move to somewhere nearer the airport. My flight leaves Yantai Lashan airport on Wednesday morning at 1120 so I will be leaving the hotel first, very early, in case of problems. Today is a day to reflect on the last year. This time last year I was still working at StarSplendor in Jinzhou which seems incredible in view of what has gone down this year. Holiday in Hong Kong, moving to UK to see dad into a care home and ready the house for rental, going to the World Cup in Russia, moving to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and working and living there, then out into the country in Shandong for a couple of months......then a month in a budget hotel in Yantai.......the journey hasn't all gone smoothly but it has been quite a ride........

China3 - Day 116

Friday 25 January 2019

China3 - Day 114

Am wondering if we may get to see the Hainan gibbons when we get to Hainan at the end of February. "Not only is the Hainan gibbon (or Nomascus hainanus) the world’s rarest ape and rarest primate, it’s one of the rarest mammals of all. The entire species now consists of a single population of around 25 individuals, which separates into smaller social groups. The animals are restricted to just two square kilometres of remnant rainforest in Bawangling National Nature Reserve on Hainan Island in the South China Sea.

Monday 21 January 2019

China3 - Day 111

Started polishing my CV again. Timetable as follows; UK 30th January - 26th February (alone) then Hainan, South China for a sunshine break 1st March - 12th April (together). Then YingYing will have to find a flat and a job, probably in Shenyang, and I will need to find some work (can't work in China) for a few months while she sorts her things out......

China3 - Day 110

Thursday 17 January 2019

China3 - Day 106

Not been out today. YingYing has been watching a soap about the goings on at the Imperial Court so I have been googling around that. A friend from Istanbul sent me a video which made me a bit homesick for the Bosphorus.......maybe this summer.....here it is......

Tuesday 15 January 2019

China3 - Day 105

China3 - Day 104

Oh so the plans are changing again. YingYing's brother has started working in Harbin again for his previous company and so is no longer able to move to Shenyang to open a noodle shop with his sister. What this means is that YingYing doesn't have a job to go to when we get back from Hainan in April. Oh dear. She really needs a place to call her own, the nomadic lifestyle does not suit her and I get that. So not sure what the plan is now.........

Tuesday 8 January 2019

Sunday 6 January 2019

China3 - Day 96

Not getting out much these days but the local corner shop is only 100m..........

I am a fan of Chinese hotels. Even the small budget hotels like ours will provide toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, slippers and everything you need for toiletries in the room, changed every day. It's a beautiful thing. Breakfast is getting a bit tedious though, rice, eggs, vegetables and pickles every day. It was a novelty at first but we have now been here since before Xmas.......