day 10 - Tai'an - 26.8

One of the slow days again :) Got up at 10, packed all our bags and checked out of the hostel. We were able to leave our big back bags at the hostel, we'll pick them up before heading to the train station. Next night we will spend in a train to Shanghai. I hope the train is something similar to the one we took from Beijing, so that we can at least stretch our legs a bit - but we will see.

The constant packing is doing some good to both of us, every time we pack we have more room left over :) Now we have also gathered some food for our train ride and longer trips away from town, just as my mom suggested before I left :D In the trains there is an attendant who comes by about once in 2 hours with boiling water, so that we can make noodles or soup or any food where you just pour boiling water on.

Today we are trying to pass the day by in this small place where there is nothing to do at all. So far we explored the 4 level shopping mall. It was nice and cool in there and I bought myself an MP3 player so that I can listen to music on those long train rides. Coming out of the shopping place 45 minutes later all the streets were drowndes with water - apparently it had been raining havily while we were in there :) well that was quick :) When we stepped outside it was sunny again. Although it felt about 3 times hotter than in the morning. I'm so used to that the rain makes the air cooler, but here it works the other way around as it seems like :( Now we are hiding in the dark internet cafe, will be probably about 2 hour session - loading pictures, reading mail and posting to the blog. It is a bit better and cooler in here as well. Don't wanna go outside if we really don't have to, it just drains all the energy and walking in such heat is difficult - you learn to walk very very slowly :)

Our train leaves 21:53, so we will probably go to one of the couzy coffee place now to chill a bit, then eat something and then chill some more and then around 8 or so head over to the train station to be stuck in a train for 8 hours. Slow days are good too :)

Oh, I just have to tell about how everyone is staring at us. I feel like a zoo animal :) When we walk on the street then people stop to stare at us. When we pass a street shop or something then if one notices us then he/she will invite all the people from inside to look as well. When one person walking notices us then he/she would elbow the person next to him/her and they both stop and stare until we pass. At first it was kinda funny, but now it is really getting annoying. They would even stop in the middle of the street, it seems they don't even mind getting run over by car - as long as they get to stare at us. So far I have only met 5 other white people in this town - 3 of them were at the mountain and 2 at the Dai temple. So yes we whites are rare around here apparently and they don't seem to get tried of staring at us.

Oh, story about the screaming crickets was about to be forgotten. There is always some loud screetching noice around us whenever there are some trees and grass around. Well yesterday at the mountain one local guy told us that those bugs would be born and would live 3 years on the ground (or was it under the ground, could not fully understand) without being able to do the noise and then they have only 3 months to "sing" and then they would die :( So for this 3 months they apparently scream from the top of their little lungs - and they are very loud. Later in the evening we saw those bugs in small boxes at the market as well, those were just huge crickets.