I know exactly how you feel...

So... I'm enjoying being on holiday and I haven't quite got bored yet (though there's still time!)

Yesterday I finally visited Kunming Zoo. I'd been putting it off for ages and I was mostly justified in that - it was a bit of a depressing experience with old and quite small cages for the animals and a strange show which included performing birds, monkeys, bears and a dog. It also appeared as if there weren't quite enough animals in the zoo for the Chinese tourists to look at... yep, I got stared at!

As if I didn't stand out enough with my fair hair and blue eyes, sometimes I just have to go and draw attention to myself by doing something stupid!!! Today as I was parking my bike at Carrefour I managed to knock into the next bike and then had to watch in disbelief as a load of them toppled over, domino-style... Despite it all happening in slow motion I was powerless to do anything until they were all on the ground and I had to pick them up again!

The weather has got quite a lot warmer and I am enjoying eating 20p strawberries as I write this - there are some things I love about this country!!! However, I did risk life and limb on my bike to purchase them.

As well as strawberries, the shops are full of things for Spring Festival (Chinese New Year): decorations, special food and gifts... It's a little bit like Christmas back home. It also means that most of the kids are now on holiday, which in turn means that there are more of them wandering the streets and shouting 'hello' [or more accurately 'halllooo!'] at me. Still, I guess I should be glad that they're learning something at school.

And finally, as I am unable to go running here (lack of nice places to go and unwillingness to be stared at any more than is usual!), I have decided to take up skipping. Will keep you posted, but so far about 10 seconds is all I can do.