waiting

Back in Shanghai to sort out our Russian visas. It appears that when you combine an old communist country with another one which makes out to be one, the time it takes for anything to happen that involves both countries is more an act of attrition than it is a bureaucratic headache. Our hostel, which we've used as home base has random outcroppings of renovations going on, which made the kitchen disappear one morning, only to magically reappear when we returned home later that day. This morning when I got up for my morning piss, combined with the flickering of the fluro in the bathroom, the banging of wood and tool made it seem if I was in a night club, pissing into a pot plant on some drunken misguided mission to prove my manliness to friends. We went down to Yellow Mountain on Sunday and got back yesterday. Pretty spectacular stuff. Highly recommended and if you ever visited/studied at Flinders Uni, the 50kms of stairs will make you feel right at home. Had a little out of the way spot called the bridge of immortals, which could only be reached by a 5km walk down into the valley and then back up into the mountains. I suggested to one of the local that a flying fox should be installed. Not surprisingly, this didn't translate too well. Anyway, it hink I'm going through that "no one back at home cares" phase of overseas travel. Don't mind me, I'll just eat some unbelievably tasty 20 cent dumplings and remember where I am.