Ni Hao

Well today was the day, and after a good night's sleep it was off to the hairdressers for my first haircut since August in Melbourne. Over the last few days we had carefully selected the hairdresser by looking how busy they have been and were hoping we had made the right choice!!!

A simple scissor gesture with my fingers got the desired effect and Mel and I were plonked into a chair each, within no time we had someone lathering our hair up while we sat in a the seat after about 5 minutes of manipulating and massaging we both had Mr Whippy style bouffants. From here we got dispatched to the washing room to have our ice cream hairstyle washed away, this did involve being hit on the head with the shower head several times on purpose, neither of us could work out why!!!!

The conveyor belt continued and it was time to sit in another chair and meet our stylists. I prayed that my hand signals gesturing "just a bit off all over" got through. Because my hair was so long it seemed like hair was flying all over, at one point all I could see in the mirror was 10 pairs of eyes all watching me get my haircut!!!

The guy cutting Mel's was nervous and cut it really slowly and carefully but it did look nice when it was finished. The young hair washing lady approached asking how I was feeling, maybe she spotted me gripping the chair arms tightly. I replied saying I thought the length was just fine, which she relayed to the stylist.

Her next comment had me confused for a second as I had taken out my hearing aid for the haircut, and Mel was in stitches when she asked me if I wanted to keep my Sidebeams!! My expression was blank for a split second then I realised she meant sideburns!!!!

She was all for shaving them off but I got them thinned out after some more miming. She told Mel she was very beautiful and I looked like a young King!!!

The whole process was quite painless and also very funny but we both left with a decent haircut and all for 48 Yuan each/ 3 pound 50p each. I know at home it would have been at least 45 quid for the both of us so we left quite pleased.

Tried in vain this afternoon to get some flights to Kathmandu from Delhi but have decided to fly by the seat of our pants and just show up at the airport on the day we need.

We can't believe that our time in China has already come to an end (we leave tomorrow morning.) The last 28 days have gone so quickly and we have seen some amazing things.

At times this country has been warm and friendly and other times the most annoying and frustating place we have ever experienced. Our journey has taken from Guangzhou in the South right through to the capital where we are now preparing to leave from.

The trains have been an excellent way to move around and meet people and you get to see so much of the countryside as well. We have been lucky to visit 7 cities in 7 different provinces and luckily it has got warmer the further North we have moved.

Our next stop on our journey is Seoul, South Korea. We are due to land there at 3pm local time tomorrow and I think we might be 9 hours in front of the UK. So we shall see you all in Seoul.

Lots of Love

M & M

xx