When I fell asleep yesterday at around 4pm I didn't wake up until 2am. 10 hours. Jet lag.
Well, I went to the bank again with my Xerox copy of my passport. Guess what? Yesterday, I went to the wrong office! The bank was on the ground floor! They accepted my passport copy and only took out a small commision fee (1.25%). Now, I'm loaded again!
Forgot to say that I lost my watch on the plane, so yesterday I bought a basic watch, 'Robin' brand. Cost 96 FEC. That means US$16. I'm going to check on rooms at the new building.
I met up with those people I had talked with yesterday. They were looking for rooms on the Monkey Business floor and so was I. There weren't any rooms available, but the two guys just lost their third person in their triple room and asked me if I was interested in being the new third. I said, "Yes". So now I have a toilet and shower and bed, all in the same room! Conditions are deplorable, hygienically speaking. Tracy would have thrown up by now. As for me - it kind of reminds me of Guam in a weird way.
Forgot to say there's a TV in the room and it picks up the BBC! And, MTV is alive in the PRC.
Tonite, Rod, Gerd, and myself went to one of the restaurants around the hotel. We ordered about four chinese dishes and talked. Before long the place was packed. Later on, Michiko came by. She was the Japanese girl who I replaced. She is very independent. Michiko is planning on going to Mongolia as part of a deal between contacts she has found, and Juulchin. Rod is a professor from Boston who's on sabbatical. He is going to take a boat to Korea. Gerd is from Germany. He's an exchange student studying in Shanghai. His Mandarin is very good. A nice bunch of people.
A Swiss started talking to Michiko about Mongolia. He had been there for about 4 months. Everything he had to say confirmed my expectations. He simply loves those people. It seems that all that I've done will aid me greatly.
Tonight was the latest that I had stayed up. Midnight. It's getting interesting.