Day 5: April 27th

The sleep was rough, but for new reasons today. Up until last night, I was having impossible times sleeping because Chinese mattresses are equivalent to the floor. They're rock hard, no matter where you go. I still think sleeping on the bed instead of the floor is a simple matter of principle, not of practicality. Last night however, the hardness of the bed wasn't so much the issue. It was the lack of covers. We had one bed sheet for Jessica and I, and it was to serve as both the bed spread, and our covers. We had to lie on top of the sheet, and wrap it up and around both of us to cover us. It was a long and chilly night. Temperatures here change drastically from the day to the night.

Alex brought us food again today, although the breakfast was not as good as the fruit and sugar bread at the hotel. It was some form of egg pancake, which would have been good, but it was deep fried to be breaded. It was way too heavy for a decent breakfast. I ate the spicy one, and tried the others, but couldn't bring myself to eat much more of the very heavy breading.

Jessica and I then made our way to the Bank of China to put together the rest of the summer's rent. This was an adventure and a half. Jessica's cards weren't working in the international ATM, so we were buggered for cash. With rent due in a matter of hours, we were getting fairly worried. We went over to Hylite where she checked her bank account, but couldn't find a problem. We went back to the bank, and tried a different machine. We had some good luck, although inconvenient. She was able to pull out the money, but only in small installments, so by the time she got out the majority of the rent, she was getting killed by currency exchange fees. I ended up taking out the last of the cash, as well as some additional money to last us until Jessica and Alex come across some income. That day is a good 2 or 3 weeks away.

Once the money issue was solved, Jessica and I stopped at McDonalds for some much needed coffee. Coffee is a rare commodity here, so American franchises are the only places I know of where we can get coffee. Everyone drinks tea here. I got two coffees, and braced myself for a number of reasons. First off, back home, McDonalds coffee sucks. Second, the coffee had clearly been sitting, and was bound to be stale. Third, they didn't even understand what the difference between milk and cream was, so I was stuck with cream. Which I hate. Ah well, I took a sip, and surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. It competed well with the Starbucks coffee, and was about 1/4 of the price. For 6 quai, I have no problems making McDonalds coffee my daily staple. Starbucks coffee isn't much better, and costs somewhere around 18-24 quai. That's about 3-4 bucks, for regular everyday coffee, my North American friends.