Destroyer the Hairdresser and Cakes made of nail polish

China have censored my blog. This means i dont know what i last wrote so excuse me if i cover old ground. (you may wonder how i managed to post this... thanks mum).
I was in Outer Mongolia about a week ago, so here is a brief summary. Stayed in a traditional ger camp, which is basically a tent/teepee thing. The countryside was nice, squat toilet out houses not so nice... especially in the dark. Curiously though in the middle of the mongolian steppe, miles from anywhere there was a small recreational hall (the only stone building for miles around) and in it was a full size snooker table. The mongolians were giving me all manner of snooker chat, 'did you watch the lastest tournament at the crucible?', 'what do you think of higgins?'. I dont think they were impressed with my knowledge.
I also went horse riding round semi dangerous cliffs (only dangerous when on a very nervous horse), tried some archery, hiked and saw some local yaks and wild horses. Back in Ulaan Baatar city i helped a charity project by digging a hole for an out house with a couple of my fellow travellers. When they told us it had to be 2m deep it was hard to hold back the "what a load of shit!".
After a discussion with Frank (an australian fellow traveller) about his goatee i discovered it had been on for 15 years. Since Frank is only 35 i found this slightly shocking. I agreed to shave my head if he got rid of the beard. We had both been putting this off for a while when we found we had free time. So we headed to a salon stylist place called 'destroyer' which seemed a strange and quite ominous name for a hairdresser. Anyway i got my head shaved and the only thing that was destroyed was my illusions of a perfect hairline. Frank duly followed and shaved his beard (he had it back 3 days later).
After Mongolia i got the train south through the Gobi desert, which was... dry and sandy, into china. On the train it was a girl called kirtys birthday. Someone had kindly bought her a cake and as it was opened a strange smell filled the carridge. Thinking nothing of it and cutting rather generous slices, we tucked in. After one bite it was clear that this cake was not for human consumption. It was filled with acetone (nail polish remover) and tasted, well, like it was filled with nail polish remover. I swallowed one bite and felt ill for the rest of the day. I eventually reached Beijing and have said goodbye to trains and my fellow travellers for the time being. I have made lots of friends and contacts for when i visit australia, so i shouldnt be short of a bed.

Beijing is a great city. The best part about it is the tiny streets called hutongs, which is where people live, sell things, travel through, keep pets, cook etc etc. good fun to walk through. The great wall was pretty great but quite cloudy. Food is great. I leave shortly for Yantai to start my shaolin kung fu training which should be... interesting.
P.S. should you wish to get hold of me, you can call me on my chinese mobile. From a landline, and to get the 1p a min rate, call 0844 861 7878 then listen to the automated instruction and dial 008613141140807. to text, its just +8613141140807... i think. im 7 hours ahead so no joly drunks calling at crazy hours
PPS. The reason the cake was filled with acetone, or so I guess, is that it is an offering for the Bhuddist Temples or Shaman Shrines and it is meant to last for ages and not be eaten. Quite why they have to fill them with sugar and flour I don't know.