28th March - Hangzhou (still)

Matt is now ill so I'm trying to make him relax before our next long journey because I know how rubbish he's going to feel.

Tried to contact Barclays again but still no luck with Skype - I did reach a record of 10 mins 27 secs holding time though.

We took the very long bus trip into town to just to try and get cash. We got on at the first stop and so were early enough to get a seat. We sat on the side facing seat between both doors in the hope of maximum air circulation. so Matt spent most of the journey with his knee nestled in some old guys crotch. It filled up to bursting at the next stop and most people had their usual jollies trying to cram on but there was one bloke who didn't enjoy the scrap to get in and started kicking and punching the doors and windows when it appeared that there wasn't room for him. It seemed to work though because they let him on and no-one seemed to mind or even really look.  Many of them were busy trying to stay upright and watching the particularly violent version of 'You've Been Framed' that was playing on the TV  at the front. In fact, no-one seemed to mind much: Matt spent most of the journey with his knee firmly nestled in a guys crotch. The bloke was totally unconcerned but Matt complained of a sweaty knee a few times.

When we finally reached the ATM,  Smile had come through for us so at least we could pay the hostel. It was the least we could do after he'd let us run up a bill eating and sleeping there when he knew we couldn't get cash.

There were still plenty of things to do and see at the lake and the city but it was another sunny, hot day so we headed straight back before Matt got much more ill.

Matt went to sleep and I tried to email Barclays. I was quite ranty, angry and long-winded by this time so banged on for ages about how they'd left me stranded and without any options before I sent it and immediately recieved an error message for that too. I looked elsewhere on their website for an actual address rather than a link and found out that they were doing 'essential maintenance' until tomorrow - when we leave for Hong Kong!

Hostel garden at night