My new routine

Has stuck until the end of the week- hurrah! Even though I used to do it all the time I have found 6.30 starts extremely hard this week but I'm hoping that the worst is over and it will soon become second nature. It has allowed me to walk to work every day this week which was my main goal and means I have racked up 15 miles of walking this week, woop woop! It has been cracking weather this week which has definitely encouraged me to get out of bed but has also meant that I will definitely have to buy some cooler clothes.
Speaking of cooler clothes I have ordered some clothes for China over the internet. A friend recommended a brand called Craghoppers which have Nosquito (anti mosquito) technology, are quick drying, have 100% UV protection and are even convertible so I don't have to pack shorts. After an evening of searching I managed to source some on Amazon for half the price they are in the shops which is good as two pairs still cost me £67, really 2 for 1 though. Unfortunately they are in a depot miles away as for some reason Amazon now use Home Delivery Network who are notoriously troublesome. Anyway I am hoping to pick them up soon and try them on and see if they are as great as I think they will be. I have ordered one grey pair which are 3/4 length when zipped off and one pewter pair which are knee length when zipped off. I guess they aren't mosquito proof anymore if they can fly up my leg. I'm not entirely sure how Nosquito works but basically it should fend off any pesky mosquitoes and hopefully help me avoid bites! We are not visiting any malarial areas so there is no need for me to take anti-malarials as these can really mess with my epilepsy medication. There are newer ones on the market that don't but these are really expensive (3x cost of regular ones) and haven't been as thoroughly researched so I'm not sure how confident I would be in taking them. Happily I don't have to worry about taking more pills I can just arm myself with DEET, hope it doesn't pong too much :)
It's under 5 weeks until we get on the plane now and I can start to get super excited as Lynsey's visa came though yesterday! Yippee! We were getting a bit worried about it but in the end it came back within a week of applying. Now we can relax and get planning our trip post-trek. I have been listening to my Easy Learning Mandarin CDs on my walks to work and I think things are starting to go in. I have now learned some handy phrases and discovered that there aren't Mandarin words for Yes or No which seems odd but really you just have to ask questions in a different way. One of the handiest phrases I have learned is Speak/Not Speak English? This is answered I speak/not speak English rather than Yes or No. I guess I can always nod or shake my head as an alternative!
More updates to follow soon, I am definitely going to put more effort in in the coming weeks!