More Christmas celebrations....and predictable Chinese flights...

Friday night bought a night of fun and games as the EtonHouse staff settled in at a deserted Australian restaurant to celebrate Christmas. The dinner was a lovely buffet and the Australian red wine went down a treat after a long 11 weeks at school.

Me wearing my long awaited prize (that I didn't even win!) and an off duty Santa. I have promised to wear that stylish beanie/glove set in several photos in Tibet.

Things did get a little silly as the night wore on - there were dart competitions where the darts occasionally missed the board, pool competitions with staff who didn't know how to hold the cue, Rolling Stones impersonations, the 'Bevins' (Tony and I) V the 'Aristocrats' (Pete and Nat) pool game, and some hair styling by a very feminine stylist (Tony) on an unsuspecting model (myself). A lot of fun to finish the year on.

The 'Sexy Beasts' quiz team did okay, however we were a lot more confident in our intellectual abilities than we should have been!

I regretted not packing earlier as I stumbled around with a slight red wine induced headache on Saturday morning. At last I was off though, you can't do any more organising when you are on the plane. Which brings me to an observation of the Chinese whilst flying. The behaviour of the Chinese is very predictable. First, they rush to line up to get onto the plane despite the fact that everyone has a pre-assigned seat. Then they push and shove as they try to store their big gift boxes of dried meats and 100 year old eggs in the overhead locker. They sit down and promptly fall asleep, only wakening to eat several pieces of cake and bread that are usually the snacks. They then fall back asleep and all is calm until mayhem hits again as they all wake up (on cue) just before landing. As soon as the plane hits the ground, seatbelts are off, mobile phones are on and they clamber over one another to get their bags out and wait for 10 minutes with their necks at an unnatural angle under the overhead lockers. The same happens on every flight, very amusing. The Chinese staff enjoy the Christmas party I am now in Chengdu, waiting to board the train for Lhasa tonight. Am so excited about the trip but slightly anxious too. I have wanted to do this trip for so long that I'm a little worried it won't live up to my expectations or that getting altitude sickness will ruin the experience. The train trip is meant to be stunning, it is the world's highest railway with the highest point being just over 5000 metres above sea level. Christmas in Tibet, here I come!