TONIGHT MATTHEW I'M GOING TO BE ...... You'd have thought we'd learnt our lesson from the last hangover flight but oh no, on our last night in China we hit the bottle again with avengence! After a sophisticated evening of Acrobatics and Peking Duck, the night took a turn for the worse when we happened upon a kareoke bar opposite our hotel. Having spotted Malibu for the first time in about a week, I relished the chance to have a big girls blouse of a drink instead of the rocket fuel & coke i'd had at dinner. Now I'm not sure at what point in the night I decided that I was bored of going to the bar but in my slightly tipsy state I decided it was a really good idea to ask the barman to sell me a bottle of vodka. It took about a nano-second to convince Nuala that my plan was the work of pure genius and a deep dig in our communal purse sealed the deal.

It was shortly after this transaction that I decided I can sing!! Having refused point blank to take part in the Kareoke till this point in the night, I suddenly heard the opening bars to "Hey Big Spender" and rushed to the stage. Now anyone who has heard me sing knows that I sound marginally better than a strangled cat however I really don't have the type of voice that you want to take solo into a kareoke bar!! Despite asking the whole room to 'spend a little time with me' I, not suprisingly, didn't get any offers - possibly because I giggled through most of it and accidentally fell off the stage during the instrumental break. My sincere apologies must go out to Ms Shirley Bassey and the entire clientele of the Happy Bar & Grill in Beijing last Saturday!

Apologies also to Nuala for entrusting me to buy our last meal in China. In my slightly hangover state I spent our last bit of cash at the airport on a hot tuna & gherkin sandwich and a packet of paprika crisps - the hangover raged on!!