Lazy Lijiang

Okay, it was early, but the views down Lijiang River were well worth it. I could wake up to it everyday if possible, and the fresh river air aroused our senses. I must have taken at least 100 photos, anxious not to miss one moment of that journey. On a bamboo raft, we finally made it to XingPing, from where we would take another bus to Yangshuo.

There I was itching to find out the reason behind the weird and wonderful shapes of Lijiang mountains, so as I encountered an English-speaking Chinese man next to me, I fired my question at him. It is because of the limestone that slowly decayed over time and left these wondrous beasts behind. Who knows, in 50 years time, they may not even be there. So as we approached Yangshuo, having booked a hotel this time, I was little more relieved. We landed in a landscape haven but filled to the brim with tourists galore. Bamboo Cafe and Inn was hosted by the delightful but talkative Anne, a Chinese woman from the north, someone we could finally understand as the southern Chinese accent began to take its toll. And after a bit of careful student bargaining, we settled for a reasonable price and prepared for the next few hours. TAMDEN BIKE RIDING.

 Okay, for those who know me...I have a rather odd relationship with those two legged, freaks of a vehicle ie. I can't actually ride one...oh the shame. So when I was told that it was possible for the two of us to jump one, I was both terrified and excited at the same time. It started off a little bumpy, but the next thing, we were sailing away for 5 hours. Let's not talk about the muscle pain the next day. But it was amazing, and I did actually peddle! So after 2 hours, we reached Moon Hill (YueLiang Shan), 1251 steps up to the top, easy until you actually start. By the time we reached the top, we had all officially died, but the scene was beautiful. The green mountains caressed the small city below. But then came the climb back down and another 2 hours on the bike. Eek.

Dying from pain the next day, we decided to take it easy and just wander through the quaint streets of Yangshuo. We settled for lunch at a Middle-Eastern restaurant- random I know, but it was the first time my Korean counterparts had tried the cuisine, and delighted to say they loved it. The night time was another affair altogether. The lights resembled a cross between the red-light district of Paris and the hubbub of Laos. Not always good, especially as the streets were lined with lapdancing clubs, catered for the idiotic foreigners. Not too pleased to say the least. Then came the strange old Korean man, who took us out to dinner, desperate for some conversation in his native tongue. Awkward for me a little, but one heck of a giant free meal. Then returning to hotel, only to think we came face to face with some ghost, the neighbour's front door and the bathroom door swinging open, making us gallop down the stairs. Ice cold beer, literally ended our last night in Yangshuo, as we headed back to Guilin the next day to take the train back home.

Just before we headed on to the train, I burnt my mouth of with the spiciest bowl of noodles ever imagined, it was seeping red, my mouth was on fire and I was becoming well aware of the fact that I would have to spend 23 hours on a train back to Beijing (thank god it was a sleeper). It was luxury compared to the nightmare of the hard seat. We became increasingly aware that the man opposite, staring profusely at us was a policeman, and he proceeded in taking our pictures, though I did tell him to stop. A marriage proposal for his son later, I managed to inch away. A 4 year old child who was persistent on speaking English with us, stayed for a while to play cards, not before being pulled away kicking and screaming by the parents to go to sleep. And then came the lights out at 10pm and the ghost stories. AGH! I'm still freaked out by the Korean's way of telling stories, not surprising that they created Tale of Two Sisters and Old Boy.

I was awoken the next day to say that we would be arriving earlier than expected only to realise that once again we had mistaken the women's southern accent, and the journey was actually 27 hours, a slow train, a slow pain and a slow death. Five hours of Charades did the trick, and by the time we reached it was 11pm the next day! It was all over, back to the mists of Ol' Jing.

Gorgeous Guilin

Anyhoo, back we went to Beijing until another week and then we were off to the South of China aka tourist central. Getting to Guilin was probably the worst journey I have ever experienced, and I have been on a few. It was 23 hours on that 90 degree angle box with people all around practically sitting on me. There were people everywhere, and for once I understood the word 'overpopulated.' There were hundreds of people sitting in the aisle, apparently paying the same price for a seat but squatting for 26 hours. I never even headed to the toilet, the 4hours to Chengde proved the fragrant smells of Chinese hygiene mixed with pot noodles. It was utter pain, and because some Chinese people have no sense of the word polite, I was dug with someone's elbow every 10 minutes, sleep was just non-existent. So after a very cranky 23 hours, I was ready to hop off and die. By the way did I mention, I didn't book a hotel this time either?

We met a man with a  plan on the train who said that he would help us to find a hotel. I am always a little skeptical of commission making touts or so I thought he was. He went from showing rooms that were £50 a night to his cousin's old flat that had one bed for the three of us about 20 minutes out of town. So after another 3 hours of searching, we moved into a crabby youth hostel with two beds for the three of us just to save money being destitute students. No matter, it was a place to sleep that was all for sure. So after our major upheaval and feeling a little sore, we were ready for an early night until that man arrived with his son and was ready for to show us the night town.

First was the night market, at the centre of town, Guilin being a hubbub of cosmopolitan people, it resembled the quaint stalls of Laos. It went on for miles and so we rushed through it planning to come back another night. Then we headed to the main park, with two very special silver and gold pagodas that floated on the water and lit up the horizon. After a galleon of photos around there, we walked over to another park, where the man got us a cheap night ride on the river around Elephant Hill- named so because the mountain is apparently that way. By the time it was 12am and we were about to die, we headed home, but not before going through a small foot road that had Irish and Cuban pubs. This was China?

In the morning we headed to find out we could bike ride in Guilin, unfortunately not. Yes, yes for those who know me, I will get back to this point. So instead, after some light refreshment, we jumped on what seemed a Tuk Tuk to QiXing GongYuan (7 Star Park), the driver warning us that it was utter crap. But we didn't have much choice as we were heading for an evening cruise that was nearby this so-called 7-Star park. It started off being quite beautiful, mountains became the norm and was almost expected. But the speciality of this place was supposedly it had an old cave.

Being a fan of all that is ancient and wonderful, I geared up for this. That was until I entered what seemed to be an amusement park, except I wasn't too thrilled. It was lit up with multi-coloured lights, there seemed to plaster all over the walls, people constantly flashing photos with their cameras and most of it I think was man-made. From the days I was in Spain, this did not even come close to what I imagined- ancient etchings and limestone water filled ditches. So sorely disappointed we wondered around for another hour or so, with plenty of time to kill. Eventually headed for the night cruise and that changed our fortunes. We got there in the nick of time, the sun was just setting, so we were lucky enough to get the pinkish, purplish glow that you get at dusk. And then the night was illuminated by the banks of Guilin, eventually reaching the two pagodas that we had already encountered, but now seeing it in the flesh.

It was about 8pm and we hopped off the boat heading to the night market. All I wanted was a magnet and after some persistent bargaining, got what I asked for. That's the good thing, you can haggle anything, even your own mother if they wanted. But it was a lot larger than we expected, so by 10pm we headed back to the suite to get some kip and prepare for our 5.30am start to the next city- Yangshuo.

Charismatic Chengde

So we have already had two holidays, one is the Spring Festival at the end of September for 3 days and the other is the National Holiday from the 1st October for a week. First trip out of the little microclimate that is Beijing was to the north of China, mainly the city of Chengde. After realising that we were inches and minutes from missing our train, we sprinted for our lives down the Beijing platform.

Out of breath and sweating profusely we headed for our first hard seat experience- the hard seat being a couple of boxes fixed at a 90 degree angle and covered with some sort of chair material, hoping that none of the passengers would notice it being the worst seat in history. But this was 4 hours, piece of cake. After a two hour nap, low and behold came the most beautiful landscapes, verdant mountains and green lakes. Took me back to a time when I was in Vietnam (sounds like I was in the war, but definitely not).

Okay, being severely disorganised and impulsive this time, meant I forgot to book a hotel. Worried that we wouldn't find anything, we braced ourselves for sleeping in a MacDonald's restaurant- possible in China. But thank god for the touts, we hopped off in a van with them, stupidly scared of being kidnapped, but realised there were others on this highway to hell. But we landed in a swanky hotel, budget priced, so a mini celebration dance was in order.

After we settled in to our abode, we headed to the first destination, an ancient Lama temple in the mountains. The Chinese name did not resemble the English one so I forget what it is. And oh yes, by the way, Chengde is basically a city surrounding a mountain near Inner Mongolia, so the views are spectacular to say the least. The temple itself was surrounded by a fortress, so it took almost about 30minutes to actually get to the main attraction. And what an attraction. The golden roofs of the temples may have been recently renovated but they glimmered for miles around. But it was the astonishing size of the Buddha pagoda, each section carved with a miniature Buddha that was exemplary- about 300 feet filled with tiny statues.

The next days consisted of early mornings and visiting random horizons. The first was BingShuang GongYuan (The Emperor's Mountain Resort), I still don't understand why someone could need so much space without getting completely lost, but it was a beautiful 9am in the morning. The idea of dropping out of university, to read under a tree sprung to mind, but alas. The day after was another early start and a few hours before we returned back to the polluted climes of ol' Jing. Apparently the longest cable car journey going over a mountain range which lasted about 30 minutes, meant we were hoisted up hundreds of feet in the air- and it wasn't car it was a ski lift with no barriers. So as my friend held on for dear life, and kept her eyes closed throughout the whole time, I revelled in being suspended in the air. At the end of the ride was a giant peak named the 'Sledge hammer' apparently because of the shape, but Chinese people have used it to mean other things, aka a symbol of fertility, hmm...

Back To Misty Beijing, China

So I finally made it back to China, and its been officially one week of what feels like a decade already. As I lugged around my rather bulging suitcase, about to snap off my arms in the process at the airport, I am told that my luggage is overweight. Thank god for trips to India preparing me for this kind of outcome. With a Sainsbury bag in hand, I take out 2 books- surprisingly 2kg all by itself!

The plane journey was a rather more mundane affair. Food, films, sleep, the bloated feeling you get for being a slob, yep all 14hours of it. And then came humid Beijing. 28C to be precise, I was not prepared for this kind of weather, my suitcase filled with jumpers. So as I sweated through all 3 of my layers- coat, hoodie, and t-shirt and thought 'kill me now,' I saw a familiar face at the airport and was whisked away via Beijing bus service. I did feel rather bad for the poor man lugging around my bags, thinking he could be macho enough to take it on. So I stared at him whilst his face slowly turned into a tomato...

Travelling Beijing via motorcycle is rather a different matter than SE Asia. For one, its illegal for foreigners to drive one, two; you need about 10 heads to cope with all directions of traffic, pedestrians, bicycles, dogs, cats....I was enjoying my time on it, trying very hard to repress memories of Cambodia. But alas, by the third day I managed to hit my leg pretty hard on a bollard. No bones or ligaments torn and broken, just have a bruise on my leg and ego.

Okay, the good news is- by day two, I had a flat sorted. Not bad eh? Paying what seems like I am robbing the Chinese blind, for an apartment that is pretty ideal. 10 mins walk from uni, 2 great room mates (Korean girl and Belgian guy) who are utter geniuses in Chinese and can speak English if needs be, with a room that could qualify as the size of a living room. No more abject poverty, no more sharing a bathroom with 12 people, oh yeah!!

In terms of sightseeing, I have seen my university an infinite amount of times now. Already, the thought of 6.30am wake up calls is making me shudder. Furniture shopping is pretty interesting especially with the bargaining experts. Never have I ever reached that kind of level of bartering. I managed to visit Yonghegong temple (Lama Temple) which was probably the best temple I have seen in Beijing since I have been. The Tibetan monks chanted continuously in a low drone and it was almost hypnotic. And the 18m high Sandalwood Buddha reached a Guiness World Record according to the front placard, for being carved out of a single piece of wood. Bloody amazing.

The hutongs (old Beijing alleyways) are still spectacular as always, though many are now catered for tourists as I see many non-Chinese folk armed with a Lonely Planet in one hand and in a daze in the other about to be run over by the various transports trying to fit in the narrow path. But went into a amazing art/ music cafe as well as venturing out to see the wonderful calligraphy and Chinese art stores. I am currently ecstatic to be reunited with dumplings and milk tea.

Start of the Epic Adventure: S. China, Kunming

China (Country Guide)


Accommodation: The Hump Hostel, 35yuan for Dorm
thehumphostel.com


Flights: South China Airlines, 640yuan, 3 hours
Elong.net

Train: BeijingXiZhan/ Beijing West Station, £50, 38 hours

Places to Visit: 

• Yuantong Temple/ Yuantong Si
• Bamboo Temple
• Jinmabi Market
• Day Trip to Stone Forest

In Kunming, well what can I say? I landed thinking it would be landscape heaven, as from the plane, mauvish mountains outlined the horizon with turquoise lakes. Stunning. So when I landed in a metropolis, seeing every designer brand on earth, eyeing every woman dolled up to the core, I was a bit horrified.

Thankfully, in 4 bed female dorm consisting of a slightly mature Chinese woman (about in her late 50s) who was a young traveler at heart with plenty of spirit, touring China for the last 6 months. She only spoke Mandarin, but I guess it was great practice. Also a young Polish girl, who was also studying Chinese ( but was a little bit ill though poor thing) a Japanese Sitar player who spent about 6 years living in India learning from a very renowned Sitar player in Calcutta ( she even knows where I live there- crazy!) and a lovely Chinese 23 year old woman, on business but liked the hostel so much that she was staying there! We had a mini breakfast and set off to the temples, catching various English and Chinese chats along the way. Then we headed to the art district which was not like Beijing aka, it was actual studios where people were painting so they were less amused that 2 girls turned up to look at their work!



This beautiful temple called Yuantong Temple was not like the Beijing ones- people were actually there praying rather than being touristy. It was so tranquil, it was set in amongst a small hill and there was a moat of water all around. There were cute baby turtles swimming in the water! And absolutely stunning Golden giant Buddhas in the temple, decorated with dragons all around it. The air felt different, more genuine.

At the Drive-In

One of my stranger moments was going to a place called 2 Kolegas, a music venue in the middle of a woodland forest/ Drive- in cinema. Confused? So was I! Thankfully it wasn't open-air so I didn't freeze to death in 0 C, but it was in a very suave wooden venue, equipped with (once again) pretentious expat crowd and very strange bands...

First was a Beijing Indie outfit, normal enough pretty standard. Then came the strange folk mish mash band. There must have been about 7 people. Nothing special: except for the music maestro- a metalhead looking man, who switched from the Banjo to playing a Saxamaphone (yep I said it) to a flute. Woohoo! Then the middle-aged hippy woman playing the drums. Craziness....




But it was the finale that wasn't featured on the band list that stood out. The owners band had a jamming session til the wee hours in the morning. He played funk guitar, the Spanish bassist played slap bass at lightening speed and the European drummer, completed the trio. And then came the barman...yes you heard me. A completely loco barman jumped on to stage to literally make love to the instruments, specifically the bass guitar and the bassist, who almost fell off the stage in the process. I wasn't sure if he was drunk, or he had just escaped an asylum, but he went at it- even growling 'Hit me baby one more time (Britney)' to the jamming music.

The music was awesome, he was hilarious but unfortunately he ended the session as the band grew weary having to cater to his growling singing for 15mins.

Weather Report

Well its official, the Chinese are a little insane.

There came a nuclear-like explosion in the sky, my small room was illuminated with floodlight so to speak. And then a few minutes later, the heavens opened up and snowed 4 inches of snow in an hour! Yes, its official, the Chinese control the weather-which made sense, as their weather reports never fails.

With this newfound snow, I ventured to Jingshan Park, overlooking Tianamen Sq and Forbidden City, with a group of my classmates. Pretty picturesque to say the least, a little daunting climbing so many slippery stairs, but a worthwhile view, and many kodak moments.

I decided to be a little pretentious one Saturday morning and head to the Bookworm Cafe, which is exactly what it says on the tin- a warm hot chocolate, with library stack of books to slide into a snuggly sofa with. (I happen to be a little ill these past few weeks) After 4 hours, I was sufficiently glued to my seat, and getting a little hot and bothered. But it was Saturday, and I wanted to make it count- so off to another Jazz shindig thought I!

East Shore Jazz cafe was more like an American/ European style Jazz bar in the 1940s. Mauvish walls, smokey stale odour, a wine list that was an arms length long and a price to match, even a random French film "Parapluies des Cherbourgs" was hypnotically replayed throughout the night. I was about 2 hours early til Lui Can (Owner of the bar and lead saxophonist) came on with his tune-busting Jazz encore, even though it took every transport possible to get there: bus, tube, taxi and walk.

So by the time they came on, I was already swaying, feeling like my stomach was about to reveal all its contents. Reading 'Lolita' was probably the factor that pushed me over the sickness barrier. But the music was awesome, the quartet were absolute genius, very simple; but classy. They were overlooked by various Jazz memorabilia, Miles Davis, BB King were all there onlooking the Beijing talents. I on the otherhand survived an hour, and crawled for a taxi home!

Colossal China

Did the main sites of Beijing: Temple of Heaven Park, climbed another mountain named Fragrant Hills, with alot of puffing and panting involved of course, but views are amazing.

Okay, the best bits were: climbing the GREAT WALL OF CHINA like a nonce, running around with an Indian scarf pretending to be in a bollywood film, yep I officially desecrated the beauty and amazement of the site. It is as amazing as they say, absolutely (not using the word 'great) colossal, you can see it on all the peaks of the other mountains, absolutely Lord of the Rings styley!

Then conveniently my memory card decided to malfunction and lose all my pictures- all 600 of them. I then had to pay for it to get smashed and put on to CD. On the upside, my pictures are restored and I finally have my tuition fee money back after 2 months of bugging several banks across the Globe.

And of course my random night music soirees. Listening to Jazz version of Elvis 'Blue Suede Shoes' by Chinese people- Awesome, they totally did not massacre it thankfully in a club called Hot Cat where we played Jenga and Foosball and ate yummy cake! Then the other mammoth of a place- supposedly a complex with the biggest TV screen in the world- stretching for miles aka an entire roof of a shopping complex whilst listening to my beloved Gypsy Jazz music. Not to mention the infamous Halloween shindig; it's 0 C, and it is snowing in the midst of Beijing's Fetish scene. Yep all 3 inches of snow. Insane.

Out in the Mongols...

Now comes the clincher: Out of sheer boredom, and desperate to make the most of my holidays-where do I decide to go?? Mongolia!!!! The craziest trip on earth consisted of: 11 girls in a 10 people broken down minivan; a night in -1C sleeping in a Yurt with 3 other people despite only have enough bedding for 3 people; a huge open ditch with old human waste for a women's toilet; Drunken Chinese kareoke: a so-called bonfire that was a small fire in a bin:;horse-riding in the grasslands; camel riding in the desert as well as 300 foot sand slide, and motor quad racing (which I was driving haha); being ripped off like nobody; and a rave in the middle of the desert. AWESOME. And completely mental! I made it back in one piece, all thanks to something called Bai Jiu, a poisonous spirit drink that tastes like bleach and good for cleaning toilets but keeps you incredibly warm. I will never drink again. Promise hehe.

More Beijing Beauty

Taking full advantage of the holidays, I went to my next destination: The Summer Palace. For all of you following- I went to the Old Summer one before. Ok it was actually insane trying to find it. After 2 buses, and a 2 mile walk which included befriending 2 Chinese tourists girls (wow thats a lot of 2s) we made it. They grabbed hold of my hand and made me feel extremely welcome and safe when walking through the titanic park. It even consisted or a huge lake, the size of the Thames, and bloody massive mountains. It was beautiful to say the least, the Emperors royal park, with Buddhist temples. Man, there was so much to see.

Crazy Beijing Ways

I started Uni finally (despite still waiting for the money to still come back into my account). Even after such a long time of no study, I enjoyed the advanced class thoroughly. We were bantering in only Mandarin, and it made sense, I was over the moon. We then even had a lesson in a restaurant, practising our food talk. I ate a duck which I felt sad about after my school days of playing with them- I betrayed them haha. I finally ate my beloved dumplings, and then played Chinese paper, scissors, rock with my sweet Chinese teacher, who resembles a pixie and we call her 'the lollipop lady.' Fun times.



Then came the National Day and a 9 day holiday (despite having to attend class on the weekends to make up for it!) We ventured to Tian an' Men Square which was barricaded with Police, because in a socialist country they only let 30,000 people actually attend. Nice. So after a mammoth task of getting through some barriers, we spotted some fireworks through the gaps in the buildings. Hmmm, maybe watching it on TV would have been better but oh well.


For all the art lovers out there, I set out to Beijing's hip Art district- the 798 Art District. Okay, so it almost took an hour to find it in a taxi (don't worry they are cheap) but he was pissed off and my directions in Mandarin are slightly limited. But I made it, and my god it was worth it. Everything on earth was there, photography, paintings, sculptures, modern, abstract, historical. Bloody fantastic. It was humungous, an actual district so I couldn't finish it all. I met a Tibetan monk who was blessing the Buddhist Gallery, a pan piping music maestro and an ex-monk who makes a living taking pictures with foreigners for the last 40 years. I was the first Indian he had met, so there I was being photographed haha. Loved it, awesome.


In the night, I stupidly was roped into a double date with another Asian Uni girl and her boyfriend (not at all uncomfortable). We decided to try out the infamous Wangfujing district- live scorpions, hearts of some poor creature, lizards and cocoons were just some of the delights there. But watching an extremely pretty woman munching on a scorpion was more horrifying then I thought. I avoided the crazy food sense and ate some normal cuisine. We ended the night with the idiotic men taking photographs with random Chinese policemen. Not at all embarrassing.

Days After Music Madness...

After a late night at the venue, what do I decide to do on my Saturday after an hours sleep? Climb a mountain. Yunmeng Mountain to be specific (Cloud Mountain) which was only 4 hours to the top, and 2 hours to get there. Kill me now I thought. But I managed the amazing crawl up, the only place with that much fresh air and such stunning scenery. Clouds were an understatement, we were practically walking in it. But it was exhilarating seeing the greens of the forest and the different springs and waterfalls planted around. I came home and died, but I went to heaven at least.

Random Musical Soirees

I spent last night at D-22, an avant garde bar, with the craziest live music. A whole bunch of pretentious music connoiseurs sit and nod, whilst listening to so-called progressive music aka 3 Chinese men, an electro-keyboard, a Chinese guitar like instrument and an acoustic guitar played like a 5-year old, tonking on the strings. In the background, a huge screen of random flashing lights, and what seemed to be an Egyptian Pharoah-like women, just hanging about within the light strobe circle screen. They also happened to be called Random K(E), not sure what the K(E) was about though. Strange indeed. Then came the 'foreigners,' supposedly more advanced in their knowledge of music. But turned out to be almost a duplicate of the Chinese band. Hmmm, I think I will give progressive music a miss.

The owner was an equally pretentious 45-year old American guy, who ummed and ahhed at the music. As he swirled a glass of red wine behind his bar, he boasted moronically, "my family are into Classical music, I prefer Bach then Wagner." Like I even cared. I think he was trying to relive his youth through the young people that entered his bar, being half his age. HAHA


After the adventures to Bar D-22, I tried the place right next to it! Did my eyes deceive me or was I standing in front of a Chinese Metal Bar!! For all those who know my passion about the genre, bear with me :) It was hilarious to say the least. Club 13 consisted of Emo-style- growling- Chinese- McFly- looking- men, as well as an absolutely mental moshpit where at one point there was a man lying on the floor, staring into space for 2 minutes after being thrown across the room. Then came 'Magic Mama,' which really did not sound like a metal band. The buildup was hardcore, actual curtains with a powerpoint presentation which included random cheesy pictures of the band, and how 'amazing' they were. Then the music started. Screeching emo, mixed with ska with a hint of Beijing Pop. Yikes. Then the diva blonde haired lead singer, stopped and the fun started. 'I would like to sing Happy Birthday to my mother,' the sing-a-long started, and then the tears came-'may I have a tissue' was his reply to the audience. Lordy-lord.

Venturing Out...

So, progress: Cough still evident, might have to venture to the hospital, drat, even after all the home remedies! I am causing quite a stir, getting shifty looks from the authorities, slowly they edge towards me to snag me into quarantine, agh! *cough cough*

After about an hour and a half of wandering about aimlessly, I finally spot my destination "The Old Summer Palace." In an obscure, but picturesque location, north of Beijing, lies the remains of ancient China, destroyed by invaders but renovated to the point that it is still stunning to walk about. It resembled a set from a standard modern Chinese film aka House of Flying Daggers or Hero; the scene in which everything is set in a green plain, with the water reflecting the Xiang Shan mountains, and as the sun was setting, the red hues bathed the landscape. Haha, cheesy or what!

Was a day when I armed myself as a proper tourist. I had my camera on one hand, and my bartering skills on the other as we entered the Silk Street gigantic department store, that was actually rows and rows of market stalls selling everything from knock-off designer gear, to chess boards to table cloths. It was quite frightening actually. I thought the first time I would finally hear English, I would be relieved, but I was oh so wrong...

Swarms of small Chinese people launched themselves at you, grabbing your arms and legs if possible to say 'you want Louis Vuitton bag' Or 'Here is toy for your children,' and if you say you didn't have any, the reply was prompt 'Okay for you mother then.' The key is to knock of a zero at the end of the price, usually they become disgruntled after this- all the 'you are so pretty,' and 'handsomes' go out of the window, but you walk away with a reasonable sale, haha.

Recovering From Flu

Now, food is amazing here, about a 100 times better then we expected it to be. No doubt there are some unusual ones, but so far its been hard to spot. Only, after a while, the grease starts to clog in the arteries, and to put it politely, the food is a bit of heart attack on a plate, especially prices at 50p a dish!!


On the upside, today I took a more or less deep breath and ventured out today. I got on the subway and headed towards the Olympic Park village, which I would like to say is BEAUTIFUL.


I spent two hours dazing in the gorgeous sun, next to the lake, with a picturesque mountain behind my back shading the light. Ideal conditions for drawing, so that was exactly what I did! Passers-by made sweet conversation with me, even sat down to admire what I was doing. Many a compliment was given, whilst I tried to slam down my big head :-). Will give you the links to photos when I upload some.

The Beginning of the Journey, China

After a very long flight from the distant lands which I vaguely recall as London (6 hours to Dubai, 3 hour wait, and then 7 hours to Beijing FUN), we touched the smokey country of China, and I mean literally. The layer of pollution makes it impossible to even see down the road...and I will definately return back to this point later on.

As some of you may know, my flat fell through a week before I was supposed to move !!! However, with tireless calling and my very poor Mandarin, a miracle occurred. The plan was to stay in a hostel for a few nights so we could endlessly search the streets of Beijing in chance of finding an apartment. Instead, to my extreme surprise and delight, a young Japanese man seemed to be holding a placard with my name on it highly unexpectedly. There at the bottom right hand corner or the white paper was written, his name. And then it all made sense.

He had been one of many, that I had contacted to move into his apartment, but this guy meant business. So there he was ready for us to move!!! Nicknamed "San Pu," he did not speak a word of English, whilst my other half did not speak a word of Chinese, so I was the go-betweener with my so-called Chinese. But charades and sign language did seem to transcend the language barrier, so we were all content. We got a cheap, comfortable flat straightaway, which happened to be close to both our Universities; in the heart of a main shopping district, with amenities such as transport right on our doorstep. We had struck gold. And by the next day we had done all the compulsory registering at the local Public security bureau with our resident permits, so we have officially made it!

Okay, so we got the good stuff out the way. Now here comes the pollution bit...I got so horrendously ill by the second day from a combination of the pollution and the Plane's air-conditioning system that I was battling 104 F/ 40.5 C high temperature. To the average human being, your temperature is supposed to be 36/37 degrees, so you can understand that I was not myself. I became delirious, close to ending up in hospital, but luckily after my own home treatment of bathing in ice-like water, I have tamed it. Chest infection on the other hand is a bit more difficult to manage with DIY treatments, so fingers-crossed.