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.

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.

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.