Blogs from Xiamen, Fujian, China, Asia

Dopo oltre un mese di viaggio, tra tavolette riscaldate, coperte elettrificate e finestrini congelati, mi dirigo finalmente verso il Sud della Cina, dove le giornate si allungano e la colonnina di mercurio e' libera di schizzare gioiosamente verso l'alto. Unica tappa intermedia tra me ed i tropici e' la teoricamente imperdibile citta' di Shanghai, se non fosse altro per la sua breve ma ricchissima storia e l'importanza che ha rivestito nel corso di tutto il secolo appena trascorso. Seppur situata a meta' strada tra il Nord ed il Sud della Cina, il suo clima continua a rivelarsi decisamente gelido, con temperature costantemente attorno allo zero e fiocchi di neve che arrivano fin qui dalle piu' fredde campagne circostanti, gia' imbiancate da una spessa coltre bianca. La metropoli e' senza dubbio interessante, attraversata da fiume HuangPu che ... read more

When i get back from Xiamen Jasmine fills me in on the gossip that i've missed and the best news of all - Chef has finally walked out! Yes! He has been replaced bya grim faced Chinese woman who stands and stares with her mouth in a line – then starts shouting at me incomprehensively. There is nothing as scary or indeed as loud as the sound of a Chinese woman shouting at you. Old timers know the drill already – they are seated before the gong has gone to get their share of rice and meat/veg that is put on sharing platters in the middle of the table. By the time I get there there is nothing left. Alison gives me some of her rice and I find some meat and veg eventually but nothing ... read more

We arrive into Xiamen at about 10 at night. A man on the bus recognises Emily from Scott's bar (she has been working behind it for some of the summer) so we ask if he can recommend any hotes and he calls around for us and finds us a place where we can share rooms for around 100 yuan a night. We get a cab with him which takes us to the university district. We hang around outside and the man calls the hotel on his phone. We stand on a street corner and debate whether or not to buy some fruit. Eventually a surly looking women with a child on her shoulders comes to find us and lead us back to the “hotel.” The entrance is down a dirty alley way (there isn't another kind ... read more

Monday comes bright and early and Chef's porridge is beginning to seem a bit like part of a chinese torture endurance test. Its complemented by the fact I am finally reading 1984 for the first time. Somehow the prison esque food the boot camp regime, the hierarchy of the school along with the sheer fear and dread i greet each day with have all run into one and the book seeps into my daily concsiousness for life at the school. Feix and Camille have rejected the porridge since day 2 and come to breakfast with apples and chocolate bars "Vive la resistance!" Grins Felix. They have the right idea. This week Scott is taking the morning circuits – out of everyone -the students have already informed me – he is the very worst. This is because ... read more

"Who do you like? "Says Patrice with a dimply smile. "Come on you can tell me, you are a beautiful woman you could have any one here..." Weeell what I haven't told Patrice is that I've narrowed it down to three but to be honest there is no one that I like enough to really want to do anything about. Its a bit like Big Brother here. (There's even a chicken coop with a bloody rooster that goes off at 5am to wake us up for our morning circuit – sometimes his body clock goes wrong and he goes off at 1 am and 4 am as well which is most annoying. Somedays I can think of nothing else except killing him and making a good old fashioned British roast chicken dinner. God I miss sunday ... read more