Pitstop in Changchun

I really hadn't thought this through - there was me thinking I'll spend four months travelling in a tropical climate, forgetting China is in fact a very big place - just like the USA where you can have freezing Alaska or sunny Florida. I'm now a few hours' drive away from the Russian and North Korean Border, right up in the top-right corner if you like - it's bitterly cold here! I landed in Beijing (now eight hours ahead) on Thursday in sandals and flimsy linen trousers; by the time I got to my hotel via rickshaw I was like a human icicle, trying to cover my feet with a bag until I could get at my rucksack to change footwear. Needless to say the next morning I quickly kitted myself out with puffa jacket (with free ear muffs!), furry boots, thermal underwear etc.

Beijing goes on for ever, I think it's twice the size of London with a population of around 16million people - there are ancient Chinese buildings and streets amongst neon signs and sleek corporate skyscrapers. Despite the cold it was actually a huge relief to be back in a "clean" country, in another words no piles of rubbish, cow-and dog-crap and open sewers running along the streets like in India! (Unfortunately the hole-in-the-floor-loo is still in vogue...) I stayed in Beijing for a couple of days to get over the exhausting travelling schedule - four planes from Goa-to-Bangalore-to-Chennai-to-Bangkok-to-Beijing had left me like an unshaven Zombie by the end.

Whilst there I visited the Forbidden City, formerly home to the Emperor and all his concubines (totties), so-named as it was off-limits to the public for 500 years. Anyone who's seen the film The Last Emperor will recognise the location. Directly south (coming out of the Gate with the portrait of Chairman Mao) is Tiananmen Square, apparently the largest public square in the world - but I suspect better known for its 1989 democracy protests.

Outside my hotel there was a food market - great fun and handy to see what you are going to eat before you make a committment. Which is probably just as well, as on closer inspection there are a number of delicacies on skewers that I wouldn't have considered as dinner, such as silk worms, centipedes, baby turtles (wrong!), grasshoppers, starfish, baby snakes, beetles and scorpions. Ok...I actually did eat a baby snake which as you can probably guess was a cross between squid, prawn and chicken. I declined the offer of a bowl of intestine and stomach-lining soup however. Heh heh - see the photos if you think I'm joking.

I took a day trip to the Great Wall of China - which was busy with Chinese tourists. It's quite a climb, in fact you take a "slider car" to get you up the first leg. Once you are on the wall itself some parts have a 45 to 60 degree incline, not always with steps so your legs get a really good workout. The view from the top is amazing although there is a slight haziness to the area from Beijing's air pollution.

I flew to Changchun on Sunday - an hour-and-a-half by plane (spotting the Great Wall on the way). This is a relatively new place, established 200 years ago and really built up in WWII when it was occupied by the Japanese, later the Chinese Communist Party. And it's even colder than Beijing! A strange thing that happens over here - and it mentions it in lonely planet - is that you get pestered by calls all night in your hotel room. Each time it's the same - a woman who speaks no English then cuts to the chase - "Massargee?". I've taken the book's advice and now disconnect the phone, otherwise it goes off every hour of the night. Very strange how the hotels allow it, they seem respectable places when you come into the reception area...

One thing that is very dificult to get used to is being somewhere where most people don't speak a WORD of English. Sometimes you have to give up - I mean it's one thing embarrassing yourself looking like an ape doing sign language to show you want to eat. Yesterday though I considered communicating I needed more toilet paper, and came to the conclusion that this would make a most unsuitable form of Charades!!

I had planned to go to The Martial Arts Academy yesterday but managed to pick up a lurgee - in fact I feel just like I always do in London around this time of year, when a bad cold virus sweeps through the office. If I was back home I know I'd have pulled a sickie and attacked the lemsip. I suspect here the cure could involve powdered antler horns so I'm sticking to the paracetamol!

Finally - I've uploaded my last two camel clips from India for all you fellow camel-fans. I've watched these many times on my camera - makes me grin every time!

Well once my "sickie" is over I'm going to head to the Academy, about 2 hours' drive from here. So next time I'm in touch it will be from there, where I'm staying until Mid-January.

Bye for now!

---

Videos from "Pitstop in Changchun":

---

---