Blogs from Ji'Nan, Shandong, China, Asia

The train from Beijing to Jinan was quick, only about 90 minutes. Jinan West Station, where the high speed rail stops is quite far out of the city. The local bus stops in the small bus station just across from the train station. There were a few signs and I just followed some people, who I hoped were heading in the right direction. Jinan is famous for Its mineral springs that are all over the city. I had decided to head to Baotu Springs, which is the most famous. The K109 bus goes there from the west train station. The bus journey took about 40-50 minutes and as the bus progressed it filled up with people. It was also really hot and sunny, and I felt like I was being roasted alive in my seat. The ... read more

Happy New Year from China! Becky and I seized a rare opportunity of having a couple of days off at the same time to hop on the Chinese fast train (305km/hour) to Jinan, Shandong Province, some 450km away from Beijing. You’ve never heard of Jinan? Well, me neither before 2015! Jinan is actually the capital city of Shandong Province, an attractive area of China mostly famous for 3 other places (I believe): Qingdao, the coastal city where the sailing events of the 2008 Olympics took place, Qufu, birthplace of Confucius, and finally Taishan, one of the Five Great Mountains of China. In other words no tourist ever makes it to Jinan when visiting Shandong… Why did we go there? We wanted to visit a place none of us had ever been to, and Jinan is mentioned ... read more

Putting away the dishes this morning whilst waiting for my kettle to boil water for the pot of tea that is MANDATORY to start the day I had to break up the ice on the dish draining rack. Hmmm, yes it was cold overnight. I keep the window open a little in there and door closed to the rest of the apartment, but there is a radiator heater in there to take the chill off things, thank goodness the red wine may have frozen otherwise. English corner today and then lunch with Howard from Australia and 4 young Chinese guys. The top today was 0C but around midday today it was really cold, enough to freeze any water drops being dripped from the buckets being dragged up from the springs, into little icicles along the stone ... read more

Cold, chilly, grey skies and English corner. Getting dressed to go out now is a major marathon involving 13 items of clothing, underwear, undershirt, top shirt, jumper/vest, tights, socks, jeans, shoes, jacket, scarf, gloves and hat. But English corner awaits and a dedicated bunch of Chinese are there wanting to chat about this that and everything. And really I use it as much for me, to glean what the real Chinese people think. We talk pretty much without any filter, I try to remain positive but I do go near those tricky subjects of politics and religion and comparison of East and West. Today we got around to talking about the one child policy and the implications of this. China’s population is still growing as this policy is not as simple as it sounds. It only ... read more

You look at the jeans you have been wearing for the past 5 days and go, yeah sure why not; another day or two would be OK, it’s not as if I’m sweating at all. All the marigolds have been taken out of the flower beds and replaced with the “cauliflower” plants. Two colours, purple and white, they look just like cauliflowers. All the trees have lost their leaves and the trunks are painted white, a paint to reduce fungus and insects apparently. The trees are wrapped up for the winter in a fetching arrangement of a wicker basket. The large shops have a huge thick blanket at the front doors to keep the heat in and the cold out. You look longingly at the lingerie shops, but not at bras and knickers; but at long ... read more