Still hanging loose in Beijing

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Yesterday I walked through the market and the maze of hutongs near my lovely hostel, enjoying more glimpses of everyday life - washing hung out to dry from electricity poles, tricycle carts of recyclables, bubbling vats of broth in which various things were cooked. I love the bustle, the pinging of bicycle bells, voices calling things I cannot hope to understand, the sense of purpose, punctuated by the langour of shop owners dozing outside their tiny hole-in-the-wall shops.

Eventually I found myself walking on a pretty little street beside Houhai Lake and the shops and cafes became more touristy. Coming towards me every so often I'd meet a stream of fancy rickshaws - definitely tourist land. Where the road met the bridge between this lake and the next was a delightfully busy spot, where groups of young tourists tried out their newly hired bicycles made for three, rickshaw drivers slept, smoked, or played with their phones - depending on their age - while patiently waiting for their next hire. There were swan-shaped pedal boats for hire, ice-cream stands and hundreds of happy holiday-makers. It could have been a tourist nightmare, but instead the atmosphere was laid back and rather pleasant. And the sky had cleared - for the first time in a week, I was seeing blue sky over Beijing.

I carried on, alongside Qianhai Lake and into the centre of the city, where I had a rather nice foot massage before sorting out a bit of pre-Mongolia shopping. I have walked miles and miles this week, from one side of the city to another nearly every day. It has been a great way to see random slices of the city as well as, hopefully, burning off some of the excesses of countless group meals while on the tour. At the end of the day I feel a mild tightening of my muscles and realise with pleasure that just a couple of months ago, I could not have done this.

My attempts to buy water purifying tablets have been in vain, the only useful upshot being that I have now mastered the correct pronunciation of the words in Mandarin as so many pharmacits have read it aloud from my phrasebook. They've never heard of the things and to those who speak some English I explain how you put one in dirty water, then you can drink... they then rush off only to reappear triumphantly smiling and proffering soluble aspirin, effervescent vitamins, cough mixture or even a tube of something which the accompanying mime suggested could be rubbed in to sore arms.

I've mastered (just about) the art of crossing the road. Pedestrian crossings work on the basis that you get a green man showing when straight ahead traffic has a red light. However, all bicycles, motorbikes etc are exempt from red lights, as are turning vehicles. The effect looks rather alarming as pedestrians try to cross in between a whirling mass of bikes etc, while cars, trucks and buses plough on round corners through the intersection. Somehow it all works out, like a badly choreographed display team which somehow avoids collisions. Pedestrians generally step out without looking, with an air of dozy indifference. If you get left standing between lanes of moving traffic, all the better. This happens quite a lot, as you can easily have 8 or even 10 lanes to negotiate, and the going is understandably slow, so lights tend to change before you have finished.


Today I moved out to the airport, in readiness for my early flight tomorrow. I am staying in a dump of a hotel. Despite being a 10 minute drive from the terminal, it is about 30cm from the end of the runway. It's not so much the noise, it's the way that the whole building shakes and the lights flicker every time a plane comes in to land. My bedroom door has clearly been kicked down in the past, the walls and carpets are filthy and the aircon doesn't work. I shrug these things off as best I can - I've stayed in worse - but it rankles that this is costing more than the wonderful place I've just left.

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