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Gillian Dale
Ni hao from Beijing17millionandme
I am currently spending a year in China with VSO
Travel Blog Posts
February 12th 2011
Well, it is my final blog from Beijing and if there is one thing I will always think of when I look back on my year it will be the extremes and opposites of life in China. Behind every glossy department store is a narrow street bursting with local life, vegetables being sold on the pavement alongside myriad tiny independent stores, all thriving. The vendors sell baked sweet potatoes and corn on the cob next to towers of cardboard and plastic bottles, hoarded on the back of a bicycle cart for the few pennies they bring. In one area the rubbish will be piled high and happily ignored by people perched on kid sized plastic chairs in the gutter, eating noodles or standing on the street corner with skewers of meat, yet around the corner an ... read more
3 weeks and counting ..........
Published: January 23rd 2011Asia » China » Beijing » Haidian district
January 23rd 2011
Looking at my last few weeks and I really can’t believe it, it has all suddenly speeded up (as people warned me it would). So how much more can I fit in before this weird and wonderful year comes to an end and I land back in Britain with a bump………... I have experienced a Christmas, New Year and birthday here, Chinese style, with a little help from my friends and now we are looking forward to Spring Festival (what in UK we call Chinese New Year) and the frenzy for 2011 the Year of the Rabbit is building up here, just as Christmas does for us at home. I have just returned from a VSO business trip with Sifan, to Sichuan – the home of famously spicy food (not my thing unfortunately). You cannot go ... read more
December 26th 2010
There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. Aldous Huxley Good Morning Vietnam Until I came to Asia visiting Vietnam was not top of my list but once I decided to take the opportunity to see a bit more of this fascinating continent the more Vietnam appealed to me. I did my research and rather than fall into the trap of trying to see everything and dashing around not really appreciating anything, I chose instead to base myself in Hanoi, slow down the pace and just take a few trips out and about; and I am so glad I did. After a disastrous journey which took 26 hours instead of 6, due to high winds in Beijing and fog in Hanoi……….I finally found myself ensconced ... read more
December 8th 2010
I’m still adding to my unique China experiences. A couple of Saturdays ago I volunteered to go and help at a migrant childrens’ school out in the sticks, because often I am working with the managers rather than the beneficiaries of the projects and wanted to do something a bit more hands-on. This organisation has been started by a British lady who now lives in Beijing and she is one of those ‘movers and shakers’ who makes things happen and inspires you to get involved. Then everyone I mentioned it to wanted to come with me so we ended up with a group 6 all setting off on the bus together at 7.30am . The kids made it worth the early start; they are just so keen to try everything and concentrated for an hour and ... read more
November 7th 2010
Volunteers are seldom paid; not because they are worthless, but because they are PRICELESS! So in between my travelling adventures I am doing lots of work, honestly. It is so varied I can only give you some highlights and like the rest of my experiences it goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. One day I am head down in a modern office writing a training course. The next I am in a 5* hotel being hailed as an international expert and delivering a speech to the Asian Games. Another I am on a cultural visit with 50 blind people to Prince Gong’s palace and the next I’m playing a mouse in a sketch about moving the cheese (don’t ask!) as part of a workshop to develop new strategy for VSO China or doing compulsory exercises ... read more
October 11th 2010
1st October is National Day in China and we all get 7 days off so, despite dire warnings about not travelling on the equivalent of our Bank Holiday, I ventured on a long distance bus tour to Hunan province, escorted by my good friend Xu Fie and her husband ‘Alan’ and 3 of their friends. They all spoke some English so I had a great support network to manoeuvre me around and make sure I didn’t get left behind! It started with an epic 24 hours travelling south, including one hair-raising moment in the dark and inevitably heavy rain. We had taken a wrong turning and ended up on a route which might actually be a road by next year but at this point was more like rubble, and we all had to get off ... read more
September 24th 2010
My wonderful week in Wayne’s world As soon as my friend Wayne knew I was coming to Beijing he promised he would come out and meet me in Shanghai, even though in the event it meant him flying half way around the world to fulfil his promise, from Toronto! So in 5 days and 6 nights we ‘did’ Shanghai. No paving stone was left unturned as we tramped our way, guide book in hand, around the wonderful old historic buildings of the French Concession and The famous Bund. Built on the river, Shanghai’s skyline is now known more for its space age architecture, including the world finance centre known as the’ can-opener’. As a major port it was always one of the most westernised of Chinese cities and there are places where you could think you ... read more
August 23rd 2010
“Chinese police carried out another high profile prostitution bust at a nightclub in Beijing. The complex undercover raid, which involved officers singing karaoke for two hours while wired, resulted in the 79 hostesses being detained.” Funniest thing I’ve read this week in Chinese press! The heavens have opened - I never thought I would be glad to see torrential rain - OK, very British talking about the weather but it has been so brilliant to feel some FRESH air. Today I went out and about in Beijing wearing my flip flops because I knew the puddles would be so deep that I might as well embrace them Asian monsoon style rather than try, and fail, to stay dry. Well I said I hadn’t ‘done’ the Olympic Park so as you will see from the series of ... read more
August 10th 2010
Over 15 million kilowatts (quote from newspaper China Daily) Beijing's power consumption on Friday, July 23 - the highest in the city’s history. Around a third was used by air conditioners You get the picture it’s been hot, hot, hot, but thank goodness the weather has finally broken and we have had some blue skies and proper sunshine and some cooler days, what a relief. (And for those of you who appreciate the perils of the hair straighteners needless to say my hair is not liking this humidity - as you may have noticed on some of my photos!) It’s the kind of weather when you can't decide if it’s cooler outdoors in the shade trying to find a bit of breeze or just staying in with the air-con for company. But many Beijingers, who may ... read more
July 26th 2010
I had a brief departure from China, to Greece, via Abu Dhabi, to the island of Rhodes to be exact; crystal clear blue skies, sparkling sunshine, shimmering sea, swimming pool - you get the picture - moussaka, knives & forks, cocktails, a bath ! - all the things I don’t get in Beijing. But the real purpose and pleasure was spending lots of “quality time” with my family and catching up on hugs, which is the thing I miss most in Beijing. I have to confess we did very little - I have sight seeing overload in China so this trip was more about R & R and I was content to sit by the pool or swim in the gorgeous clean waters and sip a drink or two - iced coffee of course. It was ... read more
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