Everything seems to be travelling along nicely so far. Arrived in Beijing last Friday night and managed to get to my hotel without any dramas. (Highly recommend travelling business class to anyone who has the chance - you get real Salmon and single malt whiskey, and so many movies to watch that I wanted the flight to keep going.) The new Beijing airport is out of control. It looks like the huge Stadium in France used for the World Cup (whichever one it was), though I've had some Beijing people say it isn't that great because it doesn't have a Chinese influence in the design. I suppose they're right - but it was still wicked.
Fortunately I as able to meet up with Kiki and her boyfriend over the first weekend - just to help me ease into Beijing. Although after we spent the first day shopping and pub crawling I'm not sure there was much easing into Beijing at all. Hopefully I'll be able to work out how to upload some photos soon - well I understand the process but can't seem to find internet connections that allow me to do it. We started out at the Silk Market, and no matter how much you don't want to buy anything, if you go to the silk markets you end up buying everything. Then we went to HouHai - a bar district set on a lake surrounded by Hutongs (the small Chinese lanes), which was great. And for the first time ever I found a matchstick shop. A whole shop dedicated to matchsticks. I'm not sure what you would do with them all, but I should go back and buy some more...
Not surprisingly we ended up at a nightclub called "CocoCobana" near the embassy district. I think it is mostly a foreigner nightclub - and after seeing the Lamborghini parked out the front I guess there is a fair bit of money floating about in there. They had flame shows, professional dancers on the tables (not sure how I measured up) and crazy service - before you even thought about having a smoke there was someone in front of you with a lighter, and when you went to the toilet there was some wierd service attendant rubbing your shoulders while you are at the urinal (ok that was a little bizarre).
Needless to say Sunday was a little blurry. Managed to drag myself out of bed and have a look around though. The weather on Sunday was pretty good too - I think due to the rain we had on saturday. Never have I seen so many umbrellas for sale appear out of nowhere..
I'm not sure why, but I had thought that as the government told the factories in Beijing to move away for the Olympics that the smog here would be so bad. I was wrong - it's still smokey and grey. They tell me that they plan to clear the air in Beijing for the Olympics using machines similiar to snow-machines, but I'm not sure how well that is going to work. The rain does make the air better though, so I guess we'll see.
Talking about Olympics - I'm feeling the fever! I want to buy more stuff! Do you know the little animals they have? There's five of them, based on the Chinese goat, fish, panda, fire torch and something else.. And there names are Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini - which means "welcome to Beijing"!! How did they even think of that? And I went and checked out one of the Olympic Stadiums yesterday - it's translation actually means 'bird cage' and you'll understand why when I get some pictures uploaded. Ok so maybe I'm getting a little too excited about this Olympic stuff...
The classes have been going well. 6 hours a day is a long time, and by the end of the day my feels like it is about to explode - but slowly it is all starting to come back. Very slowly that is. Hopefully by the end I'll have enough Chinese up my sleeve to read at least some newspaper!
I've still got two days of study left before I venture off into the wilderness. Looking forward to getting to Chengdu - but not the trip itself. Kiki had told me about some king of Super Train which is supposed to halve your travelling time, but I don't think it travels to Chengdu. Then today when I went to buy my train ticket I found out the train I wanted was sold out - well the sleeper tickets were sold and I sure as hell wasn't about to embark on a train ride ina seat for 26 hrs. Fortunately there is another train departing, but it is slower! It takes 31 hours or something! Is that too long?? Guess I'll have time to reflect and practice my Chinese! I had thought about flying - but I did want the oppurtunity to mingle with the Chinese and play mahjong. Bet you I never say that again!
Well probably babbled on enough now. Tips for young players:
Spicy food has a tendancy to sneak up on you in the wee hours of the morning.
Always carry toilet paper - it comes in real handy when spicy food catches up on you during the day.
Always write down your address.
Don't leave it too late to buy your train ticket!
Speak to you soon - will try to make the next entry a little shorter!
