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Published: July 26th 2010
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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 lovely to be with my two gorgeous girls and my big sis, plus my favourite nephew, Matt and Olivia’s boyfriend, daring Dan, who wanted to run up the hillside with the goats and was our BBQ chef. The holiday slid by so gently that before I knew it I was back on the 24 hour trip to China and it was all over …………
St Paul's Bay
after Beijing this view refreshed my soul But I asked myself the question ‘did I wish I was just returning to UK?’ and I could honestly answer, No; I was happy to be going back to my temporary life in Beijing, for now. So I felt quite good about that. I am nearly half way through already, yet my feet have hardly touched the ground and there is so much more I still want to do.
I arrived back in my apartment about 10 am to clean white freshly painted walls - hurrah! And Saturday evening I got a phone call from my UN project co-ordinator asking me to present a paper at an International Forum on Volunteering on Thursday and fly to Guangzhou in southern China to present an extended version of this on Saturday. So I had to get back up to speed pretty quickly and after a 12 hour sleep worked most of Sunday writing speeches and creating Power Point presentations. Now I am delighted to be asked and also to get the chance to visit another part of China, but I have to say that forward planning is not a strong point here and I knew that one reason I was invited
up on the roof
rooftop restuarant in Lindos was because they wanted the international element but hadn’t given people from USA and Europe enough advance notice - so suddenly I’m an ‘international expert’ on volunteering? The Forum was held at the Conference Centre at the Olympic site so I had a glimpse of the iconic ‘Birds Nest’ but have not yet had time to take a tour - it’s on my list.
So I am literally writing this on the plane to Guangzhou and hoping the recent severe flooding will not affect us. I am travelling with three UN colleagues - one from Malaysia, one from Germany and one from Singapore- and yes I think the joy of this whole adventure has to be the people I am meeting. Even on my flight to Abu Dhabi I got into conversation with a fascinating lady who has been teaching in the East for 15 years after a long career in aviation, her father set up various airlines and she has lived all over the world - but guess where her son keeps a home base - Exeter! - and I now have an open invitation to Abu Dhabi!
Part Two
I just got back from Guangzhou -
what an experience! More lovely people. I felt like visiting royalty, 5* hotel suite with two bathrooms (compared to my apartment it’s the sublime to the ridiculous) paparazzi, banner waving, presentations, banquets, gifts - they could not do enough for us almost to the point of embarrassment - I was even escorted to the ‘washroom’ and almost physically lifted off the minibus and the only way I finally managed to shake off my ‘minder’ was by going through to airport departures! But to be fair, they were so kind and once again I was struck by how hard working; after hosting a dinner for us they would be going back to the office at 10 at night or constantly taking calls. And even the volunteers would be having another briefing meeting for the next day, they don’t seem to mind or to get tired - they are mostly graduate volunteers and so keen to practise their English and genuinely eager to talk to foreigners and to learn; I somehow don’t get the same reverence for my lectures in the UK! The ‘leaders’ (bosses) want to show off their city and their organisation and ensure you leave with a good impression
presentation to over 100 volunteer leaders
you can see I am talking about Dance in Devon - now world renowned! so we got the best of everything. Including a trip on the Pearl River and a night time visit to the outdoor ‘hot springs’ - that was amazing; you dip in and out of 30 hot and cold pools all with different scents and different properties like soothing aloe or invigorating ginseng or refreshing mint - there was even a tea and a coffee pool?!
I really liked Guangzhou, it’s an historically important port city, sited on islands reclaimed from the wide flowing river and is much greener than Beijing, I got a good ‘vibe’. Wonder where I will get to next…………?
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hi
i like this blog and good photos!!