Knowledge likes pants

All is good in Beijing. I’ve moved hostel because I wasn’t learning enough Chinese. It’s very difficult to learn Chinese whilst walking about the streets of Beijing, people are very busy and don't really have time for conversation. When you do speak to people, they don’t slow down when speaking to a foreigner and don’t simplify their grammar either, even when asked. Everyone at my hostel was western and as much as I enjoyed their company, I’m not in Beijing to be a tourist, I’m here to learn Putonghua  (standard Chinese). I was getting frustrated. My new hostel is about the same price but is full of Chinese people. The laundry is cheap, food and coffee is also cheap. I have made friends with a girl called Sabrina (I can’t pronounce her real name). She’s got a great sense of humour. She’s hoping to get a job in Beijing teaching English. She’s been a great help with me learning Chinese and a good laugh too. I’ve been taking it easy, sleeping lots and doing my best to learn Chinese. I have also met a nice girl called Sun Chen, unfortunately she left tonight. I took her out for a meal and it was really nice. I occasionally say something really stupid but feel I'm learning fast in the one day that I've been socialising with zhongguoren (chinese people). My hostel costs £4 a night and if I eat noodles and smoke hongmei cigarettes at 40p (less than half a euro), I can live on £5 a day. I have 4 nights booked but think I’ll book longer here, there is a nice vibe about the place. There are two tiny one inch terrapins and a cute wee puppy that I play with when I'm smoking or sunbathing in the balcony. Some of the Chinese people have been living here for months. Another reason I like my hotel is because I have a bottom bunk. I can put my towel up to dry and it also doubles up as curtains when someone puts the light on. It feels more homely having a bottom bunk.

I haven’t done a huge amount in terms of sightseeing. I won't give you a running commentary of the past 5 days or so. The weather has been pretty bad most days. One night one of the other dorms in my hostel was 5 inches high in water. Two poor girls had their bags on the floor and had to fly out to Shanghai the next morning. When it rains here it pours. I had a really nice day at the summer palace. It’s quite possibly the most beautiful place I have ever been to. I take back everything I said about Beijing air pollution in my last blog. When the sun is shining visibility is really good. It’s as good as any western city, possibly better when you consider that the population of the city is 15 million.  I look forward to visiting the Great Wall. If it’s anywhere near as nice as the summer palace it will be stunning. Another reason I haven’t done much sightseeing is because of my stomach. The first two days was really bad. Luckily public toilets are never far, unfortunately they aren’t pretty. They smell awful, and they don’t have separate cubicles. Communal squatting felt a little awkward for me the first time. I still don’t enjoy it but I suppose you get used to it. I guess people here have done it all their lives so they think nothing of it having someone next to them. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to having a female cleaner mop around me whilst I’m taking a dump though, that’s just too far. Anyway…… Here’s some photos I’ve taken……..the first few are from in and around the summer palace. Click to enlarge.

Once a watchtower, always a watchtower

Dragon boats are funky

The walk around the big lake was an amazing day. Hardly any foreigners, loads of huge dragon flys, bird calls and guys fishing next to the no fishing signs.

Afro reflections and the city beyond.

I’ve really enjoyed reading road signs. The ‘chinglish’ is very funny at times. It’s also fashionable for Chinese people to have t-shirts with Romanised lettering on it. Some of them are hilarious. I bought a t-shirt that says ‘Knowledge likes pants, invisible but very important’. It also has Chinese lettering on it which says knowledge is like pants. I’ve seen one that says ‘Randy makes me wet’ and one that said ‘my love is like a famous berry, always blossominh’ with a picture of a strawberry next to it. I do wonder what defines a berry as being famous in comparison to any other old berry. I can spend hours here just sitting watching people go by without getting bored. 

The Great Firewall 

What a pain in the ass, I could not access my blog unless on a computer with a good vpn and they randomly blocked my Hotmail account. Facebook could be sporadically accessed via a proxy which takes you to the facebook mobile page. A friend tried to give me a proxy program but it didn’t work. It’s not like I want to overthrow the government I just want to communicate. Whats frustrating is that pages from the BBC which portray China in a negative light are not banned but pages which allow me to communicate with my friends and family are not allowed. I finally got a good program from a Chinese guy, who like most young people here, doesn’t give a s*&t about the government restrictions.

The world is small 

I was running up the escalator to catch a train in Amsterdam Central Station to get to the airport. The person next to me doing the same thing was a Thai woman who stayed in the same dorm as me in Belgium a week earlier. In my first night in Beijing I met a young lady who went to the same academy (high school) as me. She’d been teaching in China for a year and was heading back to the land of milk and honey (Scotland) that night. Despite being in a city of 15 million when I introduced myself to a Chinese guy he said he recognised me from the summer palace the day before. The afro must stand out.

I’ve really enjoyed sight-seeing alone. There were times in Brussels when I was part of a group and it was so slow and no-one wanted to be decisive (so it ended up being me as I really can’t be bothered with 45 minute choices about where to eat). I do what I like at the speed I want, eat when I’m hungry, I don’t have anybody to offend or upset. I socialise at night times unless I choose to have a chill day and that’s the way I like it. I’ve come from spending the vast majority of time alone in Peterhead to constantly being around people (even when squatting). I think I’ve adjusted well. There really is no quiet places in Beijing, especially when you live in a ten person dorm.  I haven’t felt that I need space from the world. When my sciatica was really bad I had 4 days unable to walk out my house and didn’t have anyone to help, I told myself that no matter what happened to me, if I could get back to normal mobility I would not complain and feel negative about life. I'm doing well. So long as I have bottom bunk I’m happy. I definitely recommend travelling alone, you meet so much more people.

I've haven't had alcohol since my second night in China and I think I'll keep it that way. I'm having fun without it. I'll post more pics of Beijing on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150267288791724.335708.681441723 I haven't really taken much photographs in the hutong, I'll have to do that at some point, that's the most interesting aspect of Beijing life.

There are loads of things I have forgot to say, never mind.

Wan an (good night) wo ai ni (I love you)