The last days have been fairly stressful with trying to sort out the contract for our little flat. Hopefully, we'll be able to move in later on in the week, so we will blog from there then.
To reward ourselves (and to help out a friend who needed a gift for his room mate) we went back to the Electronics market on Super Bar Street. The purchase we made can be seen in this little video. Honestly, it's the coolest pig I've ever seen and pigs are supposed to be lucky as well, so we're covered on all levels.
Today, we took a slightly more cultural route and went to visit the Temple of Heaven. And truly heavenly it is. A big park surrounds several temples and houses form the 14th century. We were wondering where the masses of Chinese tourists were that had been promised to us (next Wednesday to Friday is public holiday in China). Thene we realised: Because those three days are off next week, the Chinese have to work all weekend to make up the time for it. not sure where the fun in a public holdiay is then, but it seems to work quite well.
The highlight for Mark was not the wooden structure of the temple or the glazed dragons all over the place, but some chickens and geese we saw just as we left the park. On the right side, one of the buzzling three-lane roads in Beijing and on the left, some chickens and geese chilling out on a Sunday afternoon. Just as Mark wanted to take a picture, two little boys came running and chased them away. Maybe chickens are not so photogenic in Beijing.
Thanks to the public holidays, I only have one day of work, which is tomorrow, so there will be a blog about my work later on this week, maybe even from our new flat!!!!!!!!!!
Internet has been down in the hotel recently. It's back now and so are we. As the title says, this is a video of the apartment we will hopefully move into on Wednesday.
I am also uploading some photographs from this place to Flickr. Caroline was going to blog about this, but at the moment there's just too much going on at work, so you'll have to do with me for now. At lunch time today, we're going to our new apartment to ask for any changes in furniture we need. I'll take some video and post it up here.
Also, just a brief anecdote. We were in our local Xinjiang restaurant, one of the few places in the Teutonic Triangle that has similar prices to cheaper parts of the city. We were there with one of Caroline's colleagues and her husband, and initially a little unsure we should go there. The restaurant looks a little run down, but the food is good. Anyway we were having a nice meal when a bit of a scuffle broke out between the man operating the charcoal barbecue at the door way and one of the waitresses. Face was lost, faces were punched, it was unseemly and very entertaining. Happily they were both featherweights, so no harm was done, other than to the boys pride as he took a firm right-cross on the chin which kind of sparked the whole thing off. Our Danish and American companions complimented us on our choice of restaurant with a floor show.
Walking back from the visa office this morning, I realised that the only other time I've lived outside the UK, in Belgium, was just after a major sporting event too. Euro 2000, I remember being concerned that this was going to make me very unpopular when I got there. I guess by using the same logic I should assume that Chinese people see me as a successful Olympian/Paralympian. Anyway, this makes me curious to know which major sporting event I'm going to miss by weeks in my next country of residence...
I meant to talk about this at the time; when I was in Suzhou I saw a girl sporting this confusing T-Shirt: The layout was exactly like this and I spent a while trying to figure out who or where Botu Linum was. It didn't look like pinyin or Wade-Giles but that didn't stop me trying it out in a few different tones, saying it in my head.
A couple of moments later I had a revelation when I realised it said I heart Botulinum. According to Wikipedia, one of the world's most poisinous naturally occurring toxins. More commonly sold as Botox. Obviously a T-Shirt saying I heart Botux is still a bit curious, especially on someone younger. It just so happens that this ever-so-slight mistranslation rendered the thing hilarious. Walking around the city you see hundreds of T-shirts written in curious English, some amusing, some just baffling. I wonder if Chinese people encounter the same thing when they see Europeans on holiday, walking round with their tops off sporting Chinese symbol tattoos. I'll try and find out from my students.
So this morning should represent my last encounter with bureaucracy for a while. A small selection of the documents I currently have: These acknowledge various things; I do not have AIDS, syphilis or any other communicable diseases, they didn't take my word for this you understand I had to give blood, have an ECG, an eye test and cough whilst being cupped, etc. I am the only living human capable of doing my job. I have registered with the Police. I am a foreign expert.
Actually that last one is quite satisfying, I have a passport-like document with stamps and embossments which identifies me as a bona-fide foreign expert. It makes me an officious, authoritarian gimp to enjoy owning this doesn't it?
Although slightly arduous, I have to say all of the bureaucracy has been very efficient thus far. And I don't think a country now exists that doesn't have fairly tight border controls. Something we should appreciate more in the 'borderless' EU perhaps. (Propagandising over)
Before I finish I could do with a some suggestions. Mike is probably best placed for this, but anyone should feel free to chip in with good advice. Cheese is expensive here. What else goes well with crackers? The mid-morning snack is a difficult hole to fill and I fear baozi everyday, whilst delicious would simply hasten rotunditude. EDIT, not Baozi at all, I have in fact been eating Roujiamou made fresh at a stall near the apartment.
Finally, a couple of observations: 1. Has there ever been a more Guardian article than this? Try and find a box it doesn't tick. It's even written by a Libby other than Purves for God's sake. 2. This site is always good for a bit of procrastination. The question is, is it genuine? And will I ever learn enough Mandarin to establish a Beijing sister site.
OK, I'm off to try and find a second-hand electricals market on Lady's Street to scope out a mobile for Caroline. Then this afternoon another instalment (hopefully the last) of apartment hunting. Victoria Gardens could be the new home.
Last night was great. You can see the photographs here. They speak for themselves, ably abetted by my non-witty descriptions. In a civilised country like China you can pay £4 for tickets and watch the action drinking a 40p Tsingtao. Wonder how London will do...
Well, as Mark is saying, work has taken over very quickly and today (Sunday - by definitition day of rest, but not necessarily in China) is the first day that I can put up some pictures and tell you about my week. I started work on Tuesday and then thursday was already a late finish (around 20.00). But what could I do, radio America phoned and wanted to interview my boss and he had to prepare and so this all happened (hihi, and all in my first week).
We've been out for a lot of meals this week, partially due to the fact that the kitchen in this apartment is really made for cooking (some pictures on the left of our current apartment)
and also there is so much to try, To be honest, without the pictures in the menues I would be lost.
Then on friday I caught a cold (in 30 degrees, didn't even know that was possible)., so have been sleeping most of the weekend. Apart from this afternoon, when we're going to see some Athletic finals int eh Bird's Nest, which should be good fun.
Tomorrow is back to work and hopefully I'll feel a bit better . My aim is to loose my cold next week and to find a flat to live in. (Think the flat
bit is more important though). Check out the adpated Mini on the right: the the low carbon option!!!!!!
Caroline is currently having an afternoon nap. Plenty of sleep to catch up on after arriving on Monday afternoon and starting work Tuesday morning.
A busy day yesterday spent apartment reviewing in the morning and teaching in the afternoon. We saw some great flats, but it's going to take at least one more viewing session before we can settle on one for sure. Some crackers though. If you didn't see the photographs, check out my earlier posts.
So this is quite a short post as work and real life kicks in and there's less time for bloggable activities.
A couple of nights ago, after Caroline had been working late (already, see the need for the nap) we were intrigued by the view from our window: So, you can see it's the Bo Gong Restaurant, but what does that mean in practice? Well another blogger described it like this. Personally I would say that 250Y for the bottom half of a chicken and some cold spinach and clams was a bit steep, maybe we are just harder to please than the Swiss.
It doesn't help that after class yesterday, Caroline and I went for dinner near the university which was delicious and came to the ridiculous price of 40Y. Where we currently live is not too healthy on the wallet, well not compared to the rest of the city anyway. However, there's bound to be good and bad experiences as we find our feet. Oh, look, there they are, covered in blue plastic bags:
Tomorrow is Mid-Autumn Festival here. It seems to very roughly equate to harvest festival, without the need to take old tins of beans in to school (apologies to the Germans, this is a curious British tradition I can't seem to reasonably explain).
In order to try and integrate ourselves, Caroline and I have been trying out different kinds of mooncakes: An entertaining story about these is that during the Yuan (Mongolian) Dynasty, group meetings were banned to prevent the ferment of rebellion. Noting their Mongol rulers didn't eat mooncakes, leaders of the rebel alliance concealed messages in thousands of Mooncakes to "Rise up and kill the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th moon" they then asked for permission to distribute the cakes to the Chinese populace. All went according to plan, just like the A-Team, the Yuan were overthrown and the establishment of the Mingers. A good story doesn't even have to be true.
Anyway, that's us up-to-date, I'm going to go and disturb Caroline and see if she fancies some duck for dinner.
I've been pre-occupied since Caroline arrived and starting classes and all, so here's a fairly in-depth post to bring you all up-to-date. I've decided that Frogger, below, is very representative of my life here is Beijing at the moment. Certainly my commute anyway. The first half of the game is fairly representative of how you cross the road here. Green man or no green man. Although in fairness, the traffic is a lot slower. The second half represents how I travel around on buses from Wudaoku subway station to the university. Because I don't know where any of them are actually going, I just jump on one heading in the right direction 'til it turns off course. I then jump off and jump onto the next one. This is feasible because of the aforementioned IC card which means each bus journey costs <4p.
I had my first class yesterday, it was quite tiring but also quite good fun. Here is a look at one of my classrooms, including some students: I can already tell this is going to be hard work, but I like a challenge and it's bound to be excellent experience, even if I only do it for the minimum of 6 months.
So for the remainder of this post I have three videos which pretty much speak for themselves, or at least I speak for them:
Well, after getting off the plane yesterday, time has just been flying. Mark met me at the gate and we went for lunch with my new boss. Our new address (even though it's temporary) is where Horst Koehler has been lodging over the last days, so security has been tightened and prices increased.
Our little apartment here is cute, with a little business corner, a cling film cutter (of course German make) and a bathroom without a fan, which means you have to leave the door open after a shower to get the wetness out. It's a great starting point for flathunting and on friday we'll hopefully be able to choose one.
then, I started work this morning. The jetlag has not fully hit me yet, so I slept from 10 to 8. Still half asleep Mark dragged me to the subway (it was raining pretty much all day) and dropped me off at the Commission building. All very exciting and the work sounds great. The colleagues are really nice (if slightly overworked) and the ambassador is cool and totally into climate change (who would have guessed that big boss is engaged in stuff like this???).
I had a rather random day, trying to remember people's names and reading papers about the section I'm in. Tomorrow I'll start working with one of the girls on 'my' project and open a Chinese bank account, so then I'll be almost settled.
Ate Lemon Chicken for lunch and noodles for dinner, not bad for the second day int eh new world.
Highlight of the day: a stand with thin plastic bags of different lengths to put your umbrella in!!!!!!
I am currently packing to move again. This is move number 5 in a series of 6 in the last month. Pandongate Gosforth Berlin Suzhou China Agricultural University Kempinski Hotel And then there's still the final one to come when we actually pick an apartment to rent. I'll be pleased when I stop the nomadic lifestyle I think. But the very positive side of packing is that Caroline arrives here tomorrow at 11:10 in the morning. And happily when I received my timetable a couple of hours ago, I saw that I am not due to teach on Mondays (I work two hours on Wednesday lunchtime and two hours on Friday afternoons. Until October when it goes up by a factor of four), so most importantly I am able to go and meet Caroline, but also see the new Beijing airport terminal T3, which is apparently one of the biggest in the world. 17% bigger than all five terminals at Heathrow if you like pointless trivia, which I do. You can bet it'll function better than T5 too. Honestly when I last came through there after the momentous flash visit to Berlin it was like entering a Police State, all of the cameras and bio-records they take. Ironic really since I now live in China.
Last night me and my new mate Dan went to try and get close to the Bird's Nest stadium so that we could see the opening ceremony fireworks of the Paralympics. We didn't get too close, the security was pretty tight. But we certainly got close enough to see the fireworks and drink a few beers. We then went for a few games of pool and big bottles of Tsing Tao for 10Y. Actually if you want another piece of pointless trivia, here's one for you. It's basically German beer y'see, that's why it's good.
Anyway, as we couldn't get too close to the Bird's Nest last night, today I decided to buy these:
It should be excellent, these are the events that we get to see. Two tickets for 100Y or about £8. Let's see if London manage to keep the prices so low.
I currently have indigestion after going for dinner with Dan and three American teachers. Big Pizza have an all you can eat buffet (including beer) for 45Y. The food was fine, but I had no urge to have 'Western' food. I overcame that lack of urge and managed to overeat.
Right, off to finish (start) the packing and watch the remainder of Casino Royale ah the beauty of DVDs in China.
Is that right, Thursday after Epiphany? My Biblicism isn't too hot, although I guess here that's actually a positive.
Anyway before I get epiphanical, I'd better tell you how now I am. I am so now, that I am currently watching a shonky copy of the Wire whilst blogging. Oh and last night I watched a Michel Gondry movie. That's basically as now as it's possible to get.
Anyway, what have I learned today? Palm Springs is a luxrious apartment complex. The most impressive one I've seen in Beijing. Big picture windows, classic furniture, without being at all old fashioned. Public areas nicer than any hotel I've ever been in. Fantastic gardens between all of the buildings. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a study and a huge lounge with corner sofa. The healthclub and spa is the most impressive in Beijing. Home to Yao Ming when he comes home to train. Anyway basically the only downside is the fact it's a little further away, so would require a bike ride by each of us every day. For this place though I'd say it's worth it without a doubt. Watch here for Caroline's take on the place. My photographs, such as they are, are here.
Lesson 2. 0.5 of a bedroom in Seasons Park makes all of the difference. A few extra Sq. Metres makes this place go from a poky little Ikea showroom to being aapartment with the best mix of everything - currently my number 2 on the list. You can see the additional photographs on the flickr site, linked above. I've named the new shots differently, you'll see them.
So that's 1 and 2. 3, 4 and 5 are one of the high apartments in Chateau Edinburgh, the first apartment I saw in Pop Moma and the apartment owned by a film director in Concordia Plaza, in that order. The reason Pop Moma has been relegated is an empty lot nearby which is due to be filled by a hotel in the next couple of months.
I also learned there's a cracking Vietnamese restaurant behind Caroline's office-to-be. It's called Serve the People and their Roast Duck salad looks something like this: You fill the salad into the lettuce leaves. Delicious.
I also discovered that the food hall at my university is fantastic. More choices you could possibly imagine, live fish ready for the pot. A help yourself canteen and a restaurant. Tonight I got some spicy Sichuan-style chicken, some green beans with mouth-numbing (literally) peppercorns and chillis and some scrambled egg with stuff in it. And all with change from 15Y (£1.10). I'll not be packing any lunches for the next 6 months.
Oh yeah, I also learned this is cake, not bread: On reflection it's obviously cake isn't it? It looks like cake, worse I left behind some things that clearly had 'Bread' marked on them.
Tomorrow I'll be having my first work meeting. I'll palm off the cake there and look like a right swot. You'll no doubt get to here about that here too. Assuming there's any amusing photographs or anecdotes... Props to Gregwa for the first comments.
This is a tiring city to get around, another day finished up with me knackered, but happy at what I've achieved.
By crossing the streams, I've figured out a way to get the metro ride down to 30 minutes. I reckon if I can leave a cheap bike at either end, the whole trip should be an hour each way and 2Yuan (16p). I can live with that.
So how to describe an afternoons apartment hunting. Well, I've already spoken to Caroline, which to be fair is the important thing. So here I'm just going to give a summary of each place and a link to the photographs I'm uploading onto Flickr.
Pop Moma - Great name, great complex, set on an attractive man made lake full of goldfish - 10 minute walk to Dongzhimen subway, max 20 minute walk to EC Delegation - A little away from things so slightly isolated feeling is the downside, on the upside, nice and quiet. - Apartment on 23rd floor with spectacular views from big windows - Nice and obliging owners who spoke English - Minimalist and tastefully furnished with high quality, new stuff - Loads of storage space, loads of space in general - Really nice main bathroom - Not much neighbourhood feeling - Public areas a bit lacking, lifts not great - Couldn't open the windows, but apprently specially designed aircon lets in fresh air. - Absolutely fantastic gym and full-size swimming pool, tons of brand new equipment, loads of space.
Concordia Plaza - More of a neighbourhood feel, in the city itself, not isolated - However, 15 minute taxi ride to Dongzhimen, further to EC Delegation - Apartment with loads of character - Beautiful big south-west facing balcony on 20th floor with good views - However, balconies apparently not great in Beijing, always full of 'dust'. - Loads of nice big picture windows in all rooms - Kitchen a little dingy, but repairs promised - Big, 2 bedrooms, plus an office, plus 2 bathrooms and the usual - Public areas quite nice, a bit like an hotel. - Free gym and swimming pool, but both a bit crap, seen better days
Landmark Palace - All-round pretty crap really, just included for comparison - Bad quality, falling to bits - Too far away
Seasons Park - Great location near Dongzhimen and EC Delegation and Sanlitun for bars, restaurants, shopping and other amenities - In proper neighbourhood - Smallish apartments furnished in Ikea style - Fantastic communal area including a big outdoor pool with sun terrace - Great gym and pool facilities indoors too
Chateau Edinburgh - Good layout, made same size apartments seem bigger than Seasons Park - Good location, near Sanlitun, 15 minutes from EC Delegation, 20 from Dongzhimen - Good fixtures assuming furniture can be changed from renaissance excess to more of our style - Nice central communal areas - Very tasteful and small but well-equipped gym and pool
So there's at least 1 apartment in each of these not crap complexes for Caroline to cast her eye over when she gets here.
I'm spending the whole day looking again tommorrow with two different agents, some will be looking again at different apartments in the same complexes.
I'll link the photographs soon when they've all uploaded. Difficult to photograph an apartment well though, my descriptions are more revealing than the photgraphs I think.
Good morning. I have an hour to kill, so thought I'd update on this morning's activities and my current living conditions. Oh I've fixed the photographs from yesterday too, damn flickr.
This morning I had a 07:30 start to go for a medical check up. Part of the process to get a Beijing resident's visa, which I need if they're not going to turf me out of the country.
So a driver picked me up at 08:00 and off we went to Haidian International Medical Centre for the aliens medical examination.
Despite a surfeit of bureaucracy, the whole procedure was damn quick and efficient. I was in and out in under an hour, having completed a form, an ECG, a physical exam, an ENT exam, an eye exam, a chest X-ray, provided blood and paid 660Y (£50) for the privilege. I should get the results within a fortnight.
For those of you that might have been worried (ie mothers) the blood sample was totally sterile, they followed good sharps handling procedure, using a new point and everything. In fact unlike the last time I had to give blood in the UK it was totally painless and stress-free, she found a vein immediately and the whole thing was finished before it started.
I then left the medical centre for the driver waiting for me outisde. This was the same Mr Zhang who'd picked me up at the train station on Monday morning. He's a smiley chap and I feel guilty for him ferrying me around without being able to engage in good-natured banter beyond Ni Hao, xie xie and Zai Jien. However on both occasions in his car, we've now been able to bond tutting and making noises at a bad driver / pedestrian. It breaks the journey up and despite us not speaking the same language, it's a universal moment.
I then returned to my little pad: Bathroom Shower: Living area:
I then had to think about breakfast, it wasn't allowed before the exam y'see? Now, if you've been reading this blog, you've probably noticed I'm rather enjoying the food so far. However, I have to say that breakfast is the hardest meal of the day. It's just been difficult identifying anything particularly breakfasty. So this morning, hunger led me to nip out the back door of the residence here to the little local shop, which has everything you couild need, except maybe cereal.
This is what I settled on: At first glance it looks pretty suitable eh? A yoghurt and a filled croissant / pastry thing. Well the yoghurt was fine, if a little sugary. I'm sure a little more investigation will find a suitable breakfast yoghurt. The pastry thing unfortunately was filled with beef floss, a fact I discovered after closer investigation following a curiously flavoured first bite.
Oh well, you live and learn. Now I'm off to explore another route between future home and work. And then as I said yesterday, an afternoons house hunting. I'll take some photos and video which I'll post when I get back.
So once I knew I was in the right neck of the woods, I decided to fuel up on Lunch. Following the advice of my so far mostly trusty guidebook (the maps seem a bit shonky - but I'll leave that open to debate, it could be my interpretation skills) I picked Lau Pa Sak.
They said "Limited menu, tricky to find [ha], uninspiring decor... so why is this place busy? It must be the excellent Singaporean street food at hard to beat prices. The service is friendly but the highlight is the food. Everything is great; condensed milk coffee, satay, noodles, curry chicken, hainan chicken, and the best of all, the Laksa (spicy noodle soup). Arrive early and beat the large groups of homesick Singaporeans and embassy workers who have made this a popular lunch spot" I said: "Good but not spectacular", guess I wasn't feeling particularly verbose. I of course went for the Laksa. Spicy soup being the perfect choice when it's 30+C outside.
Suitably fuelled, I then had a good wander round, specifically on Sanlitun Lu. I really thought this would be a great place to live nearby. I did take a couple of videos, they're on my youtube page as normal, but they were mainly taken for Caroline's benefit. Also, it has to be confessed, when I watched them back again I was struck by the banality of my commentary, says wonders for this blog eh...
After a visit to the Beijing branch of the aforeblogged Bookworm (not as nice as Suzhou, more a bookshop with a bar injection than the inverse, which was true of Suzhou) I then took another bus towards the touristy part of town and Houhai lake.
I was now confident enough with buses to correctly guess which one to take simply from the direction it was headed and my trusty map (hubris?). Ending up moments later, exactly where I'd planned, for the princely sum of 3p was extremely satisfying. So I rewarded my self with a walk round this here lake: And then a beer (well two beers - they were only 3.1%!) on this here roof terrace:
No that I pretend the commentary in that one is exactly thrilling by the way, it's just produced with a wider audience in mind that's all.
With an appetite worked up, I then decided that day two in Beijing meant some roast duck was contractually obliged. This is a number of hours and many kilometres after lunch by the way. It may not seem so long, but it was. A word of advice, if you're concerned that you may be being ripped off, paying 68Y for one portion of duck, don't worry, chances are they'll just bring you loads, just like this:
Slightly obscured by that photograph is the fact that the chef had kindly presented the ducks napper, on each plate. So I thoughtfully set up this photograph for you all: And he proceeded to look at me for the rest of the meal. And no, I didn't suck his brains out, as I understand is the delicacy. I sent it back to the kitchen, both of them. At which point the chefs probably laughed at the stupid lao wai for wasting the best bit.
Finishing the meal I then consulted the unintelligible bus sign and jumped on the 107back to Dongzhimen subway station. Only a slight miscalculation of my actual position at that point meant it wasn't going towards Dongzhimen, but away as I realised a full 30 minutes later. Happily as I was working to no deadline, and the tickets weren't expensive, I chalked it up to experience and got the same bus back in the other direction the entire length of it's route.
Weird when you think, that bus will represent home to work, or home to school for some people and they'll use it every day for years. I used it twice in one day and probably never again... sorry it's getting late and I'm getting pensive.
Anyway, back at Dongzhimen, I took the new line 13 (Opened in two stages; 2002 and 2003; as you'll know if you've read your wiki links) to WuDaoku (where all the universities are). This was to test the potential route to work. It wasn't great, about 1:15 all told I reckon and £1.75 in each direction, a bit steep for Beijing. I'm going to try a couple of other routes, to see which is best.
Anyway, enough blogging for tonight, I'm off to wash my feet, they're the colour of hobbits (feet) after walking so far in Phillipe Phillops. Someone reward my efforts with a comment will you? Getting a google account isn't so hard is it?
By a combination of bus, subway and walking, this was the circuitous route I took round Beijing today. Well a small portion at least and it took me 12 hours. I set off on buses which show no more than the origin and destination in pinyin. So my first stab was a total guess, I just aimed for approximately the right direction. Then, seated on the bus, pleased with myself for paying the right amount, I read that the number 900 buses (2 Yuan) were long distance. So I quickly jumped off at the next stop. I then took a number 400 (1 Yuan), then a number 3 (1 Yuan), getting more central all the time.
I grabbed a couple of chicken on a sticks for breakfast, washed down with what tasted like semi-frozen actimel from an earthenware pot (which I originally tried to steal - you have to down it at the shop).
This was the view from the first subway station I took: Greener and calmer than you'd expect, innit.
The Beijing Subway is actually an excellent system, from my 1 day experience of it. Although let's see how long that lasts after 6 months of commuting... The especially good thing I found though is the Yikatong Card it's essentially like an Oyster card in London, except in can be used in taxis and shops too. Oh and it reduces the bus fare to 3p. That's to 3p, not by 3p.
Now you can see why it was so easy and cheap to jump on and off buses as I figured my way around.
Anyway, I took the subway (line 2) from Andingmen to Dongzhimen, near where Caroline's office will be and where we will live - tomorrow I meet Danielle from Chrisdy Real Estate to go house hunting.
After walking for about 20 minutes in the wrong direction, I booled up at another subway station, which was not what I'd been expecting. So I nipped back the other way on a number 100 (Trolley buses).
Eventually I found what I'd been looking for: Not bad considering I'd forgotten to write down the address and just had a vague inkling where it was...
Isn't that a poor 'joke'. I feel like the whole blog will now be sullied until I get that off the front page. Anyway, I'm typing this message from my little room at the International College Beijing, part of the China Agricultural University.
The campus is very nice and leafy, in fact the whole Haidian District is pretty much university town. I'll be living here for a week until Caroline arrives, but working here for at least six months, teaching study skills and business research methods.
The big man welcomes you onto campus, I'm sure you know who I mean, but there'll be a photograph here tomorrow to show you who if you don't know what I'm on about. Well it's tomorrow and as promised, here he is:
That thing with his coat flapping? The Egyptians perfected it millenia ago, it creates movement and dynamism in the statue, you see? Just ask Caroline, she knows all about it.
Anyway, in an effort to give new viewings to old footage, here's what the train journeys in China look like, although obviously this time I was on my own.
Today has been pretty much spent getting myself installed here. Tomorrow I'll get out and about again and explore Beijing. Oh yeah, lunch was £1.75 in a restaurant in the capital city!
And truly heavenly it is. A big park surrounds several temples and houses form the 14th century. We were wondering where the masses of Chinese tourists were that had been promised to us (next Wednesday to Friday is public holiday in China). Thene we realised: Because those three days are off next week, the Chinese have to work all weekend to make up the time for it. not sure where the fun in a public holdiay is then, but it seems to work quite well.
And truly heavenly it is. A big park surrounds several temples and houses form the 14th century. We were wondering where the masses of Chinese tourists were that had been promised to us (next Wednesday to Friday is public holiday in China). Thene we realised: Because those three days are off next week, the Chinese have to work all weekend to make up the time for it. not sure where the fun in a public holdiay is then, but it seems to work quite well.
