I'm dreaming of a Beijing Christmas. Pt 1

A bus on Tian'amin Road

Forbidden City

 

So, Christmas in Beijing?

At first glance a stupid and idiotic idea, first Beijing gets a little chilly in the winter and second it gets really bloody cold in the winter. Yet despite this Beijing is somewhere that I will always love and as I also love Christmas, why not spend it in Beijing. (That and mam and dad were flying into Beijing to visit.)

I finished work on the evening of the 23^rd and flew early morning 24^th, a short 3 hour flight and I arrived! Met mam and dad in the airport with only a little wandering about, and jumped into a cab heading back to Sanlitun hostel (where I used to live with Clare). It had been 18 months since I last saw Beijing and it felt like a homecoming, well it is the closest thing to home for me in China.

One of Dad's hats 'borrowed' for the week

We were put in a room in the hotel across the courtyard, which was not ideal but a perfectly nice room, plus every day we got business cards for hookers posted under the door so it had its advantages. So much had changed from what I remember from living in the area. Things I thought would be gone were still there and things I thought would outlive us all (dumpling lady) had gone. It was hard not to be disappointed with some stuff, the silk market for example, used to be a huge fakes market where you could get some great bargains, but what was a market now looked like a mini shopping mall type centre with doors and glass walls where a table and an old lady once were. It was much nicer looking but had lost its chaos charm and the atmosphere had completely changed. Luckily the other market nearer to the hostel seemed to have picked up the slack and was now very cheap where it used to be a little on the pricier side. Generally, it was a case of looking for the relocated shops or restaurants that I remembered. Gave a treasure hunt feel to any shopping days we had.

Christmas dinner was a Beijing roast duck served with a multitude of other dishes and was a beautiful meal. Duck is one of my favourites anyway but definitely better than dry turkey and sprouts. Presents were exchanged Christmas eve which was mam and dad just unloading there bag of clothes and shoes onto my bed, they had brought out heaps of stuff and just as I needed them too. I cannot buy clothes in southern china, as the people are annoyingly short, so when I find trousers they are always several inches too short.

In the first week, we did most of the normal touristy things; WangFuJing and bug street, a few parks, a lot of shopping, the local bar area and much more. Plus we found a new local bar to go to as my one had changed into something not so great. The weather was freezing cold but with enough layers and a hat we were able to walk around and visit places without suffering too much and getting uncomfortable/miserable/cranky. Dad bought a hat in almost every place we went and left China with the hat count in double figures! No idea how he plans to wear them all, maybe an elaborate rotation schedule and double layering?

My favourite food, some big pancake crisp thing.

 As all of us had been to Beijing before we were not left with the need to go to see all of the “must-see” places, which meant we were able to just wander round and never felt like we were missing anything. We did a few but generally; we walked all day every day and crashed in the evenings, slowly eating our way round the city.

After a week in Beijing we went to Xi'an, the plan was to get the train but I couldnt get tickets. so back to the airport and a 2 hour flight to Xi'an on one of the bumpiest flights i have ever been on. Wasn't pleasant!

 

Stand by for New Year in Xia'n

And I am back!

To cut a long story short, I was not able to gain access to this particular blog site due to China and someone falling out for some unknown reason, but after a few complicated emails and a couple of hours on one of the world's more confusing websites I managed to get an upgrade for my VPN and VOILA here I am again.

So like I say, lengthy gap between posts so I will only report on the more interesting and exciting aspects of the last year aka the holidays, and gloss over the less interesting and slightly mundane (work) parts.

So.....
1. VIETNAM

My bedroom in Ha Long Bay

 When the October holidays rolled around last year we realised there had been a slight lunar calendar fluke, in that national day and mid-autumn festival were within a few days of each other. This lead to the school closing for ten whole days. It took me all of about three seconds to decide I was leaving China and returning to Hanoi for a further week of relaxing and generally avoiding doing anything even remotely taxing. Something I can definitely say I achieved!

I flew from Kunming's new international airport, which although huge didn’t have a direct flight to Hanoi, I had to fly 2 hours in the opposite direction to Guangzhou  and then 2 hours back to Hanoi, not too much of a problem as it still was faster than the train but a pain none the less. I left Kunming when it was starting to get chilly, and landed into humid hell. Although not too hot the humidity was killer, I was taking 3 showers a day and the 30 meter walk to the nearest food vendor brought about a nasty sweaty sticky feel that really never went away. Needless to say I was not prepared for this and went off immediately to buy some cooler clothes. 

Would just like to point out the book was a
 present for Karina.

Hanoi is still one of my favourite places and I really cant say why, there is just a relaxed friendly feel to the place that is really nice after the stressed out parts of Chinese living. Of course living there is most likely a different matter but for a week for holidays its great! I basically did the same holiday that Tom, Karina and I had done in January just a little warmer, and I was on my own so I could do or not do anything I wanted. I spent days just wandering about the old quarter or sitting by the lake (with various ice creams) and people watching. I also found a book shop in the basement of a bar and was there for a few hours at least.

Of course I went back to Ha Long Bay, I was a little disappointed to discover that the hostel didn’t run the Jolly Rodger party boat tour anymore but instead offered the Castaway Island experience. Intrigued I signed up and passed three days two nights on our own private beach on a private island deep in the heart of Ha Long Bay. We slept in bamboo huts on the beach with no beds just a mattress and a mosquito net. But honestly what else do you need, the water was 15 meter away and the bar about 30 meters from my bed, and that was all there was. The island offered rock climbing, canoeing, wake boarding (which I am not good at) and a long sandy beach. All three days were bliss and at the end of our time there, no-one wanted to leave. Ha Long Bay is still bar none the most beautiful place I have ever been lucky enough to visit, the place that takes that crown has its work cut out for it.

The only guillotine in Asia

 I finished off my trip with a last 2 days in the city before having to head back to real life. I visited the Hanoi Hilton, which is actually the prison where American Pilots who had been shot down or captured in the city were sent.  The museum was only small and took less than an hour to see everything but was interesting, it turns out it was the prison where the French had  held the Vietnamese during French occupation. I have to say I now appreciate the reasons behind the anti-French feel. Compared to their treatment of the Vietnamese, the Vietnamese were hugely hospitable  to the Americans. The Americans were even allowed a small patch of garden in which to grown vegetables and were competitors in a local football league.  

All in all a perfect holiday (not counting the unbearable humidity) and I will certainly be going back to Vietnam in the future, just maybe it is time for a change of destination.

Back at school things are still plodding along in their usual manner. I have now been teaching some of these kids for 18 months and I am getting  a little scared by how fast they have grown up. I found pictures from one of my Kindergarten classes and was amazed at how much they had changed. i suppose that is what a year does.

The next instalment will be Mam and Dad in Beijing for Christmas. Stay tuned....