Last thoughts from China

Ok, so I have to take back what I said about the Chinese and not queueing. Strolling along a busy street in Beijing a couple of nights ago, well, more like trudging along because it was at the end of the day and we had been on our feet almost continuously for about 6 hours, we saw several rows of people standing in single file perpendicular to the road, with a small but comfortable gap between them. I wondered what was going on before realising a second later that they were waiting for the bus. As we passed them, the bus came. Those at the backs of the queues shuffled forward slowly as those in front boarded the bus, still in single file, still with a comfortable gap between them. There was no pushing, no rushing, no cutting queue. It was a properly civilised bit of queueing as any I have ever seen.

We have also taken the metro a few times, and walked through one of the underground stations at a rush hour -ish sort of time to cross a busy road. Granted, we were miles from the business district so it was not actually very busy, but all was nonetheless contrary to expectation, very calm and civilised. Even when the trains were busy - there was one train in particular which had people standing almost packed to the door- people patiently got off and on in a perfectly civilised manner, with very little pushing and shoving. The metro was, in general, really much easier to navigate than expected. The names of the station were always written in Pinyin (phonetically in the Roman alphabet) as well as Chinese character and announcements were also made in English, so we had no issues whatsoever. I'd recommend anyone travelling in Beijing to take the metro. I would never have bothered with taxis if I had known how easy it would be - I was initially a bit put off by a fear of crowds and chaos. There was neither. Taxis weren't expensive, mind you, but the metro was of course a lot cheaper. They were also lifts, and if not, escalators, at the stations so Caroline had no major problems manoeuvring Til in his stroller into and out of the stations, and on and off trains.

Anyway, I have thoroughly enjoyed Beijing. I could live here. For a while, at least. And I don't say that often. Well, perhaps often enough compared enough to many. I'm not saying I want to live her, but that I could. There is so much more I would love to explore. And the bits I have seen, I have, on the whole, liked. I arrived saying that China was never really on my list, I will be leaving here hoping to one day return.

Having said that though, I am glad to be heading home. I am not longing for home. Nor am I longing to get out of here. Rather, there is so much to see and do here. As long as I am here, I feel compelled to be out, doing and seeing. And to be honest, I am knackered. I would love a day to just rest and chill. And even though I know I don't need to try to do everything, it would such a waste to stay in the hotel and chill while I am still here.

All the walking has not been good for my knee, and the damned heat has been slowly doing me in. It's energy sapping and makes me lose my appetite. Perhaps the "hunger receptor" in my brain has been fried or something. I have not actually felt hungry for days. This time, it is not a case of having eaten so much that I haven't had a chance to be hungry. I've just gone from not wanting to eat straight to having gastric pains. It's been too bloody hot and every time we sit down we are too sweaty and tired to eat.

That said though, I have enjoyed the food aspect of China and particularly Beijing. So many things about China remind me of my childhood. I have found sweets here which I haven't seen since I was a child. Sweets which I still look for whenever I am home but one in particular which I have can no longer find at home. I've managed to covert Caroline and she will be bringing some home with her.

Courtyard restaurant, where we had Beijing duck!

On my first day in Beijing, I found a mango in mini market which I recognised as being as Emperor mango (as it is known in Chinese, don't know if that is it's English name) and sniffing it almost brought tears to my eyes, so good and so much of home it smelled. That kind of mango puts the sort we get in Sweden to shame. Even the one which I once paid €5 for cannot compare. Unfortunately, I waited too long to eat it and it got a bit overripe.

And today, I had durian. I had seen it on sale for a few days but remained unconvinced. Or rather convinced that it would not meet my expectations. Caroline was keen to try it though, so I promised her that we could get some. The Durian is the king of fruits, with a thick thorny outer shell and a pungent fragrance. Oxymoronic perhaps, but that is now it is received. To some it is a smell from heaven, to others it smells like something rotten. Love it or hate it, there is no in between. Even those who love the smell, would agree than the lingering smell of it on one's breath or in own's home is not the most appealing. Caroline liked the smell, so I thought there was a good chance she would like the fruit. We didn't get around to getting some together though, so she did not get to try it unfortunately. I saw some on the way back to my hotel on my own and spontaneously decided to get some and oh, my oh my, was it delicious! It's like a taste orgasm, there is no other way to describe it. In that one brief moment, I could think of nothing but how good it taste.

Pineapple rice and woven basket surprise

Aside from the familiar, I have also tried a few random things here and there, including something from the night market which the guide would not recommend to foreigners. One was some kind of sticky what looked to be unpolished rice with some black rice in a pineapple. In itself unspectacular, but together with some steamed meat thing in a woven pineapple like basket (unfortunately not very visible in the photo, on the left), it was delicious!