Friday 25 May 2007

Day #2 China - first impressions

I hit the floor limping in China. My preparation was piss poor and led to pathetic performance as the saying goes. It took me the best part of five hours to get from the airport to my youth hostel. This included the privilege of paying a taxi driver to take me round an Authentic Veijing block. Quite pricey it was, too.

I very nearly went into McDonald's on the evening but I managed to swerve into a Chinese place at the last minute. I did manage to drink some Soya Milk and was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. Maybe these Vegans do know what they are talking about, after all. The noodle soup was good, the rice-tube-with-deep-fried-stuff-in-the-middle was less appetising.

The evening ended with Chinese whiskey, which comes in a green bottle like Night Nurse, the cough medicine. The similarity does not stop there; it continues through taste and smell, too. Likewise, drinking even a small bottle to yourself can put you under for a good while. I had a small portion of a bottle to myself. "Nice," I thought, as choked down it's 55% of alkiness. Head hits pillow.

The next day I had but one main agenda. Pay for my train ticket and see a little of Beijing. I headed out early to the offices of Monkey Business, my travel company. Apart from a little difficulty changing travelers cheques*, everything was hunky dory and they even gave me a polo-shirt and a guide book for on my way around the places that I would be stopping.

I had a quick look around on my way back. I had a quick look into the Forbidden city and the gate with Mao on it. Here are what I think are the photo highlights for that day. Enjoy!

Oh, those kooky Chinese government-types with their family planning condom pictures. There was another one with the family treasuring their only child and thanking their lucky stars that they didn't have more.

I'm quite interested in graffiti, and this example caught my eye just outside the Monkey Business office.

Amidst the dust and detritus, the hurtling trucks and busses, this off down a little side-street.

5 comments:

Chris Benjamin said...

speaking as a failed vegetarian, soy milk is ok, vegan dishes can be grand. 800 million Indians can't be wrong (ok, they do eat some cheese, but not much).

i had a ball at the forbidden city. did you get out to the Wall? it's pretty good.

Between daisies said...

Hold that thought, my friend. The minging tombs and the wall will be on the screen soon.

I might just do photos for some sections. My brain is fried at the moment. This CELTA course is really frazzling me at the mo.

Kaufman said...

CELTA! Ha! That was the only month in my life where I thought about chucking in the towel good and proper and just rowing out to an island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific in order to f*#k off from people. My only advice, should you be seeking such valueless information, is to stick it through to the end as its an invalueable credential. Also, you've had the experience in the classroom which is more than most of the people in your course can claim.

I thought the Forbidden City was forbidden to enter? WTF is it called the Forbidden City if it's not? Wouldn't it be more accurate to call it The City?!!!

PS Love the mural of the nose-picking girl.

PPS If life back home becomes too much of a gutache, you could always bring your CELTA certificate over to Aus. I know Carl's thinking about it. We could have a NOVA reunion and fondly recall all the times when we wanted to knife Gillian.

Nick Sensei said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ultra Toast Mosha God said...

That was pretty good graffiti. Next time, just drink night-nurse, and see how different you feel in the morning.