Asia, June 2004

Myriad apartment blocks run down different ages Low hills shrouded in clouds

 

Large waterways Peasants working in fields, some with drought animals

 

Train seemed cleanish, as long as you didn’t look under the seats

 

Soft furnishings in a disgusting spearmint green

 

with a plastic flower and slippers riously appointed with a Deluxe soft sleeper luxurioust

 

Not uncle bens rice-nice and sticky great for chopsticks but pulling it out of kids clothing Uninspiring landscape e of fields punctuated by towns and villages of ugly brick and

 

concrete buildings and industrial plants of various ages Our deluxe sleeper carriage had only sit down toilet on train, no toilet roll though, -elsewhere holes in floo

 

Hard sleeper narrow compartments of obeds

 

A dozen western tourists and perhaps a 100 Chinese on train that was about 12 coaches

 

long Lets of crew-some of who looked quite sinister

 

Never going to make i to great train journeys of the world

 

Through customs carrying large rectangular playpen-customs man pointed asking what it was, perhaps expecting me to answer a stinger surface to air missile Customs on way out of china opened and sniffed the bottle of water in hand luggage

 

Given fake 50 dollar note in hetel

 

Scary taxi ride, someone brandishing flick knife

 

Restaurant-orything you want as long a it was duck – well known as best under heaven for 100 years-no small boast, quanjude no 1. Edward heath, George bush ser and Fidel Castro had all eaten them must have been quite a soiree and not in the cafe surroundings we found ourselves in Beijing 15 times bigger than Hong kong13m people-but only 3rd biggest city one in south apparently has 30m

 

Clapping at market to drum up business

 

Western music blaring

 

Touching blond hair

 

Alice decided to gon a chocolate and chips diet

 

Brands McDonalds and KFC v popular, David Beckham popular

 

No Tipping know you’re somewhere different where taxi driver returns the tip All western dress, barely a hint of what you might consider more traditional Chinese

 

dress, the odd chairman Mas cap

 

Lots of people fiddling with their mobile phones

 

Little Genghis Khans behind wheels. On a par with some of the worst Italion driving-think they’re invincible, stop for nething: use car horn in preference to broke Pedestrian cressings a joke

 

Bus drivers the worst-greatest good of greatest number Single Chinese en wouldn’t think of helping with pushchair-loughed

 

Rether horrendously American express got their sponsorship on the plaques in the Forbidden City-great that they provided some support but couldn’t they have mentioned it elsewhere

 

Twisted cypress trees

 

Of city propertions

 

Grubby but probably sensible not to clean it-lot seemed to be painted wood Meats dishes v nice but invariably leave all the fragments of bone in Smoking bod-64% of men, 4% women just a sign of the inequality there

 

Man pushing in front of Anita

 

Lucy eating fish fingers and chips with chopsticks

 

Tinkly music of tourist sights

 

On tourist trail was famous clinical institute.

 

We were encouraged to clap when the eminent doctors walked input 3 fingers on each wrist and then inspected my tongue, had a few guesses at what my ailments were but failed to mention that I had a cold – general diagnosis according to official interpreter was that my yin and yang were slightly out of balance hen picked from a menu of herbal medicines they sell – I was recommended number 26 as I remember the English write up of which extolled a range of miraculous properties

 

Worst toilet in world at great wall

 

Know what they mean by climbing the great wall-very steep

 

Only opened bidding fro the Rolex at £10

 

Children in hotel mini bar all the time

 

Restaurants very cosmopolitan-offering plenty of choice for even the most unreformed westerners