China

I want to start this post off with an apology. Anyone following this blog will know that I left for my trip on Friday 27th May. It's now one week later, and I haven't made a single post since leaving. But I do have a good reason. The infamous Great Firewall of China seemed to be stopping me from getting on any websites. So I'm sorry for that.

China was both amazing and horrible at the same time. My first day went incredibly badly after arriving in Beijing. I got a bus into the city center, and got a taxi from there. The driver not only ripped me off big time, he also took my no where near where I wanted to go. Once I got to the right area, I had a pretty hard time finding the hostel, as it was off the main road and the directions were pretty poor. Thankfully I found some foreigners who knew the area.
After that, things got better. I went to a bar I'd passed, which was pretty much only for foreigners (I was told the bar turned away Chinese customers). So I sat with my beer. Someone I had asked directions from saw me and invited me to sit with him. This guy was Mikko, a Finnish man, and he was with a Kiwi and an Irishman, who's names escape me. So I sat and drank and spoke with them most of the night.
The next day was mostly a write off. Hungover and jet-lagged, I stayed in bed most of the day. When I eventually did get up, I didn't feel like sightseeing. I wandered around my area, which was a nice place, a mixture of shopping and tourism. There was a free event in the hostel bar, where you were supposed to make your own, but the staff did most of it. Got talking to a Swede, another Irishman and an Israeli. After that went back to the foreigner bar, Helen's, and drank more. There I got talking with a group of Norwegians on some sort of school trip, and an American called Glory Kong, from San Francisco.

The next day I got over the jet lag and got my arse out of bed and headed off to Tienanmen Square for some sightseeing. Like every other day, it was ridiculously hot, around 32 degrees Celsius all day. I saw Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City and a park north of the Palace. The nicest bit was actually the park, despite the steep stairs in the roasting mid day sun. Another night was spent at Helen's, and this time I met an American and a huge number of Canadians, one group from Quebec and the other group for Ontario. Played a weird card game with the French-Canadians, but it was fun. Then carried on drinking with the Ontarians for the rest of the night. Didn't get home until 8AM that night...

Final day in Beijing was spent with the Ontarians. We headed to a modern part of the city. Had really good pizza that night, and again stayed out too late, but only until 4 this time. Went home and managed to oversleep, so I had to rush out and grab a taxi to make my flight.

Beijing is a mixed place. When I first got there, I hated it, but once I relaxed it got much better. Despite the dirty streets, horrible smells and rude people, it grows on you. The main thing that made my time in China was the people I met. I don't think I would have nearly so much fun if I had been always on my own, and it's something I haven't found in Tokyo yet.