China holiday

I don't really get excited at my age, but this holiday in China was one that excited me. Outside Europe I had always stuck to package holidays, so this was my first time out of the continent as an independent traveller since staying with friends in the States more than 20 years ago. And China would offer real challenges - while I am not great with foreign languages at the best of times, I can at least work with the alphabet, but Chinese characters are a step too far.

And I had heard much about China as just a bit scary. And I am not talking about Tiananmen Square events - I just meant the pollution, the strange culture and habits (spitting in public, squat toilets, frenetic travel arrangements, pushing and shoving, food). So I didn't really know what to expect.

It's an adventure which I doubt I would have undertaken were it not that my ex-trainee Thibault invited me along (I suspect as somewhat of a last resort as friends his own age couldn't make it - but hey, last resort is still one up from no resort at all!). So that also added a new dimension - would we get on for two weeks together outside the rather narrow confines where we did get on - in the office and the pub? Obviously I was a little concerned that however well we got on at home it might be rather different for him to spend two weeks with a bloke twice his age and frankly with very different tastes and interests. Could go well, or could be a disaster. Time will tell.

So first up, a 9+ hour flight to Beijing on Friday evening with Air China. I think my first time out of Terminal Two at Heathrow. Not bad as airport terminals go. I settled into the faux London pub to await Thibault coming from the office. I had taken the day off so as to avoid the rush.

One thing Thibault and I share (regrettably) is an inability to sleep well on planes, so we didn't do so well on the overnight flight. Possibly the most noteworthy feature was not the inflight entertainment itself (in fact was rather pleased there was any at all) but rather that the screens in the seats in front were really burning hot.

Beijing airport is really huge and very modern, and the express train service to the City wasn't bad at all, once Thibault had worked out how to get the tickets. ( I should add that all arrangements for this trip were made by Thibault. If he ever gave up being a lawyer he would make the best travel agent ever! One of my few talents is recognising when it's best to put one's complete trust in a fellow professional.)

The only comment I would make was that getting in the train was a bit of a scrum, which didn't portend well for future journeys. There was no plan of letting people off first before trying to board. Every man (and his luggage) for himself. However, as it turned out nowhere else was as bad, and the stories I had read about train journeys were either over-exaggerated or out of date.

Thibault looking cool, despite the heat, at Beijing airport's train station

 Thibault and I had spent a happy evening with a PC, tripadvisor and Expedia looking at hotels in China, so we had done our research. Nevertheless, you never really know what you are going to get until you get there. However, our first hotel choice, the Red Wall Garden Hotel, fortunately lived up to our expectations. A nice large room in a hotel built into (or maybe out of) a traditional courtyard house.

 The Courtyard was especially delightful, and became our standard refuge after a day out sightseeing. A lovely plump waitress only had to see us coming in before immediately asking "Two beers?" to which the answer was always yes. This was a beautiful oasis from the bustle of Beijing, and the shade was nice from the heat - it rarely seemed to go below 30C. The little water feature in the corner was gorgeous too - the sound of splashing water is rather soothing.

Although we arrived early afternoon, we were frankly too jet-lagged for any serious sightseeing. Reception were ever so helpful, and pointed us to the night market as a place to wander to, and a large shopping mall as a place where we could find lots of restaurants for an easy first meal. After a bit of a meander through the mall - as you can see a very new and impressive complex, as is quite typical for Beijing - we ended up at a dumpling place. The waitress, who could speak almost no English (also a feature of Beijing) helpfully indicated we had over-ordered from the menu. Portion size was always a difficulty on this trip. I think we had expected a plate of dumplings to be about four, as one would get in Soho. Here we got a huge dinner plate full of them.

Suitably replete we headed off to the Night Market, little alley ways full of trinket shops and above all street food stalls. If we had still have been hungry we might have added something from these little stalls, although I think I might have stuck to the more dessert end of the market. Offerings such as deep-fried scorpions or tarantulas seem to me more like dares than nutrition. The scorpions on skewers were particularly off putting as they were still alive and squirming on the sticks. So we didn't add to our dinner, and returned to the hotel for an early night.