Sanming, Dave's home away from home. He was glad to be back.
With only three weeks until his return to Little Britain his schedule was packed to bursting point. Mountains, zoos, swinging bridges, caves, nature in all it's glory and several posh meals a day. As always, Jean tried her best to let Dave know what was going to happen at least a 30 seconds in advance, but when she's only known about it for a few days herself it simply wasn't always possible. Dave understood.
Dave had hoped to find time to help out at a local orphanage whilst he was there. He had £400 in his pocket ready to donate to the right cause. It seemed so simple on paper. After a little thought however, Dave quickly realised it was neither simple nor a good idea. His busy schedule meant he would be able to give a day or two at most. Assuming he spoke the language, the first day would be taken up getting in people's way whilst he learnt what he was doing and the second day he may be of some very small use. With his complete lack of basic Chinese skills he would probably just be getting in the way for well over a week. Added to this the fact that any white guy in Sanming is treated like a celeb and he would probably cause quite alot of disruption with alot of the staff caring more about him than they would the children. The £400 would be heading back to England for another year of planning, where it would hopefully grow to a grand before the year was out.
Strange how 3 hours can seem like a lifetime, but 3 weeks can pass in the blink of an eye. So much to do, so little time. It had been good to catch up with all his old friends, Wen Yu, Lin Ying, Kou Kou Shu Shu, The Camel and the lions with their new babies amongst many others. But all too quickly the arrival of Bian signalled the begining of the end, the last few days, several more meals, some kareoke, dice games and a final farewell to the camel and they were on their way back to Beijing.
Zai Jian.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Fuzhou
Despite Fuzhou, the duet's touchdown location, being 3 hours away from Jean's home town of Sanming, there was Jean's mum to greet them at the airport, full of hugs and smiles for both.
Although the original plan had been to stay in Fuzhou a couple of days, apparently Jean's dad couldn't wait that long to see them, so the sight seeing trips were cut short. They stayed one night at Jean's cousin's place and were off to Sanming the next day.
They did however, just manage to squeeze in a small shopping trip in which Jean's mum bought the lovely couple a gift or two, including a brand spanking new laptop for him and an Ipod for her. He could kiss his Uni computer goodbye, this laptop did in three days what had took his Uni computer a month and had sorted out problems in a matter of minutes which his Uni computer simply refused to tackle. Put simply, it was sweeet.
"Xie xie mama."
Next stop, Sanming.
Although the original plan had been to stay in Fuzhou a couple of days, apparently Jean's dad couldn't wait that long to see them, so the sight seeing trips were cut short. They stayed one night at Jean's cousin's place and were off to Sanming the next day.
They did however, just manage to squeeze in a small shopping trip in which Jean's mum bought the lovely couple a gift or two, including a brand spanking new laptop for him and an Ipod for her. He could kiss his Uni computer goodbye, this laptop did in three days what had took his Uni computer a month and had sorted out problems in a matter of minutes which his Uni computer simply refused to tackle. Put simply, it was sweeet.
"Xie xie mama."
Next stop, Sanming.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Dalian
After all the Shenyang joy, it was time to move on to the next stage of the journey, Bian's Dalian home.
Although staying in Dalian little more than a day, the trio still had time to take in several pretty sights and wonderous views. It was also the place where Dave got to cross off another of his things to do list, right next to his newly crossed off Skiing entry. The trio went Ice Skating.
Jean kept tight hold of the sides the entire time, Dave "let go" but stayed very very close, taking a much needed grab from time to time and Bian whizzed round without a care in the world, despite constant falls adding to his ever increasing head lump. All three had a great time, although after a while the shoes started to hurt Dave almost as much as a pair of high heals.
The day after that the trio became a duet and Dave and Jean where on another plane, flying south for the winter. Bian stayed behind with his mum and stepdad.
Speaking of Bian's parents, Dave hoped they knew how much he appreciated everything they had done. Not only had they put Dave and Jean, pretty much two complete strangers, up with a place to stay for over a week, but they had also took the time out to personally take the trio to all the places of interest mentioned in both Shenyang and Dalian, despite not actually joining in the fun for most of it. In comparison, some people in England complained when they had family over for a day at Christmas.
It was nice of them.
Although staying in Dalian little more than a day, the trio still had time to take in several pretty sights and wonderous views. It was also the place where Dave got to cross off another of his things to do list, right next to his newly crossed off Skiing entry. The trio went Ice Skating.
Jean kept tight hold of the sides the entire time, Dave "let go" but stayed very very close, taking a much needed grab from time to time and Bian whizzed round without a care in the world, despite constant falls adding to his ever increasing head lump. All three had a great time, although after a while the shoes started to hurt Dave almost as much as a pair of high heals.
The day after that the trio became a duet and Dave and Jean where on another plane, flying south for the winter. Bian stayed behind with his mum and stepdad.
Speaking of Bian's parents, Dave hoped they knew how much he appreciated everything they had done. Not only had they put Dave and Jean, pretty much two complete strangers, up with a place to stay for over a week, but they had also took the time out to personally take the trio to all the places of interest mentioned in both Shenyang and Dalian, despite not actually joining in the fun for most of it. In comparison, some people in England complained when they had family over for a day at Christmas.
It was nice of them.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Christmas Week 2006
A train ride, three back to back flights and a quick little car journey and Dave, Jean and Bian finshed their 23 hour trip to arrive at Bian's Shenyang home on December 23rd 2006. Despite the desperate physical need for sleep, the trio soon discovered their body clocks where no longer in sync with either England or China and Christmas eve saw the three tired little puppies rise and shine at around 3am.
Time to explore.
Shenyang is a city ripe with history and, although possibly not traditional for Christmas, Dave and Jean spent their few days there taking a big bite. As the former capital, the Imperial Palace is a sight to behold, and supposedly matched only by Beijing's very own Forbidden City. The trio checked out every crook and cranny.
Next on the list came the home of a former Chinese general and his family. This much more recent slice of history tied in quite closely to the sights which followed, of a war museum and the location of the 18/9/1931 incident. An attempt to put the story together here shall be made, but the following may not be 100% accurate.
The general was killed by the Japanese in a train explosion around 1930 and one of his sons took his place. The Japanese had apparent plans for world domination and step one required they conquered the Sleeping Dragon of China. Part one of Step one began in Shenyang. 18/9/1931 the Japanese blew up their own rail way, claimed it was done by the Chinese and used it as an excuse to start the war. Shenyang was quickly overun. The new general was put under constant pressure to hand over control to Japan, but instead he handed the reigns over to central China, helping to unify China into the country it is today. Japans war on China lasted over a decade and the most horrific events took place. Mass Genocide was turned into a game and the rules got sicker and sicker by the day. For example, they gave people the plague, just to see what happened. That was one of the nicer of diseases.
60 years after it all ended, possibly the worst of Japans insults was that it still doesn't seem to care. Japanese students seem to be taught nothing much more of the event than "next time we shouldn't lose".
On a much needed lighter note, the trio visited the Strange Slope. A small slope on which objects role UPhill. Up until this point, Dave had always thought this idea to be nothing more than a joke invented for Father Ted. The Slope was bizarre. Everything Dave knew told him it was impossible, but things were definately rolling in what appeared very very much to be an uphill direction. Bian, despite living in the area most of his childhood and visiting the Slope before, had apparently no idea why this occured and no desire to find out. That would simply not do for Dave. The majority of Christmas night was spent searching for answers on the magic that is google. The best he could find and what he would have to settle for was it was "an optical illussion". It was a very good one.
Although entertaining, interesting and enlighting, the feeling of Christmas had not yet been captured. The first moments of real Christmas began early Christmas morning, when the trio awoke at a stupidly early time just like any good little boys and girls. This was, of cause, due to the messed up body clocks, but it set the scene none the less. They went out for an early morning Christmas walk in subzero temperatures and walked on water. The lake begin frozen helped a bit.
Boxing day it finally began to snow. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. The trio were off to Ski!! Dave had never been skiing before, but it had always looked like fun. It was way up there on his things to do list, right next to ice skating.
It was just as fun as it looked. Despite the trio having an instructor who took Bian and Jean seperately slowly and safetly down the hill on their first attempts, it was made abundately clear by Bian's step-dad that it really wasn't necessary to wait. He even gave Dave a helpful push in the right direction. Needless to say, Dave spent the majority of the first hour after that on his backside. But once he got the hang of it it was really cool.
And at least he didn't leave with a giant bump on his head like Bian.
Time to explore.
Shenyang is a city ripe with history and, although possibly not traditional for Christmas, Dave and Jean spent their few days there taking a big bite. As the former capital, the Imperial Palace is a sight to behold, and supposedly matched only by Beijing's very own Forbidden City. The trio checked out every crook and cranny.
Next on the list came the home of a former Chinese general and his family. This much more recent slice of history tied in quite closely to the sights which followed, of a war museum and the location of the 18/9/1931 incident. An attempt to put the story together here shall be made, but the following may not be 100% accurate.
The general was killed by the Japanese in a train explosion around 1930 and one of his sons took his place. The Japanese had apparent plans for world domination and step one required they conquered the Sleeping Dragon of China. Part one of Step one began in Shenyang. 18/9/1931 the Japanese blew up their own rail way, claimed it was done by the Chinese and used it as an excuse to start the war. Shenyang was quickly overun. The new general was put under constant pressure to hand over control to Japan, but instead he handed the reigns over to central China, helping to unify China into the country it is today. Japans war on China lasted over a decade and the most horrific events took place. Mass Genocide was turned into a game and the rules got sicker and sicker by the day. For example, they gave people the plague, just to see what happened. That was one of the nicer of diseases.
60 years after it all ended, possibly the worst of Japans insults was that it still doesn't seem to care. Japanese students seem to be taught nothing much more of the event than "next time we shouldn't lose".
On a much needed lighter note, the trio visited the Strange Slope. A small slope on which objects role UPhill. Up until this point, Dave had always thought this idea to be nothing more than a joke invented for Father Ted. The Slope was bizarre. Everything Dave knew told him it was impossible, but things were definately rolling in what appeared very very much to be an uphill direction. Bian, despite living in the area most of his childhood and visiting the Slope before, had apparently no idea why this occured and no desire to find out. That would simply not do for Dave. The majority of Christmas night was spent searching for answers on the magic that is google. The best he could find and what he would have to settle for was it was "an optical illussion". It was a very good one.
Although entertaining, interesting and enlighting, the feeling of Christmas had not yet been captured. The first moments of real Christmas began early Christmas morning, when the trio awoke at a stupidly early time just like any good little boys and girls. This was, of cause, due to the messed up body clocks, but it set the scene none the less. They went out for an early morning Christmas walk in subzero temperatures and walked on water. The lake begin frozen helped a bit.
Boxing day it finally began to snow. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. The trio were off to Ski!! Dave had never been skiing before, but it had always looked like fun. It was way up there on his things to do list, right next to ice skating.
It was just as fun as it looked. Despite the trio having an instructor who took Bian and Jean seperately slowly and safetly down the hill on their first attempts, it was made abundately clear by Bian's step-dad that it really wasn't necessary to wait. He even gave Dave a helpful push in the right direction. Needless to say, Dave spent the majority of the first hour after that on his backside. But once he got the hang of it it was really cool.
And at least he didn't leave with a giant bump on his head like Bian.
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