Arrived in China!

I arrived in China yesterday morning! No problems with Immigration or customs or anything like that!

Met my friend Jenny at the airport. We then got the shuttle bus and taxi to her place. Forgot how big and full of pollution Beijing was! Didn't appear to be as many bikes as last year. I think people have taken to cars more and more!

So, exchanged money and went for lunch and had the customary Beijing Roast Duck. Very tasty! So, that evening we had arranged to fly to Kunming in the South of China to travel around for a few days. By 3 or 4 o'clock I was fit for bed. Not much sleep on the plane to Beijing. Before the flight we got free brekkie in the hotel and free lunch in the airport, so not too bad!

Arrived in Kunming around 9pm. It was obvious that this place was quite different from Beijing. The weather was cooler and the place reminded me more of Malaysia, with open shop fronts etc. I am told it is called the Spring City since the weather is nice all year round and you can get flowers all the time! We had planned to follow some Chinese backpackers to the Youth Hostel and after eventually finding it, they were full up! So, we found a nearby hotel, which was nice and reasonably priced. Didn't get out of bed tile 12 cos I was so knackered!

The weather today has been typically Irish (pissing rain), so we couldn't do too much. We went for the local special which is mixian (米线) or rice noodle soup. Very tasty. You get a big bowl of soup and some rice noodles and other stuff that you put in yourself. Went to the traditional Chinese Supermarket (Wal-Mart) for some supplies.

One of the differences I notice (and noticed last year) about China is the sheer number of people both going to places and working in places. They had someone to give you a shopping basket, somebody to weigh fruit, somebody to look at them doing it etc.!!! They just throw people at things. I guess there is no lack of people here in China!

The plan for the next few days is to travel around Yunnan province. It's supposed to have lovely scenery. Today, I don't mind doing nothing, since I am still a bit tired. Slowly getting used to the fact that I will be in this country for a whole year. I will have to get used to the food (no scuts so far) and the culture (e.g. thiongs are more based around the group as opposed to the individual, like when eating dinner, everything is shared. I'm no stranger to this, scince I have been in Many Chinese restaurants in Ireland, China and Malaysia) . I'm sure I can do it. My Chinese is also improving. Jenny insists on speaking Chinese most of the time to me even though she has really good English! I am also helping her with her English pronunciation and helping her to use more everyday speech.

Summary of China to date: so far, so good!