BAODING LIFE 5

The weather fluctuates between periods of warmth and relative cold, with mostly cloud-free days. On occasions when it does become cloudy the drop in temperature is noticeable. Life in the shacks carries on as before, but now tables begin to appear outside and soon, barbecue stalls will be placed outside as well. Since the end of the winter break the area has been restored to its former lively atmosphere, although it will be some time before spring really arrives, perhaps three to four weeks. At any rate I am able to walk and cycle around the area without wearing so many layers, although sometimes I know I'm being premature because occasionally I do become chilly. I don't need the heating on any more however. At night it still becomes cold because of the clear skies and the street outside the campus has a night market which bustles with street vendors. I spend some time making my own meals although I do eat out fairly often, perhaps more often than I should. I aim to visit the hutong around the old town and the old campus more, as there is a wider selection of food and drink available.

So I arrange to stay overnight one weekend in the rooms I was accommodated in when I first arrived and my former flat was not ready. I can get there by bike and I am to spend a little time in the old town. I also cycle out to Route 66 and come across my old acquaintances from the time before I went o Guangxi. I have a pleasant evening but I know things are no longer quite the same and I've learned to live with it. I need things to look forward to so I spend quite a lot of time online with Sarah organising our summer holidays when I get back to England, and also planning the rest of my time in China. I'd like to visit Beijing once a month before I leave so I go online looking for cheap hotels, which in Beijing is becoming more and more difficult if you don't want to sleep in a dormitory. However I do manage to find three or four: the ones I stayed in before are either too expensive or are now unavailable. Perhaps something is happening to the Chinese economy.

 I feel the need to make much more of my own food but I haven't done much food shopping apart from a few vegetables, so for the present I'm just managing with some meatballs and salad this week. Next week I guess I will need to think about getting some more supplies from the Chinese supermarkets.

 So I cycle to the town centre with an overnight bag to stay on the old campus: (it takes about 20 minutes to check in as they spend an inordinate amount of time reading my passport) and that evening ride out to 66 after a hot shower which relaxes me, where I treat myself to a pizza which I'm unable to finish so perhaps that' s a mistake! There is no-one around so at 7.30 I ride back and I feel utterly exhausted. I feel the tiredness is due to emotional stress so I have an early night at around 8.30. On and off I sleep over about 11 hours and wake at 8 the next day. I feel I need this change of scenery. In 66 and other places I'm sometimes irked by the seeming rudeness of Chinese diners, especially the women. They constantly bark “FU-YUAN!” (service) which is a little bit like shouting “Garcon!” in France and is generally regarded as rude even by younger Chinese.

The next day I decide to walk around the area. There is a video shop about a mile away which I visit to see if I can find anything worth watching but I fail to find anything I like so I take the bus to the shopping malls on the other side of town where I stop for sushi: there is a restaurant there which sells good quality sushi and sashimi, with dishes on a conveyor belt like those in the UK. It's still relatively early after this and I'm anxious to avoid drinking alcohol too much as I take the bus back to the campus area and walk around looking for a tea shop and fail to find one so I finally remember there is a coffee bar in the University, so I hole up here for a while with a bottle of water. You would be surprised to fund out how difficult it is to find a good tea shop in this area. In China there is a strange custom of drinking hot water ( as the tap water is not filtered properly from the sewers) So when I want cold water it has to come from a bottle:in the sushi restaurant there is a water tap like the ones in English sushi bars but of course the water is hot, which tends to taste terrible, although cold water can be the most refreshing drink in the world at times. There are a number of students here, some of them asleep. The Chinese capacity for sleeping in public is astonishing. You find them sleeping in restaurants and offices,on buses and trains, (although this is not so remarkable as train journeys in China can take days) in shops and by the roadside.

Balloon seller outside  the shopping mall

Kite market at the military school park.

I feel tired and sleepy myself so I go back to my room and have an afternoon nap, which is not something I normally do. However I feel this is due to emotional pressure as, owing to mounting administrative pressure, personal difficulties which this journal is not the right place to record, and deep seated worries I have become anxious and sometimes depressed. I wake up after an hour and decide to cycle around the corner to a bar I found last year called the Big House. This one is a good choice as it sells a variety of of teas including Lapsang Souchong, Sarah's favourite tea. So I sit with a pot of this for an hour or so and do some writing. Finally at around 6.30 pm I go and have dinner in a nearby restaurant where they do a good if expensive prawn and cashew nut dish which I have with fried rice, and following this I've planned to cycle into the old town. The old traditional restaurant I used to visit last year has sadly been turned into a Chinese bar although it still ha s a stage for music as the owner is a musician. I feel the place is an extension of his music but now it doesn't sell food which is a shame as it was my favourite restaurant. So I cycle into the old town where in the quiet alleys I see some streetwalkers who call out to me as I pass a doorway. When I go in I'm made very welcome although it's hard to talk due to our mutual language barriers. I take something of a liberty and phone my friend Abby who knows the owner and we talk through her for five minutes. (She warns me to be careful cycling home.) There is a young man there who speaks a little English as well, so I show them some of my Guangxi photos: they also have a short jam session.

 I begin to relax and feel something of the warmth I felt last year. Cycling back through the hutong the same streetwalkers are still there and I feel sorry for them.  

 Finally I get back to the Big House, where I have one more beer and get talking to a student and the owner of the bar. Like the boss of the other bar he's pleased to see me although we have to talk through the student. We have a warm conversation and I get back to my room at about 11pm. The next morning I feel refreshed and I also feel I have dome myself good by having this change of scene: this and the long sessions of sleep I've had seem to have restored some of my energy.