LAST DAYS IN CHINA

The morning arrives and I check all my packing, pack my PC and weigh my bags as Iris has lent me her bathroom scales. It seems I'm well within the weight limit so I hope they are accurate, and I go into the school to print some remaining travel documents. I have time to clean the kitchen and wash the floor. There's still some food in the fridge so I pack this up for Iris. Sadly I have a hangover from the previous day. I keep myself busy making sure everything is prepared and look around my apartment for the last time: it's been my home for 2 years.  

Seven has very kindly offered to drive me to the railway station for the trip to Beijing, where I'm staying for a few days before flying to London. The train leaves at 11am so we have arranged to leave at 10: I very much appreciate his generosity in doing this as it removes the anxiety of taking a taxi. So I see Iris and James to say goodbye and pass over the last of the food. The flat is nearly empty now although there are a few items left that can be used: like my inflatable mattress and desk lamp. Iris asks if she can come with us as she wants to buy a rail ticket there, but after a quick phone call this turns out to be unnecessary, so she comes anyway to see me off. I pass the keys to Iris and with a last gaze at the apartment, reluctantly close the door on a chapter of my life.  

 Seven and Iris are kind enough to help me with my cases and they take me all the way into the station. It seems they would like to come into the waiting area but this turns out to be impossible as Seven does not have his Chinese ID card ,so I say goodbye to them at the gate to the waiting area when I show my ticket and passport to enter. Iris later tells me that they actually waited there until I left to board the train about 30 minutes later! I wasn't aware of this.

I arrive in Beijing and owing to the amount of luggage I have, I take a taxi to the first hotel. (I've booked 2.) The queue for the taxi is unfortunately about 30 minutes' wait and again it's hellishly hot, but there is a slight breeze and some shade which makes it bearable. It takes about 40 minutes by cab to reach the hotel, a small Chinese one that I've stayed in before. I booked it last minute to extend my stay in Beijing . Checking in is easy as the lady there speaks English quite well.

In Beijing I've arranged to meet my old friend and colleague Adrian that evening, and Phantom, who has not only offered to see me off at the airport, but has actually booked a neighbouring hotel on the last night! Adrian and I meet in Houhai in a bar called 4 Corners, which I know well. Sadly this particular bar has been consistently heading downhill over the last few months: the owner left, and a new guy took it on, a Canadian of Vietnamese heritage. The food he produced was excellent although the bar stopped supplying one of its draught beers and sometimes ran out altogether. Now he seems to have left himself: the menu is the same but this time when I go in the bar has been moved, there is blue wallpaper covering sections of the brick walls which looks hopelessly out of place, the furniture is cheap and shabby-looking, the partition between the bar and the lounge has been removed, and the place looks tired. What was once a charming and lively evening venue has steadily deteriorated and I cannot see it remaining open much longer. We move on to the Indian restaurant I found on my first visit to Houhai last year and have a very good Indian meal, if a bit expensive, but I don't mind the cost: I want this to be a holiday. On the way home there is a violent thunderstorm and we just miss getting caught in it! So I'm pleased I got the chance to say goodbye to Adrian, who is travelling the next day. I'm transferring to 161 Lama Temple Hotel, one of my favourite places in Beijing. It's a small and charming courtyard hotel, a bit expensive but worth a treat, as this is my last hotel stay in China!  

However I have trouble finding it even though I know it is only a few minutes' walk away. The hutong seem unfamiliar and I feel lost. I walk around in circles for about 10 minutes until I finally manage to find it: the distinctive circular sign outside has disappeared and all the little bars along the alleyway have closed down. Once again the hutong have fallen victim to the Beijing government's gentrification of the Dongcheng area. I feel disappointed.  

I have breakfast at 161 and hope to check in at around 12 noon, but the room isn't ready yet so I have to store my luggage and go somewhere for lunch. I'm not really hungry yet so I go shopping around Lama Temple Road, have a hot dog for lunch as its too hot to eat much, then have tea in a charming little tea shop near the hotel.

I get back to the hotel just after 1pm and something odd happens. The room still isn't ready so I just decide to wait in the hotel bar until 2pm, as I have to go out then to meet Phantom in Sanlitun at 3. About 20 minutes later a young Chinese lady comes over and tells me my room is ready, so a couple of the staff help with my cases and take me to a charming room on the ground floor. 

She tells me some basic information about the hotel and leaves me to my own devices, so I decide to go out for a while. In the reception area one of the ladies suggests I might like to move to another room upstairs. I reply that I'm satisfied with the one I have. She goes on to say it is a better room. I repeat I'm happy where I am. She then tells me the room I'm in needs repair owing to the storm. I answer that I still see no reason to change my room: I've only just got into the one I have. She becomes insistent and I point out I have 3 heavy cases to move. I don't understand. I ask them to show me this other room and it's clearly a lower grade than the one I am in. The lady tells me this is a better room. Obviously this is not so. Finally I call Phantom and ask her to find out what's going on in Chinese. It turns out that they offered me a higher grade room than the one I actually booked for one night as I seemed tired and they wanted to help me because my own room wasn't ready. Reluctantly I allow myself to be moved having been in my original room for a matter of minutes. I could have stayed there one night but felt this was a pointless exercise. Later Phantom tells me that during the conversation with the hotel lady, she asked if this had been explained to me which it hadn't owing to language barriers. I'm really very annoyed and cannot understand why I so often have problems getting into hotels. This obviously well-intentioned gesture turns out to be a mistake. Finally in my room and bitterly disappointed I go out and meet Phantom, arriving about 10 minutes late. We have a great afternoon and evening together, and end up travelling back to the Lama Temple area where we fetch up in a couple of hidden but edgy little bars, where we enjoy the remainder of the evening.

  

That evening I sleep well and the next morning have a light breakfast in the hotel bar: following this I walk into Houhai to go gift shopping, and decide to make the most of my new baggage allowance. 

View from the balcony outside my hotel room

 The hot sun beats down on my head so I use an umbrella as a parasol, Chinese-style and I remember to use sun-block on my skin. In Houhai I browse around the shops and buy a number of things I hope everyone will like: I think I'll just have room in my bags! I take the morning to do this with a break thrown in around Nanlogouxiang where I relax over a cup of honey ginger tea and buy a few more items, then return to Houhai to finish my shopping. I'm pleased with my purchases although I half-wish I'd brought some bubble-wrap with me as I had plenty in my flat. Looking for a convenient place to have lunch I drop into 4 Corners which still has stuffed squid on its menu despite my concerns about the direction it's heading in, and is open! So I have this as a light lunch and at least the food is not like most local fare! Remarkably I notice this iguana basking in the sun on the floor of the bar and he doesn't seem to mind having his picture taken. I wonder of he (it) lives in the bar or is an uninvited guest!

Following this I pay a visit to Great leap, where Ringo very kindly buys me a beer when he learns I'm leaving China.

I do have a good time as I get talking to a Canadian about China, he's about my age and has been here about the same length of time as myself: there's also an Englishman present who offers to take my picture with Ringo. It turns out he's a junior doctor who has just completed an internship in Ullan Bhatar, Inner Mongolia, which is a fascinating story. So we have a good chat about many things including the NHS: it's quite revelatory. I'm tired after this, so return to the hotel and drop off my presents then have a light sleep. In the evening I walk out to Stuff'd as it's nearby, where I have pie and mash; this turns out to be a bit of a mistake as by the time I'm finished I'm pretty stuffed myself and waddle off bloatedly to Fangjia Hutong. Here there's a bar Phantom and I sometimes visit, but without her it isn't the same.

Stuff'd.

Local bar, Fangjia Hutong

There are two young Chinese girls sitting next to me and they order a quantity of food and drink that astonishes me: a taster platter of 6 (more or less half-pint glasses) of different beers, a fruit beer, a stout,and two more beers until they are surrounded by empty or partially-drunk glasses of beer plus something like 5 plates of food. They just go on ordering and ordering and eventually I feel nauseated at the sight of gluttony on this scale so I sit elsewhere feeling a bit prudish but also rather nauseous. Drinking 6 or more beers at the same time is something I can't imagine most people doing. I decide to walk further up the road to another small bar called El Nido where Phantom has taken me before and it's still hot so I'm grateful for the air-conditioning inside.

 I quite like these kinds of places as they are kind of seedy but fascinating: like outpost bars in old thrillers. I have another IPA here and fetch up in Antlers, the trendy little bar Phantom and I found last night. I'm glad I did as I end up chatting with Tim , the owner and his Swiss friend Ivan, who both make me welcome so the evening trails off pleasantly over a few bottles of Loatian beer called Beer Lao: I found it in Yangshuo. Today has been a good day if a bit long and tiring. I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow, I'd considered going to 798 but I fear I won't have the energy in this heat!

I wake the next day with a mild hangover so decide to avoid beer at least until the evening. I'm also somewhat tired so I spend the morning updating my blog online and for a time I work in the hotel bar over a coffee. I've risen late anyway at about 9am, so this takes me until about 12 noon, when I feel hungry as I've skipped breakfast, so I walk out to Stuff'd again, this time for sausage and mash with home-made ginger ale. It's not as big as the pie but I'm still a little full at the end. Back at the hotel later I have a cool shower as the heat is truly oppressive and I drop off to sleep for a while: rising at just before 4pm, when I fetch up in the tea shop a few minutes' walk away in the hutong. Here I while away the the time over some China tea while writing my blog notes.

I find a bar on nearby Fangjia Hutong, an alleyway famous for its bars and at one time, small art galleries. I haven't been to this one before so decide to give it a try. It has a rooftop terrace and I think Phantom will like it.  

I just have a fruit beer and moving on to Phantom's favourite bar on this street I try the chicken wings, but I'm uncertain about these as the meat is red: this is common in China but as I need to be healthy for my flight I end up leaving most of it. After all the unpleasant things I've seen happen as a result of eating poultry carelessly I have learned to be cautious. Unable to decide what to have for dinner I try the little hot-dog stall but it seems they have run out of hot-dogs. Just opposite I notice a little French bistro style cafe and bar which reminds me of the one Sarah and I went to in France when we visited in 2003, so I decide to try it: it's laid-back and has pastis which I haven't had for a long time so I have one of these and there is an American lady there who asks me what I'm drinking, so she tries it and is impressed. After two of these I decide to finish the evening with a burger at the hotel as I'm looking for something plain and am by now very tired. I'm surprised at this but maybe it's anxiety of perhaps I've just been doing more than I thought.

The following day is my last in China:Phantom and I are spending the day together. In the morning I re-pack my cases and distribute the gifts around them to protect them from damage. I just need to be completely prepared for the coming voyage. One thing I'm unsure about is that fact that my lower back is aching and feels weak right now, so I worry about taking the train as it may involve carrying my heavy bags, 4 of them, up and down stairs. The only alternative is a taxi and if I take this I need to be in plenty of time for the flight at 11am the next day. I decide to discuss this with Phantom.

 We meet in the hotel bar at around 10.30 am and discuss our plan for the day: close by I have found a quite famous Beijing duck restaurant in the hutong and suggest this for our last meal together; Phantom agrees to look at it then we can decide whether to stay or go to another restaurant we know. It's simply that this will be my last chance to have Beijing duck in Beijing during my stay in China. Following this I hope to visit Great Leap one last time, then visit the bars we know in Fangjia Hutong. Phantom is happy to go along with whatever I wish: so we visit the duck restaurant fairly early as they tend to fill up quite rapidly, and have a pleasant lunch together.

 We order a half-duck as we feel that will be enough for two, with some vegetable dishes, salad and fresh fruit with tea. During this time we discuss the phenomenon I mentioned of Chinese ladies seemingly binge-eating and drinking. Apparently the Chinese nanny-state tries to discourage wasting food. As we talk a group of Chinese ladies behind me order 4 huge bowls of crayfish (a kind of freshwater prawn common in China) which are difficult to eat as you spend a lot of time peeling off the shell, plus salad, vegetables and a whole duck! The amount of food on the table is positively enormous and it's hard to believe anyone could possibly eat it all.  

At the end of our meal it's still fairly early, about 12.30, so Phantom wants to show me another bar however this one is closed so I show her the French bar and introduce her to the pastis: she hates it and tells me if she had known what it was she would never have tried it!

We have a good time talking to the manager, Justin, a young Frenchman about Paris, where he comes from an outskirt of, and French food and drink. I also confide in Phantom about feeling sad to leave China and the friends I've made, plus apprehension regarding the coming journey. She sympathises and much as I would like to focus on seeing Sarah soon, things on the other side of the globe are rendered insubstantial by the distance.

 Following our time in the French bar we walk along the hutong (I take my time because of my back aching) and I use my umbrella in the fierce heat to somewhat ineffectually shade us from the sun. We walk to Great Leap where I drink ginger ale and later my first beer of the day, and see Ringo for the last time

As we have a long day and Phantom has to check into her hotel near mine, we agree to have a break afterwards and meet up in my hotel at 7pm. Its about 5.30 by the time we get back, so it gives me time to shower, shave and sleep if I need to.

At 7 we meet up in the bar. I rarely feel so supported and I'm grateful for the friends I've made in China. Phantom wants to contact Seven and Christine so I exchange contact details after making sure everyone is OK with this. We go out to Fangjia Hutong and I show Phantom the new bar where we have a few bottled beers and follow this with a trip to Antlers.  

Phantom thinks that I have introduced her to a whole new world of drinks and bars, I'm unsure whether this is true but it's true the first “craft beer” bar she went to was Great Leap when I took her there last year! In Antlers I have some bar food, buns filled with meat cooked in subtle flavours and spices, already becoming quite famous in Beijing. It's a kind of fusion food with Taiwanese and Chinese influence. At any rate it's very good but I do struggle to eat it all. By now I am so tired I find it hard to make conversation. I didn't see this coming, it's crept up on me the last few days. We chat to the owner, Tim, (originally from Taiwan) about his plans for the future; he fears that the area will soon lose its bars owing to state intervention, which is a shame, as these bars are very original and unique. Although he will be there at least until October the future is uncertain at present. It's almost a secret bar even though it's in the middle of a big city!  

 We leave after that; by now I'm almost exhausted and Phantom is getting drunk. We sit up on the rooftop terrace of the bar we visited earlier, and we become rather melancholy. It's difficult to enjoy the time now as we will miss each other and I will certainly miss China and my friends. It's hard to say goodbye. I look across the gabled rooftops of the Beijing hutong at the darkening sky, with the trees slowly turning into silhouettes as the sun fades, the one close by illuminated like green lanterns by the floodlights below. The cicads chirp all around and it's a peaceful but melancholy scene, as I realise this is the last time I will see it.

Phantom finally declares at 9.30 that it's time for her to go back to her hotel, we are both tired out and a very long day awaits me tomorrow. We part at Lama Temple Road as I'm looking to round off the evening with a pastis or two at the French bar, but as it turns out it's completely packed so I give up and phone Phantom, who has walked on ahead. I manage to persuade her to stop outside my hotel where we catch up and say goodnight. I consider having one more beer in the bar but this is habit more than anything and I'm really so tired I need to be sensible and go to bed (Phantom has said so herself) so I go straight up and have a somewhat fitful night because of my aching back, but I know I have to get as much sleep as I can. I manage to doze off eventually but I feel I am heading into the unknown again.

SAYING GOODBYE

 With a heavy heart I begin the process of saying goodbye to the friends I've made in China for the last time. This is difficult as I've never felt like this before: it's more than the trivial routine you go through with people you meet on holiday, there is something very final about it. And it's a matter of saying goodbye to China too: at least for now and probably for always. I feel there is more I could have done, perhaps inevitably. I take my student/assistant of the year out for lunch at the Japanese restaurant where I order too much food: and the next day I do a bit of admin and cleaning before cooking a bit of egg rice for lunch and having a beer in the shacks: I'm the only one left now who does this. It sometimes means I can lazily observe wasp-waisted and willowy ghosts float gently past my eyes as I contemplate the past. Have I made the most of my time in China?  

 On Sunday I carry on with collating my assessment and overwhelmed somewhat with this, I do some house cleaning and decide to go out for lunch: I have a beer or two while I muse over what to have and in the end I can't make up my mind so I cycle around North Street and find a very small restaurant that sells roast duck: I have to say this is one of the most pleasant surprises I've had here in Baoding: the food is very tasty, not too fatty, there is plenty of sauce, pancakes and even soup! With beer it costs about RMB 35. I actually end up calling a student to translate for me over the phone as they seem to insist on trying to have some kind of conversation with me!

The same evening I have dinner with Seven, Christine, and Abby, who is a little sad owing to recent bereavement and I have to say I can understand how she feels, but we have a lovely meal together. I know there are not many more opportunities I will have to see them again. I do love talking to them, Seven and Christine seem very fond of Abby: I'm very glad about this. Christine in particular likes to spend time with her: while we are in the restaurant Seven tries to order some yellow wine: a more refined version of the Chinese rice wine, but it so happens they don't seem to sell it. So Christine and Abby go out together to find some yellow wine, leaving Seven and I to talk together. I have the distinct feeling of being in a dinner party or club where the gentlemen are left with their cigars and brandy talking “men's talk” while the ladies go and talk gossip: as it happens I'm partially right, Abby talks about the pain of her loss to Christine.

I invite a couple of colleagues over for dinner to show them some of the things I have to give away: they seem to like cooking so I'm sure they'd like some cooking utensils and and kitchenware! As usual I make far too much food. I contemplate inviting some others but I ultimately decide against it: I might be cooking up some more stuff anyway! I decide to make a fish menu so I go and buy some prawns and some big white fish:I'd like to do my party piece from last year, which is beer fish, and I buy some German black beer to cook the fish in. At any rate it makes for a pleasant evening and I enjoy myself: sadly there is the usual mound of crockery and pans to wash up!

  

  

Seven shows me his new house which he and Christine are moving into. I'd describe it as a modern take on traditional Chinese interior design, they have an imposing mini-library with hundreds of books that makes me feel positively ill-read! It isn't far away from where we live, and I feel it's a shame I won't get to see it when it's finished.

 

Life goes on at the university although now the students are getting ready for the summer break. Sales of wheelie suitcases appear in the streets around the campus, and from my 17^th floor window I can watch the Chinese going about their daily lives with parasols to keep the sun off their heads, as it's fiercely hot now. I dread to think what it will be like in August. There's something charmingly trivial about all of this.

I record all the marks and a Chinese colleague moderates the course for me. There are the usual administrative headaches but we are all starting to become excited about breaking up. A student sends me some tea cups from Beijing to distribute among some of the teachers. I choose a charming little green one, as it's my favourite colour (funny things, favourite colours, why do we have them?) and let others choose their own: they seem delighted with this and I'm glad. I love most of all to sit in the shacks, what's left of them anyway, and contemplate life.

In my heart I can't believe I'm leaving China for the last time. I remember my first visit in 1997 with Sarah when I can remember being in Beijing looking out at the distant mountains and feeling the vastness of China, wanting, longing to explore it. I've seen a little of China now, but I know I've only scratched the surface. I'd have to be here 10 years to really see it but I've seen enough to feel that I'm beginning to know it a little. I do feel though, that there is a mystery to be penetrated, something I haven' t had time to do! There is always more to see. I can't imagine life in England at the moment: raining skies, cool weather, dark beer, fish and chips. I also feel I'm going back to a country at war with itself, a land that is lost, when it was so close to re-inventing itself. Time will tell where all of this will lead. I fear the journey. I feel something frightful will happen to me on the way back: something awful that will stop me seeing Sarah when I get back. The scale of it is overwhelming: I have to break it down into small sections to survive emotionally.

I visit the little duck restaurant that I found and to my astonishment find there are some Chinese guys that I know there\; they speak very little English but they seem glad to see me and insist I join them for lunch: so I sit and eat roast duck with them and I offer to buy them a beer but they won't let me spend any money at all so I end up with a free lunch and a good laugh. You'd be surprised what a good time you can have with the Chinese even when you don't speak the languages! Although they have a young lady with them who speaks a little English and sometime we can communicate through a translation app on someone's smart phone.

I've got too much food left in my fridge so I will have to give it away. I meet a friend in one of the shacks for a beer and take some home-cooked spaghetti bolognaise on paper plates with plastic knives and forks so we eat outdoors. Nobody minds when you do this in China. I hope we can see each other before I leave.

I invite Seven and Christine to the Japanese restaurant one more time and we have a delightful evening together. We share stories of our friendship and favourite memories, so we have a good laugh together. I'm afraid I do become quite emotional over 2 flasks of sake and there are a few tears. It turns out to be the last time I see Christine: I call them brother and sister in my emotional state. They have been wonderful friends and remarkable people: deeply humble, spiritual and extremely intelligent. Knowing them has been my good fortune! Shortly after this Christine goes away to a meditation retreat for 10 days so I don't get the chance to see her again: it's lucky we had this chance to say goodbye: I wanted to see them as much as I could before leaving.

There's a lot of goods in my flat to dispose of: some colleagues buy my microwave oven and DVD player, also my woks and cooking utensils. I give my Italian friend Linda a lot of drawing materials and some other stuff she picks out on a visit to my apartment: bric-a-brac, plates, jars of spices etc. Linda goes away laden with 3 bags of goodies and struggles to get it all home! Colleagues drop by and chat then take something: usually departing with a bag or two of kitchenware, food, (in one case spirits and wine which I don't tend to drink in China). A colleague takes my unused canvases which I'm pleased about and Seven has my bike! I feel I've done well clearing my flat! James and Iris have my Christmas tree and a load of food. I save a few items so I can cook breakfast and leave enough for a new occupant to get by for a few days.

It's important to prepare for the journey ahead so I check all my travel details: flight, hotels in Beijing, train tickets, accommodation in London etc. and print off all my receipts. It takes me two days to pack as I have to check and re-check it all. I buy an extra baggage allowance.  

 I see a couple of students for lunch in the area, one I take to the duck restaurant, another to Route 66. These make for pleasant interludes. The assessment work slowly draws to a close with moderation, recording and the academic board meeting. I give my flat a clean although I don't have time to do it as well as I'd normally do.

 I see Linda one more time on my last day in Baoding: there is another thunderstorm and the area floods again, but it's nowhere near as bad as the last time. I originally want to take her to 66 for pizza but we abandon this idea and decide on a local place. We meet in one of the shacks, a tiny one that has become my favourite and neither of us feels particularly hungry, so we sit and share a cold beer while we decide what to do. In the end we just sit talking and I walk across the road to a little street stall where I buy some fried rice and salad which I take back to the shack. It's more than enough. So we sit and talk with the rain pouring down all around and occasionally into the tent. The lady there keeps pushing sticks into the roof to channel away the water collecting there, so it sometimes splashes onto me: I cannot get upset about it as I'm quite wet anyway so I laugh. In all we have a great time, simple and unplanned. It's one of my nicer meals out! Following this I have to go just before 3pm as someone is coming to pick up some goods.

I feel I'm leaving Baoding at the right time: the shacks which, however unhygienic and shabby, had character and life, are being replaced with lifeless and largely uninhabited concrete blocks. The only paces to eat are the Chinese restaurants which offer little choice or variety. I can't imagine facing another polluted winter and I'm not inclined to go home to England then leave again.

That evening the rain subsides so I go out to 66 one last time with a few colleagues, also Seven and Abby who join me for the last time. We have a delightful evening talking art and life although we stay out a bit late and struggle to find a taxi home!  

This is my last night in Baoding: I've said all my important goodbyes, one by one, and there have been a few pleasant evenings and lunches! A big party wouldn't have worked. The next day the voyage home begins. I wonder what I'll miss? Well, certainly the people I've met, worked and shared my China life with, the local culture, the shacks and beer, the company and the challenges. I don't think I'll miss the crowded nature of China, the pollution, most of the food or the noise! But as this chapter of my life draws to a close, there is much to reflect on. I hope I've learned a bit about myself.

GILGAMESH

I apologise for the lack of photos in this post: owing to the circumstances I kept forgetting to take my camera out!

 I've planned to take some of my students out to say goodbye, and have suggested Route 66 as they seem to like it and there's a good choice of dishes. However events get in the way of this. I spend the week working on my assessments, and I don't have much spare time: this is the biggest week of the year for us.

I'm working in my classroom at around 4pm on Wednesday and I suddenly notice the sky is turning dark, clouds are gathering and in the distance the sky looks yellow, a sure sign of rain. A colleague drops by and suggests I leave soon as rain is on its way, but I don't worry too much and decide to finish my assessment for that day as there isn't much to do, so I carry on for another half hour or so. By then it's too late, I can hear thunder and it's raining heavily. I'm still not worried as these things tend to pass so I carry on and stop at round 5. By now the rain has become absolutely torrential: I've only ever seen rain like this once in England in 2010 when I got caught in a flash flood. The sky is black as coal, it's like night and lightning flashes across the sky, like camera flashes. The rain hammers on the roof and I decide to try and wait it out.

Downstairs in the office I see Iris who says this is forecast for 3 days! Visions of the flood legend flash through my mind: last year there was a flood that was so bad it trapped people in their flats for days and I become uncomfortably aware that I've almost run out of food. Iris suggests we wait it out but I'm becoming more and more convinced that the storm isn't going to pass any time soon. The rain continues to howl down and a colleague says “the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be to get home.” Realising that by now I can't avoid getting soaked anyway I decide to make a run for it. I get an empty portfolio from my room to hold over my head and keep the rain off, leaving my bag in the office. Iris is thinking about getting a taxi back. Worse still, there is a blocked sewer nearby which for days has been spilling water filled with sewage onto the street, which will now be mingled with the flood waters. I'm again reminded of the flood in the book of Genesis, where the heavens open and all the water inside the earth erupts out of springs and geysers.

I've brought my bike but decide to leave it behind and make a dash for it: so, portfolio over my head I walk out of the campus onto North Street, which is the main campus road. Here I'm greeted by a sight that is absolutely biblical: the road is a torrent, people are wading, riding bikes sluggishly or driving through the water, or sheltering in the shacks: it's several inches deep and the smell is indescribable: something like manure and rotting fish. I wade through the water which is half-way up to my knees by now, all the time thinking about getting Weil's disease or being electrocuted by wires falling into the water, which I've heard about happening before. The Chinese are wading or cycling nonchalantly through the flood as if they've seen it all before. The shacks have all shut down.

I manage to reach my flat and have a hot shower. Looking out of the windows I can see the lightning criss-crossing the sky and occasional bolts connecting to the earth. Some of the thunderclaps are so loud I fear the building has been struck! I do wonder how safe I am in a high-rise and am glad I'm not on the top floor! Iris and James let me scrounge a few eggs as I'm concerned about lack of food, so I can cook myself some seafood rice. However I realise I don't have any water stored in the flat, so I realise I'll have to venture out again and brave the elements!

I decide to fetch my bike as it can help keep my feet out of the water. The storm is still raging, I'm just wearing shorts, trainers, a T-shirt and raincoat. Iris appears outside with an umbrella, walking back through the flood to the flats: she begs me to go back inside but I'm. Probably foolishly under the circumstances, determined to get my bike back. So I wade back through the river which the rain has formed from the road and reach the school, someone is still in the office and has managed to find some plastic sacks to form a makeshift cape and galoshes to walk back in! I unlock my bike, and soaked to the skin again by now, I cycle out of the main gate of the campus to the main road to town which is not flooded and is safer. Taking the long route round I ride around the perimeter of Baoding University, where I encounter a traffic jam as if the whole population of the city has decided to take this road. I weave through the traffic feeling like Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day,and by the time I get near the shops I'm in deep water again. I manage to buy a bottle of water some bread and beer, actually I'm surprised to find the shops are not too busy, I thought they might be full of panic shoppers. Incredibly, just outside the shops on my way back I see two colleagues of mine who have walked out to watch the rain: one has a camera wrapped in a plastic bag!

I make it home again and realising I have no option I cook myself a huge quantity of egg rice with prawns and vegetables: the preparation takes about 45 minutes however so it takes me over an hour to make this dish. I store most of it in the fridge as I want to have something I can use for the next few days. It does last me 3 days and I freeze the rest.

The next day some of the water has drained away and I need to go into the school and carry on with my assessment, however I sleep over and don't make it in till 10, then I also have to visit the shops for some basic vegetables. There isn't much to choose from, I guess many people have been buying food in case they become stranded, and of course no new supplies have got through. The rain is forecast again today so I go as soon as I can and get some potatoes, onions, peppers, eggs and flour. I have lunch at about 1pm in my flat, cycling through the rain again, and finish up at 5, with half a class still to mark, but I do have one more day left to do it so I'm ahead of the game.

I have changed the venue of my students' farewell to a local restaurant, as the area has become flooded again. I advise them not to travel unless they feel it's safe and offer to cancel, but surprisingly they still want to go ahead although a few do drop out. I'm convinced it won't happen: however it goes ahead as planned, in fact I get a message from them while I'm still in the campus: there are about 8 students this time, and we have a pleasant, if rather low-key evening, I sometimes feel they are more self-conscious than my last cohort.

We leave at around 8.30 as they are all tired: two more don't make it owing to late exams, and I hear from them as they come out of the school. I take them to a small restaurant nearby and sit with them while they eat some noodle dishes, as I feel rather sorry for them not having eaten. We chat and laugh a bit, until around 10 o'clock, when we all go home. The next morning the waters have drained away again and there's no rain, however the shack dwellers are now beginning to repair the flood damage and recover what supplies they can. I rise early and complete my assessment in the morning, before taking one of my students, who has been my assistant all year with train tickets, translations, travel arrangements etc., to lunch as a thank you and goodbye, as she missed my evening the day before. The sun shines and the water slowly recedes.

BAODING LIFE 7

Reflecting on May, it was such a roller-coaster and I feel I packed so much in that it seems an age! Starting with my visit to Seven's home town, followed by my 53^rd birthday, a raft of other birthday parties, 2 visits to Beijing, my memory lane visit to the Summer Palace and some lively evenings out with friends, this has been an exciting month. Things are much quieter afterwards and I settle into a routine of teaching, cooking and relaxing in the shacks near the campus. It's blisteringly hot so I tend to sit in the shade with a cold beer: I also make more of my own food, burgers, curry and chilli, as I really find that I prefer not to eat out unless it's a particularly good restaurant.  

 The convenience of eating cheap food in the shacks has largely worn off as most of the food is so poor, and of the few places I do like to visit, many are being closed down! However I do sometimes visit the new barbecue shack that has opened recently selling the crayfish similar to those I had in Beijing, usually with some students.

 Also as an experiment I buy a whole crab in the export supermarket and dress it myself, then take it out with some salad on a paper plate with a plastic knife and fork, and eat it outside in the shacks with a beer! It makes for an enjoyable compromise as I'm not keen on eating at home by myself, so I think I'll do this more often!

There is a feeling of saying goodbye as I begin to contemplate returning to England next month. In many ways this has been one of the most successful things I have ever done: making new friends, teaching, travelling and learning. I feel much better about myself than I did before leaving England.

The shacks are disappearing, being replaced by huge concrete blocks in which small cafes are being set up. This is rather a shame as there is a certain character about the shacks that I like and I find this development disappointing. Jack's place has closed down due to expansion of the foreign language school next to the University, and the area seems to be losing its community spirit. The colleagues I used to chat with in the shacks have all gone now, some back to the UK and others to different countries, one or two to other parts of China, one to Vietnam.  

I take Seven and Christine to a Japanese restaurant which I visited for a colleague's birthday, and we have a lovely meal as we discuss family life, life in the UK and exchange travel stories. I also invite them to dinner at my apartment where I make a vegetarian green curry which they seem to enjoy: at least they polish it all off so I imagine they do!  

We also have hot sake!

At the university it's countdown to assessment for this year, and I'm working the students hard to get them prepared. They are responding well to this and there is a buzz around the 6^th floor where I'm teaching. I feel quite proud of them.

At the weekend I will visit Beijing for the last time before I leave for the UK in July. I feel a mixture of sadness and fear contemplating the future with political uncertainty, family health matters, fear of terrorism and unemployment being just a few of the things I will have to deal with in the near future. I prefer to think about being with Sarah again and planning a summer of pleasant, relaxing and simple English holidays.

I also have to plan a round of farewell parties: there are too many people to see, too many different timetables and lifestyles to do it all at once. Again, this brings on a sad feeling of saying goodbye for the last time.