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.

HAIDIAN, SUMMER PALACE, AND A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

I decided to do this as a birthday treat but had been thinking about it for some time. This year is the 20^th anniversary of the first visit Sarah and I made to China in 1997, so I've planned to visit the same area and hotel that we came to then and to see what it's like now and how it feels.

Ultimately I don't stay in the hotel as it has some worrying reviews, so I book a Chinese courtyard hotel nearby. I've arranged to meet Phantom and Adrian whilst in the area. However on the first night I stay again at Red Lantern House, the hostel I visited in April, and I'm delighted to find I have the same room as I had the first time!

 I have lunch at 4 Corners in Houhai as there doesn't seem to be anywhere worth visiting where the hostel is, and afterwards I take the tube to see if I can locate the hotel Sarah and I stayed in. I travel directly from Houhai, having initially planned to walk back to the hostel and then take the tube. I'm glad I didn't as it's fiendishly hot and like being near a blast furnace! I can't remember being this hot since we visited Las Vegas in 2008.  

So I take the tube to Beijing Zoo and more or less immediately I can see the hotel ahead so I stop by and take a few photos.

The hotel seems smaller than I remember it, and the interior looks very grand. I almost regret changing my booking. But it does feel very impersonal and formal: I feel a little intimidated. Walking around the area in the hot sun I keep drinking one bottle of water after another: I am not surprised although I'm sad to find that all the hutong old bars, restaurants and shops have all vanished, and all there is to see now is more big hotels and modern flats. The area seems soulless and devoid of its former charm. I'm glad and relieved, to leave after about an hour. I suppose it goes to show you can never recover what is past.

I'm very tired by the time I get back to the hostel at 5pm, so I try and have a doze, but this is difficult due to the stentorian voices of two female backpackers in the hostel restaurant talking at the tops of their voices. They probably don't realise it but sound carries very easily in this building. So I try ear-plugs which only work when I use two pairs and stuff them right down my ears! Also they are laughing constantly. I can never understand people like this, call me miserable if you like, but life just isn't that funny! What do these people find to laugh about so much? I manage to have a light doze and set off into the night for dinner. I walk back into Houhai on protesting legs and have a very good lamb vindaloo, while half-listening to a German guy and his local squeeze talking in 3 different languages. Following this I drop into Huxleys where I chat to a couple of expats about beer and other things, then on the way home I spot a charming little bar where I end up sitting outside talking to a group of Chinese guys for about two hours about life and art. I should have gone home much earlier than I do but I'm having too much fun!

The following morning I've arranged to check out of the hostel at 2pm so I have breakfast which for once is not disturbed by by noisy backpackers and set off on the tube to visit the Summer Palace. The weather is hot again but not as bad as yesterday's crucible. Sarah and I visited the Palace in the winter of 1997, so again I'm walking down memory lane. The lake was frozen over then but now it's summer and the park is in full bloom. I buy a through ticket which gives me access to the whole complex so I can go inside the palace walls and see the view over the lake.

 Walking down through the complex, there are Chinese tourists everywhere taking selfies. I walk by the side of the lake to the Seventeen Arch Bridge. Most of the the structures you can see were built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. There was an old Summer Place that was destroyed during the Opium Wars. The bridge goes out to an island on the lake, and as I walk over I can recall our last visit 20 years ago and it feels so different this time. It is actually quite cool in the park as there is a great deal of shade and by the lake the air tends to be cooler anyway.

I walk back up the hillside to the North Gate where I came in and decide to try and have lunch near the hostel before checking out. As luck would have it I find a small fish restaurant and when I walk in the manager, a young Chinese lady called Ann, comes out and she speaks English, so helps me order. There is a kind of freshwater crayfish common in China so I order this in a garlic sauce.

It's delicious but there is so much work to do removing the shells that you get tired doing it! I'm looked after like royalty here so I imagine they do not get many foreign visitors. The lady asks if she can take a photo with me, and as always I agree. I imagine this may be used in in future advertising. I'm also given an apron to keep the sauce off my clothes, free green tea and free noodles. The lady fusses over me so much it's slightly embarrassing but it does make for an entertaining lunchtime and is great value value for money! As I leave the lady asks me to come back again soon, so effusively that it feels somewhat pathetic.

 Following lunch I return to the hostel and check out: it's now time for me to transfer to my next hotel: Michael's House. This is the courtyard hotel I booked in place of the one I had originally chosen: I was disappointed to do this however the reviews spoke so persistently of astronomical deposits, hard beds and poor service that alarm bells rang! On the other hand those of Michael's House were consistently glowing!  

 I can't seem to get a taxi (Adrian later tells me this is getting more and more difficult in Beijing) so I take the Tube. At the other end I do succeed in hailing a cab and it takes me to the hutong where the hotel is. As soon as I arrive a young Chinese lady hurries to the door, grabs my suitcase, (which is not much smaller than she is and is also quite heavy) and lugs it indoors! I try to dissuade her from this act but to no avail. Furthermore she seems to know who I am without asking, scans my passport and checks me in over something like 10 minutes which is not unusual in China and she has to take 2 phone calls: but I do not feel anxious as I have in some other hotels and I feel in competent hands. I'm also offered free fruit juice and my case is trundled off to my room! The hotel is delightful, the room is charming and spotlessly clean. I'm slightly disappointed as the description online mentions garden furniture and a garden view but this refers to the courtyard and is not specific to the room. However so far I'm quite impressed.

I make myself at home, and as it is now about 5pm I take the tube into Houhai where I have a draught IPA in Huxley's: I'm meeting Adrian in Sanlitun later, so I travel to Tuanjiehu station where we meet up for a burger and a beer: actually I have a non-alcoholic cocktail this time.) We sit at a table downstairs but soon move upstairs to a pleasant balcony overlooking the street: this is partly owing to the loud and obnoxious behaviour of a group of young Americans in the bar yelling, swearing and bawling out inane songs: they are clearly blind drunk and in England would be labelled hooligans.  

 We wander around a few more bars and the streets are very crowded, with a number of streetwalkers as well, and have a good chat about work, life and politics but I have to take the train back at 9.30 so we part at the station. I decide to stay in Houhai for a couple of beers and talk to some Irish visitors back at Huxley's, after which the tube has closed down so I walk along Houhai lake: it's quieter now and cooler, and I walk past many Chinese couples locked in romantic embraces. I reach the hotel but it's locked, however I ring a bell for the concierge and the little Chinese girl lets me in after a moment of panic when I imagine being shut out!

 I sleep well as the bed is very comfortable although I get bitten during the night by mosquitoes, so the next morning I ask at reception if they have any insect repellant and this is gladly supplied. There is a good Western-style buffet breakfast and on the whole I do feel well looked-after and am enjoying my stay.  

The guests all seem to be more mature people rather than the backpacker crowd I tend to find in hostels. They are all European, and there do not seem to be any Chinese guests. The hotel is generally very quiet. I have a light breakfast and had originally planned to visit Chaoyang Park near Sanlitun today but I'm feeling too lazy. So I stay in the courtyard and do some writing, taking the opportunity to relax and unwind. At 3pm I'm meeting Phantom at Great Leap as we're going out for the afternoon and evening.

At around 11:30 I set off on the tube for the Lama Temple area which is not far away. I'm quite hungry so have decided to have lunch at Stuff'd, of sausage and mash with a glass of ginger ale as I don't dare drink beer yet even though they have a good range of microbrew beers. It's excellent and is the only bar in China where you get brown sauce and mustard: these are extraordinarily difficult to obtain in China so I'm very impressed by this: although I'm disappointed to find I get a very small portion of mashed potatoes and when a Chinese woman orders the same thing I'm annoyed that there is twice as much. If I had had a Chinese friend with me I would have had a mild complain. It's another example of how restaurants in China appear sometimes to prioritise local people over foreign visitors and how Chinese females appear to receive preferential treatment. This is possibly due to the tone of voice they tend to use which sounds harsh and commanding. However this is not a significant enough matter to spoil my day. 

 So I go back to the the hotel to change as it's fiercely hot again today and I need my hat to keep the sun off my head! I have a cool shower: actually the water does get very hot so I have to control the temperature carefully, change and walk out at just after 2pm. I arrive at Great Leap just after 3 where Phantom is already waiting so we discuss the itinerary for the evening over the first beer.  

One thing I've really wanted to do to cap off the weekend is to have dinner in the revolving restaurant at the Xiyuan Hotel, where Sarah and I dined in 1997. It's the first and consequently the oldest revolving restaurant in Beijing. It seems fitting to mark the anniversary of this with another visit and Phantom thinks this is incredibly romantic! The trouble is Phantom doesn't eat in the evening owing to some weight-consciousness even though she is as thin as a rake! Now this would not normally be a problem as we've had dinner together before and she just has a beer, or we go to a bar that serves burgers or something and I eat at the bar. But this time the restaurant is a buffet with a fixed price so I fear I will have to pay for both of us even if Phantom doesn't eat. So she offers to call the hotel to see if we can just order the buffet for one, but she cannot get an answer on the phone so suggests we visit the hotel and ask there. I'm hopeful it will work out.  

So we visit another bar where I have a couple of fruit beers: these are very refreshing and Phantom asks me to try one of her favourite IPAs, but this is far too bitter for me: I can't recall a time when I've had beer as bitter as that so I decline and stick to fruit beer.

We talk about Phantom's ambitions to be a photographer and I make one or two suggestions from my own experience like visiting exhibitions and galleries. Also I offer the contact details of some artists I've met who I know are willing to share them. 

We take the tube to the hotel and Phantom asks the way to the restaurant which is on the 26^th floor so we take the lift to the 25^th and then walk up a spiral staircase, so I imagine we are moving through the centre of the mechanism for the revolving floor above.  At the restaurant entrance Phantom asks if we can just order for myself and it turns out to be no problem, so we are seated by the window looking out over the city.

 Phantom is delighted to be able to share this with me and I tell her a few stories from our original visit, such as the time I had salmon and mistook wasabi, which I had never seen before, for mushy peas (heaven knows why) so stuffed a huge portion of it in my mouth which almost burned my tongue off and had me going “AAAAAGGHHH!!!” probably with my face going purple and me drinking vast amounts of water to recover from the agony! Of course from this I learned some valuable gastronomy! There is plenty to eat, I mostly have seafood; lobster, crab, salmon,.prawns, soup and salad. There is a good selection of non-alcoholic drinks like fruit juices so I have plenty of this to save myself for the rest of the evening. I'm very grateful to Phantom for this and it feels very special. I talk about how different the area was all those years ago.

 When I can't eat any more we go back to Houhai by taxi and drop into Huxley's to celebrate the success of our evening. Sadly the atmosphere is spoilt again by the hooligan-like behaviour of (again) another group of Americans, hooting, shouting, swearing, banging on the tables with their hands and generally being a nuisance. Why do so many of these guys behave like this? Normally they are so polite! I know that America has a very conservative attitude to alcohol and I can only imagine that when they come to China they are letting themselves go but simply can't handle that amount of booze. Phantom is so exasperated she starts to confront these guys about this: I try to dissuade her as I have no idea where it will all lead and I don't want to spoil such a great day so we try and ignore it. At about 10 pm Phantom goes home and I resist the temptation to stay out, so I take the tube back to the hotel just in time and have one beer in the courtyard. Arriving back in Baoding the next day I have lunch and beer in the shacks as is my normal routine when coming back from Beijing.