Beijing, China

Tuesday 11th October 2006, 12.20pm

Culture-shock. Such a nice word to describe what I am feeling now. I have been in China for about 30 hours and since leaving the airport I am the only westerner I have seen. Sure I slept for 15 hours but I have wandered around and it is a really weird feeling.

I arrived at about 8am ，caught a bus to the centre of the city. Then I walked around for 10minutes before I gave up navigating on my own with streets signs in Mandarin and caught a taxi。 I arrived at my booked accommodation to a staff that spoke four English words between them. Passport, Room number, yes and no. I only know one word (sheeshee, thank you) so I guess they were more bi-lingual than me. I dumped my stuff in a suitable room (my own too - whoopee!） and went out in search of food.

I eventually got some money changed and found someone who spoke fairly good english and he told me how to get to a supermarket. I went in and got worried after 5 minutes of walking around. I saw more choices of soy sauce than I ever have, also different kinds of meat including pigs trotters and someones liver (hopefully of animal origin) and a great supply of noodles. And that was about it. I love noodles but was dreading eating them for 4 days until I stumbled across a McDonalds. That was until I realised they had a second level full of biscuits, nuts, UHT milk，jam， bread and donuts. Phew! I got a few supplies and walked back to my room. It was about 4pm by the time I couldn't think straight anymore and went to bed. I took a tablet to help me sleep on the very hard bed (would have been softer on the floor) and flaked out.
I ended up lying on the pillows for some cushioning and didn't wake up completely until 10am this morning. I don't know whether it was too much sleep, not enough or the tablet which made me feel like I left my head in Ireland, but I managed to shower and eat soem biscotti and milk for breakfast. I was going to go to some markets today but decided to find a laundry (a drycleaners I eventually found) and read a book and relax. I will be more up to bargaining tomorrow. And maybe to playing more charades as to what I want and where I want to go. I am not sure if you can drink the water here so am using bottled water. I also don't know if I can flush toliet paper here (like Egypt and Greece) but don't want to act that scenario out for the staff here to find out.

There isn't much in the surrounding streets (I haven't wandered far) for me todo. There is a movie theatre across the road but they don't have anything in English. I saw a poster of Harry Potter film number 4 and if I get desparate will see if I can watch it in Chinese. It could be interesting. I think I have landed myself in a non-tourist area. Which is good from a see-what-chinese-life-is-really-like perspective but hell on the communication. Live and learn hey!?

My last few days in Ireland were wonderful. I travelled to Limerick on the train and then to the Cliffs of Moher. Wow! They were magnificent. I walked along the cliff face for awhile until I found I confy spot and sat down. I listened to some Celtic music on my iPod and meditated for a few moments. I was wonderful, just me, the cliffs and the sea. And many other tourists but I focused just on what was in front of me. I had 90mins there but could have spent all day. The rest of the afternoon was looking through The Burren, an area of rocks, green fields and glacial valleys. It was pretty. My accommodation in Limerick was a quaint B&B. It was faultless except for the shower. It was like standing in a light Irish rain UNDER an umbrella. I was in there 10 minutes and there was still parts of me dry when I got out. I shouldn't complain, any dry spell in Ireland is worth noting as it rains frequently there. Really, it was hot and that was good.
The next day we went to Blarney Village and Castle. The castle is worth visiting even if you aren't into kissing stones. The gardens were really nice, assorted types of trees and bushes with a stream running throughout it. Super, spirally staircases took you to the top of the castle where the kissing takes place. It was a production line for the process with someone taking your photo and another to help you sit down, lie back, slip backwards and back up again. For all its commercialism, it was awesome fun. I gave the stone a big smacking kiss!! I must have lingered too long because a guy mentioned that I seemed to enjoy it entirely too much. A guide for a different tour took my photo saving me 10 euros to commemorate my step into the Irish Blarney Hall of Fame. There was a fantastic view from the top of the castle and I took many photos, one of which I knew was going to be a favourite of my trip the second I took it.
The rest of the day was spent in Cork where it was pouring rain. I went into a bookshop then a Gloria Jeans for a hot chocolate to wait out the rain. It didn't let up until it was time to go but I met a born and bred Cork man who was great to talk to, making my visit worthwhile anyway. Then it was the train back to Dublin and back to my hostel. A different room again, (half girls, half boys this time unlike the all boys and me room before），and this time my roommates where loud at their entrances to the room at 2am and 4am respectively。 I had great fun at 7am making as much noise as I could.

I had a 5 hour wait at heathrow for my transfer flight to Beijing but the time went quickly with lunch and a good book. As my plane was boarding I had this strong, weird feeling that I didn't want to go. China being my last stop, I wanted to keep going, to go onto Scotland maybe, back to Ireland, Croatia or the north of America. As much as I miss family and home, I have been 'bitten by the bug' and so don't want my holiday to end. Going back to work might be colouring the situation just a teensy bit.

But anyway, I am here, I have 13 days to go until I leave for Perth and I will enjoy it while I can.

Love to you all,
Kym