1:Maria and Rafaela.
2: The corner of the Forbidden City.
3: Statue outside Mao's mausoleum.
4: The gate outside the Forbidden City.
Sorry I'm a bit behind. China periodically stops access to blogs, the week I was there being one of those times.
Friday I got pushed onto the metro by a security guard (it was the only way I was going to fit) and disentangled my nose from a businessman's armpit at Dongjimen. I met up with Maria, my couch host in Beijing. She's a Porguguese freelance journalist, and said China is an easy place to work as long as you don't write about the wrong thing and you don't mind calling twenty different people to get a two minute interview. Her flat is in a Communist style block near Dongjimen subway station. She made me real espresso (the best cup of coffee I've had for a year) and it made me wonder if I was Europesick rather than homesick.
In the afternoon I walked around for a while and quickly discovered that Beijing is not a city designed for walking. I suppose this is what happens when 17 million people live in the same place. I did the first thing I always do in a new city - get very lost and spend the next two hours getting un-lost and seeing lots of the city.
In the evening Maria, Rafaela and Merce took me for dinner and it was delicious. We skipped some of the exotic items on the menu (duck chin, chicken feet, chicken neck, bull's penis) and settled on Peking Duck.
Friday I got pushed onto the metro by a security guard (it was the only way I was going to fit) and disentangled my nose from a businessman's armpit at Dongjimen. I met up with Maria, my couch host in Beijing. She's a Porguguese freelance journalist, and said China is an easy place to work as long as you don't write about the wrong thing and you don't mind calling twenty different people to get a two minute interview. Her flat is in a Communist style block near Dongjimen subway station. She made me real espresso (the best cup of coffee I've had for a year) and it made me wonder if I was Europesick rather than homesick.
In the afternoon I walked around for a while and quickly discovered that Beijing is not a city designed for walking. I suppose this is what happens when 17 million people live in the same place. I did the first thing I always do in a new city - get very lost and spend the next two hours getting un-lost and seeing lots of the city.
In the evening Maria, Rafaela and Merce took me for dinner and it was delicious. We skipped some of the exotic items on the menu (duck chin, chicken feet, chicken neck, bull's penis) and settled on Peking Duck.
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