Hot in the city
It’s averaging 38 degrees in this fair city. My weather app often tells me it “Feels Like 50 degrees”. It could also say “Feels Like walking around in a preheated oven” and it wouldn’t be wrong. Along with this heat emerge some smells that are incredibly bad yet also intriguing. “Is this of human origin? Or animal?” All part of the fun of dense city living. Also along with this heat you get the “Beijing Bikini”: chaps with their T-shirts hoisted up to their midriff.

You see it everywhere! A simple and effective cooling system.
The original plan was to spend my last month of my trip traveling through China but since I decided to stay on here to work, I’ve been job hunting. Happy to report that after a few months of meetings, coffees with strangers, applications, interviews, and trying to master “eagerness without desperation”, I believe I have a job with a Chinese company that sells New Zealand ice cream. I say “I believe I do” because paperwork is all yet to come through. So I’m cautiously excited. I may have employment in China!
I have now moved out of the host family’s and while it was sad to farewell them, it’s nice to have my evenings back. My host mum made these cute photos.


From the kuai (Chinese for “bucks”) I saved in rent through the year being a homestay, I’ve done a little traveling. My first stop was…
Hong Kong 🇭🇰
Hong Kong is such a busy, crazy, crowded, vibrant place. Comparing it to Shanghai, it is like the busiest areas of Shanghai all smushed together onto a tiny island. My friend Liz described it as a small place with a big personality. In Hong Kong you really do have the best of both worlds. There’s the hustle and bustle of city, then in 30 minutes drive time you can be amongst beautiful hiking trails and beaches. Not unlike Auckland really.






And the FOOD.


I have also finally been to…
Beijing 🇨🇳
It was a dream come true seeing the Great Wall. And it is seriously Great. One of the guys in my running group had a friend in a Beijing running group who knew their way around an unrestored part of the wall so a group of us took the high speed train to Beijing and set off for a trail run on the Great Wall. It really was an amazing experience first laying eyes on it. Maybe because it’s something so iconic. You’ve seen so many pictures in media but to see it in the flesh is a bizarre and almost dream-like experience. I got giddy with excitement. But there wasn’t time for that. We had to get going on our trail if we were to make it back in time in line with our schedule.






To be honest, it got pretty dicey in some parts of the trail. Because we were hiking the unrestored part, some parts were quite a narrow path with a pretty decent vertical drop on either side, and we had to go through a lot of untamed bush and gorse that left a lot of scratches but the pain was well worth it. The history of it all was quite overwhelming. Touching these stones that have been there more than 2,000 years; it was very cool. I immediately wanted to learn more about it after (really should have researched more before!). Here is where I read up about the Great Wall if you’re interested. Apparently there’s also a movie out on the Great Wall with Matt Damon in it. Also on my to-see list.
I visited Tian’anmen Square, a huge city square in the middle of Beijing. It was eerie visiting there. In 1989 it was where Chinese troops opened fire using assault rifles on civilians who were part of a student-led pro-democracy demonstration. The death toll estimates of the Tian’anmen Square 1989 massacre are anywhere between the hundreds and the thousands. It is a somber place to visit.
On the side of Tian’anmen Square is a picture of Mao Zedong watching over the square. Also was quite eerie. This is where the Mausoleum (Mao-soleum?) of Mao Zedong is.


If Shanghai is all about being modern and international, then Beijing is definitely all about history, culture and being “China”.
I visited the Summer Palace, which isn’t actually just one palace but a series of many palaces, gardens and lakes. It’s basically one massive park. The history and culture there is so fascinating. Reading all the plaques and signs, you learn that the Summer Palace dates back to the 1100's, and has been through the reign of various dynasties and emperors. The structures within the palace walls have really beautiful names like “the Great Temple of Gratitude and Longevity” and “Hall of Benevolence and Longevity”. Those of course are the English translations. I think the names in Chinese characters would be even more rich and meaningful. In the different buildings you can read different stories about the emperors and empress dowagers and the various empires and dynasties. Pretty fascinating. Imagine Chinese Game of Thrones.





And below are some other scenes of Beijing. (I am keen to go back! So if anyone is passing through China, let me know.)





Today is my last day here as my visa is up. After some travel around Europe I’ll be making my way back home to New Zealand.
My views of China have expanded so much. I had only known one side of it, being a pretty rudimentary knowledge of it being communist, big, and where everything seems to be made. The gap between rich and poor is so much more pronounced and visible here, compared to New Zealand. On the metro I often see the migrant workers who are carrying everything they own with them. They carry their roll-up mattress, a bucket, and a small bag of their clothes. Or the people who go through people’s rubbish to take the cardboard or plastic bottles or glass to take it to recycling plants (I don’t actually know where they take them but I really hope it is recycling plants) in exchange for some money. You see many poor elderly folk collecting rubbish and the weight they carry on their backs is just astonishing but it also is heartbreaking that these older folk have to work so hard still to survive. It’s been humbling and made me rethink what I find “hard” about my life. Definitely a reality check.
As for my Chinese, I may have the certificate from my course now but I am only just beginning the Mandarin speaking “journey”.


My dad also only learnt how to speak Mandarin quite late in life and has always reminded me to just enjoy it. Be able to laugh at yourself. And don’t care what anyone else thinks. Thanks dad, 谢谢 / xie xie. If you remember those nuggets of wisdom I think anyone can learn this language. ✌️
