Back in Beijing

Firstly, I wanted to celebrate. I spent the summer holiday writing this blog on my mobile phone. Now that I am back in China, I can graduate to my laptop. Hurrah!

I do have another reason to celebrate. It is about two years since I first arrived here in Beijing. It feels good to return to “normality”. If a noisy, heavily polluted yet interesting and exciting city can be described as normal. For me, it is coming back to what I know and it is therefore normal for me now.

What has changed in these two years? I have gained a lot of experiences which have taught me how to deal with many professional, social and cultural situations. I can now communicate adequately (to a certain degree) with Chinese locals, although often get to the point of a conversation where I can’t understand or say exactly how I feel and therefore feel frustrated with myself. Continuing my Mandarin lessons will hopefully build on my skills.

I also like to think I have become more Beijing-wise. I now know when someone is trying to overcharge me with “foreigner tax”. I am still nowhere near amazing at navigating around this huge city, but the feeling of disorientation and being lost occurs much less now. If I ever do find myself in a strange place, I can now ask for directions to the underground or explain where I would like to be to taxi drivers. This definitely makes life more comfortable (and less stressful) when compared with two years ago.

Mother nature can sometimes be a cruel mistress. Beijing is usually a super dry city. I think I can count on one hand the amount of times it rained in my first year residing in Beijing. But on my first full-day back in Beijing, there is indeed a shower of acidic rain merrily dancing through the sky and dampening the streets below. Another perk of living here for two years is knowing that if is does rain (or more often the case – if the pollution levels are too high) and you don’t want to leave the house, you can order in food very easily.

Fast food chains do deliver to your home here in Beijing. However, I prefer to use companies like Sherpa’s Food Delivery Service. You log on to their website, choose a restaurant in the city, select what meal you would like and then the delivery man will hop on a scooter, go to the restaurant, collect your order and bring it straight to your door. The delivery costs depend on the distance to your place.

Tipping is unheard of in Beijing, but this is a service I have really valued since living here, so I regularly tip the deliverymen - especially on a smoggy day. To celebrate my Beijing two-year anniversary, I ordered bacon and chicken fusilli (NOT easy to find good bacon here), a zucchini carrot cake and a peach, banana, passionfruit, oat, honey and yoghurt smoothie. Happy Two Years, Bejing, here’s to having a great new year together!

Tôi sống ở Bắc Kinh được hai năm rồi. Tôi thích cuộc sống ở Bắc Kinh, nhưng không khí ô nhiễm đến nỗi không thể thở được. Sự khác biệt trong ngôn ngữ và văn hóa xuất hiện như sự thử thách thật sự. Văn hóa Trung Quốc vừa độc đáo vừa hấp dẫn.
Tôi không biết tại sao nhưng tôi luôn nghĩ nền văn hóa của các nơi khác thú vị hơn nền văn hóa của nước tôi.

Farewell Hanoi!

Another visit to Hanoi is coming to an end. I don't feel sad. As I walked around Hoan Kiem Lake for the last time, I thought about my very first trip to Vietnam. So much has changed and a lot has happened in the past eight years. But I am grateful for my experiences in Hanoi. They definitely helped to shape the person I am and my love for the place is probably the main reason why I am working as an international primary school teacher with a love of travelling. I know I will return to Vietnam again someday.

On my last trip around the lake, a young girl with cerebral palsy came to sell me water. She was so surprised that I could speak some Vietnamese and was interested to know where I was from and how I knew Vietnamese. It reminded me of the openness of many Vietnamese people and how appreciative they can be of foreigners trying to speak their language. She told me that she goes to the lake every day to sell water. She wanted to take a photograph with me before I left. How I love Hoan Kiem Lake.

Since coming back from Bac Ninh province, I have tried meeting up with friends again before I leave Hanoi, while also finding time to relax (because I am lazy, but also because I am aware work will be starting soon).

On Thursday evening, Ngan invited me to a gathering. In 2006, we visited a zoo with her sister and neighbours. Ngan thought it would be nice to have a reunion. We went to Cau Giay Park and took some photos. Ngan said she will try to edit the photographs from both 2006 and 2014 so that we can easily compare the changes from past and present.

Those shy children from eight years ago are now young adults and were very successful in making me feel old (while repeatedly telling me how fat I have become). I will post the photo from 2006 and 2014 when I get a copy. Back then, I was a lanky nineteen year old and was still called fat by some Vietnamese. So I haven't got a chance of being thought of as thin now!

It was nice to meet Ngan and her group of friends. Her sister Thu had some great news that she passed her exams and will begin university after the summer.

On Friday, I ate mì xào (fried noodles) and drank a fruit tea before meeting with Khoa. He has some more guitar concerts in Hanoi and next week will go to Danang for the remainder of his summer holiday.

Afterwards, Minh and I ate crêpes. I chose to have a banana and custard cream filling. Later, we had a beer on a rooftop bar by West Lake.

Today I spent time with Minh and Nhung. I had my last Vietnamese coffee and a brownie with vanilla ice cream. Then we went souvenir shopping and took an obligatory selfie.

In the evening, Quy invited me to try the food at a vegetarian restaurant. I am by no means a veggie, but it was interesting how this restaurant recreates dishes without meat while still being very tasty and having a meat–like texture.
I once tried vegetarian bacon (fake-on) with dire consequences. It tasted like the world had ended in my mouth. In fairness I was hungover. Anyway this restaurant however, impressed me.

We had stir fried cauliflower in a sweet and sour sauce, vegetarian summer rolls and spring rolls and vegetarian kebabs. There was something suspiciously like sausage meat on that kebab, but I will trust that it was indeed meat free.

As we left the restaurant, we were caught in the mother of all electrical storms. It seems that Hanoi thought I deserved one last soaking before I left. Quy stopped the motorbike to get a plastic rain coat for me. Because I was already quite wet, the lady selling the coats had to help me into it. Quite a funny scene. A road sweeper was also sporting a similar coat and shouted in English "handsome boy!". What a fashion statement.

Quy and I went to eat che before driving through the rain back to my hotel.

It has been a fantastic summer of travelling and seeing friends. Thanks to all the people who made it special and hope to see them all again in the future.

Tôi thích đi du lịch suốt các kì nghỉ hè. Kỳ nghỉ hè của tôi thật tuyệt vời. Tôi đã đến Hàn Quốc, Thượng Hải, Tô Châu và Việt Nam. Chuyến đi vượt ra ngoài mong đợi của tôi.

 Bây giờ tôi cảm thấy buồn vì kì nghỉ hè sắp kết thúc. Hẹn gặp lại Hà Nội! Một ngày nào đó tôi sẽ trở về và ngày đó sẽ không còn xa nữa~