One great wedding and a giant panda sanctuary

Apologies for the lack of blog updates. Work has continued to be busy which in turn has limited my adventures and therefore blog-worthy content. However, two weeks ago, I visited Sichuan Province to attend my friends’ wedding.

I worked with Omar and Lyra in Beijing for two years and they recently transferred schools; moving to her hometown in Chongqing.

The wedding took place on October 1st, which is during China’s national holiday. I was given the great honour of being asked to host the wedding alongside a Chinese host. The wedding ceremony itself reflected the coming together of Eastern and Western cultures.

I have been lucky to attend weddings in the UK, Poland, Vietnam and now China. All of the wedding ceremonies were completely different but all had the common theme of celebrating love and union.



I particularly enjoyed how the wedding day began. After a photo shoot, the groom followed Chinese tradition and visited the bride’s residence. There, he had to persuade her bridesmaids to allow him inside the hotel room through giving them red envelopes containing money (红包 hóngbāo). Nothing says love like bribery. Once he gained access to the room, the Omar had to complete a set of dares (with the help of his friends and family).

The first dare required him to choose cards that listed an exercise and the number of times he had to partake in that exercise. After doing the plank and squats, Omar had to finish one hundred push-ups. Unfortunately, despite already being sweaty from the humidity, I had to pitch in and did my set of ten (while hoping that the sweat patches faded before the ceremony began).



Next, the groom had to play a game similar to roulette. A number of cups were filled with different liquids, which included soy sauce, orange juice, vinegar and bai jiu (Chinese rice wine). This was to reflect the different tastes of marriage (sweet and sour etc). Again, the groom called on his friends for help. I think I drank the soy sauce. I then innocently asked for a biscuit chaser. After eating the Oreo, I realised it was wasabi flavoured. Rookie mistake. These games certainly created a happy and fun atmosphere.

Finally, the groom had to say “I love you” to the bride in 3 languages. He then ascended the stairs and met his bride-to-be.

I was rather nervous when reading the speech. I didn’t want to make any mistakes or ruin the ceremony. The speech included vows written by the bride and groom and also explained the order of the ceremony to the English and Chinese speaking guests. It was a wonderful, emotional-yet-happy ceremony and one that I will always remember.




After the ceremony, I felt that I could finally relax and along with the other guests, enjoyed a hearty lunch. Shortly after the meal, the newlyweds had their first dance. Later in the afternoon it began to rain, so many of the guests went into the hotel and played mahjong (麻将).



In the evening, some of us went to KTV (karaoke), which was the perfect end to a magical day.





The day after the wedding, we travelled to Chengdu – the home of the panda. It was quite a long bus journey; however, it was definitely worth it. The Panda sanctuary was very busy - probably due to it being the national holiday. Despite this, it was a great experience to see the giant panda and red panda. The giant pandas are really quite big, although I still secretly hoped that I would encounter an actual giant-sized panda roaming around. My personal highlight of the day was seeing the baby pandas. The word "cute" cannot fully describe them accurately. Even the way one of the baby bears happily excreted on one of the carers was adorable.



Although it was a fleeting visit to Sichuan Province, it was an unforgettable holiday and I sincerely hope that I will make a return trip there someday in the future.



Đầu tháng này, tôi tham dự đám cưới của bạn tôi ở Trùng Khánh. Đó là một ngày rất đặc biệt.

Ngày kế tiếp tôi đã đi Thành Đô. Tôi đã thấy rất nhiều gấu trúc. Bây giờ gấu trúc là một loài thú hiếm.

What a melancholy watermelon kind of day

Well, it could have been dull and boring, but watermelons helped to save the day...

It is often necessary to have a Plan B in Beijing. As mentioned in my previous blog post, the air quality here means you may have to change plans. I had originally hoped to visit The Summer Palace today (after two years of living in Beijing, I still haven’t visited it, but don’t tell anyone, I am sure it’s a criminal offence). However, the pollution levels were too high to spend a whole day outside, so a colleague and I decided to visit a strange yet interesting museum.

We went to the China Watermelon museum (中国西瓜博物院). It was a rather long drive from Chaoyang District, but it was definitely a unique experience on an otherwise grey, smoggy day. The museum is dedicated to educating visitors about the history, culture and technology of cultivating different kinds of watermelons.

Although most of the information there is written in Chinese, it was still a fun place to look around. Dotted around the grounds of the museum are some comical statues, including Zhu the pig from Journey To The West.

Trư Ngộ Năng!

We were surprised to enter the museum for free, as information online stated there was a 20元 fee. We were the only people in the museum during our time there. I think that somehow made our time there more enjoyable. To emphasise the science and technology component of growing watermelons, most of the museum has been given a “sci-fi” theme. On occasions it felt like I was inside Doctor Who’s Tardis (if it had been powered by watermelons).

There were melons of all sizes. Something for everyone...

A personal highlight was the satellite orbiting a globe (half planet earth, half watermelon).

We happily viewed a variety of watermelon seeds (who knew there were so many kinds?), photographs of random people enjoying watermelon and impressive carvings made out of watermelon. 

I have decided to spend the rest of my weekend hunting down watermelon toothpaste, which was given a special display cabinet in the museum. Hopefully I can find it in a local supermarket and test it out.

Muskmelons were also mentioned. No idea what they are so may conduct a little research after completing this blog entry.

Before leaving, Liz and I thought it would only be fair to purchase a tacky souvenir as a memento of our adventure. As we prepared to get in our taxi, Liz and I realised that the outside of the museum has been designed to look like a watermelon with wings. Genius.

Back in Chaoyang District, we enjoyed a fest in Baoyuan Restaurant. We ate broccoli, dumplings, sweet and sour pork, spicy tofu and an aubergine dish.

Mike 1-0 Air pollution. Ha.

Hôm nay tôi đã đến một viện bảo tàng rất tốt nơi tôi có thể học rất nhiều về dưa hấu… lạ mà độc đáo =))

Air a grievance and an art attack

I have been back in Beijing a month. The summer holiday already seems like a distant memory. It is good to get into the routine of work, but it has been rather hectic in preparation for the new school year.

I have no regrets about my decision to move to Beijing. I could begin writing an endless list of reasons why I enjoy my life here and why I would love to continue living in the capital of China. However, there is currently one reason why I know I will not continue living in Beijing long-term and that reason often eclipses all the positive features of this gargantuan city full of culture, history and adventures. That reason is air pollution.

The CCTV Tower through a veil of smog.

When I was in Britain, I took breathing fresh air for granted. I now have an application on my mobile phone which tells me the quality of the air outside. If the air pollution levels are too high on the weekend, it will usually result in cancelling my plans and staying indoors. I have also purchased an air purifier, which cleans the air in my apartment.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution can seriously affect our health due to the small, harmful particles floating around. The smaller particles are most harmful as they can penetrate the lungs when breathed in. After moving to Beijing, I soon developed the habit of checking pm2.5 levels. This is particle matter measuring 2.5 microns in diameter. The pm2.5 levels are monitored and can be viewed online. WHO suggests that people should not be exposed to pm2.5 levels greater than 25 micrograms per cubic metre in a 24-hour period. This is extremely rare in Beijing.

When the pm2.5 levels are less than 100, the air appears “clean” and we would have what appears to be a “clear” day. Last weekend, we had pm2.5 levels of over 200. The air appeared “foggy” although on these days, you can taste and smell the pollution. This is not just weather. It is pollution.

I can still recall the winter in 2013, when Beijing made international news for pm2.5 levels of greater than 800. Not only does the pollution cause health problems, it really affects people’s moods and attitudes.

Schools in the United Kingdom often have indoor play time when the weather is too bad for children to play outside. This seldom occurs here in Beijing, however we frequently have indoor play time due to the pollution. Sadly, for the students here, many of them are now accustomed to this lifestyle.

On the weekend, Liz and I conducted some research to find a place in Beijing which could shelter us from the poisonous particles outside while keeping the ‘pollution blues’ and boredom at bay.

We ended up going to the Today Art Museum （今日美术馆）which is a non-profit, contemporary art museum. I am not an art enthusiast, but whenever I visit museums such as this, I enjoy and appreciate the modern art. The lady at the reception was incredibly friendly, enthusiastic about her job, plus we got a discount for being teachers.

There are three buildings belonging to the museum and the exhibits are regularly changed and updated so there will always be something new to see. I would definitely recommend this museum to anybody looking for an activity when the air pollution is bad.

Afterwards, we headed to Sanlitun and feasted on sweet and sour prawns, lemon chicken and pan fried dumplings. It was the perfect remedy to a grotty weekend.

The Government has made plans to lower the pollution levels here in Beijing. However, on heavily polluted days, I can’t help but dream about my next place of residence and those days are far too frequent for me to wait for promises of improved air quality to reach fruition. For now, I will try to relish my time in this ancient metropolis, as I want to make sure I have enjoyable experiences before I leave.

Gần đây ở Bắc Kinh, không khí bị ô nhiễm nặng. Tôi đã mua một cái máy lọc không khí. Tôi nghĩ chất lượng không khí đối với tôi là quan trọng nhất. Bây giờ, không khí trong lành là một điều xa xỉ với tôi. Cuối tuần qua, tôi đã đi thăm một bảo tàng nghệ thuật hiện đại.