I don’t know how I have the nerve to write this next, for it’s rather an awful confession. We went into town together, but while Val went off to attempt to buy our train tickets for Monday to Shanghai, I was in the Beijing Hotel, eating an all you can eat breakfast. They did exist, we had discovered – we had simply wandered into the wrong dining room before. I was certainly able to make a pig of myself, but it wasn’t an entire success. There wasn’t quite enough variety, + there’s a limit to how much bacon, eggs, toast + coffee one can consume. Filled me up, tho’… + then some.
Val was successful in her mission, tho’ perhaps only partially so. Our ideal was a hard sleeper as far as the town of Qufu, about half-way, _ then hard seat on from there, but because the women in the ticket office – a special one for foreign guests – were enormously suspicious of our student cards, were unhelpful to boot, she decided it best (travelling, like politics, being the art of the possible) to keep it simple, + ended up with 2 hard seat reservations to Shanghai. We would, presumably, be able to arrange to break our journey on the train.
We met up, after some confusion at the bicycle hire shop, where we hired 2 trusty machines – one not so trusty, as it turned out, for its chain was loose + kept coming off. It was lucky that it was so loose it was easy to put back on again. We rode up to the Summer Palace, but decided afterwards that it had been a mistake, for at 7 miles each way it was a bit too far. We enjoyed the first part of the journey, for, unlike on public transport, always overcrowded, it was possible both to see + to enjoy the city. Unlike most countries too, it is a safe mode of travel, for China is used to bikes, + what traffic there is makes allowances for the needs of cyclists. But by the time we reached the Summer Palace, one lost chain, one incident of us getting lost – we had sore bums, + were tired. So we were in no mood or condition to appreciate it. It is large + spread out, so we didn’t feel like walking around, especially with the huge crowds there. So we took really the briefest of looks around, 30 mins or so, then climbed painfully back on the bikes for the long ride back.
By the time we had got to the Beijing Hotel, where we’d arranged to meet D + L before going on for our postponed Peking Duck dinner, we were shagged. There had been some thought of keeping the bikes overnight, riding them down to our hotel, , but we thought it best in the circumstances to whisk them back – the hire shop wasn’t far – + then meet them at the restaurant. We took that particular short trip on the Beijing Underground – both clean + modern, + compared to the buses, under-used. Rejected as new-fangled, perhaps?
Disappointment at the restaurant, when we discovered it was impossibly full, with, what’s more, people waiting for each table. So that idea had to be abandoned. After some thought, we went out to the Szechuan again, but the situation there was not all that much better, + we had to wait for a long time. The trouble is, there is no organisation at the place to cope with the situation… rather like the buses, it’s every man for himself. The best tactic is to choose a table where one estimates + hopes the diners look to be almost finished, + hover over them until they move off. Perhaps because of this initial frustration, we didn’t enjoy the meal quite so much as the last time. It was fun, nonetheless, particularly since I got rather drunk.
Returned to see the Zola Budd/Mary Decker incident on TV, followed by an appallingly hysterical Decker press-conference. She was upset, of course, but she should have bitten her tongue + said nothing until she was able to calm down.
Mostly a day of eating, at least by the account contained here. And pretty successfully too, so it would seem. We have heard various people complaining about the food in China, but I suspect it might well be a seasonal thing, with the quality of the diet dependent upon what is available. But we enjoyed the food very much indeed – just lucky, I guess.
