From China to Vietnam

What happened in the last 2 months….

In order… First a very close friend of mine here in China left to go back home. It’s always hard to say goodbye. But now I am getting immune. Since I came here there wasn’t a month were I hadn’t had to say good bye to someone.

Then just a few days after this person left, one of my closest friends in Malta came for two months here and stayed at my place for one month. Quite strange having my house with other people. Had to cope with not being totally independent any more. But it was great having him. It was a time when I turned again into a tourist in China. Went to visit temples, parks and so on.

But the highlight was the weekend break to Hang Zhou. A jewel city in China. It’s the Switzerland of Asia. The Chinese call it ‘the heaven on earth’. It was a right time and right place to have a break. With work related stress at high levels, it was the right time to regenerate the energies and the right place to do so.

Then after a few weeks, and with some household problems created by having more then one person (including having the toilet stuck!), my parents came over together with two friends. Full house. And I turned into a travel agency. Organising their days from morning to night. Whilst it was stressful, it was also nice being the mum-and-dad for my parents! Again I turned into a tourist…visiting even once more the Great Wall of China.

Then the highlight….a weekend trip to Xian…the land of the famous impressive Terracotta warriors. Xian is a living history town being the capital city of China for hundreds of years. Xian has kept it quietness. I must say a very nice town to live in. The Terracotta warriors were impressive. The sheer amount of them and the fact that they are all life size and all different. Once more after that weekend….back to Beijing. You should also know that after 3 months without getting out of china, and 5 months without a holiday, the tolerance level towards the country diminishes. Nothing against the country but the fact that the mentality is totally different and you need patience to make people understand you….is frustrating at times.

First week of October it’s a holiday here in China. And so I planned to take my parents and obviously myself to HaNoi….the capital city of Vietnam. Vietnam…wow. This country is like an album of photos, sounds and smells.

HaNoi…a chaotic bustling city full of life with millions of motorcycles and always an adventure to cross the streets.

Halong Bay: this is paradise on earth. 2 days on a ship in this lovely bay with 2000 islands. Had to be 3 days….but a typhoon was going to hit the bay so we had to leave earlier.

TamCoc: a boat trip on a sampas (their traditional small boat) amongst lovely Lord-of-the-rings-style rock formations.

Well that’s all about these 2 months. Now back to China. Time to get back on meeting my friends here and maybe make new ones.

Until next Take care

Ryan

Memoirs of a year in china – 8th August

A year…is it a lot or a little? Here in China it’s a lot in a little. Every day you meet a new person, from a new country, a new experience, a new impression, a new lesson, a new word, a new language. Every day 24 hours are like 12 hours. You wake up then suddenly it’s time to sleep….although tomorrow has already become today. In the meantime you have made your breakfast, washed clothes, ironed them, work for 10 hours (at least!), have or make dinner, shopping, meet new people, talk to (or gesture to) the taxi driver to take you home, then chat on msn, watch a dvd because your TV shows only Chinese stations and the satellite is lying in the box room waiting to be installed. And yeah suddenly after doing so much you realize it’s time to sleep. And a day passes in a whisk.
And weeks, and months. And in the meantime a year has passed in the People’s Republic of China.

And what a year! I try to figure out what is the highlight…and again it’s ‘people’. The amount of people that passed through my life. From all around the world. People who came into my life this year. People whom I said hello…and worse those whom I said goodbye.

Friends…who said that distance destroys friendship? Utter nonsense. My closest friends in Malta…I have never felt them as close as I did during this year. They were there in spirit and in contact in my highest and especially in my lowest moments.

New friends…well it is difficult for me to ‘elevate’ a person to the level of ‘friend’. But I must say that there were persons whom I have opened up myself to let them know me. Persons who have become close, so close that they knew which mood I am in.

Family…as my friends…even far away, I still feel them here beside me, hearing their advices in my heart and feeling their love and support even when I’m so far away.

Colleagues…well here I cannot really complain. From the big boss, to my boss, to the team. They are all great people whom I enjoy their company not only on work but even outside. All of them care for me a lot…well…I am the ‘baby’ of the expat community in my company.

Work….for now I must say that I am happy with my work. It gives me stress yes….but also satisfaction. It also helped me learn loads of things which are not only work related but life related.

Places…so many impressions of so many places in my mind and heart. The scenery, the architecture, the streets, the lakes, the feeling of west meeting the east, the sunsets, the beaches, the laughters, the sounds of nature. All wash into my memory of this year.

Daily experiences…well between being locked outside because ‘ when you use the white key, the gold key looses it’s power’, and having your cleaner locked inside your bathroom….China offers daily humours and frustrating experiences. From being talked to in Chinese for 15 minutes without understanding a single thing…to totally being frustrated by people not keeping a queue…at all!! From thinking you are more civilized until you are caught on video spitting in the middle of Shanghai! To going to the airport and managing to get through without showing passport or ticket so that you are able to help your friend do a check in. From taking a taxi having a mobile Karaoke system to walking in snow through cold winter blizzards. From going to a fake beach which fakes also waves to going to the mountains and walking up thousands of steps in humid august.

Between all of these you realize that you need a whole book to write all the stories of a year in China. And still you will miss half of them because the other half you forget them not because they were not strange….but then you so become used to them that they become part of normal life. Like seeing people crossing the roads randonmly and calmly. Or to see a bus literraly packed. It’s just so normal that you stop taking them into your mind.

What makes China special….well China in Chinese is Zhong Guo…which literally means Middle Kingdom. And it is…it is a country where you find people from around the world. A country where the west and east meet peacefully and build a future together.

A country which is teaching me a lot. A school of life. Would I have ever imagined up till a year and a half ago that I will end up in the far far east? I try to remember what I thought when I heard the word China when I was younger. I guess a mysterious country of chopsticks, dragons, masks, forbidden. Suddenly I am here. Typing on my computer of a whole year spent in this country. And a country which has now become a second home but which will never replace my first and only home back in Malta.

Yep, a year has passed. Dedicated to all of those who made my year go by quickly. To those who saw this year going by slowly. To those who have made it worth living and getting through. To all of these a big heartfelt thank you.