妳好!

While Bethie and Charlotte enjoy friends and family in Seattle, I am having a holiday of my own, of sorts.  What I'm really doing is loads of work, but I am doing it in China, so maybe that's a holiday?  As I have no photographic evidence that I am actually doing any work, let's say it's a holiday.

 It certainly felt like a holiday to begin with.  I lucked into a complimentary upgrade to first, which made a 10-hour flight, well, fly by.

I made a very brief stop at an event at the UK embassy, which no one really seeemed to be enjoying.  My first meal in China: fish and chips, washed down with a glass of Pimm's. 

 We went to a great restaurant on our first full day here.  Here's one dish, which came with a bust of Chairman Mao sculpted out of vegetable.  They also had a dish named, "Jade Rabbits Making Love in the Rain", which I didn't try. 

 Here's me, eating snake at a night market.  Not recommended.  It's like the toughest piece of calamari you've ever had.  I ate some other things that were good there, and I would highly recommend going:  various steamed buns and some fried dessert things.  Coconut water, too.

 Here are some things I didn't eat.  They also had scorpions on offer, which were very fresh.  By that I mean that they were still moving after having been skewered.  Aside from the oddities, I'm loving the food here.  Chinese food for breakfast?  Yes, please!  Well, I suppose even the full English is "Chinese" here, but you know what I mean.

 This is at the Temple of Heaven, which is a massive set of gardens with old religious sites.  I would like to go again, but I would hire a tour guide if I did.

 Rose garden at the Temple of Heaven.

 This is a view of the Forbidden City.  We had a tour guide for this (who was named Vanilla), which really made it very interesting.  Really an amazing place with amazing history.  Beijing's air quality seems to be very poor.



Finally, here's me, in Tian'anmen Square.  That's Mao in the background.
















Work's good, and it's interesting to be in a new place.  I miss Bethie and Charlotte desperately, though, and travelling just isn't the same without having them here to share it with.  Off to Shanghai on Tuesday night, and back to London on Saturday.