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Beijing :Driving around.
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There are 6 ring roads in Beijing.My impression of the city as I drove daily from one end to the other was of endless wide roads,6 lanes on each side,constant traffic,flyovers, high rises, a lot of featureless architecture, although the newer buildings show signs of interesting design, overcrowded buses,street vendors.
It is a city of contrasts, however.
The parks are lively places with people of all ages. The older generation make the most of the sports equipment outside, provided free. Stretching and participating in all manner of exercises,the senior citizens are out in force.In the park adjacent to the Centre, every day at 3pm there would be a gathering, and a conductor would lead the groups in singing. There are little children as well and an atmosphere of relaxation and enjoyment.Happy smiling faces would sometimes come over and take an interest in the young people, that we were interacting with.Although bitterly cold, it snowed last weekend, the sun was quite strong for a few hours around midday, and providing one was not in the shade, it was possible to enjoy being outside.
The Hutongs are fast disappearing. They were Courtyard houses for the well- to -do but have been taken over and divided up to make individual homes. Not that long ago, it was a horizontal city but now it is becoming vertical, with construction and cranes in all parts
One evening I went to the Hairdressers. Out stepped a Bruce Lee lookalike. It took 50 minutes, and cost 10 yuan(15 to £ ) and I came out looking like a Chinese baby!
I love the Chinese characters and marvell at how quickly they can be written. I was given a goodbye card on which the students had signed with some help. I learnt to pronounce Pinyan, which is the arabic form of Chinese. I found it was better to have a stab at pronouncing the places for the taxi drivers. However one has to be careful. Tone is important since each word, according to the tone in which it is said can have up to 4 meanings.
One of the best evenings was a visit to a Tibetan restaurant.We had seen it advertised near to where we live, but unfortunately arrived too late for the floor show.We had trouble ordering as the menu was totally in Chinese, without any pictures. We managed to eat a potato curry and a vegetable dish, but the beef stew was too spicey.Although we were generally adventurous, we had already declined various delicacies such as : frogs ding,hot sauce bull frog,cavity bones,pot stewed goose head, chicken grizzles and sheep bowel to name but a few. The waiter offered to make up for the lack of floor show and to sing for us,for which we showed much appreciation, and then another and another of the staff got up to sing and dance. We were invited to join in and before long were hurtling around the room as the evening turned into a Tibetan party. It was such fun.
Tianamen Square is one of the 4 centres.It isn't hard to imagine what it must have been like in the time of Mao and the march pasts.
The Emperor used to go and pray for good harvests in the Temple of Heaven which is being meticulously restored. We watched the workmen applying the gold leaf. The Lama temple, still with monks from Tibet, is a place that is special for its beauty.
I felt priviledged to have had the opportunity to work with the Mentally Disabled centres, because I came into contact with such special people.
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