Greg in China

I am beginning this blog entry at Kunming airport. I’m about to take a flight to Shenzhen, the mainland China city on the border with Hong Kong. I need to go to Hong Kong to get a new visa for China and it’s considerably cheaper to fly in to Shenzhen as that is considered a domestic flight whereas flights to Hong Kong are international despite being the same country – One Country Two Systems 一国两制。I then need to take a 2 hour bus or a 1 hour ferry to Kowloon.

I realise that the blog’s been neglected somewhat of late and I’m going to try to make up for it now. However not a great deal of noteworthy stuff has been happening but I’ll try my best.

The first thing that springs to mind is that I went to a Christmas party at one of the bars near the university on 1st December. A little early I thought but it was good fun and the music was appropriate – The Pogues & kirsty mccall “Fairytale of New York” and some spoof on the 12 days of Christmas called the 12 drugs of Christmas. However, Slade was sorely lacking. We then proceeded to a number of bars and clubs in the Kundu area of Kunming, which is what seems to happen most times I go out. Our local haunt though is the Camel Bar, which I am getting a little bored of – although we may go there for Christmas Eve Dinner. Apparently the turkeys are imported from the UK. I wonder if they’re Bernard Matthews – Boootiful!

The teaching’s been ok, although I’m not getting enough hours yet, mainly because I joined a school mid-term – it’ll pick up soon. Its quite hard, the class I’ve got are supposedly Upper Intermediate but they don’t really seem to live up to that and getting them to speak is sometimes like getting blood out of a stone. I had the pleasure of doing a lecture class with a group of advanced students last night and that was so much more rewarding. I was supposed to talk to them about something to do with British culture so I gave a short presentation about festivals in the UK, then gave them an article to read about Glastonbury, stopping every so often to explain leylines, King Arthur, stone circles etc… We then read an article about last summer’s Beijing Rock Festival and tried to have a chat around some questions I’d prepared. It was still difficult to get them to speak at times but so much more interesting than my other class.

Christmas has begun in Kunming; it’s all over the place. There’s an elaborate Christmas display in Carrefour (yes, Kunming not only has a Carrefour but also a Walmart) but as I took my camera out to take a photo, I was prevented from doing so by some shop assistant jobsworth, not really sure why. But I’m not beaten yet. I’ll get a snap on my mobile phone if I have to and post it here. Anyway I’m about to get on the plane – might write some more on there (offline of course). I’m not spending long in Hong Kong (only 24 hours) but am looking forward to reading the BBC news website and stocking up on essentials like Ibuprofen!

Every flight I’ve taken in China has been late taking off and I’m sure it’s got something to do with the fact that nobody checks in any luggage. There are people coming on with huge suitcases and backpacks all fighting for overhead luggage rack space. All of the other flights I’ve taken have had completely incomprehensible English flight announcements but Shenzhen Airlines seem to have made a recording of a native English speaker. What’s peculiar about it is it is pure 1950s BBC Public Service Announcement English, she almost sounds like the Queen. It reminds me of the Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse “Mr. Chomondley-Warner” sketches. I’m sitting by the emergency exit on the wing and its row 13! Now this doesn’t really worry me in the slightest; I live on floor 13 of my building. However if you were a superstitious type the combination of emergency exit, wing (where the plane is most likely to split in two) and the number 13 could be rather alarming.

I was in this really loud club called the Cobra in Kunming last Saturday at about 3 or 4am and saw this guy with his baby there. Now clearly the baby shouldn’t have been there, its out and out neglect. The licensing laws in China do not seem to cover age, even babies, leaving it up to the discretion of the venue. Clearly the management of this venue have about as many scruples as the neglectful parent that brought the baby into the club. But it reminded me of something I’d seen at the Big Chill this summer and I linked it into my lecture class about festivals. While the Big Chill is a very family-friendly festival I did see a couple completely off their tits right next to the speaker stack in the club tent, a baby on daddy’s shoulders with his hands over his ears, the trashed parents completely oblivious to the baby’s screams. Clearly both cases, in the nightclub in Kunming and at the festival in the UK are nothing short of child abuse.

Well I’m finishing off this blog entry in the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondent’s Club no less, having just met up with my friend Tim who is now the editor of the China Economic Review. After arriving at Shenzhen airport I took the hovercraft to Kowloon and wandered through the maze that is Mirador Mansions trying to find the travel agent who would get my China Visa. I’ve just forked out a phonemenal amount of money so that I can get my 1 year multiple entry business visa by 3pm tomorrow, so that I can get back into mainland China for my flight out of Shenzhen at 7pm. I’m cutting it very fine but I want to get back to Kunming for a party.

Anyway here are a few photos of Kunming:

That’s all folks!

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