Scribbles from the Olympic City 2008

Location

So the overland train journey from China to Finland has begun!

I'm not sure if it was wise to start catching trains now seeing as I''ll be spending several days on them getting from Asia to Europe. None the less it began a few days ago in Guangzhou and I caught my second train last night to Beijing. I opted for the hard sleeper beds. Basically you get to share a little cubicle with six other people and you get your very own shelf to sleep on. The word ''hard'' in ''hard sleeper'' isn''t out of place. Apart from the thinest piece of form you''re really sleeping on a shelf with a sheet on it. With all that said it is good enough to get a night''s sleep on and the experience has only increased my excitement for the rest of the journey.

Beijing is a fantastic city. Talking with ocals from other cities they told me not to be surprised as Beijing gets a lot of cash spent on it, even more so now it will be hosting the Olympic Games. Apart from the periodic push and shove, the frequency of the Chinese to empty the contents of their mouths onto the pavement in front of you and the fact that a green pedestrian signal means nothing its a pretty ordered and clean city.

Hong Kong was an excellent break from the frantic pace of Vietnam. Strangely though I had more trouble with language there than in Vietnam, but at least I wasn''t getting hassled every two minutes to buy something. The best thing about Hong Kong was the bars (when I could find good ones) and the constant line of really cool people I was hanging out with. A big thanks to Jes for showing me around!

Tomorrow I''m walking 10km aong a stretch of the great wall and the day after that I think I''ll continue my tour of great, frozen, dead Communist leaders by seeing Chairman Mao. Maybe the experience will inspire me too to make steel in a blast furnace in my backyard.

Cheers, Pete