Andy Smart's Blog, page 7

Thank you Mr Xu: Bicycle Repair Man

Shopping at Qinghe open air market

Bike Stats:

• Bought: 2007. Used nearly every day though placed in storage for two years.

• Back wheel: Now on third. 1st was stolen, 2nd damaged (see below).

• Front wheel: Now on 2nd. 1st was stolen.

• Seat: Now on 2nd. 1st was stolen.

• Basket: Flexible metal replacing the original. Held on by binding wire.

• Rear seat: Yes. Used by the wifey when we go shopping. I think this is the most romantic thing we do together in Beijing. Pillion is officially illegal in Beijing but millions do it anyway.

• Bell: Yes. Essential in warning people you are coming through. People do not take offense to this.

• Twist grip gear change: I have a grip like cast iron these days grrrraaa.

• Heaviest weight in one time: After a supermarket shop every Saturday. Suzie will be on the back with two bags of shopping, the basket will have the heaviest load and also two bags precariously balanced from the handlebars. This may include an economy pack of twelve toilet rolls or a large box of milk sachets.

My poor bike

Beijing Subway Line 10, Huo Qin Ying Extension: TBM Tunnel Boring Machine

2006 > 2015 Before & After

To accommodate the rapid growth of Beijing and in a bid to reduce the number of cars, the subway system is also expanding. A good friend Wang Chun Guang who is a professor at the University of Mining and Technology has invited me down to see the latest work being done on line 10. This is one of the new subway lines which will mean that a lot of the really congested stations can thankfully be avoided in the future.

I have to say that the whole thing is pretty exciting. I mean going underground is a buzz any day of the week let alone under China’s capital city. As we drive to the building site we start chatting in more detail about the afternoon ahead.

“You are about to see the largest tunnelling machine in the world” says Chun Guang proudly as he hands over a white protective hard-hat over and ID badge.

“You must stay with me at all times because we are going into a restricted area. Also we don’t want you to get lost when you are down there” he adds with a chuckle.

The site itself covers a wide area, with pipes and all sorts being laid down into the ground via a giant crane spanning between two rail tracks. Finally we reach the pit where the drilling is being done and can look down at the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) some sixty or seventy feet below. The smell of welding, earth and cement hang heavily in the air.

“Don’t worry about anything. This is a skilled team who have been working together for years” assures Chun Guang already starting to descend down the metal stairwell. “You are quite safe.”

One of the spent cutting heads

Quite amazing being down here, though the TBM isn’t working today. Instead a crew of ten guys are installing a new drill head which is basically a huge circular set of metal teeth.

“The machine weighs seventy tons and costs 4 million RMB” he manages to shout over the noise. “The problem is that Beijing is so dry that the soil is very hard. There are also lots of rocks and pebbles. Each cutting head will last about nine months and it takes one month to replace.”

On the way out we stand next to a large picture of what the station will look like when it is finished and my friend rounds the day off.

“If you’re lucky enough to have a subway station built near your apartment then it’s like winning the lottery. It will instantly double in value. Any new apartment block around here was sold even before it was built. Some companies will know where the lines will be built years before anyone else and buy the rights to build on the land in advance.”

Excerpt from Just Turn Left at the Mountain, Trials & Tribulations Meandering Across Chinese Borders by Andy Smart

 

Tagged: Andy Smart, Asia, Beijing Subway, China, Chinese, Photography, Travel, travel tales, travel writer, travelogue

My Local Supermarket: There Is No Queue!

I’ve always hoped that one day I can take a friend who’s just arrived in China to my local underground Chaoshifa supermarket just to see the look on their face.

Today I’ve stupidly come late morning in a bid to get the shopping out of the way since Saturday is my day off. Omens already do not bode well. There are no spare shopping trolleys/carts anywhere. A couple of hours before lunchtime or early evenings at the weekend are always the worst times as everyone cooks with nothing but fresh produce. No oven chips around here that’s for sure!

Necessity therefore dictates that there are a number of people milling around waiting for someone to come along and unload their trolley. I therefore have to go directly to the checkout then follow someone after they’ve just paid until they unload. It’s heaving in here!

As per usual they are playing ‘Not a Bad Thing’ by Justin Timberlake which isn’t that terrible to be honest. The trouble is it’s on a loop and they’ve been playing it continually seven days a week since I can remember. Blaaagh! It’s driving me nuts, irritatingly circling around my head for hours after I get home every week. Even when trying to get off to sleep.

Past the relative calm of the toiletries section, turn right and enter the arena. I take a breath and mentally prepare myself for the journey ahead. The deli section has its usual interesting selection of dofu (tofu), pre-prepared salads and cold meat. I often get the wifey a pig’s foot from here and surprise her as it’s her favourite, romantic old fool that I am.

The dried fruit serve yourself section is quite something. Large square wooden boxes are brimming with all sorts of different colours including deep red dried hawthorn berries which go well in your breakfast cereal. There’s also a selection of beautiful looking flower tea and rock sugar. The chrysanthemum or pear sugars are the best, formed into big two inch white crystalline pieces in big piles.

The meat and fruit & veg sections are where it really happens. Its pandemonium in here with noise levels drowning out poor old Mr Timberlake. Above it all, sellers use microphones and amplifiers throughout the store to promote their product destroying your ears as you walk by

“DOUJIANG DOUJIANG, SAN KUAI SAN KUAI”

Soya milk 3RMB

Meat sellers in their white blooded butcher’s clothes shout out using every square inch of their lungs. There also are girls promoting milk and yoghurt at the top of their voices all in white; white puffer jackets, cap, tights and boots!

There is a serious gridlock of trolleys in every aisle. It’s an intense feeling of being unable to move and pinned in. To make matters worse, a guy with a floor cleaning machine wearing a green day-glow work coat slowly makes his way through the horde. This is indeed a special test of one’s patients and the only way to get through it is to switch off that part of your brain that creates irritation and see this an incredible phenomenon that requires mindfulness. When there is a small gap, push your trolley into it and widen the space. If there is a stationary trolley in the way, move it to one side and so on.

A small man wearing a red outdoor coat and a rucksack has lost his temper, something you rarely see in China. He angrily smashes his trolley into others that are blocking his way shouting at the top of his voice.

Once you’ve managed to get your veg’ all bagged up it’s time to join the end of the queue to get it weighed. There’s a separate queue nearby for your fruit. Two shop assistants stand side by side at the weighing-in area for this, so there are actually two queues coming in from either side. There are at least fifteen people waiting in each line which at times become broken when people come in from other directions to get though. I always smile and shake my head in disbelief every weekend at this moment. It’s an amorphous chaos of trolleys and people, kids running around and today a tall bald guy in a brown cut off jacket spits loudly on the floor driving me crazy.

And then there’s the elder generation of housewives and grandma’s who are a law unto themselves. Using their age as an excuse, they skilfully pretend to be unaware of the queue and waddle their way directly to the centre. Holding out their bag of whatever vegetable, they are for some reason, able to get away with putting it directly onto the scales in a blatant act of queue jumping. Yes of course we should give way to our seniors but honestly, anyone who is in this supermarket at this time has full mobility and knows exactly what they are doing, including pushing in.

With the winning post in sight, it’s time to take one more deep breath and hit the checkout. Joining one of the long lines of customers, clearly I’m in for a long wait today. Each till is open though the one near the far wall is not in use. Hedging my bets I take the queue next to it in case by some miracle it opens. And so it goes on. It’s a painfully slow process that makes me contort inwardly. To cap it all, the cashier at the top of my line is actually working one handed chatting on her mobile phone. Amazing!

Suddenly I see a couple of cashiers talking on the exit side. One of them points to the empty checkout and I read their body language like hawk. In a huge gamble I break away the back of my line and speedily barge past down the narrow aisle of economy bags of monosodium glutimate. A few others see my move and follow suit and a domino effect takes place with people charging into the empty space. A rattle of trolleys crashing together forming a new line is a sight to see I can tell you, though smugly it’s yours truly that’s being served first!

Wonderful Chinglish at the checkout. Click to enlarge

Tagged: Asia, China, Chinese, Chinese culture, humor, Humour, Travel, travel humour, travel tales, travelogue, Writing

The Silver Mountain Pagodas: Freedom & Contemplation

We all have our favourite spaces to go to when we need time to ourselves. If I get the chance I’ll always head up to the Silver Mountain pagodas. Found in Northern Beijing above the Changping District, the pagodas are all that remains of the ancient Yanshou Temple dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618–907 AD). Up in the hills, hawks circle high above the evergreen and deciduous patchwork of colour as their song is carried across this once great site of Buddhist learning.

Back in the city, only when we look at our watches or the display on our phones do we consider time. As we join the multitude on the subway it’s usually the most immediate things that we live by, our heads perpetually locked up in a multitude of thoughts; most of them useless; many of them repetitive; some of them intrusive. In this sense we are lost. A true awareness of time is like a fleeting window that opens when it chooses.

At the Silver Mountain, time takes on a different meaning. An afternoon is over as quickly as a single inhaled and exhaled breath so prepare yourself to be in the moment as much as you are able. From the hill above the pagodas a rare opportunity to reflect will present itself if you stop and listen. Inside the hexagonal pavilion hangs a huge brass bell that can be struck from a heavy wood timber suspended horizontally by chains. The irresistible urge to sound the bell followed by its low ‘boooooooong’ resonates throughout the area making this present time and place the centre of all things.

An unexpected moment of deep introspection follows breaking my cluttered brain free. For once I can observe myself as I am absorbed by a strong connection of time. It all goes so fast! What have I done?

Have I done my best?

Time is not on our side. Our most precious and taken for granted of finite resources, we cannot get time back once it’s passed.

A time to stand back and lay a marker down on life’s expressway. I look forward and visualise myself in my perfect ideal moment. Now well away and having at last escaped the metropolis, I pull over to the side of the road. Swinging the door open I step out and take in the view savouring the beginning of months of the unknown.

So far on WP I’ve met some really creative and ambitious people. If you’d like to share your dreams and what you’re doing to fulfill them I’d love to hear.

Tagged: amwriting, Andy Smart, AndySmart, Asia, Backpacking China, backpackingchina, Beijing, China, Chinese, Chinese culture, Eastasia, freedom, meditation, Photography, time, Travel, travel tales, travel writer, traveling, traveljournal, travelling, travelogue, writers, Writing

Andy Smart’s Friendly Little List of Travel Tips Part Two: On the Road and Then Some!

Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar to the West 2007 L>R: Aaron Stern, Mandoline Whittlesley, Andy Smart, Tushik and Ken Maher

Welcome to part two of Andy’s friendly little list of travelling tips.

So you’re about to hit the road. Nice one on that but what kind of trip are you after? Winding up at the normal tourist traps with a zillion others or doing something a bit more adventurous?

Our amazing ger: Khovsgol Lake, Mongolia 2007

Whatever you do you just can’t beat being on the road. That sense of freedom is something many people don’t even get a taste of. However there are a great many ways you can turn up the volume and make the whole thing miles more interesting.

If you’re on a serious mission of leaving behind ‘normal’ life as we know it then by all means meander through the list and see if you’re up for it.

I’ve now been on the road for well over ten years now. This means in and out of various consulates, police stations, across borders, countless hotels, guesthouses and stations while summoning maximum patients to the power of one hundred while whatever problem it is slowly gets itself sorted.

My experience is largely in China and surrounding countries but I’m sure most of the ideas below will still apply in some shape or form if your offski to somewhere different.

As per usual if you think of anything that may be missing from the list, all positive contributions will be taken on board so drop by via the comments and say hi anytime.

 

WKTG: Well Known Travel Guide

2 hrs later and still looking for that illusive guesthouse using the WKTG!

Of course use the WKTG but try not to plan your trip around it too much. This is stating the complete obvious I know, but if you do head for the places that are displayed as coloured pictures in your WKTG they are going to be full of holiday makers and lacking cultural authenticity. Of course some are simply ‘must do’ locations such as the Great Wall or Angkor Wat so the fact that it’s going to be heaving is something we mentally prepare ourselves for.

I am embarrassed to think about the amount of time I’ve wasted following other travellers looking for guesthouses and restaurants as recommended in their WKTG. Because of their popularity they can become crowded, noisy and unfriendly so don’t worry too much about trying to find one particular place. There will be no doubt cheaper, cleaner and more welcoming places that will really benefit from having you as their guests just around the corner of you take time to look.

Going Deeper: Why not take a pit-stop somewhere for a week or so and plan to go somewhere more ambitious. This is where the excitement really begins and time to take out the maps you stashed as mentioned in Part 1.

My amazing HQ in Ulaanbaatar 2007 planning to go west

For me the best and most exciting times have been when I’m already on the road, stopping and spending time alone to think about what I want to do next. Many times, I’ve found a cheap double room and turned it into a temporary HQ for a few days while I get things straight.

If the next stage involves hiring transport put your WKTG to good use by visiting all the popular guesthouses then adding a sign to their notice board advertising your plan “Andy (UK) looking for people to go to Altai in the West next week. Share the cost of renting a Jeep. Find me at ….” You can also advertise that you are looking for kit and clothes. People going in the opposite direction may be looking to ditch their gear. I got some great gear off of a guy returning from Tibet heading for warmer climes.

Click to Enlarge

Buying supplies for a new trip is a totally different experience from prepping back home. You have to be resourceful and buy things the locals would use for a start. You’ll also get to know the place you’re in in a completely different way from the normal tourist perspective as you hunt around all over for the market, relevant shops or the office to get that extension on your visa.

The safety issues regarding solo travelling cannot be ignored. I guess it’s one of the reasons why people stick together when they are out and about around SE Asia and China.

Whatever the negatives, there are surely some huge positives from breaking free and going it alone. It’s understandable that we want to share our experiences with others but on the flip side if you’re not accommodating others then you can bust your world wide open. Honestly, ask yourself how much of your day is spent independently or directing attention to other people? As a solo traveller you get to experience a whole range of emotions that you would never get to feel otherwise. Initially we feel the predictable ones such as loneliness and fear but if we give it time the real freedom and sense of adventure really kicks in plus a multitude of other feelings. I’ve always compared this to looking at a photo of a Piero della Francesca as opposed to standing in front of it for real in the Uffizi Gallery.

Along the way you’ll undoubtedly meet other people heading in a different direction. Check out what they’re doing and where they’re going. You can bet a thousand dollars that there are a huge number of amazing places you’ve never heard about in your country of choice or its neighbours. Often I’ve found that heading off in an unexpected direction can really add to the trip, especially if you’ve just met some new travellers to hang out with. If not then grab as much information as possible and give it some serious thought. It’s what happened to me and the trip to find the Eagle Hunters of Western Mongolia. It sounded so amazing I couldn’t not give it a go. What a fantastic trip that turned out to be.

Personal Space. In China there is none! People will enter the invisible barrier that surrounds us without thinking. For me it extends about one foot/30cms around my body. If someone comes inside this I flinch and become decidedly uncomfortable.

It’s hard but get used to it and don’t bother complaining about it like a moany old tourist!

Don’t get offended if someone does something that may clash with your culture. Remember you are a guest in someone else’s space. I often see Westerners taking offense to something that the locals are doing but who don’t have an inkling that it isn’t something that we would do back home. If they see you angry, they may not know why. Take it with a pinch of salt and a dash of humour. That’s what travelling’s all about anyway right?

Avoid touts and learn how to say no. Get wise quickly. The easiest and best thing to do is keep walking or walk away. It’s strange how touts have the power to make people stop and engage them. Once you’ve stopped and start to interact you’re on a downward slope gaining momentum. Give yourself the time to think about the situation.

Georgina: Don’t Mess!

On the other hand once you’ve found your feet then negotiating with touts can not only be a winnable contest but good fun. My friend Georgina who I met in Laos is like some secret weapon when it comes to dealing with taxi and tuktuk drivers, hotel receptionists and the purchase of any tickets. Her legendary interactions are hilarious to watch as she chips away at the most battle hardened of sharks until they finally and reluctantly give in.

If you’re wondering what the hell is going on in the photo, it was on the Mongolia 2007 trip within the walls of the Erdene Zuu Monastery. He was as strong as an ox and proceeded to do various ‘massage’ of sorts without asking. There was no way I was going to escape. Ten minutes of excruciating pain later he finished and demanded money!

Keep off the street food. Yes yes, I know I know I know. You’re here to sample the delights of another country and all that of course, but ask yourself, will this really enhance your trip? I mean wont the local restaurants do? You’ll meet a lot of people along the way unable to travel who have a dodgy stomach. You try sitting on a bumpy old bus for hours when things are getting urgent. If it aint you, sit back and enjoy the trip! Oh and yes, of course drink bottled water if you’re in a country that may need it. Check the cap is properly sealed when you open it.

In China it’s perfectly ok to ask to see your room before you pay for it. To the people who work there, they may think your room is perfectly ok but check out the water works, the beds are ok and that there is no building work going on right outside the window. Be prepared to roll your sleeves up and ask for another room if the one they are dumping on you isn’t up to scratch!

If you stay in a dorm watch out for your stuff. I’ve had loads of stuff stolen in dorms. If you find some travel mates (and you inevitably will) then pay for a cheap double room in a guesthouse if you can. You can get all of your kit out, do all of your washing and hang it up to dry. You don’t have to put up with others shagging in the bunk bed next to you, farting or throwing up!

Keep all of your receipts. I am terrible for this as in China it’s easy to end up with a huge wad of paper by the end of the day. I do it all the time and that is completely losing half of the paperwork that someone gave me the day before. You’ll need to hand back all of your receipts when checking out of your hotel. If you don’t have them then you’re going to be in for a big problem then can take ages to sort itself out when really you need to be heading for the bus station.

Aircon’ Flu: Keep off the aircon’ if you can. During my first few weeks I lived with it on cold whenever I was indoors and got really sick not knowing why. Duuuu! I blamed in on the street food.

Click to Enlarge

The Red Lantern Guesthouse in Beijing was my second home for months. Filled with character it’s definitely worth a shout if you are heading through. (click here)

 

 

 

Visa Runs: (China) By far the best place I’ve come across so far to get a new Chinese visa or extension is Forever Bright Trading in Hong Kong Kowloon.  Its office is easy to find and the website has a great interactive map via the ‘contact us’ tab.  (click here) You can get a brand new L, F or M-Visa in 24 hrs if you get there before lunch time.

If you’re a Brit then you can also get a new Chinese visa in South Korea or Thailand as you only need a stamp in your passport for a thirty day entry and if you’re from the ‘States then likewise in Mongolia. The latter is super cheap including the airfare to get to Hohhot on the border.

Keep a small pocket-sized book. Keep it with you at all times and somewhere easily reachable. Get as much information as you can about anything. You’ll no doubt meet plenty of other travellers who will be more than happy to share information about where they’ve just been. New places you never heard about, extra info about the next port of call, great guesthouses and hotels that have no guidebook reviews, language, e-mail addresses and contacts and especially the names of all the locals in every shop or restaurant you get to know; get it all down! People will warm to you ten times faster if you remember their name the second time you meet and you have one step in the door to making a new friend, therefore making an inroad into a new culture. First-hand experience real info not just from the WKTG e.g. is there really an internet café there? In this case the guidebook had us looking all over for an empty shell of a hut that looked like it had been empty for years! Also the crap places to avoid are equally important to note down.

It really pays to be OCD with your most invaluables like your passport and your wallet. Everything else is secondary compared to these two items. Keep them in the same place every time you go out. Use pockets that are difficult to be rifled by someone else and never in a bag. Continually check them. If you’re in a hot place and have no pockets then leave them in a safe place back at the hotel, whatever! I met someone who got pissed and lost his passport. After a week of hell and reporting it missing to the police station he found it down the back of the sofa. A couple on their honeymoon got both their passports stolen putting their whole one year itinerary up the Khyber. It felt bad just hanging with them they were having such a bad time. Yes, they left them in a bag on a seat in a restaurant. Nice one! For me, Mongolia was the worst, where I had at least five known attempts at picking my pocket, one guy actually opening my rucksack while I was wearing it. Just as well he then collapsed in an alcoholic stupor at the side of the road.

When you are on the road and it’s time to come back to your home country, check out the cost of a return ticket. Tickets into your home country are often mega cheap compared to the price of leaving. It’s a really great feeling of security to know that if your reversed culture shock is too much you can just hit the road again immediately. Some friends I have seen, having arrived on home soil after a year or two on the road handled their reverse culture shock disastrously. Why should adventures come to an end anyway? I think life should be one big adventure that is forever moving forward.

There are plenty of trains so only catch the bus if it’s completely necessary, especially the notorious sleeper buses. These are the ones that travel over night with a single brief ten minute pit stop at some god forsaken dive in the middle of nowhere.

A lorry smashed into the back of the bus in Xishuangbanna, China

Despite that and the discomfort, lack of cleanliness and personal space I must admit to seriously enjoying this mode of transport; lying there all day and night watching a different country go by for hours at a time; awesome! However, the dangers of travelling this way are not to be underestimated. Out of four long distance trips I’ve made this way, we were involved in two crashes and one near fatal over the side of a cliff. On a brief trip from Lijiang our minibus drove past a head to head involving two sleepers. Though the routine is to rotate two or more drivers throughout the journey, it’s still hard for them to stay awake and that’s all there is to it!

Trains are obviously much safer though of course keep your valuables somewhere out of sight especially if you only have a ticket for a seat and you’re sharing with six other people. Make sure you buy your ticket from a reliable source such as the station ticket office and not private transactions, for example, a local you met at the hotel. There are fake tickets everywhere and if someone is already in your seat, you can throw them out no problem if you’ve definitely just bought one from the ticket office. And yes, don’t be afraid to ask someone to move. Most people will!

Well that’s about it. After 10 years of being away, by far the best times have come from stopping for a while and planning something more ambitious. Hit the thumbs below or for a close-up of the scenery from each trip go to (Galleries Tibet) (Mongolia: To the West) (Galleries: Mongolia, Hirvesteg)

2007: Mongolia ‘To the West!’

2005: Tibet and Everest Base Camp

 

 

2008:Mongolia: Hirvesteg and the trip to Renchinlhumbe

 

 

Wishing you all a safe and incredible journey wherever you are.

 

 

 

 

Filed under: On the Road Tagged: Asia, backpackers, backpacking, China, Mongolia, Photography, Tibet, Travel, travel tales, Travel tips, traveljournal, travelogue, traveltips

Andy Smart’s Friendly Little List of Travel Tips Part Two: On the Road and then Some!

Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar to the West 2007 L>R: Aaron Stern, Mandoline Whittlesley, Andy Smart, Tushik and Ken Maher

Welcome to part two of Andy’s friendly little list of travelling tips.

So you’re about to hit the road. Nice one on that but what kind of trip are you after? Winding up at the normal tourist traps with a zillion others or doing something a bit more adventurous?

Our amazing ger: Khovsgol Lake, Mongolia 2007

Whatever you do you just can’t beat being on the road. That sense of freedom is something many people don’t even get a taste of. However there are a great many ways you can turn up the volume and make the whole thing miles more interesting.

If you’re on a serious mission of leaving behind ‘normal’ life as we know it then by all means meander through the list and see if you’re up for it.

I’ve now been on the road for well over ten years now. This means in and out of various consulates, police stations, across borders, countless hotels, guesthouses and stations while summoning maximum patients to the power of one hundred while whatever problem it is slowly gets itself sorted.

My experience is largely in China and surrounding countries but I’m sure most of the ideas below will still apply in some shape or form if your offski to somewhere different.

As per usual if you think of anything that may be missing from the list, all positive contributions will be taken on board so drop by via the comments and say hi anytime.

 

WKTG: Well Known Travel Guide

2 hrs later and still looking for that illusive guesthouse using the WKTG!

Of course use the WKTG but try not to plan your trip around it too much. This is stating the complete obvious I know, but if you do head for the places that are displayed as coloured pictures in your WKTG they are going to be full of holiday makers and lacking cultural authenticity. Of course some are simply ‘must do’ locations such as the Great Wall or Angkor Wat so the fact that it’s going to be heaving is something we mentally prepare ourselves for.

I am embarrassed to think about the amount of time I’ve wasted following other travellers looking for guesthouses and restaurants as recommended in their WKTG. Because of their popularity they can become crowded, noisy and unfriendly so don’t worry too much about trying to find one particular place. There will be no doubt cheaper, cleaner and more welcoming places that will really benefit from having you as their guests just around the corner of you take time to look.

Going Deeper: Why not take a pit-stop somewhere for a week or so and plan to go somewhere more ambitious. This is where the excitement really begins and time to take out the maps you stashed as mentioned in Part 1.

My amazing HQ in Ulaanbaatar 2007 planning to go west

For me the best and most exciting times have been when I’m already on the road, stopping and spending time alone to think about what I want to do next. Many times, I’ve found a cheap double room and turned it into a temporary HQ for a few days while I get things straight.

If the next stage involves hiring transport put your WKTG to good use by visiting all the popular guesthouses then adding a sign to their notice board advertising your plan “Andy (UK) looking for people to go to Altai in the West next week. Share the cost of renting a Jeep. Find me at ….” You can also advertise that you are looking for kit and clothes. People going in the opposite direction may be looking to ditch their gear. I got some great gear off of a guy returning from Tibet heading for warmer climes.

Click to Enlarge

Buying supplies for a new trip is a totally different experience from prepping back home. You have to be resourceful and buy things the locals would use for a start. You’ll also get to know the place you’re in in a completely different way from the normal tourist perspective as you hunt around all over for the market, relevant shops or the office to get that extension on your visa.

The safety issues regarding solo travelling cannot be ignored. I guess it’s one of the reasons why people stick together when they are out and about around SE Asia and China.

Whatever the negatives, there are surely some huge positives from breaking free and going it alone. It’s understandable that we want to share our experiences with others but on the flip side if you’re not accommodating others then you can bust your world wide open. Honestly, ask yourself how much of your day is spent independently or directing attention to other people? As a solo traveller you get to experience a whole range of emotions that you would never get to feel otherwise. Initially we feel the predictable ones such as loneliness and fear but if we give it time the real freedom and sense of adventure really kicks in plus a multitude of other feelings. I’ve always compared this to looking at a photo of a Piero della Francesca as opposed to standing in front of it for real in the Uffizi Gallery.

Along the way you’ll undoubtedly meet other people heading in a different direction. Check out what they’re doing and where they’re going. You can bet a thousand dollars that there are a huge number of amazing places you’ve never heard about in your country of choice or its neighbours. Often I’ve found that heading off in an unexpected direction can really add to the trip, especially if you’ve just met some new travellers to hang out with. If not then grab as much information as possible and give it some serious thought. It’s what happened to me and the trip to find the Eagle Hunters of Western Mongolia. It sounded so amazing I couldn’t not give it a go. What a fantastic trip that turned out to be.

Personal Space. In China there is none! People will enter the invisible barrier that surrounds us without thinking. For me it extends about one foot/30cms around my body. If someone comes inside this I flinch and become decidedly uncomfortable.

It’s hard but get used to it and don’t bother complaining about it like a moany old tourist!

Don’t get offended if someone does something that may clash with your culture. Remember you are a guest in someone else’s space. I often see Westerners taking offense to something that the locals are doing but who don’t have an inkling that it isn’t something that we would do back home. If they see you angry, they may not know why. Take it with a pinch of salt and a dash of humour. That’s what travelling’s all about anyway right?

Avoid touts and learn how to say no. Get wise quickly. The easiest and best thing to do is keep walking or walk away. It’s strange how touts have the power to make people stop and engage them. Once you’ve stopped and start to interact you’re on a downward slope gaining momentum. Give yourself the time to think about the situation.

Georgina: Don’t Mess!

On the other hand once you’ve found your feet then negotiating with touts can not only be a winnable contest but good fun. My friend Georgina who I met in Laos is like some secret weapon when it comes to dealing with taxi and tuktuk drivers, hotel receptionists and the purchase of any tickets. Her legendary interactions are hilarious to watch as she chips away at the most battle hardened of sharks until they finally and reluctantly give in.

If you’re wondering what the hell is going on in the photo, it was on the Mongolia 2007 trip within the walls of the Erdene Zuu Monastery. He was as strong as an ox and proceeded to do various ‘massage’ of sorts without asking. There was no way I was going to escape. Ten minutes of excruciating pain later he finished and demanded money!

Keep off the street food. Yes yes, I know I know I know. You’re here to sample the delights of another country and all that of course, but ask yourself, will this really enhance your trip? I mean wont the local restaurants do? You’ll meet a lot of people along the way unable to travel who have a dodgy stomach. You try sitting on a bumpy old bus for hours when things are getting urgent. If it aint you, sit back and enjoy the trip! Oh and yes, of course drink bottled water if you’re in a country that may need it. Check the cap is properly sealed when you open it.

In China it’s perfectly ok to ask to see your room before you pay for it. To the people who work there, they may think your room is perfectly ok but check out the water works, the beds are ok and that there is no building work going on right outside the window. Be prepared to roll your sleeves up and ask for another room if the one they are dumping on you isn’t up to scratch!

If you stay in a dorm watch out for your stuff. I’ve had loads of stuff stolen in dorms. If you find some travel mates (and you inevitably will) then pay for a cheap double room in a guesthouse if you can. You can get all of your kit out, do all of your washing and hang it up to dry. You don’t have to put up with others shagging in the bunk bed next to you, farting or throwing up!

Keep all of your receipts. I am terrible for this as in China it’s easy to end up with a huge wad of paper by the end of the day. I do it all the time and that is completely losing half of the paperwork that someone gave me the day before. You’ll need to hand back all of your receipts when checking out of your hotel. If you don’t have them then you’re going to be in for a big problem then can take ages to sort itself out when really you need to be heading for the bus station.

Aircon’ Flu: Keep off the aircon’ if you can. During my first few weeks I lived with it on cold whenever I was indoors and got really sick not knowing why. Duuuu! I blamed in on the street food.

Click to Enlarge

The Red Lantern Guesthouse in Beijing was my second home for months. Filled with character it’s definitely worth a shout if you are heading through. (click here)

 

 

 

Visa Runs: (China) By far the best place I’ve come across so far to get a new Chinese visa or extension is Forever Bright Trading in Hong Kong Kowloon.  Its office is easy to find and the website has a great interactive map via the ‘contact us’ tab.  (click here) You can get a brand new L, F or M-Visa in 24 hrs if you get there before lunch time.

If you’re a Brit then you can also get a new Chinese visa in South Korea or Thailand as you only need a stamp in your passport for a thirty day entry and if you’re from the ‘States then likewise in Mongolia. The latter is super cheap including the airfare to get to Hohhot on the border.

Keep a small pocket-sized book. Keep it with you at all times and somewhere easily reachable. Get as much information as you can about anything. You’ll no doubt meet plenty of other travellers who will be more than happy to share information about where they’ve just been. New places you never heard about, extra info about the next port of call, great guesthouses and hotels that have no guidebook reviews, language, e-mail addresses and contacts and especially the names of all the locals in every shop or restaurant you get to know; get it all down! People will warm to you ten times faster if you remember their name the second time you meet and you have one step in the door to making a new friend, therefore making an inroad into a new culture. First-hand experience real info not just from the WKTG e.g. is there really an internet café there? In this case the guidebook had us looking all over for an empty shell of a hut that looked like it had been empty for years! Also the crap places to avoid are equally important to note down.

It really pays to be OCD with your most invaluables like your passport and your wallet. Everything else is secondary compared to these two items. Keep them in the same place every time you go out. Use pockets that are difficult to be rifled by someone else and never in a bag. Continually check them. If you’re in a hot place and have no pockets then leave them in a safe place back at the hotel, whatever! I met someone who got pissed and lost his passport. After a week of hell and reporting it missing to the police station he found it down the back of the sofa. A couple on their honeymoon got both their passports stolen putting their whole one year itinerary up the Khyber. It felt bad just hanging with them they were having such a bad time. Yes, they left them in a bag on a seat in a restaurant. Nice one! For me, Mongolia was the worst, where I had at least five known attempts at picking my pocket, one guy actually opening my rucksack while I was wearing it. Just as well he then collapsed in an alcoholic stupor at the side of the road.

When you are on the road and it’s time to come back to your home country, check out the cost of a return ticket. Tickets into your home country are often mega cheap compared to the price of leaving. It’s a really great feeling of security to know that if your reversed culture shock is too much you can just hit the road again immediately. Some friends I have seen, having arrived on home soil after a year or two on the road handled their reverse culture shock disastrously. Why should adventures come to an end anyway? I think life should be one big adventure that is forever moving forward.

There are plenty of trains so only catch the bus if it’s completely necessary, especially the notorious sleeper buses. These are the ones that travel over night with a single brief ten minute pit stop at some god forsaken dive in the middle of nowhere.

A lorry smashed into the back of the bus in Xishuangbanna, China

Despite that and the discomfort, lack of cleanliness and personal space I must admit to seriously enjoying this mode of transport; lying there all day and night watching a different country go by for hours at a time; awesome! However, the dangers of travelling this way are not to be underestimated. Out of four long distance trips I’ve made this way, we were involved in two crashes and one near fatal over the side of a cliff. On a brief trip from Lijiang our minibus drove past a head to head involving two sleepers. Though the routine is to rotate two or more drivers throughout the journey, it’s still hard for them to stay awake and that’s all there is to it!

Trains are obviously much safer though of course keep your valuables somewhere out of sight especially if you only have a ticket for a seat and you’re sharing with six other people. Make sure you buy your ticket from a reliable source such as the station ticket office and not private transactions, for example, a local you met at the hotel. There are fake tickets everywhere and if someone is already in your seat, you can throw them out no problem if you’ve definitely just bought one from the ticket office. And yes, don’t be afraid to ask someone to move. Most people will!

Well that’s about it. After 10 years of being away, by far the best times have come from stopping for a while and planning something more ambitious. Hit the thumbs below or for a close-up of the scenery from each trip go to (Galleries Tibet) (Mongolia: To the West) (Galleries: Mongolia, Hirvesteg)

2007: Mongolia ‘To the West!’

2005: Tibet and Everest Base Camp

 

 

2008:Mongolia: Hirvesteg and the trip to Renchinlhumbe

 

 

Wishing you all a safe and incredible journey wherever you are.

 

 

 

 

Filed under: On the Road Tagged: Asia, backpackers, backpacking, China, Mongolia, Photography, Tibet, Travel, travel tales, Travel tips, traveljournal, travelogue, traveltips

Andy Smart’s Friendly Little List of Travelling Tips Part Two: On the Road and then Some!

Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar to the West 2007 L>R: Aaron Stern, Mandoline Whittlesley, Andy Smart, Tushik and Ken Maher

Welcome to part two of Andy’s friendly little list of travelling tips.

So you’re about to hit the road. Nice one on that but what kind of trip are you after? Winding up at the normal tourist traps with a zillion others or doing something a bit more adventurous?

Our amazing ger: Khovsgol Lake, Mongolia 2007

Whatever you do you just can’t beat being on the road. That sense of freedom is something many people don’t even get a taste of. However there are a great many ways you can turn up the volume and make the whole thing miles more interesting.

If you’re on a serious mission of leaving behind ‘normal’ life as we know it then by all means meander through the list and see if you’re up for it.

I’ve now been on the road for well over ten years now. This means in and out of various consulates, police stations, across borders, countless hotels, guesthouses and stations while summoning maximum patients to the power of one hundred while whatever problem it is slowly gets itself sorted.

My experience is largely in China and surrounding countries but I’m sure most of the ideas below will still apply in some shape or form if your offski to somewhere different.

As per usual if you think of anything that may be missing from the list, all positive contributions will be taken on board so drop by via the comments and say hi anytime.

 

WKTG: Well Known Travel Guide

2 hrs later and still looking for that illusive guesthouse using the WKTG!

Of course use the WKTG but try not to plan your trip around it too much. This is stating the complete obvious I know, but if you do head for the places that are displayed as coloured pictures in your WKTG they are going to be full of holiday makers and lacking cultural authenticity. Of course some are simply ‘must do’ locations such as the Great Wall or Angkor Wat so the fact that it’s going to be heaving is something we mentally prepare ourselves for.

I am embarrassed to think about the amount of time I’ve wasted following other travellers looking for guesthouses and restaurants as recommended in their WKTG. Because of their popularity they can become crowded, noisy and unfriendly so don’t worry too much about trying to find one particular place. There will be no doubt cheaper, cleaner and more welcoming places that will really benefit from having you as their guests just around the corner of you take time to look.

Going Deeper: Why not take a pit-stop somewhere for a week or so and plan to go somewhere more ambitious. This is where the excitement really begins and time to take out the maps you stashed as mentioned in Part 1.

My amazing HQ in Ulaanbaatar 2007 planning to go west

For me the best and most exciting times have been when I’m already on the road, stopping and spending time alone to think about what I want to do next. Many times, I’ve found a cheap double room and turned it into a temporary HQ for a few days while I get things straight.

If the next stage involves hiring transport put your WKTG to good use by visiting all the popular guesthouses then adding a sign to their notice board advertising your plan “Andy (UK) looking for people to go to Altai in the West next week. Share the cost of renting a Jeep. Find me at ….” You can also advertise that you are looking for kit and clothes. People going in the opposite direction may be looking to ditch their gear. I got some great gear off of a guy returning from Tibet heading for warmer climes.

Click to Enlarge

Buying supplies for a new trip is a totally different experience from prepping back home. You have to be resourceful and buy things the locals would use for a start. You’ll also get to know the place you’re in in a completely different way from the normal tourist perspective as you hunt around all over for the market, relevant shops or the office to get that extension on your visa.

The safety issues regarding solo travelling cannot be ignored. I guess it’s one of the reasons why people stick together when they are out and about around SE Asia and China.

Whatever the negatives, there are surely some huge positives from breaking free and going it alone. It’s understandable that we want to share our experiences with others but on the flip side if you’re not accommodating others then you can bust your world wide open. Honestly, ask yourself how much of your day is spent independently or directing attention to other people? As a solo traveller you get to experience a whole range of emotions that you would never get to feel otherwise. Initially we feel the predictable ones such as loneliness and fear but if we give it time the real freedom and sense of adventure really kicks in plus a multitude of other feelings. I’ve always compared this to looking at a photo of a Piero della Francesca as opposed to standing in front of it for real in the Uffizi Gallery.

Along the way you’ll undoubtedly meet other people heading in a different direction. Check out what they’re doing and where they’re going. You can bet a thousand dollars that there are a huge number of amazing places you’ve never heard about in your country of choice or its neighbours. Often I’ve found that heading off in an unexpected direction can really add to the trip, especially if you’ve just met some new travellers to hang out with. If not then grab as much information as possible and give it some serious thought. It’s what happened to me and the trip to find the Eagle Hunters of Western Mongolia. It sounded so amazing I couldn’t not give it a go. What a fantastic trip that turned out to be.

Personal Space. In China there is none! People will enter the invisible barrier that surrounds us without thinking. For me it extends about one foot/30cms around my body. If someone comes inside this I flinch and become decidedly uncomfortable.

It’s hard but get used to it and don’t bother complaining about it like a moany old tourist!

Don’t get offended if someone does something that may clash with your culture. Remember you are a guest in someone else’s space. I often see Westerners taking offense to something that the locals are doing but who don’t have an inkling that it isn’t something that we would do back home. If they see you angry, they may not know why. Take it with a pinch of salt and a dash of humour. That’s what travelling’s all about anyway right?

Avoid touts and learn how to say no. Get wise quickly. The easiest and best thing to do is keep walking or walk away. It’s strange how touts have the power to make people stop and engage them. Once you’ve stopped and start to interact you’re on a downward slope gaining momentum. Give yourself the time to think about the situation.

Georgina: Don’t Mess!

On the other hand once you’ve found your feet then negotiating with touts can not only be a winnable contest but good fun. My friend Georgina who I met in Laos is like some secret weapon when it comes to dealing with taxi and tuktuk drivers, hotel receptionists and the purchase of any tickets. Her legendary interactions are hilarious to watch as she chips away at the most battle hardened of sharks until they finally and reluctantly give in.

If you’re wondering what the hell is going on in the photo, it was on the Mongolia 2007 trip within the walls of the Erdene Zuu Monastery. He was as strong as an ox and proceeded to do various ‘massage’ of sorts without asking. There was no way I was going to escape. Ten minutes of excruciating pain later he finished and demanded money!

Keep off the street food. Yes yes, I know I know I know. You’re here to sample the delights of another country and all that of course, but ask yourself, will this really enhance your trip? I mean wont the local restaurants do? You’ll meet a lot of people along the way unable to travel who have a dodgy stomach. You try sitting on a bumpy old bus for hours when things are getting urgent. If it aint you, sit back and enjoy the trip! Oh and yes, of course drink bottled water if you’re in a country that may need it. Check the cap is properly sealed when you open it.

In China it’s perfectly ok to ask to see your room before you pay for it. To the people who work there, they may think your room is perfectly ok but check out the water works, the beds are ok and that there is no building work going on right outside the window. Be prepared to roll your sleeves up and ask for another room if the one they are dumping on you isn’t up to scratch!

If you stay in a dorm watch out for your stuff. I’ve had loads of stuff stolen in dorms. If you find some travel mates (and you inevitably will) then pay for a cheap double room in a guesthouse if you can. You can get all of your kit out, do all of your washing and hang it up to dry. You don’t have to put up with others shagging in the bunk bed next to you, farting or throwing up!

Keep all of your receipts. I am terrible for this as in China it’s easy to end up with a huge wad of paper by the end of the day. I do it all the time and that is completely losing half of the paperwork that someone gave me the day before. You’ll need to hand back all of your receipts when checking out of your hotel. If you don’t have them then you’re going to be in for a big problem then can take ages to sort itself out when really you need to be heading for the bus station.

Aircon’ Flu: Keep off the aircon’ if you can. During my first few weeks I lived with it on cold whenever I was indoors and got really sick not knowing why. Duuuu! I blamed in on the street food.

Click to Enlarge

The Red Lantern Guesthouse in Beijing was my second home for months. Filled with character it’s definitely worth a shout if you are heading through. (click here)

 

 

 

Visa Runs: (China) By far the best place I’ve come across so far to get a new Chinese visa or extension is Forever Bright Trading in Hong Kong Kowloon.  Its office is easy to find and the website has a great interactive map via the ‘contact us’ tab.  (click here) You can get a brand new L, F or M-Visa in 24 hrs if you get there before lunch time.

If you’re a Brit then you can also get a new Chinese visa in South Korea or Thailand as you only need a stamp in your passport for a thirty day entry and if you’re from the ‘States then likewise in Mongolia. The latter is super cheap including the airfare to get to Hohhot on the border.

Keep a small pocket-sized book. Keep it with you at all times and somewhere easily reachable. Get as much information as you can about anything. You’ll no doubt meet plenty of other travellers who will be more than happy to share information about where they’ve just been. New places you never heard about, extra info about the next port of call, great guesthouses and hotels that have no guidebook reviews, language, e-mail addresses and contacts and especially the names of all the locals in every shop or restaurant you get to know; get it all down! People will warm to you ten times faster if you remember their name the second time you meet and you have one step in the door to making a new friend, therefore making an inroad into a new culture. First-hand experience real info not just from the WKTG e.g. is there really an internet café there? In this case the guidebook had us looking all over for an empty shell of a hut that looked like it had been empty for years! Also the crap places to avoid are equally important to note down.

It really pays to be OCD with your most invaluables like your passport and your wallet. Everything else is secondary compared to these two items. Keep them in the same place every time you go out. Use pockets that are difficult to be rifled by someone else and never in a bag. Continually check them. If you’re in a hot place and have no pockets then leave them in a safe place back at the hotel, whatever! I met someone who got pissed and lost his passport. After a week of hell and reporting it missing to the police station he found it down the back of the sofa. A couple on their honeymoon got both their passports stolen putting their whole one year itinerary up the Khyber. It felt bad just hanging with them they were having such a bad time. Yes, they left them in a bag on a seat in a restaurant. Nice one! For me, Mongolia was the worst, where I had at least five known attempts at picking my pocket, one guy actually opening my rucksack while I was wearing it. Just as well he then collapsed in an alcoholic stupor at the side of the road.

When you are on the road and it’s time to come back to your home country, check out the cost of a return ticket. Tickets into your home country are often mega cheap compared to the price of leaving. It’s a really great feeling of security to know that if your reversed culture shock is too much you can just hit the road again immediately. Some friends I have seen, having arrived on home soil after a year or two on the road handled their reverse culture shock disastrously. Why should adventures come to an end anyway? I think life should be one big adventure that is forever moving forward.

There are plenty of trains so only catch the bus if it’s completely necessary, especially the notorious sleeper buses. These are the ones that travel over night with a single brief ten minute pit stop at some god forsaken dive in the middle of nowhere.

A lorry smashed into the back of the bus in Xishuangbanna, China

Despite that and the discomfort, lack of cleanliness and personal space I must admit to seriously enjoying this mode of transport; lying there all day and night watching a different country go by for hours at a time; awesome! However, the dangers of travelling this way are not to be underestimated. Out of four long distance trips I’ve made this way, we were involved in two crashes and one near fatal over the side of a cliff. On a brief trip from Lijiang our minibus drove past a head to head involving two sleepers. Though the routine is to rotate two or more drivers throughout the journey, it’s still hard for them to stay awake and that’s all there is to it!

Trains are obviously much safer though of course keep your valuables somewhere out of sight especially if you only have a ticket for a seat and you’re sharing with six other people. Make sure you buy your ticket from a reliable source such as the station ticket office and not private transactions, for example, a local you met at the hotel. There are fake tickets everywhere and if someone is already in your seat, you can throw them out no problem if you’ve definitely just bought one from the ticket office. And yes, don’t be afraid to ask someone to move. Most people will!

Well that’s about it. After 10 years of being away, by far the best times have come from stopping for a while and planning something more ambitious. Hit the thumbs below or for a close-up of the scenery from each trip go to (Galleries Tibet) (Mongolia: To the West) (Galleries: Mongolia, Hirvesteg)

2007: Mongolia ‘To the West!’

2005: Tibet and Everest Base Camp

 

 

2008:Mongolia: Hirvesteg and the trip to Renchinlhumbe

 

 

Wishing you all a safe and incredible journey wherever you are.

 

 

 

 

Tagged: backpackers, backpacking, Backpacking China, Backpacking Mongolia, backpackingchina, China, Mongolia, Photography, Tibet, Travel, travel tales, Travel tips, traveling, traveljournal, travelling, travelogue, travelsafe, traveltips

Book Trailer: Warm someone’s spirit with this three year life-changing travel yarn

One of the Reindeer Tribe who came in for a cup of tea one rainy Saturday

 

Just Turn Left at the Mountain – Trials & Tribulations Meandering Across Chinese Borders by Andy Smart

With zero Chinese speaking ability and minimal planning, Andy’s story starts with a disastrous online romance played out in South China and his great escape. From a first Chinese haircut, to encountering the most fearsome waitress in China, to Chengdu and its famous napalm like hot pot, the journey winds its way from Tibet into Yunnan via one of the most dangerous bus journeys in the world. Across borders he foolishly goes ghost hunting in Cambodia and to the DMZ’s ‘no man’s land’ in South Korea. We also take a visit to the eagle hunters of Western Mongolia and the Russian border where Andy manages a Mongolian holiday camp.

For a direct link to the book click here: Just Turn Left at the Mountain on Amazon.co.uk and Just Turn Left at the Mountain on Amazon.com

Find Just Turn Left on Andy Smart’s Author Page here Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Drop by Andy’s website at http://justurnleft.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndySmart01

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AndySmartJTL/?ref=hl

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/676120.Andy_Smart

Just Turn Left is available on Kindle or as a paperback on Amazon

Safe Journeys!

Tagged: amwriting, Andy Smart, AndySmart, Asia, backpackers, backpacking, Beijing, Cambodia, China, Chinese, Chinese culture, Eastasia, humor, humour, Lao, Laos, Mongolia, Photography, South East Asia, South Korea, Tibet, Travel, travel humor, travel tales, Travel tips, travel writer, traveljournal, travelogue, traveltips, writers, writing

For the Love of Blog: WordPress Friends Never Leave You

I’ve had a number of revelations recently regarding blogging. After years of struggling to find what it’s all about and being blocked by the Great Firewall at every turn, things have accelerated like Road Runner after downing a super-sized coke in one go. Meep Meep!

Friends & Community

I love people visiting my website. It’s like the landline ringing or someone knocking on your door stopping by for a chat and a cup of tea.
I love visiting other people’s sites. Each place I go to has its own unique feel about it. It’s easy to appreciate the time and love that someone goes into creating their own site; the tinkering and readjusting until its right. I can now understand the time and effort that goes into a single post; the detail.
Blogging allows you to express yourself like no other medium. I have WP ‘Community’ and RSS lists. Together they contain the widest range of interests and talent you can imagine. Who said it was important to have a target audience? Poppycock! Ha! There are poets, writers, photographers, cat lovers, musicians, model makers, artists, psychic and paranormal investigators, travellers and people who describe what’s just outside their back door from places I’ve never heard of on that list. There are people that pour their heart out in a manner that allows us to at least absorb a part of what they are feeling in that moment. I can only stand back with admiration of people’s work. Unbelievable!
I am also surprised at how positive and friendly everyone is. There are no egos floating around. People like your post because they genuinely do. It sounds a strange thing to say but compare it to a like on Facebook and they’re light-years apart.
Followers never leave you, well rarely. If you’re not around they wait. For me I even wonder where people are if they haven’t posted for a while. I had to walk away from Justurnleft for months not so long back and when I returned I had virtually the same number of followers as before. 
I’ve experienced a kindness as well. People are genuinely helpful, sharing links, re-blogging and offering advice. Recently I discovered that the slider on my Bromley theme changed images way too fast. I went onto the WP support and posted a request for advice only to be answered by the creator of the theme himself Binarymoon. Incredibly, he went to his desk and changed the speed of the whole theme. If you’re using Bromley and the slider has slowed down it’s my fault. Sorry! The biggest kindness rush I’ve had though has to be undoubtedly the help that Opinionated Man has given me and other indie authors. I mean help and trust mixed together in the same tikka masala of the highest order. I must say that such selflessness doesn’t come about very often.

Myself

It allows me to write lists with bullet points and not worry about repeating myself, breaking the cardinal rule of all book writing. Ha!
I love the excitement of hitting the publish tab when you’ve finished a new post, to sit back with satisfaction and see it on your site and how different it now looks.
My blog is my own little world I go to like a second home. It kinda reminds me of my Dad’s garden shed. Filled with various tools and paraphernalia, he would be out there in the back garden for hours absorbed by his model building
I’ve always suffered with anxiety problems. I had a huge spike last week which rendered me useless for twenty four hours, phew! I don’t get that here among my online friends. I’m free from any such burden and it’s such a relief.
I’m inspired to go out and research. That’s an awesome one in itself.

If you like my post, I’ll drop by and check yours out as well. If I like it, it  means I really do!

If you follow I’ll follow back. If you go away I’ll wait for you and wonder where you went.

If you follow don’t forget to add me to your Twitter and say hi. I always looks to see what my WP friends have been up to on Twitter and often RT. I’m @AndySmart01.

See you there and happy blogging!

Ha!

 

Tagged: amwriting, Andy Smart, AndySmart, blog, blogger, blogging, community, friends, life, love, personal, wordpress, wordpress community, writing

A Romantic Candlelit Dinner for One

 

A year or so before I met the wife, I briefly dated a girl called Anna Wei Yi. Though things were still in the early stages, all the signs were looking promising, that this time it was going to work out.

After a few weeks it seemed only natural to invite her to my place for dinner one Saturday. Things went really well. I cooked spag-bol’, prepared strawberries with chocolate ice cream for dessert and sorted two bottles of wine; red and chilled dry white. The table was quite long so in an effort to bring us together I set the cutlery either side of one corner separated by a red candle in a green bottle with drips of wax running down the sides. Nice! With the relaxing sounds of Morcheeba in the background to chill the mood, we had great fun. Anna laughed as I showed her how to use a spoon and fork with the spaghetti and we chatted for hours.

The evening felt like an effervescent sparkling glass of champagne filled with the near tactile elusive magic that lingers with us like an aura for days afterwards.

Well, time to go and as I walked her to the taxi we exchanged pleasantries. “Thanks I had a really great night” smiled Anna turning back from the taxi.

Suddenly face to face; an enchanted moment catching us both by surprise; the space between us our sudden barrier.

“Well how about we do it again next weekend?” I suggested riding along on a wave of enthusiasm. We could do the same only how about you do the cooking?”

“Oh!”

Anna’s tone immediately dropped as did her body language like mashed potatoes sliding off the plate and hitting the floor.

Splat!

And so endeth the moment!

“OK! Sure! Fine! See you then!” and at that she turned her back to me virtually diving in the taxi.

The following weekend arrived and Anna suggested that we meet outside Carrefour so she could buy some ingredients. I have to admit it was nice doing the shopping with someone else; a togetherness I hadn’t felt in years. Shopping for one? Blaaagh!

Strange though after ten minutes or so Anna asked me to get something way across the other side of the store. Upon finally returning I found that she seemed to be permanently on the phone. Speaking to someone in Chinese, she cradled her mobile’ between her chin and shoulder while pulling items off the shelf into the shopping trolly/cart. All I could do was follow her around unable to communicate and by then feeling fairly dislocated, yearning for that initial feeling.

Back at my place, I hoped that things would pick up from where we left off the previous evening.

“Can I help with anything?” I asked as she unpacked the food in the kitchen.

“No. I can do it myself!” she insisted in an uncharacteristically abrasive tone,  so I headed for the sofa wondering what I’d done wrong and where this sudden attitude had come from; the anticipation of romantically cooking together now chucked well and truly in the pedal bin; images of laughter as we got flour on our faces long gone.

Normally I’d do some work or watch a movie or something to pass the time but you can’t do that on a date right? After half an hour of sitting on the sofa and feeling like a total spare part my stomach was starting to rumble so I ventured near the kitchen and assess the state of play. Amazingly, she was stirring something in a saucepan with her phone still in that familiar position. It was then that over a period of ten seconds or more, the penny finally dropped that she’d been talking to her Mum the whole time. For some reason her Mum was actually now guiding her through the recipe and by the look of it, things were not going well.

A painful hour and a half later the anti-chef emerged from the kitchen of despair and dumped the cutlery on the table.

“You do it!”

“But there’s only enough for one person here!”

“I’m not eating!” she mumbled returning back to the pit.

And there I waited…and waited…and waited.

Finally the moment arrived and a single plate was delivered. Looking down I examined the end product of what was, including the shopping, the sum of four hours’ work. A single three inch piece of meat failed to occupy the centre of the plate with some strange smelling dark brown sauce liberally deposited over the top that looked devoid of all nutritional value.

“Is that it?” I kept my thoughts to myself.

Anna sat far away at the other end of the table fixing her eyes on me with a smouldering glare that could have ignited a pile of wet socks. To cap it all, just as I was preparing myself, the music finished immersing us in an awkward silence.

The tension was unbearable!

The moment of truth. I gingerly tried to cut through the meat; the prominent sound of cutlery on crockery as I forced the knife through. For a split second I held the meat on the fork before my mouth hoping it would be amazing, that Mum’s secret recipe passed down and perfected through generations would transport my taste buds into culinary nirvana.

The over-salted first mouthful was only matched by its dryness. I was forced to reach for the wine immediately. Looking up, I painted a painful smile as I chewed.

“And how is it?”

“Oh wow. This is great,” was all I could muster, focusing on trying to swallow.

Actually it was so salty that it was difficult to get down without signs of discomfort. She must have known that the food was terrible. That I set my knife and fork down after three mouthfuls must have merely affirmed this grim reality.

“Have you finished already?”

“Yes I’m full,” was the only possible reply I could think of “But really it’s great. I’ll save the rest for later.”

Anna left shortly after. As she opened the door and I moved to grab my coat she insisted that it was unnecessary that I walked her to the taxi.

Years on from this most memorable of dinner dates and it turns out that actually many of the younger generation in China are losing the ability to cook. As a teacher, one of my favourite topics is cooking. I teach college students and professionals and normally only two students in every ten can cook anything. One in ten will have never cooked anything in their lives. Last week I had a student that hadn’t even boiled an egg, made rice or instant noodles before. I had one student recently go to a home-stay in Australia complaining bitterly that they were making him cook his own food. What a strange notion it is that in one’s life you will only ever consume what someone else has prepared for you, either in a restaurant, shop or a family member. In an age where the highest achievements at college are viewed as the most important thing for any family, parents view cooking as a complete waste of time.

I never did see Anna again. After a few distant text messages later things quickly died out. I’ll always remember her though, well the sight of her glaring at me from the other side of the table.

Oh and the amount of washing up she left me with!

 

Tagged: amwriting, Andy Smart, AndySmart, Asia, Beijing, China, Chinese, Chinese culture, Eastasia, humor, humour, Travel, travel humor, travel humour, travel journal, travel tales, travel writer, travelogue, writers, writing