Life in China coming to a close..

So after spending Christmas in Japan with my big bro and new Japanese family, who were extremely welcoming and fun for the whole week, I sat some exams and was informed by my classmates that we have 7 weeks holiday… eh what?
As you can tell I’m not too on top of how things work out here. After much consideration of what to do/where to go/who with, I headed down with some friends to Hong Kong to crash at our friends student dorms (apart from one night when me and Andy ventured to Mirador mansion, just down the road from notorious ChungKing Mansions) where we celebrated the new year. While the new year parade and fireworks were uninspiring and/or hidden by a mass of people, our 10 days on the island were sweeeeet! I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to drink magners and pay £8 fish supper in my entire life. The things to do, whilst great fun involve spending a lot of cash… quickly back to the mainland then.
I decided in the end to head off by myself to the most southern part of China, an island called Hainan and stay in the city Sanya for two weeks. I’d managed to get in contact with an American couple there who run a centre for disabled children and they kindly put me up for this time feeding me all day and giving me a very comfy bed in a room all to myself. Who said volunteer work didn’t pay? It was probably the best part of my whole trip, while I’ve never worked so hard in my life (8am-8pm almost everyday) I also did things I never thought I could. Working with Chinese people the whole time who spoke no English (except telling me that Jesus loved me - I quickly found out they were devout Christians) and looking after children who had learned to live with conditions such as autism, cerebral palsy and down's syndrome was a hugely grounding experience. Despite my fears of not knowing what to do or how to look after the kids before I got there.. they are probably the most open and loving kids I’ve met in my entire life and all the workers were great at keeping me in line! Apart from me there was only one other full time volunteer over the two weeks, Anna from Sichuan, who was helping with English/Chinese translations. We got really close over the two weeks which surprised me when I think of how different our backgrounds are. She also introduced me to Mr Xing, a friend of her lecturer and a well-off Chinese man who insisted on taking us out for expensive meals and trips to exotic beaches so he could practice his English with me. Nice!
Also in Hainan I “bumped” in to a couple of classmates from Edinburgh, it was nice to see some people I knew while down there.. even if someone happened to be face down in the sand bottle of gin in hand. Did you ever get all the sand out your beard?
Two weeks of hard work and burning the front half of my body bright red, I headed up to Guilin/Yangshou area where I got to do some proper sight seeing.
Going via Guangzhou I was nervous about heading off travelling by myself after being so settled in Hainan, however China being China, I was well looked after by the cute old couple next to me who insisted on feeding/watering me and generally making sure I was okay. I can’t get over how generous and friendly the people are here sometimes, all without being asked and with no expectations of anything in return.
Reaching Guilin at 3am wearing flipflops in the pouring rain with no idea how to get to the hostel or even what it was called in Chinese (I’ve never claimed to be organised) I was again totally lucky to meet a girl from Harbin who happened to be looking for the same place, all this just as I was about to head of in the opposite direction from the hostel, in the dark, by myself. Phew! Guilin had some crazy people and a lot of the basics were a rip-off, but reaching Yangshuo the scenery was breathtaking and making the effort to speak Chinese again got me far! I met a girl who taught rock climbing classes and took me out for the day then showed me the cheap and tasty places for dinner – hard to come by in these big tourist spots. I also bumped into a couple of German guys who I’d met in Guilin, they showed me the most beautiful pictures I’ve even seen of China and were great to sit and talk to with some beers down by the river. Also in Yangshuo I met Fiona from Oz whom with I adventured to the LongJi (龙脊）rice terraces, we travelled on the bus hoping to get off at the popular Ping'an only to be tricked by the lady on the bus into going to the next town, DaZhai, and staying at her sisters’ house.. Which actually turned out to be the best trick anyone could have played on us! In DaZhai the people were sparse, weather was beautiful, rice fields a plenty.. and we came across this amazing little vegetarian hostel/restaurant run by the most lovely Mongolian lady I’ve met in my life who had a great understanding of how tourism should be in China, an insight into the culture rather than the overpriced and nasty hotels we came across when we later went to Ping’an. The trip ended with a stop in Beijing where I met a few more class mates, drank quite a bit, and avoided the clouds of smog. The most important day for me was when I went to Tiananmen Square, which was full of tourists both Chinese and foreign, but knowing the history of the square and finally being there after 6 months of living in China was a very eerie and poignant feeling.

On another note, since then 2nd semester in Dalian has been really awesome. While some friends from semester 1 have left, new students have come and our year abroad continues. Now I can’t think what exactly what we’ve been doing, there were certainly parties, nights out, exams, and class dinners, oh and of course the trip to Beijing! This time with Carly, for what was probably the most unexpected trip of my life (we were planning on Thailand). Going in May rather than February meant Summer Palace was beautiful, the beer garden was open, and the days loooong. After haggling at the markets, 6 hours of kareoke with some random Chinese students from Sichuan and avoiding Carly's pleas to eat shark on a stick with her at the tourist-aimed snack street I finally made it to the Great Wall! Despite having to head out on my own as Carly had already been a few months before and wanted to spend a day chilling out, I soon met two Chinese girls the same age as me (again from Sichuan!!) and we spent the day hanging out, climbing the wall all while speaking Mandarin. I was amazed that how compared to when I first arrived in China, I could actually have such a good laugh with these girls without speaking a word of English! A really fun day, and not for the fact I got my must-take picture on the wall.

Back in Dalian, our good friend English Rob had his last night and headed off on travels round the rest of China, Edinburgh classmate Justin came back from Singapore, had an awesome but far too brief visit from Loz who’s been in HK, and a few of us took a very last minute and fun trip to Tongliao, Inner Mongolia. Outside of the China bubble my brother and his wife had the arrival of my beautiful niece, Islay.
All in all, it has been an amazing 9 months and I while I miss everyone from home I have to stop myself thinking about heading back because right now things are going too well! I’m still living with my Ayi, who’s trying to teach me how to make good dumplings as well as other recipes without that dreaded MSG! Leaving her is going to be very hard for me but instead of worrying about what I’m going to miss, it is time to make the most of my last month and a bit in China, 'cos who knows if I'll ever make it back.