From 北京 with love

This is the month we never seemed to leave 北京 (Bēijǐng) and exams never seemed to end. At the beginning of the month, we decided to wild out and book tickets to Beijing to see one of our favourite UK bands - Blossoms. That was an experience and a half. We went by the high speed train (bullet train), which reached speeds of 349km/h. It felt like we weren’t even touching the ground, and it was so much nicer than the train to 西安.

We reached 北京 with a few hours to spare so we went to Tian’anmen Square, which was a few subway stops away from the train station. We enjoyed a night time wander about, then got some dinner.

The gig was amazing! We met the band, and I got a one yuan note signed by the band members. We were the only foreigners we could see there, and we were also the loudest. The Chinese crowd didn’t seem to behave at concerts the same way Scottish people generally do—with a lot of noise and loud cheers. We were definitely noticeable.

This is the one yuan note that was signed by the band.

I can’t stress how great a night it was—everything went to plan, everyone had a good time and we got the train home to 天津 (Tiānjīn) the next again morning. We were absolutely exhausted, so it was a good thing the concert was on a Friday night. We had the weekend to recover.

The action didn’t stop there, however. The weekend after, we went to Baishi 山 (Shan). A mountain, which held a cool glass bridge, as if we hadn’t already gotten enough of the first one we saw. The mountain was the biggest I’ve ever seen and it was nice to have a change of scenery from the city.

That being said however, towards the end of the month, we had what has become one of the highlights of my trip—the St Andrew’s Ball!!! Held in 北京, it was easily one of the best nights I’ve had in 中国.

Honestly, it was brilliant. I felt like I was being treated like a queen, and we had Scottish food (Haggis—REAL HAGGIS!!) which was an amazing change from noodles and rice. We had five courses and it was so nice to hear other Scottish accents. We got dessert, and that was the first time I’d had dessert since arriving in 中国!

It was a lovely way to raise everyone’s spirits and everyone who came had such a good time. There was ceilidh dancing too and you can bet I was up on the dance floor whenever possible—thanks to St Mungo’s High School PE department for teaching us social dancing every Christmas period without fail. It was worth it in the end.

Sorry this blog’s a bit late. There are more on their way—promise!! Next month, we’re in Harbin and celebrating Christmas.

再见，see you then!

Kate