The return to Golders Green

Maguro, Hot Dogs & Friends

No doubt your all still wondering what happened between Beijing and Japan, the plan was to spend a few days in Beijing then get a flight back over to Tokyo from either Beijing or Shanghai. Now during my time in western China I did look at other routes and countries to travel, I looked into a fligth to Baku, Azerbaijan, then head overland through Georgia and Turkey then fly back the the UK from Istanbul, with the flight costing 250 pounds to Baku from Urumqi. I was extremely close to central aisa, I could have got a 3 day transit visa at the airport in Almaty, Krygyzstan but that only gave me 3 days to get a visa for another central asian country and get out. Pakistan was another option and its surprising the amount of travelers traveling through in the present political climate, but I could only get a visa from Beijing or England. Next i thought about heading to Thailand for a couple of weeks, the flight costing 90 pounds from Chengdu to Bangkok but the real killer was the flight from Urumqi to Chengdu, 160 pounds. To make it worth while, flying to Bangkok was the only option, I didn't have time to take the train and getting there was going to cost me 240 pounds and I still had to get another visa for China in Bangkok and get a flight back to Shanghia.



Michael and friends, Shanghai

During all is commotion, Michael in Shanghai was doing all the leg work, finding out different prices and times for flights, then having to do it all again every few days!. After arriving in Beijing my mind was made up, plans were made and Michael and the tickets to Tokyo were waiting for me in Shanghia, a big thankyou to you Michael for all your time and trouble. The flight to Tokyo was at lunch time on the 24th, but I had to arrive in Shanghai at least a day before that to collect the tickets, which ment I had to take an over night train on the 22nd, leaving me with only one evening and three quaters of a day in Beijing. That evening and my only evening in Beijing, I went out to eat Beijing duck with a girl from Middlesbrough, costing 38RMB for a whole duck, thats two and a half quid!.


Tokyo to Shanghai

The next morning I went off to visit the summer palace, one of Beijing's best sights, then it was over to a couple of parks in the city and then down to an antiques market, this took up most of my day, so it was back to the hostel for some food and off the the train station to catch my train at 7pm to Shanghia, a 12 hour journey, 500RMB. The following day I picked up my flight ticket and that evening went out with Michael and a few more friends and ate excellent hunanese food, which is very similar to Sichuan food, full of chilli. The next morning I got a bus to the airport, 15RMB and after a very expensive sandwich and coffee it was of to Tokyo and Totsuka to see Fumiko.


Meguro man!

During my stay in Japan I had to get another visa for China so i could get back into the country in order to catch my flight back to the UK. Thanks to the Chinese national holiday I had to pay nearly double the price of the visa for the express service, 7000 Yen, as they were closing for 10 days. Fumiko and I went back to the local market near Totsuka again to visit the Maguro(tuna) man, as ever, always smiling and once again, extremely generous giving us two types of tuna as a gift. His business is inside a local market and he sells mainly to restaurants, plus any passing trade. The following monday,2nd october, he was opening a sushi restaurant in the market, so we decided to go and visit the restaurant on the 3rd, on our way to the airport. We had excellent sushi and rolled sushi with green tea then we went to say our goodbyes, but before we could, he sat us down so we could eat dessert!, an apple flavoured drink with ice and a japanese red bean dessert and to top it off, he gave me a T shirt from his new business.

Koichi, Xinjiang province, western China

So again, it was goodbye to Fumiko and Japan and back to Shanghai for the 4th time on this trip. Koichi, the japanese guy who I traveled with in western China had kindly let me crash at his pad for a couple of nights before heading back to the UK, he rents a hotel room right in the heart of Shanghia's business centre, Pudong, with a fantastic view over looking the river and surrounded by futuristic buildings. That night we ate hotpot and then watched a rerun of the world hot dog eating championships from New York, with a japanese guy, Takeru Kobayashi, winning it for the 6th consecutive time, crazy stuff!. My last full day in Shanghai consisted of shopping and by the time I had got back to Pudong it was straight back out again to met Bart who was in Shanghia sorting out his visa, although, I barely recognized him since he had shaved!. We went to a japanese izakaya, recommended by Koichi, where you could eat and drink as much as you like for 98RMB per person, a great meal with lots of japanese beer and plum wine, along with the great company, it made a fitting end to my 3 months here out in the far east.

Bart, say no more!

An early start the next morning, Koichi was off to Hongkong to get a 1 years chinese visa, so an hour or so in starbucks to kill some time, then off the Pudong international airport via the maglev, a train that reaches a speed of 431km per hour and travels 30km in eight minutes, all for £2.80, 40RMB. It was now time to head back to the UK with China eastern airlines, a very very average airline and in true China eastern stlye they didn't disappoint, for the 12 hour flight the inflight entertainment was not working, paper cups were running low so they were asking people to keep hold of the ones they had and they had run out of red wine on a flight with very few laowei!. So arriving back in the UK at heathrow terminal 2, I waited 30 minutes for my baggage as there were 3 flights coming in on the same small baggage carousel!, then I jumped on the piccadilly line to Kings cross and northern line to Golders Green, arriving back to 35 the vale in the rain at 10pm UK time.

Back at The Vale, Golders Green

The highlight of traveling is not so much of what you see but the people you meet, who are often from different countries and different back grounds, its definatly a thing I will really miss.

My quick stint out in the far east has now finished and i'm back in London, its time to return back to reality, get a job and earn some cash.