Dragon Boat Day 2017          

I duly met Steve in the Hampton at 1400, previously he had requested I bring cold beers. Normally not a problem but as I hadn’t made it to the little shop since he arrived, I only had two in the fridge.

The hotel has upped their game since I stayed, Chinese smashed and murdered fried eggs are still on the breakfast menu but they now include sunny side up AND they have bacon and sausages. I have no idea if my complaint to Hilton had a bearing but Steve liked the place.

When I asked him what the noise was like (wafer thin walls) I was given a withering look and informed he wouldn’t know because both nights on returning he had fallen into a coma!

The appearance of more than a single laowei at one time saw us interrupted mid-way through the chilled Carlsberg he had bought from next door (the hotel bar does spirits but oddly no beer, although staff helpfully suggested buying them from next door!) by the general manager and the front of house manageress. We were given free zhongzi with sugar and honey and a platter of cut fruits on the house. After we shook hands the GM presented us with his business card. I knew what was coming next. Steve gave over his own business card. The look on the boss’s face as he realised they both worked for the same chain was reward enough and prompted calls for a photo of the two together.

He also said that it was unfortunate that he had booked his flights before being advised of a meeting he had to attend in Singapore, otherwise he would have left with the others. I thought the meeting was next week but it’s today! He got back to his hotel probably after midnight and had to leave again for the airport at the crack of dawn! I know he made it because I received a text while he was waiting for his connection in Guangzhou.

We had less than two hours together because Steve left 4 hours early for his flight, citing work he had to do at the airport. It was fine by me, I now had my deep fat fryer along with a kilogramme of gouda Jens and Shona had brought by way of Oxfam relief. No idea yet about the fryer but the cheese is creamy - some of it with crackers represented my dinner last night.

I have searched online for the Charing Cross bar with no success. If I can find it then I can find the Hoegaarden place again. I’d like to go back, although not too often at 180y for essentially half a gallon of admittedly very nice beer. And I must take a student or two to the night food market. There was a real buzz about the place and it was possible to exit the “motorway” densely packed with people by grabbing an alfresco table behind one of the stalls and remove oneself from the flow. Definitely crab, prawns and probably oysters will be on my hit list.

I have been looking well in advance for flights for next year. I often daydream (which is why my students get bored within five minutes of being separated from their mobile and I don’t) and think of far-flung destinations and where I could go. I know, I know, every plan I make turns to dust but I have to try at least.

I have an idea for next summer. If I can make it happen it will involve not travelling alone and would see my companion visit a foreign country for the first time. And I really want to take them. But it seems a shame to travel such a long way and only see one country, so my hope is to spring a little surprise. If I can and if visas are granted.

Said person reads this so I shall say nothing further and the only reason I mention it is because very recently I was told the flight prices drop with a stopover. Not my experience and remains the case where I have been looking, even direct with the airlines. In fact I have found I can save 2,000y by keeping to the original return ticket and popping off elsewhere in mid holiday and paying for new flights for the short hop!

The exercise has however hammered home just how expensive travelling is. Naturally I find everything expensive seeing as I live in China but even so, with flights for two from domestic to international hubs, a night in an hotel here and there to try and make it as painless as possible (too old now to bother with sitting in airports for 12 hours, rather have a beer and a bed) I am rapidly realising that a simple trip to two cities abroad followed by a few nights in Shanghai and then  internal flights home plus hotels and spending money is going to knock the stuffing out of about £5,000 or at todays exchange rate, 58,000y!!! Makes two weeks package holiday in Majorca seem like an Oyster card fare from Wembley Park to Faringdon!

But that’s my plan (if I can do it) and I really hope the other person concerned not only is free but can get the appropriate paperwork. We shall see next year.