Alex

I've now been back in Beijing for about a week and a half. I changed location, gave up the good ol' Shijia hutong, and are now residing at Lotus hostel in Xicheng district. I decided that, even though I truly do love my old hoods in Dongcheng district, I want to give my friends and family a better impression of Beijing than what the staff at my old hostel Saga can offer.

Now we (that is: me, my mum, kid brother, Mads and Johan) are living in a typical old hutong courtyard (siheyuan). This is by far the coolest lodging I've ever had. The atmosphere at Lotus is relaxed and comfortable, and the staff is as friendly as you can wish for. Creds to Ben, the manager (and also former manager at Saga).

So, me and my tiny confused Swedish tourist group are roaming about, making the streets in the northern capital unsteady. Mads don't like the Chinese food. Johan thinks that everything from cigarett packages to tea bags are so well-designed. Mum have to go to the toilet all the time. My brother just want to know how much things he can buy before he goes home again.

It's a quite heavy job, I must admit, to get four people around in a city where no one speaks English. Most difficult of all is that I have to change my bad habits, can't sleep too long in the mornings, can't sit and roll my thumbs and examine my belly-button whenever I wish, can't sit in front of the computer all night long. I have to eat food that I usually wouldn't care about. I have to go into Tourist-mode and re-visit places I've already been, or visit places I didn't get around to visit before. I have to remember to not speak Swedish in front of other foreigners and not speak Chinese in front of my Swedes. It's been a while since I really had to compromise my life-style for this long, I'm used to kind of just go with the flow, take things as they come. Planning is bad for the skin, but it seems like my lazy days are over.

It's also a quite grateful job, showing them around. Showing them this strange wonder-land in which I live. Taking them to places they never expected to see, and have the pleassure of sharing their first-time experiences and sursprises. I feel proud sometimes, when I can show off the oddities and curiosities in Chinas bigger cities. And being used to all of this as I am, it feels good to hear someone else telling me what's amazing and different with this country. I have forgotten what it was that used to surprise me. Most of all, of curse, it feel so good to see my family again.

The pursuit for coffee continues! Away, Silver!



/Alex