China round up Part 2 (Sarah)

As we say goodbye to China, and leave behind our balcony littered with hair in preparation for our move to warmer climes – Tom insisted that I too contribute to the blog – so here goes…

‘And so we’ve come to the end of the road’…literally – I write this in the boat to Thailand.

Two months is longer than I ever thought we’d spend in this country (particularly given that for me it was really just a route to SE Asia to placate Tom), but I’m glad we’ve been there, done it, but sadly not yet bought the T-shirt.

In spite of (or perhaps more accurately because of) the litter, pollution, ‘mist’, euphemistically called ‘toilets’, and the associated smell, endless chicken feet, inability to perform banal tasks due to being foreign, spitting, staring, hoiking, appalling table manners, loud burping, even louder yawning, throwing up on buses, megaphones in the street, megaphones on the marauding tours, shouting on phones, shouting to each other, ‘tellible’ music, and just the noise, the constant, ridiculous, endless, ever-present, stoopidly loud NOISE, I am not sad to leave China.

I’ve had a great time, met some wonderful people, eaten a lot of good food, and seen many fabulous things. The good news is that I’m happy to come back. The quandary I find myself in though is…’will I be able to eat from Bamboo Garden ever again?’...