Run Over By A Dragon?

The milkshakes in China are very strange; they are sweet but have a flavour and texture that confuses me. As I sit here in The Forbidden City I finally have some time to reflect on the incredible journey that I have embarked on.

On the day of my arrival I was taken by the sheer scale of Beijing. I arrived on Chinese New Year and the celebrations were in full swing. After dropping my baggage off at the hotel I went onto the street and was almost run down by a massive crowd of people within a large dragon costume. There were hundreds of stalls cooking fresh meat and fish and I couldn’t help but have my mouth water at the smells of the delicious things to try. At the same time, firecrackers and fireworks were exploding everywhere and soon there was noise, and colour and laughter all over the place.

The following day I visited The Great Wall of China, an incredible show of human manpower. In my minds eye I could see thousands of slaves hauling the heavy stones that the wall was made up of into place. The sheer height of the wall was incredible but the really impressive attribute was its length reaching six thousand two hundred kilometres. To finish off the night I visited the Terracotta Army. There were so many statues made from Terracotta, each carved with the greatest of care, that I could not even consider counting them. The place was eerily empty and I can admit I was afraid that the army would simply come to life and attack me.

The cookery here is incredible. Delicacies riddle the streets in stalls, on storefronts, it is everywhere. Nigh on impossible not to impulse buy half of the stock in each shop just to eat it by myself. I made a promise with myself that I was going to try something new in China and I did not disappoint. I settled with cat. In short it was bony, grisly and genuinely disgusting. Not so incredible compared to other Chinese cuisine.

Right now I am sitting inside the Forbidden City and it is huge. It had housed so much royalty that the importance of it seemed to radiate off the entire city. Tonight is my last night, no time for dinner. By the time I get back to the hotel it will be time to head on home to Australia.

By Max Unter