6 June 2004

The inverse law of boastability

Bear with me here, because this keyboard;s apostrophe is fscked up. I;ll try to rectify this later. In the meantime it gives me a chance to use that most-underused of punctuation marks, our rarely seen friend the semicolon. I was lying in bed in a grotty Chinese ex-brothel last night (you know, as you do), and realized what a crap time I;ve had on this trip (on the whole). In a flash of light it occurred to me: boasting about the exotic locales to which one has travelled rarely makes up for the miserable time one has had there. (Excuse the Queen;s Englishness of that, it;s just me being a grammar naz..., uh, nitpicker) Seeing as half the reason I went to Inner Mongolia was simply to boast about it when I get back, it;s all a bit of a bugger really. Oh well, it;s all part of life;s rich tapestry I guess, though life;s been such a bitch this past week I;m starting to think the tapestry;s been woven from jute and sackcloth. What else? Hanging around in Beijing for a few days, hoping to finally get round to trying dog meat at some point (see above law for reason why). Pissed off because I can;t get to Gmail, one of the few good things I have to boast about. Home in a few days. Be quite glad to get back actually, be a nice respite from the hocking and spitting and random shouting of Beijing. Struck by how nice most people have been in China. Anyone who hasn;t actually been officially responsible for helping me in any way I should say, though the guy from the foreign office in Hailar was very helpful. I;ve had lifts to the bank, hospital, very long conversations, etc. Thought I was losing my touch with Chinese when I was in Inner Mongolia, but now that I;m in Beijing it;s all coming back. I guess I;m just more accustomed to the Beijing accent. Went to Tiananmen Square today, quite ironic that underneath the massive picture of Mao, the square is teeming with hawkers trying to con as much money as they can.

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