Their finest hours

One chapter in my life is nearing its completion. I will soon depart from mainland China, Beijing, and leave the exchange student life behind. This life has been joyous, full of interesting and amazingly open people, heart-warming experiences, laughter and most of all an opportunity to learn a wicked language :).

If you are planning on doing anything cool in your studying time, it must be this! Go abroad and see other kind of life (other westerners drunk ;) ), talk to people, understand them and be open to everything. Your smile will be more than enough, it is universal language. Educating yourself alone is good, but here it's so much more than in Finland, because you do not have boring days here! All the time new perspectives, people, whatever. The studying does not feel as something compulsory - rather it is all the time so fun that it is actually hard to leave the country when the finest hour crosses your path. Like in my case. Back to the old drawing board...

The examination were and went (well) and we had such a good time preparing and performing our play on Wednesday. There was hilarious props and stories from all the groups. Ahem, of course ours was the best :) Sooo good! People laughed with us to our romantical comedy with it's hilarious lines. "Ou Li, wei shen me wo de tai yang?!" - Ou Li, why, my sun? Classic.

On Thursday we went with the teacheres Sha and Wang to a Korean restaurant to have e.g. some squid, which was still alive when it was brought to our table. It was then cast into a boiling hot stew, where it suffered its last moments, while the waitress was calmly cutting it to pieces. And then we ate it. We talked with our teachers about what they like in a man and of course we boys had to then tell whether or not we are alike. The discussions were so much fun, we had good time. Our classmate from Korea teached us how to serve soju properly for honour guests and basic guests. Food was excellent as always.

After that we switched place to Helen's Cafe, where our teachers hanged out for a bit, but decided to retreat after having some milk-based drinks. We hugged and fared each other well. So sad now.. such a good and funny people with good teaching skills. Thank you Sha and Wang laoshis (and thank you also for our listening teacher, whose name I, to my shame, do not remember)! You helped me sooo much! Now I can be speak at least Chinese so as to express myself. Helen's was great with mint-flavoured shisha and whisky-colas made Nick's way (don't ask). The food was excellent and I had my share of fun, definitely.

This night had a grim ending since my and my friend's camera got stolen from a bar. It doesn't bother me I lost something worth money - it bothers me that within the camera there were so many good memories of my dear friends having good time. Robber, could I at least get my SD-memory card back, please? Anyway, had to get a new camera. It's now in my possession. Money burns pockets in the finest hours..

The recent days I've been preparing for leaving the country. For example, tomorrow I will end my bank account, sell my bike, get diplomas and grades for studies, send a packet to Finland with my surplus stuff, books and clothes mainly.

I don't know how well I will be able to be in contact with you guys during the trip, but I guess I will fumble into some Internet connections along the way. If you don't hear about me for a very long time it means I've probably died of something else than malaria. I do not plan on taking malaria medication, after having read hundreds of backpacker forum threads. And the chances of getting into any serious situations because of it are veeeeeerrrryyy small. And the chances of having serious side-effects, effectively ruining the whole trip, in my mind is not the way to go. Anyway, it's my life and I will see where it leads me.

On Tuesday we are planning on having some kind of an farewell party for the people still here in Beijing (many have left for travelling or for good already, e.g. Antti left today for Kunming, China). I guess we can make some noise and ruckus in our finest hours, in our dorms, when having this party.

OK, so the trip in my mind goes something like this. From Beijing to Hong Kong. Some dim sum there and maybe some sights. From HK to Hanoi, Vietnam. There I want to eat the local cuisine more than anything. Maybe also see some places. No idea how long we would stay there. From Hanoi a flight to Luang Prabang, Laos, is the next method of moving. I read taking a landway transportation is not so good, not worth the fight. In Luang Prabang I'd like to go to the jungle to see interesting stuff. From Luang a bus trip to Vang Vieng for some tubing and chilling, lots of GTs here for preventing malaria. Maybe some other sites as well in Vang Vieng. From Vang Vieng fortfarande a bus trip to Vientiane, Laos capital. There's lots to do even though they say it's one of the most calmest capitals in southern Asia. From Vientiane a flight over Thailand to Cambodia. For me, Siem Reap with its Angkor Wat will do. I am content with only this place. We'll see if there arises other interests in Cambodia. I would like to finish my trip in Thailand, first along the three islands of Ko Samui, Pha Ngan and Tao. There some serious chillout, diving, you name it! Finally I would like to see Bangkok and experience its atmosphere, before returning safely back to Finland. Alive and well. Hopefully having an apartment by then, hopefully weather will be good.

No pictures now, since some bastard stole my camera.

We'll see how I will or will not manage to update my blog on the trip.