Leaving the mainland . . .

Having decided a few months back that it was time to move on from China Daily after three years, I was offered and accepted a job with CCTV. The visa requirements have become much more onerous in those three years, however, and I was told to expect it to take at least five months. Add all the costs associated , including not working for a couple of months while I waited. Censorship has also gotten more noticeably silly of late.

Then, out of the blue, a recruiter approached me asking if I'd be interested in relocating to Hong Kong. A series of rapid turnaround stages later (about two weeks in total) and I was offered a Senior Sub Editor position with South China Morning Post, where a couple of former colleagues also work. I'm very happy with the offer, and even better, it will take only about six weeks to process with none of Beijing's arbitrary conditions. I finish here in just over seven weeks so the timing is ideal!

I've not lived in Hong Kong, having only visited, but love the beaches, markets, hiking opportunities and, best of all for me, sailing opportunities. I have quite a few friends already there who I look forward to catching up with and expect to see many others when they visit.

Now to find a rich yacht owner who needs a live-aboard caretaker . . . 

Mustang Sally . . .

I love words, love to bury my head in their hellacious awesomeness and inhale deeply . . .

I work in an industry where I am blessed with colleagues who feel similarly, but also cursed with copy writers who have never heard a cliche they don't want to buy a drink and take home.

Yesterday, I got to play with two 8-year-olds and try to help them love words also. We started with "Where The Wild things Are," moved on to them creating their own wild things and describing them to me. Ended up throwing/bouncing a Swiss Ball to each other while going through the alphabet with animal names (no, Giraffe can't be both "g" and "j").

I also asked them to name my motorcycle, which has been sadly nameless, despite them calling their wild things the most boring white folk names of Lisa and Tom. (Sorry Lisa and Tom, I don't mean you!)

They called her Sally, which I also thought a little dull, but I can't get "Mustang Sally" out of the soundtrack of my mind today.

"All you want to do is ride around Sally, ride, Sally, ride . . . "

the long goodbye . . .

the crocheted blanket will suffice, for now . . .

the cat I don't have is leaving me . . .

It's a fractured and furry story, as most are, but I took in a feline house guest for a few months, which extended. In that time, he went from being the house guest to the overseer, as cats are wont to do.

He hated me at first, howling for his Mom and wondering why my apartment was so much smaller than what he was accustomed to. His Mom was part of a knitting group I joined to learn to crochet (another story, another time), and I invited the group over often to help him feel at home.

He and I have come to an agreement where he is allowed to roam the halls and run the stairways most days (his fat furry butt needs the exercise) so long as he comes home when I call or whistle.

He's currently sleeping beside my computer and I have to keep moving his head off the Ctrl key.

He was to leave in October.

It's now March.

His Mom is coming to fetch him later this month, so I'm overdosing on his feline asshattery (he is a cat, after all). Many of my colleagues will miss him, as will my WeChat friends who love his every photo (he's extremely photogenic and has a reasonable staff writer). My asthma will not miss him, but he is such a character that even knowing I am allergic to his furry awesomeness doesn't stop me from burying my face in it.

"bring me Leia"

I'll miss you, Fur Beast . . .

Good Morning, Beijing . . .

Now that the sun is rising earlier, I do so also and often stroll through my neighborhood before getting ready for work, fetching fresh fruit for my breakfast, fresh produce for later use or simply enjoying the sights as the community prepares for the day.

There is a middle school behind my work complex and my apartment looks over its assembly ground / basketball  courts and across the road to a kindergarten opposite. Across the road from our side gate is an elementary school, so the streets are filled with students each morning.

The kindergarten and elementary school students are dropped off by their parents or grandparents -  some in cars; many on electric motorbikes, scooters or seated in child seats on the back of cycles; many being accompanied on foot, often with the child on a kick scooter that the adult will then lead home.

The chaos outside the gates, as cars stop wherever they can to see their charges safely to school, is added to by the presence of a community sanitation center beside the elementary school. Local garbage drop-offs, like those from our complex, are made using small (and usually heavily laden) carts pulled by three-wheeled motorcycles and these and the large sanitation trucks taking the gathered garbage elsewhere add to the mayhem.

A little further up the street is a line of restaurants, small supermarkets, a local market and real estate agents (these are everywhere in Beijing!). At one small storefront, women sell a Chinese version of a breakfast sandwich - a bun with either chicken or sausage, lettuce and a tomato. Other vendors sell dumplings and one man is always present, selling fried pastries from a hot vat of oil set up outside one of the restaurants. I like to watch as he rolls his dough flat, before twisting it and dropping it into the hot oil. There are dumplings for sale behind him, but I have only ever seen the pastry seller busy in this spot, not the restaurant doorway behind.

The shops are on the way from the closest subway stop and main bus routes to the middle school, so the streets are filled in the mornings with older students making their own way to school. Like anywhere else, they tend to roam in groups, laughing and talking among themselves and oblivious to anyone coming their way. They are regular customers at the food vendors, as are many of the parents and grandparents doing the school run - sometimes getting food for themselves or their charges as they rush them to school, sometimes picking up takeout in a more leisurely manner as they head home or to whatever they plan until it is time to return at the end of the school day.

Beside the middle school, in the parking space between two apartment blocks, is a temporary farmers'-style market, only there until 1 pm each day and offering the best and freshest of whatever is in season. At this time of year, there is much to choose from and I often find myself getting carried away and having to make and freeze soups or stews so as to use up all the goodness I have bought.

The neighborhood is equally busy in the evenings, with the addition of folding camp chairs and wooden-box tables turning the streets into al fresco dining areas and the ubiquitous groups of men playing Go or other games. The evenings have their own excitement that I also enjoy, but it is the promise of what the day may bring that most draws me to the morning scenes.  

Day 2 . . .

One of my talented cousins (there are many) appeared in his hometown newspaper last week, in a feel-good story about his journey back to health and how it has affected him professionally as well as physically (he's an opera singer so had to relearn how to use his new body). He has inspired me for some time as I watched his progress on facebook but there was one piece of the article I took to heart.

Houkamau and his flatmate completed a 30-day challenge — no takeaways, no sugar, no bread and no booze. Combined with at least five 30-minute workouts a week, the weight started to drop off and seeing the results proved to be a big motivator.

I'm several decades older than Te Ua, female and one-third his size when he was at his heaviest - all factors that make it harder for me to drop unwanted kilos - but decided to take his 30-day challenge and see how I feel at the end. He tells me he and his flatmate (roommate, for American readers) made up their own rules and they seem pretty simple.

No takeaways (and taking your lunch to work each day) is no issue for me as I avoid fast food anyway and prepare at least 90 percent of my own meals.

No sugar will be harder, particularly in the mornings when I like a square or two of chocolate, or a home-made brownie, with my morning coffee. My colleagues may have to do without any baking from me for the next month.

No bread is also not difficult for me as I seldom eat it anyway.

No booze will be a little difficult socially, where alcohol is a major part of the expat lifestyle, and professionally, where meals with officials almost always include toasts featuring the local specialty spirits. The concept of a "30-day-challenge" has become fairly ingrained in society, however, as have "dry" months, so it shouldn't be an issue socially. I'm taking friends to a craft brewery they haven't been to tonight, and plan to have a fun night with them while on soda water. As for the officials and endless toasting - I'll deal with that when/if it comes up.

The exercise won't be a problem, as I do more than that each week anyway.

So, yesterday I went to my favorite vegetable market to buy supplies, baked a frittata to have for lunches for the next few days and made tzatziki to have with vegetable crudites as an afternoon snack. This morning, I'm feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and looking forward to the month ahead. I won't bore people with daily or even weekly updates, but will report in on any results at the end of November.

A change of pace . . .

Before I moved to Beijing, in June 2013, a friend asked if I was going to get a bicycle and I laughed at him. Other friends, whom I have ridden motorcycles with in the United States and elsewhere, asked if I would get a motorcycle and, without laughing, I thought that highly unlikely. I'd briefly looked at the possibility, only to find I would need to first get a car driver's license in China and hold that for a year before I could even apply for a motorcycle license.

As someone who finds it hard to commit to a two-hour movie, that didn't seem worthy of even considering.

Fast forward 2-plus years and I've been having a ball on a borrowed bicycle that was then gifted to me (many thanks, John Butcher). It has expanded my Beijing horizons in ways I never expected and made me feel more a part of where I live.

Then, while attending a photography exhibition by a friend and colleague, I got talking to a young French guy with a motorcycle who said it had changed his life in China. He also informed me that the law had changed (shortly after I arrived, I have discovered). Now, if you already hold a license in your home country, whether car, motorcycle or both (that's all I have), all you need do is pass the written test to get a Chinese license.

He also had a friend with a motorcycle to sell . . .

Anyone who knows me, knows what happened next.

I picked up my new baby last Sunday and rode her home a little timidly, being accustomed to being on a bicycle in Beijing traffic. I took her out again on Tuesday after work and felt a little more comfortable. Today (Saturday), I rode her to find a gear shop and buy a good jacket and great gloves (both achieved) and just had fun. It's been a year or two since I've ridden but it all come back quickly. A need to brake suddenly, and a resulting rear slide, reminded me of the need to use both brakes in an emergency and I played with her weight, power and agility to see what she can do.

I also had to get used to her girth. I'm accustomed to bikes that are able to fit where the handlebars fit but this girl has side boxes attached, giving her some junk in her trunk. Rather than being a cat that can fit where my whiskers fit, I'm a cat with a seriously wide rear end.

But, I'm in love with her, and look forward to learning all her quirks, qualities and faults. I assume she will be forgiving of mine . . .

Baby needed a wash - I was going to buy cleaning gear then realized I can have it done on the side of the road, and support the local economy. Win-Win!

Once more into the breach . . .

It is only as I went to write this that I realized how long it is since I posted here. There was no specific reason for my silence, though many secondary causes. Primarily though, I've been really busy living life and let this slip by the way. I'll try to do better . . .

For those who don't know, I'm still in China and still liking being here more often than I dislike it. Work is going well and I love the people I work with, and I've been traveling a lot more lately, mainly for work but also on my own. In the past few months, I've visited Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, and in China, Xi'an (home of the Terracotta Warriors, which I skipped in favor of outdoor adventure and will blog soon), Zhanjiang in Guangdong province and a number of cities in Shanxi province. The latter two were for work so involved long days, many banquets and much article writing to follow.

I've also restarted studying Chinese as, although I can get by without it, now I'm traveling more I want to have more communication with locals. I'm also buying a motorcycle this month so will travel more around Beijing and will need better language skills when visiting nearby villages. Studying for the license in Chinglish is a story in itself!

This week, from Oct 1 through 8, is Golden Week, when much of China has a week off after National Day and many people travel to their hometowns, but I decided to have a staycation in Beijing. Not totally tho, as I've been asked to do a couple of stories in Tianjin, which is less than an hour away by high-speed rail, so I'll head there Monday to stay in a luxurious hotel and pretend I'm accustomed to such a life.

For tonight, I'm off to a fabulous Peruvian pop-up restaurant run by friends to enjoy excellent ceviche and Pisco sours with other friends before they close for the cooler months.

To prove I have actually been working, I leave you with a profile I did on a fabulous Italian chef-slash-nuclear engineer. Beijing is full of such interesting people.