Very shortly after posting about our plans for coming home on Friday we found out, via the news, that BA had cancelled all flights from China for at least a month. Great!
After a few phone calls and with no certainty that any flights with other airlines would definitely happen we were offered seats on a plane that was already in the air and so would definitely be flying out of Beijing to return to its base. But the drawback was we then had 3 hours to pack! Also the flight left around midnight, transited in Dubai and would mean about 24 hours travelling time.
Emma was dead keen so we jumped on it.
As we didn’t know how long we’ll be away for it wasn’t easy to pack up but we did it and headed out into a cold Beijing night to start the journey.
The airport was really busy, almost completely silent and with absolutely everyone in masks. Very eerie. We had to complete some forms saying we felt okay and hadn’t been to Wuhan. Then we were scanned for our temperatures.
Sleeping Prince.
All good on the flights (other than it being completely exhausting). And now here we are. Home in the UK in a grey wet January day as we’d expect.
We got some really funny looks and plenty of questions at Heathrow when we told people where we were coming from.
We’re staying with Emma’s parents and have completely overtaken their house with children’s crap, mess and luggage. They’re so good for putting up with us… I mean putting us up!
Not sure what we’re doing re self quarantine for 14 days. Don’t think we’ll be able to go that long not seeing friends and family and have already seen Emma’s parents. Let’s see.
To say it’s been a stressful and uncertain week would be an understatement. Watching the news about Coronavirus unfold up close in real time has been a surreal experience. It’s so hard to sort the fact from the fiction and to get a sense of how things are likely to develop.
We’ve been inside 24 hours a day bar a couple of trips to the shops for a week now. mostly because of Coronavirus but also as the air pollution has been absolutely terrible for the whole week. It’s been a bit of a struggle to keep everyone entertained.
Den building. Arts and crafts. When one tablet won’t crack the boredom.. try two!! And if THAT doesn’t work get creative! Here is Ezra doing some Sudocream play!!!
The kids school has been instructed to close for two additional weeks after Spring Festival. Emma can work from London so we’ve decided to head home for a few weeks and observe how things develop from a critical distance! As we have tenants in our house we will be staying at Emma’s parents for the time being.
We’re gutted to be leaving Beijing and are praying that we will be able to return as soon as possible. If that’s possible then great. And if not, I think we’ll be pleased that we left when we did.
What started with us joking about Corona-beer-virus is now looking a bit serious. It’s impossible to know how things will pan out but for now we are keeping an eye on the news and health guidance and taking all sensible precautions.
Emma’s Coronavirus look.
Beijing is eerily quiet for CNY anyways but those people that are about are nearly all wearing masks now. Beijing is not currently (Friday 24th Jan) heavily affected by the virus but clearly people are spooked. I don’t know if it’s because of SARS and the government cover up or just social media, rolling news induced panic. From what I’ve read the only people really sick from this Coronavirus had serious underlying health issues. Or maybe it’s really serious and we should be concerned.
We’re using anti-bac, using face masks, avoiding crowded public spaces and big events. The kids are currently off school so we’re pretty cooped up at home. Lots of events in Beijing have been cancelled but we’d probably have avoided them anyway. We’re still planning on going to South Korea on Wednesday and looking forward to getting out of the city.
We’ll monitor things closely and keep you posted. For now though Happy Chinese New Year to family and friends. Here’s to good luck, good health and good fortune in the Year of the Rat 🐀 !
Today is the last day of school for the kids before Chinese New Year. they are dressing up in CNY themed clothes and there is a cake sale to raise money for those affected by the Australian bushfires. I’m helping out with Ezra; can’t see that being anything other than total stress as he tries to eat all the cakes, touches everything and then runs off.
CNY outfits and some red packets too. There was a Lion Dance at a kids school fair at the weekend. But we forgot the red packets to give him! Does this mean bad luck for the year of the Rat?
The kids and Emma are off school until early February. The whole city seems to be shutting down. Chain cafes and online deliveries all shutting up shop for the holidays. That said the public holiday aspect is a bit complicated. The calendar for public holidays was published in November (late right?). And a fair number of the days “off” have “adjustment days” attached. So for the days you don’t work you have other weekend days you need to work to make up for it. So for example: May 1-5 (Fri-Tues) is the May Holiday. But then the adjustment days are April 26 and May 9 (Sun&Sat). That’s not my idea of a pubic holiday 🤷🏼♂️
Obviously we expected things to be a bit different here but you never quite know what things will be different.
Ezzie and I have been going to a little play group attached to the school. There are lots of international parents and plenty of local Chinese too. One of the things that strikes you as different is that with the local Chinese there are generally more adults in attendance than kids. Often mum, Nan and grandad will bring one child. With the grandparents filming the child and parent go about their business. I’ve noticed the same thing out shopping or in restaurants too. 3 or 4 adults to one child is very common. Maybe that’s why we get so much attention lol.
Some decs near our apartment.
Also I hadn’t expected the Chinese to be so superstitious. Lucky numbers and Feng Shui (perhaps not quite superstition) are part of every day life. When Emma moved offices a detailed consideration of the Feng Shui was as important as the IT configuration. When we got our new mobile SIM we were given a huge long list of phone numbers to pick from and advised to avoid lots of the options as they were unlucky numbers. And I can only assume that lucky and unlucky numbers explains the floor options in this apartment block…?!
How many “missing” floors can you spot?
Anyway. Plans for the next 10 days include both Skiing and Seoul. We’re planning on heading to one of the ski resorts that’s easily accessible from Beijing (about an hours drive). I was a bit surprised it was so close but given that the snow that fell two weeks ago is still on the ground in places and also that Beijing is hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics perhaps it was obvious. Only Emma has been skiing before so it’s more just to try it out than anything serious but should be fun.
Then we head to South Korea. As Emma and the kids are off we thought that rather than just hang about Beijing we’d hang about in Seoul. It also has the worlds largest indoor theme park which in this temp is key!! I’m mainly excited about the Korean food which is one my absolute favs.
No sooner is Christmas and International New Year (as I’ve heard it called here) done with and it’s on to Chinese New Year! It’s lovely to see Beijing getting into the swing of a festival that they really care about. Decorations are being put up everywhere. Most seem to be incorporating some of the Christmas decs and adding some CNY-y sort of things on top: red packets; cute Rats (it’s going to be the year of the rat) ; cherry blossom and lots and lots of chinese lanterns.
We were away for Christmas and NY in beautiful Thailand. As we were not long out the UK, a few hours from SE Asia and keen for some sun it seemed to be a good plan.
Temple hoping around Bangkok
First stop Bangkok for a few nights. Bangkok was so crazy and so fun. The Thai people are really happy, friendly and warm. There was so much to see and so much colour that we were only really able to take in a tiny amount of it. Getting out and about with the three kids in tow in 35 degree heat was no small undertaking. But we did a bit. The Tuk-this helped for sure!
Tuk-tuk fun!!
(Just to explain my slacks in this vid. You need to wear long trousers to go into the temples so we bought these at the temple. )
Hot. 😅
After Bangkok we flew to the island of Koh Samui for Christmas and New year. We stayed at the lovely Bandara resort on the beach. Slightly easier to cope with the heat and occupy the kids with pools and the sea.
The strange mix of fir trees and beach bar.
The resort was lovely. Easy walking distance to some fun night markets and beach bars and nice to hang out in of itself. Plus had the added value of on site close up wildlife. The family in the neighbouring room found a large black snake slithering under their kid’s legs one morning in their room. So I had to do a complete sweep of our room every morning and night before Emma would get in or out of bed.
Christmas Day Morning. Christmas Day lunch (with Thai Rosé – very nice)
It was a bit strange not being with family on Christmas Day and it definitely felt less festive for lots of reasons. Santa did make it to Thailand and the kids had a great time. And also Emma needed a proper break as she hasn’t stopped since we arrived and it was an opportunity to do something totally different that we’d never normally do that we had to take.
We saw a bit of the island like waterfalls and a few more temples. Including one with a mummified monk which Lyra absolutely LOVED!
😎
The food was sensational. Absolutely incredible almost everywhere. Thai cuisine is so good and when it’s so local, fresh and authentic it’s unbeatable.
New Year we avoided the ridiculously expensive Hotel function they were pushing and just had a couple of beers with a family we befriended. We were a little bit smug when the festivities got washed out with torrential rain but we felt sorry for the staff who’d worked to put the stage and decorations etc together. 🤷🏼♂️
The trip back from extreme heat and humidity to (literal) snow was abrupt to say the least. Reality bites. We got through the first week and now Emma is in Shanghai for a night then travelling to Hohhot (capital of Inner Mongolia) to present the new Blue Planet film at a festival. #jetset.
And we’ll try and keep a little bit of Thailand with us to keep us warm over the next few weeks!
All the Dad’s out there I suggest you look away now. Move on. Skip this post. because I think it would be fair to say that I’ve reached peak Dad. Dad-vana if you will. Get a load of this.
Getting the kids to school never been this KoolLovin’ having the place to himself Sightseeing.
So I have the ultimate Dad-mobile. A neighbour has one and I was well jel so asked him and got one for myself. Now between us two dads we’re ferrying 6 kids to school!
Like absolutely everything here the delivery was loads harder than it would have been in the UK. The bike was dropped off by the very helpful driver like this:
Okaaaaay
I was at the gym and they called to say it had been delivered and I had to try and tackle this thing without any tools. Someone found a small tool box and presented a tiny ikea spanner. I put my phone on the tool box whilst I went to work and some guy ran over the box and my phone and bent it 🥴. As in, visibly bent my iPhone. Still seems to work but was too much drama to be dealing with in short shorts.
I know…. sexy.
But phone is fine, bike is great, kids LOVE it and so do I!!!!!!
When I knew I was moving to China I was immediately keen to check out some local Football. The Chinese Super League is growing in popularity but as a westerner, it’s something I generally only hear about when players that are over the hill go there to play out their final seasons.
It’s a bit different to European Football especially as the Chinese Governing body has limited each team to only three foreign players per match. This is designed to promote local players but means that foreign players demand a premium to appear. Given that the overall standard is low it’s not a place where the worlds best come to play in their heyday.
Anyway… I headed to the Chinese Workers Stadium for the final game of the season to watch the the mighty Beijing Guoan take on Shandong Luneng. Arlo was dead keen to come. I explained that at its core football is very boring and it would be very cold and long and boring. But he insisted.
We had to buy tickets from a tout which was fine. Then baggage X-ray check. Then my passport got scanned. I’m not kidding. These guys take security seriously.
After a few more security checks we found our seats and started to soak up the atmosphere. It was really busy. People were properly up for it.
Please notice our team scarfs.
What followed was a magical father/son 90 minutes. Arlo couldn’t get enough of my footy knowledge and I got to explain defensive approaches and zonal marking and off side rules and possession strategy.
Not.
5 minutes in he’s on the iPad.
Anyway. Had a great time. He loved it in his way. I loved spending time with him and the footy was great. 3-2 to Beijing with a last minute winner after Marouane Fellaini had scored for Shandong. Good times.
The week following all this fun Emma was off in Tokyo for a few nights. She’s in Guangzhou this week delivery some big presentations to hundreds of delegates. She’s finding her new job really challenging. The time difference means there are often calls in the evening and it’s really tough. But she’s doing amazing and clearly already scored some big early wins. She’s doing great.
Whilst she was away I took the kids to the British Embassy Christmas Bazaar which was cold but Christmassy. Something Beijing is generally lacking. Christmassy that it. There’s plenty of cold.
Christmas Tree! 🎄 Come on Arlo. Better than Prince Andrew…
Lyra continues to flourish at the school. Her Autumn term report was glowing and she received a “Star Citizen” award in assembly for her hard work, friendliness and kindness!! Yay.
I’ll end on this. Went to the supermarket with Ezra. Carrefour too, so not the locals market (that’s another story 😳), and either they’ve laid on some free wildlife fun for the kids or your supposed to eat these fellas.
So Christmas doesn’t seem to have hit Beijing in the way that I’m sure it is everywhere at home. Some chopping centres have trees. Erm… one cafe was playing “Last Christmas”…. but I’m yet to hear the Pogues so it’s not yet arrived.
We are going to Thailand for a holiday a week or so before Christmas and not back until the NY so doesn’t make sense to go crazy decorating the flat. But we felt we needed something. So we have this Velcro Xmas tree thing that L and A loved to decorate and Ezra has loved chewing. Everyone’s happy 🤣
5061 Miles From Home 