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With the rearrangement of my flight I was having my last day in Beijing and it was my birthday. It is funny when you are surrounded by so many people and they don’t know or care that it is your day today.

After yesterday’s ”Great Wall day’, everything was going to be at a stroll pace today as I was in a wind down mood. There were more Temples and a few ‘National’ This, That and the Other to see, but I was in need of some pandering, so where best than Beijing Zoo. Well that’s were they keep Panda’s don’t they? When you were a kid that was what was special about China, wasn’t it?, and I have never seen a live one. I’m not a fan of Zoo’s, but I thought a relaxing walk in some parkland would be nice. The rest of Beijing thought it was a good idea too.

From my conversation with my Mexican friend yesterday, (and guys if you are reading this can you reply with your first names as I forgot them and I would like to personalise the blog for everyone) the subway system was supposed to be very easy to use. After a relay breakfast where I almost lost my main course as I ventured in search of a spoon, I headed to the Hotel Cafe for a nice Latte and a comfortable seat. I pulled out the two tourist maps of Beijing that I had. One of the problems is that Beijing is so vast that the typeface is always in fine print on any map or subway map. I tapped into the Internet which allowed me get other tourists experiences and what to expect of the subway. It is nice to see the pictures before you arrive. Looks straightforward. The other little issue for foreign travellers is that although the Subway has an English version of the station name, the way we may see it is not the way the Chinese say it, so get lost at your peril.

To seek a little help I asked the staff in the Cafe some simple mimed questions. I am getting like Marcel Marceau with my mime act. I haven’t had to open a clear window yet, but everything else has been tried. Now I didn’t Mime ‘Zoo’ as I had read that the zoo had 20,000 animals, so I pointed to the map. So…

1. Where is the local subway station? 1st answer, “yes”, 2nd answer “take Bus” and 3rd one a point and a finger mime for walking “10 minutes”

2. Route to the Beijing Zoo by Subway ? (Pointing at map)… Hmmm, this was a bit harder, they took the maps and had a conference been four of them and then Phoned a Friend. Got it! They circled the map at 4 stations, my Local Station, 2 Transfer stations and then the Final one which was nicely titled ‘Beijing Zoo’.

I read it back to them and tried to pronounce the 3 other Stations. Oooh?, the local one I though was easiest, Dongsi (Dong Si, right?, wrong!) Dong Souuuu, I tried but it just made them laugh, the more I chewed on the word the more they laughed. They were starting to mellow with me. Maybe I should have opened my visit with a stand up comedy act. I think they were also laughing that a man travelling alone in a city like Beijing wanted to spend the afternoon at the zoo. The song of “We’re all going to the Zoo tomorrow” came into my head. I changed the final line to ….’We’re going to stay until I get bored’ (was it Peter, Paul and Mary?). Well I had to do it, so with just a camera in hand, but also with iPhone and sufficient funds to get a plane ticket back to London if I got lost, I headed off. The station was the 10 minute walk, but I was noting landmarks along the route. ‘Dongsi!’ tick, I am there, nice underground and you sense organisation and quality. Luckily the automated machines were all faulty so I did not have to stand and watch people, I headed to the ticket office. One ticket for 2 Yuan (20 UK pence) gets you to anywhere in Beijing. London take note, 20 pence!, not 4 Pounds with limitations. The signs were really good and to my surprise the Platform announcments were in English as well. The Olympics must have given Beijing a good legacy for tourists. I think some stations in London had a few air conditioning units from London 2012. Queuing was Chinese style. You queue inside lines and when the doors open you push in, even if the passengers trying to exit can’t get off because Incomers are in the way. A little bit of logic training wouldn’t go amiss. Excellent information board and announcments on the train. Some of my blogs may sound like I have had 30 years in solitary confinement, but what interests me is how some of these ‘super’ economies are doing some of the basics. Trains, Sign posts and helping people, culture and behaviours. Kyoto is still top of my list of ‘having it sorted’. I’m playing around with some fun statistics that I will share with you in June, when I know that deporting me won’t matter.

So the trains, and to the Zoo, it was fine. I had my trusted compass but my maps are less trusted as they are very brittle and each time I pick it out my back pocket it is getting smaller.

I head straight for the Panda’s and in the first pen two were posing just as I had expected, chewing on some bamboo. Click, click, I’m done…Not really I did have a good walk around and even went into their large Aquarium. I think I have seen some of these fish on the menu. Cute Rainforest type layout taking you around the fish. Interesting all the signs..Don’t Climb, Don’t Feed, Don’t put hands in the Water, No Flash photography, do not enter xyz. Yeh right, so you want subtle things like this?

Later I was back in the Hotel as I fancied a few pints and a lot of Face Time with family and friends back home, which was lovely and a chance to share some of forthcoming blogs on special previews. A really enjoyable afternoon and the technology worked well. This world is a lot smaller than we think.

In the evening I returned to the al a carte restaurant and browsed the heavy menus again. Tonight a starter of a Pork Platter followed by Duck in Flower Tea with some Sticky Rice.

A plate of complimentary exotic fruits was placed in front to kick me off.

The Pork arrived and it was 3 slabs of different ways of cooking Belly I think.

One was Yellow and seemed to have been poached, one was very crispy and its skin, fat and meat was perfectly layered and the third was more soft and crunchy skin with similar layers. Each was perfectly cut into small bite sites pieces and easy for Chopsticks. A sweet almost marmalade sauce with a teryaki type brown sauce and sugar were the dips. Absolutely delicious. I don’t know how they get the skin so thin and crispy.

The Duck then arrived which was bite sized too in a red brown glaze with slices of mushrooms and I think braised water chestnuts. Very filling and went well with the pork. The rice had not arrived but I wasn’t that bothered as I was filling up very quickly. As a breath stop, I waved to the waitress to come back over and with the help of my passport explained that it was my birthday. I got a smile and a wish of Happy Birthday. I then asked her for a piece of paper and a pen, which she did and I wrote ’13 April’ and nodded to her so she understood. I then wrote 13 04 by the side of the date, nodded, so did she. I then arranged the numbers as an addition 1 + 3 + 0 + 4 and gave the answer of 8. The Chinese hold the number 8 with great reverence and superstition. She got it straight away, smiled and went off.

I returned to my meal and ate as much as I could. Leaving good food is not polite. I had a last gasp and put the Chopsticks down. As I did the restaurant Manager came over and wished me a Happy Birthday, news had travelled to the Kitchen, but then presented me with a Huge bowl of Udon Noodles, Cabbage and an Egg floating on the top and about a Litre of Broth. I thanked them and loosen my belt. I did manage most of the Noodles and Cabbage and Egg and had a celebration slurp on the broth. I really was done. I don’t want to be in someone else airline story…I was sitting next to this enormous Englishman!…The Hotel staff were warming to me. Less Goldfish today, more Elephants (in the politest memory sense). I signed my bill and it wasn’t questioned.

I headed down to do my Check Out as I had an early flight in the morning. It was the same guy who had turned down my Travellers Cheques. I knew it and he knew it too. We have an interesting dilemma, I have to put my PIN into the device and SIGN the paper. So if he doesn’t like my signature, then what? If he does like my signature, then does he apologise for yesterdays fiasco. I had had a good day and the Staff had tried harder today, so I broke the ice. I just advised him of my conversation with Amex and what he should have done, but also how the west does things a bit differently. He did apologise and did understand the irony of my check out signature. I also shared the Birthday Math with him and he offered to get the Kitchen to prepare a cake for me. I thank him, but declined.

Well that’s all but the packing which should be easy.

Overall, my impression is that Beijing has a lot of interesting things to see and do which you have to sample. Some of their behaviours and manners are very different to the West and I think I am a bit jaundiced (you could say they are) by the fact that I am a lone traveller which means that simple things are quite hard and one thing affects your view of the next. As a couple or in a group, while one person has their job as map reader, another person can be looking for clues and so on. But you must try these things and as we know some times we need a bit of motivation to make the first step. Onwards and downwards, Singapore!