China Crisis

Well I’m back from my trip to China and I have to say I am so glad I don’t drink. Let me bullet my comments in that respect as follows:-

• China Air only give you half a glass of wine with your meal and make it quite clear that is all you are expected to drink. On an eleven hour flight that would have driven me crazy with desire for more more more.
• The organised tour we were on was so busy and intense there was hardly any time to stop during the day and at the brief lunch stops only a small beer was served to each person who wanted one. I could see some of the others in our party getting more and more stressed by this as the days went by. I would have been sick with frustration.
• Wine is very expensive in China and it was interesting to see the drinker’s in our party hogging their own bottles at evening dinner, reluctant to share any of their bottle with others in the party.
• Most of our meals were buffet or banquet style and the drinks service was so slow, people were getting quite irate waiting to be served a drink whilst their food was getting cold. One scots person even started shouting.
• There were very few bars as we would expect to find in the west. Instead the Chinese seem to congregate in brightly lit rooms and drink strong spirits or beers watching loud rubbish on the TV or singing dreadful karaoke.
• The solution for many in the party was to spend the evening drinking spirits in their room so they got their daily alcohol fix. When you think they had flown thousands of miles to experience life in China this seems a bit sad. My wife and I went on evening tours of the cities to experience the night life.
• Most of our internal travelling was by bullet train – they don’t serve booze on the bullet train. You can bring your own drink aboard but then you look like an alcoholic as some in our party did!
• Most mornings we checked out of our hotels at 8.00 a.m. to start the day’s adventure. Not a good time for those suffering with hangovers!
• The pollution and smog in China’s cities is so bad sometimes it was hard to breathe. To have suffered that on top of a hangover would have been headache city itself.
• China’s cities are so scaringly massive and over-populated they are depressing to witness. The last thing you need to add to this on top of the grey skies is the depressant effects of alcohol.
• In Chongqing City (population a mere 32 million) they have a statue of a spirit god who can reputedly stop you getting a hangover. There was a huge queue of people waiting to touch him for luck.
• At chucking out time in the UK, people desperate to sober up might grab a smelly kebab or a burger. In China the street food equivalent is starfish or seahorse on a stick, or a nice fat spider or fried duck’s head if you are feeling particularly peckish.
• In your UK local pub, you might accompany your beer with a packet of pork scratchings, in China a packet of chicken feet to munch on is more the done thing.

Yes, I am heartily glad I don’t drink. I had a wonderful and enlightening trip and I am glad I went, but I won’t be going back soon. I am a vegetarian and they have definitely not heard of that in China, in two weeks I lost 9 pounds in weight! 
 

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