A little over two weeks ago I was in Beijing on my first ever business trip. I've decided that business trips are a bit rubbish. It's like going on holiday except you have to do stuff you don't want to all the time.
Mind you, at least this one was to Beijing, where I could catch up with people I know. On Friday I'm flying from Shenzhen to Nanchang to attend some kind of trade fair. I'm not sure I'd even heard of the place before.
I caught up with former flatmate Paul in Beijing. He was doing his weekly DJ slot at Q Bar, which apparently pays reasonably handsomely, and I enjoyed hanging out with him and the staff. He even put on my punctuation-themed dance track "Apostrophe" at one point, and amazingly the bar didn't clear out.
Our friend and classmate Kevin was also there, in good form but now dangerously single-minded on the pursuit of women. This must be what it's like socialising with a great white shark. No conversation, just the relentless pursuit of prey. At one point, a girl from Leeds University was talking to me and, frustrated by my lack of 'action' on account of being, you know, married, Kevin physically shoved me off my barstool while she wasn't looking and took my place.
Due to working on Sunday morning I was unable to attend the reportedly riotous Halloween party in Dashanzi, but I went to a pre-party thing at my friend AJ's flat, where she plied me and the other guests with Special Party Treats, which may not have been a great idea really, but hey.
The photoshoot itself was not too bad. Friday was a long day, and followed by dinner with people from the hosting company. My Mandarin seems to be OK but I don't really have the vocab for semi-formal dinner conversations, and I'm not sure if I ever did. Something to work on.
Sunday afternoon was also somewhat wearing. I'd checked out of the hotel with my bags and planned to just mooch around a bit, go up to the station at Dongzhimen and take the train to the airport. However, the hosts were insistent I take the company car, which meant spending hours with one of their staff members hoofing around with my luggage and stopping for a coffee. Not actively unpleasant, but also not what I'd planned. It also meant, I realised at the airport, that I still had a Special Party Treat in my wallet, which I had to dispose of before going through customs - how rock'n'roll.
