Roll up for Beijing Line 6

Just had two weeks in Shanghai, Chengdu, Suzhou and Beijing. Instead of the international hotel I hired an airbnb apartment about 8 stops east on the 6 line in Beijing. Nary a westerner in sight! It was riveting. Catching the crowded tube each morning was fascinating. Not nearly as scary as some people warned but hectic nonetheless. It helped that I've lived in London on and off for years and know how to take the knocks in the Underground.

Actually, the Beijing stations have arrows marking where the train doors are and people stand in an orderly line. The only pressure comes when a crowd is desperate to get on and perceive there still to be enough space. Then there's a shove which is a bit like a rugby scrum when the ball goes in. But there's no aggro really. There's no point, people do it day after day.

I was with an investment bank for some of the time and those Chinese lunches..... My mother always used to make me clean my plate with the admonition: think of the poor, starving millions in China.... Well, no more, I just couldn't handle all the food. Courses were piling up around my place setting.

We have a Chinese Tiger Mum story from London. She used to arrive about an hour early at our son's prep school in Hampstead so that she could park right outside the exit. So when her boys came out she would whisk them home quickly to start their homework. The one son is at uni now studying.... Egyptology, go figure.