hurrengoa
free internet in china judas arrieta   I  judas arrieta Beijing is the capital of a state with more than a thousand million inhabitants. All cities grow and change. The Beijing story is truly incredible. It’s clear to see how current economic and social developments are as radical in their way as Mao ZeDong’s Cultural Revolution of forty years ago.

An open window that enshrines the Beijing landscape turns the small hotel room into something infinite. It seems as if it’s a place found in dreams, but only for me.

I’ll flirt around Beijing for nine days. The Yuan is the name of Chinese currency. It’s written in six different languages. How many is the Euro spelt out in?

I arrived here on the first day of The Year on The Cock. In China, the year of pride and good luck starts on February the ninth.

The sun isn’t able to heat up the clear, blue sky. But everybody is on holidays here. Museums and the most renowned tourist attractions are full to the brim with people. It’s easy to come across the chance to feast your eyes on contemporary art. You can view the work of the latest Chinese artists in a heavily-walled castle from the Middle Ages. The symbiosis between the building and the art work is genuinely peculiar. Ming graves, The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, The city of Hudong... I lost myself in the places I had first seen in those Kung Fu films when I was younger.

Beijing is the perfect place to buy whatever takes your fancy. The repertoire of rows, haggling and facial gestures provided by buyers and sellers is never exhausted until a price has finally been settled on. Normally, most buyers are tourists who buy just about everything imaginable at really low prices.

Neither the panda bear or the dragon are boss in Beijing. It’s the duck. Duck Beijing style. You can have fried duck’s liver, heart and kidneys with boiled broccoli as an aperitif. Or, maybe sweetly roasted with hoi-sin sauce and raw onion in a bread cake. Go and see the duck ritual: an armed chef – mask and all – face to face with the duck. A quick surgical slice and you’ll soon have our feathered friend served up on a plate before you. And to finish off: soup made from duck bones. Lip-smacking good.

The Chinese used to have nothing but disdain for beauty and fashion. Nowadays, it’s the second biggest cosmetics market in Asia.

It’s time for me to leave Beijing. White as you like, like an yet to be started painting, it seems as if the city of Beijing is bidding me farewell. I’ll see you soon is my reply. Even the longest journey is started with just one step. I’ll be back shortly, this time as an emigrant.

Xie xie wo de tien ko!