And Now For Something Completely Different

When I was a student, specifically in the first year of my third-level education, I used to live in a house that was – without mincing my words here – an absolute dive. Seven (sometimes eight or nine) lads living in a dilapidated old house, with not one of us bothered about cleaning, meant at times the house became so disgusting I think back and shudder at the thought of living there again. At the weekends I used to go back home to a spotless pristine house and I really noticed and appreciated the cleanliness much more than I used to. Going from India/Nepal to China is a similar experience.

Like Lhasa, the first thing we noticed about Chengdu airport was the cleanliness. Not a spec of dirt was in sight. And once again it was all so well organised. But this time it was far from empty, which was to be expected in a country with over a billion people.



To minimize our arrival pains in a brand new country, we had arranged for our hostel to pick us up from the airport. On the car journey into the city centre, my eyes never left the window. The freshness of the surroundings was invigorating – everything here was different to where we had just come from – the buildings, the signs, the roads – everything was bigger and bolder. Immediately this country seemed more confident and sure of itself (and with far more civilized driving).