Zipping off to Zibo

Where?

Today I arrived in Zibo, Shandong province. It is a 'medium-sized' city bordering the province's capital, Jinan. With a population of over 4 million people, I'd say it's pretty big. 

I was able to travel here on a high-speed train from Beijing South Station. The train reached speeds of just over 300 km/h and it really was incredible to see the scenery whip by the windows with surprisingly little vibration being felt onboard. 

Shortly after arriving in Zibo, I met Zixiao and his father, who drove us to a restaurant where Zixiao and I had a huge rice noodle dish for dinner. I honestly do not think I have eaten so much since arriving in Beijing. After a good four hours my stomach is still working overtime trying to digest what just happened to it.

After dinner, I entered his house for the first time, and was warmly welcomed by his mother, who was very kind, offering green tea, fruit, sweet snacks and slippers.

We watched some Chinese TV - discussing the recent tube strikes in London, the Japanese Prime Minister and his relations with China, and a typhoon creeping up towards southern China, among many other things.

I can't help but feel sorry for Zixiao that he must sleep on the floor to allow me to sleep in his room. I am very grateful for him and his family's kindness towards me on my arrival.

All in all, it's been a pretty reasonable and successful day - I did some last-minute work in the lab just before leaving and somehow didn't miss the train on the way here even though it is a Friday, where a magnificent number of commuters will surely be visiting family and friends.

What should I have done differently?

Bring food and drink on the train. I did not know that this was a thing on such an expensive and high-tech means of transport - but many people brought on bags of KFC, McDonalds and Pot Noodles, while I sat there with a half-eaten bag of peanuts and about 200ml of water to last three hours. The only water available is boiling, so remember to bring bottled water (and tea bags and Pot Noodles).

Do not buy train tickets online. There was absolutely no point. I had to arrive in the train station early to queue up in a stressful ticket queue to get the tickets printed after they checked my passport and charged me 5元. It makes a lot more sense to buy the tickets in person at a nearby ticket booth where your passport would be checked on the spot and you get your tickets printed on the day. The stress of having paid over 500元 without a physical ticket being in my hand for a week just isn't worth it.

A seriously late post

Embarrassingly, I was meant to start making blog posts right from the time I landed in the People's Republic of China. Unfortunately I physically have not found enough time to bother, but I greatly acknowledge the value of writing about ones own experiences, especially during travel, so I might as well start now, five (six?) weeks in.

Why am I here?

At some point during my second year at Imperial, I received an email about an opportunity of doing a  research placement in Beijing. I replied on the 4th April 2015, expressing my interest and attaching a CV and transcript.

On the 14th May 2015, and after many rejections from various companies including the obvious Facebook, Google, Bloomberg, an Institute of Quantum Computing among many others, I received an acceptance email.

How did I feel when receiving such email?

Pretty good.

First thoughts when arriving?

It is 00:59:20 07/08/2015 Beijing Time, but I will continue writing.

The lead-up to travelling to Beijing from London was very stressful. I did not physically have my VISA until the Monday before leaving (I was meant to fly out on the following Friday - 26th June). I was then able to book my plane tickets which cost around £640. I then had to pack to leave university, after collecting travel money and ensuring my bank card worked in China. I invited my two oldest sisters over to visit my halls of residence, which was due to close down after this year, so it really was their last chance. They also helped pack, which I really am grateful for, before I finally went home for the first 'proper' time since Easter.

For two days.

Then I left. The journey with Etihad airways was reasonably stress-free. My tickets and boarding pass mistakenly had Mrs. Michael instead of Mr. Michael which no one noticed - even though after calling Etihad, they claimed I MUST change it to 'Mr', which will cost £40. Ridiculous. I also was able to fly in business class on the way from Abu Dhabi to Beijing. It was all well and good until I realised I left my laptop charger on the previous plane. And after realising the only reason I was upgraded was because the previous transfer flight was delayed to such an extent that my luggage was not able to physically be transferred quickly enough, so this was probably some sort of compensation. 

I slept well, arriving in Beijing at around 9 in the morning. My luggage had been lost, but I was pretty immune to things going wrong at this point so this didn't bother me too much. I went to enquire about my luggage at a desk where people spoke very little English and in a rather rude way. I was told that my luggage would arrive the next day which was a relief.

The 'culture shock' was not too bad when initially arriving. Of course, everyone was suddenly Chinese, but my main problem was the language barrier, as English really wasn't as commonly spoken as in any other country I've visited. One of the things I have learnt to do since arriving here is to respect the fact that not everyone should be 'required' to know English - China is such a vast place, with billions of people comfortably getting on with business knowing only Mandarin, so why bother learning English? It is only my ego alone making me overestimate the importance of learning English - rather if I were to have the nerve to travel to such a rapidly developing and hugely successful country, I should be the one learning their language.

What have I been getting up to?

Research. I am working under the watchful eye of Professor. Jun Zhu, a mind-blowingly successful and established Associate Professor at both Tsinghua and Carnegie Mellon University. I am looking at using Bayesian methods for machine learning with big data. In particular I have been focusing on how one can use Gaussian Process regression to produce a good model to fit a given set of data. For example, given some parameters, for example the current levels of CO2, SO2, wind speed and temperature among others, what can I predict the levels of PM2.5 to be, as a measure of pollution in Beijing? I have been given 5022 data points that the algorithm can 'train' on such that predictions can be made. My work has mainly been relying on a lot of statistics and numerical analysis knowledge, so now I really do appreciate why courses in these areas had to be taken in my second year. 

What have I seen in Beijing?

I have been to the Great Wall of China at Badaling, Hohai park, The National Museum, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, The Temple of Heaven, The Antiques Market, and many more that I have forgotten the names of. These places have provided a solid grounding in the history which makes up the backbone of Beijing. Not only do I enjoy the incredible sights but learning more about the culture is what I gain the most from. It is all a very nice change from the regularity of living in London.

I am planning on visiting my friend Zixiao tomorrow (well today - I'm about to sleep now - it is now 1:54 am) in his hometown in Zibo, Shandong province. I lived with him for a year in the same room, alongside my great friend Karol, (of whom I also visited in his hometown). I always have an interest to see how my friends get on in their hometowns, where they are most comfortable, and to see whether it is any different to what I see of them in London. Seeing how well (or not so well) they get on with locals and next-door neighbours is always an interesting sight. Seeing Karol in Poland last year was definitely a great experience. I really do wonder what awaits me in Zibo.

I really need to get to sleep now.