Back in China after a holiday in Finland, it feels both good to be 'home' and like a new start.

The differences between western Europe and China couldn't have been more obvious than when visiting Finland. Finland is quintessentially Scandanavian (although officially they are Nordic) - sensible, logical, mildly colourless, polite and reserved. Yet I stood by a lake at my friend Charlie's summer house north of Tampere, and couldn't quite grasp that there was no noise. Nothing. No motorbike alarms, no mobile phones, no dogs, no shops pumping out shit-pop, no old ladies screaming, no old men hocking up spitballs. Cars patiently waited for me to cross the road, cyclists travelled in straight-lines, pedestrians (shock-horror) walked on the pavement. No-one stared at me for being foreign.

In some respects, Finland and China are quite similar. Both have had quite turbulent recent histories, only embarking on a modern course of nationhood since around the 1950's. The repercussions of their respective civil conflicts are still present today, but the two countries could not have developed more differently. I feel like in the midst of the Olympics euphoria and the Chinese 'gold-rush' mentality, it's worth reminding ourselves that Finland won't win too many medals this year, but they still possess the best education system in the world, and a standard of living well above even many developed nations after only 100 years of statehood. Strength of a nation is based on provision for its people, not gold medals.

It's easy to become disillusioned with life in China - endless low-level discrimination, rudeness, lack of social life and the ease of which you can slip into 'living in English' all contribute to a difficult experience. Coming back from holiday, spending time in Shanghai, on trains, taxis and buses, it's helped to remind me why I came here in the first place.