Howdy
Beijing has started to get cold, we are now planning to get ourquilts for our beds, warm clothes and everything. I guess autumn isending soon :(. i discovered we have no control over our heating.The city decides when to run on the heating, and i think that is nottill november 15th or 25th. I was also told that once they turn theheating on everyone has to open their windows cause it gets so hotinside..don't know what their reasoning is, i guess until theyswitch it on they are saving energy. Anyway, its lots of layers forus!
Back at work, and I have been at a swanky hotel for a couple of days(not the evneings though) for an ethical investment conference;interesting and useful (generally) -it was my first experience ofusing headphones to listen to the translators, felt kinda cool! I'vealso been out shopping in preparation for the 'British Ball' onSaturday, so kitted myself out with a nice traditional chinese suit,i guess i'll upload some pics after the ball. Also ordered atailored suit -still very cheap compared to UK.
All the bigwigs go to the ball (Ambassador, Heads of BP...that kindof thing). I have been told they will be leaving around 11, so thenwe can finish with the networking and enjoy the freeflow bar :)Kindly a 'survival breakfast' is provided between 1-3am to keep usgoing -a fantastic idea! A shame that on the sat and the sun I am afacilitator at a mini-conference all day both days ... maybe thesunday I won't be so 'efective'!
I finally found a chinese student with a car! the first (its rare!) -u'd be mad to drive here, drivers have 6 senses i swear, swervingand weaving between lanes without using mirrors. Noone knows howmany die on the roads because the gov has all that info, and noonereally believes the numbers they give out, but i haven't seen many(serious) accidents. Its one thing creating an extra lane when intraffic (i.e. fitting 4 cars in 3 lanes), its another when doing itat 60 mph...as they say: OIC -Only In China!
I have been sampling the CBD -Central Bus, District here, and itsbetter than i expected (Shanghainese pooh-pooh it in comparison);even here (when generally new business is all in shanghai) half ofbeijing is still being built, upwards, and in glass! I have alsobeen sampling the nightlife a bit more -Hou hai is an area around alake -its fantastic, highly reccommended and still pretty cheap.Although did I tell you the newsagent type shop in our 'lobby' sells640ml of beer for 1.6 RMB, thats about 12p!! Joy oy joy :)
other intersting observations: korean food is more individual (youdont all grab from the same plate) but they have metal chopsticks -areal bitch to use. The chinese love the outdoors and nature (its abeautiful country outside the cities, so why are they destronying itso much? I am shocked by how bad it is, with coal, litter, refuse,waste, pollution etc. And it is much better now than it used to be.A
nyway, work is going well, I'm off on a CSR focus now, which isgreat, gonna stay working for aiesec till early feb i guess (visaspermitting). Soon it will be 4 of us in the appartment, instead ofjust 3 -should be even more fun -more fighting for the internet :)
Let me know how you are all doing.
Monday, October 25, 2004
Sunday, October 10, 2004
leaving the cities...
hello
firstly apologies for saying Flic has been going to the gum, i meantof course gym. She has now discovered the playground near ourappartment that contains exercise equipment, and I had previouslyenjoyed that whilst locked out the appartment ;)
All over Beijing there are these kid's playgrounds with barbells,skiing/step machines and so on. They are designed in that big,bulky, blu kinda plasticy way so they are safe to use, but stillkinda serious. I like the idea. Might not be fun in teh snow alterin the year though, but it could help cut down the obesity crisis inthe 'west'.
In an email following this, you should be able to access some photosonline (fingers crossed) -a selection of pics, people, cities,countryside. The great wall ones will also be uploaded in the future.
So I went to China's most popular tourist (bear in mind most oftheir toursits are Chinese from other parts of China) site onprobably the busiest day of the year: the forbiddent city on theweekend of the national holiday (celebrating china's 55th birthdaytakes a whole 6 days!). But it was not too crowded. Frustratingly,and typical of China, not only are there extras inside that costmoney in addition to the entrance ticket, there arecompeting 'offical audio guides'. grr so I only chose the wrong one -the one with the chinese person talking and not the other companythat has roger moore!
Anyway its a very big, old, chinese place to visit. Previously Iwent to a rock/punk festival (just 1 day of it though) whichwas 'different' although the music was quite good. We left early andwent out drinking and clubbing in Sanlitun. I should add we alsospent a while buying the kebabs, and giving them away to the beggars(the things alcohol does to you, but hey, at least they cant tradekebabs for drugs...).
oh, so the cities...I went away for a few days into the mountains.they were very pretty and me and a yank walked half way across themand back with mroe than a little effort -well worth it though.Finally got rid of the stupid hooting that was going on int hehorrible village that has grown up in the valley. It nicely joinsall the monasteries together with a mess of crappy restaurants,stands, run-down hotels and so on. the guide book says the 4 starhotels are a few km away! rant over, on my way back we passed halfof the world's coal being moved down this one road via trucks.another fantastic bit of china. 1 long road, 1 truck every 10seconds, each truck double length, overflowing with coal, and theonly buildings are catering to the local trucking community -lovely.but its nice to see another part of China.
I was suitably impressed by a UNESCO site (1500 yr old caves cutinto rocks, a bit like Petra i guess, but not as large), beforegetting my 3rd night train in 5 nights. Now I'm in Shanghai; but imaanged another day out to ZhouZhuang yesterday (the venice of theeast) supposedly -a fantastic little town, where toursim has been agood thing and well managed, unlike in the Wutai Shan. fantasticcontrast. in fact i liked it more than the real venice (it wasquieter, less polluted),a nd even got a free concert of some kind offamous chinese music that is also somehow protected by UNESCO....
time to get to work (its sunday but all of china is working, tocatch up the days lost cause of the national holiday)
come on England!
Adam
firstly apologies for saying Flic has been going to the gum, i meantof course gym. She has now discovered the playground near ourappartment that contains exercise equipment, and I had previouslyenjoyed that whilst locked out the appartment ;)
All over Beijing there are these kid's playgrounds with barbells,skiing/step machines and so on. They are designed in that big,bulky, blu kinda plasticy way so they are safe to use, but stillkinda serious. I like the idea. Might not be fun in teh snow alterin the year though, but it could help cut down the obesity crisis inthe 'west'.
In an email following this, you should be able to access some photosonline (fingers crossed) -a selection of pics, people, cities,countryside. The great wall ones will also be uploaded in the future.
So I went to China's most popular tourist (bear in mind most oftheir toursits are Chinese from other parts of China) site onprobably the busiest day of the year: the forbiddent city on theweekend of the national holiday (celebrating china's 55th birthdaytakes a whole 6 days!). But it was not too crowded. Frustratingly,and typical of China, not only are there extras inside that costmoney in addition to the entrance ticket, there arecompeting 'offical audio guides'. grr so I only chose the wrong one -the one with the chinese person talking and not the other companythat has roger moore!
Anyway its a very big, old, chinese place to visit. Previously Iwent to a rock/punk festival (just 1 day of it though) whichwas 'different' although the music was quite good. We left early andwent out drinking and clubbing in Sanlitun. I should add we alsospent a while buying the kebabs, and giving them away to the beggars(the things alcohol does to you, but hey, at least they cant tradekebabs for drugs...).
oh, so the cities...I went away for a few days into the mountains.they were very pretty and me and a yank walked half way across themand back with mroe than a little effort -well worth it though.Finally got rid of the stupid hooting that was going on int hehorrible village that has grown up in the valley. It nicely joinsall the monasteries together with a mess of crappy restaurants,stands, run-down hotels and so on. the guide book says the 4 starhotels are a few km away! rant over, on my way back we passed halfof the world's coal being moved down this one road via trucks.another fantastic bit of china. 1 long road, 1 truck every 10seconds, each truck double length, overflowing with coal, and theonly buildings are catering to the local trucking community -lovely.but its nice to see another part of China.
I was suitably impressed by a UNESCO site (1500 yr old caves cutinto rocks, a bit like Petra i guess, but not as large), beforegetting my 3rd night train in 5 nights. Now I'm in Shanghai; but imaanged another day out to ZhouZhuang yesterday (the venice of theeast) supposedly -a fantastic little town, where toursim has been agood thing and well managed, unlike in the Wutai Shan. fantasticcontrast. in fact i liked it more than the real venice (it wasquieter, less polluted),a nd even got a free concert of some kind offamous chinese music that is also somehow protected by UNESCO....
time to get to work (its sunday but all of china is working, tocatch up the days lost cause of the national holiday)
come on England!
Adam
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