number 5

Another birthday in China. The 5th. Wow. More dinners and drinks over the whole weekend and a trip skiing on sunday which actually included as much drinking (on the deck, overlooking the slopes) as skiing. Well, the sun was shining and there was blue skies and long queues for the ski lifts so.... after the drinking we thought it a good idea to go snowboarding, since the queues were shorter for the beginner's slopes (and it would take us longer to get down, making the most of the time up to the top)! I'm still recovering from the snowboarding, but did get close to the form of 2000 when i last snowboarded!

There are a few photos of the US trip on the blog (adam.nomadlife.org) as well as hundreds more on the flickr site (flickr.com/adamsphotos go to 'sets' and 'West coast USA').

On saturday (yes, on my birthday!) i went to an event we (BSR) was involved in around Sustainable communities which was fairly interesting. Highlights were seeing the plans for a new eco-city in Tianjin, that looked really nice on the plans, though rarely ever mentioned anything about the people that are supposed to live there; as well as a senior minister from the Environment Ministry who was incredibly candid and open about the challenges China faces, the reaction of the public (protests, of which he showed many photos) and how the solution starts with talking to the people and using the power of the people to enforce laws and to listen to them.

Not too much else to report amongst the freezing Siberian winds, although i have recognised the benefit of buying 10 sachets of imported Swiss Mocha Coffee sachets for the price of one drink in a coffee shop. Addicted is quite the right word!