East Capital

Beijing translates as the North Capital (in the past, the capital was often in Nanjing, the south capital). Meanwhile, in Chinese, Tokyo is written as East Capital. Andrea, Hannah and I have now been here since Wednesday. An easy 3-hour flight over gave us some practice flying with Hannah before the long trip home in the Summer, and everything went just fine. We arrived to have dinner with a colleague at a restaurant where Kill Bill was filmed. Nice decor, though neither the food nor service were up to the high Japanese standards we've experienced since then. On Thursday and Friday whilst I was working, Andrea explored various parks and museums as well as a few shops. Both evenings we went out with Fumi (a former colleague at Plan who was about to get married and is the reason why we came over), Francesca (another former colleague) and her fiance Andrew. The first night we had excellent Japanese hot pot and the second night we had more traditional sashimi, sushi and the like (along with 10 or so other international guests who had flown over for the wedding).

The wedding was on Saturday, after an early 3.45am rise in order to watch the tuna auction at the fish market which was somewhat disappointing and a fantastic picnic in beautiful Shinjuku Gyoen park. It began in one of the most famous shrines (Meiji Jingu) in Tokyo. After walking through all the tourists to get to the shrine itself which is closed to the public, we sat down, somewhat praying Hannah would stay asleep throughout the thirty minute ceremony. She did, and we witnessed Fumi and Chris go through several rituals including drinking as they wore their Kimonos. Most of the action was performed by the priest and it was interesting to watch; the building itself was wonderful and it was certainly a Japanese experience. Afterwards we went to a nice French restaurant for the meal and a cigar bar for the party. Hannah did well throughout!

On Sunday we went for a walk through the imperial palace gardens and through Ginza, the shopping and business district. We finally found some reasonably priced noodles and got the monorail over to Odaiba along the Rainbow Bridge (which looks similar to the Golden Gate Bridge). There we happened upon a car festival, and gazed at stunning cars that one normally only sees in movies, like the Fast and Furious. These were classic cars that had been highly customized to bounce, sit very low, go very fast (with nitrox) or just look crazy. I'll provide photos soon. We also happened upon a dog jumping competition. It was very professional, and also made for a few minutes enjoyment. In fact there are clearly a lot of sub-cultures in Japan, and the dog-thing is one of the biggest. More people seem to have dogs than kids and they seem to spend more money on their dogs than their kids! We found entire shopping malls of dog shops with dog-strollers to go with dog clothes. Dinner was Yakatori on the street - nice, but as expensive as everything else in Tokyo!

Today we had another wonderful day, taking a trip out to Kamakura where we had some wonderful soup, visited several temples and shrines in the countryside, hiked several kilometres through woods, and ended up on the beach.

Tokyo is so clean it's crazy. And it shows that cleanliness is not about convenience - there are literally no trash cans anywhere, just a few for recycling cans here and there. Cleanliness is more an attitude. China has a way to go... bins everywhere, but does not help that much (though the streets are not too dirty due to the army of street cleaners). It's expensive, but it's green. The air is clean and the subway efficient (if not very well designed, route-wise). The people are extraordinarily kind, helpful and friendly as well as respectful. And they really respect people (it must be linked to their religion as much as anything else), not just their friends. We've really enjoyed our time here so far; and have two days left, which might give me more time to reflect a bit more. For now, suffice to say, where China tries, Japan masters: from parks and gardens to dining and transport. China is the student and can not do much wrong in learning from Japan!

7 years later - revisiting Yangshuo

I'm sitting outside, boiling hot, in Yangshuo, after a hike from Xingping to Yangdi. I was last year in December 2004 and have come back for some internal planning and team building for work and stayed a couple extra days for fun. Its a great place to come, one of the most famous and beautiful regions in the country- in fact today we took a photo that is a replica of that on the 20rmb bank note. only the best gets on a bank note!

What has changed since I was last here? Well last time it was raining and cold and we couldn't find any decent hotels with heating, since heating is rarely bothered with this far south as they only need for heating for a few weeks a year. The heating was-and still-is provided by using an air conditioner to pump hot air. Eventually we found one, the nicest place in town and it was not great. The other options were a handful of hostels and a smattering of awful Chinese hotels. There was a main street that was fun with a bunch of cafes and shops, supplementing the hostels. It was mostly foreigners and young people, though not entirely and I suspect more Chinese would have come in the warmer months after we were there. I recall a couple of small alleys of the main street (called West Street) and not much else. unlucky with the weather it rained whilst we cycled and when we were drifting downstream on a small bamboo boat. But the scenery in the countryside was stunning.

It still is stunning. And as I look out of the bus on my way to the airport I'm still marveling at the scenery. After a fantastic hike today along a river, the only noticeable change in the countryside is the hum of the many small tourist boats that now ply the rivers. A few old women sell fruit along the hiking path, but their very low price and desperation hints at the small numbers of potential customers that come their way. The houses in the villages closer to town near where our hotel is (we're in a lovely place 10 min drive away)  do show signs of construction and there are many other hotels dotting the area. I'm sure a lot of them have air conditioners that provide heating now.

In the town itself, a lot has changed. Indeed from some directions the town itself seems to take ages to get into as it now sprawls so much.  There are a lot of hotels, but most are still only a handful of floors high. The main street remains pedestrianized though it is now twice as wide to accommodate the insane numbers of people that flow down it in the evenings. Several thousand crowd the street as if a football match has just finished. The main street now has several clubs and plenty of bars. All were doing good business even on a Thursday night. A few nice shops remain though others have been replaced by Chinese food or tourist shops. Most of the nicer shops and cafes have moved into a few side alleys which retain their charm and remind me of the old main street. Unfortunately fewer of those alleys are catering to the foreigners looking for small hostels and small cafes as well as those looking for climbing or biking opportunities with individual operators, and more are catering to those looking for tour agencies or restaurants that can seat 40 outside which dominate the surrounding streets.

I don't begrudge development, nor that most Chinese tour guides seem to prefer taking their groups down hard shoulders of main roads rather than on countryside roads if that saves time to see a particular hill (in fact it's great for keeping many of those small streets quiet).  In all consideration it's not too bad. Some of what makes the town of Yangshuo so special still remains on the side streets off the main street, and the countryside remains relatively unspoilt.

So I'm relieved. let those millions of tourists come each year if they're happy crowding a few small stretches of river in their boats, packing into caves and cycling down main roads. That leaves many countryside lanes a beauty to cycle down, plenty of small villages to check out (though no-one comes here for them as there are nicer ones in other parts of the country), some deserted hiking paths and other stretches of river that remain pretty despite the hum of the small boats.

So maybe Chinese tourism development does not need to be a total disaster after all. Yangshuo remains a great place to come (just don't spend too much time on the main street)!

Her eyes are still blue - will they stay that way?

It's been 5 weeks since I last wrote. Hannah is now 12 weeks old and is enjoying her new bouncy chair. I am sure our nannies will enjoy playing with Hannah in it too. Shortly after the 3 week period, when I went back to work and Hannah began being away for more than a few hours a day we realized we needed a nanny. Andrea was unable to work and play with Hannah; one of the two was going to suffer, which was not fair to either. So we sought out a nanny and as a short-term solution found one recommended but only available in the mornings, and thus ended up getting another one for the afternoons. Also a short-term solution. Except, 9 weeks later, it's clearly become a medium-term solution. It might change in the Summer, we'll see. So Hannah get's a lot of attention at home. And we get a very clean home (when Hannah is sleeping, the nannies clean).

Hannah also gets a lot of attention elsewhere too. On the streets it's often because she is in a carrier (very unusual in China) and facing forward; and because she has big blue eyes. With our friends it is because, well our friends like Hannah. Most don't have babies yet, but we have a few friends with kids. They still love Hannah too. And of course we love her as well. She's not changed that much in the last month noticeably. Still looking around lots, still enjoying flexing her legs and standing up (supported heavily by us), and so on. She is beginning to use her hands a bit more, like when she feeds. I suppose the biggest change is she has begun to be able to put her hand in her own mouth intentionally and to suck on it. Sometimes she even manages to get a finger in her mouth, which is better. At least there is less dribble that comes out that way! She does dribble quite a lot. We've never had so many packets of tissues open in our place at one time! She also still burps up some her milk, but she is getting good at burping which is nice (she tends to cry until she burps).

Another noticeable change -- though hardly a milestone -- is her digestive system seems to be evolving. Less pooping and more peeing. It means less nappies/diapers. She has slept from midnight through to 6am a few times without needing a feed, but that is not the case all the time. We continue to take her out-and-about, and she's also managed on some milk powder occasionally if her mum has been away a long time and not been able to store enough breast milk in the fridge.

Aside from Hannah, work has been very busy with a few new people joining. Having said that this week might be a short lull (i've not had to do any work all this weekend). Recently I've been researching the role of the media in reporting on good/bad social, environmental and governance performance of companies and how that might influence the companies or investors. I've also been researching the role of business-government partnerships in advancing social agendas. And there has been some proposals, a lot of events (we moved to a new office and had a party as well as several other events related to different projects) and various bits and pieces of planning too.

Of course, the last month or so has been quite a wild time for China, with the parliament meeting, a scandal involving a senior politician, a big issue about labor rights with Apple and various other things happening. It's going to be an interesting next 12 months as the political handover (to a new cabinet) takes place. And now, as Spring has come and gone in the space of 2 weeks (it snowed about a month ago), Summer is upon us. The weather is around 25 degrees in the daytime and slowly moving up in the evenings (between 10-15 degrees now), and the skies are still very clear. In fact since Hannah was born, out of 12 weeks I think at least 9 have been relatively pollution-free. With weather like this we've spend most of our weekends outside, eating downstairs by the lake in our community, walking in parks or forests and also just walking around town. It's going to be a great 6 months until Winter gets here!