I had just a couple of days in Beijing to unpack and pack again and I was off to Hong Kong for a few nights. When I arrived it was warm and after meeting a friend for lunch I was off to one of the islands for a couple nights for some planning meetings. The outlying islands are much cheaper than Hong Kong Island, and much more relaxing.
Mostly they are tiny islands that you can run around (or across) in an hour. They have great seafood, nice beaches, fresh sea air, and no cars. It's not what you expect Hong Kong to be like and the easy accessibility of these islands is one factor that makes Hong Kong so appealing. In fact many people even live out there, enticed by the lifestyle and cheaper rents, and willing to take the 30 minute ferry ride into the main island every day. It was great to see colleagues again, have some fruitful discussions, have some fun, and enjoy some warm hilly runs.
After a weekend in Beijing, I was then off to Tokyo for some meetings and conferences, almost 2 years after my only previous trip there. Tokyo is an interesting, predictable, place. Its big, they eat lots of great food, everything is efficient, people are insanely polite and respectful, and so on. At the same time Tokyo is a strange mix: the smart but soul-less business district and office buildings, the simple but effectiveness stlye of restaurants and food, the lights and people that make it bustle, the ridiculous number of convenience stores, the crazy technology (taxis that electronically open and close your door for you, the toilets with more buttons ang gizmos than a toy shop, and more. Since Andrea doesn't eat fish and is mostly vegetarian, it was a chance to change my eating habits for a week too - and vey healthy it was too (especially combined with a morning jog around the palace which i highly recommend - though remember to run anti-clockwise!).
Japan remains an intriguing place with a unique culture and history, a strange language that veered off from Chinese, a declining population, a total lack of women in the workforce, a penchant for hierarchy, a loyal workforce, a highly efficient group of companies yet ones that struggle for innovation, and a modest culture that is trying to adapt globally. Its an intereesting comparison to China, one that is often made, and in some respects (e.g. economically, technically, infrastructure-wise) might be where China will end up in 20 years, while in other respects (e.g. environmentally and politically), we can only wish China might end up in such a good place.
Of course Japan is also stuck with history - and China won't let it forget its historic aggression. Or rather the Chinese government won't let its citizens forget Japan's historic aggression. The government here likes creating problems with Japan to distract from domestic issues and to increase the nationalistic spirit. The last few years have been particularly bad and look to be getting worse. One hopes there is sense somewhere so nothing will degrade too much, but for the unfortunate Japanese companies, sales regularly slump in China when the media frenzy is whipped up.
I enjoyed my trip learning about a new culture, interacting with various companies, trying out different dishes, finding hidden alleyways and restaurants, and enjoying more uncensored internet. Now, after 5 weeks of fast, uncensored internet I'm back in Beijing without any more travel plans for the foreseeable future, suffering with the slow internet amd bad air (which we can't ever forget, even when we're not in the country since it is the only thing anyone asks me about, no matter which country I am in). But its nice to be back with the family, cycling everywhere, going to toddler birthday parties, and of course wasting time staying up late to watch awful football matches online.
Now the attention will shift to some new projects that are starting, Andrea's busy schedule of travel and conferences, and dreams of warmer weather which are slowly coming true. And though no-one stops talking about the air, it also seems other things are on people's minds hear nowadays: politics, corruption, terrorism, plane crashes and other unfortunate incidents. As always, China is an interesting place to be!
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