wow, what luggage:
-1 x 100 litre backpack (approx 20kg)
-1x 80 litre backpack (plus small backpack zipped onto outside) (approx 20kg)
-1 (approx 10 kg) suitcase (stuffed with 2 suits and several thick jackets!)
-1 (approx 10kg) rucksack
-1 laptop (approx 5 kg)
and strapped onto all these bags is a tent, a rubber sleeping mat, a scroll (painting) and a cycle helmet plus 2 other empty rucksacks!
quite a lot that it took 3 people to get it into taxi. After a dash around town for dinner and to get the key of my boss's apartment (where i'll be staying this week whilst looking fro other accomm, and cause he is in beijing for a couple days); i then dashed to station expecting a man with a trolley to help me. but i couldnt find anyone so had to carry all of above (1 big backpack on front, 1 on back, laptop around neck and in left hand was dinner +rucksack, right hand was suit case) into station. take it all off to go through x-ray machine. Then put it all on again. Then found a man with a trolley. Said my train is too soon so cannot help me. then told me to hurry up (leaving in 10 minutes).
I started walking, just about, sweating like crazy until i found another trolley man. he said the same thing. Now i was pissed. hot and sweaty, tired and in a hurry for the train. I wasted no time in telling him that the reason i needed him was cause i had little time to get my train. He refused to help me still -told me to hurry. i told him i cannot, unless he helps me! he walks off and 2 ladies (1 in 60s, 1 in 30s) take pity and each grab one of my smaller pieces of luggage (suit case and rucksack). Actually they could barely lift them and hard to share the rucksack between them both. Promptly we hobbled/ran off to the train, making it with several minutes to spare.
My plan was to arrive early, knowing form experience how little space there is for luggage and how much of a spectacle i make of myself normally with just 1 large bag and 1 small bag! now with 2 of each, and arriving 1 minutes before the train leaves... uh oh! After 2 other backpackers got on before me (takin up valuable luggage rack space) i went on. Actually I went in 1 bag at a time.. the whole carriage helps me move luggage around to find space more me. shoes are off, feet are on seats, laughter everywhere.. especially with teh12 yr old kid once i talk to him in chinese. Then i go back for more luggage.. and knock everyone out the way in the aisle..more luggage =more laughter (and disbelief!). I love this kind of experience -talk about an ice breaker.
Eventually its all sorted, i sit down. The little kid asks to swap seats with my neighbour so he can talk to me! yay... great conversations later and i am showing my photos on my laptop to him and another neighbour. practising chinese and making new friendswho all live in Xi'an (where i am about to go, and currently am friendless!). Since I have a window seat, I am now sitting here, typing off-line, an could not be happier.
The rest of the holiday with dad went well and it was a relaxing time. I read the wholoe biography of Mao (the unknown story) which is 650 pages in 4 days on the beach (MUST read for everyone interested in becoming a dictator and runing their country in order to get power!). Realised most readers of this probably have no clue about any thing like the cultural revolution, tibet, great leap forward or anything and will endaevour to put more short history into future posts!
Now after saying some goodbyes (some temporarily as i know i'll be back to beijing for work in a couple of months and cause everyone promises to visit me -and some to people leaving china) I am ready. Excited to meet new people, live in a new place that is so different to Beijing, excited to have such a great boss (more to come on him later I am sure), flexible job and so much more. This train journey sums up China really. As my dad said Chinese people are just so friendly! They are so interesting and so interested in (foreigners, foreign opinions etc), the atmosphere in the hard seats on these long journeys are fantastic. everyone talks to everyone else.. irregardless of age.
True -the beds are more comfortable but the atmosphere is no where close, and in the soft seats -its 100% silent. Hard seat -that is the way to go.
Everyone has been asking me about my salary in my new job.. well it should be enough to cover all my living expenses and chinese lessons. But exact job description and everything is still to be decided. Now, i need to get back to Song Chen Yang (12 yr old kid who has moved back to his seat, bored of my photos, but who i have to email the photo of me and him too) and the graphic designer guy (my actual neighbour -name unknown, but hopefully to become 1st friend in Xi'an!) and another guy who acually speaks some English. new times ahead. Finally i want to congratulate Rachel and James on their wedding that I missed... but send me the photos! and new word of the journey: bo ke (blog -one of those few chinese words that are based on english, but still written in chinese hanzi)
Monday, July 31, 2006
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
holiday
After leaving aiesec and sorting out my job i had a few days to relax somewhat and then my dad arrived (1 day late thanks to air france). For anyone doing a few days in Beijing this was our itinerary:
day 1: Beijing urban planning museum-Tiananmen square-Forbidden City-Beihai-Hou Hai-Bell/Drum towers and then to centro bar for a drink in British chamber networking.
Day 2: Summer Palace-Zhongguancun (cheap IT stuff)-Qingnianhu park (near andingmen station, which has a water park in it)-Peking Duck just off Wangfujing (nice and not too expensive)
Day 3: Cycle to great wall at HuangHua with tent-camp overnight on wall
Day 4: Cycle back to Beijing by mid-afternoon.
we were staying in jade dragon youth hostel which is convenient with good private twin rooms. though the cycle is not that exciting for the journey outside of beijing, once getting into the country its great, and if your knee has issues (or you get bored of cycling back in rush hour) you can just grab a minivan and rent it for the rest of the journey!
On day 4 (Sunday) we flew off to Sanya in Hainan island.. a biggish island (size of Ireland or bigger probably) known as the Hawai of the east. weather is great all year and though its well-known in china -chiense only mostly go when the rest of china is cold in the winter. so going in the summer is cheaper and not so crowded. A great decision. 1/3rd prcie 5 star hotels and discount flights led us to spending teh first 2 days on beaches and strolling around the local area, including going Scuba Diving (still love it). Dad is still taken aback with how cheap stuff is -I am quite used to it!
Today was 3rd day on Island and we went to the JianFengLing Rainforest. Wow. 2 hour bus journey around a bit of the island (its about a 16 hour round trip all around!) and we got dropped off at the edge of a motorway, grabbed a taxi-motorbike and went through a 100% typical chinese town in the countryside: food-markets, shops selling the same stuff, everyone hanging around doing nothing, bulls and pigs roaming around bossing the road etc. Then 20 kms into the rainforest and 1,00 m up we got to Heaven lake: stunning. photos will be uploaded soon. A nice 'peasent-style' lunch later and we carried on into the rainforest to a health resort which sits near a waterfall. us 2, plus our motorbike guide went up the river, spent a while swimming under the waterfall (not the biggest in the world but refreshing and great to have it alone) and then went back to the lake for a walk. We encountered ancient trees, buterflies and other birds that sounded like chainsaws (but were not!) -no leopards unfortunately, but the whole trip was topped off once we missed the last bus and had to hitch-hike in a chinese blue truck transporting lots of rocks!
What's great about this trip is there are so few tourists; mostly russians at our resort, though replaced by chinese on the beach once the sun goes down. some locals try to sell fruit (yummy) and other stuff but are not too bad, and the beaches are great. The hotel's service is fantastic. The local city, sanya, is buzzing with young people and opld alike.. everyone is out walking past the empty shops, drinking and eating on the streets, playing chess on teh street and giving the place a nice atmosphere. The rainforest was totally empty, the path is a track, but they had a brochure with some english in, some signs in english and all the buildings were tastefully done, nothing was rip-off expensive. i could go on and on, but most toursit sights in china are SO badly done and this was just..perfect. even down to the fact that its hard to get to and no-one there speaks any english -so it will keep out most other tourists in the future!
Haian is an isalnd with huge tourism potential, that it only seems to have started exploiting in the last 5 years... so it has learned from other parts of china, and is doing a better job than most. Its got a fair few fancy hotels, but mostly its an agricultural economy with most people using bulls and cows as transport in the fields (though motorbikes on the roads). As parts of China goes, its got great beaches, great countryside and by exploring its very easy to see the real China.. the crappy towns that are full-of-life, the old people working the fields and the young babies everywhere. its hard to see so much of 'typical china' and enjoy yourself whilst relaxing in china in 1 place -hainan is highly recommended, and not just for the beaches.
day 1: Beijing urban planning museum-Tiananmen square-Forbidden City-Beihai-Hou Hai-Bell/Drum towers and then to centro bar for a drink in British chamber networking.
Day 2: Summer Palace-Zhongguancun (cheap IT stuff)-Qingnianhu park (near andingmen station, which has a water park in it)-Peking Duck just off Wangfujing (nice and not too expensive)
Day 3: Cycle to great wall at HuangHua with tent-camp overnight on wall
Day 4: Cycle back to Beijing by mid-afternoon.
we were staying in jade dragon youth hostel which is convenient with good private twin rooms. though the cycle is not that exciting for the journey outside of beijing, once getting into the country its great, and if your knee has issues (or you get bored of cycling back in rush hour) you can just grab a minivan and rent it for the rest of the journey!
On day 4 (Sunday) we flew off to Sanya in Hainan island.. a biggish island (size of Ireland or bigger probably) known as the Hawai of the east. weather is great all year and though its well-known in china -chiense only mostly go when the rest of china is cold in the winter. so going in the summer is cheaper and not so crowded. A great decision. 1/3rd prcie 5 star hotels and discount flights led us to spending teh first 2 days on beaches and strolling around the local area, including going Scuba Diving (still love it). Dad is still taken aback with how cheap stuff is -I am quite used to it!
Today was 3rd day on Island and we went to the JianFengLing Rainforest. Wow. 2 hour bus journey around a bit of the island (its about a 16 hour round trip all around!) and we got dropped off at the edge of a motorway, grabbed a taxi-motorbike and went through a 100% typical chinese town in the countryside: food-markets, shops selling the same stuff, everyone hanging around doing nothing, bulls and pigs roaming around bossing the road etc. Then 20 kms into the rainforest and 1,00 m up we got to Heaven lake: stunning. photos will be uploaded soon. A nice 'peasent-style' lunch later and we carried on into the rainforest to a health resort which sits near a waterfall. us 2, plus our motorbike guide went up the river, spent a while swimming under the waterfall (not the biggest in the world but refreshing and great to have it alone) and then went back to the lake for a walk. We encountered ancient trees, buterflies and other birds that sounded like chainsaws (but were not!) -no leopards unfortunately, but the whole trip was topped off once we missed the last bus and had to hitch-hike in a chinese blue truck transporting lots of rocks!
What's great about this trip is there are so few tourists; mostly russians at our resort, though replaced by chinese on the beach once the sun goes down. some locals try to sell fruit (yummy) and other stuff but are not too bad, and the beaches are great. The hotel's service is fantastic. The local city, sanya, is buzzing with young people and opld alike.. everyone is out walking past the empty shops, drinking and eating on the streets, playing chess on teh street and giving the place a nice atmosphere. The rainforest was totally empty, the path is a track, but they had a brochure with some english in, some signs in english and all the buildings were tastefully done, nothing was rip-off expensive. i could go on and on, but most toursit sights in china are SO badly done and this was just..perfect. even down to the fact that its hard to get to and no-one there speaks any english -so it will keep out most other tourists in the future!
Haian is an isalnd with huge tourism potential, that it only seems to have started exploiting in the last 5 years... so it has learned from other parts of china, and is doing a better job than most. Its got a fair few fancy hotels, but mostly its an agricultural economy with most people using bulls and cows as transport in the fields (though motorbikes on the roads). As parts of China goes, its got great beaches, great countryside and by exploring its very easy to see the real China.. the crappy towns that are full-of-life, the old people working the fields and the young babies everywhere. its hard to see so much of 'typical china' and enjoy yourself whilst relaxing in china in 1 place -hainan is highly recommended, and not just for the beaches.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
found it?
A way of experiencing more about China, of learning more Chinese, of utilising my recent experience, of learning new things.
Hopefully my next step will be all this and more. In 2 weeks I am moving to Xi'an, one of the ancient capitals of China. It is in the middle of China, and is where a global NGO (Headquartered in the UK) called Plan has it's China head office.
Plan works across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, in communities where many struggle to meet their basic needs. Working in partnership with local people of all ages, we support them to end poverty in their community. www.plan-international.org/ It focuses on working with children, and areas such as education, health, habitat, livelihood and building relationships.
I'm going to be working partly in the field on education issues (not teaching!) and partly in the head office working on corporate partnerships and assisting one of the Director's of the NGO in China. I also plan to take a couple of hours of chinese every day.
So, hopefully it will be everything that I want.. the job I am looking for..at the moment. I'm very excited, and cannot wait :-) I'm committing for 6 months at least (until Chinese New Year), and then we'll see where I am, and what to do next!
In the meantime its a 10 day holiday with my dad.. and then i'll be in Xi'an!
Hopefully my next step will be all this and more. In 2 weeks I am moving to Xi'an, one of the ancient capitals of China. It is in the middle of China, and is where a global NGO (Headquartered in the UK) called Plan has it's China head office.
Plan works across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, in communities where many struggle to meet their basic needs. Working in partnership with local people of all ages, we support them to end poverty in their community. www.plan-international.org/ It focuses on working with children, and areas such as education, health, habitat, livelihood and building relationships.
I'm going to be working partly in the field on education issues (not teaching!) and partly in the head office working on corporate partnerships and assisting one of the Director's of the NGO in China. I also plan to take a couple of hours of chinese every day.
So, hopefully it will be everything that I want.. the job I am looking for..at the moment. I'm very excited, and cannot wait :-) I'm committing for 6 months at least (until Chinese New Year), and then we'll see where I am, and what to do next!
In the meantime its a 10 day holiday with my dad.. and then i'll be in Xi'an!
Friday, July 14, 2006
next...
hmm, so the last job was great, because it seemed to match with me: interesting, fun, working with people, using my skills, something i was good at.
finding something else that does all that too might not be so easy. it might require learning chinese first or not. it might require trying to do something on my own, if i can think of what exactly, if i can be brave enough...
it will probably involve me doing a combination of things that get work experience, get money, get chinese ability up, are fun, allows me to explore some other options on the side.
For the short-term it would be nice to take advantage of the 'China experience'. It makes sense to try to get something tangible from being here... to look at what opportunities there are, and then to leave and take the learnings and experience elsewhere.
finding something else that does all that too might not be so easy. it might require learning chinese first or not. it might require trying to do something on my own, if i can think of what exactly, if i can be brave enough...
it will probably involve me doing a combination of things that get work experience, get money, get chinese ability up, are fun, allows me to explore some other options on the side.
For the short-term it would be nice to take advantage of the 'China experience'. It makes sense to try to get something tangible from being here... to look at what opportunities there are, and then to leave and take the learnings and experience elsewhere.
No more AIESEC
its 2 weeks after the rest of my team finished their term in AIESEC and I have almost finished mine. Actually the last real activity was Tuesday night -when a British AIESECer (Lucy) came here for a few weeks to help me and some Chinese students. Since then I went to the AIESEC conference for a couple of days to say hi and bye to people, and now am trying to sort out the future.
There had been a few other activities before that, which had kept me busy over the weekends and evenings. Tuesday's though was a bit different: our chinese members played a really big role and did a really great job -and we might now have found our role in engaging with external organisations. Good luck to the guys who have to do this and everything else next year.
For a few other random bits and pieces...
-the new MC office is great because of the cheap chocolate '99' ice creams downstairs, the freshly squuezed ice mango shakes down the road and the great free-delivery lunch place at the other end of the phone.
-the 957 bus, previously my favourite in all of Beijing (due to speed, air conditioning, convenience) has become a training ground for China's next Forumla 1 Racing drivers. It's happened twice so far. Each time 2 957s come along at once. Then they race each other to the next bus stop, but make sure they leave the bus stop at the same time in order to make it a fair race to the next one. Beijing's traffic is scary normally, now its just hold-tight-and-pray...
-the new AIESEC appartment is great because there are 8-10 people living in 5 bedrooms with a couple of living rooms and 2 bathrooms. Now that's real progress from our place of 6 people in 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom!
-I turned my feet into 2 big blisters playing football in unsuitable shoes during FuLP (Fun Leaving Party) -ouch, and damaged my knee cycling back from the conference (110 km in 4 hours 15 minutes, including 20 kms downhill -beating the outward journey by 15 minutes even with the injury!) -seems all better now!
-air conditioning uses up lots of electricity. It used up all of ours 2 days before we had to leave our last appartment, and i had to pack in the dark (when i tried adding electricity to the card, using an atm, i managed to withdraw 400 rmb and add 0 rmb to the card. I think my atm card doesn't give me the option to add electricity, since i tried every feasible option on the chinese langauge atm!)
There had been a few other activities before that, which had kept me busy over the weekends and evenings. Tuesday's though was a bit different: our chinese members played a really big role and did a really great job -and we might now have found our role in engaging with external organisations. Good luck to the guys who have to do this and everything else next year.
For a few other random bits and pieces...
-the new MC office is great because of the cheap chocolate '99' ice creams downstairs, the freshly squuezed ice mango shakes down the road and the great free-delivery lunch place at the other end of the phone.
-the 957 bus, previously my favourite in all of Beijing (due to speed, air conditioning, convenience) has become a training ground for China's next Forumla 1 Racing drivers. It's happened twice so far. Each time 2 957s come along at once. Then they race each other to the next bus stop, but make sure they leave the bus stop at the same time in order to make it a fair race to the next one. Beijing's traffic is scary normally, now its just hold-tight-and-pray...
-the new AIESEC appartment is great because there are 8-10 people living in 5 bedrooms with a couple of living rooms and 2 bathrooms. Now that's real progress from our place of 6 people in 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom!
-I turned my feet into 2 big blisters playing football in unsuitable shoes during FuLP (Fun Leaving Party) -ouch, and damaged my knee cycling back from the conference (110 km in 4 hours 15 minutes, including 20 kms downhill -beating the outward journey by 15 minutes even with the injury!) -seems all better now!
-air conditioning uses up lots of electricity. It used up all of ours 2 days before we had to leave our last appartment, and i had to pack in the dark (when i tried adding electricity to the card, using an atm, i managed to withdraw 400 rmb and add 0 rmb to the card. I think my atm card doesn't give me the option to add electricity, since i tried every feasible option on the chinese langauge atm!)
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Transition
Juan finally arrived a week ago (though 3 weeks late) -due to problems buying tickets to get here (damn World Cup). He is teaching me lots about Costa Rica (only 3 million people -about the same as our appartment building!) and we are sharing lots of ideas about the future of learning networks in China and how all our students (and others) can learn about Corporate Responsibility and then follow their passion in specific issues further.
Before he got here I was taking it easy for a few days then realised how much I had not done and had to rush to finish some things-which are still not done yet, so I'm staying on a week or so more to finish up. So far we have spent 4 days having between 4-6 meetings a day, which keeps us busy running around town in taxis, getting wet (yay!), and praying that Juan and the other new guys don't get too lost trying to meet us oldies! A couple of British AIESECers are here too for a month helping me out on some projects (our Impact Report and the presentation/training/facilitation event to a bunch of other NGOs). Thankfully some of the local students are finishing their exams, and can start pitching in for this and other projects.
Exam season is not the best -Reminds me of the nightmares of 3 years ago... but it was 3 years ago, and not I can just forget all about it. Though I am shocked to hear that there are a couple of suicides each year in EACH University in China. yikes. I hope that is just at the top Universities. There is also free counselling for students -which I suppose is a good thing. How many would there be without it? Just shows how much pressure students are under (and I belive it is much more intense before University -once you are in the top universities, you are one of the lucky few!)
Returning to work me Juan has been asking me all kinds of questions, and I thought you readers might be interested in some general answers:
-What is the biggest issue and problem in China?
*um, they are all big: water, energy, poverty, education, governance, health, population, migration, urbanisation...
-So which ones should we focus on creating opportunities for the aiesec students to learn more about?
*what are the criteria?
-Internal demand of the students, exernal demand of the market and possible partners
*There are possible partners for absolutely everything: think tanks, universities, businesses, international organisations, NGOs... from all over the world there is someone doing something in China. They have to -as the saying goes: "There can not be a sustainable World without a sustainable China"
Students in China are keen to learn about everything, but (like all students around the World) don't know that they are keen! -But once you open their eyes to something, they are quick to realise its relevance and interest
The market doesn't seem to care right now! But lets try to change that!
-Who are the key people I should know about?
*Well I have this spreadsheet...
-There are over 400 people listed on it!
*Uh, yeah
-Well who are the important ones?
*Most of them... you need to be able to access all kinds of resources from all kinds of places to do this job. You also have to travel to all the universities, go to loads of conferences, create or support an average of 1 event each week, manage a team of over 15 people, create at least 5 new projects...
Anyway, a few insights. What is exciting though are some of the ideas we have been having.. of using the money we are receiving from the British Government and from other companies who are sponsoring our CSR programme. Stay tuned for the output, if you are an aiesec member, and if you are not, then just wait and see if i start complaining about Juan not being up to the job!
Actually I am very impressed with his knowledge and how he has jumped in at the deep end. I realise how many networks I have made in almost 2 years, how much I have learned, and how good I have got at certain things.. its hard to transition this to Juan. The hardest thing though.. is having so many ideas, and not being able to do ALL of them. But, by doing some, Juan will be able to really drive things forward and carry on making a difference. Good luck!
Before he got here I was taking it easy for a few days then realised how much I had not done and had to rush to finish some things-which are still not done yet, so I'm staying on a week or so more to finish up. So far we have spent 4 days having between 4-6 meetings a day, which keeps us busy running around town in taxis, getting wet (yay!), and praying that Juan and the other new guys don't get too lost trying to meet us oldies! A couple of British AIESECers are here too for a month helping me out on some projects (our Impact Report and the presentation/training/facilitation event to a bunch of other NGOs). Thankfully some of the local students are finishing their exams, and can start pitching in for this and other projects.
Exam season is not the best -Reminds me of the nightmares of 3 years ago... but it was 3 years ago, and not I can just forget all about it. Though I am shocked to hear that there are a couple of suicides each year in EACH University in China. yikes. I hope that is just at the top Universities. There is also free counselling for students -which I suppose is a good thing. How many would there be without it? Just shows how much pressure students are under (and I belive it is much more intense before University -once you are in the top universities, you are one of the lucky few!)
Returning to work me Juan has been asking me all kinds of questions, and I thought you readers might be interested in some general answers:
-What is the biggest issue and problem in China?
*um, they are all big: water, energy, poverty, education, governance, health, population, migration, urbanisation...
-So which ones should we focus on creating opportunities for the aiesec students to learn more about?
*what are the criteria?
-Internal demand of the students, exernal demand of the market and possible partners
*There are possible partners for absolutely everything: think tanks, universities, businesses, international organisations, NGOs... from all over the world there is someone doing something in China. They have to -as the saying goes: "There can not be a sustainable World without a sustainable China"
Students in China are keen to learn about everything, but (like all students around the World) don't know that they are keen! -But once you open their eyes to something, they are quick to realise its relevance and interest
The market doesn't seem to care right now! But lets try to change that!
-Who are the key people I should know about?
*Well I have this spreadsheet...
-There are over 400 people listed on it!
*Uh, yeah
-Well who are the important ones?
*Most of them... you need to be able to access all kinds of resources from all kinds of places to do this job. You also have to travel to all the universities, go to loads of conferences, create or support an average of 1 event each week, manage a team of over 15 people, create at least 5 new projects...
Anyway, a few insights. What is exciting though are some of the ideas we have been having.. of using the money we are receiving from the British Government and from other companies who are sponsoring our CSR programme. Stay tuned for the output, if you are an aiesec member, and if you are not, then just wait and see if i start complaining about Juan not being up to the job!
Actually I am very impressed with his knowledge and how he has jumped in at the deep end. I realise how many networks I have made in almost 2 years, how much I have learned, and how good I have got at certain things.. its hard to transition this to Juan. The hardest thing though.. is having so many ideas, and not being able to do ALL of them. But, by doing some, Juan will be able to really drive things forward and carry on making a difference. Good luck!
Friday, June 16, 2006
British Bulldog Pub -Engalnd vs Paraguay
The 3 story (theatre-style) British Bulldog Pub in Shanghai with English, British and Chinese flags. Lots of people, very orderly. Not the best of games!
World Cup in China
Back in Beijing, about to start our transition to the new team, and stifling in the heat. Its 3o something apparently and certainly feels it. Though the evenings are great -great for sitting outside and eating or drinking and of course great for watching the World Cup on the big screens that every bar and club have put up. Or if you go one place there are 9 TVs inside and 2 big screens outside.. on the plus side there is way more capacity than demand, so its normally easy to find a place where you can sit, or at least see the screen (all the bars in the same district, conveniently).
The first game I watched in the British Bulldog pub in Shanghai. If the game was actually good the atmosphere might have been fantastic. As the game was not the best, neither was the atmosphere. Yesterday was better. Not many people bother to go out to watch a team unless it is there own, so when we were watching the switzerland -france game it was a great atmosphere of swiss and french. And its the same for every game -it makes every game fun. I heard the brazilians (Especially the women!) were the most fun so we're going to watch their next game!
Suprisingly a lot of Chinese people seem to be watching the World Cup (cumulatively about 10 billion people will watch games apparently) -so they just watch it on TV or for students on the internet (where we also watch ESPN 2's world cup programming through some software) -taxi drivers talk about it and a bunch of girl students too (maybe they just don't want to study, or want to find out what the fuss is all about). Since I am constantly reminded of how bad england are i can remind them that China did not qualify.
When we were in Shanghai a lot of people in the Pduong business district were being given holidays, or told to work an extra weekend instead of some work days. Why? Because the Shanghai government decided to close down the area where most big companies' offices are, due to the SCO meeting. I wonder what economic impact there is from this... It seems a bit drastic, even if it is for security purposes.
The SCO, by the way is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; a bunch of countries in the middle east/ex-soviet states talking about co-oepration, terrorism, enerrgy etc. In other words it is an anti-USA club. Especially since Iran is now an official observer in the organisation!
Time to buy yet another ice cream (just so cheap) and get back to work, which is not geared up for transition and wrapping up a few things. Just like last year its the crazy exam time, its the dangerous sun-umbrella period, and it seems like the 'rainy season' has unfortuantely ended already! At least the World Cup keeps life exciting, though does affect sleep patterns with the time difference...and alcohol consumption!
The first game I watched in the British Bulldog pub in Shanghai. If the game was actually good the atmosphere might have been fantastic. As the game was not the best, neither was the atmosphere. Yesterday was better. Not many people bother to go out to watch a team unless it is there own, so when we were watching the switzerland -france game it was a great atmosphere of swiss and french. And its the same for every game -it makes every game fun. I heard the brazilians (Especially the women!) were the most fun so we're going to watch their next game!
Suprisingly a lot of Chinese people seem to be watching the World Cup (cumulatively about 10 billion people will watch games apparently) -so they just watch it on TV or for students on the internet (where we also watch ESPN 2's world cup programming through some software) -taxi drivers talk about it and a bunch of girl students too (maybe they just don't want to study, or want to find out what the fuss is all about). Since I am constantly reminded of how bad england are i can remind them that China did not qualify.
When we were in Shanghai a lot of people in the Pduong business district were being given holidays, or told to work an extra weekend instead of some work days. Why? Because the Shanghai government decided to close down the area where most big companies' offices are, due to the SCO meeting. I wonder what economic impact there is from this... It seems a bit drastic, even if it is for security purposes.
The SCO, by the way is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; a bunch of countries in the middle east/ex-soviet states talking about co-oepration, terrorism, enerrgy etc. In other words it is an anti-USA club. Especially since Iran is now an official observer in the organisation!
Time to buy yet another ice cream (just so cheap) and get back to work, which is not geared up for transition and wrapping up a few things. Just like last year its the crazy exam time, its the dangerous sun-umbrella period, and it seems like the 'rainy season' has unfortuantely ended already! At least the World Cup keeps life exciting, though does affect sleep patterns with the time difference...and alcohol consumption!
Thursday, June 01, 2006
outdoors and aftertastes
The best of Beijing's summer is to head outside and join the thousands who sit outside restaurants eating and drinking in the warmth. Restaurants become empty on the inside, cold beer sales rocket, streets become noisier and the litter collecting street sweepers get busier. Often in Beijing you will get 3-5 restaurants next to each other (and then none for ages), so its chaotic -but great.
Last weekend we went 1 step further. We trusted our lives to Leon (maybe we were drunk when we agreed to this, since he originally 'bought' his license, then learned how to drive afterwards) who hired a car and drove us (and some others who were in another van) north for some BBQ (chinese style, ie. meet/fish/vegetable kebabs on BBQs that are 2m long and only 4 inches wide) and fishing. I skipped the fishing to explore the local beach and lake (ie. sleep, listen to ipod and get a sandle-tan). The others caught tons of fish.. but since they were fishing in a fish pond it wasn't too tough!
Tonight i was a the 5th anniversary party of a Chinese newspaper that is under the Ministry of Civil Affairs (so focuses on social welfare stuff which is related to harmonius and sustainable development -my work). It was part official chinese (with rounds of toasting, and awful maotai/moutai which actually taskes like vodka but then 2 days later another taste appears) but mostly not very chinese. People weren't throwing name-cards around, the speeches were short, and the food wasn't as wasteful as usual. The night was actually a caberet-style. 100 of the 250 ppl were the newspaper employees and each department had to do a skit/song..some had practised for weeks.
Before their 'karaoke on a stage', there were some serious performed... boy bands, actresses and child orchestras. all very nice. not overly fancy -but enjoyable. topped off with the free gift of strange herbal teas that might have vitamins in but are made by a biological chemical company. Anyway, the chinese love their gifts (and their big, horrible, creamy birthday cakes!)
Its the end of 2 weeks of just normal work, and now its crazy mode again.. but its also the beginning of the week when I will find out what I will do in my next 6 months. ooh, exciting. happy children's day and happy-30-degrees-at-night-so-lets-use-the-air-conditioning-for-the-1st-time-day too!
Last weekend we went 1 step further. We trusted our lives to Leon (maybe we were drunk when we agreed to this, since he originally 'bought' his license, then learned how to drive afterwards) who hired a car and drove us (and some others who were in another van) north for some BBQ (chinese style, ie. meet/fish/vegetable kebabs on BBQs that are 2m long and only 4 inches wide) and fishing. I skipped the fishing to explore the local beach and lake (ie. sleep, listen to ipod and get a sandle-tan). The others caught tons of fish.. but since they were fishing in a fish pond it wasn't too tough!
Tonight i was a the 5th anniversary party of a Chinese newspaper that is under the Ministry of Civil Affairs (so focuses on social welfare stuff which is related to harmonius and sustainable development -my work). It was part official chinese (with rounds of toasting, and awful maotai/moutai which actually taskes like vodka but then 2 days later another taste appears) but mostly not very chinese. People weren't throwing name-cards around, the speeches were short, and the food wasn't as wasteful as usual. The night was actually a caberet-style. 100 of the 250 ppl were the newspaper employees and each department had to do a skit/song..some had practised for weeks.
Before their 'karaoke on a stage', there were some serious performed... boy bands, actresses and child orchestras. all very nice. not overly fancy -but enjoyable. topped off with the free gift of strange herbal teas that might have vitamins in but are made by a biological chemical company. Anyway, the chinese love their gifts (and their big, horrible, creamy birthday cakes!)
Its the end of 2 weeks of just normal work, and now its crazy mode again.. but its also the beginning of the week when I will find out what I will do in my next 6 months. ooh, exciting. happy children's day and happy-30-degrees-at-night-so-lets-use-the-air-conditioning-for-the-1st-time-day too!
Friday, May 26, 2006
a moment to relax
The conference went well and now i am half way through a 2 week lull in activity. So I can do the things I want to do -rather than always doing the things I have to do!
Actually we have finally had some rain.. I almost celebrated by running into the streets to get wet. Its only rained properly 2 or 3 times, but it has rained for several hours -and enough to clock all the drains in Beijing and leave puddles everywhere. Well, if it rains so rarely, there is not much of a need to invest in good drains i suppose!
Susan (one of the chinese girls who is on the new head office team) got her hair done recently for 25 USD... Chinese girls care a lot about their hair -they often pay lots of money to get it changed -straightened, curled, short, frizzed or whatever. During the graduate interviews last semester we noticed lots of girls getting their hair done -apparently to make themselves look older, more professional and I suppose to just generally stop looking like cute 14 year olds!
There does not seem to be that much happening in China, by normal standards. I'm thinking back to what has been in the news.. in Beijing there was a rock festival, and the great wall marathon (crazy people), the recent crack down on illegal additions to bars etc (like roof-top seating and the installation of automatic subway gates and machines on buses (I've not taken the subway recently so I can't say what it is like not having to buy tickets from one person and ask another person to take the ticket from you -but I presume its like Shanghai where you top up your card occasionally and just use it to get through the gates 'Oyster-card style in London').
Last week they removed all the scaffolding by a building nearby. They started almost exactly as we moved in 10 or 11 months ago, and now the outside is done and they're working on the insides... this seems to take a long time going by the experiences of other big buildings; but it was nice to see a little bit less of the oft-seen green curtains of scaffolding everywhere. Actually really looking at Beijing there are a lot of fancy buildings already up and a lot more going up. Supposedly most buildings need to be finished by next summer (1 year before the olympics), so everyone is in a hurry. I can imagine there will be big business opportunities to move the thousands of cranes off to the 2nd and 3rd tier cities where construction is taking off. China will really be a country full of cities soon.
Currently 40% of China's population is in the cities but in the next 25 years, it will become 60% meaning another 300 million people will move to the cities from the countryside in China (and India will experience the same, moving from 29-40% urbanised). That is equal to the ENTIRE population of the USA. Although interestingly, the USA is also expected to increase its total population from 300m (now) to 380m in the next 25 years. Some other interesting statistics: the USA is currently 80% Urban where as the UK is currently 90% urban (and in 25 yrs our population will only increase by 4 million).
Other interesting statistics.... In 1950 average life expectancy in China was 40, in 2005 -70! (the UK has gone from 70 to 78). In 1950 the World population was 2.5 billion (30% urban), by 2020 it will be 9 billion (60% urban)! more here (http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=1).
-In 1970, 30% of the World's poor people were in South Asia, 56% in East Asia and 11% in Africa. In 2000, 28% were in South Asia, 32% in East Asia and 35% in Africa. By 2015 it is expected it will be 13% South Asia, 14% East Asia and 68% in Africa!!
-The richest 20% of people in the World own 74% of the Wealth and the poorest 20% have only 2% of the wealth! In 1970, 1.4 billion people were extremely poor -38% of the World's population. In 1990, the number was still 1.4 billion (but this is now only 26% of the world's population). In 2000 it went down to 1.2 billion (19% of the World's population). By 2015 it might go down to only 0.7 billion (10% of the world's population) (http://www.gapminder.org/)
Actually we have finally had some rain.. I almost celebrated by running into the streets to get wet. Its only rained properly 2 or 3 times, but it has rained for several hours -and enough to clock all the drains in Beijing and leave puddles everywhere. Well, if it rains so rarely, there is not much of a need to invest in good drains i suppose!
Susan (one of the chinese girls who is on the new head office team) got her hair done recently for 25 USD... Chinese girls care a lot about their hair -they often pay lots of money to get it changed -straightened, curled, short, frizzed or whatever. During the graduate interviews last semester we noticed lots of girls getting their hair done -apparently to make themselves look older, more professional and I suppose to just generally stop looking like cute 14 year olds!
There does not seem to be that much happening in China, by normal standards. I'm thinking back to what has been in the news.. in Beijing there was a rock festival, and the great wall marathon (crazy people), the recent crack down on illegal additions to bars etc (like roof-top seating and the installation of automatic subway gates and machines on buses (I've not taken the subway recently so I can't say what it is like not having to buy tickets from one person and ask another person to take the ticket from you -but I presume its like Shanghai where you top up your card occasionally and just use it to get through the gates 'Oyster-card style in London').
Last week they removed all the scaffolding by a building nearby. They started almost exactly as we moved in 10 or 11 months ago, and now the outside is done and they're working on the insides... this seems to take a long time going by the experiences of other big buildings; but it was nice to see a little bit less of the oft-seen green curtains of scaffolding everywhere. Actually really looking at Beijing there are a lot of fancy buildings already up and a lot more going up. Supposedly most buildings need to be finished by next summer (1 year before the olympics), so everyone is in a hurry. I can imagine there will be big business opportunities to move the thousands of cranes off to the 2nd and 3rd tier cities where construction is taking off. China will really be a country full of cities soon.
Currently 40% of China's population is in the cities but in the next 25 years, it will become 60% meaning another 300 million people will move to the cities from the countryside in China (and India will experience the same, moving from 29-40% urbanised). That is equal to the ENTIRE population of the USA. Although interestingly, the USA is also expected to increase its total population from 300m (now) to 380m in the next 25 years. Some other interesting statistics: the USA is currently 80% Urban where as the UK is currently 90% urban (and in 25 yrs our population will only increase by 4 million).
Other interesting statistics.... In 1950 average life expectancy in China was 40, in 2005 -70! (the UK has gone from 70 to 78). In 1950 the World population was 2.5 billion (30% urban), by 2020 it will be 9 billion (60% urban)! more here (http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=1).
-In 1970, 30% of the World's poor people were in South Asia, 56% in East Asia and 11% in Africa. In 2000, 28% were in South Asia, 32% in East Asia and 35% in Africa. By 2015 it is expected it will be 13% South Asia, 14% East Asia and 68% in Africa!!
-The richest 20% of people in the World own 74% of the Wealth and the poorest 20% have only 2% of the wealth! In 1970, 1.4 billion people were extremely poor -38% of the World's population. In 1990, the number was still 1.4 billion (but this is now only 26% of the world's population). In 2000 it went down to 1.2 billion (19% of the World's population). By 2015 it might go down to only 0.7 billion (10% of the world's population) (http://www.gapminder.org/)
Thursday, May 11, 2006
its 2am...
its 2am, i have only 2 more critical emails to send, there are only 3 more gaps in the agenda for the CSR conference on 21st may (hopefully will be filled, thanks to my excellent helpers!), and i am waking up at 5.30am....
i just need to take a few minutes to explain my situation, to save retelling it every 5 minutes to people asking me where i am, what i am doing etc! well i left beijing on sunday night on a soft sleeper train (nothing else available) and enjoyed the free dinner/breakfast and the power socket in the hallway allowing me to watch all 4+hrs of Lawrence of Arabia (great film).
I arrived in shanghai met 2 fudan students and we went to nanjing to be a delegate/volunteer at the yangtze river economic forum in a 4 star hotel for 3 days, where i tried to network, listen to sessions and work hard-core all at the same time. Then i got back to shangahi about 11pm, worked till 2am, fell asleep, woke up, worked more, got lunch, went to a meeting to start at 2.
The company was 2 and a half hours late. so the meeting finished super late meaning i could not finish work, so did 10 minutes of emails before eating dinner, doing 1 hour coaching with one of my LCPs and then going to a bar for a few hours. it was relaxing..cannot work too hard (just become ineffective) and had 0 drinks (way too expensive). got back and now trying to arrange more meetings, finalise conferences and other things.
i leave at 5.30 am for the train station to get to hangzhou for a day full of meetings with the aiesecers there (even managed some kind of agenda!) and then a night train to Beijing, then morning meeting for the case study competition final (Beijing version), lunch and then afternoon meeting with my CSR team and further meeting with the student helping me for the conference on 21st.
Then i think i get to check more mails (having missed friday), panic more (likely), unpack, pack and hopefully sleep before flying to guangzhou for afternoon presentations of guangzhou case study competition and hopefully dinner/sleep after. Then another flight to shanghai, meetings in monday afternoon, all day tuesday (including evening) and flying back to shangahi on wednesday, allowing me not enough time to organise the final details for the 15-20 companies coming to deliver workshops at the conference on 21st, attend the alumni gathering etc.
After the conference it seems I'll have to train it back to Shanghai on the 22nd, stay for 3 more days of meetings and presentations, return to Beijing in time to relax and go through the long 'to-do' list that I have to do before june starts. Then june starts with flights to guangzhou, shanghai and trains back to beijing.. including transition with my successor (who hopefully will be feeling better!), meetings, a few more CSR conferences (actually, maybe 4 days worth!)... once in beijing we have so little time to finish transition to the new team, create plans for next year and... (so much more to do, so excited, can't wait, love being busy, love deadlines, love achieving tangible results and dreaming and visioning and planning) and.. and.. well, leave AIESEC on June 30th.
After 6 years.
i just need to take a few minutes to explain my situation, to save retelling it every 5 minutes to people asking me where i am, what i am doing etc! well i left beijing on sunday night on a soft sleeper train (nothing else available) and enjoyed the free dinner/breakfast and the power socket in the hallway allowing me to watch all 4+hrs of Lawrence of Arabia (great film).
I arrived in shanghai met 2 fudan students and we went to nanjing to be a delegate/volunteer at the yangtze river economic forum in a 4 star hotel for 3 days, where i tried to network, listen to sessions and work hard-core all at the same time. Then i got back to shangahi about 11pm, worked till 2am, fell asleep, woke up, worked more, got lunch, went to a meeting to start at 2.
The company was 2 and a half hours late. so the meeting finished super late meaning i could not finish work, so did 10 minutes of emails before eating dinner, doing 1 hour coaching with one of my LCPs and then going to a bar for a few hours. it was relaxing..cannot work too hard (just become ineffective) and had 0 drinks (way too expensive). got back and now trying to arrange more meetings, finalise conferences and other things.
i leave at 5.30 am for the train station to get to hangzhou for a day full of meetings with the aiesecers there (even managed some kind of agenda!) and then a night train to Beijing, then morning meeting for the case study competition final (Beijing version), lunch and then afternoon meeting with my CSR team and further meeting with the student helping me for the conference on 21st.
Then i think i get to check more mails (having missed friday), panic more (likely), unpack, pack and hopefully sleep before flying to guangzhou for afternoon presentations of guangzhou case study competition and hopefully dinner/sleep after. Then another flight to shanghai, meetings in monday afternoon, all day tuesday (including evening) and flying back to shangahi on wednesday, allowing me not enough time to organise the final details for the 15-20 companies coming to deliver workshops at the conference on 21st, attend the alumni gathering etc.
After the conference it seems I'll have to train it back to Shanghai on the 22nd, stay for 3 more days of meetings and presentations, return to Beijing in time to relax and go through the long 'to-do' list that I have to do before june starts. Then june starts with flights to guangzhou, shanghai and trains back to beijing.. including transition with my successor (who hopefully will be feeling better!), meetings, a few more CSR conferences (actually, maybe 4 days worth!)... once in beijing we have so little time to finish transition to the new team, create plans for next year and... (so much more to do, so excited, can't wait, love being busy, love deadlines, love achieving tangible results and dreaming and visioning and planning) and.. and.. well, leave AIESEC on June 30th.
After 6 years.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
dragon escalator
on the left is a dam, on the right is a series of escalators taking us to the top (behind the dam is the gorge proper). the escalators are beautifully hidden under the plastic dragon!
horses (with riders) on the grasslands
this is the greenest picture I could take -you should see the others!
the best bits..
1) The '100 flower cave' which one would expect to be full of beautiful flowers inside a cave... which it was, sort of -except none of the flowers were real (not a single one) and each cave was themed (south china/jungle, western china etc) and included paintings as backdrops to the 'scenes' as well as plastic tigers or little men with axes, or fake snow, bridges etc etc. So although it was laughable (and only took up 10 minutes of our time as we walked through without stopping), it was a bizarre piece of art: for it was, I suppose, art.
Most likely the result of the local governor's daughter's pet project (maybe she liked fake flowers) or the result of a local fake-flower producer bribing the tourist spot's owners to convince them this was something that would really add value to the attraction (maybe it is designed to contrast with the real beauty outside?) or (my last idea) is that they had a number of bids from 'designers' and of course, cause its China, wanted to pick the craziest one that a "highly respected" foreigner suggested. This final idea is based on the countless crazy designs for buildings in cities in china that seem to have resulted from foreigners gleefully being held in high respect and being given a bank cheque!
2) Pierre's 'bandage' which was sometimes a local famer's bandage, sometimes his towel, sometimes a 2 rmb (25 US cents) 'professional' bandage from a pharmacy, and sometimes just him holding his poor hand across his chest. Apparently this was all needed because he crashed into kitty at 'high speed' and fell of the bike causing a sprained wrist and some blood. The alternative theory was that he just liked Kitty rubbing some chinese painkiller on his wrist every day... hmmm
3) The sleeping and massages that seemed to be more frequent than the actual cycling. It was a case of 'if i massage you for 30 seconds, will you massage me for 10 minutes' (NB: it seemed we men always got the better deal!) and the 'i'll just nap whilst waiting for the food to arrive' -every meal time. Although I risk my life every time I step out on my bike, at least i had something to show for it...!
4) The ride back yesterday where we spent 5 kms overtaking trucks as they queued to be checked by the police, and then 15kms overtaking more trucks as we cycled downhill :-). So this is where all the resources needed for Beijing's huge growth is coming from!
and smaller things like.. the girl peeing on the floor outside the restaurant, the man skinning and emptying the goat, fixing Peter's bike with a padlock (since we lost the nut/bolt), the girls getting on a public minibus with their bikes to skip going up the hill, the delicious Dongbei (NorthEast China) food, Leon's 'white powder' that he mixed with water to make an energy drink, Peter cycling on the motorway despite the toll-collector telling us no-one had passed by (and then peter cycled back past her), the masseuse's comments on my hair (again!) and finally the incredible experience of bunjee jumping 50m.
China is booming and the size of the internal tourist market is testament to that.. all these Chinese tourists paying good money to see plastic flowers, drink coconut milk, get a sleeper bus for a 2 hour bus journey back to Beijing and so on. China's saving rate is something like 40% (The UK is more like 5% or negative saving!) and the government wants to encourage people to spend this money, thus creating jobs in tertiary sectors. Every year the growth and statistics of tourism in China is incredible, especially during the 3 'golden holidays'. China has a lot of people and not that many tourist sites. Although many have started going overseas to spend their cash, this presents a big dilemnas.
Growth in China just seems to bring more and more problems!
Most likely the result of the local governor's daughter's pet project (maybe she liked fake flowers) or the result of a local fake-flower producer bribing the tourist spot's owners to convince them this was something that would really add value to the attraction (maybe it is designed to contrast with the real beauty outside?) or (my last idea) is that they had a number of bids from 'designers' and of course, cause its China, wanted to pick the craziest one that a "highly respected" foreigner suggested. This final idea is based on the countless crazy designs for buildings in cities in china that seem to have resulted from foreigners gleefully being held in high respect and being given a bank cheque!
2) Pierre's 'bandage' which was sometimes a local famer's bandage, sometimes his towel, sometimes a 2 rmb (25 US cents) 'professional' bandage from a pharmacy, and sometimes just him holding his poor hand across his chest. Apparently this was all needed because he crashed into kitty at 'high speed' and fell of the bike causing a sprained wrist and some blood. The alternative theory was that he just liked Kitty rubbing some chinese painkiller on his wrist every day... hmmm
3) The sleeping and massages that seemed to be more frequent than the actual cycling. It was a case of 'if i massage you for 30 seconds, will you massage me for 10 minutes' (NB: it seemed we men always got the better deal!) and the 'i'll just nap whilst waiting for the food to arrive' -every meal time. Although I risk my life every time I step out on my bike, at least i had something to show for it...!
4) The ride back yesterday where we spent 5 kms overtaking trucks as they queued to be checked by the police, and then 15kms overtaking more trucks as we cycled downhill :-). So this is where all the resources needed for Beijing's huge growth is coming from!
and smaller things like.. the girl peeing on the floor outside the restaurant, the man skinning and emptying the goat, fixing Peter's bike with a padlock (since we lost the nut/bolt), the girls getting on a public minibus with their bikes to skip going up the hill, the delicious Dongbei (NorthEast China) food, Leon's 'white powder' that he mixed with water to make an energy drink, Peter cycling on the motorway despite the toll-collector telling us no-one had passed by (and then peter cycled back past her), the masseuse's comments on my hair (again!) and finally the incredible experience of bunjee jumping 50m.
China is booming and the size of the internal tourist market is testament to that.. all these Chinese tourists paying good money to see plastic flowers, drink coconut milk, get a sleeper bus for a 2 hour bus journey back to Beijing and so on. China's saving rate is something like 40% (The UK is more like 5% or negative saving!) and the government wants to encourage people to spend this money, thus creating jobs in tertiary sectors. Every year the growth and statistics of tourism in China is incredible, especially during the 3 'golden holidays'. China has a lot of people and not that many tourist sites. Although many have started going overseas to spend their cash, this presents a big dilemnas.
Growth in China just seems to bring more and more problems!
rain!
tonight it finally rained.. only just, but enough! We got back last night from our trip which totalled 250km in 4 days (though mostly on day 1 and day 4 getting there and back) -it was enough to wear out the other 5; but thanks to my previous cycling experience I was still able to cycle another 30 km in order to pick up the electricity card and save us from darkness all night!
It was a a fun 4 days; we had some tough riding up mountains (and enjoyable ones back down); we stayed in a yurt; had 3 punctures; bunjee jumped and horse-rided and other things besides. The weather was beautiful and so was much of the scenery.
Not surprisingly the grasslands lacked grass (the ones in went to last october in western china are a million times more beatiful) and most of the villages we passed were a dump (though the towns were booming). On the other hand the gorge was almost a model of a tourist attraction -well organised, well laid-out and sustainable. Although it was the busiest day of the year it was still a pleasure to be there. We had fun laughing at some of the inevitable tackiness (like the dragon shaped escalator) and playing 'spot the fat chinese kid' -not as many as we thought there might be!
Afterwards we headed for a full body massage, though i am still not much of a fan (apart from the comedy value of having a tiny 18 yr old girl standing on my back causing me agony! Since i skipped the horse riding i was in better shape than the others (Susan is still walking funny -he he!). Now we are back at work: only 3 weeks or so to go before and then our successors move in for a month working together. I should be travelling a lot in the next 4 weeks -yay; polluted and dry Beijing is so depressing after the 4 days in the (relative) countryside. On our trip we even saw stars in the sky!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
holiday time..
Last week was the last week before the holiday (celebrated because of international labour day, though its the least important of the 3 national holidays in China) and so when I cycled back yesterday night there was even more traffic as usual from everyone working late to finish their work, and then heading out of Beijing. I was getting emails at midnight about the upcoming conference I am organising on May 21st! (granted I was also receiving and replying to emails on a friday night, but we are going out tonight).
Its very enjoyable speeding along overtaking all kinds of traffic -though the faster one goes, the more alert one needs to be to the taxis that cross 3 lanes to stop and pick someone up, or the old lady who'll just get of her bike in the middle of the bike-lane for no reason, or the potholes that seem to be everywhere. I've long held that drivers in China are good drivers: they have to be in order to survive. The thing most drivers are best at is using their mirrors. Since no-one, literally no-one, has any idea what indicators are for, this is totally necessary. For cyclists is tough, because you spend most of your time looking out for signs of crazy drivers changing lanes and pulling over, and without indicators being used, it makes life harder!
I explained to Leon that we have a 'cycling profficiency test' in the UK, where people can get some training on the 'rules of the road' and practise indicating, or an understanding of how to fix their bike. Its optional of course, and i don't remember knowing of anyone else who took it (apart from me), but it helped a lot. In the UK it might not be that important as most people that can cycle (adults anyway.. on the main roads) can drive too -so they understand about roundabouts, indicators etc. In China, people on their bikes can't drive. If they could afford to they would, of course, join the 1,000+ new cars every day on the streets of Beijing. Thus the cyclists cannot understand concepts of going in a straight line, of looking over their shoulder etc.
My little rant over, we are sort of preparing for our upcoming 4 day cycle ride...towards a place called longching gorge with various outdoor sports activities nearby we could do. not sure if we'll get there in a day, but who knows...
Woke up this morning to hear that the EU Constitution is being brought back. Now, I have always been quite pro-EU, IF it could behave responsibly, and since half the member countries are going backwards in today's globalised world, there seems little chance that the EU will go forward, or even agree on any direction to go in! Thus until someone sorts this issue out, lets keep common agreements for another time... Also heard that Scolari rejected the offer of being England coach. great. I am all for having a manager with no experience but lots of passion. Same with players: its always the young ones who are exciting -its only a matter of time before Roony turns into Owen, who is turning into Shearer. All great players, but as they age, they get lazy and less innovtive/exciting. Although it is scary that I am about 4 years OLDER than Rooney. yikes. The big question for May is will Spurs get into the Champions League? Well I am just happy we are getting into Europe through the league for the first-time in my lifetime I think! (even if it ends up as UEFA cup)!.
To end on a more china-note. I use Accuweather to tell me the weather (a little icon is in the bottom of my screen showing me the weather for each of the next 3 days) and it tends to predict 20-25 and varying degrees of sun. But when it comes to the next day, actually Accuweather says 'foggy' and 12 degrees. You can read the next paragraph to discover why:
Despite plans to improve air quality, Beijing had 11 fewer clean air days in the first quarter of 2006 compared to 2005, and has fallen even further behind since the beginning of April, statistics from the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (BEPB) show. To the end of March 2006, Beijing had only 51 "blue-sky" days, where the air quality does not exceed pollution standards, compared to 62 such days in the first quarter of last year. Despite having unhealthy air quality 45.3% of the time, the city has enjoyed stretches of clean air. During the 10-day National Party Congress at the beginning of May, Beijing enjoyed nine clean air days and only one day that exceeded air quality standards.
Its very enjoyable speeding along overtaking all kinds of traffic -though the faster one goes, the more alert one needs to be to the taxis that cross 3 lanes to stop and pick someone up, or the old lady who'll just get of her bike in the middle of the bike-lane for no reason, or the potholes that seem to be everywhere. I've long held that drivers in China are good drivers: they have to be in order to survive. The thing most drivers are best at is using their mirrors. Since no-one, literally no-one, has any idea what indicators are for, this is totally necessary. For cyclists is tough, because you spend most of your time looking out for signs of crazy drivers changing lanes and pulling over, and without indicators being used, it makes life harder!
I explained to Leon that we have a 'cycling profficiency test' in the UK, where people can get some training on the 'rules of the road' and practise indicating, or an understanding of how to fix their bike. Its optional of course, and i don't remember knowing of anyone else who took it (apart from me), but it helped a lot. In the UK it might not be that important as most people that can cycle (adults anyway.. on the main roads) can drive too -so they understand about roundabouts, indicators etc. In China, people on their bikes can't drive. If they could afford to they would, of course, join the 1,000+ new cars every day on the streets of Beijing. Thus the cyclists cannot understand concepts of going in a straight line, of looking over their shoulder etc.
My little rant over, we are sort of preparing for our upcoming 4 day cycle ride...towards a place called longching gorge with various outdoor sports activities nearby we could do. not sure if we'll get there in a day, but who knows...
Woke up this morning to hear that the EU Constitution is being brought back. Now, I have always been quite pro-EU, IF it could behave responsibly, and since half the member countries are going backwards in today's globalised world, there seems little chance that the EU will go forward, or even agree on any direction to go in! Thus until someone sorts this issue out, lets keep common agreements for another time... Also heard that Scolari rejected the offer of being England coach. great. I am all for having a manager with no experience but lots of passion. Same with players: its always the young ones who are exciting -its only a matter of time before Roony turns into Owen, who is turning into Shearer. All great players, but as they age, they get lazy and less innovtive/exciting. Although it is scary that I am about 4 years OLDER than Rooney. yikes. The big question for May is will Spurs get into the Champions League? Well I am just happy we are getting into Europe through the league for the first-time in my lifetime I think! (even if it ends up as UEFA cup)!.
To end on a more china-note. I use Accuweather to tell me the weather (a little icon is in the bottom of my screen showing me the weather for each of the next 3 days) and it tends to predict 20-25 and varying degrees of sun. But when it comes to the next day, actually Accuweather says 'foggy' and 12 degrees. You can read the next paragraph to discover why:
Despite plans to improve air quality, Beijing had 11 fewer clean air days in the first quarter of 2006 compared to 2005, and has fallen even further behind since the beginning of April, statistics from the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau (BEPB) show. To the end of March 2006, Beijing had only 51 "blue-sky" days, where the air quality does not exceed pollution standards, compared to 62 such days in the first quarter of last year. Despite having unhealthy air quality 45.3% of the time, the city has enjoyed stretches of clean air. During the 10-day National Party Congress at the beginning of May, Beijing enjoyed nine clean air days and only one day that exceeded air quality standards.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
success
...well, of a kind. 2 weeks ago we found out our bid to the UK government's Global opportunities Fund was successful, enabling us to continue the work I started and make it bigger and better. Actually I got back home at about 2am drunk, to check my mail and find out the news. "Lets celebrate" said Peter. "um, I'm already drunk, how about we celebrate another day?" I replied!
It also means I got paid finally, so I rewarded myself with this bike, which cost about 1 fifth of what it would in the UK and reduces my cycling time to long-distance destinations by about 40%. It feels fantastic, and looks great too!
Other things I have been up to included a day hiking with most of CSR team and a trip to Tianjin with 20 others to see some factories, attend a big Investment fair and get an office for the Tianjing branch of AIESEC, thanks to an alumni at the EU Chamber. This weekend was mostly spent cycling and trying out the new bike, whilst enjoying the beautiful weather. This week might be a little slow, but after the may holiday it will be a crazy dash to the finish with lots of travelling and activities; plus June spent in transition to my successor, Juan.
I suppose this week was the week when China really hit the big time: Its GDP for 1st quarter grew by 10.2% (apparently, even though the government is aiming for 8%) pushing it ahead of the UK officially into 4th place in the World and Hu Jintao went to visit Bush. Despite Hu making lots of concessions beforehand (releasing some political prisoners, being nicer to Taiwan, being nicer to the exiled Dalai Lama etc), the trip was still useless and achieved nothing (predictably) -not helped by the US government's ineptitude (woman shouting out about falun gong at the press conference, announcer calling the national anthemn with the name used by Taiwan -Republic of China- rather than the People's Republic of China, and Bush dragging Hu around)!
I am not sure what is going to happen, but it seems clear that the USA wants to remain the World's dominant power. China might not explicitly want the position of #1 (it has many of its own internal issues to worry about with a GDP per person still putting it at about 100 in the world!) and won't get it for a good 30-50 years more, but its still causing friction.. friction that won't go away. It seems everyone nowadays is competing for resources. Interestingly it seems that both countries inernational actions are more based on their domestic circumstances (either political or economic), and not what is actually best for their international relations. Surely this means that something has to give: domestic or international priorities?
Now it is time to try to find a job. then i might be able to write another 'success' post!
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
2
2 weeks after the last post:
2 conferences later (1 attended in fancy hotel with important people and 1 run for 420 students)
2 leaving parties later (1 for South Africa, 1 for Brazil -both for just a month or two)
2 birthdays later (mum and dad -and of course mother's day too!)
The conference I went to was incredible in terms of the content and the people. Extremely interesting discussions about the role of business in society, about energy and water, or about doing business in dodgy countries. The organisers, WBCSD, continue to impress me with their ability, reach, professionalism and output.
The conference I chaired and ran with my team-mates was exhausting: managing so many people, screaming to keep order, dealing with shitty microphones and saying goodbye .. its my last aiesec conference in any official capacity. But I'm excited: I feel like I'll be leaving in the summer having integrated somewhat issues of corporate responsibility into AIESEC, having left a small mark on some people and ensured that the local university branches buy into and actively are able to organise their own learning activities -and benefit from them. True, I could have achieved a lot more -but that's what the last 3 months are for!
Finally the rest of the team returned; only for us all to split up again for most of the next month as we go around all the universities (me included). Its great to hang out, chat and laugh. I guess we will miss each other. Certainly living for 11 months so close together, you get to be used to people!
Beijing is still so dry. it drives me crazy: electric shocks all the time (even when shaking someone's hand to say hello, sometimes!), dust everywhere, polluted skies frequently and little wind. The only excitement occured when somehow the dust got into the clouds and there was sort of snow (it was white that's for sure) but in the morning all teh cars look like they had been sandblasted. Car washes had a bumper day... and I think its a great business to be in, in beijing anyway!
Since my sister's short film is being shown in a cinema (rented especially) in a week or so, and having been speaking to the whole family about it for weeks, I have been talking to myself (and others) about making movies more and more. With so much travelling in China I started to become a bit of a photo boffin... not good photos, but a desire to try to take good photos! I've also watched many movies in the last 18 months or so. Readers will note that I have a certain affection for China and find it an incredibly interesting country especially in these periods of change. Combining all this together (plus no-one outside of China has a clue about China) creates a compelling case to make some interesting movies. It could be about wealth gaps, migrant workers, construction, hutongs, factory protests or so much else...
Throw in some personality to the characters, make the audience feel for them through their family or friends in film (or add lots of action) and there is a lot of potential for some interesting stuff. It might not be as powerful as 'the constant gardener' (truly fantastic film) or 'city of god' (even more fantastic), but you never know... certainly it would be possible to show how complex everything is.. from the role of the government to the inequalities or the trade issues and the resource problems. Anyway, some thoughts for the future if an occasion arises.
2 conferences later (1 attended in fancy hotel with important people and 1 run for 420 students)
2 leaving parties later (1 for South Africa, 1 for Brazil -both for just a month or two)
2 birthdays later (mum and dad -and of course mother's day too!)
The conference I went to was incredible in terms of the content and the people. Extremely interesting discussions about the role of business in society, about energy and water, or about doing business in dodgy countries. The organisers, WBCSD, continue to impress me with their ability, reach, professionalism and output.
The conference I chaired and ran with my team-mates was exhausting: managing so many people, screaming to keep order, dealing with shitty microphones and saying goodbye .. its my last aiesec conference in any official capacity. But I'm excited: I feel like I'll be leaving in the summer having integrated somewhat issues of corporate responsibility into AIESEC, having left a small mark on some people and ensured that the local university branches buy into and actively are able to organise their own learning activities -and benefit from them. True, I could have achieved a lot more -but that's what the last 3 months are for!
Finally the rest of the team returned; only for us all to split up again for most of the next month as we go around all the universities (me included). Its great to hang out, chat and laugh. I guess we will miss each other. Certainly living for 11 months so close together, you get to be used to people!
Beijing is still so dry. it drives me crazy: electric shocks all the time (even when shaking someone's hand to say hello, sometimes!), dust everywhere, polluted skies frequently and little wind. The only excitement occured when somehow the dust got into the clouds and there was sort of snow (it was white that's for sure) but in the morning all teh cars look like they had been sandblasted. Car washes had a bumper day... and I think its a great business to be in, in beijing anyway!
Since my sister's short film is being shown in a cinema (rented especially) in a week or so, and having been speaking to the whole family about it for weeks, I have been talking to myself (and others) about making movies more and more. With so much travelling in China I started to become a bit of a photo boffin... not good photos, but a desire to try to take good photos! I've also watched many movies in the last 18 months or so. Readers will note that I have a certain affection for China and find it an incredibly interesting country especially in these periods of change. Combining all this together (plus no-one outside of China has a clue about China) creates a compelling case to make some interesting movies. It could be about wealth gaps, migrant workers, construction, hutongs, factory protests or so much else...
Throw in some personality to the characters, make the audience feel for them through their family or friends in film (or add lots of action) and there is a lot of potential for some interesting stuff. It might not be as powerful as 'the constant gardener' (truly fantastic film) or 'city of god' (even more fantastic), but you never know... certainly it would be possible to show how complex everything is.. from the role of the government to the inequalities or the trade issues and the resource problems. Anyway, some thoughts for the future if an occasion arises.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
blast from the past
just watched Narnia (the chornicles of: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe) and felt like an 8 year old again. It has been about 15 years since i read several of those books. My memory is generally crap, but i remembered loving the books and so watched the films really hoping not to be disappointed.
Overall, it was very good. There are always problems squeezing long books into 2 hour films! It does remind me of being young. I am thinking back to when I was a librarian in St Johns School, Northwood (where i went to school from about age 10-13), mostly so in the winter we could stay inside during 'break' and play on the computer. Actually, at that time the computer was so old it had no hard drive -everything was saved on a big ass thing that might be called a 7 inch disk or something. all we did was create simple programmes to chase dots around the screen i think..
although i do feel quite young (not much responsibility, not earning much money, having fun) I guess its not quite the same as back then, wearing a purple blazer (hmm), playing British bulldog in the playground (before it was banned), playing football with the plastic balls with holes in them and even going to art class. aah, they were the days... of parents evenings, hanging around the playground waiting to be picked up by parents and having homework to do!
life in china is somewhat the opposite.. when kids are young they are forced to work really hard, start school ridiculously early in the morning and study all the time... their dream: to get into (prefereably a good) university. once in, they just relax and chill. Though they will compete to work for the big multinationals, they know they will not have to worry about earning a few USD a day, and they will be able to take advantage of china's economic growth.
I forget how few univerity places there are here (limited by money needed to pay for them and actual number of places ) -but i learned today something new about Leon (my chinese room-mate/boss) who has travelled to Europe more than twice and India twice, and who will have very little problem earning at least 5,000 rmb a month when he starts work. It bought me back to reality that his cousins are earning 350 rmb basic a month (plus commission if he rents out any apartments), 800 rmb a month and 2,000 rmb a month. None of them went to university and he is the one hope for his entire family... not like he acts like it that much :) [oh, and he is from Beijing, not the countryside]
oh, and if you have time, there are some very funny (not rude) jokes here: http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/index.php/blog/category/select/Humour/.
Example 1: "A drunk stood at the vending machine putting money in the slot and collecting can after can after can of Coke. The man behind him grew more and more impatient. "For heaven's sake, hurry up!" he shouted. The drunk replied, "Not while I'm winning!""
Example 2:"A man at the airline counter told the assistant, "I'd like this bag to go to Berlin, this one to California, and this one to London." The person on the desk told him, "I'm sorry sir. We can't do that." "Nonsense," replied the man. "That's what you did last time I flew with you.""
Overall, it was very good. There are always problems squeezing long books into 2 hour films! It does remind me of being young. I am thinking back to when I was a librarian in St Johns School, Northwood (where i went to school from about age 10-13), mostly so in the winter we could stay inside during 'break' and play on the computer. Actually, at that time the computer was so old it had no hard drive -everything was saved on a big ass thing that might be called a 7 inch disk or something. all we did was create simple programmes to chase dots around the screen i think..
although i do feel quite young (not much responsibility, not earning much money, having fun) I guess its not quite the same as back then, wearing a purple blazer (hmm), playing British bulldog in the playground (before it was banned), playing football with the plastic balls with holes in them and even going to art class. aah, they were the days... of parents evenings, hanging around the playground waiting to be picked up by parents and having homework to do!
life in china is somewhat the opposite.. when kids are young they are forced to work really hard, start school ridiculously early in the morning and study all the time... their dream: to get into (prefereably a good) university. once in, they just relax and chill. Though they will compete to work for the big multinationals, they know they will not have to worry about earning a few USD a day, and they will be able to take advantage of china's economic growth.
I forget how few univerity places there are here (limited by money needed to pay for them and actual number of places ) -but i learned today something new about Leon (my chinese room-mate/boss) who has travelled to Europe more than twice and India twice, and who will have very little problem earning at least 5,000 rmb a month when he starts work. It bought me back to reality that his cousins are earning 350 rmb basic a month (plus commission if he rents out any apartments), 800 rmb a month and 2,000 rmb a month. None of them went to university and he is the one hope for his entire family... not like he acts like it that much :) [oh, and he is from Beijing, not the countryside]
oh, and if you have time, there are some very funny (not rude) jokes here: http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/index.php/blog/category/select/Humour/.
Example 1: "A drunk stood at the vending machine putting money in the slot and collecting can after can after can of Coke. The man behind him grew more and more impatient. "For heaven's sake, hurry up!" he shouted. The drunk replied, "Not while I'm winning!""
Example 2:"A man at the airline counter told the assistant, "I'd like this bag to go to Berlin, this one to California, and this one to London." The person on the desk told him, "I'm sorry sir. We can't do that." "Nonsense," replied the man. "That's what you did last time I flew with you.""
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
What I know about China know
impossible to summarise but it includes:
-poverty and wealth issues
-massive cities, traffic, pollution, energy and population issues (60% of 1.3 bn people still live in coutryside but by 2020, it might be only 30 or 40%)
-migrant workers
-chinese language (1-2,000 words), about half of China visited, country as cold as siberia and as hot as thailand, as dusty as the sahara and as wet as pakistan, as high as the himalayas and so wide it would take 3 days by train from beijing to west china
-big: city sizes, buildings, government projects, number of people learning english yet number of people who cannot speak a word of english, so big there are 50 or so 'minorities' and langauges so diverse that cantonese is as different to mandarin as french is to english, that shanghainese as different as irish is to english (and the shanghainese and bejingese dislike each other more than the french and the english!)
-chinese festivals, history, politics, businesses (taking over the World)
-tibet being 'liberated' by china about 50 years ago and taiwan still being a 'province' of china. The Vatican not talking to Beijing (but Taipai), but that China replaced Taiwan in Security Council, yet both are members of the WTO
-that over 200 million people have been lifted from poverty, that over 300 million have mobile phones, that satellite dishes can be found everywhere in the country yet foreign TV on the cable stations goes blank when certain topics are discussed.
-that chinese people are very logical, very family orientated, non-religious, have great and hugely diverse food including regional variations and can have more that 1 child if both parents are single children or if they are a farming family or can pay a big fine!
-that some goods are 10 times cheaper than the UK (local bus travel or rice) but other things are almost the same (computers or mobile phones) and others more expensive (luxury cars or jewellery) but that fakes are everywhere.
and so so so so so so so so so so much more!
but what do other foreigners that come to china for 1 week, or that never come to china and maybe just hear about china in the news, or maybe don't even do that.. what do they know? What do the people who are making decisions about politics or business with china actually know about china?
and i still know so little about china: a novice am i, to learn more must i, might a successful future depend (as Yoday might say!)
-poverty and wealth issues
-massive cities, traffic, pollution, energy and population issues (60% of 1.3 bn people still live in coutryside but by 2020, it might be only 30 or 40%)
-migrant workers
-chinese language (1-2,000 words), about half of China visited, country as cold as siberia and as hot as thailand, as dusty as the sahara and as wet as pakistan, as high as the himalayas and so wide it would take 3 days by train from beijing to west china
-big: city sizes, buildings, government projects, number of people learning english yet number of people who cannot speak a word of english, so big there are 50 or so 'minorities' and langauges so diverse that cantonese is as different to mandarin as french is to english, that shanghainese as different as irish is to english (and the shanghainese and bejingese dislike each other more than the french and the english!)
-chinese festivals, history, politics, businesses (taking over the World)
-tibet being 'liberated' by china about 50 years ago and taiwan still being a 'province' of china. The Vatican not talking to Beijing (but Taipai), but that China replaced Taiwan in Security Council, yet both are members of the WTO
-that over 200 million people have been lifted from poverty, that over 300 million have mobile phones, that satellite dishes can be found everywhere in the country yet foreign TV on the cable stations goes blank when certain topics are discussed.
-that chinese people are very logical, very family orientated, non-religious, have great and hugely diverse food including regional variations and can have more that 1 child if both parents are single children or if they are a farming family or can pay a big fine!
-that some goods are 10 times cheaper than the UK (local bus travel or rice) but other things are almost the same (computers or mobile phones) and others more expensive (luxury cars or jewellery) but that fakes are everywhere.
and so so so so so so so so so so much more!
but what do other foreigners that come to china for 1 week, or that never come to china and maybe just hear about china in the news, or maybe don't even do that.. what do they know? What do the people who are making decisions about politics or business with china actually know about china?
and i still know so little about china: a novice am i, to learn more must i, might a successful future depend (as Yoday might say!)
What I knew about China before I came here
-Communism and Mao, but maybe the country is better described as socialist that currently being communist
-Tiananmen square, something about pro-democracy protestors dying
-Big economy and factory of the world
-great wall (can be seen from space)
-hong kong given back to China in 1997
-beijing is the capital and shanghai has lots of skyscrapers
-biggest population in the World
-1 child policy
-tea and china
then i read some books in the 2 weeks before I came here and learnt about
-the cultural revolution
-taiwan
-tibet
-the great leap forward
-deng xiaoping and the opening up period
-WTO accession and Olympics in 2008
-results of 1 child policy, male-preference for children and ageing on society
...and some other things
if i think of some more things that i used to know then i will change this blog.
-Tiananmen square, something about pro-democracy protestors dying
-Big economy and factory of the world
-great wall (can be seen from space)
-hong kong given back to China in 1997
-beijing is the capital and shanghai has lots of skyscrapers
-biggest population in the World
-1 child policy
-tea and china
then i read some books in the 2 weeks before I came here and learnt about
-the cultural revolution
-taiwan
-tibet
-the great leap forward
-deng xiaoping and the opening up period
-WTO accession and Olympics in 2008
-results of 1 child policy, male-preference for children and ageing on society
...and some other things
if i think of some more things that i used to know then i will change this blog.
Dinner last night
Beijing is warming up, finally. Its 15-20 degrees this week (though next week might go back down to 10 degress), so it looks like the jackets can go away and the sweatshirts can be used less often.
Yesterday 8 of us has dinner, which I want to talk about since it was interesting. There is Nico (chinese) who is very much aware of internet censorship but not of some other issues, then there is Kim (chinese) who has studied journalism but less aware of these issues and very much trustworthy of the government in most respects, then there is Dexter (chinese) who is quite western minded in knowing all the kind of stuff the government does but not caring that much. We also had me who reads about all kinds of stuff about all the bad and good things the crappy british and chinese governments are up to, then there is Leon (Chinese) who was sort of in the middle..maybe more like Dexter though, then there is Peter (Slovakian) who has not been reading that much stuff about these topics so was more quiet and 'learning'. The last 2 were Yuan and Susan, who are both Chinese and also in the 'listening and learning' mode.
The conversation was interesting because it covered censorship in China, Falun Gong, Single Child policy, cultural revolution and also the communist party (like membership fees etc). What was interesting was that from my point of view A was obvious, but from the chinese point of view (eg. Kim) B was obvious.. and then we were all talking about the middle line and discussing. So for example on the internet we all pretty much agreed, but some of us were not aware of the censorship. For Falun Gong, the conversation got most interesting since the chinese believed it was a religious sect that told its followers that suicide is a good thing. The chinese knew a lot about the case of someone setting themselves on fire in tiananmen square for example, but then also had friends who had (or still are, underground somewhat) in falun gong (now totally banned in China) and they said they knew about this 'command?' of suicide being a good thing and leading you to a better life, but just chose not to follow that 'command?'
I was under the belief that falun gong was just like meditation rather than so religious that it included instructions about death etc. My knowledgeis mostly based on western media and falun gong's protests on UK campuses against the Chinese government imprisoning Chinese practioners of falun gong. the chinese knowledge was mostly from chinese media and the few friends they knew (or friends of friends) involved in it.
Which of us is right, I have no idea. It does not bother me that much; but it is interesting how perspectives can be so different. I was though pretty adamant in creating the comparison between falun gong and islam. I don't believe every muslim wants to commit suicide, but a few fanatical and misguided people do (eg. 9/11) and so maybe falun gong is the same. Does this mean it should be banned in China though? Well the chinese know that some strange sects in USA are banned (the ones that got 60 students into a house to burn themselves up in a suicide pact if you remember) for example... and so we all used different comparisons.
The conversation was not as intense as it might sound but nonetheless it was very interesting. And the result was very much that, though AIESEC exchanges people to learn about other cultures, we don't facilitate as much discussion as we should -especially in China. Most Foreigners don't interact with young chinese people or ask them such frank questions.. or if they do, they might not get such frank replies. It's easy to live in a country and with chinese people but still not learn much about the culture or beliefs (especially if you cannot read what is in the chinese media!).
I try to talk to people more nowadays.. what did your parents tell you about the cultural revolution, for example. Interestingly, though many chinese are interested in the rest of the world, no-one ever really asks me any questions about the UK. Maybe they think they know it from the western movies, or think its 'perfect' or something. Sometimes i volunteer information (I think the UK government sucks, is ridiculously undemocratic and also checks every email we send) to encourage conversation, though i do stress that the country is a little democratic, and that most emails are read but nothing happens (unlike china where so many sites are blocked and people sending emails about rural unrest in China have been arrested).
So the lessons are.. know more about the country you are from, learn more about where you go and try to share and discuss more for yours, and others, benefit. I often hark back to the 'old times' (or so i read) where intellectuals would gather and discuss the issues of the day.. hmmm, now it seems more often than not, students just gather for a drink or a chat about the footy ;)
Yesterday 8 of us has dinner, which I want to talk about since it was interesting. There is Nico (chinese) who is very much aware of internet censorship but not of some other issues, then there is Kim (chinese) who has studied journalism but less aware of these issues and very much trustworthy of the government in most respects, then there is Dexter (chinese) who is quite western minded in knowing all the kind of stuff the government does but not caring that much. We also had me who reads about all kinds of stuff about all the bad and good things the crappy british and chinese governments are up to, then there is Leon (Chinese) who was sort of in the middle..maybe more like Dexter though, then there is Peter (Slovakian) who has not been reading that much stuff about these topics so was more quiet and 'learning'. The last 2 were Yuan and Susan, who are both Chinese and also in the 'listening and learning' mode.
The conversation was interesting because it covered censorship in China, Falun Gong, Single Child policy, cultural revolution and also the communist party (like membership fees etc). What was interesting was that from my point of view A was obvious, but from the chinese point of view (eg. Kim) B was obvious.. and then we were all talking about the middle line and discussing. So for example on the internet we all pretty much agreed, but some of us were not aware of the censorship. For Falun Gong, the conversation got most interesting since the chinese believed it was a religious sect that told its followers that suicide is a good thing. The chinese knew a lot about the case of someone setting themselves on fire in tiananmen square for example, but then also had friends who had (or still are, underground somewhat) in falun gong (now totally banned in China) and they said they knew about this 'command?' of suicide being a good thing and leading you to a better life, but just chose not to follow that 'command?'
I was under the belief that falun gong was just like meditation rather than so religious that it included instructions about death etc. My knowledgeis mostly based on western media and falun gong's protests on UK campuses against the Chinese government imprisoning Chinese practioners of falun gong. the chinese knowledge was mostly from chinese media and the few friends they knew (or friends of friends) involved in it.
Which of us is right, I have no idea. It does not bother me that much; but it is interesting how perspectives can be so different. I was though pretty adamant in creating the comparison between falun gong and islam. I don't believe every muslim wants to commit suicide, but a few fanatical and misguided people do (eg. 9/11) and so maybe falun gong is the same. Does this mean it should be banned in China though? Well the chinese know that some strange sects in USA are banned (the ones that got 60 students into a house to burn themselves up in a suicide pact if you remember) for example... and so we all used different comparisons.
The conversation was not as intense as it might sound but nonetheless it was very interesting. And the result was very much that, though AIESEC exchanges people to learn about other cultures, we don't facilitate as much discussion as we should -especially in China. Most Foreigners don't interact with young chinese people or ask them such frank questions.. or if they do, they might not get such frank replies. It's easy to live in a country and with chinese people but still not learn much about the culture or beliefs (especially if you cannot read what is in the chinese media!).
I try to talk to people more nowadays.. what did your parents tell you about the cultural revolution, for example. Interestingly, though many chinese are interested in the rest of the world, no-one ever really asks me any questions about the UK. Maybe they think they know it from the western movies, or think its 'perfect' or something. Sometimes i volunteer information (I think the UK government sucks, is ridiculously undemocratic and also checks every email we send) to encourage conversation, though i do stress that the country is a little democratic, and that most emails are read but nothing happens (unlike china where so many sites are blocked and people sending emails about rural unrest in China have been arrested).
So the lessons are.. know more about the country you are from, learn more about where you go and try to share and discuss more for yours, and others, benefit. I often hark back to the 'old times' (or so i read) where intellectuals would gather and discuss the issues of the day.. hmmm, now it seems more often than not, students just gather for a drink or a chat about the footy ;)
Friday, March 10, 2006
Life in the office
For those who don't know since August last year when I started working full-time for AIESEC here, I have been sharing a bedroom with 3 other guys (Leon -Chinese, Peter -Slovakian and Pierre -Indian) and the appartment with 2 girls in the other bedroom (Primrose -Taiwanese and Kim -Chinese). We have a small living room with 1 double couch and 2 singles; a small kitchen including a microwave, washing machine and hob; a larger living room used as the office with 6 desks for us to work and 1 other desk for the printer and spare computer (for the students to use when they come in occasionally).
Most of the time we work in the office though often switch to the smaller living room for a break on our poor bums -we have wireless internet :-) (Which is why I cannot wait for the summer so I can sit outside again and still work for a couple of hours of battery life since it reaches into the play area outside the building. Since last month 5 of the 7 people who will replace us have been selected and the ones in China often come into the office (some are also internationals)... so they might stay over, or other students might stay over on the couch (or any spare beds if some of us are on business trips) if they come over to party or work.
It makes for an unusual working environment which might be kind of typical for developing AIESEC offices around the World and small NGOs in China, but is not typical of China by any means. (oh, we have a bathroom too -just 1, but it has a n awesome power shower and a real toilet, though still the toilet paper must go in the bin, not down the toilet). It means I have learned more about working in a cross cultural team especially since we have such different working styles and also live so closely together.. the appartment is not normally clean since it gets dirty so quickly!
I guess this leads to its problems.. sometimes professional and personal feelings can't be kept secret, or if you disagree over the decision of something, then you can't 'go home and forget about it' for example. But it also means you get to spend a lot of time with my colleagues who i know really well and get on with so well. I get to know more about their culture and different backgrounds and we feel like a very close team (although there are still, like every team, challenges in communication sometimes).
Mostly we have meetings at the end of the day or over dinner, or after dinner (or all 3 if its a long meeting!) which means we have more time to work during the daytime; but then less free-time. As my job is to develop knowledge, skills and a passion for responsible leadership and related issues, I have a team of students (1 at each University) responsible for this within their AIESEC branch. I am trying to get out the office as much as possible to meet them and support them in their work. I think this is the best and most important way of making our work more integral to AIESEC's work and how it can work better with other departments in each AIESEC branch. What does this mean?
-lots of travelling on lots of buses!
-lots of cheap meals in students canteens
-getting to know the chinese students better
-opportunities to learn chinese on the bus, or to listen to music/news shows on my IPOD
-a fantastic understanding of china's 3rd ring road and China's bus sytem. Today someone (a local, chinese student) asked me how to get from her university (Renmin) to our office, and I gave her about 4 of the 10 options that i know about!
-achieving more (hopefully!)
So that's an insight into my life. Otherwise I am busy working on programmes, resources and events: meeting people going to conferences to learn and to network and doing a few other things too (like going to Tianjin last weekend to help AIESEC there).
Random comments of the day:
1) every university intranet has a movies or music download section (very official, you have usernames and everything): with the high speed download you can download anything quickly. No need even for the fake DVDs then? Actually the intranet system only has recent movies, so it seems many students are also interested in older movies and foreign movies and buy the DVDs. So Chinese people are 'well watched' and not just Chinese or Western movies.
2) most chinese students spend lots of time on computer games, on computer intranets, bulletin boards, messenging services, proxy servers (to bypass censorship issues or to access international websites sometimes) and doing all kinds of things to their computers. It means that most students are very computer literate. I'm not sure if this is good or not. Its been proven that computer games do help with intelligence (and are motly 'team' games) and it means that the students watch many DVDs to learn about the world and are very fast typists... But then they are accessing banned content through proxies (maybe that's good?) and spending less time studying/reading and not spending any money in the local economy (anything digital is free!)
Most of the time we work in the office though often switch to the smaller living room for a break on our poor bums -we have wireless internet :-) (Which is why I cannot wait for the summer so I can sit outside again and still work for a couple of hours of battery life since it reaches into the play area outside the building. Since last month 5 of the 7 people who will replace us have been selected and the ones in China often come into the office (some are also internationals)... so they might stay over, or other students might stay over on the couch (or any spare beds if some of us are on business trips) if they come over to party or work.
It makes for an unusual working environment which might be kind of typical for developing AIESEC offices around the World and small NGOs in China, but is not typical of China by any means. (oh, we have a bathroom too -just 1, but it has a n awesome power shower and a real toilet, though still the toilet paper must go in the bin, not down the toilet). It means I have learned more about working in a cross cultural team especially since we have such different working styles and also live so closely together.. the appartment is not normally clean since it gets dirty so quickly!
I guess this leads to its problems.. sometimes professional and personal feelings can't be kept secret, or if you disagree over the decision of something, then you can't 'go home and forget about it' for example. But it also means you get to spend a lot of time with my colleagues who i know really well and get on with so well. I get to know more about their culture and different backgrounds and we feel like a very close team (although there are still, like every team, challenges in communication sometimes).
Mostly we have meetings at the end of the day or over dinner, or after dinner (or all 3 if its a long meeting!) which means we have more time to work during the daytime; but then less free-time. As my job is to develop knowledge, skills and a passion for responsible leadership and related issues, I have a team of students (1 at each University) responsible for this within their AIESEC branch. I am trying to get out the office as much as possible to meet them and support them in their work. I think this is the best and most important way of making our work more integral to AIESEC's work and how it can work better with other departments in each AIESEC branch. What does this mean?
-lots of travelling on lots of buses!
-lots of cheap meals in students canteens
-getting to know the chinese students better
-opportunities to learn chinese on the bus, or to listen to music/news shows on my IPOD
-a fantastic understanding of china's 3rd ring road and China's bus sytem. Today someone (a local, chinese student) asked me how to get from her university (Renmin) to our office, and I gave her about 4 of the 10 options that i know about!
-achieving more (hopefully!)
So that's an insight into my life. Otherwise I am busy working on programmes, resources and events: meeting people going to conferences to learn and to network and doing a few other things too (like going to Tianjin last weekend to help AIESEC there).
Random comments of the day:
1) every university intranet has a movies or music download section (very official, you have usernames and everything): with the high speed download you can download anything quickly. No need even for the fake DVDs then? Actually the intranet system only has recent movies, so it seems many students are also interested in older movies and foreign movies and buy the DVDs. So Chinese people are 'well watched' and not just Chinese or Western movies.
2) most chinese students spend lots of time on computer games, on computer intranets, bulletin boards, messenging services, proxy servers (to bypass censorship issues or to access international websites sometimes) and doing all kinds of things to their computers. It means that most students are very computer literate. I'm not sure if this is good or not. Its been proven that computer games do help with intelligence (and are motly 'team' games) and it means that the students watch many DVDs to learn about the world and are very fast typists... But then they are accessing banned content through proxies (maybe that's good?) and spending less time studying/reading and not spending any money in the local economy (anything digital is free!)
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Life in China
Last week Beijing was confused: it was not sure if it was winter or spring. 1 minute the canals were frozen, the next they were ice-free. one minute it was freezing cold, the next you could bask in the sunshine! Anyway, I think its finally making up its mind and only 1 of the next 15 days should be below 7 degrees.
Endless topics of conversation take place regarding traffic in Beijing -problems, solutions, surviving.. all kinds. Yesterday I forced Leon (1 of my chinese room mates) to look at the beijing subway website to find out when the new lines will open. I heard a rumour line 5 would open soon. Damn, actually it won't open until next summer! And then they will also open lines, 10, 4, 9, 8 and L 1 in the next 12 months before the Olympics. In fact L1 will be the airport shuttle line and will only open 14 days before the Olympics start! Shanghai on the other hand opens about a new line (or extension) every 6 months -much more sensible.
I normally try to get buses before 4pm or after 7pm, then the traffic is not so bad, and its quicker than the subway which we have to get a bus (or 25 min walk) to get to and often change lines to get to ultimate destination (if its near the subway). Now, though, I bought another bike and happily cycle around Beijing. In fact its almost the same as before my bike was nicked last summer -the difference being i am now cycling around the 3rd ring, and not the 4th ring. The 4th ring was built later and is designed for bikes to be able to go above or under trafiic junctions. In fact the 3rd ring is possibly the worst designed road ever. The implications for bikes are that they cannot go over or under traffic junctions but must pile up at every set of traffic lights. Inevitably people will:
-try and dash all the way across when there is a gap in the traffic (rare): all 6 lanes
-try and dash across, but get stuck halfway with a 1.5m long bike sticking out and blocking a couple of lanes
-try to be at the front of the bike queue and thus every new bike arriving at the lights stops in front of the other, ensuring the queue gets longer and longer jutting out and blocking a lane or two (especially the cars trying to turn right)
...and so on..
The other problem is the variation is speeds and type of bikes in Beijing. An entire piece of research could be taken on the kinds of people on bikes and the bikes they have. A summary:
-those pulling their big carts that are like weelbarrows piled up with crockery or something else they will later stop to sell
-those cycling a tricycle type contraction that might be a pancake machine or piled high with cardboard boxes/sofas/scrap wood etc etc
-the old ppl on a normal, crappy, bike going very slowly
-the younger ones talking on their mobiles while wondering all over the cycle lane
-the younger ones on slightly flash bikes (maybe even a racing bike) speeding along
-the various scooters and motorbikes that just get in the way and don't go much faster than a bike
-... and the cars that use the bike lanes when there is so much traffic (or whilst trying to turn down a side road), and that causes the bikes to then have to overtake the said stationary vehicle blocking the bike lane, by veering onto the pavement or into all the other lanes (NB: useless brakes as standard on all bikes)
The other stupid thing are the horrendous number of buses in China (last year they added about 2,000 to the current number -whereas London has about 2,000 in total!) which don't travel in the bike lanes usually, but have to stop there to pick up passengers, forcing bikes to overtake them by going into the normal lanes and forcing cars into fewer lanes or by going on the inside between the bus and the curb (where all the passengers are trying to get on the bus!) Or, if you are me, you also go on the pavement, behind everyone knowing its the quickest and safest option (since stopping and waiting for the bus to leave would just take too long!)
Finally, the bravest people in China are those that are trying to learn English -never afraid to come up to a foreigner to annoy them/befriend them (depending on foreigner's mood!); they would make great salesmen in the UK! I have a few right now who managed to get my number whilst i was in a good mood...whose messages and calls are, well, just....
Endless topics of conversation take place regarding traffic in Beijing -problems, solutions, surviving.. all kinds. Yesterday I forced Leon (1 of my chinese room mates) to look at the beijing subway website to find out when the new lines will open. I heard a rumour line 5 would open soon. Damn, actually it won't open until next summer! And then they will also open lines, 10, 4, 9, 8 and L 1 in the next 12 months before the Olympics. In fact L1 will be the airport shuttle line and will only open 14 days before the Olympics start! Shanghai on the other hand opens about a new line (or extension) every 6 months -much more sensible.
I normally try to get buses before 4pm or after 7pm, then the traffic is not so bad, and its quicker than the subway which we have to get a bus (or 25 min walk) to get to and often change lines to get to ultimate destination (if its near the subway). Now, though, I bought another bike and happily cycle around Beijing. In fact its almost the same as before my bike was nicked last summer -the difference being i am now cycling around the 3rd ring, and not the 4th ring. The 4th ring was built later and is designed for bikes to be able to go above or under trafiic junctions. In fact the 3rd ring is possibly the worst designed road ever. The implications for bikes are that they cannot go over or under traffic junctions but must pile up at every set of traffic lights. Inevitably people will:
-try and dash all the way across when there is a gap in the traffic (rare): all 6 lanes
-try and dash across, but get stuck halfway with a 1.5m long bike sticking out and blocking a couple of lanes
-try to be at the front of the bike queue and thus every new bike arriving at the lights stops in front of the other, ensuring the queue gets longer and longer jutting out and blocking a lane or two (especially the cars trying to turn right)
...and so on..
The other problem is the variation is speeds and type of bikes in Beijing. An entire piece of research could be taken on the kinds of people on bikes and the bikes they have. A summary:
-those pulling their big carts that are like weelbarrows piled up with crockery or something else they will later stop to sell
-those cycling a tricycle type contraction that might be a pancake machine or piled high with cardboard boxes/sofas/scrap wood etc etc
-the old ppl on a normal, crappy, bike going very slowly
-the younger ones talking on their mobiles while wondering all over the cycle lane
-the younger ones on slightly flash bikes (maybe even a racing bike) speeding along
-the various scooters and motorbikes that just get in the way and don't go much faster than a bike
-... and the cars that use the bike lanes when there is so much traffic (or whilst trying to turn down a side road), and that causes the bikes to then have to overtake the said stationary vehicle blocking the bike lane, by veering onto the pavement or into all the other lanes (NB: useless brakes as standard on all bikes)
The other stupid thing are the horrendous number of buses in China (last year they added about 2,000 to the current number -whereas London has about 2,000 in total!) which don't travel in the bike lanes usually, but have to stop there to pick up passengers, forcing bikes to overtake them by going into the normal lanes and forcing cars into fewer lanes or by going on the inside between the bus and the curb (where all the passengers are trying to get on the bus!) Or, if you are me, you also go on the pavement, behind everyone knowing its the quickest and safest option (since stopping and waiting for the bus to leave would just take too long!)
Finally, the bravest people in China are those that are trying to learn English -never afraid to come up to a foreigner to annoy them/befriend them (depending on foreigner's mood!); they would make great salesmen in the UK! I have a few right now who managed to get my number whilst i was in a good mood...whose messages and calls are, well, just....
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Chinese New Year
CNY was never as exciting in Beijing as it is elsewhere around the World ... at least until this year!
Normally CNY is just an excuse to wear red, put red everywhere and spend time with families. The streets become quiet and work stops. Occasionally families trek to a 'Temple Fair' to stuff themselves with food and see a bit of dancing and cultural acting. Its nice, but mellow.
But this year Beijing legalised firecrackers/works throughout the city (with strict controls apparently -most other cities had never outlawed it, and I heard Shanghai was crazy during CNY. But having returned to Beijing on wednesday I had heard a few (very, painfully loud) firecrackers going off every night...and soon came to agree with those who had been in Beijing for the New Year (I was in Bangkok) that after an hour of fun, it becomes annoying.
Tonight was the end of the celebrations: Lantern festival is another time to hang out with the folks and eat Tengyuan (little glutinous balls with hundreds of different falvours, such as sesame or peanut). They're eaten because they are sticky (so families stay together...although just like the west divorce is taking off in China!), because they are sweet (so the new year will be sweet -so similar to Jewsih tradition!) and because they are round, and today is also a full moon. It was also a night to finish off those firecrackers and fireworks.
Watching from the appartment its all quite pretty. But walking around outside you see crazy people setting off fireworks from 16 floor balconies, firing them over the top of roads and letting loose by bus stops. Its tough to concentrate enough just to walk, let alone drive! And then all that's left is a LOT of rubbish left over! Anyway, I can confidently say that the evil spirits were scared away and that (if the theory is true that the more fireworks you light, the more successful your year will be) everyone in Beijing will have a Happy New Year.
And I wish the same to you all too.
Normally CNY is just an excuse to wear red, put red everywhere and spend time with families. The streets become quiet and work stops. Occasionally families trek to a 'Temple Fair' to stuff themselves with food and see a bit of dancing and cultural acting. Its nice, but mellow.
But this year Beijing legalised firecrackers/works throughout the city (with strict controls apparently -most other cities had never outlawed it, and I heard Shanghai was crazy during CNY. But having returned to Beijing on wednesday I had heard a few (very, painfully loud) firecrackers going off every night...and soon came to agree with those who had been in Beijing for the New Year (I was in Bangkok) that after an hour of fun, it becomes annoying.
Tonight was the end of the celebrations: Lantern festival is another time to hang out with the folks and eat Tengyuan (little glutinous balls with hundreds of different falvours, such as sesame or peanut). They're eaten because they are sticky (so families stay together...although just like the west divorce is taking off in China!), because they are sweet (so the new year will be sweet -so similar to Jewsih tradition!) and because they are round, and today is also a full moon. It was also a night to finish off those firecrackers and fireworks.
Watching from the appartment its all quite pretty. But walking around outside you see crazy people setting off fireworks from 16 floor balconies, firing them over the top of roads and letting loose by bus stops. Its tough to concentrate enough just to walk, let alone drive! And then all that's left is a LOT of rubbish left over! Anyway, I can confidently say that the evil spirits were scared away and that (if the theory is true that the more fireworks you light, the more successful your year will be) everyone in Beijing will have a Happy New Year.
And I wish the same to you all too.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Thailand photos
all up on the imagestation site (see link on right)..here are a selection
me with a monkey on monkey bay (always moneys there of course, since the tourists feed them bananas!)
the sunlight shimmers in the water
the beautiful beaches
my arty photos :)
another arty photo (of the kid whose house we stayed at in the forest up north when trekking)
elephant riding...
a house by the river in the wet, green heartlands of thailand
A Wat (temple) lit up at night
another arty picture of the sun behind some bells at a temple!
me with a monkey on monkey bay (always moneys there of course, since the tourists feed them bananas!) the sunlight shimmers in the water the beautiful beaches my arty photos :) another arty photo (of the kid whose house we stayed at in the forest up north when trekking) elephant riding... a house by the river in the wet, green heartlands of thailand A Wat (temple) lit up at nightanother arty picture of the sun behind some bells at a temple!
Friday, February 10, 2006
Time...
Back to Beijing now, via Shanghai..and finally able to catch up with everyone here, having only been in beijing for about 9 days in the last 3 months!
Beijing in the winter is often a city with snow, not that it snows often (only 2 or 3 times a year) but because the snow never really melts on the roadside...partly because it is so cold and partly it seems like the snow is full of chemicals from the pollution and in so inpure it just doesn't seem to melt in the sun!
Coming bck to Beijing is a shock though. I have been used to spending a few nights here or there getting by on few clothes and few meals; or i have been looked after well (at home in the UK or in Bangkok visiting friends) -but when you get 'home' to Beijing and remember that no-one likes cleaning, beijing is very dirty and dusty and then find out the cook isn't coming this month (not enough ppl around to make it worthwhile) it's a little shock.
Anyway it is nice to be back working with other people again instead of working out of Devrim's living-room in Shanghai all alone (and freezing due to his broken heater!) It's also nice to see 'old' friends return, not so nice to see 'old' friends leave (and maybe return?) but I got used to it a long time agao. A timely reminder that living abroad is full of people coming and going -at this age anyway.
At the conference in Shanghai before Chinese New Year we elected part of the new team who will run AIESEC here... and I certainly feel like AIESEC China is my AIESEC, no longer AIESEC UK. Maybe its because although I have only been here 18 months, AIESEC here is only 4 years old! Its sometimes emotional realising that you will be leaving soon, that new people will take your job. In AIESEC, this happens without fail every 12 months. What is great about it is not that you think about the past, but that you think about the future. I am always excited at these elections seeing new people take up opportunities and the challenge (since AIESEC is so challenging!) and seeing what the old people have achieved.
I have been talking to some of those newly elected people and some going onto new jobs (as well my former colleagues in AIESEC UK all settling into their new-ish jobs, sicne they also bummed around a bit!) and this leads to opportunities to reflect on why I came here, and why I stayed. Partly because China is so interesting and changing so fast...which is fascinating, but mostly because AIESEC here was changing so fast and I could play a key role in that. Growth in AIESEC has been astounding. in 2 years we will have doubled the number of Universities we work with and in 1 year we are more than doubling our core results... this was coming from the UK where growth was 10-20% a year at best.
But I am sure that leaving AIESEC in the summer is the right thing to do..unlike some others who are going to other countries or the international head office! Its time to move-on...but it will be tough. Since AIESEC offers so much responsibility and opportunities..things that the real world doesn't offer so easily, or with so little risk! Its time to start looking around... its also time to try harder to stay in touch with those i fleetingly saw in the UK. But then its time to work harder at my job to achieve as much as possible, whilst also finding time to have fun, to read, to... aaaah, time. Never enough -especially when you are young (still, but only just!) -and especially in a country or an organisation moving this fast!
I haven't managed to get to Harbin for the ice festival, climb a holy mountain in the snow or see the great wall in winter... so there are still things to do next winter -there are still regions of China I want to explore and there will always be 3 week-long holidays a year in China to try do them in! I guess its good not to do everything, to save some things and to slow down sometimes.. to try to savour the moment. to TRY anyway!
Beijing in the winter is often a city with snow, not that it snows often (only 2 or 3 times a year) but because the snow never really melts on the roadside...partly because it is so cold and partly it seems like the snow is full of chemicals from the pollution and in so inpure it just doesn't seem to melt in the sun!
Coming bck to Beijing is a shock though. I have been used to spending a few nights here or there getting by on few clothes and few meals; or i have been looked after well (at home in the UK or in Bangkok visiting friends) -but when you get 'home' to Beijing and remember that no-one likes cleaning, beijing is very dirty and dusty and then find out the cook isn't coming this month (not enough ppl around to make it worthwhile) it's a little shock.
Anyway it is nice to be back working with other people again instead of working out of Devrim's living-room in Shanghai all alone (and freezing due to his broken heater!) It's also nice to see 'old' friends return, not so nice to see 'old' friends leave (and maybe return?) but I got used to it a long time agao. A timely reminder that living abroad is full of people coming and going -at this age anyway.
At the conference in Shanghai before Chinese New Year we elected part of the new team who will run AIESEC here... and I certainly feel like AIESEC China is my AIESEC, no longer AIESEC UK. Maybe its because although I have only been here 18 months, AIESEC here is only 4 years old! Its sometimes emotional realising that you will be leaving soon, that new people will take your job. In AIESEC, this happens without fail every 12 months. What is great about it is not that you think about the past, but that you think about the future. I am always excited at these elections seeing new people take up opportunities and the challenge (since AIESEC is so challenging!) and seeing what the old people have achieved.
I have been talking to some of those newly elected people and some going onto new jobs (as well my former colleagues in AIESEC UK all settling into their new-ish jobs, sicne they also bummed around a bit!) and this leads to opportunities to reflect on why I came here, and why I stayed. Partly because China is so interesting and changing so fast...which is fascinating, but mostly because AIESEC here was changing so fast and I could play a key role in that. Growth in AIESEC has been astounding. in 2 years we will have doubled the number of Universities we work with and in 1 year we are more than doubling our core results... this was coming from the UK where growth was 10-20% a year at best.
But I am sure that leaving AIESEC in the summer is the right thing to do..unlike some others who are going to other countries or the international head office! Its time to move-on...but it will be tough. Since AIESEC offers so much responsibility and opportunities..things that the real world doesn't offer so easily, or with so little risk! Its time to start looking around... its also time to try harder to stay in touch with those i fleetingly saw in the UK. But then its time to work harder at my job to achieve as much as possible, whilst also finding time to have fun, to read, to... aaaah, time. Never enough -especially when you are young (still, but only just!) -and especially in a country or an organisation moving this fast!
I haven't managed to get to Harbin for the ice festival, climb a holy mountain in the snow or see the great wall in winter... so there are still things to do next winter -there are still regions of China I want to explore and there will always be 3 week-long holidays a year in China to try do them in! I guess its good not to do everything, to save some things and to slow down sometimes.. to try to savour the moment. to TRY anyway!
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Phuket!
greetings from phuket -an area now famous because of the tsunami; but previously legendary on the backpacker trail for beautiful beaches..of which I will be seeing tomorrow (and the next day). We arrived from Chiang Mai in the North which looked a lot like my trip to south Yunnan in China last Summer. In fact it sounded similar to since the hill-tribes we stayed with seemed to speak similar dialects to those i met last july.
it was an enjoyable hike across rivers and in 'jungle' (in the dry season it is quite tame), on elephants (very slow creatures!) and rafting on some (slow) rapids. We witnessed a stupid french couple handing out sweets to the local children, and then an even more stupid australian idiot do the same before threatening to punch us for complaining 'behind their backs' at what he was doing. We (6 of us) were all very chuffed since we knew we had the moral high ground. The french couple later came over to talk to us to admit at their stupidity -i have more respect for the french now!
[the sweets were in wrappers which would cause litter; they were not found locally so the kids would end up desiring something they neither find again, nor afford; they are obviously not healthy -especially for kids brought up on rice and vegetables; it created a fight/scramble for the sweets leading 2 kids lying on the floor crying]
we've found some people here speak chinese which is nice, since once you get off the beaten track (ie. 15 minutees walk from main strips here in phuket) noone speaks any english -but most people don't -which is even nicer, since thailand is so toursity! however being able to speak chinese (or french, when we knew there were some chinese speakers nearby) with Evelyn (my travelling partner) has been very useful in terms of agreeing prices for bargaining and making decisions...aah the joys of languages.
thailand's economy is very dependent on agriculture and tourism -most of the tourism does not seem too bad so far; many of the tours are good and the guides are all locals, so they try to protect their own country -however there are so many scams its a joke. today when we were told to changes buses, everyone was so suspicious we said no, even before listening to the reasoning. i felt sorry for the lady afterwards -but it goes to show that we all suspect 'guilty' and need to be convinced of 'innocent' later!
From the news it is interesting to read about China and Russia supporting the 'west' in their Iran/IAEA discussions and about China and India both competing at the World Economic Forum for attention. It is also intriguing reading the english language Thai papers; since they are so outspoken about the PM here who is under fire in a big way for some dodgy dealings. Not the kind of stuff found in China that is for sure.
Just a few days backpacking has reminded me how little you can learn about a country from backpacking. you can have fun, for sure, but you won't learn much about the culture or much about the language or history. I am much more keen to continue exploring china where i cna try to communicate and continue to build up my knowledge of the country. having said that, we have made the most of our tour guides, quizzing them about their lives (95% of thais are buddhist and most men do a few months as a monk) -we even attended 'monk chat' at a temple recently (great idea) to learn more.
Before I return to Shangahi (and then shortly to Beijing) on Sunday night I'll be listening to 'from our correspondent' on bbc website and downloading the recent and back episodes as podcasts onto my mp3 player since i cannot in china, but find the show fascinating. Meanwhile i must prepare for the snorkelling trip tomorrow and start to realise that soon i'll return to freezing beijing...but at least it might snow there!
it was an enjoyable hike across rivers and in 'jungle' (in the dry season it is quite tame), on elephants (very slow creatures!) and rafting on some (slow) rapids. We witnessed a stupid french couple handing out sweets to the local children, and then an even more stupid australian idiot do the same before threatening to punch us for complaining 'behind their backs' at what he was doing. We (6 of us) were all very chuffed since we knew we had the moral high ground. The french couple later came over to talk to us to admit at their stupidity -i have more respect for the french now!
[the sweets were in wrappers which would cause litter; they were not found locally so the kids would end up desiring something they neither find again, nor afford; they are obviously not healthy -especially for kids brought up on rice and vegetables; it created a fight/scramble for the sweets leading 2 kids lying on the floor crying]
we've found some people here speak chinese which is nice, since once you get off the beaten track (ie. 15 minutees walk from main strips here in phuket) noone speaks any english -but most people don't -which is even nicer, since thailand is so toursity! however being able to speak chinese (or french, when we knew there were some chinese speakers nearby) with Evelyn (my travelling partner) has been very useful in terms of agreeing prices for bargaining and making decisions...aah the joys of languages.
thailand's economy is very dependent on agriculture and tourism -most of the tourism does not seem too bad so far; many of the tours are good and the guides are all locals, so they try to protect their own country -however there are so many scams its a joke. today when we were told to changes buses, everyone was so suspicious we said no, even before listening to the reasoning. i felt sorry for the lady afterwards -but it goes to show that we all suspect 'guilty' and need to be convinced of 'innocent' later!
From the news it is interesting to read about China and Russia supporting the 'west' in their Iran/IAEA discussions and about China and India both competing at the World Economic Forum for attention. It is also intriguing reading the english language Thai papers; since they are so outspoken about the PM here who is under fire in a big way for some dodgy dealings. Not the kind of stuff found in China that is for sure.
Just a few days backpacking has reminded me how little you can learn about a country from backpacking. you can have fun, for sure, but you won't learn much about the culture or much about the language or history. I am much more keen to continue exploring china where i cna try to communicate and continue to build up my knowledge of the country. having said that, we have made the most of our tour guides, quizzing them about their lives (95% of thais are buddhist and most men do a few months as a monk) -we even attended 'monk chat' at a temple recently (great idea) to learn more.
Before I return to Shangahi (and then shortly to Beijing) on Sunday night I'll be listening to 'from our correspondent' on bbc website and downloading the recent and back episodes as podcasts onto my mp3 player since i cannot in china, but find the show fascinating. Meanwhile i must prepare for the snorkelling trip tomorrow and start to realise that soon i'll return to freezing beijing...but at least it might snow there!
Friday, January 27, 2006
work-travel-work....
After the southern China dash was the mad week-long conference including one day of workshops from companies about how they are responsible companies, which I organised. This went well and the rest of the conference went very well too. In fact it ended quite emotionally...and I had to tell myself to shut-up!
Conferences are great things...intense, hard work and lots of fun. Its a great way of getting to know more about Chinese culture (specifically from the youth perspective) -from sex to tiananmen square to entrepreneurship and so on. I hope I have a better understanding of Chinese culture now...but still lots to learn, and language issues to overcome. I had 1 day to sort of relax in Shanghai before flying off to Thailand in beautiful weather; arriving at 2am totally exhausted from not having slep for 7 days and then woke up to see the pool and then explore Bangkok.
Yes, its interesting and yes, its very, very Asian. Its great, but also quite predictable. Its quite laid back and quite cheap. There are the little tuk-tuks (3 wheeler open sided taxis) and boats speeding along the canals and rivers. The city is an interesting mix -a huge number of foreigners working and travelling, a big mix of new and old housing next to each other and a massive number of temples and other buddhist things right next to backpacker bars or expat bars.
After being taken for a ride, literally and figuratively on a 'see 4 temples for cheap cause its governmnent promotion day (Chinese New Year being the reason given to us), we had a fantastic seafood meal last night and this morning continued to not sleep in order to wake at 6.30 and do a bike tour around the local countryside. It was 1 trip that was absolutely fantastic with over 50 photos taken, several bums hurting and more by the end. We really felt like we were off the beaten track; be it on the boat or the bike. Photos will be up when i get some time (2007, maybe?).
First impressions are of a country that caters very much for the middle and upper classes with a pretty expensive subway system and few eating places that are as budget as you expect to find hidden in alleys for the locals.. i guess they must be there somewhere. Me, Echo and Evelyn are having a great time, and Echo's family are great hosts...20 of them have flown in for Chinese New Year so we have lots of eating and other traditional stuff to do before doing a 6 day dash around the country (of sorts).
We did not come across the supposed demonstration against the prime minister by his former political openent/currently a talkshow host but did enjoy some wonderful 'pad thai' and local beer. There is always an incentive to go to sleep when the next day you will go to the pool, an imperial palace, eat at the Hyatt and arrange tickets to see watefalls, elephants and the most perfect beaches in the World.
For now, work shall wait, sleep shall beckon and...zzzz
Conferences are great things...intense, hard work and lots of fun. Its a great way of getting to know more about Chinese culture (specifically from the youth perspective) -from sex to tiananmen square to entrepreneurship and so on. I hope I have a better understanding of Chinese culture now...but still lots to learn, and language issues to overcome. I had 1 day to sort of relax in Shanghai before flying off to Thailand in beautiful weather; arriving at 2am totally exhausted from not having slep for 7 days and then woke up to see the pool and then explore Bangkok.
Yes, its interesting and yes, its very, very Asian. Its great, but also quite predictable. Its quite laid back and quite cheap. There are the little tuk-tuks (3 wheeler open sided taxis) and boats speeding along the canals and rivers. The city is an interesting mix -a huge number of foreigners working and travelling, a big mix of new and old housing next to each other and a massive number of temples and other buddhist things right next to backpacker bars or expat bars.
After being taken for a ride, literally and figuratively on a 'see 4 temples for cheap cause its governmnent promotion day (Chinese New Year being the reason given to us), we had a fantastic seafood meal last night and this morning continued to not sleep in order to wake at 6.30 and do a bike tour around the local countryside. It was 1 trip that was absolutely fantastic with over 50 photos taken, several bums hurting and more by the end. We really felt like we were off the beaten track; be it on the boat or the bike. Photos will be up when i get some time (2007, maybe?).
First impressions are of a country that caters very much for the middle and upper classes with a pretty expensive subway system and few eating places that are as budget as you expect to find hidden in alleys for the locals.. i guess they must be there somewhere. Me, Echo and Evelyn are having a great time, and Echo's family are great hosts...20 of them have flown in for Chinese New Year so we have lots of eating and other traditional stuff to do before doing a 6 day dash around the country (of sorts).
We did not come across the supposed demonstration against the prime minister by his former political openent/currently a talkshow host but did enjoy some wonderful 'pad thai' and local beer. There is always an incentive to go to sleep when the next day you will go to the pool, an imperial palace, eat at the Hyatt and arrange tickets to see watefalls, elephants and the most perfect beaches in the World.
For now, work shall wait, sleep shall beckon and...zzzz
Monday, January 16, 2006
Cities
Cities are interesting since they are found everywhere and serve the same purpose, yet each is different...but how different?
Coming to china and returning to the UK has reminded me what makes a city. In the UK most cities have been under redevelopment for over 30 years -it started after the War I guess with the economic restructuring of the economy away from manufacturing. Cities had to find new sources of employment and new sources of 'life'. Now the focus is on 'community'; designing whole districts, shopping, community services, transport and so on designed to create a sense of community, to reduce crime and so on.
In China, since so many bits of cities have been ripped up and rebuilt in just a few years (often without the previous occupiers having much of a say in the matter) and money has been spent 'willy-nilly' sometimes (i.e. our building will be the tallest, our hotel will have the highest revolving restaurant, our building will have the most glass, ours will have the most fancy shops inside etc), then it can be easy for a city to lose what identity or community it had.
In the last few days I have been back to Hong Kong which is a city that seems to not know what it is. More visibly Chinese than any city in mainland China but one where most people speak english, the signs are in both languages and you'll find the most advanced buildings or technology and the most diverse countries represented culturally in the residents, than any in the World. Maybe it will find its identity in the future. Right now everyone just works so hard, no-one has time to think about it!
I also went to Shenzhen, a small town that 25 years ago had 30,000 people and is now a city with a bigger population than London; full of China's richest (indeed its sometimes known as the play area of the rich -where hong kong and guangdong residents come to spend their money -though its no Monte Carlo at all, and nearby Macau draws teh gambling crowd) yet 8 million of the 10 million residents are workers..and mostly migrant workers (apparently). I was not there long enough to find out what the city is... but its nice enough to walk around, brand spanking new... probably not much community, culture or identity though.
Guangzhou is where i have been for a few more days, and this is the center of China's economic boom centred on manufacturing. Coming here last time it just seemed like shops (i was only here 6 hours!), but it actually is very Chinese. Lots of old Chinese appartment blocks and noodle shops around the corner from 5 star hotels, french style cafes and bars full of the weirdest bunch of foreigners you'll find. They come from all over on business trips..maybe as buyers, maybe as traders, maybe just to find a chinese girl who is looking for a rich westerner. But they are a motley crew -most seem to be here temporarily (on trips) whereas BJ and SH tend to have those who are more residents than travellers. So it might just be the most typical chinese city -the best expression of China now. It has an identity, but its losing it to skyscrapers and subway lines. Just outside it are both rice paddies and massive factories -inside it are a few beggars lining the wide streets and a lot of expensive taxis. There seems little Chinese history or culture, as is typical of China: beijing and a couple of other towns are the exceptions...
40% of china's population already lives in urban areas and the biggest migration in earth's history is continuing apace. Thinking about the cities is a great symbol of China in general. Changing quickly but somehow managing to keep it's sense of Chinese-ness -just. Hopefully there will forever be the old people playing cards, the local traders lining the streets with 'crap on a rug' (maybe i could trademark that sentence!) or 'fruit in a truck/bucket/box-on-shoulders', a cyclist running you over and people serving 'lunch-in-a-box'. But when i walk outside now I could just as easily go to McDonalds, get given a prostitute's calling card, buy a fake DVD or spend my disposable income on fashion.
Actually I think I need a 'lunch-in-a-box' one last time before zipping off to Shanghai
Coming to china and returning to the UK has reminded me what makes a city. In the UK most cities have been under redevelopment for over 30 years -it started after the War I guess with the economic restructuring of the economy away from manufacturing. Cities had to find new sources of employment and new sources of 'life'. Now the focus is on 'community'; designing whole districts, shopping, community services, transport and so on designed to create a sense of community, to reduce crime and so on.
In China, since so many bits of cities have been ripped up and rebuilt in just a few years (often without the previous occupiers having much of a say in the matter) and money has been spent 'willy-nilly' sometimes (i.e. our building will be the tallest, our hotel will have the highest revolving restaurant, our building will have the most glass, ours will have the most fancy shops inside etc), then it can be easy for a city to lose what identity or community it had.
In the last few days I have been back to Hong Kong which is a city that seems to not know what it is. More visibly Chinese than any city in mainland China but one where most people speak english, the signs are in both languages and you'll find the most advanced buildings or technology and the most diverse countries represented culturally in the residents, than any in the World. Maybe it will find its identity in the future. Right now everyone just works so hard, no-one has time to think about it!
I also went to Shenzhen, a small town that 25 years ago had 30,000 people and is now a city with a bigger population than London; full of China's richest (indeed its sometimes known as the play area of the rich -where hong kong and guangdong residents come to spend their money -though its no Monte Carlo at all, and nearby Macau draws teh gambling crowd) yet 8 million of the 10 million residents are workers..and mostly migrant workers (apparently). I was not there long enough to find out what the city is... but its nice enough to walk around, brand spanking new... probably not much community, culture or identity though.
Guangzhou is where i have been for a few more days, and this is the center of China's economic boom centred on manufacturing. Coming here last time it just seemed like shops (i was only here 6 hours!), but it actually is very Chinese. Lots of old Chinese appartment blocks and noodle shops around the corner from 5 star hotels, french style cafes and bars full of the weirdest bunch of foreigners you'll find. They come from all over on business trips..maybe as buyers, maybe as traders, maybe just to find a chinese girl who is looking for a rich westerner. But they are a motley crew -most seem to be here temporarily (on trips) whereas BJ and SH tend to have those who are more residents than travellers. So it might just be the most typical chinese city -the best expression of China now. It has an identity, but its losing it to skyscrapers and subway lines. Just outside it are both rice paddies and massive factories -inside it are a few beggars lining the wide streets and a lot of expensive taxis. There seems little Chinese history or culture, as is typical of China: beijing and a couple of other towns are the exceptions...
40% of china's population already lives in urban areas and the biggest migration in earth's history is continuing apace. Thinking about the cities is a great symbol of China in general. Changing quickly but somehow managing to keep it's sense of Chinese-ness -just. Hopefully there will forever be the old people playing cards, the local traders lining the streets with 'crap on a rug' (maybe i could trademark that sentence!) or 'fruit in a truck/bucket/box-on-shoulders', a cyclist running you over and people serving 'lunch-in-a-box'. But when i walk outside now I could just as easily go to McDonalds, get given a prostitute's calling card, buy a fake DVD or spend my disposable income on fashion.
Actually I think I need a 'lunch-in-a-box' one last time before zipping off to Shanghai
Thursday, January 12, 2006
i'm too busy travelling, meeting and don't have enough time to do my work
its. 2.25am, i am getting up at 7am.
AGAIN!
AGAIN!
Monday, January 09, 2006
Unique cities
It seems I wrote in my previous post the phrase 'very unique' which may in fact be grammatically incorrect. Never the less, in the space of a week I have re-realised uniqueness.
The thing is, in China, most cities are pretty similar -some have a more developed modern bit than others, and some have more remaining old bits than the others, but barring beijing and shanghai most others are similar (note this is about cities, and NOT about the rural areas of China which are the opposite). London, is and I expect (as long as I do not forget what it is like) will always be my favourite city.
It may be extortionately expensive (and even more so when turning up from China!) but it has an atmosphere that I beleive is unparalleled (though I have not lived in every city in the World). Just walking along the river seeing St Paul's, the gherkin, parliament, the Tate and knowing that around the corner is the Globe, London Dungeon, Museums, Embassies and so much more. Seeing people from all around the world -feeling like a tourist in my own home is a wonderful feeling. I have realied that Beijing is an interesting city in an interesting country and that London is an exciting city in a sedate country. London rocks!
Then onto Belgium via a short 2 and a half hour train journey to see the European Parliament (the afternoon tour is not on fridays presumably so we cannot see how few MEPs bother to turn up at that time for work) and typically grand European Churches, Cathedrals, Palaces, Cafes, Restaurants and squares. aaah, what fond reminders of my 10 country/5 week dash in Summer 2000. Brugges was another matter altogether -a truly stunning and enjoyable town with the entire centre untouched for hundreds of years; beautiful chocolate shops and picturesque water-building features. I have so rarely seen a city lit up so well as to really bring out its features (I sound like a morning TV fashion stylist now, yikes). I much prefer it to Venice (supposed to be the venice of the north) and even more than Zhouzhuang (venice of the east, over near Shanghai).
Finally I am writing this by a fountain at night in 'Charter Park' which sits at the foot of the Bank of China building (the most noticable in Hong Kong) and adjacent to the Legislative Council (Hong Kong's 'parliament' that seems very small, presumably since its never had much power before '97 or after) -earlier there were old people doing theiir Tai Qi as always. Down the road/across the bay are thousands of 25 story-plus buildings and hundreds of 40-storey plus buildings lit up (some with xmas decorations of 30m high) and sandwiched between them going up the hill sits little chinese restaurants, stupidly steep stairs/alleyways and neon signs everywhere. I remember why I love this city so much as well.
In a few minutes (10.30pm) I'll be off to stay with the AIESEC guys here for a few days to work and renew my visa before heading back to cheap China. but first, back to the running water, quietness of a deserted park and the sweet music of Katie Melua on my new ipod (with video :)) that will keep me company for many a future journey I am sure (since i cannot log onto the wireless networks that are all secured in the park!).
The thing is, in China, most cities are pretty similar -some have a more developed modern bit than others, and some have more remaining old bits than the others, but barring beijing and shanghai most others are similar (note this is about cities, and NOT about the rural areas of China which are the opposite). London, is and I expect (as long as I do not forget what it is like) will always be my favourite city.
It may be extortionately expensive (and even more so when turning up from China!) but it has an atmosphere that I beleive is unparalleled (though I have not lived in every city in the World). Just walking along the river seeing St Paul's, the gherkin, parliament, the Tate and knowing that around the corner is the Globe, London Dungeon, Museums, Embassies and so much more. Seeing people from all around the world -feeling like a tourist in my own home is a wonderful feeling. I have realied that Beijing is an interesting city in an interesting country and that London is an exciting city in a sedate country. London rocks!
Then onto Belgium via a short 2 and a half hour train journey to see the European Parliament (the afternoon tour is not on fridays presumably so we cannot see how few MEPs bother to turn up at that time for work) and typically grand European Churches, Cathedrals, Palaces, Cafes, Restaurants and squares. aaah, what fond reminders of my 10 country/5 week dash in Summer 2000. Brugges was another matter altogether -a truly stunning and enjoyable town with the entire centre untouched for hundreds of years; beautiful chocolate shops and picturesque water-building features. I have so rarely seen a city lit up so well as to really bring out its features (I sound like a morning TV fashion stylist now, yikes). I much prefer it to Venice (supposed to be the venice of the north) and even more than Zhouzhuang (venice of the east, over near Shanghai).
Finally I am writing this by a fountain at night in 'Charter Park' which sits at the foot of the Bank of China building (the most noticable in Hong Kong) and adjacent to the Legislative Council (Hong Kong's 'parliament' that seems very small, presumably since its never had much power before '97 or after) -earlier there were old people doing theiir Tai Qi as always. Down the road/across the bay are thousands of 25 story-plus buildings and hundreds of 40-storey plus buildings lit up (some with xmas decorations of 30m high) and sandwiched between them going up the hill sits little chinese restaurants, stupidly steep stairs/alleyways and neon signs everywhere. I remember why I love this city so much as well.
In a few minutes (10.30pm) I'll be off to stay with the AIESEC guys here for a few days to work and renew my visa before heading back to cheap China. but first, back to the running water, quietness of a deserted park and the sweet music of Katie Melua on my new ipod (with video :)) that will keep me company for many a future journey I am sure (since i cannot log onto the wireless networks that are all secured in the park!).
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
the UK
Returning to the UK has reminded me that no matter how much the world globalises/comes together, every country is still very unique.
So far I have revelled in:
- drinking real beer (A.K.A. bitter/ale and NOT lager) -I presume that xmas ales is a UK tradition; staying in a B & B;
-walking in the British countryside (with footpaths, bridleways, kissing gates, styles etc);
-driving on the left; put my hand up to thank the guy who put his hand up to thank me for letting him through when there was only space for 1 car in a narrow road;
-eaten food like spag bol, chips, steak, loction pudding, chocolate cake, pizza, curry, sandwhiches, toasted cheese sandwhiches, roast lamb, muesli cereal, croissants and so many other things;
-read, listened, watched and lauded over the BBC;
-caught up on all the great british comedy (new ones like little britain, medium ones like the office & father ted and the older ones too);
-strolled through modern redevloped town centres (with trams!) like Sheffield and older ones like Stourbridge (chavs and all!);
-journeyed to many a pub (god bless the pub);
-visited the residents' bar of a posh hotel on the golf course
-and caught up with friends galore (honestly!)
Another few weeks of stupid travel agenda coming up, and only another 5 days in the UK, where it has rained (not much unfortunately), snowed and been overcast (all in 1 day -great to be back!). Been having lots of thoughts..will try to remember them and write them down soon! Happy new year, and have a great 2006 everyone!
So far I have revelled in:
- drinking real beer (A.K.A. bitter/ale and NOT lager) -I presume that xmas ales is a UK tradition; staying in a B & B;
-walking in the British countryside (with footpaths, bridleways, kissing gates, styles etc);
-driving on the left; put my hand up to thank the guy who put his hand up to thank me for letting him through when there was only space for 1 car in a narrow road;
-eaten food like spag bol, chips, steak, loction pudding, chocolate cake, pizza, curry, sandwhiches, toasted cheese sandwhiches, roast lamb, muesli cereal, croissants and so many other things;
-read, listened, watched and lauded over the BBC;
-caught up on all the great british comedy (new ones like little britain, medium ones like the office & father ted and the older ones too);
-strolled through modern redevloped town centres (with trams!) like Sheffield and older ones like Stourbridge (chavs and all!);
-journeyed to many a pub (god bless the pub);
-visited the residents' bar of a posh hotel on the golf course
-and caught up with friends galore (honestly!)
Another few weeks of stupid travel agenda coming up, and only another 5 days in the UK, where it has rained (not much unfortunately), snowed and been overcast (all in 1 day -great to be back!). Been having lots of thoughts..will try to remember them and write them down soon! Happy new year, and have a great 2006 everyone!
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
perspectives on China from the UK
Quick update: had team planning, ice-skating on hou hai and xmas eve party, then flew home for family and food (of course!)
Since the first day I arrived here I realised how little I know about China (even though I read a little before I came). In fact what I knew was: Tiananmen Sqaure (violence or other), Mao (dictator of some kind), Communist state, Great Wall (near Beijing maybe), Hong Kong (handovered or something), Booming Economy and the new stuff I read about (Cultural Revolution, Great Leap Forward etc).
Part of my weblog was about telling people more about China, but I guess I have also tried to restrain myself (not wanting to 'lecture') and having lived there for over a year I've probably forgotten both this idea and how different the country is.
Coming back and showing photos to friends received the expected questions about Beijing's masive development, pollution and so on. But it also led to questions about Tibet (is it a country?), Religion (are chinese people buddhist?), Taiwain (is it its own country?) and so on. I had forgotten how much basic (yet complicated) issues are little know. How some of the World is learning about a railway in Tibet and its consequences but yet don't know the history of Tibet.
It is strange, from my perspective when I think back and learned that most chinese people have this (somewhat justified) hatred of Japan due to historical tensions, that the official Chinese Church still recognises the government over the Vatican (and thus the Vatican recognises Taipei as the rulers rather than Beijing) and that the Chinese New Year is mostly a quiet time for families rather than the raucousness of a Western New Year.
Not much has changed in the UK really (except for more speed cameras!); but I am getting a different perspective on China... the next few weeks will be busy but manageable, but hopefully fun..preparing for 2007! London on the 5th is a party -all welcome after a New Year's one as well. UK prices, 12 days to go...
Since the first day I arrived here I realised how little I know about China (even though I read a little before I came). In fact what I knew was: Tiananmen Sqaure (violence or other), Mao (dictator of some kind), Communist state, Great Wall (near Beijing maybe), Hong Kong (handovered or something), Booming Economy and the new stuff I read about (Cultural Revolution, Great Leap Forward etc).
Part of my weblog was about telling people more about China, but I guess I have also tried to restrain myself (not wanting to 'lecture') and having lived there for over a year I've probably forgotten both this idea and how different the country is.
Coming back and showing photos to friends received the expected questions about Beijing's masive development, pollution and so on. But it also led to questions about Tibet (is it a country?), Religion (are chinese people buddhist?), Taiwain (is it its own country?) and so on. I had forgotten how much basic (yet complicated) issues are little know. How some of the World is learning about a railway in Tibet and its consequences but yet don't know the history of Tibet.
It is strange, from my perspective when I think back and learned that most chinese people have this (somewhat justified) hatred of Japan due to historical tensions, that the official Chinese Church still recognises the government over the Vatican (and thus the Vatican recognises Taipei as the rulers rather than Beijing) and that the Chinese New Year is mostly a quiet time for families rather than the raucousness of a Western New Year.
Not much has changed in the UK really (except for more speed cameras!); but I am getting a different perspective on China... the next few weeks will be busy but manageable, but hopefully fun..preparing for 2007! London on the 5th is a party -all welcome after a New Year's one as well. UK prices, 12 days to go...
Monday, December 19, 2005
the end of another year
I'm 24 years old, have already had 2 parties to celebrate (and probably more to come in the UK) and its almost 2006. Its a bit scary, realising I have not seen so many people for such a long time and having spent b'day 04 and 05 here, it feels like i have been away for even more than 15 months.
I read the UK papers almost every day, so I feel like I know what is happening, but I am currently comparing it to the fact that I speak to chinese people every day and live in China. I still probably don't know China that well, and nor do I really know what its like in the UK. Maybe nothing has changed. but since I've left there have been terrorist bombs in london, the olympic bid, a General election (though that didn't change anything unfortunately!), friends getting engaged, changing jobs and all kinds of other things.
I'm going to come home knowing I am only around for a short time, do not know exactly when I will be back, and not exactly knowing what job I can or cannot find next summer in order to get my career up another step. hmmm. no time for reflection really. I am only 24 and there are plenty of opportunities. Soon it will be time to make yet more decisions -I should have a successor lined up within 2 months and then job applications, summer travelling to organise and a hot spring/summer in China that should convince more UK-ers to come visit.
Anyway I'm still tired from train journeys and shopping (damn cheap fake goods will take up most of my suitcase!) and later this week we have team planning, christmas eve dinner and then...woosh.
And whilst all this is happening, every day I continue to read about the ongoing western media's analysis of the chinese media's handling of the small protest and associated killing in Guandong that took place last week. China is still a fascinating country... with fascinating people everywhere, and a langauge that I just cannot master....yet!!
I read the UK papers almost every day, so I feel like I know what is happening, but I am currently comparing it to the fact that I speak to chinese people every day and live in China. I still probably don't know China that well, and nor do I really know what its like in the UK. Maybe nothing has changed. but since I've left there have been terrorist bombs in london, the olympic bid, a General election (though that didn't change anything unfortunately!), friends getting engaged, changing jobs and all kinds of other things.
I'm going to come home knowing I am only around for a short time, do not know exactly when I will be back, and not exactly knowing what job I can or cannot find next summer in order to get my career up another step. hmmm. no time for reflection really. I am only 24 and there are plenty of opportunities. Soon it will be time to make yet more decisions -I should have a successor lined up within 2 months and then job applications, summer travelling to organise and a hot spring/summer in China that should convince more UK-ers to come visit.
Anyway I'm still tired from train journeys and shopping (damn cheap fake goods will take up most of my suitcase!) and later this week we have team planning, christmas eve dinner and then...woosh.
And whilst all this is happening, every day I continue to read about the ongoing western media's analysis of the chinese media's handling of the small protest and associated killing in Guandong that took place last week. China is still a fascinating country... with fascinating people everywhere, and a langauge that I just cannot master....yet!!
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