Unusual events at high altitude

The eclipse came and went, but was mostly behind cloud so we did not
see the famed corona of the sun peeking around the moon, despite
hiking up a hill early in the morning -well the extra 200m closer to
the sun was never likely to help much. Though the 9 or so of us
created some kind of group atmosphere during the eclipse, in the town
the locals set off fireworks when it went dark and probably had more
fun!

Tagong, the small Tibetan town where we watched the eclipse, 3,000m in
altitude and surrounded by grasslands, had a minimal police presence.
With so few Han Chinese there I suppose there was not much tension.
The other towns and cities with a higher mixture of ethnicities were
different though, with police cars cruising around or parked in
prominent places, after the unrest of last year that spread from Lhasa
to these areas. Sensibly the police kept their distance when a living
buddha, a lama (not the dalai lama of course), came to visit and there
was a procession through town.

The procession involved smoke, some humans dressed up as animals, over
50 horsemen and some 4x4s for the lama and his party. In fact one of
the cars in the party was a sports car (not sure how it fared on the
awful local tracks) and the lead 4x4 carried a monk who jumped out
early to film it all. We looked on, impressed, especially with the
horsemen with their white and gold outfits and swords. We also went
into the monastery where the whole town gathered to sit in the
courtyard to eat and take turns in going into the prayer hall. After
getting sunburnt in the courtyard, enjoying the atmosphere and peaking
into the prayer hall we left and went for a walk.

It had been an interesting experience and more was to come the next
day when we rode a horse to another monastery where the monks were all
kneeling amongst flowers in a square under a tent praying, and it
looked stunning. In fact the morning ride was better than expected: we
trotted a fair bit and even broke into a brief canter to escape a mean
dog who left the tent on the hills with his tibetan nomadic owners to
attack us. Life up there seemed pretty bad and a mean dog seemed as
important to the tibetans as their herd of yak (seems like even the
tibetans have to deal with criminals)... but it was fascinating to
see.

Another 4 hours on a rough road took us to our last destination,
Danba. The roads were all under construction and suffered from the
rain, but the scenery was incredible over the last week or so.
Particularly as we went over 4,000m and past the second-highest
airport in the world that looked out-of-place surrounded by yaks and
grass. We've had to hire minivans often due to a lack of buses, roads
too bad for buses, and the recent decision not to sell bus tickets to
foreigners to go to certain places. We've got to know some fellow
travellers fairly well in these journeys and over meals of yak, and
i've been speaking plenty of chinese whilst struggling to understand
the local dialect when we've found someone who spoke putonghua, rather
than tibetan.

We met some wonderful people running hostels and restaurants in these
small villages; none of whom could speak English so I am not sure how
they manage . 1 restaurant owner was an inspiring woman, who had come
here to find work, alone; her kid and husband in other, separate,
places; she ran the little restaurant all alone doing the ordering,
cooking, cleaning and even providing tourist advice at the same time.

We spent the last 2 days admiring some of the most beautiful villages
in China set in the hills, made of stone and surrounded by 800 year
old 30m high watchtowers that the locals had built all over the area.
In the most beautiful village (according to Chinese National
Geographic in 2005) we found a wonderful hotel with a bar. Inside was
a drunk policeman.(presumably off-duty) with a gun and bullets
attached to the holster... it was 4pm. We left quickly and quietly to
continue admiring the magnificent and massive buildings.

Unfortunately when we arrived back at one hotel at 11.30pm after
dinner, we were told we had to leave before the police came, as we
weren't in a hotel that had a license for foreigners to stay in.
Furious at the hotel manager we had to move, I gave her an earful as
it seemed clear she did this all the time, trying to take in
foreigners illegaly. 2 days later we were angry again when the bus
ticket office told us there might not be a bus leaving the day we
wanted to go and even the bus leaving the day before was likely to
take several hours longer than normal due to the roads which were
affected by rain. It was the "might" that was frustrating. In the end
we decided to hire a taxi for the 9 hour trip only to be told by the
driver he was unable to take us, but his brother would. Then his
brother said the same, so now his friend will take us.... hopefully.
Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

In Tibetan/Western Sichuan

Tonight I am sleeping in a Tibetan guest house having just tucked into
bed after gazing at the stars that are everywhere, for in a small town
in the middle of the grasslands, at 3,400m hight, the stars shine
bright. The dogs, kept by the Tibetans bark in the night, whilst
preparations are all set for the eclipse in the morning.

On saturday, my dad and I spent 8 hours climbing up (with some descent
unfortunately in the middle which required more ascent!) Mt Emei, a
holy, famous and very tall mountain in south-west China. We spent the
night in a Monastery/guesthouse and the next morning, after another 3
hours reached the top... more than 40km walked and 75,000 steps.. to
3,065m. It was the highest mountain I'd climbed, and the toughest. It
was also the first time I was jumped by wild monkeys who live in the
area and lay-in-wait, literally, for tourists on the paths, to grab
their food. The first time the monkey grabbed a bottle of juice from
my backpack pocket with me barely noticing. The second time 3 monkeys
jumped on me from the fence as i quickly threw them the other bottle,
which they quickly pierced and drank from. I realised the monkeys like
drink as well as food!

On Monday we arrived in Kangding, after an 8 hr bus journey, which
passed many hydropowered electricity generating stations along the
main river. The city is growing rapidly, seems under construction, and
presentes an interesting mix of Tibetan and Han Chinese populations
(and a decent museum, surprisingly). A heavy police presence was
visible after last year's ethnic tensions that spilled into this area
from Tibet. We also met up with a number of other tourists planning
their eclipse viewing experience and befriended them.

Kangding is the gateway to Western Sichuan, an incredible province
with immense natural beauty. On Tuesday we witnessed this in going up
to a beautiful (mu ge cuo) lake 3,700m up and then walking down
alongside the gushing river amongst the trees. Raw nature: water,
trees, animals and their sounds can be incredible. A newly, and still
being, developed tourist site, so far it is well done, all things
considered and a great morning. In the afternoon we took a car over
4,300m through the mountains and grasslands to Tagong. The 4 hour ride
went so fast amongst the beatiful greens and yellows, the yaks and
herders, the small villages and tents... and the blue sky.

Tomorrow, the eclipse, a local festival and more nature. I have
already had to recharge my camera battery twice!

The impact of last week's riots and their meaning

Last week was an important week for China, and unexpectedly so, as for the first time an ethnic minority who has never been particularly happy about being a part of China decided to voice their anger. The spark was a scuffle thousands of kilometres away where some Chinese killed some Uighurs based on a rumour that a Uighur had raped a Chinese woman. Once the truth was out, the Uighurs in Xinjiang voiced their anger.

But because there is no such thing as a right to protest in China, any protests become violent and fast -this one was no exception and it was particularly bloody, beyond just the breaking of shop windows. The Uighurs killed over a hundred Chinese; the police killed a number of Uighurs, and then the next day the Chinese retaliated.

So the region where the two groups had lived side-by-side unhappily, now and for the future, is going to be unstable; and memories of last week will not go away. The simmering tensions are no longer underneath the surface. Being a part of China for the last 50 years or so has not been the preferred choice of the Uighurs, who speak a dialect like Turkish and look nothing like Chinese, nor do they eat Chinese food, and they are generally Muslim.

The last twenty of years have brought economic benefits to Xinjiang (although Xinjiang is oil-rich and its resources mostly bring economic benefit back to Beijing, so it is hard to say who wins that one), and Uighurs do get preferential treatment in theory, like less restrictions on children, and jobs -but the political jobs are still dominated by the Chinese, and the Chinese now outnumber the Uighurs. The Chinese entrepreneurialism and hard working ethic seems different from the Uighurs -many of the Chinese just think of the Uighurs as lazy.

The underlying cause of the unrest is simply that the two cultures are very different and can not really coexist side-by-side, but now the Chinese outnumber the Uighurs. As long as that continues I do not see any solution to the ethnic problems -whether the Chinese might end up leaving (if they feel unsafe or for more economic opportunities elsewhere) is unlikely, but that could reduce the tensions. Quite simply, there is not much of a happy future in sight for the region now.

The government cares little about the Uighurs particularly, though of course it fears the minority of them that want Independence. Really, the bigger fear is, as the Economist puts it that:
"Tibetans and Uighurs are only two of the groups which may not accept the growth-for-freedom trade-off that China's government offers. There are the unknown numbers of adherents to the Falung Gong movement; tens of millions of Christians who cannot follow their faith freely but already probably outnumber the 75m members of the Communist Party; farmers who have been victims of local-authority land-grabs; and many young who, unlike their parents, take economic prosperity for granted and are frustrated by the restrictions on their liberty".

The last line might be the most relevant at the moment, where the elderly remember how bad things were -and they were really bad. The young have only known the good times, and when the times are less good... well, thankfully at the moment China has pumped enough money into the economy to keep growth ticking along enough. But enough is only just enough... and with the environmental problems as well as the economic problems, there might be growing social problems.

What country wants growing social problems? Certainly not the Chinese. The country is not likely to split apart any time soon (though the government often pretends it is, as excuses to repress such riots), but whether the country can remain peaceful, stable and thus prosperous is a more tricky issue... if it cannot, and the value of prosperity that gives the government its legitimacy and credibility , will no longer be enough. The government will then only be able to retain control through force -and without alternatives for people to peacefully vote for, or support, more violence is likely to appear.

Whether the government realises that it desperately needs to allow more peaceful means for the public to express themselves is a good question. It has realised that so far the Chinese are expressing themselves through the internet.. and when that gets too much it blocks the internet or censors it. And when the Chinese turn to their mobile phones, they get censored too (or if they are used to organise protests, the mobile signal is cut altogether). Maybe the internet is a peaceful enough outlet, and non-violent outlet. But it is not enough -and not a long-term solution. There are no organizations controlling or massaging the emotions.

Instead the emotions are all individual and sporadic, and increasingly leading to off-line consequences. The 'human flesh search engine' is a uniquely Chinese phenomenon where someone is identified as requiring punishment (either for corruption or for doing something wrong, maybe a government official, but normally just a regular criminal). So-called 'netizens' search out the person's details, expose their private life and abuse them online, destroying their reputation, making-up things and making their life unbearable. But, there are now many cases where beyond just loosing jobs or being arrested by the police for being exposed, such people are being physically attached in the streets -all because of the original online 'human flesh search engines'.

In fact these individuals who have the time and intelligence dig up these details and publish them are the very ones who could do something more serious in the future. Let's hope the government gives them, and the general public, more opportunities to peacefully give voice themselves and choose amongst different options. Otherwise they might create their own options, and that is surely only going to lead one-way. There is no doubt the Chinese government does not want to rule like the current Iranian government -nor will it be able to, in a country this big and diverse.

Some small steps have been taken -there are increasingly open elections within local communist party branches, and there are numerous residential committees that allow free elections for residents of that community (though these committees just manage the compounds, which is nothing political or impactful). Some government officials are starting to listen to the online chatter, and some even listen to offline voices. But more is needed, and quickly. The government can not be as cautious as it has been before. Change too fast and there can be risks, especially if small pilots cannot be trialled first, but if change is too slow, the risks might be even greater.

4 years ago, I used to think the government had 20 years or so to work this out. But with the growth of the internet and mobile phones, with the increasing environmental problems and the recent economic crisis (reminding people that things could go wrong), i think even 10 years is now looking generous. Hopefully things will start changing soon.. small things, like allowing NGOs (who the government can regulate) to campaign on issues and get public support to provide avenues for self-expression, are possible to start implementing now. Some environmental NGOs have started to do something in this area, but they keep their campaigns to energy and animals (so to speak). I'm looking forward to NGOs who provide real options on real issues that matter to the public who are most wanting and needing to express themselves. Maybe other options will evolve, such as consumer associations, for example. Time will tell...

Beijing vs Shanghai

I'm writing this in Shanghai in a jazz bar bar on a Saturday night; packed of course with foreigners who seem to still be packed into Shanghai, and who seem not to speak any Chinese. In Beijing there are so many foreigners there studying Chinese or working but still trying to study. Shanghai is, true to its reputation, more International than Shanghai and its clear more Chinese people here speak English. This is especially true in bars, but then this would be necessary to serve the foreigners!

The city is laid out completely the opposite to Beijing. Whereas Beijing only  has roads going North-south and East-west, as it was planned hundreds of years ago and has been rebuilt in the same way in the last ten years; Shanghai developed in a mess eighty years ago and is still a mess with traffic lights everywhere from zigzagging criss-crossing roads. Shanghai has a couple of highways from the centre out to the suburbs but Beijing's 5 ring roads start just 3 miles from the centre (is diameter) which, when they are not gridlocked make travelling much smoother.

As public transport goes, Shanghai's subway has variable pricing (the longer you go, the more you pay) but Beijing is set at a paltry 25p for any journey. Shanghai auctions off new car registration plates forcing the prices up and trying to reduce car numbers but Beijing only lets 80% of cars on the roads each day.

Beijing has plenty of parks, but Shanghai almost none. However Shanghai has more trees and definitely looks and feels green compared to Beijing's mass of concrete and wide roads. But in the winter shanghai is wet and cold and lacks heating, whilst in the Summer it is hot and humid. Beijing is cold and dry with excellent heating in the winter and, in the summer, hot but rarely humid. But Shanghai is more modern, with old people often doing modern dance or the tango in parks as well as Tai Qi. Shanghai is more forward thinking and better designed with more 'food streets', 'painting streets', 'art dtreets', 'bar streets' etc that are well planned, well designed and useful.s

Shanghai has at least 3 major districts with another 3 smaller ones, and numerous special trade/development areas whereas Beijing's businesses are mostly all concentrated into 1 big area. The one thing they both have in their bars and clubs are generally all within an area of 5sq miles -but Shanghai's are more expensive as with everything else in the city, and there are more trendy bars (that are even more expensive).

There is not much to see as a tourist in Shanghai or much countryside, but some nice towns within an hour or two nearby. Beijing though, is packed with touristy stuff and beautiful countryside but has no nice towns nearby really. On the one hand Beijing is the government, media, NGO and political and thus conference centre of China. On the other hand Shanghai has the edge commercially, although only just. Beijing has many more Unis and thus research centres, but Shanghai has the lion's share of Asia headquarters (and more and more are moving here from Singapore and Hong Kong).

Shanghai gets more of the international musicians on their Asian tours but Beijing has the slightly better local music scene. Shanghai has the Masters Tennis and F1 racing but Beijing has, because of the Olympic stadiums, all the other minor sports that come to China. Beijing is beyond doubt the winner for history, art, culture, theatre and the like -as is often the case for a capital.

Overall it all depends on the kind of person you are and what your job/passion is. For career-minded business people or partying and socialising people head to Shanghai. For those with more interesting, diverse or meaningful (such as media, government or NGOs) jobs, or more interested in culture and history head to Beijing. Then again China is a country where generalisations are impossible, so no matter what you do or like, you can find it, or do it, in either city.

Of course, the battle and competition between Beijing and Shanghai, let alone the debate, is sure to continue...

Successful, and cheap, football

The last two weeks have been hot...very hot sometimes 40 degrees, on average 35 degrees in the day and 25 degrees at night. It is not so bad outside, to be honest. Beijing is dry, without any humidity at all, though still after several minutes walking, a few beads of sweat break out. The problem is being inside. With large windows and wind, air conditioning might not be necessary, but there is not much wind and nowhere really has big windows, so air conditioning it is then!

Last sunday we went playing CS, or Counter Strike, which is basically shooting people with lasers. In the morning we were out in the forest near the Great Wall -fun running around the forest looking for people to shoot, but in the afternoon, for some reason, we could not go and play in the abandoned villas. So we found another company, courtesy of the internet, and drove there for the afternoon. There it was even better (though more expensive) as they had custom made several different scenarios or landscapes. Plenty of barrels, small houses, walls and all sorts to hide behind, and a few different games too. Not sure how i would feel if it was real weapons though, prefer not to think about it!

On Wednesday i gave a presentation at the French Chamber of Commerce about Sustainable Development in China. I spoke in English of course, as my spoken French is non-existent... all that comes out is Chinese when i try to speak French. But a few other presentations were in French and actually i managed to understand a good deal of what was said, which was satisfying... most of it came back to me, though i still could not speak!

In return for the various weekends I have been working, i am taking an extra week off in a couple of weeks, which will be nice. A chance to spend some time outside, hopefully somewhere not too hot. Earlier in the week Hong Kong celebrated their 12th anniversary of independence from Britain -it is generally celebrated with a march for more democracy; as they wait (until 2017 at the earliest, according to Beijing) for direct elections. Currently they can only elect about half of their government. Must be a busy few weeks for Hong Kong and they must really enjoy marching in the heat, as June 4th was also the annual march in memory of tiananmen. I guess there are more unemployed bankers nowadays who are around to march... or maybe they all work extra hard to keep their jobs, so numbers are lower than usual. I wonder...

Last week we finished our monday night football season in an impressive 5th out of 8 teams, much much beter than our 8th place last season... and we beat the best team in the league in our last match. a shame the season is now over for the summer, as we were finally just getting good! I reserved my tickets for the end of July when Tottenham will be out playing in Beijing. You can't see them play for 8 pounds in England that is for sure... and the 8 pounds is for 2 matches!

Anyway, i hope you all enjoy your weekend, and go Wimbledon crazy.

Impatient

Last night we had a housewarming party that went well. One guest who is involved in finding ideas/small companies and giving them funding to expand brought along a gift from one of the companies he has invested in, a simple but effective idea: a big teddy bear with a speaker inside. You download some music or audio files (i.e. learn english part 1) and the teddy plays it, so it might make learning english from cd more fun or interesting for children. Alternatively, you can just get it to play some soothing music and cuddle the teddy to sleep! Interesting idea, and cute with each hand/foot representing a different function (play, volume up etc).

As I write this, i am sitting on a bean bag, which was collected from a friend who recently went home; she had it custom made, and the more i use it, the more i marvel at its simplicity yet total comfort; much like the hammock my sister had in her room at home. Now, just have to hope i don't burst the bag!

Today we went back to our favorite park, but also checked out another part that has a swimming pool and a beach. Not much space on the sand amongst all the people, but a beach with nice clean sand none-the-less, and only a few pounds for the whole day! The joys of discovering new things in Beijing.

Next to our building, across a new road, that is not open yet, there is some bizarre construction going on, involving a big pit that they have been filling up with soil for the last 2 weeks and a small 1 story building (we think) next to it, which has very few walls (so far) and is also now being given a soil floor. In an ideal world it might turn into a lake of somekind with a tea house or restaurant next door, but we are not sure exactly, and eager to find out; hopefully in the next few weeks.

To the north of our complex is another massive new complex under construction (well the financial crisis led to a government stiumulus to support more building work, as it creates substantial employment), which is moving ahead at full steam. It might actually be 2 or 3 complexes in total, we are not sure right now, but do know that there are over 20 buildings of 25 storeys going up. Also found out from a friend that she is keen to buy one of the new apartments, and already slipped the sales agent a bribe of 1,000 pounds or so to try to get one, as they are in high demand it seems (maybe one reason is that from 2012 or so another subway will open right next door, saving the ten minute walk to the current subway line!). If there was a lull in construction during the Olympics to reduce dust, everything is at full-speed ahead now.

Indeed, though we were the first to move in on our floor (the 16th) it seems we will soon have some neighbours. Yesterday some more lighting was added to the footpaths through the park in the middle of our compound, and the grass was cut. The tennis court was finished ages ago, though I am not sure if we can use it (no net up yet), the adjacent gym/pool has not made much progress as is still an empty concrete whole though. I am also keen for that to get finished, along with a few shops to open up nearby, as there is not many at the moment. In the meantime, i'll continue to enjoy some glorious weather and the green park in the daytime, and almost romantic lighting in the evening.

Rain!

Isn't it always the way; as soon as the weekend arrives, the blue
skies disappear. None-the-less, last weekend Andrea and I got out to
visit several parks and green spaces as well as buying the last few
things for the apartment which is now looking very homely. On friday I
was thinking how almost every day I saw trees being watered, and then
on Monday it rained for perhaps the third time this year, suitably
flooding the streets that are not designed for dealing with rain
water. I suppose those who water the trees finally got a day off!

The big China business news recently has been the failure of the large
Aluminium company (ChinAlco) to buy a substantial part of an
Australian firm, Rio Tinto, who needs to reduce its debt. It would
have been a massive deal with political implications as well as
competition concerns (ChinAlco is one of Rio Tinto's major customers)
but Rio Tinto changed its mind, thinking it can get better value from
elsewhere. 2 months ago when Coke tried to buy a Chinese juice
company, the government blocked it. We can expect more of both
happening in the future -as Chinese companies with cash buy up
companies in debt whilst western companies desperate for growth put
yet more investment in China.

On Monday i got a 'black cab' which means an illegal one, due to a
lack of legal ones at the time... such cabs are fairly rare but useful
and my driver was a talkative fellow who used to be in the army. He
said the current government is somewhat corrupt as he went through a
red light; was upset at the British for destroying the old summer
palace back in 1860 when we were at war with the chinese (and took
hong kong); and was just generally an interesting guy.

After the rain came beautiful blue skies and warm, dry, weather that
has parched the earth. Will the weather last to the weekend? Will I
get to enjoy it, or be stuck in the office? find out next week!

Making life harder online

Tomorrow is a big date for China, but no-one in China will mention it to anyone, apart from foreign journalists writing page-upon-page on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the protests/massacre at TianAnMen Square. It started as some students commemorating the death of a liberal politician and then became a movement against corruption and for political change... at that point, enough was enough and the government stopped it after 6 weeks and with the death of several hundred people. What it means 20 years later is the government is trying to control and restrict communication -hence youtube, twitter and flickr is blocked, blogging softwares are blogged and more websites are blocked -even hotmail got blocked for a while. And it might not be unblocked until after October 1st, the 60th Anniversary of People's Republic of China.

Such self-censorship becomes ingrained eventually... i mean why cause trouble when your whole life depends on your visa! The subway stations have all had X-ray machines for baggage since pre-Olympics, but now you can see they have moved the barriers closer to make sure no-one can sneak though without putting their bags through the machine... the government can control things when it wants to, that is for sure! Meanwhile a few of my Hong Kong friends will be out in force at the annual protest there. The strange '1 country -2 systems' means Hong Kong is still somewhat independent and its people are especially independent!

Meanwhile I've moved into a new apartment which is looking nice -the beanbags i got off of a friend are especially comfortable. simple. but comfortable. it seems the recession has made people rethink things. 3 of my good friends have left in the space of a month... another will hopefully find a girl to keep him here! It is an extra 10 minute walk to the subway station, but i definitely need that exercise, and most of the walk is through a nice park betweek the complex, so no complaints.

yesterday a letter from my dad came. great. except it was sent on 16th april, which is ridiculous. a simpel small letter. would love to know why. it was sent by air mail and everything! other news is that we are not bottom of the table in the new 5-a-side season (yet); work was so intense i had to cancel a Thailand wedding trip, which was a shame, and i learnt the work for Swine Flu in Chinese, as it was/is a hot topic. Amusingly someone was identified with Swin Flue and they tracked him to having taken a subway, and got the video from inside the subway car and put it on national TV encouraging anyone in the video to go get a check-up!

1 year on...

I just came back from facilitating a workshop with some student club leaders about how to incorporate a values-based framework into their projects. The idea being that if they can impart the right values into students through their activities, the values will affect the students decisions and thus actions and hopefully have a larger and longer lasting affect, than just doing a single activity.

Before this part of the workshop there was a few speakers; a teacher, a businessman and a low-level government official who studies this kind of topic (its called ESD - Education for Sustainable Development). They were all upstaged by a migrant worker who works in the hotel's restaurant. He decided to join the workshop and challenge the speakers. I was very impressed with his guts, though not sure what he was actually saying! It was the kind of topic that some of the speakers took to heart and thus some impassioned speeches and topics on how to educate students for sustainable development ensued.

On thursday i had a drink with a friend in an American multinational. It was fascinating to hear how they are dealing with the current crisis. It seems companies are making some fairly (apparently overdue) restructuring without really knowing if it will work or not. None-the-less restructuring they are, cutting jobs, increasing efficiency, reducing production due to reduced demand, changing product lines etc.

Work is interesting at the moment, though the days start early and finish late. The project I am requires interviewing all kinds of NGOs, and international banks, UN etc. We finished our project reviewing a company's volunteering program after the earthquake -also a fairly interesting project because of the topic.

That project was on a tight deadline because next week is the anniversary of the earthquake as I am sure you will read in the news. Ultimately the government has acted fast many of the homeless are now moving from temporary accommodation into permanent accommodation; many of the fallen schools will be rebuilt by the September school term.

But the region is still a mess; the government could only afford to compensate the homeless with money equal to a third of building a home (more than a million homes have to be rebuilt!); companies are being asked to donate more money for rebuilding (to show they are committed to China; and that their last donation was not just a one-off); all kinds of fund raising events are happening around town and so forth.

Amongst the CDs being released, the celebrities getting involved and the PR department people all dashing off to Sichuan and announcing their new donations and programs, the government has been slowly releasing more information -particularly the sensitive number of children. Sensitive because government corruption was blamed for the poor quality schools and the huge number that collapsed. But Chinese statistics are even less trustworthy than British ones, so it does not mean much.

Somewhat more meaningful, thankfully, has been that it seems the government has truly recognised how important and useful charities were a year ago (even though they are few in number and mostly unofficial) and is really starting to support their work, and at least reduce many of the barriers that held them back. So the future for that sector does look a bit more promising -though noone expects major changes as this government is still paranoid about controlling the country to prevent social unrest. Charities, the media, students etc all need to be carefully discouraged (or controlled) from doing anything too ambitious!

On that note, I have been sharing with some of my American friends about Labour's self-destruction, and it is amusing how every other day they create more internal divisions, come up with more stupid ideas, reveal how unethical they are and.... well i won't go on any more. I will though look forward to reading next week's papers though!

Happy Labor Day

The 1st of May is a public holiday in many countries across the World in recognition of the 'worker'. International Labor Day means a three-day weekend in China as well as the UK, so a time to finally get back to my blog! (and probably many of you have noted the american spelling of labor, which you will have to get over -I have no american accent though!)

April finished with us bottom of the league, unfortunately. When we played Laser Tag (Laser Quest - paintball with lasers) our team did not fair much better: we lost 3 of the 4 games we played. However it was an interesting day, playing outside in a forest, and then in and around a number of uninhabited villas. Add in some sound effects of civilians shouting in Iraqi and it could have been Baghdad!

Other highlights of the month included going to a few jazz concerts, watching some more films and downloading lots of music, courtesy of Google China who now allow free legal music download if you access the internet in China.

Work-wise 1 project has finished, and another started -a few more are lined up for the Summer, so BSR in china seems to be doing ok at least, despite the financial situation. We also have 2 new directors starting, and our office is now packed, with our interns having to hot-desk and move around the conference room or share desks with other people!

At the end of this month our contract in our apartment is up, so this morning Andrea and I found a new apartment a 5 minute walk away that we'll move into. We'll be the first ones living there so at least it is clean and everything should work fine! The area is very green and convenient; we just have to hope the continuing construction of new buildings nearby is not too loud -although I am sure they will be finished soon!

I read this week that the so called 'eco-city' of Dongtan, near Shanghai, has now almost officially been declared dead and buried. Although the plans and hopes for the city were always 'too' high, it is a shame that the entire project is not going ahead. It would have been an interesting test-city, built entirely sustainably with locally produced energy, produce, water harvested etc. It is somewhat embrassing for the UK, as the Guardian says:

Tony Blair signed the deal to design and build Dongtan with Chinese president Hu Jin-tao. His deputy, John Prescott, went there twice. So did Britain's top urban planner, Peter Hall, and the London mayor Ken Livingstone, who wanted ideas for greening his urban landscape.

It seems the British are particularly bad at this stuff. There are many critics of Brown's plans to build 12 eco-towns, not least the people that currently live in or near them. Is it only the British that are so maried to their old ways they cannot accept change or refuse to sacrifice anything? It seems the UK wind industry is also in a mess because of delays in getting planning permission. Maybe we can just build our wind farms in poor countries and pay them for the wind? I am sure they can handle the sight of them!

What happened to Spring?

So much for the 29 degrees ten days ago, the subsequent week was down below 15 and this morning it was snowing! Somewhat shocking since yesterday me and Andrea spent the afternoon out at the Olympic Park lying in the sun and walking around the Forest Park, without a jacket!

I think the reason we headed out there was the brainwashing from the TVs on the subway, which show a constant stream of repeats from the Olympics: different sports, the opening ceremony, the annoying Olympics song (when you hear it every single day, annoying is the lightest word i can use right now). On and on it goes, only interrupted by brief interludes when arriving at a station. It was, though, a worthwhile trip, including a visit inside the Water Cube which still remains at its most impressive at night, lit up.

Apart from the wild weather fluctuations, the week's highlight was a birthday party and the excellent news that despite losing both our 5-a-side matches on monday night (making a rather dismal record of lost 5, won 1) we are not bottom of the league (due to goal difference). A few more weeks left in the season, and one hopes, time left to redeem ourselves.

We can't fire our Manager, since we don't have one; nor can we bribe the referees, since we tried and it did not work, nor can we bring in any new players from overseas, since if they are better than me then I won't get a game! How about blaming it on the weather?

Never mind, I am off go-karting tonight and then back to planning my trip to Thailand at the end of May for a wedding (and more scuba-diving). So, in case you want to ask, life is still good :-)

Spring is here

Its been a month since I last wrote: a busy month with rather too much working and helping out AIESEC, but compensated for with plenty of fun too, including another trip skiing/snowboarding and a trip to the Great Wall, where I finally fulfilled one of the many things on my list to do -see the Great Wall in the snow.

It was indeed beautiful, though somewhat dangerous as we were rock-climbing up parts of it (same part as we went to last May, but only then there was no snow on the wall)! The great thing about Beijing is that it is just so easy to hire a van (with driver), grab some friends and go hiking for the day to get some fresh air and some exercise in the mountains around Beijing; some are as close as half an hour away (though the air there is not as clean an those further away).

China has been in the news this month for 3 main reasons: the economy (of course, like everywhere else... who knows if there is light around the next bend of the tunnel), Hilary Clinton coming to China to try to save the climate and the economy, and Tibet -as it is a month of anniversaries in Tibet, none of which are particularly good ones, and all stem from the first one -when the Dalai Lama was forced to flee the country (50 years ago); with riots 20 years ago and 1 year ago (as you might remember as it impacted on the Olympic Torch journey).

In order to prevent anything else happening this year the government has restricted travel to Tibet and many of the Tibetan areas in other provinces for all foreigners, including journalists, and has even taken down the internet and mobile phone networks in Lhasa. They have always been monitoring them, but it is a new thing to take them out of action altogether! China Mobile has said there are repairs and network issues that are ongoing, but last year they had 99.something % reliability. This year will be a bad year for their statistics i think.

The other highlight of the last month was watching Spurs lose to Utd on penalties. A highlight because, well, we played the best team in the World and didn't get slaughtered -and, there is some hope (misguided, i am sure) that we might still finish in the top 8 this year. Plus the bar i watched the game at was full of Spurs fans, so we could all grumble and moan together. A problem shared is a problem halved!

Spring has arrived now; we were skiing in the glorious sun, and now it is time to get rid of our thick jackets. Hell, i have had lunch outside for the last two days! It has been a long 5 months of winter, but bring on Summer.

Fire on Chinese New Year

As you might have read the Chinese new year holiday finished on Monday night with a festival known in English as Lantern festival, and it finished with the customary bang and not-so-customary fire at the almost-finished 5 star Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Beijing, which is owned by CCTV and adjacent to their awesome new HQ. Hearing about the fire we walked there (roads were closed) at about 10.40pm and were mildly impressed by several small fires on several floors of the 34 floor building.

But, upon returning home and twittering/you-tubing the fire we realized we missed the real fire: Indeed, if we'd been an hour earlier we'd have seen the entire building on fire and balls of fire coming out at some point. What a shame! Classically CCTV admitted an employee got carried away and ordered fireworks that were so impressive they required a license to set them off. He had no license or clue how to set them off and they managed to set the building on fire! With the new CCTV building supposed to open soon and begin broadcast, it must be problematic that the building will need to be destroyed (noisy and inconvenient) and rebuilt (to save face); and rumors abound that the hotel has another purpose of balancing the CCTV HQ (built on same platform) which complicates matters further.

After a few days of ridiculously late nights working, I've just returned from Guangzhou where it was a wonderful 27 degrees for a team building and planning trip. We went paint-balling which was great fun; although i am not sure if its a good idea that the first time i met my colleagues i shot them! We also did some planning and had training.

On Friday we used our oven for the third time - to bake brownies: the first time was making muffins, though the second time was cooking baked potatoes, and to be fair we did cook roast chicken before the brownies!

It finally rained earlier last the week. I say finally because there had been no precipitation for more than 100 days: a record even for dry Beijing. But the government saved the country, seeding the clouds to make it rain for a few hours at least. When the government can control the weather they can also ensure an accurate weather forecast, so everyone was prepared! In fact their expertise in this area may well be more advanced and in the West and something they can export!

And today, I touched down in Beijing to -3 and two inches of snow. A 2 and a half hour flight was a difference in 30 degrees!

China and Climate Change

"Dao Liang said the following: you know, Americans use 7 times CO2 per capita as Chinese. Then he asked: why should China sacrifice our growth so that the west can continue to profitable and stupid. Anybody here has an answer for him? I don't."

About that comment. Well, you know, I have a very good answer to that question. Yes, USA uses more energy and produces more CO2 per person than any other country, and USA will suffer...from droughts, floods and hurricanes, lack of tourism. China will suffer as well. China will suffer worse, and because China is poorer, China will not be able to cope as well as USA will. That is not fair. It is especially not fair, because USA, over the last 150 years, has generated thousands more CO2 than China has, as China has only had factories for 10-20 years (and some before that, but not much). BUT, and this is the problem, China will suffer. If China just blames USA, will that save Chinese lives? No. Will that make USA more willing to work with China -being called the enemy? No.

I agree it is not fair. But, when you look at the facts...which is that a lot of Chinese people will suffer; no matter whose fault that is, we need to look at what is the best way to stop them suffering in the future. That solution involves encouraging other countries, like USA, to reduce their CO2, but that is hard to control. The only thing China can control, is its own emissions. And for the same of its people, China is, in the next 5 years, going to realize this. Criticizing other people will not save Chinese people, or stop Global Warming. It is not fair. It is definitely not fair. But that is the way it is. Ideally, of course, China, USA, everyone will work together to reduce their CO2 -and i hope that will happen. China is trying to reduce how much CO2 is released per unit of GDP, but China has said it will never consider reducing its total CO2 emissions until after China gets to about 5,000 USD GDP per person (i think) -currently on about 2,300 USD per person. But China cannot wait that long -the longer China waits, the more China will suffer, and the harder it will be to get to that level. I think, soon, Chinese government will realize this. Climate Change is going to destroy China. It might not be China's fault, but China has to do everything it can to try to stop it. And that means reducing its total emissions. Yes that will harm the economy (and nowadays the economy here is bad), but there is no choice.

Of course America has the same problem. It will also suffer a lot from Climate Change, and it needs, for its own reason (not to help China, but to help itself) reduce CO2 etc. Finally, USA government is realizing this. But USA reducing its emissions will not help China if China's emissions keep going up. China will still suffer. USA will still suffer. Let's hope everyone works together to reduce their emissions.

A new year -what will it bring?

Chinese New Year has come and gone amongst a storm of fireworks, quite literally. Things have quietened down now but might heat up again in a week once the festive period officially ends. Beijing is not that much fun during Chinese New Year; everyone goes to visit friends and family and stuffs themselves silly for the whole week off. I got assigned to a new, very interesting, project, so had to work 1 day (and am now working flat out, but gladly so).

Me and Andrea flew up to Harbin for 3 days, in the far North-east of China, where the average temperature is 20 or 25 below, but we had a warm spell -it was only minus 15 in the daytime! Wrapped up warm we traipsed around the old town that was built by Europeans and Russians at the turn of the century when the Railway came out here and when turmoil in Europe and Russia during the war led to massive immigration. Most had left once China had become chaotic in the 60s, but their buildings remained and look wonderful; many are in pretty decent condition. The beautiful church has an exhibition of photos inside showcasing what the town was really like, and it's quite well done -something had to be done in the Church as everything else in it was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution!

Every winter Harbin hosts an Ice lights and Snow Carving festival so we visited them and were suitably impressed by the replica (life-size, almost) castles and churches that were built of ice and bathed in LED lights; and both the massive and intricate carvings of snow. The Ice buildings are big, but somewhat like a film set, have nothing on the inside (well, they are solid ice really) so you look at the buildings and ooh and aah, then go on all the slides and go ooh and aah some more. In fact, I discovered that trying to go down an ice slide on one's feet is 3 times faster (and more dangerous) than doing so on one's backside. Faster and dangerous is also much more fun too!

We also went to Unit 731, a division of the Japanese military, that during WW2, performed scientific experiments on prisoners in order to develop weapons and to generally conduct research. The research was not something that would stand up to an ethics test and the Americans valued such research so highly (because they would not be allowed to conduct it themselves), that they let all the scientists off the hook in return for the results. Visiting the few buildings remaining is somewhat eery and the stories told through photos, models and equipment reveals another piece of history and insights into just what human beings can do. The Nazis had similar Units, but not as intensive as the Japanese.

Last stop was a new museum in a restored Synagogue showcasing the history of the Jews in Harbin. There were 20,000 in the 1920s and 30s and, not surprisingly, were running many of the banks and other businesses. The museum was surprisingly well done (by Chinese standards), but that is partly due to the large funding they seem to have and partly due to the connections of those who lived in Harbin then, including Ehud Olmert's Father (Ehud Olmert has visited Harbin and, one presumes, help to get funding for the museum).

Chinese New Year did allow some time to watch some movies: Slumdog Millionaire being the best, Benjamin Button being good, and Red Cliff 2 putting in a credible Chinese showing. Now, though, it is time to get back to the interesting project... Happy Niu Year everyone, so they say over here, since Niu is the Chinese word for Ox (and is pronounced like 'new') -and congratulations to Ian and Hannah on the birth of little Owen, a future Wolverhampton Wanderers superstar I am sure!

Photos from Philippines 3

A child sleeping on the streets of Manila

Rubbish in the rivers of Manila

A beggar on the streets of Manila

Some of the worst housing in Taguig

Our hut on Busuanga (with me outside)

Photos from Philippines 2

Another crazily decorated side-car in the Coron Xmas competition

Sunrays over Coron bay


Sunrays over Coron bay, orange tinted

A deserted beach waiting for us!

One of the many islands with private beach resorts near Busuanga

Photos from Philippines 1

Flying Kites in Rizal Park

A swimming pool in an unfinished apartment complex that we found very conveniently on our walk!

A highly decorated side-car!

Proud owner-decorator of a side-car during the Coron Xmas competition

Crazy, 2 storey tombs in the Chinese Cemetary in Manila

301st post

4 and a third years into my 'China thing' (yes the 'thing' that was originally going to last 3 months) and i am preparing to go north. Only for 2 nights and 3 days, but that will be enough. It is something I first tried to do 4 years ago, but had transportation problems. Now, I've got up the courage (and bought flight tickets, some progress financially from when i first came here as a volunteer for AIESEC!).

On Thursday me and Andrea will go to Harbin for the famed ice festival and snow festival; apparently there is (surprise, surprise) an Olympic theme to it this year. It is one of the best in the World. It will also be 20 or 30 degrees below, depending on the wind. Hopefully we'll make it back, and might even do some skiing nearby, since there is an excellent ski resort nearby (problem being it is so damn cold, it is not tempting to spend all day outside skiing!).

After the overnight trip last weekend to an excellent resort near Beijing (it was 4 hrs away by car and so much better than the place I usually go only an hour away), I am definitely getting the skiing bug (and the snowboarding bug, though my snowboarding is not as good yet). Due to the distance the resort is pretty empty, so we had lots of fun, despite one friend breaking her ski!

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the last working day before Chinese New Year. Now it is Friday afternoon and it is already hard to work, let alone tomorrow! None-the-less, in return for a whole 5 weekdays off, we need to work an extra 2 weekend days (that's the way it works here -ask the government why); so I will be back in the office Sunday week, once back from the ice festival. And, hopefully, a couple of new projects will be starting which will be nice -a bit more hands-on and hopefully get out of the office.

Chinese New Year is not really very exciting; most people just stay indoors and eat all week with different family. I suppose I'll pop over to the Temple Fairs, which is just like a school fair with sweet and crafts and some theatrical performances. There will be a billion fire crackers and some fireworks to provide entertainment, but that is about all there is to do really. Oh, I almost forgot -I need to go up North!

Thoughts of the Philippines

Dad and I had a long discussion about how to adequately describe a city like Manila or a country like the Philippines. We have opinions of both. but are they fair? How does one convey a sense of poverty, mess and run-down buildings as well as endless shopping malls, fast-food chains and smiley people, let alone the areas we have not seen, where the 60 families that own 60% of the country's wealth (or more, apparently) probably live or where the Muslim freedom fighters in the South continue to rebel? Of course China or America have similar problems I suppose.

It is hard to see if the future will be any better for the Filipinos. Despite the huge influxes of money sent home from overseas Filipinos, the population is increasing too fast. Despite the beauty of the country, and its size, few tourists go there -and too many of them for the wrong reasons (sex). The country has few resources. However, the lovely Filipinos continue to smile.

As I previously mentioned, there are the problems of the fishermen who have dreams of less poverty (and often some help from technology like cyanide) and thus over-exploit resources, like fish. is it even possible, fair or desirable to restrict this -their dreams or their futures? Balancing short-term needs and long-term needs makes sense, but in reality (as Game theory tells us), is it possible for us to accept limits and not try to 'grow'? We'll see how the modern world does now that the word 'growth' is a bad word, not a good one, in the context of profits, sales, market shares and economies.

Busuanga

An island much bigger than we expected, Busuanga depends on its fishing and nascent tourism industry. An hour flight south of Manila followed by a 45 minute bus ride and we ended up in Coron town, opposite Coron island. A week in the small town and it felt like home, with a local bakery to boot!

We were there to island/beach hop and scuba dive. There were never more than a couple hundred tourists in the town, staying at cheap backpacker places, though there were more staying on the ten or more up-market resorts situated on smaller (sometimes private) islands in the area. Coron was really just a delightful local rural town that bustled around its market and town square, especially on New Year's Eve with a popular outdoor disco and well attended firework display.

On the 30th there had been a competition amongst the motor bike + sidecars that are the main form of transport. They sit up to 10 tiny kids or 3 Western Men. With first prize of 700 USD, the quality of entrants was high: the goal to dress up the machines all christmassy and there were plenty of innovative designs and much hard work. Several days had been spent creating nativity plays on the roofs, painting a scuba-diving Santa, making lights and reindeer and all sorts. It gave us something to do in the evenings apart from eating and drinking with all the other divers in town, which kept us busy and happy all week. In fact the food in Coron was very good, particularly the chocolate mousse at the Bistro run by a French guy!

We spent two days on beaches around the nearby islands and exploring some lakes. The snorkeling was nothing too special but having a beach all to oneself with the boatman BBQ-ing some fish for lunch was nice! I spent four days scuba diving, getting my PADI advanced and also Nitrox qualifications. Nitrox sounds very cool, but is just breathing air with more oxygen in it than usual, which increases the time diving at depths. This is useful when you are 35m under water and swimming inside a 140m long Japanese ship from World War 2, something I did 6 times as well as a few smaller boats.

Exploring these wrecks was incredible. The sense of adventure and challenge; the sense of history and atmosphere; the sense of excitement and (limited) danger navigating through corridors, rooms and around pieces of metal all added to the usual thrills of diving. I was (using a torch in order to see anything) swimming through propeller shafts barely 1m x 1m, control rooms, storage rooms, engine rooms and holds looking at and touching bottles of beer, a tractor and a bulldozer and all sorts. Though visibility was not that great there was still lots to be seen outside the wrecks too, such as a crane used to life sea planes off the ship in to the sea and plenty of fish and coral life. I won't go on any more, but there is a reason why the area in in the top 5 in the World for wreck diving.

At the end of my trip I had another half a day in Manila which allowed me to visit the National Museum; which is actually very good. Of course, I am biased, as half of the displays are about the discovery, recovery and contents of a late 16th century Spanish ship and thus includes a lot on underwater archaeology. It was all very revealing and related to the diving I had done and I was easily sucked further into the underwater World.

This was the first time I had dived on a boat of 20 people and it made the whole experience more 'typical' than just small boats of a few people or diving off a beach. After the dive everyone bantered about how it was, who saw what etc. Interestingly for every dive, we had to pay a fee that went to the marine conservation park supposed to be monitoring and protecting the area from locals, but the locals still often took pieces of the ships to sell as scrap. Fees for the lakes on nearby Coron island went to the local tribe who had been given the island and thus maintained it as almost an independent country with their own laws and everything; probably getting fairly wealthy from tourism!

We saw and heard all about the bad practices of the local fishermen: using cyanide to stun fish and catch them which destroys the coral; staying underwater (to catch fish) for 5 hours breathing air from the surface down a tube which paralyzed tens of fishermen every year from decompression sickness and various others that poverty and over-population inevitably lead to. Philippine's ineffective government is trying to do something about it, but success will not be easy.

All over Busuanga and the rest of the Philippines, urban and rural areas alike, was, as last year, extraordinarily large amounts of evidence of Philippine democracy. Local elected officials never hesitate to show-off what good things they are doing for their citizens even when those good things (bridges, roads, markets, buildings etc) have not even started, or look like they will never be completed! Some of the signs by these projects really should embarrass some of these leaders as it shows their inability to get things done. Even for the motorbike competition on the 30th, there was a tent up with signs about who was responsible for bringing the event to the people of Busuanga!

Manila

Upon arrival in Manila and exiting an international airport that seems too small for a city of 12 million, the taxi driver comfortably informed me everything would still be open on Christmas day. He was wrong of course, as the Philippines is a catholic country, however the homeless and beggars were still on the streets. Not a great Christmas for them, though at least they are warm. I wonder if their existence begging in Manila is really better than at home in the countryside so they stay, in hope of something better from the capital -along with thousands of others on the streets and hundreds of thousands in slum-like dwellings.

Me and dad went to see the crazy Chinese cemetery where rich Chinese were buried in tombs that were the size of actual houses; some had two storeys, others air conditioning for when mourners came. The remarkable tombs that are elaborate and expensive (and built there because the Chinese were not allowed to be buried in cemeteries with Filipinos) are even more remarkable as they are sited alongside a river; the other side of which was an entire town made of corrugated iron. Oh the juxtaposition and irony.

Those inhabitants' living conditions were incalculably worse than their deceased neighbors, yet as with Filipinos across the country, many in poverty, they were all smiles. Indeed, they never came to us to beg, like those in the tourist area. Almost as surprising was the stubbornness of one of the cemetery's security guards (who dubs as a tour guide) who was not willing to negotiate down from his asking price of 7 USD to give us a one hour tour around the cemetery.

Earlier on Christmas Day we'd seen the opulent Manila Hotel, charming old town of Intramuros (developed under the Spanish hundreds of years ago) including a well-restored fort, and the new developments by the harbor.

Evenings in Manila's bars and restaurants are marked by prostitutes making up 2/3rds (literally) of the clientele (they keep clients buying drinks which keeps bars happy) and beggars outside, necessitating security guards at entrances.

The next day we ventured to a local town by a lake, which was marked out by their transport. Sited along disused train tracks, the kids kept themselves busy ferrying residents to-and-fro using home-made carts that seemed remarkably fast and well designed on the train tracks. We wondered into an almost finished fancy apartment complex nearby and used the swimming pool before returning to Manila.

There is a business district (bigger than i expected when i visited on my way back through Manila to China) and some nice areas, but Manila is not a pretty city; the few nice old buildings that survived World War 2 are lying abandoned in most cases. It's a city of too many people and not enough housing or jobs. A shame really; the people are nice and although it's mainly the middle classes in the lovely Rizal Park relaxing, playing and buying food and kites from the poor street-sellers, the area to one side where I watched 30 or so people playing chess, provided an opportunity to talk to locals and see how class barriers can be bridged, and how a simple game of chess can provide joy and smiles to all -for free.

None-the-less it is wise to lock taxi doors as beggars occasionally try to open them at traffic lights whilst children, knowing no better or no other life, knock on the windows looking sad before giggling and turning back to their friends to play.

Off for a break

It's got too cold for me, so I am off to scuba-dive, hike and explore Busuanga, an island in the Philippines for 10 days or so. Merry Christmas, Happy new Year etc, and i am sure i will provide updates from the island.

number 5

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

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

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

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

A few photos from USA trip

Below zero

The Siberian winds arrived in Beijing this week bringing instant freezing to anything in their way. brrrr. Hopefully the snow won't be far off and a day-trip skiing can be organised.

This week my biography was finally added to BSR's web-site, though thankfully they have not yet put a photo up. If you have forgotten who I am, go have a look :)

Unfortunately the sadness of 200 innocent people dying in India has been followed by the news that Zimbabwe has actually gotten worse. A country that could not get any worse, has somehow managed to get worse. Incredibly. Now that people are literally dying in their hundreds daily, maybe the West might care? Well, maybe not. I mean, we could have sorted that mess out 5 years ago in a week. Instead the entire country might, in a few years time, turn into Somalia: where inept governments and miserable poverty creates a haven for terrorists.

On a lighter note i noticed the Chinese government threatening trade sanctions against France because of their support for the Dalai Lama. The rubbish the government spouts about the Dalai Lama is laughable, though the government has improved its PR machine on other issues. To even pretend there is religious freedom in Tibet is a joke (it is officially illegal to talk about or have a photo of him; somewhat equivalent of not letting Christians talk about Jesus!) as is the idea that the Dalai Lama wants independence.

One hopes the goverment will eventually recognise that increasing religious freedom in Tibet is not actually a major threat to the country and will placate most Tibetans without major costs or implications. In the current economic climate, though, we can be sure that the government cannot afford any trade barriers against France -they need all the orders they can get!

China and the economic crisis

Wow, a month has gone by since I returned from the USA; I have not blogged in that time since Blogger seemed to be blocked, but now seems to be unblocked!

Work has been variably busy and variably not-so-busy; whilst playing time has been somewhat restricted because of apartment hunting (and subsequent upgrading of current apartment, once it was decided not to move, for the moment) and the cold!

As with the rest of the world everyone is talking about the economy; as you may have read China's only ever concern is social (and therefore political) stability and the biggest threat to this has always been employment. In the past, with massive economic growth coming through manufacturing goods for the West, the rural unemployed found jobs in the urban areas. But now the factories are collapsing due to the lack of orders from the West.

This is a serious problem and serious not just in the sense of budget problems but in the sense of social stability affecting the country's very existence. So far things have been quite quiet.... some protests by taxi drivers; a huge government plan to spend money on infrastructure and other projects to provide jobs; discussions about how to increase domestic consumption.

For the West, the recession is a problem.... a big problem, but the country will survive. In China, the fear is the problem could get big enough to be a serious threat to the country. The government does not talk about that of course, but it knows it.

If you consider there are 150m migrant workers who are employed in the cities in restaurants, construction and factories -and now losing their jobs left, right and centre; 100m middle-class whose savings are locked up in apartments whose value is collapsing (how to boost consumption if savings are in property that you cannot sell?); 3m students who will not get a job next summer; 600m farmers who are now about to a) sell their land to agricultural businesses to get some income (temporarily, but then be job-less) and b) be unable to find jobs on the land due the increasing rate of agricultural mechanisation/modernisation.

And this is just the start; we all need to hope that the economic problems only last for 2 years and that China can survive them. Not just for China's sake -but China's impact on the World is now so great, that other countries are all dependent on China. Hell, every multinational company is here trying to make money, because they know they can't make any at home right now!

There is hope though... hope that chinese government and citizens spend their money in China to increase domestic consumption which keeps the factories open and workers employed and provides profits to local and foreign companies. Increasing consumption is hardly a solution to climate change and related environmental crises affecting China, but.... at least it is a short-term solution.

In the mean-time the West's so-called solution to the crisis is for indebted governments to go into more debt to try to trasnfer money to already indebted citizens, in the hope they will rack up more debts spending that money buying stuff. Some how i think the solution of 'borrowing money to spend money' is not going to solve the problem... it is what created the problem.

We just need to accept that we should only spend what we have, and not try to create a society based on spending what we do not have. We'll just end up back in this mess again in the future. This is (hopefully, short) adjustment period where we try to pay off our debts and then, afterwards, not get into so much debt again and just spend within our means. But is that just wishful thinking and gross over simplifaction?

The Chinese people and government have saved money, so they can spend it. This is better than borrowing money to spend, for sure. Maybe the solution is that FIRST we save money, THEN we spend; rather than FIRST we spend money, THEN we try to save! Anyway, we'll have to see what happens as Western governments pile up debts to try to spend their way out of recession. Hopefully the governments' economic advisers know something I don't and their temporary solutions will actually create an economically sustainable society once this crisis is over. Hopefully.

Seattle

The last destination was Seattle where I had a couple hours downtown in between changing flights. The first impression was that there were a lot of crazy people beggars around on the buses, by bus stops and in the touristy areas making everyone slightly uncomfortable especially the two chinese girls on the bus whom were slightly harassed (eventually the crazy man just got off the bus whilst insulting the guy on the bus who told him not to cause problems).

Pike place market is a fantastic market; less food nowadays and more crafts but still it is very much unlike the Farmer's Market in LA... here the food is fresh and green, wholesome and sustainable, local and creative; smelling fantastic. Amongst the shops is the starbucks where it all began -now a tourist attraction in itself and doing great business from people like me wanting a coffee there!

The main attraction though is the Pike place fish stand which I'd heard of several years ago from a very cool short video about how they motivate their staff and run their business. Amongst the 'lessons' the most memorable was CHOOSE YOUR ATTITUDE which is still the welcome message on my phone (not that i turn my phone off/on often). Think about it and it makes a lot of sense.

Finally the trip ended with a security scare at Seattle airport delaying the flight by a couple of hours. It is now Thursday, the day after the big election and the World feels different (well, it READS different in the media). Will it be different? Well, I guess I'll have to go back to the US in a few years and find out!

Vegas

After the too-big portions we drove through the desert (itself an interesting sight) to Vegas stopping at a shopping outlet (every time i am in EU/US i have to buy shoes as Asia does not sell my size even though they make it). We also spent a thoroughly enjoyable few hours in Red Rock Canyon park. Even if Vegas was not next door, that park might still be worth a few hours drive to get there. With molre time to go hiking it must be even better.

My mum and sisters had very much been taken in by Vegas legend and were expecting hotels that took hours to walk through/across and were full of amazing things inside. They saw the stats of room numbers, restaurants and shops and, well, then we arrived and after they had stopped screaming realized that most of the hotels were normal hotels that were more special on the outside than inside. The most fancy parts of Vegas are the designer brand shops that line every hotel. Dior? Saw at least 3. De Beers? Saw at least 2. Gucci? At least 5. Well, since the richest ppl in the Woeld come to Vegas to spend money and have fun, I guess they do decent business and brand-building.

The hotels are impressive and luxurious. They are big with lots and lots of slot machines; but machines are small, restaurants and shops are small and most hotels are very alike -impressive, but alike. For me, i had lower expectations having been to Atlantic City, Macao and cities like Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chicago and New York. I've seen fancy buildings, stayed in fancy hotels and so on. So the reality is not quite up to legend, but arriving in Vegas -at night- is still incredible; to see the neon, the amazing hotel facades and the 'strip' is a sight to be seen. Human kind's impact is worrying.. I hate to wonder how much marble and glass makes up Vegas!!

We met a legend of a driver who was born in Vegas close to 80 yrs ago and had seen it all. Quality old man who deserves to should have his story heard.

What kind of people are in the casinos? I'd be interested in reading the research on who comes and spends what money on what. It seems that most people are the average 'joe'; quite a few older joes and that they spend their money on shows, food and slot machines. I imagine there is a whole other side to Vegas of VIP entrances, gambling rooms, suites, suits and exclusivity.

Some hotel wondering, pool-side lazing and gambling later we hit THE club (apparently LAX is the place to go). It's not so hard to get into and full of rif-raff like us plus a football team and some Arabs throwing dollar bills around the club.

I guess i was shocked by how much sex is in Vegas: in addition to the Casino waiteesses wearing so little there are lots of upmarket strip shows and ads for call-girls. Well, where there is money, there is sex. Where there is sex there are pretty women... so any complaints from me?

The next day we flew over the impressive grand canyon and i decided some day to come back and do some white water rafting through it. Flying allowed us to see the Hoover Dam, the desert, the canyon and even the golf courses that stand out like a sore thumb!

The highlight of the entire trip was 'O' (as in eau meaning water in French) a show that has no plot. And does not need one. A truly incredible piece of theatre which was technically auperb: the choreography, the stage design, the music, and the cast. Not sure if they are acrobats or synchronised swimmers, ballet dancers or professional high-divers. It is an incredible 100 minutes of creativity, skill and athleticism. Nothing much matches it. Go see it.

The last night in Vegas was halloween, and what a night it was. The streets were packed; the low-market casinos were packed; dealers were dressed up and live bands were playing; special themed parties, haunted houses and so on were organised. Finally, almost everyone was dressed up and most had made a major effort with all kinds of creations both boght and home-made. It was a lot of fun. Vegas parties are mostly full of groups of men or couples -not many groups of women were there; so single girls could have a ball as my sisters found out!

LA

A short flight down to LA to meet my mum and sisters and I found myself at Venice beach with some cool uncles admiring the good looking girls jogging by. The street entertainment and beaches weren't bad either. The drive up past Santa Monica beach (packed full of surfers) to Malibu ended up with us trusting the sat nav's recommendation for a nearby mexican restaurant. These computers nowadays know their food!

Parts of LA really are full of people with insane wealth, demonstrated in the sizes of their cars, homes and driveways. Hollywood, Bel Air and the surrounds are just as the media makes them to be. In fact USA is a country which does live up to stereotype every time I visit; although there are a lot of stereotypes!

It is a city of crazy size -in every sense the opposite of a Chinese city. It's a city of houses. not apartments; cars, not public transport; urban sprawl and poor planning, not centralised and planned urbanisation. It takes 3p0 minutes to go anywhere even if going on a highway and without traffic -ridiculous. Most people i asked were not even sure where the 1 subway line goes, though they did know it went nowhere useful to them!

We did the pure LA trip; seeing it from a limo (well, for a 21st, it's a must-do), driving past the stars houses, seeing the stars on Hollywood boulevard and the hands outside the Chinese theatre. We photographed the Hollywood sign, the hotel from Pretty Woman and more besides. Nothing could be more touristy. We ate on Sunset strip, partied at a bar which had the best karaoke singers ever (out-of-work superstars?) and went to themed restaurants.

Hollywood is hollywood... the waiters are part-time actors and famous people do often eat there. It is everything you think it is. Since Kate's a Director in training we went on the Warner Brother studio tour and were generally impressed with the improvisation that takes place to create sets. The girls were satisfied seeing (and walking around) the set of ER as well as Central Perk from friends, the set of which has been kept.

San Francisco

Arrival at Seattle brought me into contact with the friendly customs guards but very unfriendly security guards. It also introduced me to Seattle's interest in Fish and Chips. Several of the restaurants in the airport specialised in it; however they still need to improve: French fries are not chips! Not that the Yanks could eat any more fries even if they were free...fries come with everything -quite a change from China!

The 4 hr change gave me time to read the paper: election, election, election of course, though nothing too exciting (and throughout the trip it was all CNN cared about, driving me crazy). Arriving at San Francisco and I entered a whole new American World of super proud local residents who refuse to identify themselves with other parts of USA or California. They do love, and rate highly, their city!

I spent a few days working with my fantastic colleagues at BSR as well as going out in the evening and catching with Francesca who had worked with me at Plan and also did some touristy stuff. Alcatraz was fantastic: I loved 'The Rock' movie and going to the prison island was even better than expected with an excellent audio tour and access throughout the prison -though its not possible to enter the huge networks of tunnels etc built beneath the prison when military forts were established there in the 19thC.

A half day cycle ride across the Golden Gate bridge to a park of big trees would have been better had my bike not broken down 500m from the park forcing me to turn back to find a repair shop; overall SF is a laid back, fun and enjoyable city to live in. It is very diverse and friendly and pleasing on the eye with good public transport.

Tourism in China (a few comments)

Tourism in China is developing fast. The government intentionally got rid of 1 of the 3 week-long holidays and spread those days off around to make a few more 3 day weekends in order to encourage more distributed tourism (trust me, travelling during the week-long holidays is generally a nightmare). But it is 'tourism by car' and 'tourism by guide tours'. Public transport is a pain during these times as it is still a mad dash to buy train tickets (only on sale a few days early) and it is still not possible to buy return train tickets in China (ridiculous)!

With now 200 million or more people able to afford to take holidays (in addition to the 200 million migrant workers who use the holidays to travel home to see their families, which affects transport too), China is seeking to develop more 2nd, 3rd, 4th tier tourism sites. The top ones are packed and at over capacity. There are a few cases of some decent tourism management plans, but generally most sites and their surrounding areas explode organically from tourism related entrepreneurial activity.

As people like me try to seek an offbeat travel experience, exploring rural areas, minority groups, unexplored areas and so on, we find it harder and harder. And what right do we have to criticise when others wish to do the same as us?

Well, China is a big country, and there are plenty of bits of land left to explore and plenty of mountains in each of the mountain ranges apart from the 1 famous one that everyone dashes to.

This time we had to get a horrendously slow day-time train that took 9 hours. The most painful moment was watching the Chinese woman next to me throwing all her rubbish out the window of the train -she could not even be bothered to drop it on the floor, where the cleaner would pick it up! Once she missed throwing something out the window and it landed by me, so I left it on the floor whilst trying not to laugh as she gestured at me to throw is out the window. Oh dear; so typical, unfortunately, that a glimpse outside the window on any train will reveal litter strewn along the tracks in pristine countryside. What is remarkable is that these people on the train are educated; they are just, for reason unknown, deciding not to care.

Our seats were actually directly underneath a big sign that was hung width-wise across the carriage telling people not to smoke on the train. Others were smoking further down our carriage but, with the window open we survived. Well, until the last stop, when the guy next to us lit up. I was incredibly angry and asked him if he could read. He just looked bemused (or surprised that i was speaking chinese?) at the foreigner who dared to challenge his undeniable right to smoke. At the same time Chris (who i travelled with) was further down the carriage preparing to get off the train and chatting with another guy about how much he hated smoking. As Chris got off the train, the guy immediately lit up -and got another torrent of abuse from me as I passed by to disembark.

3 days later, as we got off the bus in Beijing I shared a taxi with 2 others to get from the bus station back into town and explicitly explained we would be splitting the taxi bill. I got out the taxi first a mile or two before the other two passengers and passed the taxi driver 20 RMB (a fair amount). He just looked at me like i was a loony. "39 RMB, 39 RMB -look" he said, pointing at the meter. "We are 3 people!" was all I said as I shoved the 20 in his hand and walked home.

Damn, sometimes i have to say, it is hard work living here.. language is always a problem to some extent; but more than that is the attitude some people here have. I am sure every foreigner in every country faces the same problems (racism, discrimination or whatever); what is striking here is that i find some (not all, of course) Chinese people think that as the same time as they have a right to treat foreigners like idiots/differently they believe they are the warmest, nicest, friendliest people. This is what frustrates me -I don't mind them treating us differently, but to think that they are not is what gets me.

This is enough for 1 post i think. In 4 years I have travelled a lot (Chris has travelled even more), going to almost every province and going to the popular places, the not-so-popular places and to just random villages or bits of countryside. I am by no means an expert, but could write more and more... I do just want to point out though, that with everything in life, and especially in China, making generalisations, though necessary in life, is very, very difficult. Here, especially, everything changes, everything is so big and diverse, generalisations are hard to make -but, ultimately, must be made!