Spring is finally here. But first around a third of the population of China had to endure a horrendous stand storm last weekend (though it was much worse in Beijing than any other large city). Waking up at 7.30am on saturday it seemed like my bedroom window had an orange shade over it. The whole world outside was orange-red. But it was not the window, it was the sand in the air. Once I got downstairs the sand was swirling around, just like being in the desert last Summer, and as cars drove down the street the thin layer of sand on the ground would swirl around. It was the worst sandstorm in Beijing for about 4 years -I remember the one before that, and it was indeed worse. Although most cars this time were dirty and sand-streaked, last time it was much worse. Good business for the car-wash people anyway!
The government had actually warned everyone to stay inside and not go out, but by the afternoon it was pretty clear. By monday it seemed spring was finally here, only for wednesday evening, after going an event in a cafe about Climate Change (Debate: Has China done enough?), to find myself cycling home in a horrendous snow storm, arriving home 30 minutes later soaked and covered in snow. Unfortunately the debate was pretty tame. The team (apparently the more experienced debaters, though much younger than the other team) arguing China has not done enough did a pretty poor job and lost comprehensively.
It is clear China has done a lot and is doing a lot; China has the political will to do something and is getting something done -none of which can really be said about the US or other developed nations. Yet, it is also clear China has to do a lot more, as China will be one of the hardest hit from Climate Change with a third of its population close to the coast and liable to be flooded and another third living next to major rivers that will first flood and then run dry. In the meantime, every year the droughts in China affect more people and get more severe not just ruining farmland and leading to food shortages, but also with real economic consequences from the triple whammy of a lack of food being grown, the need to provide food to those who cannot grow it, and the extra time and resources needed to organize and transport food as part of the 'relief' mission. The rest of the world is not doing much compared to China, but China has to do more -it cannot wait for the rest of the World, for its own sake!
Now, finally it seems Spring is here. The proof is that most of the covers that have kept all of Beijing's bushes hidden during the Winter have come off. As I referred to previously, alongside every main road there are bushes and hedges and around most office and apartment buildings too. Over the winter all of them were crudely covered with wooden frames and a green sheet stitched over the frame. Now thousands of workers have been out dismantling the frames.
Our apartment complex is owned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who sold apartments to its employees cheaply as a benefit, so our landlord works there (actually in Myanmar/Burma at the Chinese Embassy) and many of our fellow residents work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I've met old people who speak excellent English from their time served overseas, and young people currently in between postings. The guy i spoke to last week just came back from 3 years at the Chinese delegation to the UN, though his English should have been better (then again, so should my Chinese after living here over 5 years!).
Current 'news' seems to weighted around football, with 5-a-side games twice a week (we actually one our season opener which is amazing, but then lost the second) and a one-off 11-a-side today. Spurs seem to be promising they'll finish 4th or 5th, but i am sure we'll fall at the last hurdle as always. Only 6 weeks left in the season so we'll find out soon enough.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Monday, March 08, 2010
snow and comments
There is nothing much in common between snow and comments, to be honest, apart from that I feel the urge to write about both of them.
After getting back from Paris for some more meetings for a day and the chance to try out some more of the more interesting and innovative chains of restaurants that have opened in the last 5 years serving anything from healthy food to Mexican food, I headed up to the Peak District for a stag party, which entailed rather a lot of drinking, playing poker, watching sport down the pub, some more drinking and some fun about 15 metres up in the air in the woods doing something called Go Ape. A simple concept really, that we all enjoy a bit of scrambling around in playgrounds when we are older, so its about time someone made a playground for adults, and to make it a bit more exciting, put it up in the trees -though give everyone a safety harness just in case (well, we are adults after all).
Its being incredibly successful and is going global -and after 2 hours or so scrambling across rope bridges, zipping down zip lines and the like, i fully understand why and recommend it for an enjoyable afternoon with some friends. We arrived in the snow, not something I was expecting to be honest, and dressed up like we were in the himalayas. Thankfully the snow stopped and we made it to the pub just a few minutes late for the six nations. A taxi through the peak district early in the morning revealed glimpses of some of the beauty of the British countryside -especially in the snow- and a nice fast train took me back down South where I had to catch a flight back to Beijing, where, of course, it was snowing. And again, a week later, it has snowed again. So rather a lot of snow really. Having said that there seemed to have been rather a lot of earthquakes recently too: haiti, chile, taiwan, turkey... i guess i prefer the snow to an earthquake. Though i do have fond memories of the 13 earthquakes in Manchester that occurred over 24 hours on October 22, 2002. Not that the earthquakes (biggest hit 3.9) did much damage apart from knocking a plate onto the floor!
Ah yes, the British countryside -much more of it than one realizes, and it never seems to have much of a purpose -often seen laying fallow or with a few sheep grazing in the fields. None-the-less I assume it must be productively used at other times of the year (i.e. when i am not visiting) since Britain is at the forefront of efforts over the last few years to source more food locally and not import it. And for those of you interested, that is just one element of being a responsible business -reducing travel for products and being more responsible to local communities by creating jobs and keeping money in the communities- which is what BSR (who i work for) help companies do.
Another element of our work is helping investors invest in more responsible businesses, because they are more profitable business (a simple example being the Co-op bank who refuses to loan money to projects or companies who are irresponsible and does not take big risks and did not almost go bankrupt unlike almost every other bank in the country) over the long-term. Not that many people think long-term nowadays, but we do recommend it. Plenty of my meetings in London and in Paris was with investors and related organizations (e.g. researchers) who are interested in investing in responsible companies in China; which we are helping some investors do. Its a fairly interesting concept and I am quite getting into it.
Hence I was reading about wonderful RBS who is involved in extracting oil from the tar sands in Canada, which use up a lot more energy than any other process for getting oil and generate a lot of greenhouse gases too (Canada is the developed country whose emissions have increased the most in the last ten years because of this industry). Since no-one is valuing these greenhouse gases in Canada at the moment (though they do in Europe, though too cheaply right now) it is profitable to support this industry and not worry about the costs of climate change. This in itself is an issue, but it has become a bigger issue recently since the UK government owns most of RBS and has made many promises to itself, to its citizens and to others, that it would do everything it can to reduce UK's greenhouse gas emissions, and global emissions. Hmm, so, the question is should the government direct RBS not to get involved with this project even though it will be profitable, which means more money for the UK government, and thus the taxpayers get their money back quicker?
Well its a good question, and i won't answer it. Kevin Watkins at the Guardian has his own opinion (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/04/rbs-tar-sands-publi-investment) and so did around 60 other people who commented on his article. I rarely bother to read comments on any article, but i read a few of these for a laugh. And a rollicking good laugh I had too. I've read a couple of other articles' comments before (also getting a good old laugh out of them) and they also attracted some crazy people with very firm, and sometimes very bizarre, ideas. I suppose only those that care strongly can be bothered to comment anyway, so they are hardly representative of the readership. Or at least I hope they are not, or else I really must wonder if the snow has gotten to people....
After getting back from Paris for some more meetings for a day and the chance to try out some more of the more interesting and innovative chains of restaurants that have opened in the last 5 years serving anything from healthy food to Mexican food, I headed up to the Peak District for a stag party, which entailed rather a lot of drinking, playing poker, watching sport down the pub, some more drinking and some fun about 15 metres up in the air in the woods doing something called Go Ape. A simple concept really, that we all enjoy a bit of scrambling around in playgrounds when we are older, so its about time someone made a playground for adults, and to make it a bit more exciting, put it up in the trees -though give everyone a safety harness just in case (well, we are adults after all).
Its being incredibly successful and is going global -and after 2 hours or so scrambling across rope bridges, zipping down zip lines and the like, i fully understand why and recommend it for an enjoyable afternoon with some friends. We arrived in the snow, not something I was expecting to be honest, and dressed up like we were in the himalayas. Thankfully the snow stopped and we made it to the pub just a few minutes late for the six nations. A taxi through the peak district early in the morning revealed glimpses of some of the beauty of the British countryside -especially in the snow- and a nice fast train took me back down South where I had to catch a flight back to Beijing, where, of course, it was snowing. And again, a week later, it has snowed again. So rather a lot of snow really. Having said that there seemed to have been rather a lot of earthquakes recently too: haiti, chile, taiwan, turkey... i guess i prefer the snow to an earthquake. Though i do have fond memories of the 13 earthquakes in Manchester that occurred over 24 hours on October 22, 2002. Not that the earthquakes (biggest hit 3.9) did much damage apart from knocking a plate onto the floor!
Ah yes, the British countryside -much more of it than one realizes, and it never seems to have much of a purpose -often seen laying fallow or with a few sheep grazing in the fields. None-the-less I assume it must be productively used at other times of the year (i.e. when i am not visiting) since Britain is at the forefront of efforts over the last few years to source more food locally and not import it. And for those of you interested, that is just one element of being a responsible business -reducing travel for products and being more responsible to local communities by creating jobs and keeping money in the communities- which is what BSR (who i work for) help companies do.
Another element of our work is helping investors invest in more responsible businesses, because they are more profitable business (a simple example being the Co-op bank who refuses to loan money to projects or companies who are irresponsible and does not take big risks and did not almost go bankrupt unlike almost every other bank in the country) over the long-term. Not that many people think long-term nowadays, but we do recommend it. Plenty of my meetings in London and in Paris was with investors and related organizations (e.g. researchers) who are interested in investing in responsible companies in China; which we are helping some investors do. Its a fairly interesting concept and I am quite getting into it.
Hence I was reading about wonderful RBS who is involved in extracting oil from the tar sands in Canada, which use up a lot more energy than any other process for getting oil and generate a lot of greenhouse gases too (Canada is the developed country whose emissions have increased the most in the last ten years because of this industry). Since no-one is valuing these greenhouse gases in Canada at the moment (though they do in Europe, though too cheaply right now) it is profitable to support this industry and not worry about the costs of climate change. This in itself is an issue, but it has become a bigger issue recently since the UK government owns most of RBS and has made many promises to itself, to its citizens and to others, that it would do everything it can to reduce UK's greenhouse gas emissions, and global emissions. Hmm, so, the question is should the government direct RBS not to get involved with this project even though it will be profitable, which means more money for the UK government, and thus the taxpayers get their money back quicker?
Well its a good question, and i won't answer it. Kevin Watkins at the Guardian has his own opinion (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/04/rbs-tar-sands-publi-investment) and so did around 60 other people who commented on his article. I rarely bother to read comments on any article, but i read a few of these for a laugh. And a rollicking good laugh I had too. I've read a couple of other articles' comments before (also getting a good old laugh out of them) and they also attracted some crazy people with very firm, and sometimes very bizarre, ideas. I suppose only those that care strongly can be bothered to comment anyway, so they are hardly representative of the readership. Or at least I hope they are not, or else I really must wonder if the snow has gotten to people....
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The special city of Paris
Almost a week in Paris has passed partly working, partly on vacation.
Having not been to Paris since about the age of 14 this was really the
first time to really explore and get to know the city. And what a city
it is.
Having not been to Paris since about the age of 14 this was really the
first time to really explore and get to know the city. And what a city
it is.
Much of what makes it great is the same as anywhere in France: the
patisseries with their wonderful dessert;, the boulangeries with
wonderful breads and kind, personal, owners; crepes (pancakes)
available everywhere; coffee available even more 'everywhere'; the
(sometimes very thick)hot chocolates; the plat du jour (dish of the
day) and set menus; and, due to even the French going smoke-free, the
outside heating areas in front of every cafe whose tables are in the
highest demand.
Then there are some things unique to Paris, a city barely touched
architecturally in hundreds of years: the small streets; uniformly 6
storey buildings with shutters; the numerous squares; the hilly windy
backstreets of montmatre; the incredible mansions of Marie; the
impressively long queues for falaffels outside the jewish bakeries;
the boulevards; and of course the major sites: Eiffel, Notre, L'Arc,
L'Ouvre et al. All incredibly amazing structures.
Then there was the surprise packages: the amazing morocan tagines
(stews), the literary walking tour of the places where many of the
world's great writers, poets and thinkers found inspiration, and the
crazy business district (La Defense) which is 10km west of the city
and houses the only tall buildings in the city -an area that seems to
have been in the 70s like Beijing is now: a playground for architects.
Apart from the prices, which seem to be around 20% more than even
London (maybe that is because of the bad exchange rate), there aren't
too many faults with the city. But I did find some in my short stay. I
did feel somewhat unsafe walking around the ethnic neighbourhoods at
night, and I was getting bored of the uniformity in the buildings. But
at the end of the day, the vibe, different to London generated by the
many many independent cafes and bakeries etc was fantastic.
I didn't get as much of a sense of history or diversity,or of the
centre of things and future of things, as I do in London; or of
excitement and intrigue from the nooks, crannies and corners of
alleys, pubs and historical buildings that I get in London. But then
Paris has something, something special that means I can now understand
just why it has the reputation it has.
Same old England -and not such a bad thing
Everytime I come back to the UK, its often the same: joy at how
beautiful London is, amazement at the history and culture and
diversity, the wonders of the pub and the countryside etc. This trip
it has been the same: walking around Poultry in london or Ham in the
cotswolds, enjoying small theatres in watford or newbury (the theatre
is an old watermill), enjoying british town centres where there is
still some individualism apart from the chain stores (though this is
rare), having cream teas, cakes and deserts; utilizing the highly
efficient debit card system instead of using cash and the list goes
on.
beautiful London is, amazement at the history and culture and
diversity, the wonders of the pub and the countryside etc. This trip
it has been the same: walking around Poultry in london or Ham in the
cotswolds, enjoying small theatres in watford or newbury (the theatre
is an old watermill), enjoying british town centres where there is
still some individualism apart from the chain stores (though this is
rare), having cream teas, cakes and deserts; utilizing the highly
efficient debit card system instead of using cash and the list goes
on.
And of course, enjoying the picturesque villages and high streets in
the countrysides, thatched roofs, pubs, all sorts of footpaths, and
examples of the craziness of the good 'ol times in the countryside
when there were very rich people doing strange things when the country
was strong.
In Bath, one of the most georgious cities in the world: old,
interesting, diverse, historical, intriguing, independent.... it
really is one great place to discover. Whilst there we came across
Sham Castle on a hilltop -built by someone crazy who wanted to see a
castle on the hills when he looked out of the window from his house in
the valley. Thus the front wall of a castle was built, and nothing
else. The sheer craziness of it is so english. The castle is really a
sham, but a great one at that.
It really is impossible to avoid character in London: in any bar, pub,
restaurant, hotel or even station there is something special about the
place. All these places are out there waiting to be enjoyed, although
at a price. Although nothing that is good is cheap, there are some
compromise options. It's not Beijing. It's wonderful.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
on way home
After work I cycled off with 3 plants in my bike basket and in plastic bags over the handlebars to take them to a friend to look after while I am gone for the next 2 and a half weeks -working and vacationing in both London and Paris as well as to other parts of the UK to get everything done. It's just the right time to leave China as the New Year holiday is upon us, starting this weekend. Lots of people already started their vacation since last weekend, and the roads are already noticeably emptier. The fireworks stalls are now set-up on most major street corners and outside supermarkets; some people have even started letting them off, although its illegal before (and after) the holiday officially starts.
Happy New Year to everyone -and I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in the next couple of weeks. It seems i got lucky with my flight, leaving on the 28th feb with the next BA strike likely to start the day after!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Still cold, but only 2 weeks to go...
A month ago, when I finally got back to Beijing at 18 degrees below after a day of cancelled flights, I had to take an illegal cab to escape the airport as the queues for the bus and taxis at the airport were extortionate. Now, finally, the last of the snow that fell then is finally disappearing as the temperature has occasionally hovered above zero in the last few days during the daytime. But winter lasts another 6-8 weeks more, so no high hopes of taking off the thick winter jacket quite yet.
At that time the UK was running out of grit: something the Chinese don't need too much of because of the armies of helpers who clear the side streets, pavements and pathways within hours of the snow settling.
7-11 only entered China a few years ago but has expanded rapidly with various innovations to meet local tastes; they are very popular at lunch time serving hot food for take away. Recently they went a step too far though. I quite liked their various sushi and salad options and often ate a croissant or sandwhich but their latest sandwhich is strawberries and cream which is very strange.
Another oddity appeared recently, which was the structures built to protect the 15-foot trees where we live which were only planted last Spring. To protect them wooden frames, triangular in shape have been built surround them from three sides from the wind and occasional snow. Meanwhile all, and I do mean all, the small hedges that are planted in the middle of highways and alongside them have also been protected and covered up by wooden frames and cloth.
The big news of the last week or two has been google going off on a strop because one of their founders woke up not liking censorship anymore. Since China has no need for Google with plenty of other local and foreign companies able to provide the same services and rarely changes anything from foreign pressure, it won't bow down, so google will just be withdrawing certain services from a market which already has the world's largest online and mobile markets in the World that is still growing. Could a shareholder sue the founder for being stupid and damaging future shareholder value?
Last weekend, after being told the Killers concert was cancelled and we got our tickets refunded (18 months ago, the same happened with Linkin Park) Andrea and I decided to spend the money (and more) on a netbook. Fantastic value for money that is so quick and with great battery life.
2 weeks to go until I leave for the UK for the first time in almost 2 years, and 2 days to go until Murray might make history!.
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Scuba diving in Sipadan
On Wednesday we went over to Mabul island, 45 minutes away from
Semporna on the Mainland with a small dive operator called Billabong.
In this case the advantage of Billabong being small was that it had an
allocation of 6 of the 120 permits given out daily for diving on the
nearby National Park of Sipadan Island, but did not often use up all
the permits. In my case 1 of their customers who had been more
foresighted than me in booking ahead to ensure getting a permit did
not turn-up so I was Alexander James for the day's diving. The larger
dive companies always had much longer waiting lists.
Semporna on the Mainland with a small dive operator called Billabong.
In this case the advantage of Billabong being small was that it had an
allocation of 6 of the 120 permits given out daily for diving on the
nearby National Park of Sipadan Island, but did not often use up all
the permits. In my case 1 of their customers who had been more
foresighted than me in booking ahead to ensure getting a permit did
not turn-up so I was Alexander James for the day's diving. The larger
dive companies always had much longer waiting lists.
Several years ago when Sipadan was declared a National Park the 7
small resorts on the beautiful small island were removed so there is
no permanent presence on the island, ensuring the protection of the
amazing coral and marine life surrounding it, mostly based around the
wall which supports the island, i.e. the land below the island rising
600m from the sea floor to the surface. On my 3 dives there we saw
some sharks as well as a large variety of other fish, plenty of
turtles -creatues which always amaze me in their size and
gracefulness, and even a lizard over 1 metre long whilst we ate lunch
on the island. Unfortunately there was a lot of plankton in the water
reducing visibility but it was still excellent.
The night on the island was spent at a converted locals' house on
stilts over the water. The island also has at least 4 very expensive
resorts, 1 of which provided the beach bar for us to drink at and
another provided us a pool to visit before/after diving! It was quite
striking though to see resorts costing hundreds of dollars a night
right next to locals' houses who probably struggled to make that much
in a year from fishing. However, and maybe the beautiful weather and
scenery had something to do with it, the locals were very happy with
their lot.
The next day's diving was around Mabul island, famous for its tiny
fish and marine organisms (though with larger ones in abundance as
well). A highlight was seeing some of those which were often only one
cm in size (such as crabs or nudibranches), seeing an eagle-ray (a
diamond shaped flat fish about one metre wide with spots and a long
tail), crocodile fish (ugly looking fish that look a bit like its
namesake but only a foot long and lie on the bottom camouflaged), frog
fish (also ugly and looking like its namesake, its is a vertical fish
strangely shaped that often blends into rock), large moray eels poking
their heads out of crevices, garden eels (which are small and bury
themselves in the sea floor then stick out vertically, looking a bit
like grass or flowers hence their name), a cuttlefish (a large-ish
fish often featured in films like 'finding nemo' that sits up
vertically and has almost a moustache from the fringes over its mouth)
and various others.
Diving is such fun, full of adventure looking for, and finding,
amazing things, and a reminder of how much more life and colour and
amazing things live under the water than on land. Of course the diving
in Asia is some of the best in the world and my last few years of
diving in Malaysia and the Philippines has been at some of the best
locations in the world.
One of the dives was around an artificial reef, where the fancy resort
had sunck some small boats and other items to attract fish which made
for an interesting exploratory dive around and over the various
obstacles and items on the sandy bottom. Divers are an interesting
group. There are the novices, like the couple of Malaysian girls who
were with us once but almost got lost twice on the dive and kept
hitting the coral or other divers!; there were the chinese girls who
found each other online whilst looking for travel partners; there were
all the european backpackers; and of course there were the real divers
who fly around the world just to dive solidly. Overall its often a fun
group, who like drinking, and adds to the fun.
We returned to Semporna for New Year's Eve where about 30 dive-related
people were hanging out in the only bar in town, and a day by the pool
of our favourite 3-star hotel, before flying back to Kota Kinabalu for
a day exploring a tiny island and enjoying the very hot sun and beach.
Now I've just descended through the awful pollution of Southern China
and am waiting for my delayed connecting flight to Beijing where
apparantly its snowing too much for planes to land!
I wish everyone a successful 2010!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Back from the 'light' jungle
After two nights in the jungle we have now arrived in Sempora, a typical local town with a few dive resorts and cafes in it catering for those preparing themselves, like us, to visit Sipadan, one of the best dive-sights in the world, apparently. We'll see. I am hardly an expert so anything will do! The town is fairly nice and bustling. We splashed out on the best hotel in town: about 18 pounds for a room including breakfast and a swimming pool. Bargain. Also get a good view over the harbour, and a nice shower.
Our minibus ride from the jungle was very pretty and i think i got sunburnt through the open window during the 4 hour ride, however we still arrived at the hotel remarkably clean. There are a few reasons for this: we wore wellington boots in the mud, we did not walk more than a couple of kilometers -instead mostly taking boat rides up the river, and we did not really go into the jungle. I mean it is, or was, jungle -real jungle. But a lot of Borneo's original (aka primary) jungle was cut down a while ago, and continues to be cut down. There is some left, there is also new (secondary) jungle around, which is where we were, so most of the trees were less than 150 years old. None-the-less, there was a lot of nature, a lot of insects, a lot of monkeys and plenty of birds and other wildlife on our doorstep. Literally on our doorstep, as our huts were on stilts in a swamp. That was the highlight of the trip.
The reason for there being so much to see (though still limited to insects, birds, and some lizards etc) was that most of the jungle is gone, replaced by plantations of palms. I knew this was an issue before i came here, but after driving over 300km today and seeing palm trees (for palm oils) on both sides of the road almost the entire time, and stretching as far as the eye can see, now i can get a better sense of the scale of how much Borneo must have changed. For us it was good, the animals still surviving are all packed into a small sliver of jungle along a river, so making it easier for us to see them. A real shame though. The best the environmentalists have done is convince some of the plantation owners to leave between 10m-30m of jungle lining the river so animals can continue to move between the few patches of jungle, using those channels.
It was pretty cool seeing orangutans in their natural habitat, as well as the other creatures mentioned above, including some pretty birds during night river trips and night hikes. One highlight must have been drifting down the river with the engines of our tiny wooden boats off, at dusk, as the flying foxes, a kind of bird that looks like a bat, flew overhead, under the moonlight, across the river. Hundreds and hundreds of them -it was very surreal and quite an experience after some of our earlier rather poor attempts to find much else in the jungle -maybe our expectations were too high. But the overall experience was pretty cool, the 'camp' where we stayed was great and so were many of the fellow backpackers and the local staff. Unfortunately to go further into the jungle requires a lot of money and time: certain 'eco-lodges' have a monopoly and charge accordingly -extortionately in fact!
A couple of days of diving are up next, and then it is 2010. Already. Holy ****. Merry Christmas everyone, as i believe i forgot to mention it before. Not really a big deal here in Malaysia, as you can imagine. Now I am off to eat a chocolate pudding we found in a bakery nearby. It looks really good, but it would be too good to be true if it actually was!
Our minibus ride from the jungle was very pretty and i think i got sunburnt through the open window during the 4 hour ride, however we still arrived at the hotel remarkably clean. There are a few reasons for this: we wore wellington boots in the mud, we did not walk more than a couple of kilometers -instead mostly taking boat rides up the river, and we did not really go into the jungle. I mean it is, or was, jungle -real jungle. But a lot of Borneo's original (aka primary) jungle was cut down a while ago, and continues to be cut down. There is some left, there is also new (secondary) jungle around, which is where we were, so most of the trees were less than 150 years old. None-the-less, there was a lot of nature, a lot of insects, a lot of monkeys and plenty of birds and other wildlife on our doorstep. Literally on our doorstep, as our huts were on stilts in a swamp. That was the highlight of the trip.
The reason for there being so much to see (though still limited to insects, birds, and some lizards etc) was that most of the jungle is gone, replaced by plantations of palms. I knew this was an issue before i came here, but after driving over 300km today and seeing palm trees (for palm oils) on both sides of the road almost the entire time, and stretching as far as the eye can see, now i can get a better sense of the scale of how much Borneo must have changed. For us it was good, the animals still surviving are all packed into a small sliver of jungle along a river, so making it easier for us to see them. A real shame though. The best the environmentalists have done is convince some of the plantation owners to leave between 10m-30m of jungle lining the river so animals can continue to move between the few patches of jungle, using those channels.
It was pretty cool seeing orangutans in their natural habitat, as well as the other creatures mentioned above, including some pretty birds during night river trips and night hikes. One highlight must have been drifting down the river with the engines of our tiny wooden boats off, at dusk, as the flying foxes, a kind of bird that looks like a bat, flew overhead, under the moonlight, across the river. Hundreds and hundreds of them -it was very surreal and quite an experience after some of our earlier rather poor attempts to find much else in the jungle -maybe our expectations were too high. But the overall experience was pretty cool, the 'camp' where we stayed was great and so were many of the fellow backpackers and the local staff. Unfortunately to go further into the jungle requires a lot of money and time: certain 'eco-lodges' have a monopoly and charge accordingly -extortionately in fact!
A couple of days of diving are up next, and then it is 2010. Already. Holy ****. Merry Christmas everyone, as i believe i forgot to mention it before. Not really a big deal here in Malaysia, as you can imagine. Now I am off to eat a chocolate pudding we found in a bakery nearby. It looks really good, but it would be too good to be true if it actually was!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Up-side down
After a morning watching Orangutans in the flesh (and on a decent educational film) and Dad pulling leeches out of his leg, we are now getting prepared to spend a few days in the jungle with some wildlife-spotting river cruises amongst other activities.
Yesterday we went white water rafting and capsized once whilst falling out once. It was fantastic. The 'danger' (not that there really us much, adds a lot to the experience, and the thrill of it! A great day and definitely something i want to do again -although it is hard to find decent white water rafting in Asia it seems. The rafting included trips along an old train line that is the only transport to parts of the river, passing by incredibly remote villages who had built tiny little stations/platforms near the train to get on when it came by. I have no idea where the villagers came from sometimes as from the train we would be lucky to even see 1 house, but they came, and we all crowded onto the very old train as it trundled along, peering out the windows or through the (open) doors along the way.
I imagine the train was built to get access to the forests and cut the trees down -most of the forests in the area did not look more than 50 years old; certainly compared to what we saw today. Malaysia has a bad (though not as bad as Indonesia) problem with deforestation for either timber or for using the land for agriculture, often growing palm trees for their valuable oil. Both being awful for the forests, the former as it is often done illegally and the latter because it destroys biodiversity and affects wildlife.
A passing comment, as we have decided not to climb the mountain here that takes 1-2 days; instead we literally flew (on our way to the jungle) right next to it, at the same altitude (4,000 m) and only a kilometre or so away. A great view/photos of the mountain and the surroundings without the hike -almost making it worth waking up at 5am for the early flight this morning!
Yesterday we went white water rafting and capsized once whilst falling out once. It was fantastic. The 'danger' (not that there really us much, adds a lot to the experience, and the thrill of it! A great day and definitely something i want to do again -although it is hard to find decent white water rafting in Asia it seems. The rafting included trips along an old train line that is the only transport to parts of the river, passing by incredibly remote villages who had built tiny little stations/platforms near the train to get on when it came by. I have no idea where the villagers came from sometimes as from the train we would be lucky to even see 1 house, but they came, and we all crowded onto the very old train as it trundled along, peering out the windows or through the (open) doors along the way.
I imagine the train was built to get access to the forests and cut the trees down -most of the forests in the area did not look more than 50 years old; certainly compared to what we saw today. Malaysia has a bad (though not as bad as Indonesia) problem with deforestation for either timber or for using the land for agriculture, often growing palm trees for their valuable oil. Both being awful for the forests, the former as it is often done illegally and the latter because it destroys biodiversity and affects wildlife.
A passing comment, as we have decided not to climb the mountain here that takes 1-2 days; instead we literally flew (on our way to the jungle) right next to it, at the same altitude (4,000 m) and only a kilometre or so away. A great view/photos of the mountain and the surroundings without the hike -almost making it worth waking up at 5am for the early flight this morning!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
An old friend and an excellent documentary about the earthquake
Last Sunday we went out for Dinner, but because my previous 'birthday restaurant' was destroyed during the summer (birthday restaurant meaning somewhere cheap, friendly, with good atmosphere, convenient and with space for a large group of people), a new one had to be found. After 40 minutes of hunting, a new one has been found and it did not disappoint. After a great hotpot dinner, we went to the Mississippi Bar which has happy hour from 11am to 11pm -fast becoming a favourite!
Tuesday night was quiz night -actually it was my first time at this particular quiz at Tim's Texas BBQ, now just one of over ten different quiz nights at various bars for foreigners in Beijing. This one was somewhat easier than the other one, and less high-brow, so I made a few meaningful contributions (such as knowing the length of a snooker table, knowing how many clubs have been in the Premiership consistently without being relegated etc); although more amusing was the quizmaster reading out questions that often, for some reason, had french words or names in them, and he had no idea how to pronounce them.
Tonight I took the bus to meet a friend for dinner and the driver said something to me -a bit confused and not sure what he said i moved further down the bus (thinking that i was blocking something), but then he beckoned me over, so i went over and chatted to him. It seems that he remembered me from 2 years ago when I often used motorbike taxis (with little cabs/sidecars on the back), and quite often him, to get me to work. Somewhat bizarre that he remembered me after two years -I guess he did not have many foreign customers.
Also tonight we went to watch a documentary (called '1428' after the time of the Sichuan Earthquake) by a Chinese director which won some prestigious awards. It has not been released in any cinemas as I know, but a special screening was organized along with a Q&A from the director. The documentary is just 2 hours edited from the director's 178 hours of footage he shot in the week after the earthquake and then around 9 months later -the director says nothing in the film at all. Interestingly there is no real message in the documentary though it is well done.
It has several different perspectives expressed by those affected; mostly related to reconstruction, getting aid etc. There was plenty in there that will teach viewers a lot about China, from the government slogans painted on the walls ("only the lazy rely on the government") to the visit of the Prime Minister to the area, and the clips related to the police, military and party officials. There are some interesting insights, such as people rummaging through rubble to get scrap metal to sell which is the only income source for most people or others who were stealing. There were perspectives from the elderly and the middle-aged, from those who lost everything and those who lost almost nothing. There was also though a couple of larger points i took from the film that i had not really thought specifically about before.
The first is that the Chinese government has made sure the people know it is in charge and have expectations that it will meet their needs. This ensures the government is seen as the only source of power in the country, but it also means that the people have very high expectations of the government and expect them to help no matter what. Thankfully the government is fairly efficient, as most of you will have heard.
The second is that when the government encouraged its people to "go get rich", which many of them are doing, or at least are trying, it also opened a can of worms by creating expectations that everyone should be able to get rich. But for those who do not? How patient can they be? Who do they blame if they are still impoverished? Thus the government has unleashed entrepreneurialism but at the risk of also undermining its authority if it cannot deliver.
In hindsight there were plenty of other interesting things in the documentary, and some comical moments too. Probably it meant more to me having lived here for 5 years, and visited the earthquake area 6 months ago, but i do think it is well worth watching!
Tuesday night was quiz night -actually it was my first time at this particular quiz at Tim's Texas BBQ, now just one of over ten different quiz nights at various bars for foreigners in Beijing. This one was somewhat easier than the other one, and less high-brow, so I made a few meaningful contributions (such as knowing the length of a snooker table, knowing how many clubs have been in the Premiership consistently without being relegated etc); although more amusing was the quizmaster reading out questions that often, for some reason, had french words or names in them, and he had no idea how to pronounce them.
Tonight I took the bus to meet a friend for dinner and the driver said something to me -a bit confused and not sure what he said i moved further down the bus (thinking that i was blocking something), but then he beckoned me over, so i went over and chatted to him. It seems that he remembered me from 2 years ago when I often used motorbike taxis (with little cabs/sidecars on the back), and quite often him, to get me to work. Somewhat bizarre that he remembered me after two years -I guess he did not have many foreign customers.
Also tonight we went to watch a documentary (called '1428' after the time of the Sichuan Earthquake) by a Chinese director which won some prestigious awards. It has not been released in any cinemas as I know, but a special screening was organized along with a Q&A from the director. The documentary is just 2 hours edited from the director's 178 hours of footage he shot in the week after the earthquake and then around 9 months later -the director says nothing in the film at all. Interestingly there is no real message in the documentary though it is well done.
It has several different perspectives expressed by those affected; mostly related to reconstruction, getting aid etc. There was plenty in there that will teach viewers a lot about China, from the government slogans painted on the walls ("only the lazy rely on the government") to the visit of the Prime Minister to the area, and the clips related to the police, military and party officials. There are some interesting insights, such as people rummaging through rubble to get scrap metal to sell which is the only income source for most people or others who were stealing. There were perspectives from the elderly and the middle-aged, from those who lost everything and those who lost almost nothing. There was also though a couple of larger points i took from the film that i had not really thought specifically about before.
The first is that the Chinese government has made sure the people know it is in charge and have expectations that it will meet their needs. This ensures the government is seen as the only source of power in the country, but it also means that the people have very high expectations of the government and expect them to help no matter what. Thankfully the government is fairly efficient, as most of you will have heard.
The second is that when the government encouraged its people to "go get rich", which many of them are doing, or at least are trying, it also opened a can of worms by creating expectations that everyone should be able to get rich. But for those who do not? How patient can they be? Who do they blame if they are still impoverished? Thus the government has unleashed entrepreneurialism but at the risk of also undermining its authority if it cannot deliver.
In hindsight there were plenty of other interesting things in the documentary, and some comical moments too. Probably it meant more to me having lived here for 5 years, and visited the earthquake area 6 months ago, but i do think it is well worth watching!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
A chocolaty night
Last night we went out to Chocolate, as Andrea had never been but had wanted to go as she heard lots about it. It is the newest Russian club in town, out of about 5 in the Russian quarter. This one though is one special place. It is all underground with the entrance down a red escalator with red velvet drapes overhead. Once inside the club is designed around a dance floor with 2 poles (you can guess what they get used for). Behind is a stage with a couple of platforms (you can also guess what they are for) framed by massive photo frames, so the dancers almost look like they are in the photo frames. Surrounding the dance floor are probably 100 tables which match the chairs in style: the chairs are velvet backed and golden framed as if they are from a 17th century palace banquet room. On the ceiling, everywhere, are handing face down, hundreds of large fake french paintings, each one 2m x 3m or so and around the outside of the club are a couple of bars.
At the back is another room with pool tables, as well as a kids area, believe or not, though most of the clientele (and predominantly non-Russian, unlike all the other Russian clubs, but maybe this club is just too garish even for the Russians, or there are not enough Russians to fill the club) sit and drink vodka, or dance to the awful Russian band. Around midnight the show starts with the girls coming out and 'exotic dancing' though they don't actually take their clothes off. It is one strange experience.
This afternoon i got a call from a random Russian guy that it seems i gave by business card to last night, and whom i communicated with in Chinese, since i speak no Russian, and he speaks no English. Hopefully he won't call again as i really have nothing to say to him. Although i am keen to find out just what is appealing about Chocolate, apart from its strangeness and exotic dancers.
The Russian quarter in Beijing is very distinctive with at least 3 shopping malls of 3 floors each purely for Russian clientele: the Chinese sales people there even speak Russian. there are several Russian restaurants of course selling hearty Russian food and vodka too, as well as Treasure Island, the precursor (but still in existence) to Chocolate with its own exotic dancers that was perfect for Leon's stag earlier this year. Yet the strangest thing about the Russian quarter is that it is not near the Russian Embassy!
At the back is another room with pool tables, as well as a kids area, believe or not, though most of the clientele (and predominantly non-Russian, unlike all the other Russian clubs, but maybe this club is just too garish even for the Russians, or there are not enough Russians to fill the club) sit and drink vodka, or dance to the awful Russian band. Around midnight the show starts with the girls coming out and 'exotic dancing' though they don't actually take their clothes off. It is one strange experience.
This afternoon i got a call from a random Russian guy that it seems i gave by business card to last night, and whom i communicated with in Chinese, since i speak no Russian, and he speaks no English. Hopefully he won't call again as i really have nothing to say to him. Although i am keen to find out just what is appealing about Chocolate, apart from its strangeness and exotic dancers.
The Russian quarter in Beijing is very distinctive with at least 3 shopping malls of 3 floors each purely for Russian clientele: the Chinese sales people there even speak Russian. there are several Russian restaurants of course selling hearty Russian food and vodka too, as well as Treasure Island, the precursor (but still in existence) to Chocolate with its own exotic dancers that was perfect for Leon's stag earlier this year. Yet the strangest thing about the Russian quarter is that it is not near the Russian Embassy!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Milestones at work and arrival of 85 degrees in Beijing
85 degrees, a taiwanese coffee chain that does excellent chocolate
doughnuts and coffee for half the price of anywhere else finally
opened in beijing, so I don't have to wait for trips to Shanghai to
binge. (the weather in Beijing is nowhere near 85 anything, fairly
settled at or below freezing). Their quality and prices have done them
so well they're running close to 100 stores in China now, having
opened their first only about 2 years ago. They are so popular that if
they are presumably aiming to make lower margins but sell higher
volumes, they look very successful.
doughnuts and coffee for half the price of anywhere else finally
opened in beijing, so I don't have to wait for trips to Shanghai to
binge. (the weather in Beijing is nowhere near 85 anything, fairly
settled at or below freezing). Their quality and prices have done them
so well they're running close to 100 stores in China now, having
opened their first only about 2 years ago. They are so popular that if
they are presumably aiming to make lower margins but sell higher
volumes, they look very successful.
There is still no sign of the massive complex of 15+ tower blocks
being built nearby being finished. I am mystified how slow they seem
to be working on that, and also the mysterious building to the other
side of us; although our latest guess is that it might be a school.
It's still covered in scaffolding so we are not sure, but the massive
whole that was subsequently repeatedly filled in with soil to a depth
of 20 metres or so is now covered in buildings. Thus it seems like it
won't be a lake, and the mystery of the hole (and other strange
construction) might never be solved.
The last two weeks marked a couple of milestones: Andrea's Paragon 100
fellowship program was launched (www.paragon100.asia) after 6 months
of establishing partnerships, identifying over 500 inspiring young
entrepreneurs, and selecting 100. Next they'll be given access to
various resources and work together in their network to help each
other whilst Andrea and her partners promote them as role models like
crazy to inspire other young Asians to follow their dreams.
The other milestone was the launch (finally) of Sustainable Investment
in China (www.ifc.org/sustainableinvesting), a report I contributed
to; and a launch event we held that was successful. This is just the
beginning of our work in this area which is quite exciting... not only
is the concept of bankers doing good with their money (by investing in
ways that makes money whilst supporting responsible business
practices) somewhat topical nowadays, but in China its a field that is
only just beginning so we hope to play a leading in it. For me,
someone who studied business but stayed away (as much as possible)
from finance at university, it is quite ironic!
If anyone is still reading, and in the UK, you might be happy (or
not!) that i'll be back in the UK in february. I am struggling to
access facebook to stay in touch but still hope to see friends and
family then of course.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Winter has arrived!
A cold patch in the last few days led to beliefs that the short autumn of around 6 weeks has already ended, though some optimists believed it might warm up again for a few more days. Waking up today to snow dispelled that notion. Though it might get a bit less cold at some point, winter certainly seems to be here. On the up side, skiing should be possible soon.
The other upside is the joy of eating hotpot (a tub of boiling water/spicy broth that you put food in and cook yourself) which warms you up and is lots of fun and tasty. I had that this week with a friend who was working at AIESEC in the UK 2 years before who was in town. In fact, with Flic (who i worked and lived with when I first came to Beijing 5 years ago) also visiting, and a couple of other friends of friends somewhat related to work in town also requiring attention, it was a busy week for visitors!
As you may have read, or watched, the parade on the 1st October was a fairly impressive thing, though, really a tale of two halfs. The first was a North Korean style military parade which kept the military and academic geeks happy checking out the latest Chinese military capabilities. It also satisfied the Chinese public, who felt incredibly proud of their country's military strength. They still fear invasion, having been defeated and invaded so many times in the so-called '100 years' (around 1850-1950) by the Europeans and Japanese. They still have some innate fear of something similar happening, though this is not rational or logical but is bred by the Chinese media.
The real story is one where China has no real chance of being attacked and defeated by anyone due to its size, its standing army being over 2 million people, and the fact it has nuclear weapons. In fact, the USA is more likely to be attacked than China, since the USA has made so many enemies, yet even such conventional warfare is unlikely. It was interesting talking to friends here, and seeing that many of them do not yet see China as a threatening force, which of course a number of other countries now do, with its economic, trade, and increasing military might being of more use to attack, than defend. 1 American friend of mine commented on what would the world say if America has a military parade in Washington DC showcasing its most fancy technology (i.e. stupid arrogant super power showing off and showing its power to potential enemies to frighten then), which the Chinese did not see as applicable to them. I bet in 10 years time, by the 70th Anniversary, the world might well see another Chinese parade as they might see an American one today. For a quick summary of this read this article from the Chinese government's official media outlet, Xinhua, entitled: China shows military might on National Day, stresses self-defense (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/01/content_12147021_2.htm)
Other conversations that took place on that topic tended to revolve around the issue that China's military is still about 20 years behind the Americans though it is catching up in some areas quicker than others. It's military budget is increasing fast, though is still way way behind the USA. It is quite funny really when most Western countries are trying to decrease their military budgets and completely change their strategies for new types of warfare, counter-terrorism, and wars on foreign soils that require lighter nimble forces, as well as machines more than people; the Chinese seem to be going the opposite way. Although the announcement that the army would hire another 130,000 graduates is more likely to be about ensuring students get jobs than about actually expanding the army.
The second half of the parade involved each province having a float along with other floats displaying green energy, harmony and other key themes. There was also tens of thousands of people, ordinary (but selected) as well as military marching past with signs (and a few photos of Mao and the other big Chinese leaders) all lauding the country, its leaders and its aim for a sustainable and harmonious development etc.
This was done whilst 80,000 children were holding up different colored boards in the background to make different words related to what was happening which in itself was very impressive!
The 60th was also marked by having tens of thousands more volunteers on the streets to do nothing useful really. As with the Olympics, although it is generally good for people to get into the spirit of volunteers, I have to wonder whether it somewhat demeans the concept of volunteering. Standing in a street or sitting in a booth is not quite the same as washing old people in a hospital or committing to teach the poor every weekend!
Last night we struggled to get to yet another leaving party (it really seems as if most foreigners hit about 4 years and then leave), because Beijing Guo An football team won their last match of the season winning the Chinese league for the first time. We did not know the match was on yesterday and got stuck whilst the crown celebrated on the streets with a parade of sorts straight after the game that blocked lots of roads. It was quite cool to join in for a bit, and also surprising the celebration was happening (though it seemed planned and was well policed). I am not even more surprised having read there were riots on Thursday after tickets for the game sold out. It was the first time i had ever seen a large number of Chinese people on the streets ever and an encouraging sign that such things are possible in very controlled and non-political environments (other political protests have happened in smaller villages or cities, normally involving protests about environmental concerns, but these are not normally planned and often lead to violence).
Having watched Guo An lose twice in the Summer during the Asia Premiership Cup, with the stadium about half full, i wish i had known about the match yesterday and gone to the game as at 60,000 capacity it must have been a great atmosphere.
October was a month for several small projects, November is now when a couple of longer and larger projects are starting that will keep me busy until February -Chinese New Year- when I will be home for a couple of weeks. It seems so close already!
The other upside is the joy of eating hotpot (a tub of boiling water/spicy broth that you put food in and cook yourself) which warms you up and is lots of fun and tasty. I had that this week with a friend who was working at AIESEC in the UK 2 years before who was in town. In fact, with Flic (who i worked and lived with when I first came to Beijing 5 years ago) also visiting, and a couple of other friends of friends somewhat related to work in town also requiring attention, it was a busy week for visitors!
As you may have read, or watched, the parade on the 1st October was a fairly impressive thing, though, really a tale of two halfs. The first was a North Korean style military parade which kept the military and academic geeks happy checking out the latest Chinese military capabilities. It also satisfied the Chinese public, who felt incredibly proud of their country's military strength. They still fear invasion, having been defeated and invaded so many times in the so-called '100 years' (around 1850-1950) by the Europeans and Japanese. They still have some innate fear of something similar happening, though this is not rational or logical but is bred by the Chinese media.
The real story is one where China has no real chance of being attacked and defeated by anyone due to its size, its standing army being over 2 million people, and the fact it has nuclear weapons. In fact, the USA is more likely to be attacked than China, since the USA has made so many enemies, yet even such conventional warfare is unlikely. It was interesting talking to friends here, and seeing that many of them do not yet see China as a threatening force, which of course a number of other countries now do, with its economic, trade, and increasing military might being of more use to attack, than defend. 1 American friend of mine commented on what would the world say if America has a military parade in Washington DC showcasing its most fancy technology (i.e. stupid arrogant super power showing off and showing its power to potential enemies to frighten then), which the Chinese did not see as applicable to them. I bet in 10 years time, by the 70th Anniversary, the world might well see another Chinese parade as they might see an American one today. For a quick summary of this read this article from the Chinese government's official media outlet, Xinhua, entitled: China shows military might on National Day, stresses self-defense (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/01/content_12147021_2.htm)
Other conversations that took place on that topic tended to revolve around the issue that China's military is still about 20 years behind the Americans though it is catching up in some areas quicker than others. It's military budget is increasing fast, though is still way way behind the USA. It is quite funny really when most Western countries are trying to decrease their military budgets and completely change their strategies for new types of warfare, counter-terrorism, and wars on foreign soils that require lighter nimble forces, as well as machines more than people; the Chinese seem to be going the opposite way. Although the announcement that the army would hire another 130,000 graduates is more likely to be about ensuring students get jobs than about actually expanding the army.
The second half of the parade involved each province having a float along with other floats displaying green energy, harmony and other key themes. There was also tens of thousands of people, ordinary (but selected) as well as military marching past with signs (and a few photos of Mao and the other big Chinese leaders) all lauding the country, its leaders and its aim for a sustainable and harmonious development etc.
This was done whilst 80,000 children were holding up different colored boards in the background to make different words related to what was happening which in itself was very impressive!
The 60th was also marked by having tens of thousands more volunteers on the streets to do nothing useful really. As with the Olympics, although it is generally good for people to get into the spirit of volunteers, I have to wonder whether it somewhat demeans the concept of volunteering. Standing in a street or sitting in a booth is not quite the same as washing old people in a hospital or committing to teach the poor every weekend!
Last night we struggled to get to yet another leaving party (it really seems as if most foreigners hit about 4 years and then leave), because Beijing Guo An football team won their last match of the season winning the Chinese league for the first time. We did not know the match was on yesterday and got stuck whilst the crown celebrated on the streets with a parade of sorts straight after the game that blocked lots of roads. It was quite cool to join in for a bit, and also surprising the celebration was happening (though it seemed planned and was well policed). I am not even more surprised having read there were riots on Thursday after tickets for the game sold out. It was the first time i had ever seen a large number of Chinese people on the streets ever and an encouraging sign that such things are possible in very controlled and non-political environments (other political protests have happened in smaller villages or cities, normally involving protests about environmental concerns, but these are not normally planned and often lead to violence).
Having watched Guo An lose twice in the Summer during the Asia Premiership Cup, with the stadium about half full, i wish i had known about the match yesterday and gone to the game as at 60,000 capacity it must have been a great atmosphere.
October was a month for several small projects, November is now when a couple of longer and larger projects are starting that will keep me busy until February -Chinese New Year- when I will be home for a couple of weeks. It seems so close already!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The BIG day is tomorrow!
Since I last wrote, the last 3 weeks have been dominated by preparations for tomorrow.
All the trees, flowers and bushes have been recently cut in pretty shapes. The lawn has been mowed all over, including in the sections between the highways and other strange places.
Every lampost in the inner city (an area of several miles) has a banner celebrating and welcoming the big day.
Every bus stop (in an even bigger area) has changed all the advertisements to government advertisements welcoming the big day. The TV is full of shows commemorating the achievements of the last 60 years.
Security which used to be a few people at each entrance to the subway is now 5-6 people (some men standing behind the women to back them up) and women who used to get away without putting their handbags on the x-ray machine no longer get away with it.
Our favorite restaurant is now longer able to put seating outside on the street as a massive information/notice board has gone up. Written at the top of the notice board a sign declares its purpose (translated into English): The Building a Civilized Spirit in the Capital Promotion Notice Board. Classic. Truly Chinese. These kinds of words are used all over the place, but I still laugh when I see them!
Due to two knife attacks earlier this month (an unusual event in a safe city) knifes are no longer on sale for the next 2 weeks and have been removed from any serviced apartments or hotels that have knifes of any kind in kitchens. This should keep the city much safer, as of course, no-one in the city already has any knifes!
And of course the Western media has articles covering China's progress and commemorating various points in the last 60 years since the People's Republic of China was founded. Aah, the PRC. 6 months ago, the government was always proudly talking up the significant progress the country has made since 1979. And it has. Now, though, the government talks up the progress from 1949 until 2009, which is laughable, as there was no progress in the first 30 years. In fact the country almost went backwards (which is a hard thing to do, since in 1949 the country was emerging from over 20 years of civil war and fighting the Japanese in WW2). It also leads to crazy comparisons of GDP going up thousands of percent.
So tomorrow will be military parade, the civilian parade and security is insane, so we'll be watching it on TV (although hopefully we'll see the air force's display overhead). I am not sure what will happen after tomorrow; the country has been solidly geared up for this after the Olympics finished. Next up is the Expo in Shanghai I suppose, and them i imagine some other event needs to be secured, so the government can continue promoting how amazing it is and inspiring everyone towards whatever slogans and goals it wants to associate with these events.
Well one thing is for sure, China will get back to looking at the future, and will forget about the past. For China only cares about the future as it races into a future that is moving very fast. Whether that future will be incredibly unsustainable or just a little unsustainable, we don't know... but the government is making promising noises around Climate Change at least -so lets stay tuned for more daily news on that until (and likely after) the Summit in Copenhagen in just a month or so.
All the trees, flowers and bushes have been recently cut in pretty shapes. The lawn has been mowed all over, including in the sections between the highways and other strange places.
Every lampost in the inner city (an area of several miles) has a banner celebrating and welcoming the big day.
Every bus stop (in an even bigger area) has changed all the advertisements to government advertisements welcoming the big day. The TV is full of shows commemorating the achievements of the last 60 years.
Security which used to be a few people at each entrance to the subway is now 5-6 people (some men standing behind the women to back them up) and women who used to get away without putting their handbags on the x-ray machine no longer get away with it.
Our favorite restaurant is now longer able to put seating outside on the street as a massive information/notice board has gone up. Written at the top of the notice board a sign declares its purpose (translated into English): The Building a Civilized Spirit in the Capital Promotion Notice Board. Classic. Truly Chinese. These kinds of words are used all over the place, but I still laugh when I see them!
Due to two knife attacks earlier this month (an unusual event in a safe city) knifes are no longer on sale for the next 2 weeks and have been removed from any serviced apartments or hotels that have knifes of any kind in kitchens. This should keep the city much safer, as of course, no-one in the city already has any knifes!
And of course the Western media has articles covering China's progress and commemorating various points in the last 60 years since the People's Republic of China was founded. Aah, the PRC. 6 months ago, the government was always proudly talking up the significant progress the country has made since 1979. And it has. Now, though, the government talks up the progress from 1949 until 2009, which is laughable, as there was no progress in the first 30 years. In fact the country almost went backwards (which is a hard thing to do, since in 1949 the country was emerging from over 20 years of civil war and fighting the Japanese in WW2). It also leads to crazy comparisons of GDP going up thousands of percent.
So tomorrow will be military parade, the civilian parade and security is insane, so we'll be watching it on TV (although hopefully we'll see the air force's display overhead). I am not sure what will happen after tomorrow; the country has been solidly geared up for this after the Olympics finished. Next up is the Expo in Shanghai I suppose, and them i imagine some other event needs to be secured, so the government can continue promoting how amazing it is and inspiring everyone towards whatever slogans and goals it wants to associate with these events.
Well one thing is for sure, China will get back to looking at the future, and will forget about the past. For China only cares about the future as it races into a future that is moving very fast. Whether that future will be incredibly unsustainable or just a little unsustainable, we don't know... but the government is making promising noises around Climate Change at least -so lets stay tuned for more daily news on that until (and likely after) the Summit in Copenhagen in just a month or so.
Thursday, September 03, 2009
In the desert
We went to some spectacular grottoes that i had been to before, which
are fun to look at due to the stairways carved out of, and sticking
out of, the cliff that you clomb to see the carvings. However the 6 hr
return journey was 12 in the end, so it might not have been worth it!
are fun to look at due to the stairways carved out of, and sticking
out of, the cliff that you clomb to see the carvings. However the 6 hr
return journey was 12 in the end, so it might not have been worth it!
We did finally arrive at the desert for glorious sunshine, zip lines,
sand duning and quad biking amongst others. The area, sha po tou, is
split into a south section, where the desert meets the Yellow river
with fantastic views, and the north section. After zip lining down to
the river, it was the north section which we fell in love with and
ended up spontaneously staying the night at, in a hotel in the desert.
It was very well designed and fit into the scenery well, as did the
other buildings containing the attraction, and a bar which provided us
with a roof to drink on whilst the sun set. A quick game of football
on the sand broke up the drinking games before dinner.
The amazing quad biking was one of the best ten minutes i have ever
had doing any sport, so we did it 4 times. Flying, almost literally,
over the massive dunes was a wonderful experience, at speeds that did
not feel safe.
The resort area was very well designed physically and well laid out,
unusually for China. We really were in a playground in the desert,
with few other people, and surrounded by sand. Unfortunately the
Chinese are so keen to take your tourist money, after paying an
entrance fee we still paid for each activity we did.
The following day at another scenic site, sikou, we saw some dramatic
rocky scenery and had a fight over paying an additional fee to cross a
rope ladder, which was the main attraction we came to see (and paid
the entrance ticket for). As much as it was ridiculous to charge
another fee, we had to accept the Chinese tourism industry's desire to
play its role in increasing national consumption.
We then took a bus half way up Ningxia province to the capital. It is
a small province so it was only a 2 hour (fast) bus ride, which was
nice and then a quick dash out to the Western Xia tombs, from a
dynasty the ruled much of north-west China a milennium ago.
The province was one of the last provinces to be specified and is
supposed to be a Hui one, the Hui being an islamic ethnic minority.
But most Hui live elsewhere in China (only 1/3rd of those in Ningxia
are Hui nowadays) due to population movements. We saw more mosques a
few days earlier in Gansu than we did in Ningxia.
Being able to speak the language has rfevealed another benefit with
our constant negotiations with taxi drivers or others: being able to
understand them helps mean we can get their perspective on why a price
is set as it is; and in many cases found no need to bargain. Though
this has beem difficult for my sister who thinks we should bargain
everything, all the time, always!
The lack of english at the museum, a typical problem, even in major
cities, is frustrating. This especially so when they translate 1
paragraph, but nothing else!
More frustrating though is the lack of any interesting content that
gives you context or keeps you engaged or makes you interested.
Instead text is boring and factual, out of context and meaningless.
Museums is one area where the Chinese are not making much progress.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
A night with the animals in the hills
Our next stop was to a monastery in the Sangke grasslands which
refused women entry. The monks there were interested in talking to us,
well the one monk who spoke Chinese was at least; the rest just stared
at my hairy arms! Most average Tibetan people we have met on this trip
have not spoken much Chinese, only Tibetan. The guides and shop
keepers have though, thankfully.
refused women entry. The monks there were interested in talking to us,
well the one monk who spoke Chinese was at least; the rest just stared
at my hairy arms! Most average Tibetan people we have met on this trip
have not spoken much Chinese, only Tibetan. The guides and shop
keepers have though, thankfully.
We visited Ba Jiao, a 2000 yr old town, which has been an unexpected
highlight of the entire trip. I have seen a lot of old, rural, poor
villages, but this one was special. Set in beautiful wheat fields, the
inner wall of the town survives in its entirety and there are remains
of the outer wall and moat in between.
80 households live within the walls in houses still made almost
entirely of mud and straw, though some recent brick reinfocements keep
the houses standing. Inside one of the houses, where we had lunch, was
a typical Kang adjoining the stove. A Kang is a bed on a platform
which is kept warm from the steam from the stove that is fed under the
bed. Lunch was Tibetan milk tea, Tibetan cake (cheese/butter mixed
with hot water and a kind of flour) and Local bread. Hanging on the
line next to where we ate were two sheep skins drying! Outside the
houses were small mud wall enclosures for keeping animals and wooden
contraptions for hanging the straw to dry. Dung was stuck on the side
of many of the walls to dry, and later be used as fuel.
Nothing in the village or village life seemes to have changed for
centuries, apart from a primary school that was built a decade before.
The locals were using horse-driven carts to transport straw and few
houses even had tvs.
The next day we took a 4 hour bus, avoiding the many yaks on the road
to the Gansu/Sichuan border to go horse riding. First we hiked in a
beautiful gorge, enjoyed the sun and watched the child monks playing
games outside the monastery. The overnight trek was quite something.
Though the rolling hills and mountains were special and seeing yaks
everywhere reminded us where we were, it was the night in the local's
tent that was most interesting. The locals move every 6 weeks during
the grazing season so everything is in boxes and a simple stove is
used for cooking, powered by dung, which the women spend half their
day raking, gathering and drying. There was also a solar panel used to
charge a battery for powering a lightbulb at night. Other tents just
used a car battery for important things like charging mobile phones!
The women work all day, waking up at 5am to milk the yaks, then
unhooking the yaks, who they leash together during the night once the
men herd them back to the camp. Once the yak are gone its dung
collecting time, then cooking time (which takes over an hour) and then
time for chores including going into the hills to collect more dung,
preparing for moving, fixing and sewing, going to market etc. In the
evening they are back cooking, rounding up yak and so on. The lady we
stayed with had been at it since she was 15 but was expecting to
'retire' at 40 to live in the village or town and try to earn money
there.
Each family has at least 2 very evil dogs to keep the thieves away
(other tibetans from neighboring areas) and to keep us up at night
with their barking. With a mimimum of 30 yak each and a hundred sheep,
but with tens of amilies living on the same, or neighboring, hills,
the evening rounding up is incredible as herdsmen bring thousands of
animals back to camp. We stood by the tent surrounded by animals
3,800m high up in the hills and felt how hard the life was, especially
with high winds and cold nights -even in August.
Langmusi town had a couple of chinese youth hostels, which started
appearing a few years ago, but are still outnumbered by those oriented
towards foreign backpackers. The first difference is an all-chinese
menu, the second is the chinese messages and flags all over the
walls, and the various other differences include: karaoke at evenings,
less tourist information and less helpful staff, hot water flasks for
rooms, a bar that is barely used and that sells wine by the shot, and
an internet connection that is not continually used. Oh, and of
course, the awful bathroom conditions!
The day we left Langmusi was a festival day so there hundreds of
colorful Tibetans in town for the day in their best dresses and with
balloons. They are beautiful people with their rugged, weathered looks
particularly striking, particularly amongst the elderly and children.
The youth ride around on motorbikes, but are still heavily involved in
local life, and i have no doubt the lady who we stayed with will have
her son and daughter up in the hills once they leave school at 15. We
did see her nephew herding (and riding, barebak) yaks after all.
We're now on our way to our next destination, which has been
continually up in the air due to the difficulties of travelling in
rural China, particularly getting hold of train tickets. At least
there are always busses with great views of the surrounding scenery,
and taxi drivers willing to take us anywhere for a price (and with 4
of us, not much more than a bus).
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Back on the tourist road
2 weeks ago when I was fretting about my sisters' visa I really should
have wondered when mine needed renewing. As it was it occurred to me 1
day after my visa expired, so a panicky renwal process began and
somehow I even managed to avoid a fine and get my passport back 6
hours before flying off to Gansu with mum and sisters.
have wondered when mine needed renewing. As it was it occurred to me 1
day after my visa expired, so a panicky renwal process began and
somehow I even managed to avoid a fine and get my passport back 6
hours before flying off to Gansu with mum and sisters.
Upon arriving at 1am a taxi driver convinced us to ride through the
night to our 1st destination, rather than staying the night first.
Now we are very tired having not slept at all in the car but have had
an enjoyable day in Xiahe, where 15 months ago the Tibetan monks
rioted following those in Lhasa. Foreigners were only allowed to the
town a few months ago. Still foreigners cannot buy bus tickets to get
here unless as part of groups, through other destinations, or by taxi.
Not too much has changed in the monastery itself since i was here 3
years ago, though several new developments have been built on the edge
of town. The town's special feel still remains with a thousand monks
living and working in the monastery and wondering around. We even went
to a nunnery where all the nuns had shaved heads (and Kate was
disappointed they were not in black and white robes Sister Act-style).
I can barely imagine how awesome the place must have been years ago
with 20,000 monks and no new developments.
As it is the monk giving the tour in English struggled to avoid or
diplomatically answer certain questions from people with a massive
range of knowledge on Tibettan buddhism. He did a good job though.
Earlier in the morning the girls had failed to bargain with the
locals, as there was an unequal balance of bargaining power, desperate
as the girls were for some warm clothes that we all under-brought
(Xiahe is 3,000m up).
They'd done a better job in Beijing spending almost 2 days at a flea
market, clothes markets and boutiques. They also managed a day at the
beack (by a lake in the park), a day at the Summer Palace + Olympics,
a day around Tiananmen and Forbidden city area, a day at the Great
Wall and even went to the urban planning museum + lama temple without
getting bored for a day. I accompanied them to a wide variety of
meals: hot pot, ma la tang, pizza, xinjiang, BBQ, dim sum and all
sorts.
Still plenty of chinese food for them to try though. They're doing
well so far, with Beth even drinking beer (as well as shopping,
clubbing and watching the awesome acrobatics). So if you come to
Beijing, there's your 1 week itinerary pretty much sorted!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Watching football in Beijing
Football in China is commonly regarded as a joke. The Chinese national team almost never qualifies for any meaningful tournaments and the domestic league is an embarrassment, unfortunately. Just 2 weeks ago 1 team chased a referee around (and off) the pitch as they disagreed with a decision. This happens regularly. The clubs and league is run by an organization somewhere under the government, is under-funded and badly run with little discipline and a low fan base. Although the Chinese are much bigger basketball fans, they do love football, and thus watch plenty of European football, when they can. The greedy Premiership though stupidly sold the rights to their games to a cable channel that has barely a few hundred thousand subscribers, to the benefit of Italian football which is on national TV. The Premiership might be changing things soon, as they realize the millions of fans they are losing.
2 weeks ago the Premiership came to Beijing in the form of the Asia Premiership Cup, which, apparently, takes place every 2 years. I only heard about it as I found out for 8 pounds i could watch 2 games on a wednesday evening, and then the same again on a friday evening. 2 of the 4 games involved Spurs, so it was the cheapest Spurs games I have ever seen... and to top it all off, we won the 'cup', though only a couple thousand people stayed on to watch the 'ceremony'!
The new premiership season starts this weekend, though I'll be traveling with mum and sisters so expect more stories from afar... probably involving melting in the 37 degree heat that we have now. wonderful when not exercising!
2 weeks ago the Premiership came to Beijing in the form of the Asia Premiership Cup, which, apparently, takes place every 2 years. I only heard about it as I found out for 8 pounds i could watch 2 games on a wednesday evening, and then the same again on a friday evening. 2 of the 4 games involved Spurs, so it was the cheapest Spurs games I have ever seen... and to top it all off, we won the 'cup', though only a couple thousand people stayed on to watch the 'ceremony'!
The new premiership season starts this weekend, though I'll be traveling with mum and sisters so expect more stories from afar... probably involving melting in the 37 degree heat that we have now. wonderful when not exercising!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Visit to the earthquake affected area
Before we left Tagong, where we had seen beautiful villages, we
watched a basketball match in the town that was well attended, despite
the rain. Part of a town cup sponsored by China Mobile, 95% of those
watching were focused on the men's match, rather than the adjacent
women's match. The police beat the government team 66-56 in what was
actually a decent match. Not too surprising I suppose, since
basketball is easily China's favorite sport, mostly because of a
Chinese player whos is one of the best in the NBA. There are another
couple of Chinese players in the NBA but Yao Min is the 7 foot
something giant that has brought the NBA to a billion people. If he is
really injured so badly that his career might be over, the NBA will be
in trouble. None-the-less, basketball's smaller court size and greater
flexibility means it should continue to rule. The closest (but
different) competitors might be table tennis, or pool/snooker.
watched a basketball match in the town that was well attended, despite
the rain. Part of a town cup sponsored by China Mobile, 95% of those
watching were focused on the men's match, rather than the adjacent
women's match. The police beat the government team 66-56 in what was
actually a decent match. Not too surprising I suppose, since
basketball is easily China's favorite sport, mostly because of a
Chinese player whos is one of the best in the NBA. There are another
couple of Chinese players in the NBA but Yao Min is the 7 foot
something giant that has brought the NBA to a billion people. If he is
really injured so badly that his career might be over, the NBA will be
in trouble. None-the-less, basketball's smaller court size and greater
flexibility means it should continue to rule. The closest (but
different) competitors might be table tennis, or pool/snooker.
A driver finally took us back to Chengdu and thanks to a mammoth
series of tunnels that have been built to replace the roads that will
be flooded for a new hydroelectric dam, we almost made it in 9 hours.
Until we ran into two traffic jams that added 3 more hours to the
journey. I expect we might still have beaten the bus that left 24 hrs
before us with some friends on it, who wanted to save some money, as a
bridge collapsed blocking their road. Although, even before that, the
bus station man would not be willing to guess when the bus would
arrive. He just said at least 15 hrs, be.ause of the landslides and
floods!
The last two days were spent at a town that was badly affected by the
earthquake, where I was doing some work. The town and the villages are
now a massive construction site and moany people's new houses are
almost completed (with money and also loans from the government),
though until they are completed there are still thousands (that we
saw, and maybe millions overall) still living in temporary buildings
made of the same material as portable toilets. Each family has 1 room
to squueze their bed, fridge, tv and belongings into.. and live there
for a year or more. Not great, but in true Chinese style these areas
were well organised with a police station, medical centre, running
water, decent toilets etc. It must have been tough for the first few
months though, when there were only tents.
The area we were was not the poorest so many locals were able to
afford the extra needed in addition to the government grants and
loans... some even had built two storey houses or had flat screen tvs
(these were the people who had earned money in the cities as migrant
workers). We saw one village that had been destryoed by the earthquake
and not yet cleared, as some people had made temporary wooden homes
there whilst their new places were being built (preferring such wooden
contraptions to the tents) and it was almost totally rubble. The new
houses are supposed to be built with some poles every few metres that
will absorb the shock from any future quakes. They worked fine when
there was a 5.6 quake last month, but I am not convinced they would
withstand another 8.0 -hopefully such a quake will not happen for a
long time, and the weight of the water behind the 3 Gorges Dam (where
Dad is off to in a couple of days) and other dams was not behind this
quake (as rumours have it, and thus further quakes could happen as
more dams are built).
We also met some volunteers; a girl who was just finishing up 2 months
working in a village library/culture center looking after kids and a
guy who teaches local people how to raise (and sell as meat) rabbits.
It was great to meet them, though it seemed clear that the young
people affected by the earthquake really should be able to do some of
this kind of work instead of relying on volunteers from the other side
of China. The adults (especially the women) were busy building, and
the elderly were helping; the kids were running around having fun
(including in the local swimming pool) but I'm not sure where the
youth were... plenty seemed camped out in the internet cafe, though
some may have gone elsewhere looking for work.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
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!
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!
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