Shi Cha Hai park

Sunday afternoon, I took a stroll through one of Beijing's parks that has not been discovered yet by too many tourists. It certainly did remind me of my hometown Bruges: stone bridges, weeping willow trees, ponds with ducks, etc... It had rained the night before and there was a strong (chilly) wind creating one of those rare days of clean air. A perfect day to walk and observe and to take pictures. I dipped my hand in the water and it was freezing cold. There is a reason the guy in the picture reading a book was warmly dressed, but that didn't scare a dozen people to take a dip into the lake. I could only think about a hot chocolate drink when I watched a few cross the lake.

Tandem

This one is for Linda and Chris ! Single speed but you have to love the back support and colors.

A weekend in Beijing with Mike: priceless!

This weekend I had the pleasure to host Mike (my boss) in Beijing and a blast we had. Mike is not only the biggest “Gator” fan I know but also a man who approaches life with abundant energy and joy. Just the right type of guy you want to have as a travel buddy. For those non-Americans reading the blog, the Gators is the nickname for the University of Florida Football and Basketball teams. During Mike’s short visit, we did of course the top three tourist attractions: 1) hiking the Great Wall, 2) strolling the Tian’an Men Square and the Forbidden City, 3) bargain shopping in the Silk Market.
At the Wall, Mike wanted to take a few pictures for the local Cincinnati Gator website as the fan club collects pictures from all over the world. So he came dressed in the blue-orange uniform: Gator’s sweater and Gator’s cap. Believe it or not but of the handful Americans we met at the Wall, wasn’t there another Gator? Is there truly a Gator nation as Mike tried to explain me? Take a look at the picture with Mike and the Gator girl: what better proof!
However the most fun at the Great Wall was observing Mike haggling the price down for the “Red Book of Chairman Mao”. Comrade Mike is now fully engaged in the struggle of the working class. Watching Mike, I was laughing so hard my cheeks were hurting. He is a master negotiator and the practice he had in the Bazaars of Istanbul was showing. Looking back the shopping experience we had at the Great Wall came in handy the next day. On Sunday morning we stormed the Silk Market in Beijing for some last minute shopping before Mike took a flight back home. Wow, talking about a haggling game. The vendors (mostly girls) are literally grabbing you and dragging you in their stores. On principle, we tried to get away with a price that was 10 percent the original asking price but we had to endure a slur of insults (I hate you, you are making me cry, you are not nice, I don’t like you,…) and even bloody scratches. One of the girls was hitting us and screaming for a better price (I remember you, why don’t you remember me?). We played along and our performance was pure Commedia Dell’Arte. Mike is first generation Italian- American, you can imagine the drama. Shopping at the Silk Market is pure entertainment and pure survival. After 90 minutes of chaos, we were more than ready to conclude the day with an espresso and cappuccino. Priceless.

Terracotta Army and Qin's Mausoleum

stairs to the top of the mausoleum

Work brought me to Xi’an, capital of the Shaanxi province for the next coming days. An hour drive outside the city is the UNESCO world heritage site of the Terracotta Army and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. Words cannot describe the once in a lifetime experience, so I’m not even going to try. Enjoy some pictures. Personally I enjoyed the mausoleum more as it was less crowded and also offered some more mystique. They still have not opened the tomb of the emperor, buried inside the hill. Walking up the hill and releasing that an incredible treasure is buried under your feet is just surreal. There was also a little theater group doing some martial arts dances at the entrance of the mausoleum which made it all more memorable.

Hermits and Zen Masters

Last Tuesday (Oct 16), I attended a lecturer by the anthropologist Bill Porter in the bookstore, called The Bookworm. Bill took the audience (150 people) through a slide show about Taoist and Buddhist monks and nuns living in huts and caves deep in the mountains of central China. Bill is an American who lived in a Taiwanese monastery for three years in the 1970’s where he got introduced to the Zen Teachings. In the 1980’s when China opened up to traveling, Bill began to search for hermits who might have survived under years of communism and interviewed more than 20 male and female hermits. His presentation was loaded with humor and along the way I learned a few things about this amazing hermit tradition. The most fun was the Q&A session, where Bill clarified a few fantasies that we might have about these monks and nuns: they don’t seem to have found the “Answer”, some use special herbs (read drugs) to clear their mind, they do seek company, etc. The biggest insight came from the fact that their simple live allows them to totally clear up and free their minds and with that can come a crystal clear focus. They seem to have found the pleasure of simplicity but nothing more or less. I’m trying to see if I could get Bill to give the same lecturer in our office. His message: “keep it simple” is worth sharing.

St. Joseph's church

While looking for the Foreign Language Bookstore on Wangfujing, the major shopping street in Beijing, I stumbled upon a charming catholic church. Needless to say, I was very surprised to see a church in the vicinity of the Tian’an Men Square and the Forbidden City. The church is only a short walk away from the “heart” of the communist government. The church offers an almost surreal contrast with the hyper commerce that is happening on Wangfujing, aka the Champs Elysees of Beijing. I had just taken a picture of this cool Nike ad mural on my left, while on my right appeared the triple-domed St.Joseph’s Church. Talking about the combination of the old and new in one spot. The church was built in 1655 and rebuilt a few times after being destroyed by earthquakes, fire and during the Boxer Rebellion. It serves mass in the early morning hours, all in Chinese but one service on Sunday morning at 6.30 am is in Latin. The church was closed but I’ll put attending a Latin mass on my-to-experience-list. To be continued.

A little taste of nightlife in Beijing

On Friday evening and after a late dinner with a group from the office, I ended up in a local bar called The Tree. The place is quite popular because of its large list of imported Belgian Beers, including Hoegaarden and De Konick on tap. And they are served in their proper glasses! They also have a wood-fired oven in the middle of the pub and their thin-crust pizza is voted the Best Pizza in town. They also claim to have an authentic Belgian bar décor but that seems a stretch to me. The Tree is located on the famous Sanlitun street (cfr Bourbon Street in New Orleans): a major attraction for tourists, expats and locals. The whole neighborhood is very crowded at night so people flow out of the bars and onto the streets which created a drinking scene that reminded me of the time I was a student but this time I felt awkwardly out of place: the music was too loud, too much cigarette smoke in the bars, too young audience. I’m feeling the generation gap but at least I can say that I had my beer in The Tree and can move on to the next experience which came less than 24 hours later.
On Sunday morning, I woke up at 2 am and took a taxi to the sports bar the Pavilion to watch the Rugby semi-finals between France and England. The game started at 3 am and I wanted to see the game live and apparently I was not the only one. The place was packed with close to a 1000 fans from both countries with a bit more Frenchies than Brits. I counted at least 5 mega screens and two were placed outside in the garden. Being that early in the morning (or late at night) I was surprised to see quite a few kids (age 12-16) being there with their parents but then again these are the semi-finals between two rugby crazy countries. Before the game started both countries played their national anthem and that immediately fired up the place. You don’t have to teach the Brits the words to God Save the Queen, neither the French their La Marseillaise. Always a revelation for a Belgian. As most of my countrymen, I’m clueless about the Belgian national anthem. Anyhow, I met a few of my French colleagues so I went along with them and cheered for the French team who was also regarded the underdog. We were standing next to a group of English fans and that created a great amount of ambience, all in a very jovial atmosphere. The game was very close all the way to the end. England won so my French buddies were disappointed and we ended the night after saying goodbye to the English group next to us. By 5.30 am, for the second time that night, I was in bed again but with another great experience under my belt.

The perfect smile

The China Daily newspaper reported in today’s edition on how visitors to the Olympics will be guaranteed to receive a perfect smile. Apparently police officers as well as hostesses are receiving training on how to produce the perfect smile. The girls, who are aspiring flight attendances are being taught how to smile from ear to ear by biting down on horizontally-placed chopsticks. They have to do this for up to two hours so that their facial muscles get used to this position. Police officers are watching themselves in the mirror and are told only to show 4 upper and 4 lower front teeth. Showing only eight teeth is supposed to make them appear friendly without looking “goofy”. Stories like that are plentiful here in China and I’m not sure if I should smile or feel sad about it. I do see a lot of happy people here in Beijing, with an explosive economy; there are certainly a lot of opportunities for personal growth. The Arts and Culture scene is also blooming in Beijing. China is moving fast from a Made in China to a Design in China society and no better place to see it all happening than in Beijing. I’m all smiles.

Beijing Weather Modification Office

Yes, believe it or not, but there is such a government agency as the Beijing Weather Modification Office. Their job is to test the Artificial Rain Dispersal Process. In laymen terms, it is their job to make it rain. They do that by firing rocket shells, containing cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide into the clouds over the city. This helps to alleviate drought and remove dust from the air. The Olympics will rely on this office to induce rainfall before the clouds reach the Olympic venues. They have been testing all year long, so whenever it rains in Beijing, I have to wonder if the office is playing God again.
On my way to the office this morning, I noticed a building that had the following name: "China Tibetology Research Center". Would there be a Belgiumology Center in Beijing?

Worl Cup Rugby and The Bookworm

It is a gorgeous and sunny day in Beijing but somehow I’m reluctant to leave my apartment.
On one hand the 2007 world cup rugby has me glued to the TV. In case you are not following the latest events, there has been some great drama over the last few days: underdogs such as France and England are beating the big favorites New Zealand and Australia. Both France and England are now to meet in the semi-finals. When I was in Japan last week, taking the train from Kobe to Kyoto, I bumped into an Australian guy who explained me in obsessive detail the rules of the game. Once you understand the basic rules, the game has so much more to offer than the brute force you see as a beginner and I love the upsets we are seeing now. Don't worry, I'm not turning into a rugby fanatic. Yet.
On the other hand, I can also not stop turning the pages of a new book. It was a rainy day yesterday, so I decided to go and visit a bookstore called the Bookworm that is getting some attraction here in Beijing (see picture). From their website I learned that: “The Bookworm was begun in 2004 by Alexandra Pearson, an Englishwoman resident in Beijing for the last 15 years. A small community library at its inception, The Bookworm is now the English language literary hub of all things book-related in China’s capital.” From my perspective, The Bookworm is more a coffee shop/ restaurant than a true book store. I was somewhat expecting a place like B&N or the FNAC, but the Bookworm is a much smaller place and the book I wanted -Road to Heaven by Bill Porter- was out of stock. Still it is the best place in town to find English books and it was crowded with foreigners typing away on their laptops. The store also has literary evenings where writers come and talk about their books and Bill Porter will be there on October 13. I’ve put that on my agenda and more about that in a future blog. So I met the owner Alexandra and asked her to recommend me a book about China that is her favorite and she gave me “the man who stayed behind” by Rittenberg. Here is an review from amazon.com: Rittenberg, the only American citizen to join Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Party, befriended Zhou Enlai, debated with Mao and was influential in the '60s Cultural Revolution. Born in South Carolina, this former U.S. labor organizer had his faith in Mao's "sacred revolutionary organization" tested by 16 years in Chinese prisons. His first jail term (1949-1955), after he was wrongly accused of spying, only strengthened Rittenberg's resolve to prove himself a loyal communist. Released, he took a job scrutinizing co-workers' dossiers, sending suspected counter-revolutionaries to labor camps. His next 10 years (1968-1977) in solitary confinement broke his faith in communism. Time is up, I need to get back to the book.

National Grand Theater

A stroll away from the Tian’anmen square and the Forbidden City, you will find the newest landmark of Beijing. Surrounded by an artificial lake, an egg-shaped building made of titanium and glass is housing an opera hall, a concert hall and a theater. To get inside the “tear drop or egg” you have to take an entrance that will have you walk under the lake. It was designed by a French architect Paul Andreu and I found it to be very eye-catching and beautiful. There is some controversy about the building because some people think its style is out of sync with the 500 year old buildings of the Forbidden City. However, just like the glass pyramid in front of the Louvre, there is beauty in combining both the old and the new. Next for me is to get a ticket to attend a performance once they open the theater for the public in December.

Kyoto, Japan

Traveling in Japan with train and bus is always a little bite of an adventure: you need to make on the fly decisions or you’ll miss your connections. Public transportation is incredibly on time and fast. You get sucked in a stream of people, while trying to find your way to your train or bus platform. Buying the right ticket from a vending machine can be a challenge as well but at the end, it is all worth it.
Although it rained all day during my visit to Kyoto, I still had a blast touring its gorgeous Zen gardens , temples and shrines. If you want to find man-made heavens on earth, I’ll suggest you visit some of the pristine Zen gardens in Kyoto: a mystical and magical experience. The pictures don’t do justice to its unique beauty. You might want to add a visit to Kyoto to your list of 100 things to do before you die. It is/was on my list as #44.

Tian’an Men Decorations

On Saturday morning, before heading to Japan, I paid a quick visit to the Tian’an Men square to admire the flower displays that were decorating the square for the October 1 celebration. The Tian’an Men square is arguably the biggest square in the world and I’m always perplexed by its gigantic dimensions. Among the flower displays were miniature versions of the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven and even the Acropolis (obvious an Olympic reference). When you stand in the middle of the square, you can sense the power of the communist party: Mao is looking down at you from the entrance of the Forbidden City, party officials are racing by in their black sedans, military gards are posted next to the national flag, old communist buildings are surrounding the square. China is changing fast but it seems that in the center of Beijing, time stands still.