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.