Progress: The Enemy at the Gates

Those who have visited us here in Beijing would have been taken on a Guihot tour of The Village - that big Lego-land shopping centre a Beijing city block away from the Australian Embassy. It’s modern in design, was opened just in time for the Beijing Olympics and although it took a year to get the emerging Chinese capitalist middle-class excited, these days it is packed to the brim on any given weekend with locals wanting to buy all the big-ticket fashions, stuff their faces with McDonalds and Starbucks, or just ‘hang out’ at what is (or was) Beijing’s first official Apple Store - crazy night out. It’s the heart of Sanlitun – the kind of place that the young locals are happy to be seen (and even happier to spend their money).

Sanlitun Apple store this week - the iPad and iPhone 4 had arrived 

Directly to the north of The Village and separated by nothing more than a 10meter wide street is a vastly contrasted scene. It’s old Beijing, made up of a main street/alleyway running north-south with all the visual characteristics of an economy just waking up from a long socialist sleep, only to find capitalism lying in the bed next to them. One side of the street is made up of a series of “30 square foot basement bars” lined up one after another (where the only thing different is the name), the obligatory rip-off DVD shop, a run-down Chinese supermarket and a few tobacco stalls that sell more than just tobacco smoking devices. Add in one or two sex shops, a bike repair stand and a smattering of tailors and you have the type of street you'll find in many areas of the more westernised Chaoyang district, but maybe you’d have to look down a side alley for.

The other side of the street sees itself as the more highbrow. Sure the doner kebab shop is there, but the Frenchies have also moved in to cater for those wanting a taste of frog’s legs from home. Then there are the ‘trendy’ cafes offering wireless for those new iPhone/iPad customers that migrate from Apple Central across the street, while they dine over a pitabread platter and Turkish coffee. Off to the side in an even smaller alley is Beijing’s only Fish 'n' Chip shop, an old Bavarian pub turned pizza joint and a few more bars including one that has changed name more times than I’ve changed underwear since moving to China. The main ‘street’ is hardly wide enough to fit two cars in side-by-side, but that does not stop the new car-owning and driving elite of Chinese society from turning down the road and head-to-head into the path of an oncoming car. Many a time has the street been blocked while the two drivers argue about who should give way, eventually resulting in one having to reverse back trying to miss the pedestrians as they go (making weaving through on a bike a lot of fun). As a vehicle thoroughfare it is next to useless, but given that private car ownership is really only 15-20years old in China it’s not surprising (and as a side note, it could handle two of the China old-skool three-wheeled bikes side-by-side quite well).

All up this main section of street runs only 200meters or so in length before it runs right into the original Village’s newest sibling, Village North and a whole other colourful block of designer shops. In fact, on three sides of this little street the architecture designers seemed to have caught up with the present (and maybe beyond), and rumour had it that this old remaining bastion of old Capital in Sanlitun was merely the next cab off the rank in Beijing’s plan to knock down and rebuild, or renovate beyond recognition.

It wasn’t really a surprise then to discover last night that the scaffolding has moved into the old street, and the next phase of Beijing’s modernisation had commenced. It was no less disappointing though, and a tad sad. Why? Well aside from a personal protest against the Beijing Government’s demolition of all older parts of the city (Hutongs going bye-bye), there are a few other things about this old Datsun 120Y in a carpark of new Ferraris that does it for me.

The scaffolding has arrived.  Does it signal the end to this last section of Sanlitun with old Beijing character?

Up until now (and ironically thanks in part to the drawing power of The Village across the street) this little lane has really become a communal meeting place for the locals and the visitors during the evenings of the warmer months. On Friday and Saturday nights in spring and summer this short piece of cracked, potholed Beijing pavement hosts a long string of mobile hotpot stands running up and down either side. Sure I’ve never actually stopped to give it a go, but I, along with the other westerners, really appear to be missing out on something. Language barrier aside, I’ve often seen and heard whole groups of locals sitting down on the tiny stools (think kid’s tea-party tiny) and talking very loudly while their calamari and shrimp ball kebabs stewed in the curry-like stock. The conversation's often animated and jovial  -  a far cry from the conversations going on at the French Restaurant dining tables just over the ballast raid. Whether the locals have just planned a night out shopping with friends and selected the cheap meal option, or whether they are eating before heading to any of the multitude of popular nightclubs in the area, it has always been a happening place which really gave me a last dose of real China before heading back into the protected walls of our western apartment only 800 meters away as the crow flies.

The renovation of the street will likely result in a huge hike to the rents of those businesses who operate from “the strip”. One of the bars there (can’t even remember the name) makes a killing on any night of the week with a whole menu of 15rmb cocktails - around AU$2.20. OK so the Pina Colada I sampled there probably had more methanol than ethanol in it, but the prices certainly beat the double or triple prices elsewhere (even if the music’s too loud to talk and there isn’t enough room for a toilet let alone a pool table, dance floor or dart board).

The old alley really is the OTHER Sanlitun Bar Street, with recessed doors leading customers down into small, smoky holes where the entertainment isn't much chop but the drinks are cheap.

But it’s not a rose without thorns, and in fact this rose doesn’t even have a good scent most days. In warmer weather the alley regularly smells of rotting vegetables, a slight hint of stagnant water and sometimes a slight waft of rancid cooking oil mixed with urine (see comment above re: bars for one possible reason). There are often beggars trolling for gullible foreigners, some of who pimp out their kids to do the begging as it often brings more money in.

But it’s real China, warts and all, and when we head on down to The Village on our bikes (like we did last night) we always lock them up right in the middle of this madness just to be able to take it all in. Except this weekend the vendors might not come, as the scaffolding has taken over their set-up spots. The familiar traffic jams will be a thing of the past, as the scaffolding has encroached beyond the sidewalk and reduced the street width to a distance just big enough to fit a 3-wheel bike through. Those who prefer the bourgeois side of the alley will be turned away as the outside dining areas are now all hidden behind sheets of plywood, and even if they sit inside the construction noise that emanated today would drive the most tolerant diner insane. The current eateries (including the fish n chip shop which we like) will be starting to reassess their viability post-renovation, when the fancier premises will demand higher rent. And while the potential disappearance of the AU$2.00 (+ GST) Pina Colada is devastating, the real loss will be felt by those who enjoyed the area for what it was – a perfect contrast to the progress that lays siege to its borders, and which will inevitably bring with it the sad demise of an ever-shrinking old Beijing.

The chalk and the cheese.  The old street in the foreround, against a backdrop of the new Village, where western lifesyles are sold at more than western prices.

China’s Journey into World Expo Land – Opportunity Lost?

It’s been a long time between jottings here on the blog (Chinese New Year in Hong Kong being the last one).  Slackness you may say?  Hell YES!  That said though, work actually got hectic there for a while with the end of financial year stuff, and before that I was spending a lot of time trying to come up with lame excuses to explain my lack of blogging.

And it’s not like we have had nothing to talk about.  Since the last blog, as well as the usual life stuff we have done an Easter trip to Yangshuo and a trip with Amy’s parents to Xinjiang.  I’ll be getting onto those later (throwing the timeline out of whack in the process), but thought that our recent experiences would make a good return to the blogging festivities.

And our very recent experiences are as fresh as a kid’s number 2 on a Chinese street corner in Beijing, as we wrap up our trip to World Expo in Shanghai that we undertook a few weeks ago.

Amy’s trip to Expo had been planned for months as she was down here all that week for her work event promoting all things animal and plant as part of a big event in the Australian Pavilion.  As part of this she also got easy access to a lot of the bigger more popular pavilions that most mere mortals wouldn’t bother with unless you have a PhD in patience and the Lord of the Rings trilogy on hand (like the Saudi Arabia pavilion, where the lineup is approximately 7hrs long, and the Italy pavilion).

The Guihot Family Expo

So with Amy already in town for the work function Maddy and I had plans to fly down on Friday afternoon and meet Amy at the airport, then head out to the Expo site and enjoy the cooler temperature and taking advantage of the late closing time of the site (midnight – certainly great for my nocturnal lifestyle preference).  Unfortunately our weekend in Shanghai started as it usually does – with a delayed flight leaving Beijing over 1.5hrs late.

When we finally made it to Shanghai it was like walking out of the airport in Cairns in the middle of summer, but with a pollution layer that makes the Beijing Benzene blanket look like a bad Canberra air pollution day.  It was 7pm by this time and still 33 degrees with a humidity level nearing 100 percent - unpleasant to say the least.

By the time we finally found our way to one of the Expo gates it was around 8.00pm, and we realized then that we had entered on the opposite side of the river to the country pavilions.  Around us at this stage were the corporate pavilions, many of them shut for the night.  While not even on our radar in terms of visiting priority I do understand they do give away some cool free stuff to visitors, so if we go back again I'm definitely off to the Nokia pavilion (or the Finland Pavilion - same thing, I hear).  So after managing to find one of the Expo buses we hopped on board to the other side of the river via the tunnel, and headed towards the America’s and Africa area.  First stop, Canada EH!

For me the idea of World Expo as a way to promote your county’s business and tourism opportunities is now a bit outdated, as there are many mediums now available to do this.  Trade forums are all over the place, and the Internet has changed the way the world communicates and markets itself.  But the Expo still provides a good opportunity for countries to shows potential visitors why they should thing about their country as a holiday destination – call it one big expensive travelling show, and while you may disagree, when you add in the restaurants at the exit door of most pavilions selling the country’s national dish and the souvenir shops that’s more the reality.  The really well thought out pavilions will not only add in some detail about the history and culture of the nation, but also present it in such a way that people actually receive the message during what is often a 15min single walkthrough of the pavilion.

So, with the outside of its pavilion decked out in Canadian Maple and the promise of poutine at the end the Canadian pavilion was promising.  Except it wasn’t.  As much as I love the country and its people (of which a few are friends and family), their whole presentation to the rest of the world (and mainly to China) comprised of some futuristic looking exercise bikes which were connected to a screen of scenery, and some art house film presentation about the wannabe French people of Montreal (want to be French?  Then just learn how to surrender).  It is not to say that the potential wasn’t there.  Instead of showing scenes of a road when you pedaled the bike, why not show scenes that display the breathtaking views of Canada – the sounds of Vancouver, the dense forests of BC, the plains of the prairies and the sparseness of Nunavut.  And if they had a mountain bike option, then even BETTER!  Sure the theme of the Expo was “Better living, Better city”, so they were trying to espouse their green transport creds, but I didn’t see much written stuff about their plans for a bike transport plan.

But there was always the poutine, right?  WRONG!  What came out was a mix of chips and gravy and cut cubes of cheddar or tasty cheese on top.  It was not even a shadow of the ‘poutine’ I had found recently at Let’s Burger down the road from us in Beijing.  The poutine I remember from Canada had the real cheese curd on the top, and not some locally produced Bega copy that looked like it belonged next to some sliced cabanossi and Jatz crackers on a party platter (rather than a vital part of what is one of Canada’s unofficial national dishes and a vital gift to the gastronome world).

The poutine offering from the Canadian Pavilion - so close, yet so far.

From ‘Eh to ¡Andale! ¡Andale! ¡Arriba!

After Canada, and with the night quickly passing we decided to head to the South American part of the site and check out Chile, which Amy had told me was great because they were REALLY promoting their wine and their food.  Two things that drive my very existence most days.  While the USA pavilion was looking very alive still it was also looking very popular, so we wandered down past the lines and did the virtual crossing of the border into the Latin parts of the Americas towards Chile and Venezuela.

But alas we were too late, as many of the pavilions in the area had closed up for the night.  But as luck would have it the Mexico pavilion was still alive and pumping.  Now if there is any country that needs to promote itself to visitors at the moment it is Mexico, where the northern regions are losing people by the cartel-load.  And what an awesome job they did.  By this time of the week Amy had seen quite a few of the more popular pavilions, but Mexico got her pick as the best one so far with its combination of great film about the countryside, regions, activities and landscapes followed by some exhibitions of art, sculpture and rockwork by some of its previous and VERY previous residents. 

The 1000 year old Mayan stone wall on display in the Mexico pavilion.  Hit me with a bit of Awe, it did.

SLOVENIA

To be honest before we met our Slovenian friend here in Beijing we didn’t know where Slovenia was – in fact, we knew little about it.  And that’s not to say we became experts after we met her, except for the trivial facts like its small but valued 35km of coastline.  But when we found the Slovenian pavilion parked (somewhat out of place) in the middle of the African pavilions and with no lines we decided to give it a go.  And what a pick it was.  Very simple in concept, and relying on images of its natural beauty to sway the visitor it certainly worked for us.  Alot of the places in the pics were places our friend had mentioned before - the caves like the ones we visited when we holidayed in Yangshuo with her, and the place where she has already booked in her wedding when the lucky guy finally comes along.  And with its close proximity to northern Italy, Cheq and Croatia ideas started forming in our heads.

Maddy pointing out our next holiday destination at the Slovenia pavilion (Bled).

In the meantime the pavilions were really starting to close their doors in increasing numbers by this stage so we thought it was time to call it a night and head home.  Unfortunately so did half the population of China who were also at Expo that night, so upon seeing the 100metre taxi queue we decided to wander around and managed to find a subway station to get us back to the hotel.

Europe, South America and North Africa on a Shoestring

The next day we decided that it was too hot to go to Expo during the day so decided to leave it until 4pm to head off.  In the mean time we had some hours to kill, so we made great use of the hotel pool and then wandered down to the Bund and to check out some of the behemoth skyscrapers around the place (including the famous landmark Pearl Tower), and just missed getting caught in the mother of all storms.  The Bund is the section of downtown Shanghai that lies beside the river, and is where the big businesses have set up shop top show off their success and their desire to pay higher rents than anyone else in town.  As we found out, the architecture along the river front is far from the traditional Chinese, and shows China's long exposure to the west with some great English architecture.  But the real 'gem' on the Bund really needs to be the Bund Tunnel experience, which for all intensive purposes is a living (and almost breathing) embodiment of the boat ride from the original Willy Wonker and the Chocolate Factory (the only version ever made, as far as I am concerned).  It came complete with the nightmare noises and the feeling one might get after some LSD with their morning Weetbix, and with more flashing lights than an 80's Blue Light school disco it was almost enough to cause headaches.

Later that evening we learnt from our mistakes the previous day and headed right to the entrance of the park that would give us the most direct access to the pavilions, and started the wander towards the centre of the site.  Along the way we picked up where we had left off with the South American precinct, visiting Peru, Venezuela, Columbia, Cuba, Luxembourg, Algeria, Tunisia, Netherlands, Chili, Spain (which was our favorite, especially the cue jumper who got owned by the security guard and got put back into line), and finally good old Australia.  Somewhere in between we also ducked into one of the bigger pavilions which housed smaller setups for all of the Caribbean countries, including one for Haiti whose setup fee had been donated by the Expo organisers. It was though a very ho-hum affair for most of them.  I was hoping to attend a banking information session at the Grand Caymans stand but none were offered.  I did though get very excited when I came across the Jamaican 'pavilion' and found them selling Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee beans, but got unexcited shortly thereafter when I found they were selling them for around AU$640 per kilo.

The massive moving baby robot at the Spanish pavilion.  The more noise the crowd made, the more interactive it became.

Maddy and Amy enjoying a sit-down and rest at the Chile pavilion, waiting for the good stuff to come from the bar.

So how was the Aussie one?  Better than what I’d heard.  With a combination of presentations featuring the indigenous inhabitants and also about colonization it provided that mix of interaction with a bit of comedy.  But it was the aspects of the pavilion unrelated to the displays that really gave it legendary status among the other pavilions – firstly, it was the last one open among all the Oceania ones by a long shot, as a local house band played every night while you could sit back and knock down pies and Aussie beers and wine, and secondly, there was a stand selling Aussie beers right next to the line up out the front.

From the "Where did we come from" exhibit at the Aussie Pavilion, and one that got former PM Bob Hawke a bit up in arms when he visited there earlier in the Expo season.

As the night drew to a close it became apparent that even after two evenings of solid walking and visiting the pavilions we had still not made it too the centre of the park where the home-side pavilion was located. 

On Final Assessment...

So did we enjoy it?  Well yes, and no.  As a place to incite our travel bug some pavilions well and truly hit the spot for us (so much so that we are heading to one of the countries next year for our big holiday), while some achieved absolute fail status (check out the final ratings below).  We would like to get back again to check out some of the European ones, and the SE Asia ones.

The real fail though had to be the attitude of the locals themselves.  It was mid-way through our first night at the Expo that I was reminded of the ‘Expo Passports’, which visitors can buy and have stamped at all the pavilions.  Chinese people, being the wannabe Capitalists they are, have created an online market in these passports.  While they can be purchased empty for only 30rmb from any Expo souvenir stand, a passport with all the pavilion’s stamps in there can go for tens of thousands of dollars on TaoBao (China’s own e-Bay).  This has caused many Chinese visitors to focus more on the money they can get from the stamped passport, rather than what the Expo is all about – learning about places beyond your own borders.  As a result Amy and I observed a lot of locals running quickly through the pavilions to get to the stamping stand at the exit, and most of the slower wandering visitors merely stopping for one or two cliché’ ‘Peace Sign’ shots and not reading any of the information.  It also exacerbated the incidence of pushing in of the locals, and a few times we saw people blatantly jump the queues.  Luckily for them they didn’t try it on us, because with the combination of heat and general lack of tolerance for shitheads at that time it could have been a war of words (although to be honest, I would not have been that well armed – beyond ‘Bu Hao’ I’ve got nothin’)

All up though it was a good weekend in Shanghai, and aside from the 2^nd storm on the Sunday which delayed our flight back home by a few hours it was good to check out the SE part of China which I had not yet been too (except for HK, if you want to include that).  Out of all the pavilion we visited the following ones really did it for us:

• Spain - great film that brought back memories of our 2003 trip.
• Peru - even though I have not been there, footage of Machu Picchu never fails to titillate.
• Mexico - will book my holiday as soon as the drug cartels have killed each other off.  Get on with it, would you?
• Slovenia - here we come.
• Luxembourg - what's there not to like about the home of the Schleck brothers?
• Chile - if only for the food and wine at the end, and the live music.
• Australia - because it would be un-Australian not too.
• Italy - but only Amy visited this one.  

The pick of the taste-testing dishes for the night, from the Chile pavilion.  Even better that we got there at happy hour - not a bad serve for 48rmb.

The following ones are worth a visit of the lines aren’t that long, but I wouldn't put them on your 'Must-See’ list:

• Venezuela
• Columbia
• Algeria
• Tunisia
• The Caribbean

The man with the funny hat and the Vegas shirt, from the Columbia pavilion.

And then there were the countries that should really ask to be conquered by their neighbors, as they have done their national identity a great disservice in their attempt to really get the message across about anything worthwhile about their county.  That’s right, I'm talking to YOU Netherlands, Canada and Cuba.  Some free advice for the Netherlands folk out there: With a pavilion made up of arty little rooms of nothing, if anyone asks about your country's Expo efforts then you might want to steer the conversation towards your World Cup final result - even though you snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, it would still be a less uncomfortable and painful conversation topic.  Add a bit of Red Light District and special 'cafes' flavour to the mix next time - that'll have the crowds talking and remembering (did I mention the Bund Tunnel experience?).  The weirdest part was being asked to fill in a visitor satisfaction survey on my experience, only 50 meters into my visit.  I was too kind in hindsight.

One of the exhibits on show at the Netherlands Pavilion.  Say WHAT?

So with the Expo out of the way, what's next for the Guihots?  Right now we are currently in the Land of the Rising Sun enjoying some clean air and blue sky up in Hokkaido before heading to Tokyo for 4 days, and aim to write about these adventures in the coming fortnight.  It's certainly worlds apart from the Middle Kingdom, in so many ways.

Hong Kong may have been a blast, but REALLY!.  When you are in China you expect decent fireworks.  In the end, the Chinese New Year cracker show really was a shadow of New Year's Eve on Sydney Harbour, or even Canberra's Skyfire for that matter.

We shouldn't complain though, because for most of the 5 days we spent in Honkers the chances of the fireworks actually happening looked rather grim as the area got set upon by a week of continuous rain, low cloud and cool weather.  Having been to HK on the way back to Oz in December and experiencing poor vista visbility due to the pollution, we were hoping for some better luck this time but it was not to be.  At least we got there with less travel problems than last time though, with the plane departing on time and us landing into HKIA around 10pm on the Friday night.  Having been slugged with a $300HK last time for the taxi ride into town we decided to try out the Airport express train into central and although it was not much cheaper in the end it did offer a few advantages over the road option - not having to line up for the taxi, and having a train with WiFi capability if you had one of the local provider accounts being two of them.

I'd actually been telling people for the weeks leading up to our trip that we were staying on the Kowloon side of the harbour. As is the way though my typical male 'attentiveness' to the verbal communication efforts of my significant other meant that (as usual) I didn't know my arse from my elbow, and we were actually staying in the same place that we did on our last visit on the island.  Having been impressed by our last stay, I was slightly annoyed to find that the harbour view room we had been given did not actually face down the end where the fireworks would be based.  It was also a slightly smaller room than last time (having been upgraded previously for free), but we settled in happily after the long day and planned to ask about an upgrade option the next day.  We knew though that this time it would certainly cost us - Chinese New Year is peak time in any city under the red and yellow star flag.

The next day (and all other days for that matter) it was cold and generally miserable weather-wise, so we were well and truely underprepared dress-wise. We had shopping on our minds though, but even though we were freezing our arses off the search for winter clothes really took a back seat to other retail therapy priorities.  My main target was an iPhone for myself, after Amy had purchased hers in December as the test case and successfully proven its functionality and worth in what is a very unpredictable Chinese mobile market (where WiFi capability on handsets and PDAs is disabled on models made for the domestic market).  Also on my list were a few t-shirts that didn't have Jeep, Ferarri, Polo Ralph Lauren and any other high-class label that they sell counterfeit in the local markets.  At the end of the day there did apperar to be some measure of success, as we came  back with two iPhones in hand (one for Amy's work colleague) and a few shopping bags of clothes to pack into the half empty cases (including some Astroboy kit which was particularly tasteful).  Our best find though had to be a a set of t-shirts from the new Cantonese 'DelayNoMore' brand which uses a very well known curse in a very tongue in cheek manner (the 'Hi. Ciao. DelayNoMore'. being the least subtle of them).  For those not aware of the connotation, track down your closest Cantonese-speaking friend and say to them as fast as you can 'DelayNoMore'. Warning - your friendship could come to a sudden end.

The next day we decided to play the weather odds and head on down to the bay for a harbour tour on an old Chinese Junk.  The Duk Ling looked like a ship straight out of the movie 'Enter the Dragon', and my lack of martial arts experience and Bruce Lee physique aside I felt a bit like I was on that fateful trip to Han's Tournament (For those having not seen the film I'm sorry.  REALLY sorry).  It was a short trip and it was windy and cold but even with the low clouds having set in the views of both Kowloon and the Island were great, and worth the budget price of HK$50 it cost us.

The Duk Ling coming into dock, ready to unload one set of passengers and refill with another set.

Me on the Duk Ling,  Victoria Harbour, HK.  Very beautiful, even in crap weather.

The HK Convention Centre (Island side).

Kowloon side of the harbour.

Maddy and I on the Duk Ling

Trails in the Rain
One of the much-talked about activities that you can do in HK is to leave the city behind and head out for a hike or a mountain bike along one of the many great trails that are located on the islands and in the new territories.  While I did not have the opportunity to get the bike thing happening, we were all very keen to hike along the best known track on the HK main island called the Dragon's Back, which on clear days gives spectacular views over the South China Sea.  So we grabbed some sandwiches from the local subway-type shop up the road from the hotel and followed the directions to the start of the trail as per the guide book.  The ease at which we found it is yet another testament to the ease by which you can move around HK as a tourist.  The trip to the trail head was as easy as getting our closest subway line 3 stops in the opposite direction to Central, then jumping on a bus waiting just outside the subway station until we got 'just past the roundabout' 15min up the road and over the hill to the open ocean side of the island.  As we jumped off the bus at the described spot we were confronted with two roads, one of which we needed to walk up. Our unsure look must be common at this point for those on the hunt for the Dragon, because the bus driver knew exactly what we were looking for and pointed us in the direction.

I had read about this trail on the recently reformed HKMTBA site as one of the great mountain bike rides to do on the island, and as I walked along it and eyed off potential rocks and tree roots that one might hop and launch over I could see why.  Some of the sections were fast and flowing, while other sections were real big-travel bike terrain with hairy rock gardens clinging to the side of a steep hill threatening a serious drop off to the right for those who binned it.  Didn't take me too long to decide that this is a place I'm coming back to with my Giant Reign X before I hang up my MTB gloves.

Maddy at the start of the Dragon's Back Trail that we hiked along (in the rain) while in HK.

Section of the Dragon's Back Trail.

When we got back to the hotel from the hike soaked from the rain and me nearly wretching on the soggy sandwiches we'd had for lunch along the way we were very thankful that we had decided to upgrade our room package the day before.  The upgrade to the Harbour View floors not only gave us a bigger room with a view down the harbour to the fireworks - it also gave us access to the Executive lounge on the top floor of the hotel with free cocktails, wine and afternoon tea and evening snacks daily and also an even better place to view the fireworks from.  Notwithstanding the three days effort it took me to confirm our access to the lounge with the staff member at the front desk (including a discussion with the head Client Services Manager) it was well worth it and made our stay even more enjoyable and really offset any negative feelings we had about the weather.

Our other activities during our remaining days in HK included a trip on the very touristy Hop-On-Hop-Off bus (an extension of the UK open-top double decker bus company), which actually gave us our best view yet of the HK area layout.  After doing a lap of the mainland loop we jumped off at Mongkok and checked out some of the markets there in search of an Astroboy suitcase that I hasd spotted on the plane flight down to HK.  No luck in HK unfortunately, but we have managed to source one here in Beijing as long as we can agree on a price (which is sometimes the trickiest bit of the transaction).

Even with the low-hanging cloud and the downright cold and wet weather we stil had a great time, with another trip up to the peak and this time finding our way to the SOHO area of the island where a range of western restaurants allowed us to get away from the expensive hotel buffet dinner option.  The amazing thing about finding this was the discovery of the 'midtown escalator' which is actually a string of 15 or so escalators that take workers from mid town to downtown in the morning, and home in the afternoon.  There are stop-off points along the way allowing you to access the various restaurant and nightclub areas.  We are keen to go back for a third time, as we had decided to give the ferry ride to Macao a miss this visit because of the weather and the CNY holidays.  And we are also in search of that elusive HK clear blue sky which I hear is a rare and endangered species of weather indeed.  And we are also hoping that it's 3rd time lucky with the trip, having had a problem THIS time around with one of our bags not coming back on the same plane as us and needing to be dropped to the apartment at 12.30am in the morning by the airport staff.

On the way up to the restaurants in SOHO on the HK mid-town escalator.  Photo by Maddy.

Aussie Coast Trip, Beijing Style

The weeks back from HK has been good workwise for me.  Things have started to get busy, and I'm also delving into some of the core business of the department rather than just looking after the corporate side of the office.  On Amy's side of the fence she has been busy with a month of delegations.  For this reason we have kept our planned activities on the weekends to a bare minimum, although a few weekends ago we decided to change that and take up a friends offer to do a road trip with them out to a place called Shanhaiguan around 3hrs drive NE of Beijing.  It's not only on the coast, but also a very significant part of the coast as it is where the Great Wall meets the sea, and where one of the most famous incursions into China from an invading force took place when a scorned man opened the door to the invading Manchurian horde in response to a bad first date (or something like that).

The drive out to Shanhaiguan confirmed my suspicions that China has more muppets behind the wheels of cars than anywhere else in the world.  In the 3hr trip out we saw at least two big trucks that were "having a bit of a lie down" after the driver sucumbed to a combination of speed, slippery road or someone cutting in front of him and requiring him to take less-than-optimal evasive action to stop an accident between two cars (if a crash involving only one vehicle can somehow be considered better).  On more than a few occasions our friend behind the wheel needed to quickly do a change of lanes as the person in the side lane to us decided he wanted to get to the space in front of us through our bonnet (and given that we were in a van with a tarago nose it was going to be a close shave).  And while I did sleep the entire trip back to Beijing the next day Amy did tell me that there was another two accidents then both involving trucks.

When we finally found the hotel (thanks to Amy's iPhone - the built in GPS got us a bit lost) we found the lodgings basic but still comfortable.  A bit like one of the older unrenovated beach apartments down the south coast that you might spend a week at if you couldn't affort the updated ones.  Thanks to the cold weather though it was very quiet, but even so the local Chinese restaurant and the morning western breakfast later proved to be more than adequate (and better than a lot of meals we've had on the organised CCC tours).

The weekend schedule was very relaxed, but we still managed to get a walk in along the beach and then two walks along the section of the wall that not only meets the sea, but also sticks out 100m from the shore.  If fact, it was more like 80m from the shore at this particular time of year as the ocean itself had frozen solid and was still yet to melt at the waterline.  And while I could go on about all the OH and S issues of doing so, we did have great fun getting some photos while standing on the frozen ocean.

Frozen shoreline and the Temple of the Sea God in the distance.

Where the Great Wall meets the ocean.

Temple of the Sea God at Shanhaiguan.

Driving around the streets of Shanhaiguan we had spotted A LOT of fireworks stands - it was the last weekend of the Chinese New Year period, which meant the last weekend that fireworks could be sold legally. Having so far not partaken in fireworks shenanigans, we decided to grab some and then head on down the beach opposite the units and let them fly.  What we found at the stalls though wasn't your usual fireworks, and not even your usual Beijing fireworks (which in themselves are bigger and more commercial in nature than the pissy ones that they sold in the dying days of the ACT firworks age).  These 'provincial market' fireworks were seriously bigger, louder, less regulated and (even better) cheaper than the ones for sale in the City - damn near dynamite.  As the photos below can attest to, some of them were essentially just lightglobes packed with gunpowder  and a wick added.  And with the old bungers being sold by the roll of 200 and jumping jacks by the roll of 2,000 we loaded up with 1600rmb worth on the Saturday night and went down to the beach to have some serious fun.

Amy with the biggest firework we found in Beijing.  This one alone was 1600rmb.

The roll of 2,000 jumping jacks.  Wrap these around a bridge pylon before lighting and you might want to check the foundations afterwards.

Maddy with the pile of fireworks we got for 1600rmb in Shanhaiguan.  The big one at the bottom had 100 shots, and the two 'V8's on top 25 each.

The bungers.  These do not mix well with hands.

After dispensing with the lightshow we headed back for an evening of wine and our first go of Mahjong, which I really enjoyed and managed to pick up quickly thanks to all of the card games of 40 I tend to play with Mum whenever we have a deck nearby. (winning the three games we played that night did help though :-).

Still being the official cracker period up until the Sunday night though, we decided that some of these gunpowder puppies were necessary to bring some excitement to the quieter streets of Beijing.  So off we headed back down the street and came across a different stand that sold not only the bigger variety of crackers, but also something that looked like a claymore (cylinder of clay with a wick out the top).  While we had seen the powder globes the night before and passed them up, today we felt that they were worth a shot especially when the shop keeper warned us to 'be careful with these ones' - a safety warning in China is a very rare thing indeed and an indication that something could go horribly wrong.  But, when a Chinese firecracker shop owner tells you that, it's like a moth to the flame for two males in a less firecracker-regulated foreign land.

Just the NAME of these hand-held shooters is tempting.

The powder-filled 'lightglobes' and the green tube you drop them into once you have lit the wick.

So after we had got back into the city and knocked down a couple of pizzas and wine we thought it was time to make some noise.  We headed down to a small bridge around the corner from the apartment which crossed the now refrozen canal, and tried out the big crackers.  Boy, were they fun.  The lightglobes on the other hand were just chaotic, with the firing tube only lasting two shots before one of the globes blew the whole bottom of it apart when it was dropped in sideways.  With no firing tube to direct them we proceeded to light them and throw them over the bridge onto the ice and found that that made for some very effective antifreeze.  It was almost a hillbilly 'fishing with dynamite' experience.  The good thing was that these had a long wick and you could throw them far away before the bang, unlike the bunger that went of in my hand (luckily gloved) when the wick burnt a bit too quickly.  It was a close call, and fortunately I had some thick gloves on else my foray into darts may have been short-lived.

All that was left of the tube after the 2nd 'globe' was dropped in sideways and it shot out sideways.

As well as our adventures outside of Beijing we have also had some funny ones in town.  A few weeks ago we decided to head off to the Olympic Park to check out a Chocolate Exhibition that had opened up recently, and while I'd rather eat it (remember the Cadbury Pavillion at the World Expo in Brisbane?) it was impressive to see the results of some creative chocolate moulding minds.  Very pricey to get in though.

The chocolate Great Wall of China

The chocolate Terracotta Warriors

The chocolate Yao Ming

The only other real experience that would propbably best be discussed with a psychologist rather than to the entire world via a blog involves an awkward retail experience that I had a few weeks ago at the local market.  On the hunt for some warm pants for the Harbin trip, I found a guy who sold a range of the fleece-lined dacks and selected two to try out.  Now in the open stores of the market there are no change rooms per se, so they pull out a sheet and hang it across the front and stand outside while you jump in and out of the various sizes to check them out.  My retail guy though decided that he wasn't just interested in my money, but decided to have a bit of a geezer at this geezer in his Reg Grundies.  Even after a subtle "Mate, can I have a bit of privacy?" he still wanted to stand there and have a discussion with me all the while I was doing the old TV newsreader trick below the waist.  So when it came to negotiating on his first price of 170rmb I offered to give him a discount on my usual charge of seeing me in my Rios  - I would only charge him 50rmb instead of the usual 100rmb for the 'pleasure' of the eyeful and deduct that from the price he was asking.  It might have taken him a while to get it, but he finally got the message that a) the personal space violation was not really welcome, and b) I wasn't paying his price regardless of the excuse I was using the drop the price.  Now if only Amy can maintain her composure next time from the sidelines :-)

The next few weeks are going to be busy for us.  Although Amy has got a quieter month with all the delegations gone, my work will be busy and I am also heading to Bangkok for a few days at the end of April for some training assuming the annual coup sorts itself out in the next few weeks. We are also looking forward to Easter, when we are heading down to Yangshuo outside of Guilin for the weekend with a friend from Beijing.  Until we return from these travels with stories to tell be sure to take care (and if not, be sure to take photos).

Maddy getting a Henna 'tattoo' at the Indian Festival at her school last weekend.  It was popular among all the kids.  The school also didn't mind, even though many of them performed for Prince Andrew this week as part of her new school campus opening.

Just like the hamburger picture last post, there is no particular reason for this one except that I'll miss it when we leave China.  Called 'Roubian' (meat bread), it's salty, oily and tastes bloody great.

Espresso Martinis, Kiwi Sorbet and the Sub-Arctic Tourist Express

Back to Beijing

In the end the flight back from Australia to Beijing was nowhere near as bad as what I'd built up in my head.  It did sound aweful on paper though - fly out of Canberra at 7.30am (5am wakeup - hmmmm), then to Sydney, then Hong Kong and then onto Beijing and finally arrive at 10pm (1am Canberra time) on the same day.  On top of this I knew we were going to be way over the luggage limit, having jammed our bags full of Xmas gifts and those things you just can't get in China.

We needed some good fortune, and lucky for us it started as early as walking into the Canberra terminal and lining up at the Qantas check-in, when from a distance I recognised one of the check-in attendants as a fellow mountain biker and ex-member of the CORC committee.  As it turned out we got shuffled down to her waiting scales of justice, and with the bags 15kg over the limit the time I‘d invested making mountain bike contacts in the last 8 years repaid itself in full (assuming investment amount = 15kg multiplied by excess kg baggage charge).  It only took a bit of rearranging of one bag to meet the OHAS limit and we were on our way with bags checked all the way through to Beijing, never having to deal with them again.

Luckily that was the only real challenge we faced along the way (aside from the very quick walk between connecting flights in HK), and when we touched down in Beijing just after our estimated arrival time our friends were waiting for us to load all the luggage into their big SUV for the more relaxed drive into the city than a Beijing taxi could otherwise provide (and all it cost us was a jar of every 'mite' we could find on the Woolworths supermarket shelf - hey, he's Canadian and Marmite is supposedly his thing).  And as an added bonus we were greeted by an apartment that was a lot warmer than we expected, given that the heating had been turned off for the 3 weeks while we were away as the outside max temp hovered consistently around the -8 deg celsius.  The advantage of having one-foot thick concrete walls.

New Years Eve
Our wake-up from New Years Eve was a slow one, but we were keen to get out and enjoy what we remembered were the clearer blue Beijing skies of winter (as opposed to Summer, where pollution is fierce).  We also had preparations to take care of, as we had invited any of the leftover people from our apartment complex over for New Years Eve with the promise of snacks and wine.  With our snacks presently comprising 3 slices of green mouldy bread that we had forgotten to throw out and a fridge crisper of liquified fruit and vegetables some restocking was in order.  On top of this there was also the task of finding an apropriate cocktail that would best suit the desire to celebrate the new decade at  midnight, with the need to stay awake long enough to enjoy it (a bigger problem as one gets older).

Thanks to some 007 drinking memories from our Aussie trip (in particular our great catch-up with friends on our 2nd night back in Oz for my best friend's birthday) we had the lingering taste sensation of Espresso Martinis on our lips so the recipe was looked up and the necessary brewing of beans cooked and cooled in preparation for what we hoped would be a nice night with friends.

And that it was, after a bit of a late start that Amy filled in with reading, Maddy filled in doing a bit of party coordination and I filled in pretending I knew how to play my Status Quo-esque Yamaha Pacifica that Amy was crazy enough to allow me to buy as my Xmas present (I've since started lessons, which she is probably happy about).  As I had picked up a flu and secondary infection in Australia (and brought back a skin infection on the nose that made leprosy look edible) I was on the antibiotics so not really planning on getting into the drinking.  As the night wore on though everyone else was keen to keep rocking so in the end a few of us ended up down at the bar getting into some serious darts action until 2am.

Blades of Glory
The weekend after New Years Day was an opportunity for Maddy to try out her new ice skates that we got her for Xmas, so we headed down to Hou Hai nearly a year to the day since we last went ice skating there.  With the winter having well and truely set in the lake had frozen over well enough to allow the operators to set up business so after jogging my memory on the order of things we had Maddy in her skates and Amy and I had ice bikes doing laps of the frozen lake from one end to the other all the while trying to drift the bikes and avoid colliding with other users.  We had a hoot, and for those who have not seen it yet I managed to string enough of our footage together into a short video of our afternoon which we rounded out with a trip to Guihot favourite Hutong Pizza.  As usual there was the unexpected yet unsurprising sights, like the woman ice biking in the high heels（Darwin theory candidate？ and one guy riding around in a converted dodgem-car (installed on ice skates) before getting pulled over by what appeared to be ice traffic cops, and having to push his ’vehicle‘ back to the parking station.  And then there were these little robot-like chucky dolls pulling kids on ice-sleds, looking like a scene from a Tim Burton movie or a cheesy B-grade horror flick (Something Wicked This Way Comes or similar)..

Maddy has really started enjoying the ice skating and is improving every time she does it.  As well as the enjoyment of watching her improve, we've also come across some very cool landmarks around Beijing in our search for a smooth frozen lake or canal, like this little beauty in Chaoyang Park - the first double decker merry-go-round I think I've ever seen.

Like loading and unloading an Airbus A380.

The Flying Family Visit
Our first Saturday night was to bring the biggest surprise since we arrive back as the sky dumped the biggest load of snow on the ground in 60 years.  In the 24hrs to Sunday evening over 60cm of the white stuff fell, bringing Beijing roads and all other transport options to a complete standstill. The street workers who we would  usually see out the back window first thing in the morning clearing the snow just gave up and downed their tools, as the snow resettling just as fast behind them as they were clearing it in front of them.

The New Year’s Snow - nearly 6 weeks later and it is still laying all over the ground here （although now with a yellow tinge）

Now at nearly any other time the big dump of snow would have been a great novelty for us. We got an SMS late Sunday from Maddy's school that it was closed the following Monday due to the dump (making one out of the three Guihot family members happy :-), and we really didn't need to be anywhere until the next weekend when we had our planned trip to Harbin.  We did though have Amy's brother, sister-in-law and little niece flying in to see us on their way back to London from Australia, and right now this wasn't looking likely as the Beijing airport runways were even deeper in snow than the cities.  On top of this the tendency of the authorities to not provide any information on transport delays was making it hard to determine the impact on their expected 10pm Monday evening touchdown time.  Any delay in their arrival would not only mean increased challenges in getting them back to the city (as our plaanned driver was not keen for a graveyard shift pickup), but it would also eat into their tourist activities as Amy and I had organised for them a guided tour of some of Beijing's finest as their Xmas present.  Thankfully Amy was able to get some sense from the Air China website (the only thing Air China has actually done well for any of our travelling friends it seems), and while I slept soundly Amy headed out in a taxi and met them at the arrival gate at 3am on the Tuesday morning a bit tired and worse for wear but more importantly well and safe.

What followed for Dave and Sue as a whirlwind one and a half day tour of the Great Wall under snow, the Forbidden City, Tiannanmen Square, Temple of Heaven and the secret markets of Hongqiao in between meeting us for a great lunch at the Meat and Wine Co in Qianmen (which was a first for Amy and I, and won't be the last). Amy and I really enjoyed looking after Abby while Dave and Sue toured the sights of the city!

Kicking back with Dave, Sue and Abbey at the Meat and Wine Company - one GREAT steak.

With the trekking through the cold and the sore muscles we decided that a trip to Oriental Taipan was in order on their last night, so while Amy caught up on some sleep Dave, Sue and I went around the corner and indulged in the back, head and foot massage while sampling some of the complimentary menu they have on offer.  Not alot was eaten though, as we had chowed into Singaporian from across the road for dinner when our plans to head to Hou Hai were cancelled due to a lack of taxi pickup action out the front.

It was great to have them here, and having a little toddler running around the place was fun although somewhat tiring.  And while their visit was short and in temperatures that would make a polar bear reach for a jumper they had a great time by all accounts.

The rest of the week was about preparing for our planned trip to Harbin that following weekend.  World famous as having the biggest Ice Festival in the world, we had decided to pass up an Embassy organised trip last year as we had only just recently arrived.  The extra year did give us time to research the place in more detail, and what we did find out was that it was going to be very very very very cold.  So off we went to the market to purchase extra clothing and seek out some chemical heat pads that you could put in the pockets and on the outside of clothes to keep warm, as well as in the bags in an attempt to keep my insulin from turning into a pancreatic hormone slushie.

Vodka and Caviar on the Russian Front
Having done the itinerary-planned overnight sleeper thing to Shaolin last year we decided to skip the bone-rattler experience to Harbin in lieu of the (more expensive) flight option instead.  This had us flying out on the Saturday morning rather than departing by train the night before, but in the end we got to the snow festival mid morning on the Saturday only 45minutes after the rest of the group arrived.

By coincidence our weekend travel plans with the CCC aligned with the personal travel plans of a group of firends from Beijing, one of whose grandmother was actually raised in Harbin and from Russian decent.  They had similar travel stops planned to what we did, albeit with a more flexible schedule but with the added challenge of having to move themselves around the place in a city that was brimming with tourists and short on taxis.

Our first stop straight from the airport was the snow festival, where we checked out a large array of snow sculptures some of a scale that had to be seen to be believed (horses, Temple of Heaven replicas, even the Chairman).  And even with all the ones that were done there were still a large number of solid snow blocks just waiting to be carved up by the artists, many of who were in town that weekend for a competition.  We wandered past one that a group of artists were working on, and when we went past 1/2hr later on our way back to the bus they had a bulldozer in to move all the snow they'd carved out.

One of the bigger snow carvings at the Harbin festival, including carved horses, dragons and Chinese temple.  Impressive.

Snow sculptors hard at work behind us.

Ice, Ice Mao - Stop, collaborate and listen.

Our 2nd stop on the Saturday was to lunch at a local hotel, which offerd up a great selection of Dong Bei (North-East) fare but also had in the foyer a pair of live seals that were housed in a pool no larger than most people's fish ponds - very wrong, but not like there is anyone to complain to here about animal rights.

With our stomachs full we headed off to feed another hungry pack at the Siberian tiger park.  Although the temperature was already getting cold by this point we jumped on the little tour bus for a trip through the enclosures, and got to see the live animal feedings which is a bone of contention with many Governments around the world and with many animal rights groups.  Whether this had anything to do with it is unknown, but Amy and I were both very impressed with how well the animals looked and although there were large numbers of them in an enclosure it was good to see the local and National Govt putting so much effort into saving them.

One of the big cats with a 'live' pheasant that it had just caught.

For one large concrete one the live pheasants weren't enough, so he took a bite out of me.

With the daylight fading fast we headed back to the hotel to checkin and get a short rest before meeting the group again to head to the Ice Festival.  What a great night out.  Although the temperature was now hovering around the -35deg C mark we had a great night of riding the tubes and the ice slides and checking out the sculptures and locals dancing before heading out to dinner at one of the most well known Russian restaurants in town.  I know I talk alot about the food in these posts (I did mention the food reviews at the beginning) but this meal was one of the best I have had on a CCC trip (which are, based on previous experience less hit and more miss).  The meat was plentiful, the vegetables were existent for those who cared about them (Amy) but non-existent for the saner ones and the tour guide even splurged and bought a couple of bottles of wine for the table before disappearing for the night (unheard of on previous CCC trips).  Just the thing to defrost the ice that was forming on our eyelashes while we shot down the tube rides at the Ice Festival.

With dinner done and the hotel being centrally located at the end of the main Harbin pedestrian street it was a nice albeit very cold walk back to our room with a detour for coffee on the way, and a late call from my friends on the parallel tour to bail on the planned Ice Bar shenanigans as they were on the tired side (and didn'yt have the luxury of a bus driver like we had to taker the stress out of the transportation arrangements).

Front entrance to the Harbin Ice Festival at night.

On the Sunday morning the tour group members were given a choice of going to either the Germ Warfare Experiement Base out of town, or heading to Polar land to check out what wouold likely be more animals in small enclosures.  Not being down on the whole depressing moments on holidays thing Amy and Maddy headed to the Ice zoo, while I headed out to check out what sounded like (as actually was) the Japanese Army's own version of German POW camps - the types where the locals were involuntarily made to donate organs before they had been given the opportunity to pass out.

Afterwards (feeling somewhat depressed about the supposed antics of the Japanese ocupying forces during WW2) we headed back to town to meet with the othher half of the group at a dumpling restaurant for lunch.  Not only did the dumplings come in 1000 different flavours (and man, did they keep coming), they also had the open kitchen so you could look in and see how the pros put a dumpling together in record time.  I think the best was three seconds to pick up the casing, pack it, and stack it for cooking fresh.

The afternoon was the best part of the whole weekend as we headed of to see the locals do some ice swimming in a cutout pool on the river.  The water was so cold that when the swimmers aren't using it they need to keep a pump going to stop it freezing over (in the 30min it was off the corners were already starting to crystal up).  Not only did we get to see the crazy locals do it, but when the kiwi teacher from our tour group came out in his grundies with a glint in his eye (or was that just ice?) we knew that his earlier offer to dive into the pool was something he was wanting to follow through on - at the time we thought he was only joking as no one from a CCC tour group has reportedly done this before.  There was no mucking about, and after a short halt to proceedings to remove his watch, in he jumped and swam to the other end before getting out and reaching for the towel.  Unfortunately he really started to feel the shivers soon after getting out as the wind picked up.  So what does a Maori do when standing in his undies in North China in the middle of winter after going for a swim in below-freezing water?  He does the Hakka.  Now that was strange, and dare I say it somewhat surreal (and would have been available on video for you to watch had my phone camera not been affected by the low temperatures).

After being loaded on the bus again, we were back to the hotel to have a rest and enjoy some free time before heading out to the airport for the 7.30pm departing flight back to Beijing.  With a few options up our sleeve we decided to join some of the others in the tour group and head along to the Shangri-la Hotel a short taxi drive away where the Ice Bar was well known as a tourist must-do.  In the end it was more a tourist must-not, and was more a novelty than a full working bar as nearly every drink we ordered had to be brought in from the main bar and only the hard spirits were available over the counter.  The sculpting was again amazing, with the ice piano in the corner and the accompanying ice violinist next to it adding a real Mozart concert feel to it.  Any awe we felt though was soon replaced by shock when we got the bill, having been charged (and paid) 270rmb for two gluhweins and a hot chocolate.  I haven‘t paid that amount for three drinks since we were sitting out the front of a Paris cafe looking at the Notre Dame over a drink (and a Fosters at that) with Lynnie and Wouter.

JD over ice？

Maddy Mozart and the Ice Strativarius

Getting a cab back to the hotel was a challenge, but after half hour wait and a 150m drive down a three-lane street head-on in the opposite direction we were back and on our way to the airport. In one last surprise though we checked in only to find our plane had been delayed. According to the bits of information we got from those in the group who could speak the local lingo was that our plane had actually been commandeered by the Chinese Governmentt to move troops out to Xinjiang to deal with massive snow storms in the area. So after a long delay we finally made it out on the last departing flight for the night and got back home at 2.30am (with Maddy enjoying another day of school due to being very tired).

It was an absolutely fabulous weekend, and we are already looking to go back next year on our own and spending more time at a few places rather than trying to fit a lot in like they tend to do with the CCC tours.  This though depends on how much more of China we want to see, as the list of CCC trips that catch our attention tend to increase with every newsletter they send out.

Down to Earth

Whether it was the changes in temperature on the body, something we got from the tour group or something we picked up back in Beijing, we were only back from Harbin for three days before Madeline came down on the Wednesday night having brought up her dinner.  So it was another day off for her on the Thursday, and while she recovered temporarily on the Friday to go to school Amy and I both got it in the early hours of Frday morning and spent all that day lying and dying on the sofa bed trying to hold down water (at one stage around 4pm the SOS centre up the road and their IV machine was looking really inviting). 

Lucky it didn't hang around for long (although Amy got a second dose more recently), as the first few months of this new decade are looking to be busy as we seek to try out some of the eating establishments of Beijing beyond our own immediate suburb.  We had planned to head out on the Saturday night after Harbin with some friends to a place which is a reknown fine dining spot but had to delay it to the next Saturday due to our inability to keep anything in until late on Saturday.  We did finally get there, and the dining was so good that it was the first time I really felt like I wasn't dining in China.  So if you are reading this and live in China, then SALT is a fine choice on any day of the week.

In addition to the dining we also joined in with some friends on a quiz night and managed to come in 2nd which was a great achievement, especially since Amy and I contributed very little (there were some brains among us).  Last Saturday night we also made a return trip to the Xinjiang Ruby Rose restaurant that we mentioned in the last post, complete with beautiful female dancers and this time with the live snake dancing show.  Was it glorious?  Oh yes, it was (and if you are keen to see a bit of video footage of the show then watch my Facebook space).

On the social front I'm still heading out every Thursday night for a game of darts and a few drinks with friends.  As the bar manager of our social club I've managed to get a dartboard up at the bar, which has resulted in a lot of closet dart players finally being able to dust off their arrows.  While backing up on Friday night after a later night on the Thursday is a challenge, the 2 days of intensive practice does seem to be helping (and I'm not only talking about the drinking).  The fact that I am now groaning about split darts flites when I use to groan about punctured MTB tyres was something made clear to me recently, but unfortunately the lack of any real decent trails within a 15min ride here is making it more tempting to go for the darts and drinks with friends especially when the bars are only 10min ride away.

Right now it is getting into the Chinese New Year celebrations here in China, so we have bailed on what last year was a noisy Beijing and come to Hong Kong for a few days.  While we have no solid plans we are just looking forward to enjoying the warmer weather and getting a bit of shopping in as well as some hiking which we have been told is great here.  So 'Kung Hei Fat Choi' everyone (Happy Chinese New Year in Cantonese) and Xin Nian Kuai Le (Happy New Year in Mandarin) and Hou Nian Kuai Le (Happy Tiger Year in Mandarin) and "1 tiger steak please" (in my language - it is the year of the Tiger this year),  and we will talk again in the next blog posting.

No reason for this picture - just a massive hamburger that they serve up down the road.  While it is meant to be an 'Aussie Burger', it really is missing the vital beetroot. Heathens.  

The Russian Church we visited as part of our Harbin trip.  I don't know anything about architecture, but I do like this church. 

This little ice character was along the sides of many major streets and roads in Harbin.  And here I was thinking that Pac Man was long forgotten.