Scenes from Japan

Japan is the home of the vending machine...

The 'Golden Turd' - or Asahi Beer building in Tokyo

Our Kyoto ryokan room

Relaxing in the ryokan

Long Qing Ice Festival

About 60kms north west of Beijing lies the Long Qing gorge.
Steep cliffs, a dam and a lake.
In summer a place for boating, climbing and hiking.
In winter, Long Qing is home to an ice festival - Beijing's answer to Harbin - a bizarre display of large and small illuminated ice sculptures sitting at the bottom of the gorge in a massive tent.
See the Forbidden City in ice. See goldfish and assorted sea creatures trapped in an ice world.

Long Qing is also home to the largest dragon encased escalator in the the world (or maybe China; or Beijing; or north of Beijing?) - it is used to get to the top of the dam and to the lake. Coming down is a walk or for 20RMB you can do it on a toboggan.

Building across the street III

It's the one year anniversary of the start of construction of the building across the street and still the end is not in sight. They worked day and night starting last February. They ruined our sleep with the noise of cement mixers arriving throughout the night.

Then in July they stopped as part of the Olympic preparations - all building works across Beijng were halted and the skies cleared and noise disappeared.

They resumed after the October national holiday, but by now the persistent complaints of the neighbours had resulted in a ban on night-time work. We watched as every day the building grew taller. We speculated as to the final height. Originally we had been told 5 floors but when this was passed we were told 28! Now, in fact, it looks like a dozen or so..but who knows.

What will it be? Who will move in? No-one seems to know for sure. Building in Beijing is shrouded in mystery and speculation. What we do know - for sure - is that our view from the 12th floor is seriously impaired - the line of site to the mountains, on a clear day, is now obstructed by Beijing's rising skyline.

Raising the flag in Tienanmen Square

It was one of those 'conference call till 5am - still jet lagged' mornings that found us in a cab heading for Tienanmen Square for the dawn flag raising ceremony. We had never been and I thought it would be romantic - the two of us in the square on a chilly February morning as dawn broke over the Forbidden City and the flag of the PRC was slowly raised to the mournful sound of single trumpeter.

Little did I know that this ceremony is on the itinerary of every Chinese tour group visiting Beijing. It was the two of us, a chilly February morning and about 5,000 out-of-towners six deep across the square. The national anthem blasted out of the loudspeakers as the guard-of-honour marched to the flagpole and raised the flag. It was all over in a few moments and the crowd scattered. Tienanmen at 6am was heaving and buzzing. We beat a hasty retreat to Steak and Eggs for a fry-up.

So what is the finger guessing game, anyway?

What is this finger guessing game? What sort of job do you win that pays 100KRMB pa if you are an ace at it? Why did the woman manager want to learn to be great at it..and to avoid too much dinner table drinking? Could I train and get free meat? Would you subscribe to the Chongching Times?

Such a short article..so many questions to answer.

All quiet at Terminal 2

Poor old Terminal 2 at Beijing's Capital Airport.

It was relegated to second class status once the Norman Foster designed T3 opened in spring 2008 and all the major domestic and international airlines moved their services over to the shiny, new terminal.

T2 has become a terminal backwater. Serving a few domestic airlines and the slightly bizarre 'SkyTeam' alliance of KLM/Air France, Aeroflot, Delta, Korean Air and Alitalia and a host of lesser known carriers I feared the worst on a recent flight to Seoul.

But what a great surprise - the place is empty. Check-in, immigration and security in minutes. Walk to the gate..just a few steps. And on the way back I was off the plane and in the car in 15 minutes. Maybe the old terminal doesn't have the glitz and elegance of the new T3 but in terms of convenience - no contest.
another busy night at the restaurant

Chinese New Year 2009

Two years on from our first Chinese new year's eve. Then we stood, in a sea of people, partying on Joe's balcony on the 30th floor of Embassy House - thousands of fireworks exploding all across Beijing. This week we stood on the same balcony - but, unfortunately, the apartment was empty since Joe and his family had moved out a few months ago.

Watching the fireworks was as intense and exciting as that first time, two years ago. It's hard to explain what it's like. The fireworks start early in the day and build up to a crescendo - from around 11pm to 1am it's non-stop. There is nothing quite like it. I've seen spectacular fireworks displays in the past - they have all been beautifully organised, immaculately planned, wonderfully co-ordinated and executed. But not in Beijing. Beijing on new year's eve is wild, out of control and completely un-coordinated. Thousands of individuals all over the city go out and buy fireworks from street-corner tents set up specially for the holiday and then let them off where ever they feel like. In the middle of the road as cars drive past; on the pavement as people walk past. It's a war zone. It's the Blitz but more colourful.
Street-corner fireworks stand, ringed with fire extinguishers, and boxes of explosives stacked high

Across the street from our building is 'Water World' - Hua Yi Tian Lun Shui Shi - a bath house/massage/spa place. The staff had been setting off fireworks in front of the building on and off all day but around 10.30pm they brought out dozens of big rocket boxes, put them on the middle divider and let them all off. Take a look.

London cabs hit Beijing streets

Now manufactured in Shanghai for sale across the world, the famed London taxi hit Beijing streets for the Paralympics. Now a fleet of them happily ply their trade in traditional Beijing taxi livery. Seating is the regular two pull down seats facing the back bench and no sitting in front. How will the Chinese cab-rider cope with this, since most like to sit upfront.

Lazy Susan

We were seven, sitting at a big round table at Da Dong our favourite Beijing duck restaurant. As the dishes glided slowly & elegantly round the table on the lazy susan and I started wondering...did the Chinese invent the lazy susan or as they call it - 玻璃 转盘 (bō li zhuàn pán) - rather boringly - 'glass turntable' ? If so, it's definitely up there with gunpowder and paper since the bō li zhuàn pán is a critical component of enjoying shared-food-meals such as Chinese.


But lazy susan sounds so North American - and who was Susan? Someone so lazy that she found it easier to invent a thick cut, heavy duty, glass disc sitting on top of a precision ball bearing turntable rather than pass the yams when her kids asked at the dinner table?



As we discussed it, I thought about the tens of thousands of restaurants throughout China and all those big round tables and all those lazy susans and wondered how many serious accidents had occurred that involved lazy susans? Just think of that heavy glass platter whizzing around too fast and flying off the turntable..decapitating all in its path. How many had died over the years, victims of the rogue lazy susan?


Harry was intrigued and immediately hit Google on his return home. This is where the internet comes into it's own. A few keystrokes & you will get more information about lazy susans than you ever wanted or thought existed..and you will probably find some weirdo that runs a web site dedicated to the subject.



No terminal accidents, but he did find the 2002 case of the Perri family v Furama Restaurant heard in Cook County Court, Illinois. A waitress had placed a pot of tea on the lazy susan, apparently unbeknown to the family. Later, the lazy susan was spun and the pot of tea flew off scalding the family's young child. They claimed the restaurant was negligent but lost their case. Not a happy story, but it sets a precedent...we are each responsible for the actions of our own lazy susan.



P.S. The Jewish World Review dates the lazy susan to a 1917 advert in Vanity Fair, but claims the turntable-with-food-on-it goes back to the 1700s. And Susan was a common term when referring to a waitress. I still think it was the Chinese.

Christmas in Beijing

Spent a wonderful Christmas in Beijing with family and friends visiting for the week. Temperatures, well into freezing, reached as low as -10C as icy winds blew across the capital but skies were mainly blue and the sun shone down.

It was relaxing being in a city without the western, crazy, pre-Christmas rush in shops and nice being out and about during a regular working week in China.

One of the highlights - ice chair skating on Hou Hai lake. The pedalos and electric boats from summer were all gone and hundreds of ice chairs appeared. Two small, wooden, schoolroom-like chairs - fitted one behind the other, the back one raised slightly higher than the front one - on top of a simple metal frame with runners provided the means of transportation while skaters were provided with, what looked like, a pair of long metal screwdrivers provided the means of propulsion. Terrific fun gliding around the lake, perfecting our dramatic turns, as we avoided crashing into other skaters. With a backdrop of the Drum and Bell towers - who could ask for more?
Ghost Street (Gou Jie) with it's sea of red lanterns lit up at night
Beijing on a winter night - all lit up - provides some wonderful sights. Gou Jie (Ghost Street) is one of the city's main restaurant strips and is beautifully decorated with thousands of red lanterns. The new China World Trade Centre Tower - one of the city's tallest buildings - due to open later this year pumps eerie blue lights up into the night sky like something out of Close Encounters. And the stately Dongbianmen watch tower - one of the last standing remnants of the old Beijing city wall - gives a tiny feeling for what the city must have been like before the wall was taken down and replaced by the multi-lane 2nd Ring Road.

Dongbianmen Watch Tower, now housing the Red gate Art Gallery

Is Beijing finally over-developed?

Walking around the Ritan Park area last weekend we came across this massive shopping development - the brand new Ritan International Trade Center.

The area north of Ritan Park - known as Yabaolu - is Beijing's Russian district hence the Russian language signs to be seen everywhere. Architecturally, with its domed glass ceiling and aerial walkways, the inside of this mall is reminiscent of the famous GUM shopping centre boarding on Moscow's Red Square - maybe deliberately modelled on it - but there the comparison ends since GUM is heaving with shoppers.

It was eery walking around the empty hallways - coming across the occasional shop and a few bored shopkeepers idly texting on their mobiles. With doom and gloom filing the China press and more and more news of Chinese company failures emerging every day, it's hard to believe that Ritan International Trade Center will be a destination worth heading for any time soon....

Beijing Airport Express cont...

Obviously, we were not the only ones to complain about the lack of lifts and escalators at the Dongzhimen Airport Express terminal. But for it to make the China Daily means there is official dissaproval of the situation and the call for 'someone must be held accountable' means that heads are likely to roll. In China, this could be literally.

Not really a smooth ride
(China Daily)Updated: 2008-11-19 07:46
The obvious design flaw in the Beijing Airport Express system causes great trouble for passengers and someone must be held accountable for the flaw, says an article on the website www.qianlong.com. The following is an excerpt:
How many steps do you have to climb when you transfer from the Dongzhimen station of the Line 2 subway to Beijing Airport Express? The answer is more than 100, equivalent to the steps of a 7-story building.
The opening of the airport express has offered more choices for citizens to get to the airport. But after on-the-spot investigations, it was found that at the transfer station in Dongzhimen, few escalators and no lifts are available for passengers with heavy luggage, causing them to climb up and down the many steps.
The subway company can't dismiss the inconvenience caused to passengers by just admitting there were flaws in the construction.
When quizzed about the design flaws, the subway company said it had not been able to find the flaws earlier because the construction and interior decoration of the Beijing Airport Express was fully done by a Beijing-based construction firm.
It's clear that it wanted to shift the responsibility rather than try to remedy the defect.
As the traffic hub of Beijing, Dongzhimen is the place where subway Line 2, Beijing Airport Express, as well as many bus routes converge.
The subway station of Dongzhimen took on a brand-new look after years of renovation and expansion right before the Beijing Olympics. Also, the airport express was built to be luxurious and posh. However, good looks alone do not bring comfort to passengers.
A huge amount of money must have been invested in these facilities, but it seems that the construction department only emphasized the appearance rather than the functions.
People may have many questions in their minds. Did the initial design ever pass any verification by experts? How could the flawed design get the green light from the regulators? Why did the builders complete the project without questioning the obvious flaws?
Construction of public works is closely related to the interests of every citizen and thus the builders should take a people-oriented attitude instead of simply worrying about appearances. More importantly, someone must be held accountable for the big trouble now caused by an obvious design flaw.
(China Daily 11/19/2008 page8)

National Theatre for the Performing Arts

Even though Beijing's National Theatre for the Performing Arts - 'the egg' - officially opened at the very end of last year, we only recently visited the building. Not that we aren't supporters of the performing arts - I had front row seats for Chun Yi: Legend of Kung Fu - but opera and classical music have never been great favourites of mine.

The building was designed by French architect Paul Andreu - he of the collapsing Charles de Gaulle airport terminal building - and was significantly over budget and over schedule.


The end result, though, is spectacular. Just a stone throw away from Tienanmen Square the titanium & glass egg sits, as if suspended, on the waters of the man-made lake surrounding it. Entrance to the building is by a glass-roofed tunnel under the lake so you can look up and see the shimmering waters as you pass below. Inside the six storey structure are two concert halls and a theatre.
The 'egg' with Great Hall of the People in the background

Trim in the park

What could be more satisfiying than sitting in a park on a late summer's afternoon and getting your hair cut? This entrepreneurial barber keeps his overheads low by plying his trade in a small park near our apartment. With a mirror strapped to the back of his bicycle and an old car battery - connected with Frankenstein-like jump leads - providing power to the electric trimmer all usual services are provided despite the al-fresco setting.

Look ma, no net

Health and safety often takes second place to getting the job done in China. We were walking down the street and looked up to see these two repairing a vast neon sign half way up a high-rise. With no nets, cables or other form of safety equipment they fearlessly scampered up and down the structure doing their stuff.

Now it's really over

Olympics over; paralympics over. On Saturday 20th all cars are back on the road and construction begins again. It was good while it lasted.

Wheelchair basketball

Team GB and team China line up for the start of their group wheelchair match during the Beijing paralympics. The 'dancing fan' (National Indoor Stadium) was packed to the gills and we were also graced with the presence of China's president Hu Jintao. Unfortunately for the home crowd, their team went down 34-81.

Team GB went on to take the bronze medal - adding to their spectacular 2nd place finish overall and more than 100 paralympic medals in total.
GB practicing at half-time

Every day is a blue sky day

Is it the fact that more than 1M cars have been off the road for the last six weeks? Or that all construction work across Beijing has been halted? Perhaps its because some high polluting factories have been shut down? Or maybe simply because we are coming into autumn..and Beijing's best months.

Whatever the reason - and I'm sure its all of the above - we have enjoyed truly spectacular weather over the last few weeks. Normally August is horrible...grey, overcast skies all day and temperatures over 35C. This year we have had plenty of blue sky days with the occasional, wispy, clouds. We even could see STARS on some nights!

Last Sunday was one one of those perfect, wish they never end, days. A round of golf in the morning under glorious skies and a light breeze. Even though I lost - normally the cause of a grumpy rest of the day - it failed to dent my spirits.
Da Li Courtyard

Then onto my one of my favourite restaurants for a lazy lunch with friends. Da Li Courtyard is a small, hard to find, restaurant in a Beijing hutong (don't expect any help from their website...) near the Drum & Bell towers running out of a renovated courtyard home. The food is from Yunnan province in south west China - so more south east Asian flavours than classic Chinese - including spring rolls, grilled goats cheese and terrific grilled fish. There is no menu and no choice. You are served 8 or 9 dishes of whatever they have cooked that day which is great because you end up trying things you might never have ordered. This is especially true in China where our limited language skills mean that we often go with safe menu choices.

It was just a perfect lunch..every dish was wonderful and we drank delicious Grace Vineyards chardonnay - a Chinese wine (yes, they exist but most are called things like Great Wall or Dragon's Seal and aren't up to much).
Da Li Courtyard

You can't get those big red fire engines down Beijing's narrow hutongs...the fire brigade take a rest on Sunday afternoon in Nanluoguxiang