Hitting the wall / not the great wall

This Friday we were both off as it was a public holiday, (tomb sweeping day). It was very nice to have a break from work and to enjoy at least two days of rest this week. Actually this was probably one of the first time that we could switch our brains off from work and think of something else. Unfortunately we quickly realised that all this thinking was not a good thing. When you really think about it : We are far away from our love ones, we work so hard every day and we get paid close to nothing just to mention a few….

This is probably the first time it really hit us….What are we doing here, is this all worth it or no??? After spending already so much time away from home, is another year away a good thing to go through! Funny enough this opening period does not give us a lot of time and in a way I am really thankful that I have no family or even a social life as I would have no time to spend time on it. But then again not every day is easy and it would make such a difference to have someone around. Well the problem is that is not possible, which brings us to think even more. Some days you wish you could just quit everything and get on to the next plane and get a nice and well paid job home working 9 till 5.

I always knew that coming to work in China would be difficult and challenging for me. But I never realised it would be like this. This weekend was like a huge slap across the face…What I am living now is probably 1000 times harder then what I expected. This is the toughest and most challenging experience I have gone through in my life and it is not easy to put up with it every day or even to write about it….

Life is not always easy as dilemmas always play tricks with your mind….What is best, what should we do? Well I guess there is no correct answer to these questions…and that is the problem or the beauty of life depending how you look at it.

Well anyway it was quite a depressing weekend for both of us…but now we are back in the game living up the challenge every day…So now you all know that we are really missing everyone especially in these hard times.

Thanks for your continues support

Cheers

Zack

Spring in Beijing

I have almost forgot how it feels to experience spring time. Last Sunday, as we walked outside our building, it hit me. The air was different, the trees were about to bloom and the bushes changed colour to a shade of light green. And it was warm, around 18 degrees. We decided to have a day out on the streets of Beijing. Made a visit to Yashow Market for some shirts and sunglasses. Have to say that I am beginning to like the art of bargaining. 45 RMB for a Paul Smith shirt. Picked up a cheap pair of Raybans. Its amazing how everything is copied here. And they are trying to convince you it is the real thing...."good quality".
The walk along the streets of Beijing gives you a good idea of how this city is changing. Everywhere you look, old areas are torn down and new exclusive apartments, office buildings and shopping malls are built. The old gives way to the new. The contrast is quite overwhelming. Luxury apartments in roman style next to rundown, poor areas of hutongs. Luxury cars sharing the road with men on tricycles carrying loads of cardboard, water bottles or building materials.
We walked to the nearby subway station. Don't know when it was built, but it was like coming back to east Germany after the wall fell. Rundown but functioning. 2 RMB for using the system the whole day. We jumped on the first train. Packed!! I can see why they need "pushers" to get the doors to close at busy times. We were fortunate enough to avoid this treatment. Got off after 6 stations. Houhai. This is where we went ice-skating in January. Now the whole area has put on its spring clothing. Bars, cafes and restaurants have opened up everywhere. The lakes are full with boats and other crafts and the area is starting to be flooded with tourists. We had our first coffee in the sun. Can not think about a better way of spending the first real spring Sunday in Beijing.
The past week has been no less than stressful. Pressure it building up...opening is getting closer. Thankfully, our days not only involve work: birthday dinner on Monday, Yashow market on Tuesday, dinner with Susanna and Gero on Wednesday at a terrific French restaurant, middle eastern dinner at Rumi and shopping at Carrefour on Thursday and office party at our place on Friday night. And what a party it turned out to be. First of all, Friday was the first day since we got here that Beijing got real soak. And this soak turn the city into chaos. People that had taken their bicycles to work had to take a cab or public transport. This meant that poor Zach was waiting out in the rain for 45 min trying to get a cab. By then it was 7PM. I joined him and we started walking home hoping to get a cab on the way. But NO! The streets were crowded with people trying to get home. We ended up walking home..40 minutes in rain. And we were supposed to host a party. Got back and already 20 people waiting in our livingroom...with their shoes on! Took the executive decision of asking everyone to take them off....bad decision!! The apartment got a terrible odor of wet shoes...to very refreshing. We finally got the party started. Some good music and food did the job. They do not drink here like they did in Sydney. The focus is on the food. We had ordered food from a nearby Chinese restaurant...the food was gone in 15 min. Had to order pizza from Annies. And more Chinese food.... the fridge did not get the same attention...full of beer. In total we had 60 people here. It was a success! Even got a visit of our GM and his wife. She brought Jello-shots! Went down fast, especially with the spa girls. Well...of course our lucky spree had to come to an end. The neighbours complained...and off went all our guests. And it was only 9:45PM. The dedicated people that stayed continued until around 12:30AM when Mr. Fournier fell asleep in the couch.
Our Saturday was spent at work. We were invited to Susanna and Gero to get a look at their new place and to battle it out on their Wii. Zach won the boxing match but I beat him in tennis! And he turned out to be as good a gokart driver on the screen as he is on the track.
So another week has run past...it is amazing how quickly time goes by. It feels like it is only Sunday-Monday and then Thursday-Friday. We got at great end to the week though. Woke up late, walked over to Chef Too, a local restaurant in the area famous for their Saturday and Sunday brunch. Place was packed so we had to go for a walk in the area while we waited for a table. There are soo much to see and explore. Every street has something to offer. We made a visit to Schindler Food Center. What a place! Meats, hams, cheese, bread, wine and all kinds of stuff from Europe. Found a good assortment of Swedish biscuits...Goteborgs Kex!! On the way back to the restaurant, we encountered a man doing the worst job in Beijing. They are cleaning up the channels in time for the Olympics. And the channels are filled with sewage. So this man is shovelling the sewage to that another man can use his machine to put the sewage on a little truck that takes it away...enough said. The brunch was amazing!! Good coffee, good service and great food!! I had my first eggs benedict in Beijing and I was not disappointed. To walk the food off, we took a tour through Chaoyang Park. It is the biggest park in Beijing and just next to where we live. 5 RMB entrance fee, but it was worth it. It is an oasis in the heart of Beijing. Large lakes, amusement park, soccer fields, basketball courts and of course ping pong tables. Most extraordinary was the kite fliers. Everywhere and what skills!! Think we will invest in one soon!
It is now Sunday night and time to start preparing for the new week ahead. It will be eventful as always. Have a look at the photos put up from this past week. It will put some meat on the sandwich! Ciao for now. Zach says hi...he is still a bit sleepy after an afternoon nap! /Martin

Beijing Belly

I guess I have been quite lucky. Zach got it the second week here. But now it was my turn. And it is not a great experience...I am talking about what they call...the Beijing Belly...or tourist diarrhea. I have been knocked out in my bed for 2 days now. I have a feeling it was the food that we ate for lunch on Wednesday. We get delivered lunch boxes to work from some dodgy local chinese place. And the food is crap! But since its for free and we are on a minimum wage...its what we eat. But no more!! From now on...we are getting Annie's, Tim's Roadhouse, KFC or any other western takeaway! I know that when being in Beijing...do as the Beijinger...but not in this case. Even the locals find the food disgusting. Anyway, I have finally got rid of the bacterias that invaded my stomach...now it is just the question what I will be celebrating with tonight. I need to have a bit of a treat. Leaning towards Schindler's Angestelle. Best German food in town. Spatzle with pork medallions and creamy mushroom sauce!!! There u go stomach...u deserve it!! / Martin

Moving day...

I would like to apologies for not writing for a long time. We have had some busy weeks and we have finally settled in to our new office...in the basement of the hotel. It has been a long way coming but here we are!! Very exciting actually. Good change from our old office...can not really call it an office...was more of a small meeting room with a table and chairs around it. Now at least we have a desk to sit at. And our own telephone!!!

As I was saying...it has been some crazy weeks. We are continuously working on our projects but at the same time getting more urgent tasks thrown at us. Like last week. Already feeling the pressure from our bosses, we are assigned to make an introduction video for all new employees of what not to do at the hotel. Zach was selected to be the bad employee who keeps on messing up. He was spitting (made of some old coffee), burping, picking his nose and other things that you should not do. Was extremely funny filming the whole thing. So Zach was the leading actor, Ivan the supporting actor as the angry manager and myself the director...behind the camera and the computer. The result was good. Could have been better but considering the time constraints we did a great job! And the new employees loved it...Zach is now a superstar around the office.

We were also assigned the wonderful task of punching...meaning that we have to check all areas completed and given over to us by the owners of the hotel. This turned out to be a monstrous task. Ended up spending two 14 hour days last week checking all rooms on level B2, where we are now housed. Got it done on time though.

Life here in Beijing is getting a normal routine...wakeup alarm goes off at 6:50. We take turns in having to wake up first. The other stays in bed until 7:15. Leave the apartment at 8:00. Buying a chocolate croissant in the lobby shop. Meeting our colleague Hilda and taking a cab to the office...shin fu dasha! The lucky tower!!! Working hard until around midday...then either down to the staff canteen or going out for some cheap lunch. It usually turns out to be the later...food in the canteen is not that good...not even the locals eat it. Pushing on until around 7:30-8:00PM. Leaving before this time is not possible. Our night routine is as follows: going to a restaurant nearby our apartment or stopping at Jenny Lou's supermarket to pick up some groceries or ordering in from home...the energy to cook at home is very rarely there. Bedtime is usually aroudn 11PM, Zach is first in bed...I am closely behind. Do not want him to fall asleep before me...he snores... So now you know how we spend our days. Its hard work but great rewards! Will be putting up some photos soon....keep checking!! / Martin

Day off...

Sleep in....started to forget how it feels. We finally have a day off. Week has been crazy. You can feel the pressure and stress building up. The air is getting thicker and thicker in the office as more and more people come aboard. We are now around 55-60 but will be 450 by Monday. Mass orientation! So this week as been spent preparing material and training schedules for next week. Zach, Ivan and myself got the job of making an movie about the personal grooming and hygiene and other things to think about. Do not spit, smoke in designated areas, shower everyday, wash your hands etc. So we did some acting and I am quite confident that Zach will receive an OSCAR for best actor!! He is incredible in front of the camera. We still have some scenes to shoot and the editing part will take some time but planning to have it wrapped up mid next week.
The hotel is taking shape. The basement areas that will house offices, training rooms and the staff canteen needs to be done by Monday. And they will. Hundreds if not thousands of workers work their backs off everyday to get the hotel finished on time. So I am confident that we can open on the 2nd of May.
Thursday night was spent at a alumni dinner with some old students from Cesar Ritz. We were invited by the Director of Marketing from Cesar Ritz and his agent. Great Shanghainese restaurant...the sweet and sour fish was very yummy! We also got a complete tour of the Kunlun Hotel that is located across the road from ours. Very 5-star chinese...marble, chandeliers, restaurants with waterfalls, restaurant built like a french palace...nice but too much! They have a revolving bar/executive club up the top. Great view!
The feeling of Friday really took us by surprise yesterday. Zach was very unmotivated and excited about having his first day off in 20 days. We left the office early...7:45PM...and went to Schindlers Tankstelle...conveniently located across the street from the Saudi Embassy. Service was awful....but the food......weissbeer...steak tartare.....pork medallions with spatzle!!!! My god! And prices are great! We definitely are going back!!
So today is Saturday. Just had brunch delivered from the American Cafe. We need to have some treats on the days we do not work. Looking at going for a massage as well. Our backs do not like our un-ergonomic work place. Tonight we are heading over to Susanna and Gero's place to celebrate Susanna's B'day! Will be good to meet some people outside of the office.
And tomorrow....back at work. / Martin

Sick

Nothing can be more boring than having to stay in bed in a big apartment, in a city where I am a stranger with no food in the house. I have survived the last two days on left over pasta and some weird sausages that I bought in the supermarket in the basement of our building.
Been watching "Entourage" season 1,2 and half of 3 to keep myself from going insane. The weather outside have been absolutely awesome. Clear air, sunshine and around 3 degrees. In other words...perfect for a day out. But no no...not for us. Zach in the office and myself in bed. I felt like a happy little puppy that has been left alone for a week when Zach came home this afternoon. Was sleeping when he came home last night and when he left this morning. We went for dinner at Annie's. We LOVE Annie's. Our local Italian hangout. Great service, great food and great prices. Can not get any better. They have been closed for the last two weeks due to Chinese New Year. We have missed them dearly. But now they won't close for another 350 days!!! We are saved!! / Martin

Days off...

With the Chinese New Year comes not only fireworks but also time off from work. Very nice after 3 weeks of non-stop action. We have really taken advantage of this and been out around town. Celebrated Chinese New Year on Wednesday after a huge sleep-in. Thursday was spent sleeping and working for me. Had to go to work for a little while. Celebrated one of our colleague's birthday. Went to Goose&Duck, a sports bar in the area. Great place!! Live music, great food and 24 hour happy hour!!!! They also have their home brewed beer. Cheap and good! Zach showed his skills with the dart board while the two-piece keyboard band did their best to entertain the audience. Took a cab to a place called Cargo...seems that there is a Cargo bar in every city. Very nice place, seems to be the popular hangout for Beijings young elite. Plenty of bottles on every table. It is cheap to buy bottles in bars here in Beijing. But they do not have the real RedBull. Fake one of course...Stayed until the place got to packed with drunk youngsters and business ladies. Tried out another place...Maggies. Apparently very popular among Expats (foreginers working in Beijing). Was partly closed due to reconstruction. Place was half empty. We will be back when its getting closer to the Olympics.
Friday was spent on the road. Had a late wakeup again! Took a cab downtown to Wangfujing Shopping Street. It was brunch/lunch time so McDonalds was our first stop. Absolutely crazy!!! It seems that there is an unlimited desire for fast food here in Beijing. Fast food restaurants are everywhere and always packed. After lunch we explored the Oriental Plaza, a huge shopping mall in central Beijing. As always, droves of shops offering everything for the not so price sensitive shopper. We could only watch and dream.....we instead made our way up Wangfujing street stopping at local shopping centres, especially a very large toy store. And guesss what they had...remote controlled helicopters!! Zach just had to buy one. He has been trying to learn how to fly the last couple of days. Stumbled upon the (famous) Dong Hua Men night market. Business was good even though it was mid afternoon. Tempting to try some stuff out but we decided to pass. Dont think our stomachs can take silkworms, caterpillars and scorpions yet. We have to wait a few more weeks...? Made our way towards the forbidden city and the tiananmen square. We found a shop selling all kinds of police vehicle lights!!! Zach is so coming back to get one to take home. Finally reached the tiananmen square. Very big and very cold. It is so vast that it was difficult to see the other end. Military and police everywhere. We just walked up to the gate of the forbidden city and then across the square. Will be back when the temperature have risen a little bit. In a half-frozen state we finally got a taxi to take us to Yashow Clothing Market close to the Sanlitun Bar street. Finally a place for our wallets. Got some shirts for a reasonable price after some bargaining. Zach picked up jeans, shoes, shirts and t-shirts and I got shirts and a pair of gloves. Think we have found some reliable dealers that we can do more business with in the future. Home cooked food and some movies finished off a good day.
Saturday got a late start as always. Got ourselves some late lunch at the American Cafe. A hearty meal to get us going. Also made a visit to Shin Kong place, a large new shopping centre. Same kind of stores as everywhere else. Got a "real" coffee at Starbucks and also picked up some supplies at the supermarket. Taxi back to out place and relaxation for a few hours. Too lazy to cook so we ordered food from the American Cafe together with Cedric, our French flatmate. Got some visitors later....Susanna and Gero! We took them to SOUK, the place we had been to on Tuesday...great place! Very chillout!!! Live music!! Also tried out Bar Pepper, a place famous for their bartenders...their skills! Just made it for the cocktail show. The scene was like taken from the movie Cocktail. Great skills!! And a very nice place. Reminded us of Scarface...marble pillars, red velvet couches and chandeliers. Will be back soon!! Finished off the night at Block 8. Club was completely empty. Had a quick drink and left.
Today will be preparation for tomorrow. Mentally and physically. Might have a massage later. And I have to do some work. Until next time.... /Martin

Chinese New Year

Ok, Zach and myself just got back to our place. We made it in one piece. Beijing is like a war zone. Everywhere you look there are fireworks going off. And I mean everywhere!!! Our taxi got hit by some shots! Its 12:30 AM and we are back home....!!! Weird. We were invited to our colleague at 4 PM. Stopped by the local firework shop! and picked up some arms. Quiet expensive...but the Chinese are experts right? Its easy to see that they are the inventors of this stuff. The afternoon was spent in the couch watching a movie and drinking beer. Dinner at 7. And then it started....war was coming to town. The people in the house across the road started up the cannons and the climax came at midnight. I have never seen anything like it. We got out at around 10PM to shoot off our arsenal. Unfortunately it was not enough. So we got some more. Two ribbons with 1000 crackers! Talking about noise!! The hours to midnight was spend watching the New Years Celebrations on CCTV 1. Nice mix of Chinese Opera, stand up comedy and spectacular performances by gymnast and acrobats. Out with the champagne, its the New Year!!! And all hell broke loose....when leaving the building it was overwhelming. Street was covered with burnt out tubes and firecrackers. Trying to get a cab was a like running the gauntlet. People have no sense...fireworks are set off in the middle of the streets and between buildings. It will be interesting to read about the injuries tomorrow in the newspaper. I guess we will be kept awake all night by all these bangs that are going off all around town. / Martin

Photos!

Please check out our photo album for some interesting pics from our life in Beijing.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mwanstrom/FirstWeekInBeijing

Gambei!!

On last Friday we were invited by our boss, for our company new-years eve party. So Friday night straight after finishing work, we went to this typical Beijing restaurant across the street from our office to have some Peking Duck. Martin and I were very excited about the night and were really looking forward to an evening of festivities were we could finally escape our daily tasks.

Once everyone was sitting down, our big boss Daniel stood up and made a speech before cheering for our health and prosperity for the new-year of the rat. This is when we heard for the first time this magic word “Gambei” which literally means “bottoms up”. We were both sitting there and looking at all our colleagues around us just scowling their glasses of wine, so of course we had to follow up in order not to break any traditions…As soon as I finished my first glass of Chardonnay, another colleague came filled my glass again, cheered and Gambaied again. In about one hour I probably drunk seven glasses of wine straight down. This is when I decided to make a strategic move and went back to drinking some beer. At that stage of dinner, already a few un-trained people had passed out!!! We were still going strong. After two and half hour the dinner was over, by that time I could not clearly remember how many drinks I had Gambei put it was probably between 15 and 20….But that was not the end yet, to show everyone I had acclimated myself to the traditional Chinese Gambei culture I decided on our way out of the restaurant to enter another private party. No one in that room spoke English, but I still pored everyone a glass of wine and then stood on a chair before spelling out the magic word, Gambei! Then the all room full of strangers Gambei with me, was so funny, my colleagues standing outside the room were a bit afraid for my safety but I was fine. I just had made another 30 friends…what a crazy night and that was just the beginning. We followed our new-years celebration at Suzie Wang, a bar next to our apartment were we shared a bottle of Absolute Vodka. It was a fantastic evening, but unfortunately the next we had to work, that was very difficult but we still managed to be productive.

When I looked back at that night, I realised that it was a good thing that I could handle the drinking and did not passed out in front of everyone!!! We were taken by surprise in this cultural ritual that forced us to go crazy….Well now I am proud to say that all our partying back in Manly served me in my professional career. Perhaps, drinking at Shark bar should be included in the Syllabus….

Overall it was another great adventure and had a lot fun going out with our colleagues from the office. Hope we can do it again another time soon. / Zach

Work Work Work

Its been a very busy start of the week. 12 hour days... We will most definately work the whole weekend as we will be off a few days next week for Chinese New Year. Not sure how many days, but more than one will be very nice!
Today another beautiful day in Beijing. Not a cloud in the sky...pollution though. But its sunny and not too cold. Had a progress meeting yesterday with our two top managers. They put a lot of trust into us which also puts a lot of pressure on us to perform. We will do our best, learn as we go and try to keep sane at the same time. Will be two quiet days at the office as all managers (everyone except myself, Zach, our third management trainee Ivan and a few secretaries) are in training at our sister hotel. Nice and quiet means more work done. Tonight is dumpling night and tomorrow the GM is inviting everyone for Peking Duck! Looking forward to that one!
Time to go for lunch. Will be interesting to see what culinary delights are on offer today. Maybe pig ears or liver....I think I will choose plain rice.

Shanghai

After a week and a half at work I went on my first business trip. Down to sunny Shanghai. I had no idea why I was going but it could have been because I am in charge of implementing the Interactive TV system to the hotel. We (myself and Joy, our IT-manager) got picked up in the early morning. Traffic to the airport was unbelievable. Good thing we left early. Quick through check-in. Had a western coffee before take-off. The worst caffe-latte I have had in my life. But the girls serving were nice and helpful. When I think about domestic trips, I think about small airplanes with no service just taking you from A to B. But domestic trips chinese-style are different. Huge planes...this one was a Boeing 777 and breakfast is served. Most passengers fell aslepp as soon as they sat down...and they are not quiet. Breakfast was served and it was also a surprise. Yoghurt, water, small salad with smoked meat of some sort, rice/been curd porridge and the special marinated egg that you get everywhere. It has been marinated (I think) in soy sauce giving it a salty taste. It is therefore a brown egg. Does not look good, but it tastes ok. Touch down Shanghai and pickup at the airport by representatives of the supplier who also paid for the whole trip. Crazy traffic again. Got to Shanghai cit in time for lunch. And what a lunch. Traditional Chinese style. Very formal. Around 15 dishes placed on a turning table in the middle of the dining table. Tried it all, some better than others. Its a new experience sitting for 1 1/2 hours without understanding nothing of what people around you are saying. Just smile! After that I did some site inspections to two hotels to look at their Interactive TV systems. Quite interesting. Even got time to do a little bit of shopping. Tried out Shanghais most famous shopping street under the command of my guide Lisa. The supplier told her to accompanying me. No shoes in my size (the had 252 and 253) but most places had some kind of sale because of the Chinese New Year approaching soon. Took the subway to Shangri-La hotel for dinner. I expected a small personal dinner but I was again mistaken. A was rushed into a huge function room and directed to the VIP table. What the heck was this??? I was the only westerner in the room. Probably the youngest also. But there I was, surrounded by hotel executives, IT-managers and consultants. The dinner started at 6:30 PM. It was a 12 course dinner with wine and tea. It is customary here in China to taste every dish so it was just to grab those chopsticks and dig in. Most is ok. Some other stuff are worse To my surprise there was entertainment. Games and a magician! Not bad! The chinese people love playing games. Like at our housewarming party. Many guests came up to me to introduce themselves, handing over their business card and expecting one in return....but no. I have not been issued any. So I just told them who I was, what I was doing here and that I really enjoyed China. I just loved the face of the Cisco executive when he asked me how many years I had been in China.....1 1/2 week!!!! We left in a hurry at around 8 PM to make our way to the airport. Personal chauffeur. Plane was due to leave at 10 PM. Got back to Beijing at 11:45 PM and in bed at 00:45 AM. Long day, but very eventful!!! / Martin

Days goes by...

I haven’t updated the blog for a long time, but it is not because I am lazy but because we have been busy like crazy here. This is the end of my first month of work…We work a minimum of 12 hours a day and I had about 3 days off this month. So as you can see, we are working very hard. But it is all good, because I seriously love what I am doing and I do not mind spending all this time at the office. All our workmates are great and the atmosphere at the office is great. As well working with a GM like ours is an amazing experience. I am learning so much just being around him. I don’t think I could have chosen a better job to start my career. The only bad thing is that it does not leave us much time to enjoy ourselves. Our days are usually work, home, sleep….very boring but really need the sleep. Went out a few times, there are quite a few good places to go out in Beijing so that was a very good surprise. The best part is that our apartment is located very close to a few very nice bars... But it is a big change from Manly where we use to go out a lot more. Since I arrived I went out clubbing three times and we had a party at our house once that is about all the night fun I had in a month...which is close to nothing.

Otherwise Beijing is a very nice city. I like it even though it is so huge. It is kind of difficult for us to get around because the of the language barrier. Like Martin said, every time we step out of the house we are up for an adventure. I think this is what I like the most, the fact that you have no idea how things will unfold in most situation. Sometimes the language barrier is so huge that it is impossible for us to do anything. This really makes you feel like you retarded or disabled and it is hard to get use too. Like yesterday we wanted to go to the post office, but it was impossible for us to understand each other, therefore no posting!!! Here simple things are not simple and requires patience. Even shopping is a pain in the arse, everywhere we go we have people trying to sell us stuff. There it is important to start bargaining to not get ripped off… and sometimes it is not very easy.

With Martin we realized that our blog has not been updated to much lately and to make it more interesting for you reader we are going to link to a photo gallery so we can share our pictures directly with you. As always Martin keeps snapping around so we already have heaps of pictures. We will try to set it up ASAP, but it might have to wait until Chinese New-Year next week. There we will have a week holiday and we will be able to catch up on things we have put aside. / Zack

Day off!

Finally got a day off after 6 days straight with an average 11 hours per day. Really needed it. Used it to the full. Took a cab to Hoi Hai, a lake/river in central Beijing to meet up with a few colleagues. Very popular location with both locals and foreigners. Must have been thousands of people on the lake, skating in different styles. Normal skates, tandem-sleigh, bike and motorised bobsleigh. An amazing sight. It was like going to the park. People selling candy, merchandise and balloons. Pay a rental fee and off u went. I got a bike and Zach got a pair of 1920s porn boot skates. Nice one! Must say he was quiet good. Had a bad fall at the beginning due to the lady design of the skates. They had stubbs at the front. So on the head he fell. Sore knee was the result. Was cold but sunny. Nice day on the lake. Went for brunch at a traditional chinese noodle house. We both got the chance to welcome guests at the door by hitting a gong. The gong-boy gave it to us after a few photos. We got a private diningroom inside. Cold though. Were served a number of exotic dishes. What about cow stomach and fish head. Spicy, but good. Zach had the most delicious part of the head....the eye! A bit chewy though. Did some shopping in the afternoon. Got myself a mobile phone thanks to our colleagues. Shops were crazy...sales everywhere due to Chinese New Years coming up. Had a nap when we came back to the apartment. Finished off our day at the W Sports Bar & Restaurant, owned by the famous Swedish ping-pong player Jan-Ove Waldner. Due to me being Swedish, we got the royal service. The bartender put on a swedish documentary about J-Os life on the big screen. Also got to meet J-Os chinese manager, Chris. So now we are speical friends, exchanged cards and we were also given a loyalty card. We will be back when J-O is in town....

SNOW!

Its snowing outside my office window. Not much, but slowly and gently. Its beautiful. Lightens up the otherwise brownish, polluted sky. When it snows in Beijing, there is chaos on the roads, my colleague told me. Right for sure. Add snow to this crazy traffic and you get more accidents. As if there are not enough. Wherever we go we see blue and red lights blinking helping some poor driver out. I am glad I am not driving....

IKEA

Yeah, we could not stay away. After two nights waking up with sore backs, we had to take action. Had an early one at work today, left at 6. Took a cab in rushhour to IKEA (Ji Tia). All good! Everyone know the shopping haven in blue and yellow. Straight up to the restaurant. Can you believe it...live jazz music!!! Nice! Had the meatball menu, 15 for me and 20 for Zach. Not the cheapest...but very nice. Nearly got lost trying to find the bedding section. We were on the hunt for a top mattress to soften up our sleep a bit. After a little bit of discussion and mostly sign language we got our piece of paper. Down to check out where they told us to pay. But where were our mattresses? In the warehouse...And where is the warehouse..."Fast Fast Fast!!!" Probably meant that it was close by. So we decided to do something that probably not many foreigners do. Take a cab to the warehouse to pick up our stuff. After all, we wanted a night of "soft"sleep. Showed the map for the driver. He nodded. A good sign. But it was easier said than done. He took us all the way to the outskirts of Beijing...dirt roads, dust & exhaust fumes and heavy traffic. And it was completely pitch black outside. This could have been the end. But our brave driver hanged in there and we finally found it!! No signs, nothing. A police officer pointed us in the right direction. Handed over the piece of paper to the warehouse supervisor. A person in somewhat supervisory position always wears a large woolen coat, russia style and some kind of a uniform hat. He got a boy to go and get our mattresses. Into the backseat with me and off we went back home. We left work at 6 and was back home at 9. But it was all worth it! Now we will have some good sleep. Zach needed a haircut so we tried out our local guy in the basement of the building. He got it a little bit shorter than he wanted. The wonders of language barriers. As you can see, every day is a new adventure. We are now fully into project work.. I picked 5 today and Zach another 2 to add to the 3 he already is working on. Very interesting stuff. A lot of responsibility and accountability. Tough time frames, but after all. The hotel is supposed to open in 76 days!!!

Touchdown!!!

Im here. Im actually here. Zach picked me up at the airport. The hotel driver drove us to the apartment. Traffic is crazy. No rules but it seems to somehow work. The police do not do anything. Probably just there for the looks of it. The apartment is amazing. Got what a westerner needs. Zach is happy about the flatscreen tv in the living room. Im happy about the toiletseat warmer. Nice on a cold day! Think I will be spending some days there...stomach already a bit upset. Have a little shop down in the bassment of the building. Like a convenience store but with a huge section of wine and spirits. Nice! They even have Coopers!!! Took at taxi to a shopping centre in the area. Its important to have the destination written down in Chinese as the taxi drivers do not speak any English. We got there in one piece...no seatbelts in the cab. Zach went crazy with the shopping. Got a fake winter jacket and a fake Swiss made watch. Its pretty cheap though. Just need to bargain. Its a shoppers heaven! Found a Starbucks across the street. Tastes the same as in any part of the world. Then we tried to find the bar strett Sanlitun. I had an idea where it was, but Zach wanted to take a cab. The taxidriver took us around the block and dropped us off about 500 metres from where we had caught it. Nice one Zacky! Had a huge walk back to the apartment. Its absolutely freezing here. Nice to feel alive!! Now time to go shopping at the Carrefour supermarket. 10 min by cab! /Martin

Time to say goodbye

I about to leave home! Last items have been packed up and we are about to leave for a two hour drive to Arlanda Airport outside of Stockholm. Mum and Dad will keep me company. Its always the same feeling...I am totally lost! One day I'm in Sydney, the next day its Christmas, then I'm in Norway with Vibeke and a second later I'm by myself on the plane for Sweden. I have never felt it before, but time is actually something scary. It just keeps going and you better hang on, because it will not come back. Ceasar was totally right...Carpe Diem!! Make the most out of your day, because you can never do it again. Anyways, I am very excited about going. Zach will be picking me up and thats all I know... I'm counting on you boss!!

New Year

Happy New Year all our blogg readers. Wish you the best for 2008.
I had a great night in Haugesund with fireworks all around. Zach is now in Beijing and he will update you as soon as he has time. Can not wait to join him soon. But first I have another week of relaxation with Vibeke in Norway.