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