Spring Celebration

The hotel had a special Spring Celebration for us on the 18th floor.

On tap:

Musical Instrument Performance with Classical Dance


Followed by some Tea Artistry (my last name):



And, then, some spring roll making...

Per the invite, let's remember "Spring is a rebirth. Spring is a season of vitality. The arrival of the spring make the world rejuvenated, restore the aura, restore the vitality."

Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, Virtue and Beijing Spirit!

Day, night, weekend or weekday you can always count on the traffic here. It gives you plenty of time to contemplate the key words they like to post at busy intersections.

The focus these days: Patriotism, Innovation, Inclusiveness, Virtue and "Beijing Spirit". Hard to argue with all that!


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It was a fairly busy weekend here at the mid point of the trip.

Friday evening was somewhat low key. We spent most of the evening at the hotel with just a short venture out for Italian food.

On Saturday we headed to the Pearl Market and later hiked over to a nearby department store for some Baijiu shopping (that is, the Chinese "White Wine" or my earlier label "VLL").

Afterward we walked through the nearby residential neighborhood and checked out the activities in the park (lots of gambling and smoking):

We also found the bike shop (open but unattended)...

Saturday night, we gathered at the local Hot Pot restaurant which is similar to a Fondue operation. They start you with a pot of soup over high heat; then they start bringing out all sorts of things to toss in (thinly cut meat of some sort, live shrimp, tofu slivers, mushrooms, spinach etc etc). It was quite tasty and hit the spot on a cold evening.

Afterwards we headed to the local KTV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTV ) for some really bad Karaoke performances. Then we had a final stop at the Westin lounge to hear the final set of the Juicy Girls (all the greatest hits from the 70's).

On Sunday, a few members of the team headed to church. It was a Catholic service --- all in Chinese. There were about a couple of hundred people there (all Chinese).

After breakfast we headed to the Panjiayuan Antiques Market (aka the "Dirt Market") to check out the "antiquities". It was freezing cold but packed with activity.

In the afternoon, the group split up, heading a dozen different directions. I went North towards the airport to visit the 798 Arts District (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/798_Art_Zone).

It's a really unique experience --- probably one that was not imagined by the Chairman!

A few pictures of the sights there....

At the end of my visit I had a real problem getting a cab. A westerner, standing near me finally got one and offered to let me share. Turns out he was a French guy who had previously lived in California. He is now working in Beijing as an artist --- "Riko the Sculptor".

I stopped on the way back to try out the restaurant my Mom had read about --- the Apothecary. It's run by a guy from New Orleans and they have Fried Chicken on Sunday nights. It proved to be a winner --- great job, Mom!

Now, back to work!

A Great Day

The government censors must have read my notes about the horrible air yesterday. Today we woke to beautiful blue skies. They must have sucked up all the pollution and sent it packing for Seattle.

I also got my Chinese name today --- Ma Tian Wei --- sounds a bit like Martin Way. It means Strong Sky Horse.

Please address me accordingly when I return.

As always the hotel had sent a shuttle to pick us up from the office. At most we have 15 to 20 people for the ride, but we always get the giant bus. I am constantly amazed at how the driver can whip a U Turn with this thing in the middle of Beijing rush hour.

We also got to see a good old traffic brawl on the way home --- some slight fender bender that led to a major confrontation between the two drivers and their girlfriends. Sorry I did not get any photos!

Wheezy Wednesday

I walked out of my hotel room this morning and was met with a smell that was a cross between a campfire and burning chemical plant. Outside it looked overcast but it became apparent that it was just a really bad air day in the city.



At lunch we ditched the company cafeteria and made visit to a vegetarian restaurant in an old Hutong next to the office. Their speciality --- vegetarian dishes made to look like meat. Here's the faux fish:

It was all pretty good and the owner was a charming older lady. However, I felt compelled to eat some Doritos later in the day.

This evening we hosted our Chinese business partners at the hotel for an American style banquet (which meant buffet). I think I prefer the Chinese style where they wait on you and the dishes come by on the rotating table!

Merry XMas from China

The Christmas decornations are still out in full force in Beijing.

While the Chinese have certainly embraced the holiday, they have not necessarily grasped all the technicalities -- like the window for celebration and the whole Christianity connection.

We had a busy day meeting our new project partners. Mr Z, the lead on this work, invited us to a Chinese banquet at the end of the day. While I had heard that they were moving away from the toasts due to new strict drunk driving law, this group was not to be deterred.

There was much celebration to be had. Then we went for a walk around the lakes at Yuyuantan Park --- an expedition that proved to be much longer and colder than anticipated.

China Round 2

Back in Beijing for another project.

Landed late Saturday night and spent today (Sunday) meeting up with the rest of the US-based team.

We hit the road after breakfast to pay a visit to the Pearl Market. The traffic is still the same...


...as are most of the wares (a few new things)...


The cab driver on the way back was quite animated. He really didn't speak any English but he was excited to hear that we were from the US --- "Oh Americans --- BANG BANG BANG!" [HA HA HA...]. Not sure what that was all about.

There are still a lot of construction cranes around...

And the upscale shopping mall continues to hawk the super premium goods:



It's cold here --- 30's and the Chinese do not like chills. Accordingly everything has been super heated. I'm guessing the conference rooms on Monday are not going to be pleasant, but I figured out how to turn on the AC in my hotel room so I am good for now.