Beijing Impressions – March 09

My impression of Beijing changes every time I visit.   Compared to my last trip in Sept 08 (right after the Olympics), I noticed the following changes, both big and small.  Of course, the entire world has also shifted quite a bit over the past 6 months or so.

Traffic is a bit worse than during the [...]

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EQ

Is China ready for the Olympics?  As we get closer, increasingly, I don’t think they are.  Not in the same way Athens wasn’t ready – if you look at the infrastructure, Beijing is more than ready.  But not emotionally. 
To almost everyone in China, the Olympics is a monumental moment.  It indicates China’s coming of age [...]

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Guess where this is

   
Yep, Beijing.  I won’t be able to tell… the townhouses (and cars) on the top-left picture are quite similar to those one can find in N. California.  

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bendiren 本地人, waidiren 外地人，waiguoren 外国人

Something I appreciate a lot about Beijing as a city is the preservation of its attitude and culture.  There’s certain pride of being a native Beijinger – in similar way that New Yorkers think they’re the certain of the world, Beijingers certainly think they’re at the center of China, if not of the world (yet).  Yet, this makes [...]

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Empty Malls

Malls in Beijing are escapes from the hustle and bustle of the city.  They are eerily empty.  The problem is pricing.  I was at the Oriental Plaza in BJ, and checked out a few international brands.  Across the board, the pricing is 20-30% above what you’d pay for the exact same item in Hong Kong [...]

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Is the Sky Blue, or Gray?

The NYTimes has a running series on China entitled “Choking on Growth”.  Among many important environment problems highlighted, this week’s focus is on Beijing.  The picture on the left was Tiananmen Square last Thursday (12/27).  When I was in Beijing last winter, this was the image I remembered.  I could hardly breathe whenever I stepped [...]

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Silk Market Nightmare

 I visited the Silk Market the first time I was in Beijing 8 years ago.  Then, it was an open market, smack in the middle of the embassy district and around the corner from the St. Regist Hotel where we stayed at.  I remembered walking around with my Chinese colleagues, not finding anything in particular to [...]

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Travel Info Page

I’ve added a page called Travel Info to include some notes on traveling to China.  I’ve added a subpage, Beijing.  This will be updated regularly as I plan my future trips… 

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8月8日 – 1 year to Beijing Olympics

I can’t believe the Olympics will be occuring on 8/8/2008 – how superstitious!  I bet the opening ceremony will start at 8:08 pm too.  Eight (八) is an incredibly lucky number… since 八 sounds like 发 in 发财, the latter means fortune.  This says actually a lot about where China is going these days: to [...]

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Whale Inside – Eating in the Dark

Back in April, I was coerced into going to this restaurant in Beijing.  The concept is that you’d eat, drink and talk in total darkness; like eating inside a whale I guess.  (The name of the restaurant is “whale inside”).  You order your food outside, and then being led to your table, just like it [...]

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