Traveling in China

Air traffic in China is pretty busy, mainly at large airports such as Beijing...

Sport

Why would you go to a gym where you pay money and do sports on your own? There are alternative ways to move your body which are very popular in China and can be seen every evening in front of shopping centers etc.

Scorpions for a snack

A special snack is fried Scorpions. To ensure that they are fresh they are kept alive on a skewer till you order them. Then a brief dip in dizzling hot oil and ready to eat...

Pet hair dresser

Some people say there's nothing you can't get in Beijing. They might be right...

Chongqing

A big city at the Yangtze river with an impressive skyline, spicy food, hot weather and interesting habits. People like to have birds in their apparments. To give them some fresh air, it is a weekend tradition to carry them in a cage to the parks, hang them below a tree and play cards with friends.

Chongqing

Bike to work

Some people rely on coffee in the morning to wake up. I found a healthier and more effective way - ride your bike to work in Beijing!

Fresh noodles

Watching him making these noodles is simply amazing. Totally relaxed he tears one set after the other and they are delicious.

Baihe - Heaven Lake - Changbai Mountain

Jilin province in northern China is home to mountains and forests - an excellent place for a retreat from Beijing. Fresh air, cows on the streets and hiking opportunities, feels a bit like home.
As the famous heaven lake is the border between China and North Korea many Chinese and South Koreans (who want to get a glimpse of North Korea) visit the area. Being European it is not that easy to distinguish Chinese and Koreans by the face but while hiking it is very easy.
On one hand the Chinese who interprete hiking as taking a bus to the top where you have a restaurant and a picture spot for which high heels and a skirt are the best fit. On the other hand the "outdoor dress loving Koreans" which are better equiped for the 20min walk then most Swiss would be for a one week trip across the alps...

Baihe - Heaven Lake - Changbai Mountain

Great Wall Marathon

A truly unique "race" in a wonderful environment

Great Wall Marathon

KalaOK

I love these "easy to understand" English translations

Dalian

A nice city in northern China at the sea. Fresh air, a beautiful pedestrian area and a famous beer festival (a bit like Oktoberfest in Munich)

Dalian

Out of control

mmmh, what could that stand for?

Popcorn

Mmmh, a very innovative (and entertaining) way of making popcorn - live from a China street...

Shanghai

Shanghai is not called Paris of Asia without a reason. A combination of European like small houses and a a brand new skyline makes it a very attractive town (local Beijing people typically don't admit this as there is quite some competition between the two megacities)

Shanghai

Macau

Not much left from the portuguese influence except the street names. Everything is dominated by the crazy casinos and the not less crazy Chinese tourists trying their luck...
Despite the fact that Macau belongs to China you need to go through passport control, fill in immigration form etc - pretty funny for an "inland trip"

Macau

Chinese health system

It seems like some US consultants influenced the Chinese health system quite a bit.
First you are welcomed with a pile of paper you need to fill in and sign. Statements like "I agree that the hospital may treat something different than I actually have..."
Next you are invited to go to the cashier to pay for what your are intending to do. This can be done multiple times, eg first for a consultation. If the outcome is that you need an x-ray you will see the cashier again...
Finally you are invited to see the Dr and in the elevator there is an advertisement for discount on botox injections - exactly why I came here...

Beijing car show

From what I remember from Geneva car show, people went to see cars. In Beijing it seems like the cars are more decoration while people move from booth to booth to watch the different dance / music performances... The sheer mass of people is incredible and defines which way you walk - no way to go against the "stream".
What is indeed intereting are all car brands you never heard before but which's design is quite familiar...

Beijing 3D

Know SimCity? There is a SimCity like map of Beijing available online - check http://bj.o.cn/

Urumqi

Located in the far west of China, close to the border with Kazakhstan, Urumqi is very different to what you imagine of China. Locals use Arabic letters to write and speak a language which is very close to Russian.

Urumqi, China

My bike

My bike

Traffic can be quite a mess in Beijing but a bike is the perfect way to get around this. Starting at 40USD (!) you can buy a bike in the supermarket. The down side is that they are typically for very short people. I therefore decided to go for a larger bike. It's a solid steel bike, very much like the Swiss Army bike.

Buying the bike was good fun as my Chinese was about as good as his English as we stood in his "shop" (2x 5m large room with 10 bikes). I tried to explain that the breaks don't work properly and was glad he got the message. Watching him "adjusting the breaks" was amazing - instead of tuning the breaks he brought heavy gear and simply bended the metal handle of the break... The breaks still don't work but you can pull the handle a bit further now - very pragmatic

While I am still happily riding my bike to work I am stunned by the poor quality. After only two weeks rust appeared at different parts and soon the pedals didn't turn round anymore...

No comment

Chinese wedding

What an experience! Where to start? Ok, weddings are typically from 10.00 to 13.00. You meet at a good restaurant where tables are prepared for a pretty large group (200-300 people) with a stage in front. Everything is very professionally prepared. Large posters of the couple, good quality movies to introduce them etc. Soon the show - yes it's a show - starts. The master of ceremony guides thru 3 hours of speaches, rituals, several dress changes of the bride, the newly weds singing a song etc. Very entertaining - at least for them who don't have to perform...
Last but not least do not forget your "red enveloppe" with an even number (that the couple can share it) but not 4 (bad luck) of brand new bills in it.

Glasses...

If you want to be "in" in Beijing then you have to wear glasses without glasses...

Lanzhou

Lanzhou is not much of a tourist place. Far away and without any major sights, it's not the first destinations foreigners head to. Nevertheless quite interesting with it's market and the hills.

Lanzhou, China

Trains in China

China has an excellent train system covering the entire country. Train stations are well developed and trains are made for long distance trips. Sleeping options, on board restaurants and so on. It is a very pleasant way to discover China by train.

Trains in China

Harbin

Harbin is in the far north of China close to Russia and is famous for it's ice sculptures. Well, you can imagine that ice scultures don't sustain in tropical weather.
During winter -30° is probably average but it can also go lower.
Nevertheless the ice sculptures are impressive!

Harbin

Xi'an

Famous for it's warriors it sees a large number of tourists - too many for my taste.

Xi'an, China

Fake or real?

Almost everything exists as original as well as fake. It can be very difficult if not impossible to see the differences but it can only be rather simple as this "Audi"...

Public holidays

In Europe you know before the year starts which public holidays will be held when and which will result in a day off.
In China there are 2 differences. First, you only know about 10 days in advance the official dates of the public holiday in your company. Second, to "get" the holiday it is very common to compensate days with weekend work. Eg next week we have Monday to Wednesday "off" but to compensate we work Saturday and Sunday...

Olympic Park

The park of the 2008 summer Olympics is impressive with the wonderful bird's nest, the aqua center and the vast space around it.

Beijing Olympic Park

Lost in translation

In order to help foreigners understand the signs they are often translated to English. The well meant initiative can be pretty amusing as the meaning somehow gets lost in translation…

Signs

Beijing Tourist Sights

There's is a lot to see for tourists in Beijing - enclosed some impressions

Beijing Tourist Sights

Food

The diversity of food is simply amazing. It might look a bit special sometimes but it typically tastes very good (ok, there are some exceptions...)

Food

Airbus A380

While most international airlines use their A380s on the international flagship routes in China the A380 is used for domestic flights!
Report

Beihai

Beihai lays in the very south of China close to Vietnam and you actually almost feel like being in Vietnam. People are shorter and have a darker skin, the boats in the waters remind you of Halong bay and also food is close to Vietnam. A nice place if the weather would just be a bit better...

Beihai

How old are you?

Did you know that the age is counted in a different way in China? Let's look at the example of a baby born in December 2009.
Day of birth 09 Chinese new year 2010
Europe 0 0
China 1 2

Beijing TV Tower View

The TV tower west of town provides nice "top views" over part of the city

Beijing TV Tower view

Air Quality in Beijing

One of the first questions asked is often "is the air really that bad in Beijing?" Well, in fact it is indeed very bad most of the days but there are exceptions, which are very enjoyable.
The only available source of information to check the current air quality is from the US embassy.
Current situation
Explanations

Nanning

Nanning is the capital of Guangxi province in southern China. Compared to Beijing winters are very mild and the air is more humid here, which is a nice change.

Nanning

Beijing - Home

This is how it looks in the area where I live

Beijing - Home

Holidays - Happy Chinese New Year

Switzerland with 7M people seperates the holidays of the different cantons to avoid too much traffic and having a lack of places to stay. Well, China with "only" 1300M people sees no need for this. Twice a year there is a week of public holidays for the entire country. You can imagine that it can get slightly crowded during these periods... - happy Chinese New Year!

Weekend meeting

I don't recall having any meetings on a weekend in Switzerland. Well, my first day of work in China was Wednesday 4th of January. One of the first things I was asked was whether I could join a customer meeting Saturday morning 09.00. Obviously I agreed to join this meeting, thinking that it would be something like Saturday morning in Beijing 9-11.
After agreeing to join I was informed that the meeting is not far away, only 45 minutes. In a next discussion round I learned that it was 45 minutes by plane. Finally we left Friday evening for two full days of meeting returning late Sunday night. What amazed me was that it wasn't a meeting with 3-4 people who would give away their weekend. No there were over 40 people in this meeting! Can you imagine this in Europe?

How do you pay for utilities?

In Switzerland I always thought the quarterly invoice of Billag was quite a pain and inefficient. While I still think Billag could be invoiced in a more efficient manner I had to learn that utilities can also be paid in more complicated manners, eg in China.
Utility - Payment time - Payment method
Hot water - Pay after use - Pay in cash at the property office
Cold water - Pay after use - Quarterly bill in mailbox which has to be paid at any bank
Gas - Pre-pay - You need to charge your account in advance, only one bank can do this in Beijing
Electricity - Pre-pay - Charge in advance by paying cash at the property office

May I introduce myself…

... any questions?

IKEA

Going to IKEA wasn't my favorite spare time activity in Switzerland as it was typically crowded, people were stressed in there and so was I after doing the long walk through all the sections.
Arriving in China I nevertheless thought it would be good to visit IKEA to get the basics for my appartment. So I did on my first day just a few hours after landing.
FYI - Beijing with over 20Mio people only has one (!) IKEA and the day I went there was a public holiday...
Well, you guessed right, everything I had experienced before in terms of crowded was redefined that day. In some parts people were literally standing back to back.
The big difference to Switzerland though was that the people seemed to enjoy this! Despite all the people and getting hit by a wagon every few minutes people seemed to enjoy that there was some action...

How much luggage can you bring?

You might wonder as well how much luggage you can bring along a long haul flight?. Well, I did and decided to test the limits when moving to Beijing. I brought the following luggage along.

Check in
- 3 large suitcases >30kg each (>90kg)
- full size golf set, 25kg

Hand luggage
- Travel suitcase with several things such as Nespresso coffee machine and external computer hard drive inside
- 22" TV in original packing
- Laptop bag

Except of one comment "quite a lot of luggage" nobody said anything and it all went well. While people helped me to bring the stuff to the check in in Zurich it was quite a challenge to walk out of the airport in Beijing with all this luggage by myself. In short the limiting unit wasn't the flight but how much I can carry myself. [I do not recommend testing these limits on your next flight]