The TV tower west of town provides nice "top views" over part of the city
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| Beijing TV Tower view |
Sunday, January 29, 2012
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
The only available source of information to check the current air quality is from the US embassy.
Current situation
Explanations
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
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!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
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?
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?
Sunday, January 15, 2012
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
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
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
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...
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...
Monday, January 2, 2012
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]
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]
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