Chinese New Year has come and gone, and I spent 2 weeks back in Australia during the start of February - a few days in Perth, and the rest of the time back with mum and dad in Picton. It's probably appropriate that I compare my new home town to my old home town (for those that don't know Picton, or Beijing for that matter). Beijing, where I currently call home has a population of 20 million people. I have walked down streets in Beijing for the 9 months I have been here, and not met anyone I know. Picton has a population of 3,000 people. I was home for 5 minutes, went into the town, and heard my name yelled across the street. Got to love small towns!
I arrived back in Beijing mid February to enjoy the last few weeks of winter. I have to admit that as much as I thought I could handle winter, it was harder than I thought. Bitterly cold days, heavy pollution, having to put on 3 layers of clothes to pop out and get some milk. Give me Australian seasons any day.
This is a photo of me travelling to Changchun, where the temperature got to -35 degrees! You can see how excited I am to be travelling to such a cold place.
It was a crazy week after arriving back in Beijing. For those that don't know, mum broke her hip and had to be hospitalised for a few weeks. Through the joys of social media, I found out what happened before mum and dad had a chance to tell me. Got to love Facebook! The good news is mum is back at home now, recovering well.
It was time to hit the road again, and spent some time in Nanchang, Shanghai, Nanjing and Hefei. One of the great things about travelling is not just visiting some amazing cities, but also working with the local teams and enjoying the many different cuisines throughout China. In my stop in Nanjing, we went out to an Oyster themed restaurant where they serve many different types of oysters. The attached photo is oysters covered in grilled cheese. Not bad.
These were Chinese oysters (I can't remember exactly where from), but they were very tasty. There were garlic, curry and many other styles. Between 6 of us, I think we had about 25 oysters. It took me a while to explain to the locals the word aphrodisaic.
The photo on the left is where we went after the Oyster restaurant. It was a club in the 1912 district of Nanjing called "Enzo's". Lots of tables (which is wise to book), a DJ (but no where to dance), and a drink menu that included a champagne package valued at RMB 30,000 (about AUD5,000). Let's just say we went for the cheaper option. In the photo is night DJ LuKai, Program Manager Summer, our new marketing manager Rheece, and me.Next stop was Hefei, where we planned to attend a client party for about 150 clients. One thing about being in a foreign country that I am very careful about is eating, and making sure that food is prepared properly etc. I have been here almost 10 months, and it was Friday where I finally got caught out. Not sure how, or where, or what, but I obviously ate something that made the following 24 hours very interesting. Let's just say I was very glad to make it onto the plane the next morning.
During winter, Beijing is centrally heated. The government says when they will turn it on, and they say when they will turn it off (which was yesterday, hence the title of this blog). It takes a lot of energy to centrally heat a city of 20 million people, so as you can imagine, this would generate alot of pollution. In fact, it produces a bloody lot of pollution. There is a scale that records the pollution from 0 (clean), to 500 (stay inside/unhealthy). One day in January, it got to 738! So, when I returned to Beijing after my trip, the office girls decided to distribute face masks. Not sure how much they keep out, but even if it's 50% it will be my new fashion accessory next winter.
So, that brings me pretty much up to date. Oh, except the St Patricks Day Irish ball which was on Saturday night. One of the biggest social events of the year in Beijing, and we had 2 tables with 20 people (there was 700 people all up). I was still getting over food poisoning, so wasn't 100%, but still had a great night. The food was good, the band so-so, but great company! The attached photo shows me with friends Will and Andy (notice Andy and I have the same bowties, especially made for a few of us).
This week is in Beijing, and next week on the road again to one of my favourite places - Xi'an. Thanks for taking the time to share my adventure and reading my blog. Don't forget. Tell you friends! It is still an incredible ride, and it keeps getting better. I can't believe that in a few months I will rack up 1 year in China.
Zaijian! Bring on spring!
