Sat 24 Jul 2010
Amy found the coolest hostel so far in Beijing: Qian Men Hostel. Beats even the one I had 5 years ago. That one was an old double courtyard building (I assumed teared down by now). This one is a double courtyard building with multiple floors and great common area.
Beijing, Forbidden Palace, Again. 
Still great, though, and this time way less people. Below Tian’anmen Square, a whole part of the city I remembered (including my former hostel) is gone. There is now a chick shopping street (Qian Men Ave). Still, most of the character in the surrounding streets is still there.
Also, I managed to loose the replacement sunglasses I bought for the ones I lost in the forbidden palace. Bought another pair (it’s hot and sunny here). Next time I plan a bigger sunglass budget.
Sat 24 Jul 2010
There are those days were everything goes wrong …
First, bad planning: We (Amy, James and me) needed to be at the bus station at 9:00 to get the bus to the factory we try to visit. We wanted to meet at 8:30 in Jin’an, but half an hour was never enough, at least 45min was needed to get to the bus station.
Second, bad execution: We couldn’t find a cab and then the cab took more than 45min to find the meeting place in Jin’an. So we didn’t arrive until 9:00.
After we bought the train tickets for the 11:00 bus, we realized that this was already too late (we would arrive a 13:00). So we canceled the visit and got a refund for the bus tickets.
What to do? As the Germans say: Wait and drink tea. So we went to a tea house instead and relaxed a bit.
Finally, plane to Beijing at night. Trains were of course already booked out, so a plane was the only option. In the chaos of all this, I manage to loose my prescription sun glasses. One of the two things that cannot be replaced (the other being my passport). Finally after some cab problems we arrived at the Beijing hostel around 2:00.
Crappy day.
P.S.: Apparently they also closed Xiang Yang Market (the famous fake market). It was only a building ground there. 
Fri 23 Jul 2010
As said before, the lines at the Expo were crazy. Every Chinese and their grandmothers (and great grandmothers). We had the choice between waiting for hours or pick less popular pavilions. So we managed to only get into buildings of say less liked nations: Afghanistan, Iran, Palestine, North Korea, Lybia, Syria, Timor-Leste and Mongolia as well as the African and Pacific Island Joint Pavilion etc. So essentially countries who are either war zones or have barely any economy at all. Some of those were rather weird: Mongolia’s chief export seems to be dinosaur eggs?! Iran had Ahmadinejad posters in every direction but played funky Persian music. Timor-Leste had big screen TV with a nature doc and 10 chairs in front of it (It’s only 8 years old as a country, so I guess that’s ok). Palestine, Lybia and Syria all blend together, as they looked almost the same (expect Palestine’s chief export seems to be name plates saying: “Jerusalem, Capital of Palestine”). North Korea had a little river, a little bridge and a little cave. And tons of pictures of smiling kids with the slogan: Paradise for People.
On way to get people (especially kids) interested in all countries was the Expo passport, where you had a space for each country. Of course you had long lines in every pavilion just for the stamps (in some, the people were not interested at all in anything but the stamps). I’m guilty myself of getting a couple of interesting ones. I really wanted to get the Palestine and the Israel one next to each other. But I couldn’t get into the Israel pavilion, so I couldn’t see the face of Israels official stamper either. Would have been fun.
Thu 22 Jul 2010
Crowded! My main impression here at the Expo (for Americans: World Fair). We arrive at opening time (9:00) on a weekday and there was still nothing we could do to avoid the crowds. To get into the quite impressive Chinese Pavilion, you have to get a reservation at 4am. Most other pavilions had a wait of 2-5h, depending on popularity. I was nice just to wander around and see the different ways each nation represents itself. Some impressions:
Really Cool
- UAE (golden sand dunes)
- Nepal (temple/castle replica)
- Saudi Arabia (gigantic UFO/upside down hill with palms on top)
- Spain (some crescent shaped wood/straw thing)
Interesting
- Germany (weird shaped metal)
- France (some form of glass building behind what looked like bars)
- Sweden (white building with bike lane on top)
Bizarre
- North Korea (Slogan: Paradise for people)
- Iceland and Greece (amusingly both ran out of money midway, their buildings were metal frames with big posters)
- USA (a bland metal building without any interesting feature. The USA managed to be beaten by Iceland’s and Greece’s posters )
- Serbia (a lego building ?!)
My favorite: Spain.
Wed 21 Jul 2010
It has been a while since I’ve been in Shanghai. Not since living there in 2005. And I haven’t been in Asia at all since Japan 2007 (which I somehow never got around blogging about).
Shanghai suppose to change a lot, so is said. I was more surprised by the things that didn’t change. Pudong Airport is still the same, but now 5 years later, it doesn’t look as sparkly new anymore. Same for the Maglev (which looked a bit crappy inside). The Middle Henan Road subway station is called East Nanjing now, but not at all different, saying I don’t remember it looking very good in 2005 either (but it still had the nice bakery right in the middle). The Bund is and will always the Bund. I honestly couldn’t see much difference after several years of construction. So far I have a greater feeling of “dejavu” then of “what’s that new thing”.
P.S.: After I never manage to stay at the Captain’s 5 years ago (but everybody else did), I wanted this time. Of course I picked the wrong one (apparently two on the Bund now).
Thu 12 Nov 2009
“Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognizes genius.”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Fri 21 Nov 2008
“The basic idea of the Iraq war is that when you got stung by a wasp, the best thing to do it is to search for the wasp nest and hit it really really hard with a stick.”
Paraphrasing from Terrifying Times by John Oliver.
Wed 19 Nov 2008
It has been a while since I was in a club in NYC. I mean a real club: electronic music, danceable, with the right crowd and the right place at the right time of the night. The club scene in NYC has been hit pretty hard, first by Giuliani, who put raves and clubs in the same basket with crack and vandalism. And then came the bank boom and the need for newly rich hipster bankers to spend their money in public, leading a lot of club owners to shift from dancing to representing (aka $500 table charges to listen to crappy pop and the infamous bottle service). Add the rise of pop hip hop and the general decline of electronic here in the US and you have a declining club scene. (For all German speakers, very nice described here). The Time Out New York used to have 20 pages of club events a week, now it’s hardly more than 3 or 4. Most of the good stuff seems to now be in deep Brooklyn, Connecticut or up in Canada, at least that’s what I’ve heard.
Myself, I haven’t been clubbing lately either. Most of my friends here are either not interested in the “European kind of clubbing” (the German techno fan is a common cliche) or think it’s too expensive (which it can be, depending on location). Most people here are associate clubs with places you go to pick up girls/guys and any music will do for that. In short, I was missing the social crowd to club regularly, plus there aren’t a lot of options for it either.
Luckily last weekend it worked out. I was in the Sullivan Room with Basic NYC. Usually I tried to avoid anything near Bleecker St, as the tourist and college crowd can get pretty annoying. But I haven’t been in the room in such a long time (years?), it just had to happen. I actually forgot where the room was and had to run up and down the street a couple of times (a simple metal door is easy to overlook!). The club was less crowded than I remember it, but we were pretty early (11pm) and it filled up quite well towards the end, never packed though. Music was first class. The crowded was mixed, some Europeans, some of the pickup crowd and some of the real fans. So the club scene is not actually dead. I kind of felt the same way as I remember my nights years ago. So there is still hope for Manhattan after all! Also Club Shelter might or might not be re-opening. Thumbs crossed.
Fri 14 Nov 2008
Obama became President last week, which is of course a good thing, considering I supported him. It took me a while to get there, though. A short history …
I actually didn’t get what people had with him in the early primaries. He seemed to come out of nowhere. Suddenly a serious opponent to Hillary Clinton, the sure candidate to win the primaries since around 2006. I really didn’t get it: How did he get in this position? Why are all my neighbors going crazy about him? And that was besides him being a guy of my style: well-educated, intellectual and well-traveled. But his lack of experience struck me. Normally not such a big problem, but my argument during the primaries was that the US elected an inexperienced president in 2000 and that was a disaster for 8 years. Wouldn’t somebody more experience be a better choice after Bush? Another problem was the idealism. After all, Bush was also an idealist in his specific ways (e.g. religious topics). Another 8 years of polarized, dogmatic politics, just this time from the other side? Plus, the opponent was Hillary Clinton. I really wanted a Clinton back in the White House. As my friend Adam was saying, I’m old enough to remember the early 90s, that’s why I want a Clinton back. That feeling was obviously not shared with several younger people I talked to during the primaries. One even said that the 90s was such an easy time to govern, everybody could have done it. So much for history I guess.
And the primaries were harsh. My apartment building had serious arguments between Clinton and Obama fans. People were throwing nasty stuff at each other all over the country. Every primary was watched, analyzed intensively and debated. At the end Obama won, but barely. I was slightly disappointed. Obama was still a blank for me. No program, no clearcut ideas, no real picture about his personality.
Over the course of 2008 that changed dramatically. First came an article in the New Yorker about Obama’s year in Chicago. The summary of the article would be roughly this: He is a hardcore pragmatic who excelled in working the Chicago political machine. Idealist? Not really. That warmed me up a lot to him. An undogmatic pragmatist would not only be the Anti-Bush, but also a perfect alternative to the Republican politics in general.
The second change was of course in McCain. He changed. A Lot. He became an anti-abortionist. He wanted to intensify Bush’s tax cut. He denounced his own immigration reform. And then came Palin. I mean serious, what was he thinking? Jon Stewart called her the She-Bush once. Very much to the point: Dogmatic, anti-intellectual, unworldly. By then I was already for Obama. And I had to witness how the Republican campaign disintegrated into anti-intellectualism (Drill, Baby, Drill), name-calling (Obama as a socialist/communistic/terrorist) and just plain stupidity (Joe, the Plumber). At the end I was ready to leave the country if McCain wins. I don’t think I have been more surprised by a politician then by Obama and more disappointed than by McCain.
Tue 28 Oct 2008
Hedgy: Hey man, what’s up?
Investy: Not much, what are you up to?
Hedgy: I wanna ask you a favour, actually. Do you see Sue Prime over there?
Investy: Yeah, don’t really know her, though.
Hedgy: You don’t have to really. But how about you help her out with some water?
Investy: She doesn’t have enough water? We are in the desert!
Hedgy: No, I think she is ok for now. But you know, it’s the desert. You can never have enough water. Come on man, you don’t trust me? We know each other for such a long time, man!
Investy: Actually we just met last week.
Hedgy: Ah come one, don’t worry! If she can’t give it back, I will get you some water. Promise!
Investy: Alright, Alright. Do you have enough water in case something goes wrong?
Hedgy: Of course, no worries! On a completely separate note, I need to borrow some water, you get double back …
Following Week
Investy: Hey, what’s up with the water you borrowed? I need the bottles back, kind of running dry a bit over here.
Hedgy: Um, oh, I’m kinda, sorta, totally out, too, man. So is Sue by the way.
Investy: What? Where is all the stuff?
Hedgy: Guess it was pretty stupid to give water to Sue and her friends. Or to those friendly looking guys I met yesterday. You can’t trust people these days!
Investy: What about the stuff you had saved in case the deal with Sue goes bad?
Hedgy: Oh, man, that is a simple misunderstanding. When I said “saved”, I actually meant “will borrow from you later”. Just bad communication, you know, happens all the time.
Investy: Are you crazy? We both have no water? We are in the desert!
Hedgy: Shit mean, don’t you have any reserves?
Investy: Uh, oh …
To be continued …