First snow arrives in Beijing

First snow arrives in Beijing early this morning at 2am. Temperature is below zero at -1C for the first time this year. From now on, whenever there is rain forecasted in coming days, it will be accompanied by snow flakes. It was said that snow arrives 2 weeks later than previous year due to global warming. Nevertheless it will be my first winter experience and I look forward to a white christmas which for me is an impossible dream in my entire life !

PBJ Beijing 2nd Plant

It was a Friday on the 11th Nov 2006 in Beijing. This is the day of inauguration of PBJ Beijing 2nd Plant (Beijing 1st plant in operation since 2003). Our CEO, vice Chairman of the board of directors, VP of Nokia Beijing, major customers as well as the governors of Beijing BDA (Beijing Technological Economic Develpment Area) attended this auspicious event at the beginning of winter season.

This is the 3rd plant in China for Perlos (1st plant is locatecd in Guangzhou 7 years ago). 4th plant will be ready in Guangzhou from Q1, 2007. This heavy focus in Asia operation is in line with HQ strategy to generate 70% of business in APAC region.

Beijing Food

Staying in Beijing for 8 month now, its right time to write about BJ special food. First thing first is the “HuLuTang” 葫芦糖. Don’t really understand why it is so attractive to the local people as it is very sweet and unhygienic (sometimes). Second food that I can think of is the Beijing Roast Duck. I tried the so-call “best” roast duck in Beijing and its taste was good. The restaurant name is "大董烤鸭店" which was featured in Spore Channel U 5 years back. There are 3 different ways of eating and the hostess will demonstrate that to you. It was fun.

Happy Valley Park

Together with KuanChee and Peters' family, we went to the amusement park called Happy Valley located at Fourth Ring Road. Weather was only 3C~12C. In order to enjoy the outdoor rides, we only set off at 12PM when we can see sunshine and the temperature was at its peak. However the sky became dark as early as 5PM. We adjourned to WangFuJin for dinner and little shopping in the cold cool chilly night !!

Winter Season

Weather is extremely strange early this morning. Whole sky and street is covered with fog or smog (?). Visibility on the road is only 2 cars in front. We could not see the third front car while traveling to office today. The high way leading to office is closed for traffic, same as other major high ways. It took us 2 hours to reach office, which 1 hour is enough under normal circumstances. My other colleague traveling to Guangzhou from Beijing, was stranded in Beijing airport from 9AM to 6PM. What a Monday to start off ! This is also said to be the symtom for the arrival of winter. News reported that the foggy sky was due to sudden drop in temperature after several days of sunshine, which was not normal in winter. When the high/low humidity converges in one place, with the integration of air particles, resulted in the formation of fog. In other words, it is advisable to put on face mask when going outdoor as this fog could be contaminated with dust and air pollutant.

Weekend Visit to Jilin

It is a rare occasion to have a chance to attend a cross cultural Chinese/Indian wedding late October 2006. My Indian colleague is marrying a local Chinese girl from Jilin province. We took a night train from Beijing station departing at 2240 hour on the 27th Oct, and arrived next morning 0700 hour at Changchun (capital of Jilin). Thereafter we were transferred to Shangri La Hotel located at the heart of Changchun. We had good buffet breakfast at the coffee garden before our city tour around the capital. We visited the famous “Puyi” (the last emperor) palace. Puyi was named to be the “puppet government” as he has lost all political power to the Japanese and Westerners at that time. The palace was only the harbor place for Puyi and he was secretly under strict vigilance by the foreign power, unknowingly.