Olympic Stadium 2008

As my stay in Beijing is numbered, I try to visit as many interesting and memorable sites as possible within the next few days. Obviously one of them is the Olympic Stadium. It is located at 北辰区, north east of BJ city. It looks like a bird nest from outside and thus it is called 鸟巢 in mandarin. There is a lot of constructions going on around this area and most of them are related to olympic. The nearby olympic pool is built in the building which has the shape like the blue water bubble. It has the under ground water storage tank which stores the rain water collected from the roof. It's brilliant idea as it rarely rains in BJ.

Beijing "Clark Quay"

Behind 前海 is 后海 which is more vibrant and exciting than the former. Took a trishaw ride at the "Hutong" 胡同 brings more insight into the whole place. There are 醇亲王府 (last emperor "PuYi"'s father house), 宋庆龄 (孙中山's wife), 恭王府(dawagen's uncle house), 广化寺 (1 of the 10 temples that guard the area from evils), drum tower (provides time during ancient days) etc.....
The houses here are mainly 四合院 (4 walls enclosed in rectangular shape). Gate stones at the main door of each house indicate the status and academic level of the household e.g. governor with power, teachers or military officials.

Side Gate of The Seasons Park

This is the east (side) gate of my apartment where our hired driver Zhang usually pick us up. 3 of us car pool to-and-fo work everyday. We pay RMB65 for one way journey, which is equivalent to RMB2600 (S$520) per month for him. He is very glad and happy for this amount and arrangement instead of running risk to take passengers on the streets. He is driving 黑车, a illegal taxi (evading tax).

Beijing "Boat Quay"

前海 or Front Sea is located behind the forbidden city. There are many restaurants and pub along the sea front. This is also the place to house the close relatives and government officials during the dynasty periods. Today the offsprings of these officials and rich families are staying around here. But on one condition that the architecture and building structure must be the same and blend well with the surroundings. Note that there is no customers at the outdoor table as the weather is only about 5C.

Beijing "Lau Pa Sak"

This restaurant is located at 新东街 near my house and it is owned by a Singaporean "Ah Beng". He speaks hokkian "singapore style" and dye his hair brown. I think you will never like to associate with him if you see him on Singapore streets. But here, he sells delicious food that I like such as Laksa, Mee Siam, Hokkian fried mee and even "小碗面" at the recent promotion special. So he is the one I like to associate the most when I walk into his restaurant. He gave 10% discount recently to us, without asking.

The Eight "do" and "dont" slogan

Beijing government always reminds the citizen to be cultured "讲文明" by avoiding spitting, littering and refrain from talking loudly in public. The premier Mr. Wen 温 came out with The proud eight "do" and disgraceful eight "don't".

Hard to explain every details but roughly the "dos" are hardworking, discipline, unity, service and love the country. "Donts" are the direct opposite. Strange thing here is religion is not very well supported and propagated. Hardly find any churches or temples around the city. Some of the good things like behaviours, disciplines and human characters can be taught through religious teaching, instead of the government. Maybe this has got to do with history that all religions are deemed to be "superstitious" and it were discouraged at that time (till today).

Guard at the Seasons Park

It has been quite sometime that I wanted to write about the security guard at my apartment. Reasons being these guards always change every alternate months, every few weeks or sometimes few days. I found out some behind storys about the job. Their job is as simple as opening door and greeting whenever residence or visiting guest walk in. No checking on identity or verification is needed. They are paid S$120 per month, but only get 1 month salary upon completing 2 month job. One month is kept at management office as guaranty (for not quitting). One meal is provided per day. These guards are normally coming from other provinces, very eager to work in Beijing which is their dream city, big, prosperous and filled with vitality. One of the previous guard told me that he paid huge sum (about S$1000) to the job agency to go Beijing. Upon arrival, he could not find the working place mentioned by the agent and he realized that he (and his cousin) was cheated. They ended up sleeping at the underpass as they had no money at all. Later they were spotted by the management office and introduce them to work as guards at our apartment. However not long after, he decided to run away as this is not the job he wanted. He did not call home to his parents as he still has no money after working for 2 months. I gave him S$40 to buy train ticket back to his home town at Jilin. It was a nightmare for him.

Shocking Moment

It was early in the morning that my boss called me into his office. I knew something to do with my contract which is due this month. I pestered him several times about the renewal status and he is not sure about it. As the company is undergoing a massive re-structuring by removing APAC level to achieve "lean" organization, no one in China APAC knows what is going to happen, including my boss. I really do not like to pester him since I know he can not give me an answer, but my house lease is due, and so as my work permit "visa". All these thing is pushing me for an answer ! Finally my boss's boss came today to make an announcement. Thank god, at last he came and gave us a latest updates. As expected, my name does not appear in the new org chart. I am OUT !!! For that moment, I was blackout and blank !! How am going to cope ? How am I going to find a new job ? When I broke out this news to my colleagues through on-line mail, my tears swelled and flowed. It is not so much for leaving China, but the feeling of leaving my good friends and peers in the company made me sad. When they wrote back "be strong" "be cool", more tears came out. It was uncontrollable !! It was just the soft character in me, which reflected the human weakness. That is how religion comes into rescue. I started to accept the reality, the truth of life that "it is not a sure thing", be it pleasure or pain, happy or sad. I am better now. That's for sure. Just like death, that's for sure too.

Snow in Spring

As I miss the winter snow last December 2006 due to my home trip, thank god and fortunate to see snow in Spring. It is surprising ! Snow started in the late night of 2nd Mar. By the next morning every where and every thing exposed outside was coverd by snow. I intentionally took a slow walk out door, just to experience snow. Also open my mouth to taste snow. It was exhilarating !

Ancient Cave House

Arrived in BJ again on the 22nd Feb, after spending one week CNY holiday in Singapore. Since we have a long week end here before new work week, me and my Spore colleague and his family went to visit Ice Sculpture, ancient "cave" house and the great wall "Juyongguan" station.