Burning money - so pretty!

I think the Chinese government have found their new calling. After banning fire works in Beijing during Chinese New Years for the past 14 years, the celebration last night can probably be considered as one of the greatest unorchestrated fireworks display of the world.

For anywhere between 10 RMB (a bit over 1 USD) to 100 RMB (a bit over 10 USD), you can buy fireworks of all shapes and sizes. Officially, the government banned the use of grade A and B fireworks, only allowing C and D firworks inside the 2nd ring road. However, I think many people got around that...

All day long, one could hear the explosions of fireworks from near or far. But, it was only when dusk hit that you could see them. And what a sight! People around my family's neighborhood (a very residential one in Beijing) started setting off their fireworks at 7...and kept on going, and going, and going... Fire art of all shapes and sizes decorated the cold night sky - from large flowers, to gold glitters, to colorful flashes of light that shoots up into the night and dissapears as soon as it is seen. The apex of the night came at midnight, the official ringing in of the new year, where fireworks were going off all around, waking up all kinds of spirits with their rucous and decorating the night with its glamour. When the fireworks finally died down a bit, the air was heavy with the smell of gunpowder. But it was all worth it.

This leads me to believe that my piromaniac tendencies takes root in the culture of the people that I came from. After last night, it seems like we all love fire! Afterall, we did invent the gunpowder... :)

It's that time of year

Topic of the day: Happy Chinese New Years!!!

 

Every year, around Chinese New Years time, China transforms into its most festive self.  People are rushing to go home in order to ring in the new year with their family and from my office on the 21st floor, I can hear the occasional bang of fire crackers from around the neighborhood.

 

People at the office are getting excited to go home, relax, and enjoy the week long break.  On our last day of work, I noticed that we were out of beer.  Slightly disappointed, myself and a French colleague started to laminate about the loss of our daily beer.  Then, all of a sudden, our director spoke up.  "Don't worry," she said as she popped below her desk and produced a bottle of red wine.  "And when that's done, here's another one," and up comes another bottle of red wine.  And if that still doesn't do the trick, she pulled up her last little treasure from under her desk: a bottle of whisky.  I love my office.  :)

 

So tonight, new year's eve night, the most important night of this holiday season, I will be celebrating with my family.  It has been about 15 years since I've celebrated Chinese New Years in China with my family in China.  Then, tomorrow, I will fly to Shanghai and will spend 2 days there - a nice little break from Beijing.  Maybe a little side trip to the classic water town of Suzhou while I'm in the area.

 

Finally, looming in the horizon is the week-long trip to Thailand that I'll take in February...a few days will be spent in Bangkok before I head down south and meet up with my two little Aussie friends, Simon and Michelle, in Phuket.

 

Exciting times we do live in!

You said what???

Topic of the day: Aussie quotable quotes

Because I've been hanging out with a lot of Aussies recently (is it a blessing or a curse? Still trying to decide on that. ;-) ). One thing that I've picked up while hanging out with them is that even though all of them are great people and most of them are very smart, they are also capable of saying some really dumb things sometimes. So as an ode and to commemorate all the Aussies I know, below will be a list of recent memorable Aussie quotes. If you have any more to contribute or if you know I'm forgetting any, feel free and leave a comment!! :-) So without further adieu:

While trying to find each other
Habib: I'm facing a traditional looking Chinese building about three stories tall. I can also see the island that's in the middle of the lake.

Along the same lines
Simon: I'm on a road and I just turned onto another road. Where am I?

While everyone was dying of dehydration
Simon: When I'm thirsty, I drink beer.

When talking about the Tongan Embassy party
Habib: Is Tong An a place in China?

Nick: What's a nomad?

Simon: How do bricks float?

And my favorite...
Nick: Is a lion a male tiger?

It feels like home

Topic of the day: Weekend trip up north

Every year in China, there's a huge ice carving festival in the northern city of Haerbin. Located about 1,000 kilometers south of Siberia, Russia, the city was originally built by the Russians, later taken over by the Japanese, and then given back to China. Once a mecca for Russian Jews, the city is now very much Chinese influenced. However, a few traits of the city's Russian past still remains, like a few Russian styled buildings, the famous red Russian sausages, and its famous annual ice carving festival.

As a nice little weekend getaway, I traveled with a group of friends from Beijing to Haerbin to go meet up with the grandaddy of all POSes and go see the ice festival. After a night of debauchery on the overnight train, which involved many bottles of beer, cards, and songs, we woke up to the blistering cold city of Haerbin.

How cold was it? About minus 20 Celcius with no sun. Literally It hurt to breath. After a nap and a jaunt around our hostel, we made our way to a very good and rib sticking hot pot lunch. What do you get when you get a bunch of hungry people together? 7 plates of meat, a whole bunch of vegetables, and then Devrim saying: "I'm still kind of hungry".

We walked around the town for a bit, and then discovered our little Haerbin jewel: Russian Coffee & Tea. It's a great little cozy joint that serves good Russian food...and vodka. Lots and lots of vodka.

One thing I learned this weekend is that Vodka is NOT your friend. Never. Although it does go down pretty smoothly with pickles, but not really the point. Anyway, Vodka will never be your friend.

Along the same line, we did give fabulous business to the Russian cafe - 3 visits in 24 hours. The funny thing was, they were actually out of vodka by our 3rd visit. Scary.

Between eating and drinking, we did make it to the actual ice festival. I'm glad to say the festival surprised us all. We were all very impressed at how great everything looked and how beautiful it was. Huge castles, churches, and buildings were made out of blocks of ice. The highlight of the festival was an ice toboggan run that ran from the steps of the castle onto a pile of snow below. Great fun.

The next day, the whole group went to the tiger park. They about 100 Siberian tigers, lions, and ligers there. While there, Simon fulfilled his life long dream of watching a tiger kill a goat (we bought the goat). Another highlight was when some other people bought a live chicken to feed the tigers. The chicken was so scared that it laid an egg just as the tiger grabbed it. I hate to sound very cruel, but I think the more warped thing was that despite the cruelty of the acts, everyone enjoyed it. And you have to admit the chicken laying an egg was pretty funny...

So overall, it was a lovely weekend spent eating, drinking, and taking pictures, all in the company of friends and in minus 20 celcius weather!

New Years Eve

Topic of the day: A pictoral recap of the last day of 2005, curtesy of Simon & Michelle...


What I was doing while everyone else was down in New Zealand...

How does brick float?

Topic of the day: Why you should save your blog entries

I'm a wee bit upset because the entry I wrote before was just all erased when I tried to use spell check. (Damn it!) So instead of writing everything, here's everything that's happened in the past few days, in brief.

In Brief:
- Tongon Embassy's New Years Eve party - very fun. Check out Dominics blog for more details: Dominic's blog Not quite New Zealand, but close enough to count. :)
- Ice chaired and ice skated at Hohai on New Year's day. Loved the multiple 360 degrees spins on the ice chairs, curtesy of Habib (Cheers!).
- Australians say some funny stuff:

While everyone's very intoxicated already and all dying for some water
Simon: When I get thirsty, I drink beer.

While trying to find each other
Habib: I'm standing on a one arc bridge. I see a Chinese looking building, about three stories tall. I'm also facing the island in the middle of the lake.

While looking at a part of the lake that was about 90 percent frozen (so, still a bit slushy, but pretty much there)
Simon: How does brick float?