nyc to hk to bj = 20.5 hours

I was at the laundromat at midnight the night before I left for China because I had to clean my clothes so I could pack them for my 9 AM flight. Honestly I barely got out the door in time. My flight from JFK to Hong Kong was 15.5 hours and could not fall asleep. I flew Cathay Pacific and they had 30+ free new movie choices so I ended up watching one movie after the other like a zombie. My 2 hour layover in Hong Kong before I boarded another 3 hour plane to Beijing was just enough time for me to eat this noodles at the "Taiwan Beef Noodle" restaurant. This beef noodle soup with dark tangy broth will one day catch on in the States when people find out about it.

When I arrived in Beijing, I hailed a cab and set off for the hotel I'd made a reservation with online (and received a confirmation email). After driving around for an hour and asking strangers and other cab drivers, my driver and I discovered that the hotel has since gone out of business! So, there I was, nearly midnight again, without any place to go. I asked the driver to just take me to a cheap hotel that he knew of. He was kind enough to call ahead and got a quote of 160 RMB per night. When I got there, the clerks did not speak English and told me that I could not stay for under 330 RMB a night. I said my friend called and said 160 and they told me that because I am a foreigner I have to pay more. I finally bargained them down to 215 which I was proud of considering they knew I had nowhere else to go!

The view outside my hotel window was pretty cool. As always, the Beijing sky is overcast, but you can still see the rooftops of a hutong neighborhood in the grey light.

-mk

local beijing restaurant gives me a new year's present

I went out to eat with my coworker last night and at the end of the meal we asked for a receipt. They weren't able to give us one (I never understood why) and the manager came over personally to apologize. As an apology gift, he gave me a giant calendar for the new year. It's pretty awesome. I think I acted a little too excited... like I'd won an award or something. It reads roughly, "year of the tiger brings fortune/prosperity." I hope this is a sign. I will definitely be asking for receipts at restaurants more often. The picture above is of me in my boss's awesome kitchen trying to figure out where the heck to hang it. I'm living in his apartment while he is in the States and I am looking for an apartment. Right now the calendar is just sitting on a chair. It will be the first decoration I hang when I move into my own place! So far though I've had little luck in finding a place. The last place I saw didn't have a refrigerator. Where will my calendar end up?

-mk

facebook, youtube, hulu, my own blog... i missed you

China's internet restrictions seem to be getting stricter. Here's an interesting article about how China started banning individuals from registering internet domain names last month. You now have to present a business license and a company chop (official company seal) to register a domain. Can you imagine?

Right now in China you can't access facebook, youtube, twitter, this blog, and many other websites. A few of my Chinese friends told me how they used to have facebook accounts and then one day they could no longer go to the site. I am also unable to view personal blogs and online videos. I've definitely felt disconnected, but finally I found out how to get around the restrictions. As opposed to when I was here before, there are some services out there that are easy to find and allow you to access blocked sites.

I'm no expert, but I'll try to explain what I did for those of you in the same situation. VPN (Virtual Private Networks) change your IP address so your computer appears to be located in the US or Europe. Here's a good list of VPN Service Providers. There are some that are free but I hear that they drop off often and are not secure so I am using a $15/month provider called Surfbouncer (www.surfbouncer.com). They rotate the servers every few weeks so it makes it that much more difficult to track. It took me about 5 hours to download and figure out how to get it to work but considering I don't know anything about this stuff it was pretty painless (except for the fees).

In the absence of Facebook and because I have yet to meet/make even one expat friend, I joined a local Beijing social networking site. So far I've yet to have someone add me who is worth befriending even in cyberspace and I'm glad I used a pseudonym (think famous bank robber). The only people who have added me are men from countries I don't know anything about (Moldova, anyone?) who happen to be in China and want to meet or people who just want me for my English skills. The other day I was in a dvd store and I overheard some girls speaking with a British accent and I was so close to just walking up and asking them to be my friend! Wow I sound like a stalker myself.That's what facebook is for.

-mk

time to bust out the long underwear

 Wow, it might get as low as minus 16 degrees in Beijing! A blizzard moving from Siberia hit the capital over the weekend and they are experiencing the coldest temperatures in 40 years. Mary Kate told me government regulations dictate how much power office buildings can use for heating so the building she works in turns the heat off at night and uses it sparingly during the day. She must be freezing today. I hope Beijing warms up a little before I arrive this Sunday. I went to Eddie Bauer today to get some new long underwear but I don't think it will help too much while riding a bicycle around in minus 16 weather.  Here's a video from an Australian news station that shows how Beijing residents coping with the cold and more info about the crazy weather.

-Nate

christmas in beijing

There was a restaurant near my first apartment in Beijing that was
decorated with Christmas lights and Christmas kitch year-round. The owner told me he thought the decorations might attract foreign students from the university down the street to his restaurant. At first this sounded crazy but I learned not to underestimate the power of the cardboard Santa Claus head and green tinsel to cheer me up on a muggy summer days. I used to eat there all the time and it wasn't only because of the homemade potato chips.

Christmas is not a national holiday in China (Christianity is exactly mainstream) but non-religious Christmas decorations like lights and Christmas trees have gotten popular this time of year with people in cosmopolitan cities. By the looks of the video below filmed by Janek Zdzarski, Beijing was really decked out in Christmas duds this year. I like the end of the video when the police officer covers the lens of the camera with his hand and tells him to stop filming.

-Nate