A view from the top

Pauli's office is in the China World Trade Centre, phase two. More commonly known as Guo Mao (国贸), the CWTC is also two hotels, a large high-end (read too expensive) shopping mall, and now three tower. The new phase, the third tower,  has just recently been completed, and it also house a luxurious hotel. It is now the highest point in Beijing, with its 90 floors.
On a wonderful weather like today, we just headed up, reaching for the 88th floor of the hotel, in hope to catch a glimpse of Beijing while enjoying a fancy drink. With kids, and their (im)possible tantrums, we were sure that our attempt to a high life would be bound to some limitations. However the experienced proved itself to be quite pleasant, and their washrooms quite useful (and cosy as far as bathroom goes) to calm our initially screaming 3 year old. Of course a little bowl of peanuts also goes a long way too...


North view: Looking at the left bottom of the picture, arranged around a "central park", our compound, with its green and white buildings (our tower is the second from the left, hiding behind the third one). A bit further, the Workers' Stadium and in the background, the mountains (where the Great Wall portions are - can't see them, can't you?!).


A West view (with glare, sorry) over the first diplomatic area and Ritan Park, towards the Forbiden City and Tiananmen square, and the large Jiangomenwai/Changan avenue. In the distance we can also see the Egg (National Theater).


Looking South West, over Pauli's office (Guo Mao 2), over Jian Wai Soho and the Hyatt (who until now had the highest restaurant in town), with a sea of housing towers in the background.


And full South, more buildings buildings buildings... It takes a few to house everyone here...


And a little more East, towards the other portion of the CBD (Central Business District). Walt Mart is under one of the three grey towers on the right side, a bit behind the orange ones...


Looking North-East, where we saying there is lots of buildings around here? You can see the suburb somewhere in the distance.


And there you go, just over the "pants" of Mr Koolhaus!


A great ambiance...


My mothley crew and I enjoying the setting.

Those Pretty Mountains - Part Two : Yangshuo

January 1st, to start the year, we left Guilin by car to Yangshuo, a little locality upstream of the Li. It is set in a little piece of flat land nested between numerous karst peaks. This image found on Wikipedia really shows it best how Yangshuo is  physical setting.

So far Yanshuo is probably the smallest locality I have been since in China - only 300,000 inhabitants! It is mainly a backpacker town, with tourists coming to bike, hike or climb the karsts, or to drift on the small bamboo rafts.
Of course going in the middle of the winter is not the best. The temperature, even if about 15 degrees warmer than Beijing, remains cold and the humidity (and lack of heating in most buildings) makes it a bit uncomfortable. And the rain is intermittent, not preventing us from going around, but certainly a deterrent to any kind of physical activity, specially with the kids.
We checked in our little inn, basic comfort but cool. After discovered the Wii in the lounge, we headed down on the river for a little ride on a bamboo raft.
Despite the cold and the drizzling rain, there was something very peaceful about riding on the water, with the scenery changing fluidly between small peaks, as they appeared out of the mist in front of us, reflected in the moving waters.

An inspired 20 Yuan note...
We landed on the city dock, and started the exploration of Yangshuo.


an old man and his cormoran trained for fishing















In the evening, we went to see a show called "Impression on Sanjie Liu". It is an huge event taking place near Yangshuo, in natural stage with the river as stage and several peeks as backdrop. Directed by Zhang Yimou (who did Hero, Raise the red lantern, Olympics 2008), about 600 actors play on and along the Li river. Despite the rain and the cold, the show really was magic, the beautiful music, dresses and lightshow gave us the feeling of being in the middle of a fairytale.

Those Pretty Mountains - Part One : Guilin

Since we talked about moving in Beijing, there has been a place in China that I really wanted to see.  It is one of those places that are part of this unconscious vague image of China: a few steep but small mountains, with their tops obstructed by the clouds, their still image reflecting in the water of a calm river, cut by the passage of a old man fishing on a bamboo raft.

Guangxi-Guilin-Yanshou

And so for Christmas Paul offered me a trip to go see these places.  What a wonderful wonderful surprise!

So family-style we pack everyone and went onto our plane (Without the diaper bag, forgotten at home. But I am digressing, this is a totally different story).

Here is a glance at my first sight of the Guangxi region, from the plane:

First destination: 桂林 Guilin.

Known for its scenery, the city is sparkled by these steep rock formation, the karst peaks. These little pointy mountains are covering the whole region. In fact its landscape is so special that the city was used as a setting for decor of the planet Kashyyk in Star Wars Episode III.  Here is the view from our hotel room:

The next day, we took the morning to find the zoo, and say hi to the pandas. As usual, their sight that makes Noam quite happy. But with their stained yellowed fur, I really can't help finding the poor guys a bit dirty. And lazy, as they eat bamboo shoots and scratch themselves snail-paced. The little red pandas look much more playful, like furry little bears with long tails.

The Li River serpentine through the city. Its scenery is also found on the back of the 20 Yuan bills. Its  urban shores have been landscaped in a lovely way. At night boats take passengers around the city for a lovely tour, leaving from Fir Lake. It was a real surprise for me to see such beautiful manmade scenery in  an urban setting. Too many times, the Chinese way landscaping and decorating verges on the kitsch. But there, with the meandering of the river, the pretty white bridges, the carved pagodas, with the karst mountains as a background,

Back to the hotel, once the boys in bed, we celebrated the beginning of the new year with the soft sound of the champagne bubbles for only popping noises, since fireworks here are kept for the "real" new year in a couple months.

Welcome 2010!

Hong Kong Buzz

We headed to Hong Kong for a few days. It is May First in China, a long weekend, and Paul will be flying from here to go to a work training in Cambridge. And in the meantime, I could get some medical tests that cannot be done in Beijing (nothing to worry about). So Hong Kong, Here We Are! We landed with more than 3 hours of delay, and althougth I am not sure how this happened, our heads hit the pillows at 4 in the morning. Noam was a really good boy during the flight, thanks to Annie Brocoli. (For all those who vouched to have a TV free kid, please hear the plea of those who travel too late by plane).
Our hotel, the Regal, is quite central. Our first day was occupied with the appointment, so our exploration of the city was minimal. Even so, the buzz and the flavor of the city comes strongly to our senses. The narrow streets are filled with people, stores are crowded, signs are competing one another, food smells and emerging for numerous eateries and fancy restaurants. Narrow street trams are passing us and the green lights ticks to tell us it is ok to cross, its fast beat giving me the sense of a febrile city pulse, a city vibrant and lively. In comparison, Beijing feels so sleepy!



Day Two is spent traveling the city by tram, to the pleasure of Noam's eyes. We head to the Peak to get a view, walk around Hollywood Road in search of good antiques and some carpets. Later in the day we scout some store to find some deals on clothings, and some dim sums (various dumplings, a speciality of the city) in a local eatery. Here, as much the clothing is cheap, as much the food is expensive.

A trip to Chengdu - 成都

As Pauli keeps having more and more trips around China mainland, we felt we could combine his next mission to Chengdu with a nice family side trip. His colleague You Yi (pronounced Yo-Jee) joined us for a portion of the trip and was an invaluable source of information, and a great "travel agent" making sure to avoid us all sorts of trouble.

Chendu is the capital of Sichuan province. This province was hit by a terrible earthquake in May 2008, killing more than 80,000 people. Some of Paul's projects in this region are related to the rebuilding of the devastated villages in the Shichuan province.

The city is quite important historically, and for various regions. It was the birth place of the first widely used paper money in the world, as early as 960 A.D. During the Chinese Civil War, it was also the last stronghold of the Kuomintang General Chiang Kai-Shek against the Communist Mao Tse-Tung. Today the city is one of the most important economic centers, transportation and communication hubs in Southwestern China, with a broad industrial base of manufacturing, aluminum smelting and chemicals. Maybe that explains partially the fact that the city has one of the lowest sunshine rate of China, even less per year than London. Here is a view from atop our hotel...

With 11 million people, the density of the city is 888 inhabitants per square kilometers (as opposed to 11,050 in Beijing and 13,400 in Shanghai) should not feel so dense, however it ranks in third row for his traffic jams. Chendu-ren (the inhabitants of Chengdu) are known for their lifestyle of leisure, Chengdu counting more bars and tea houses than Shanghai, even though is has not even half its inhabitants.

We spent time walking around some beautiful parks, all lined up with tea houses. With its warm and humid weather, Chengdu is really green with bamboo in every park, creating a beautiful atmosphere. The tatch cottage house of the poet Da fo is surrounded by a beautiful garden.



Also very enjoyable, a walk in a restored area of the city called JinLi, where narrow streets and wooden constructions recreate what was probably the best of a medieval Chengdu.

Chengdu's food is also famous; hot pots, noodles and other dishes are all known for their very spicy taste. Here is a picture of a Make-Your-Own-Soup street restaurant, where you choose your vegetables from the plastic bins. Here specially requested "non spicy soups" were still a bit too much for Noam's taste buds. The following picture is an image of the oils and spices from a hot pot (some original version of what in Quebec we call Chinese Fondue). Can you see how many peppers are floating around?!


Another important attraction in Chengdu is the Panda Breeding Centre. We found there a bunch of lazy and happy giant panda, feeding or sleeping leisurely in front of us. Noam preferred the red pandas, more like a breed of furry red raccoons.