Aaah, Christmas!

Christmas is coming! And how exciting to be back in the UK, where Christmas is celebrated with more than a token flashing light and strip of tinsel!

I landed at about 3.30pm on Sunday and made it to the Albion, secret Santa present wrapped and in hand, to hit the Jesus Christmas dinner 2009. Well done Caro for organising! It was great to see so many of us together again - from places as far away as California, Brazil, China and Clapham - enjoying a good catch up as if no time had passed at all. This is exactly what I love about Christmas! Nice one, friends.

PLUS there is SNOW! It's slushy, and it's causing havoc - but hey, that's Britain and we wouldn't have it any other way.....

CUTE!

In Tiananmen Square, of all the iconic places in China, we stumbled across this very happy family from the Chinese countryside on holiday to see the sights that Beijing has to offer. We had some (slightly confused and confusing chat), the outcome of which was that they were just about as interested in us as we were in them - cue lots of photos.... The only one who doesn't seem to be so happy is the kid (in the best outfit I've ever seen) and I'm going to out that down to her discomfort in all those layers:


Check out how rigid she is! And note the slit in the jumpsuit..... poor thing - at least she was blessed with a nappy than is more than can be said for the rest of the toddlers we saw that day!

Another cutie!

OCCB Christmas Ball

Dave and I had organised tickets to the OCCB Christmas charity ball, in aid of Smile Train (which, incidentally, I think is fab and urge you to donate to) - and it was a chance to get dressed up nicely in a city that is usually so casual!

We had a Christmas dinner, which was all very nicely presented but the turkey was too dry, which was a shame eeing as this is practically my only festive event pre-Christmas! There was an auction, and a speech by the British ambassador about his time in China, spanning c. 30 years, which was fascinating - so much so that I was prompted to introduce myself and tell him exactly that!Then, OBV, it all went a bit downhill... or uphill, depending on how you view it!

Karaoke (cont.)

What is life without a warble? Lisa, Sophie, Dave and I have been joined by various others at Cashbox Partyworld, our KTV joint of choice, at several recent outings, lasting 4-5 hours a time. If you estimate about 45 minutes per person, everyone should leave satisfied!

Classic tunes turned out to be My Way, Macarena, My Humps, Mambo Number 5 (the machine is a little difficult to use, so it seems we worked our way largely through the Ms...). And while we attempted some Cui Jian, it has to be said that, on my part, it was only my stance that resembled him.

I'd like to pay tribute to the efforts and stamina of all involved, as evidenced below - take your bows please!

And my personal favourite.....

The X Factor

Of course, I am a big fan of the X factor. I love the feel-good factor and I love that Ben likes it too. It means we can, for once, indulge in some trashy television together, rather than me ferreting for the remote under his scornful eye.... So, OBV, I was dismayed to discover that you can't get UK TV online due to being in the wrong "region" - EVEN the X Factor! Outrageous.*

But I digress... the point of this post is to point you all in the direction of the Chinese embassy website, where Ambassador Fu Ying has posted her thoughts and commentary on this year's X Factor final! If I, as a Brit in the PRC, have to miss out on this national institution, I am pleased to see it being taken seriously by my counterpart (erm, OK - not quite - maybe one day?) in the UK. Nice one, ambassador!

* I kept up with the Jedward fiasco, and the Dannii v. Cheryl fashion debate online, natch - but it's just not the same.

Round up....

Well, since the decision to shut down my blog for a few weeks was made for me, I have been doing so many blogworthy things (after all, it's not worth doing, if it's not worth blogging about, right Rich?) that I don't know where to start! Here are a few snippets...

Lisa and Sophie came to visit! - and what a good time was had by all! Here we are celebrating the safe arrival of them, their luggage AND some funds (take note - Tonks!), and BGD is also seen getting into the spirit of it all and living up to his nickname..... We rounded off the evening with a mere 5 hours of KTV (post to follow).

Brunch - SO good. Champagne, seafood, live jazz, magicians, calligraphy, the best smoked salmon you can imagine and an enormous dessert station with delectable chocolate pots - the Hilton Wangfujing is our new Sunday brunch venue of choice. Here I am enjoying my first Cosmo of the day (and people wonder why I love it here):
Tini taxi - these have a proper name, but I've forgotten it. They seem to be designed for c. 1-2 Chinese-sized people, yet Lisa, Soph and I took a 20 minute journey in uncomfortable-yet-hilarious conditions, at a pace just above walking.On the topic of transport, we also happened upon this little bike, which struck me as a little Inspector-Gadget-like and worthy of a mention. I especially like the patriotic touch:

Food - as winter has fallen upon Beijing, we seized the opportunity to indulge in the messy food fest that is hot pot, and took a trip to the Maizidian'r Jiaoziguan'r, which serves up amazing multi-coloured jiaozi, some of which have crunchy rice particles in them. Delicious! I was dismayed to learn that my guests had been forewarned about the 'terrible food in China', 'not like the Chinese food you're used to' etc - it's a common misconception, fuelled largely, I imagine, by tourists who speak no Chinese, who end up at a point-and-hope restaurant eating chicken lung and the like. Chinese food in China (and particularly in Beijing - though I could be jiaozi-biased) is delicious! Anything plied with MSG can't be that bad, right? ;-) Seriously though, it's great and hugely varied - after all, China is unimaginably massive! You should come and try it... just not while I'm here though, I'm afraid - I'm booked up until March!

BA strike action - a blessing in disguise!*

BA strike action for 22 December - 2 January has been all over the press, and I have a couple of things to say....

Firstly, what a HORRIBLE workforce that would vote 80% in favour of cancelling 1 million people's Christmas holidays. Mean, horrible, selfish people.

Secondly, thanks to BA for their flexi-ticket policy, which enabled me to bag a coveted spot on the flight back the Blighty on Sunday as opposed to risking my festive season and waiting until my scheduled flight on Wednesday. Good times ahead!

UPDATE: nice one, legal system - see this link for why!

* I realise it is not a blessing in disguise for the other 999,999 who face the threat of not making it home for Christmas.

Sunshine City

We English love to talk about the weather, and so in the spirit of this, I'll take a moment to say that although it's absolutely freezing over her (c. -10 at the moment), it's bright and sunny and this lifts my spirits every day! (Well, every day that there is no government cloud-seeding or pollution fog....)

In fact "official" figures state that 86% of Beijing days are "blue sky days" and who am I to argue with that?

Just another day in the office....

Post lunch nap time...
Masks...

Black Sesame Kitchen

Here we all are, looking a little superimposed, at the entrance to Black Sesame, a private kitchen in a hutong where you can attend the Friday evening dinner or arrange a private dinner any night of the week - no wonder you need to call to get in!
The idea is that you get a set menu of 10 dishes per evening (you can see these listed on the board behind us) and they are brought out one after another, freshly cooked in front of you by a jolly Chinese chef (see pics below....). The food was really tasty, and there was a lot of it. Another benefit was the wine, and apparently Chilean wine is best value over here due to some no-tax arrangement between the PRC and Chile. Good to know, as the Dragon Seal and Great Wall wine from the local vineyards have been pretty disappointing.... unsurprisingly!
Now what a clever idea we have here! I completely failed to take pictures of the other dishes, but here is the chef deep frying and candying the yams for our dessert. Note the mirror on the ceiling so you can observe his skills from while sat at the table! Action shot!

The owner of this place must be absolutely raking it in, which grates a little if I'm honest. It's RMB250pp for the group dinner, and RMB300pp if you organise a private dinner (which we did because the Friday night was full). Now, bearing in mind you can pig out at Xiao Wang Fu (yes, I bang on about it because I love it) for easily less than RMB80pp including beers, duck and a variety of delicious dishes, it seems a bit steep. Hmm. I understand the novelty value, that it's tapping in to a gap in the market in Beijing and that it's targeting the expats, but I still felt a bit peeved by the price. Plus you wonder how much the chef is getting, and how much is going to the owner, a food critic in Boston....

Overall though, an enjoyable experience, tasty food and good entertainment from the chef, and I'll definitely consider taking visitors again.

Apologies, friends...

...the government cut me off!

Back now with a vengeance and accompanied by Lisa and Sophie, my current partners in crime in Beijing!

Updates to follow....

798 District - Beijing

The 798 district of Beijing seems like miles away from the centre, but once you're in a cab it's only about 20 minutes, and it has a completely different feel to the rest of the city. I first visited in 2007 with Christina:

It hasn't changed much, although it is growing quite fast! There are hundreds of small galleries, with exhibitions by international artists such as Antony Gormley and Martin Parr (of whom, incidentally, I have become a big fan, since seeing his video "Think of England" which was possibly more funny because I watched it c. 15 years on and from so far away... but still!) and modern Chinese artists, many of whom make political statements in their art.

Ai Wei Wei had an interesting exhibition on, in which he explores China's relationship with the world in terms of trade (this world is made out of stacks of sheets of cotton), for example, and the notion of the individual vs. the collective, which has obvious connotations in a Communist society.
The buildings in and around 798 are a little reminiscent of Shoreditch, and the whole area has an East London vibe. I particularly like this huge and interesting old warehouse, complete with Communist slogans, in which exhibitions are put on:

There is generally a nice mix of sculpture, photography and paintings, and the surrounding streets come complete with their own unusual items...:

It even encouraged Ben's artistic flair:Canon photography exhibition - fabulous pics of China, here are just a few of my faves. Thanks Canon!