The inaugural ASAE Study Mission was in 2006 ... and guess where we went? Yes, to China.
And here we are again, 5 years later. I've been back to the Middle Kingdom several times since then, and can attest to the dramatic changes this city and country has been going through.
I remember very clearly my first trip to Beijing with ASAE. We got to our hotel room and as a habit, one of the first things I do is gaze out the window, to see where we are. Well, outside the window was a thick yellow soup. I could barely see across the street in the middle of the day. You can call it pollution, sand storm, haze, dust particles or whatever other term comes to mind, but it was not pleasant.
Yet yesterday, as we landed from Singapore, we arrived in beautiful sunshine, crisp and clean air and with great visibility. I'm not sure if it's like this every day of the year, yet that simple fact that I could see the hills on the outskirts of the city impressed me terribly and indicated to me how far China has come in its development.
Besides that, the construction is more or less finished - post 2008 Olympics you don’t see that many cranes anymore, the boulevards are grand and wide, they are planting trees and flowers everywhere - greening the city, and there is definitely new-found wealth on display. From the cars that people drive to the very conspicuous shopping centers that abound. Someone is spending, spending, spending!
Remember, change happens very fast here. Five years is practically a century!
Over the next several days we will be having meetings to learn more about the association landscape in China, as well as discussions on the economic, cultural and political outlook. It will be fascinating to compare today’s notes with what was said 5 years ago.
P.S. just found out that the CCTV building drama continues. As one of the grandest projects in town, it had the potential to be an architectural masterpiece. Yet on that infamous night in 2008, when the Mandarin Oriental Hotel next door celebrated its opening with a grand fireworks display that went terribly wrong and burnt down the hotel and badly damaged the CCTV building, the whole complex now sits abandoned behind a high wall. The question still remains, who's liability is this: the hotel that ordered the fireworks? the fireworks company that screwed up? And who's insurance is going to cough up the millions/bililions to fix all this? Someone's head is going to be chopped off ... if it hasn't been already!
Don't forget: always have a hotel card with you that gives the hotel address in Chinese, for finding your way back home when one speaks English and your driver only Mandarin is an interesting communicational challenge.
THINGS TO DO:
Nothing like a good shower after a full day of touring around!
'Sticky rice formation' shouts out Riley. This reminds me of our last tour with him in 2006. He's basically telling us that given the amount of tourists roaming around, we need to stick together in order to not get lost. And believe me, there was definitely no shortage of people around Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City.
I recall back then, you would see a lot of foreign groups visiting the centre of Beijing. Today, it's the Chinese that are discovering their capital and that are in the majority. The foreigners were barely to be seen.
Beijing has been a capital of China for 2500 years, spanning six dynasty's. Literally translated, Bei-jing means northern capital.
There used to be a city wall around central Beijing, which was 48 km long. Today not much remains of it, but the second ring road directly corresponds to its location. Talking about ring roads, there are six ring roads that spread out concentrically from the epicenter of the city ... being the Forbidden City.
Today Beijing has approximately 20 million residents, second only to Shanghai, which has a population of 23 million. And that's just the formal number. The sheer numbers give you an idea of how truly large this city is.
So don't try to walk around this city. Despite it having a grid layout, it's so spread out that walking is really not going to get you anywhere. At the most, you will get frustrated.
> Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City
Beijing is built on a central axis, the central crossroad being the Forbidden City and Tian'an Men Square right in front of it. The palace has been home to 24 emperors over 490 years and has a staggering 9,999 rooms. It is said that at one point 25,000 people lived on the palace grounds.
China is also known as the Middle Kingdom. Do you know were this concept originates from? The emperor has always been seen as the centre of the empire, which naturally means the centre of China. Thus the Forbidden City represents the central axis of China, which corresponds to the Middle (of the) Kingdom.
> Great Wall
This truly deserves to be one of the 7 wonders of the world! The wall was built as a defensive shield against the Mongolians and is ... gasp ... 6,400 km long. Once you scale just a small section of it, you soon realize it's no walk in the park. Given that it follows the contours of the terrain, it's very steep at points and the stairs are very uneven, which makes the walk/hike all the more exhausting. And to imagine that there are marathons run on this wall!
> Silk Market: if bargaining is your style, then the Silk Market is for you. From the outside, a modern building. From the inside, gizillion stalls with very aggressive, yet entertaining saleswo/men. From socks that say 100% cotton, yet the vendor whipsers to you 'they're not really 100% cotton', to Ferragamo suede shoes, silk duvets and ski jackets. Whatever knock-off you desire can be found here. And when you're exhausted, head outside for a Lavazza coffee to calm your nerves.
> Sidecar trip through Beijing: From one sidecar to another!
Just got back from the bar where for the second night in a row I've had a sidecar ... a cocktail that Abe has introduced me to and that has supposedly been around for a long time.
And then there is that other sidecar to which I got introduced today, the side carriage that is attached to a motorbike, like in the old war movies. Well, as we all gather outside the Fairmont Hotel this afternoon, there is a fleet of big motorbikes waiting for us, all with sidecars. 18 lined-up motorbikes, revving up their engines. Bonnie was all excited.
Yes, that is how we went for dinner today. Driving all around Beijing for nearly two hours, discovering the city with a helmet on and sitting practically on the road while our leather clad drivers zig-zagged through the rush-hour traffic and through the intersections. Not to mention the thousands of years of dust that we inhaled and settled on our face.
But there couldn't have been a better way to get a feel for Beijing.
Going through the old traditional narrow streets of Hutong area was brilliant. Passing temples, local shops, bus stops, cyclists, this is the real Beijing. The everyday Beijing.
Our end destination was Quan Ju De Peking Duck Restaurant, right behing Tian'an Men Sqaure. This restaurant is run by a 5th generation family member, a wonderful elderly lady that greeted us with a big matronly smile. The restaurant opened in 1864. Imagine!
We had the most amazing Peking duck for dinner that was supposedly cut up into 108 pieces, along with some fried scorpions and a multitude of other dishes. Hungry we were not! Everyone is already saying it ... we don't even get to the point of hunger anymore.
Tomorrow awaits a very long day ... so better get to bed ...
RESTAURANTS:
> Dali Courtyard Restaurant: If some locals didn't take us here we would have never found it. And that would have been a shame. Located in the maze of Hutong, this very old traditional Chinese courtyard house has been converted into a wonderful local restaurant, where there is really no menu. They just keep bringing you delicious local specialities until you're full and you say … basta! The only thing un-local here was that it was filled with expats and tourists.
Since there is no website: dali67@gmail.com, Tel: 010 8404 1430, Address: No. 67 Xiaojingchang Hutong Gulou Dongdajie … good luck finding this address!!
> LAN Club: Located in the LG Twin Towers, there is really nothing like it. The restaurant/bar covers the whole floor and has no windows. So be it lunch or dinner, you feel like you're in a massive grotto. The design ... Louis XIV meets rococco ... gilded picture frames hanging from the ceilings, chandeliers, Baroque chairs, immitation Versace plates ... are just some of the items you will spot at LAN. There are several very interesting private rooms which can be closed off with heavy curtains to ensure privacy. Within, you may as well be having dinner in a private room at Le Bristol hotel in Paris. Oh yeah, the food ... the classic Chinese cuisine is delicious.
HOTELS:
> Fairmont Beijing: Fairmont is our hotel partner for this ASAE Study Mission to Beijing and Shanghai. This newly opened Fairmont is centrally located in the Central Business District, right next to the Twin LG Towers that everyone seems to know. It has well appointed and large rooms - very comfortable. The lobby area has a very impressive Scandinavian designed chandelier, if I can call it that … perhaps more a light installation, composed of crystal fish that are all swimming in a swirl.
I wish though, that the beds were a little harder. I'm not a big fan of soft beds for I always feel like I'm sinking in the middle of the night. And I'm pretty certain they shut down the air-con during the night, for suddenly you wake up in the middle of the night, all hot and sweaty, and you find yourself pulling off your bed spread. Yet somehow in the morning, when you wake up, your room is wonderfully cool again. Which is exactly how it was when you went to sleep. Hmm!
Of some interest, it's good to know that the hotel is right next to the renowned Pearl or Silk Market, where one can get unbelievable bargains.
> The Opposite House: During the official opening of the MCI Beijing office I met the hotel Manager and Director of Sales of this boutique hotel that we later visited. They have a great bar area next to the reception that they said we had to visit. And if was definitely worth it. I had to laugh though, for you know how everything in China is big, well there was nothing 'boutique' or small about this place. The whole ground floor was massive with some great art pieces, my favorite being a male and female mannequin that were wearing outfits made out of delft colored Chinese porcelain bowls. Striking!
I didn't see the rooms, but it all looked very promising. And the location in the Chaoyang district is hip and superb.
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