Archive for Juli, 2009

Day After Strong Rain

Freitag, Juli 31st, 2009

Well, some houses have some leaks like this hutong building. When I came in the morning I found a big puddle.

Puddle in Hutong

The wooden floor is all wavey now 🙁 It took quite a while to get all the water into a bucket. And the bucket was quite full in the end.

Water Bucket

Strong Rain

Donnerstag, Juli 30th, 2009

Today I was at the Toastmasters meeting and afterwards realized the streets were a bit wet. And I realized something that I had never noticed this intensely: The busy street where many cars were driving was already dry, the smaller street was still slightly wet and the bike lanes were completely soaked. That must be due to the temperature of the engines of the cars as well as the air conditioning. The cars are actually drying and heating up the streets! So I was cycling on the car lanes as I do not have any fenders on my fixed gear bike.

Later I went to a restaurant about 150 meters away  from my home. It started raining when we started eating. And it just got heavier and heavier.  The drops were really huge and there were soon big puddles on the streets.

Beijing Rain Storm

The cars driving by were almost floating in the water. And we had to cycle home! We waited for quite a while after finishing the dinner but the rain did not get any lighter. So at a certain point I put on my rain gear and took off my shoes and got completely drenched on those 150 meters with me feet on my pedals going under water with every revolution.

Car in Beijing Rain

Lulu & Ludwig

Dienstag, Juli 28th, 2009

Today Lulu & Ludwig dropped their luggage off before they went to visit the Summer Palace. Afterwards we had a delicious lunch together at a good guotianr restaurant before they had to leave to fly back to Shenzhen.

Lulu and Ludwig in Beijing

Later fixed gear bike friends came and tried out the tall bike. It still amazes especially the Chinese people how you can get on and off. But it is just like a bicycle only the seat is a little bit higher.

Tall Bike of Fede

Tall-Bike and Climbing

Sonntag, Juli 26th, 2009

My friends Lulu and Ludwig from Germany are in town. They actually live in Shenzhen now and came to Beijing for a short sight seeing and leisure trip. We met for a late lunch and then they tried out Fede’s tall-bike. Ludwig had some issues getting up onto it but he did manage to smile once he was on it.

Ludwig Mounting the Tall-Bike

Riding the Tall-Bike

Lulu also took her try on the tall-bike after seeing another girl almost crash while trying to ride it. Lulu even was able to do a U-turn in the narrow hutong.

Lulu Riding the Tall-Bike

But Ludwig did seem more happy on a lower bike so him and Lulu took regular bikes to tour around the hutong alleys.

Ludwig on a Regular Bike

In the evening I went to the Ritan park for some rock climbing. It was quite crowded in the beginning and some people taking ages to get up a climbing route. I do not like the new look of the wall with all the advertisements and grey color. But it is still great for climbing.

Ritan Park Climbing Wall

Scitech Outlet Mall Grand Opening Event

Samstag, Juli 25th, 2009

Outside Beijing in Shunyi area between the never ending construction sites of new multi villa compounds a mall complex for brands had their grand opening. Fede and me were booked as performing artists to entertain the visitors with juggling tricks, slapstick, unicycling and bike tricks.

Fede and his Ball

Jess and some other musicians were booked to play jazz music for the VIP guests. Jess received professional make-up and hair-do by the stylists of the models.

Jess Getting Styled

The Chinese fashion world seems strange to me. The models must be considered beautiful and handsome by somebody, or? I still wonder who likes their „fashion“ clothes like for example the horrible cream colored skirt with black dots of the model on the left side of the picture. Or their ugly shoes that they have problems walking in. I might just not understand Chinese fashion.

Chinese Models

The place was quite crowded and it was fun to do some bike tricks there.

Outlet Mall Opening

Escalator to VIP Section

Jess looked amazing in that silk cocktail dress and with a real flower in her hair.

Jess Meider and Band

Jess Meider Jazz Band

Afterwards back in the city I met visiting friends in an outdoor „beer garden“ style venue. It was the first time I got some mosquitoe bites this summer. But as always they were gone right away.

Gao Ya Kou to Miao Feng Shan Bike Ride

Samstag, Juli 25th, 2009

As almost every Saturday the Beijing Peloton road cycling club has arranged for buses and mini-vans to take us to the mountains outside of Beijing. We started at the Gao Ya Kou village (near the Stone Lions) and went the normal way over Gao Tai with various intermediary small passes and down the valley. At the train tracks overhead we turned left (east) towards Beijing. The route then went through the “Dong Fang Hong” tunnel climb. I stayed with the B riders (just doing the 80km route) and did not do the tough climb with the A riders (doing 100km including the Yang Tai Shan climb) hat I had done last time we cycled here. We continued until we reached the “Miao Feng Shan” archway. I cycled till the village but I had to rest in between as the road up towards Miao Feng Shan is a 13km uphill at 6% of which the first 7km are a false flat. Tom made a nice table of the intensity of the various mountain climbs for road cyclists around Beijing. Despite the sun shine and blue sky the temperature was bearable. But I did get a slight sun burn on the spots where I forgot to put suncream.

Road to Miao Feng Shan

View on the Way to Miao Feng Shan

Rain, Plants and Bikes

Mittwoch, Juli 22nd, 2009

Currently like every summer it is the rainy time in Beijing. I wanted to participate in a bike race today, but it had been canceled last minute. They said there was a strom with rain approaching. And yes it did. Here is the view of the Beijing’s Central Business District (CBD) during the heavy rain

Beijing’s Central Business District (CBD) in rain

And this is a picture just 30 minutes after the rain. Suddenly the CCTV Headquarter building and the World Trade Center 3 tower as well as the Yintai Building with the highest hotel are visible again.

Beijing’s Central Business District (CBD) after rain

All the rain means that the city is quite green. I parked my old Flying Pigeon bike for 7 days and this is how it looks like. I find it beautiful. But unfortunately I had to remove it.

Plants Overgrowing Classic Flying Pigeon Bicycle

Plants Overgrowing Classic Flying Pigeon Bicycle Handlebar

Enchanted Juggling

Montag, Juli 20th, 2009

Tonight we had the weekly Beijing Jugglers meeting in Yugong Yishan. It was special because Jess Meider and Fede Moro practiced their joint performance: Jess playing the guitar and singing her own beautiful „Moon Song“ while Fede has a crystal ball to do contact juggling to the music. It looks just like the moon.

The Moon Song Contact Juggling

Jess Meider and Fede Moro Performance

Chinese Medicine

Sonntag, Juli 19th, 2009

As I am having some diarrhea I decided to go to my Chinese doctor (and blind massage place). When I entered he asked „what is wrong?“ across the whole room with all the patients waiting while continuing to treat another patient. I said I have diarrhea. He said „Great!“. I said „No, it is not great. It started Friday night and I have to go to the toilet a lot“. He asked „How many times did you go to the toilet today?“. I answered „Already 5 times, I feel dehydrated“. He said „Very good! All that stuff has to come out. You have been traveling too fast to too many places. It will soon be over and you will be fine“.

That was a slightly different kind of response than I expected. They then placed a needle on my shin and an infrared lamp on my stomach, then later gave me a stomach massage.

In the evening I did feel better and went on our Sunday fixed gear bike ride. We met and rode along the second ring road to the South Railway Station and back. I told my Chinese friends that I was not feeloing all so well yet. They all said diarrhea is good because I was traveling too much – I will soon have fully arrived in Beijing and feel better. Let us hope so.

DESERT DANCE Event

Samstag, Juli 18th, 2009

Today I went to the Ritan Park rock climbing wall. It was astonishingly empty for a Saturday late afternoon. Maybe this is due to the hot and humid weather. It was great not to have to wait in line to climb a route. And there were hardly any mosquitoes, not like in the past years.

This evening was the Beijing Burners Without Borders event called DESERT DANCE organized by Greening the Beige. It was a mix of art and music to raise environmental awareness. There was a belly dancer

Desert Dance Belly Dancer

Jess Meider played her songwriter songs in unusual positions while Federico performed contact juggling.

Jess Meider Letting Herself Shine

Federico Juggling and Jess Meider The Moon Song

The whole venue was extremely beautiful. It is a privately owned renovated former temple. Really amazing.

Ines at Desert Dance