China, Asia, Climbing and Fixed Gear Bikes

This year we decided to do something different for New Year’s Eve. Fede had invited friends over for dinner and then a meditation from 11:30 to 12:30. We had a huge long dinner with different Italian and Chinese vegetarian dishes until I almost could not move anymore. Around 11 we made space for everyone to sit for the meditation.

And then at 11:30pm we set our mobile phones to silent, switched off the lights and got all quiet.

We had 1 hour of silence, everybody focussed on themselves. It was a nice a very nice way to start the new year. And as we are in Beijing there were anyway no fire crackers or fireworks so we also did not get disturbed by any outside noise. We are looking forward to 2010. I wish all of you all the best!

It just does not feel like Christmas in Beijing to me. Maybe because I do not go to the malls, nor the Western shops or restaurants, nor cafes. Inside the former Beijing city walls it seems like any other day to me. Of course I was in the shop working and and my employee Samantha contacted many companies and factories for buying their bike products. They were all working too. The weather was very overcast and hazy until in the early evening a huge wind started. Such wind is always good to blow the clouds and pollution away but it did not make it so easy cycling with the raclette machine in a box. We were going to Fede’s new place – an old Beijing hutong that he just re-arranged. And how nice it turned out!

After a starter of delicious madoufu (fermeted tofu) and mushrooms we had a huge pile of cheese that was melted with the raclette machine and ate together with potatoes.

Suddenly, after a lot of cheese I felt how full I was! Then I could only lie down and rest. I was so full that I could not move.

I could not even move to get some of the desert. Not even a cookie.I cannot remember when I had last felt this full.

After a while I managed to get up for going home. Cycling home we past by a fire next to a garbage bin. We stopped and had a look what was burning. It was an old blanket that probably caught fire from a cigarette stub and the very strong wind that was still blowing. Julien tried to stomp out the fire with a Chinese elderly couple watching us. The wind was so strog it would always relight any glimming parts we decided to through the blanket in the empty garbage bin and close the lid. There was still wind getting inside the bin and therefore there was still smoke coming out so we asked the couple that was still watching us very closely to go and bring us some water. They came back with water when we had just convinced a different neighbor to bring us water too. The fire stopped and all were happy.

The French Prime Minister Francois Fillon is in China right now. Fillon is on a three-day official visit to China aimed at improving the Sino – French bilateral relationship. Fillon is accompanied on the trip by finance minister Christine Lagarde and a number chief executives from within French industry as the two nations seek to develop trade co-operation through various projects. I went to the huge official dinner reception to hear his speech.

Afterwards people could come and talk to the prime minister or ask him questions.

Julien had a chance to talk to the French Prime Minister as well.

The dinner was amazing with loads of cheese and salmon and meat and other delicacies. We rode to a friends house to pick up a raclette machine and also his plant which needs water during the time he is back in Europe for holidays. It looks quite funny transporting a plant on your back wearing a suit and riding a fixed gear bike.

This is how it looks when I am writing my blog

I just found a link to somebody’s blog that made a blog entry about me over 1 year ago. I found it funny. Read it here.

The traffic is increasing in Beijing daily – every day 1800 more cars are registered in Beijing. The estimation says that Beijing has 4 million cars at the moment. That is 4 times more than 10 years ago. The streets are overfilled with cars. The cars often now use the bicycle lanes to cut through congested streets without looking out for the last few remaining cyclists. Even on Saturday afternoons the main roads are jammed like on this picture of East second ring road. If only more people would start cycling again. It is definitely the fastest way to get around the city. And for sure also the most fun 🙂