China, Asia, Climbing and Fixed Gear Bikes

Snow in Beijing

Januar 21st, 2008

Yeah! It was all white outside when I woke up in the morning! This is not very usual. I heard that there had been some small snowfall last week when I was not in Beijing. But today was the first time I saw snow in Beijing this winter! Unfortunately that little amount of snow was gone quite soon. Not just because it is not very cold, but also because Beijing is very dry. We usually get west winds that come from Europe. All the moisture is gone by the time the wind passes the Ural mountain chain. After that there is the desert of Gobi and then Beijing. So it was nice to see a white Beijing today.

Snow in Beijing China

Posted in Beijing | 3.086 Comments »

Ice Skating on Houhai

Januar 20th, 2008

Finally 🙂 It is cold enough to skate on some of the lakes in Beijing. We had to wait till mid January for that to happen this winter. That was too long…
Many people in Beijing felt the same so both yesterday and today the Houhai lake was overcrowded. And that despite the fact that they this year charge an entry ticket to step onto the lake. The official reason is because the ice is not so thick yet so they have to control the amount of people on the ice. My person impression is that the people working in the ice sport industry (like the ones that rent the ice skates or the ice chairs or the ice bikes) have not had any income this winter so they now need to make up for it.

Anyway it was a great feeling to finally ice skate again. Here two pictures of how my fellow Beijingers enjoyed their day on the ice:

Ice Skating in Beijing

Isn’t it romantic? And the wonderful polluted air of Beijing…

Ice Lovers of Beijing

Posted in Beijing | 4.913 Comments »

Statue of Liberty in Tokyo

Januar 16th, 2008

I didn’t know that Tokyo also has a Statue of Liberty.

In the background you can see the Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower.
Statue of Liberty

Posted in Japan | 3.035 Comments »

Monday in Roppongi Tokyo

Januar 15th, 2008

Tokyo has a big scene of track bike riders riding on the streets. When I arrived I saw one guy, but I was on a bus so I could not stop and talk to him. Well even if I had not been on the bus the probability that he would have been able to understand what I said might not have been that high. Yes, that is because I do not speak any Japanese. That makes things harder here.

After I came out of a nice basement restaurant near Roppongi on the lamp post right in front of my was this nice Bianchi Pista fixed gear bike. I do not really like the color (this is the standard Bianchi Pista color), but I would rather own that then none. Well, I would not add that brake on the front tire…

But I still have no track bike yet. I have been searching for the right solution for many months already…

Bianchi Pista Track Bike

Maybe I should not have drunken so many cook-tails with weird names…

Roppongi Tokyo

Posted in Fixed Gear, Japan | 6.130 Comments »

Second Time Outdoor Climbing in 2008

Januar 14th, 2008

This winter has been so warm. There was no ice on the lakes in all of December and also the first 10 days of January were really warm. On January 6th we went rock climbing outdoors in Ritan Park. That was the earliest in the year that we have ever done that.

It was so great that we decided to go out into the park for the second time in 2008 this past weekend.

The sun was shining again, but unfortunately the temperature was really different compared to the week before. But we were 2 guys and 3 girls and it was fun to be outdoors.

For sure we had the right clothing. We were able to climb even though our fingers were frozen by the time we reached the top. We actually climbed quite often (well, that was the only way to get the body temperature up).

We thought we were tough till we saw this guy do gymnastics. He was wearing light shoes, socks and short pants. Nothing else. The temperature was about -7 degree celsius…

…at least there will be ice soon.

Posted in Beijing, Climbing | 1.499 Comments »

Climbers Gym in Hong Kong

Januar 11th, 2008

Yesterday we tried to go climbing in Hong Kong. We would have preferred somewhere outdoor but the only outdoor wall closed early in the evening and the rates were quite high. We then found the Climberland:

Climberland Hong Kong

We went there by subway, then had to walk a bit. We got to the street it should be on but only saw factories. We found the house with the right house number according to the address (The address and the map on the above picture are the old ones. Climberland is now located in Kowloon…), but the big iron gate was locked. It was very dark in the street but we did manage to find a small piece of wood hanging quite high in front of the gate saying „climb“ and having something like a bell. We rang about 3 times but were not convinced that anybody would be behind the iron gate. When we were about to leave we suddenly heard some noise and actually somebody came and opened the door. He was very astonished to see foreigners, but he let us in. We had to take the industrial lift to the 3rd floor in which the bouldering place is.

It was really cool. It is in this industrial building. It is more like a club than a club where most people are members and have monthly or yearly cards. There were about 3 people there and they showed us some boulders. It is all very overhangy so our arms got pumped up really fast. Very nice atmosphere.

Posted in Climbing, Hong Kong | 6.972 Comments »

Unicycle Hockey in Hong Kong

Januar 7th, 2008

Today I went and met with the unicycle hockey group in Hong Kong. They meet every Monday evening at North Point on an outdoor court to play hockey while seated on unicycles. It is really fun. We played about 5 against 5 and it took us 2 hours to get a 11 to 10 win. Almost every time I hit the ball I fell off the unicycle. But is so much fun.

If you ever come to Hong Kong drop by and have fun. Here is the website that contains also other information about unicycling: http://www.unihk.org/

Unicycle Hockey Team of Hong Kong

Also if you are looking for information about outdoors in Hong Kong, this is a good website: http://www.hkoutdoors.com/

Posted in Hong Kong, Unicycle | 1.803 Comments »

Fixed Gear Tricks

Januar 5th, 2008

Today the weather was really nice with sunshine and clear sky. The temperature was high so I decided to go out and do some tricks on my fixed gear bike. The bike is an artistic bicycle. I am looking for a nice track bike so that I can try some tricks on that kind.

Ines Brunn fixie tricks

Posted in Beijing, Fixed Gear, Performers | 6.815 Comments »

Just another blog

Januar 5th, 2008

So many people have blogs nowadays. 2008 started and I did not have one yet. But now I do.

Not sure what the focus will be but I will cover topics about Asia or China and also about outdoor sports like rock climbing, unicycling and fixed gear bike riding, hopefully uploading some interesting shots. I would be happy to hear your comments.

Picture of a fixed gear bike lying around in Beijing.