Traffic overview

The Chinese government, and also the local Beijing government, have much information on internet, and also often in English. Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, 北京市公安局公安交通管理局, have an interesting page on the web that show a real time picture of the actual traffic situation in Beijing. (there are also a simplified English version)

If you have a special interest in infra structure or just like to see if you shall select subway or taxi, then this could be a good page for you. The engineering side of me like this type real time data.

Sometimes it it is easy to get pissed off because the taxi driver select strange ways, but I believe they pretty often have good knowledge about the traffic situation. The times when I re-direct the taxi cars, it is not usual that we end up in traffic jam, and then you will get a aggressive monolog from the driver that is not so easy to reply.

Green = Free Flowing

Yellow = Slow

Red = Congested

The traffic situation a typical thursday evening. 2:nd, 3:rd and 4:th ring road goes slow or are even congested on several places. At this time it is often not so funny to do a longer taxi ride.

Who pays the bill?

When Chinese goes to restaurant it is always ONE person that pays the bill. The typical Swedish behavior when two couples is going to a restaurant and ask for a calculator together with the bill so they can calculate exactly "fear" how much everyone shall pay does not exist over here. In stead is the problem WHO shall pay.

It is a pretty advances relation-based mechanism that control who take the bill. Sometimes it is not obvious and then it can end up with (friendly) fighting. If it is obvious, and still some other pays the bill, then it is a courteous crime. But, what is obvious for the Chinese, is not always obvois for us from the outside. If you for example are on business trip in China and are invited to dinner, and you think you are polite to sneak out and pay the bill before the Chinese, then you have made a big mistake. You have really humiliated your host and you can actually have burned your business relation. It is really this serious.

A story from the real life:

A man from West did meat a Chines lady. After a while they decided to get married. A time before the wedding it was the moment for the man to meet the parents-in-law in a restaurant. The man, that actually knows a bit about Chinese culture, did not understand that he was supposed to pay the bill, so after a while the brides father pays. The result of this was that the brides parents was really disappointed of there daughters selection of man. How stupid is he if he dont can take the bill? It was not an easy game to convince the parents that it was a culture misunderstanding.

In spite of this situation, it become a wedding. A time after the wedding they again ended up in a restaurant together with the parents-in-law. Wise of the previous experiences the man was now good enough to pay the bill in front of the eyes of her wife's parents. What he did not understand was that he now after the marriage was considered as a sun in the family, and in this situation it is obvious that the father shall pay. The fact that he now payed was a disaster mistake, because he really humiliated the father that understand the situation that the "sun" considered him to not be capable to pay for the families bill.

I can really confirm that my years with Chinese have included some hard situations when I thought I done the right thing, and after get informed that I had break some culture rules. It take really deep knowledge to know how to behave "correct" with Chinese company. It is not enough to just learn the "base rule" because it is always some exemption in the actual situation that demand an alternative act.

Extreme Propaganda

In my exchange money I find a 1 Yuan bill with some written text on. The text was nice and elegant, and did not look like a regular note, and could actually have been printed on the bill. I was sorry to realize that the text include to many, for me unknown characters, so I could not understand the contents.

I show the bill to a Chinese, that reacted very strong and actually like to take the bill from me. I was not allowed to get the meaning from the text!

Very interesting of course, so I asked some of my Chinese friends that stand me closer, and they translate the contents to me, and also they was obvious affected about the message, and gave my strong recommendation to not spread this information further.

I have now also by my self gone through the text with a dictionary, so I am pretty sure about the contents.

The text tell a very hard propaganda against China, which based on natural reasons not so often run into here. Specially not as a foreigner. Now it is so bad for you reader that I have made a promise to my Chinese friends to not spread this meaning, so I will not publish the message, not even the Chinese characters. Further more I dont believe the contents, and according to my judgment it can not be true.

(As addition I can mention that China belong to the group of countries where it is un-legal to write in the money)

The Propaganda-bill, with the special text to the right where I (its better) have covered the main part with the red area.

Get smarter - Eat Pig Brain

I have previous heard Chinese persons full series state that you will run faster if you eat chicken feet. Recently I was informed that you will be smarter if you eat the Brain of a Pig. Obvious a Chinese friend think I was in need of it, so now I have also eating this "delicacy".

Chinese HotPot, 火锅, (huǒguō) is more or less the same as we call Fondue, which means that you by your self cock the food in some spicy broth, and this was the way I was eating the Pig Brain. After boiling for a while, it become gray and easy fall apart.

I am bad to describe different tastes, so my report will be a disaster:

The "meat" consistency is like an extreme small particular powder that pressed together to become a solid paste. A maybe sick comparing is that is some way was similar to Goose Liver, or even also Tooth Paste(!).

I have some kind of psychologic defense that I have to pass when I shall try to eat extreme things - like Brain, and my spontaneous feeling is often that it tastes awful, and so also for this Pig Brain - but next time it will be more easy. (The first killing is the hardest)

It is not so usual to find Pig Brain in the menus in Beijing, but from time to time you run into "offsiders" like this. If you like to eat extreme things, then the south of China is the place, with its maximum in Guangzhou, 广州.

Grishjärna, 猪脑, (zhūnǎo). A "delicacy" that makes you smarter?

人 太多- TOO much people

Temple of Earth, 地坛, is one of the four temple for Earth, 地, Moon, 月, Sun, 日, and Heaven, 天. These four temple is placed in the four point of the compass from the center of Beijing. (Temple of Heaven is the most famous). Temple of Earth is mainly a park, but have also some buildings and a big "altar", that is square because of the classic Chinese believe that the earth was square. The park is located just outside the 2:nd north ring road and is really big - about 700 x 700 meter, so it take some time to go around the whole. Temple of Earth is not a "heavy" tourist attraction, but can be a pleasant place for a walk after a visit the Lama Temple or the Confucius Temple that both are very close just on the other side of the ring road.

In these New Year days it is every year hold a festival at Temple of Earth. Could be interesting, I thought, so I went there. The festival was in my eyes 90% market selling of "crap". The rest 10% was local fast food and red lanterns in the trees. These rad lanterns is one of the characteristics for this festival. So - not so very funny, but a little interesting.

The thing that I really will remember from this festival was that it was so EXTREMELY LOTS OF PEOLPE!. Every little spot on the ground was covered by humans. After two second of thinking I realize that this is obvious since all are free from work these days. It was just only one person in the complete park that was not Chinese! Sometimes it was actually hard to decide by your self which direction to go, and it was a fight to se what was to be sold at the small shops. After one hour I got some kind of panic and wanted to get out, but that was not so easy.

Tigers shows up on many places a day like this.

It was so much people that it was not one single free spot on the ground, and you have to follow the river of people. The red lanterns in the tree is characteristic for this festival.

Panjiayuan

"The biggest flea market in the world" did someone call the Panjiayuan market, 潘家园, which is a little funny an proper name.

Panjiayuan is a really big market that sales both used and new things, and all things are pretty genuine Chinese stuff. You will definitly not find any Ralph Lauren- or Gucci-copies here. The markets main customer is the locals, but these are also mixed up with a few foreigner that found there way here. It is a very pleasant and nice place and does not feel like a tourist trap.

The range of stuff is very wide. Jewellery, decorations, furniture's, watches, paintbrushes, paintings.... You can spend an eternity here if you like this type of shopping. The prices is of course negotiable, but not in the same way as at the tourist markets. The first told price gives an acceptable hint of what the final price will en up.

You can find both cheep "junk" and very exclusive things. A bracelet or a vase can cost both 20 RMB and 20 000 RMB, so it can sometimes be a bit confusing if you are not familiar in the line of business.

The selling is both outside (under roof) and in small shops at the side and in big buildings in the middle, The market is located between the 2:nd and 3:rd ring road in southeast. Only a short way to the west of "Beijing Glasses City"

Panjiayuan-market

Huaweili 18, Panjiayuan lu

潘家园

朝阳区潘家园路华威里18号

Chinese vases in all types and price ranges.

All type of "junk" mixed with nice things. Just in the lower edge of the photo you can see printing templates in wood to print chinese characters.

VERY exclusive furniture's that cost a year income.

Pearl bracelets. These are in the higher price range and cost a few thousands RMB.

...but who the f..ck care?

As mentioned a few times, this year the rules for the fireworks is more strict then before. Specially inside the 5:th ring road. A lot on information posters is to be find everywhere that tells what is allowed and not, so nobody can have missed this.

There are time limitations. Only the first and the last day of the year, you are allowed to shoot 24 hours. After that it is from 7 AM until midnight for the 15 first days of the year. The rest of the year it is totally forbidden - included 31 december. I am actually writing this post before 7 AM, and I have already started to hear the bombs outside.

You are not allowed to shoot outside schools, hospital, bus stations, train stations, historical buildings, embassies, military buildings, electrical centrals, gas stations and a row of other listed places. I am living next to Beijing's military hospital, this is not a peaceful zone. The even shoot inside the hospital area.

You are only allowed to shoot at open spaces, and not close to houses or from balconys. There are also "soft" restrictions about respect towards other peple, and that children only is allowed to shoot with supervision of grownups.

That means pretty reasonable regulations and limitations - but who the f..ck care about these rules?

I think actually that pretty many tries to follow, but there are still enough number of firework-crazy Chinese to make the streets feel like anarchy from time to time.

For a while I was wondering why they often places there bombs in the middle of the street, and now I have the theory that they try to follow the regulation about shoot on open spaces...

This type of posters about the fire works regulations is to be find everywhere and an many different versions.

To buy glasses in Beijing

I normally use contact lenses, but I also use spectacles, 眼镜, yǎnjìng, in evenings and mornings. During the years I have bought a lot of glasses (and also contact lenses) i China because it is so cheep and simple. I have paid from little more then 100 RMB and more for a pair of glasses.

The communication is as usually the biggest problem, but I have successfully bought glasses also at the time I only could say nihao (hello). I have used three way to define the strength of the glasses:

1 - Classing eye-check. Thumps up or down depending on if the picture get better or worth. An interesting project.

2 - Bring a pair of existing glasses and they can measure the strength.

3 - Bring the recipe in figures that define your strength.

Normally they create your glasses very fast like in an hour or so, but if they are very busy it can take until the day after.

Optician can be found all aver Beijing - just take a walk and you will soon run into one. If you like to get a real over dose of spectacles, then go to "Beijing Glasses City", 双井眼镜城, (Shuāngjǐngyǎnjìngchéng) that is an area totally full of Optician and also a multi level building with only glasses for sale. "Beijing Glasses City" is located just east of Panjiayan-market

Beijing Glasses City

Dongsanhuan Nanlu 64

双井眼镜城

朝阳区东三环南路64号

Example of glasses for 260 RMB. Sometimes is the price only for the frame, and sometimes for the complete spectacles. This prices are always negotiable.

I making a mirror-portrait of my self in one of all glasses-shops at "Beijing Glasses City"

Dingling

It use to be poplar to combine a visit at the Great Wall, with a visit some of the Ming Tombs, because they are located "on the way". I have previous written that the only tomb that is a bit special to see is Dingling, 定陵, because this is the only one where the underground tomp is open. The rest 12 is not so interesting since the only thing you can se of the tomb is a big pyramid of stone or soil, even if they are surrounded by a nice park with soma classic building that of course can be a little interesting.

When they during the 50:th dig up the Dingling, they did not know how they should handle the body of the emperor, (Wànlì, 万历), so he more or less directly become rotten together with his cloth when he come in contact with the fresh air. Because of this scandal, no more tombs have been opened.

Even if there is no emperor to see, it is still a very powerful feeling to go down in the tomb. The tomb include several halls, and have suppressing less of decorations. Not as much of all this typical Chinese details that we are used to see. The grave is also located pretty deep below the ground level.

Close to the tomb there is also a museum that very detailed describe the very complex process to open the tomb. The tomb had an advanced looking system that was closed from the inside(!). It was also a risk that the tomb was graded by "Indiana Jones-type" of traps, so the first thing that was done was to let some chicken enter that tomb to see what happened.

Down inside one of the halls in the Dingling tomb. The only Ming Tomb that is oppen.

Longxing Gorge, 龙庆峡

Longxing Gorge, 龙庆峡, (Lóngqìngxiá) is a very nice nature area with mountains, ravines and water some tens of kilometer north of Badaling, that is told to be Beijing's no 16:s best tourist attraction according to some judger. The real nature park is closed during the winter, and open in the middle of april.

On the winter the Longxing Gorge is something totally different. Now it is hold a "Ice-lantern-Festival", 冰灯节, (bīngdēngjié). The main attraction is a "village" that is build only by using ice and in classic Chinese style. Complemented by a lot of ice sculptures of famous objects. Beside the ice attractions there are also some music and smaller amusement attractions. This year it is bigger then ever according to the Chinese media.

This place shall definitely be visited at evenings when all lights are on. In true Chinese standardm it is very much lamps in a total mix of colors. The place is surrounded by mountains, and on the mountain-sides they have with help from lamps reproduced an image of the Great Wall, which become very nice according to me.

I can not really recommend the short time tourist to spend one of the days here now during the winter. Maybe at the summer. For us that lives in Beijing, I judge this as a nice weekend outing.

Later this year I am planning to return to also discover "Summer Longxing Gorge", that in all important aspects will be something different. Then you can go by boat in the ravin, or take cable car op to the mountain peeks.

The very lighted ice-village at Longxing Gorge. It is obvious bigger then this picture shows and you can enter the most of the houses.

Me - in front of one of the classic Chinese ice palace.

The park with its total mix of colored lights. In the background you can see the visualization of the Great wall towards the mountain side.