Seoul

When my best friend who is currently working in Seoul invited me for a visit, I had no reason to say no though I’d been to South Korea about 12 years ago. It’s similar to China in many ways and not an exotic country to me.

Seoul didn’t change much over the past decade. Its subway trains look old compared to Beijing’s brand new ones. Its sky becomes smoggy. PM2.5 must have flown over the yellow sea. Fruits are as expensive as in Europe. Street vendors sell the same knick-knacks as in China.

It’s difficult to understand a city’s soul if you don’t speak its language. For the first time after coming back from a foreign country, I don’t feel having a lot to write about. 

后海，应酬

上一次去后海全聚德还是08年，每次外地的客户来北京，后海便成了一个必去的景点。不记得从哪年开始，安静的小巷变成了喧闹的酒吧街。巴掌大的一片地儿总是熙熙攘攘。四年了，街边还是那几家酒吧，放着俗气的音乐，小店里卖着同样的纪念品，全聚德里的演员穿着同样的戏服，上演着同样的节目。第一次是新鲜，第二次就是无聊了。

上个周末陪苏州的客户奔波在千岛湖，30度的高温加上99%的空气湿度已经难以忍受。还有没完没了的敬酒、K歌、打牌，想象不出哪种应酬会比这更令人厌恶。白酒似乎是中国人餐桌上少不了的一个项目，不知道是喝酒让某些人像打了鸡血一样，还是他们本质如此。这些老规矩，或者说陋习早该弃之。

北京这一周的天气好得令人不敢相信，出去看场电影，回家上上网，突然觉得这样一个本来很平常的周末好难得。

3.5 hours across the Jinshanling Great wall

3.5 hours, 21 towers. It was quite a challenge, but definitely worth it!

Jogging

The best time for jogging outdoors is when the temperature is between 15 and 25 celsius. In Beijing it’s only a few days in Apr and May, when it’s not windy and the air quality is not “very unhealthy”.

Jogging for me is not an exercise, but an effective way to release pressure. Frustration, anger and other negative emotions will gradually disappear during the process of inhalation and exhalation. From a psychoanalytic perspective, I’m adopting a defense mechanism called sublimation, i.e. channeling unwanted feelings into more socially acceptable forms. It really works.

Business trip to Dalian

Part I Old impression

My last trip to Dalian was in the late 90s. I travelled by ship with my family. For a small town girl, Dalian was a large city with wide streets and blue skies.

Almost 15 years later, I found Dalian no different from other Chinese cities. The sky became smoggy. LV and Cartier opened their stores on Renmin road. The streets seemed narrower. Nay, the city did not shrink, but my horizon expanded. Nevertheless, I still felt comfortable in Dalian as its climate, dialect and cuisine were so similar to those of my hometown’s.

Part II Last minute task

The plane landed in Dalian at 11:20am. I turned on my mobile phone and saw a text message from my colleague telling me I needed to do product training for our cable operator at 1pm. She wasn’t kidding me! A training session wasn’t on the plan at all. I was caught unprepared. Fortunately my audience was busy preparing for a meeting in the afternoon and the training was postponed to the next morning, giving me some time to update the ppt.

Part III Drink and get drunk

Drinking is an indispensable part of doing business in China. The more you drink, the more impressed your clients will be. How I hate to see people getting drunk and losing control of themselves at the dinner table! (We were doing fine this time in Dalian. I was worried about our next trip to Suzhou. Every time I think about last year’s dinner with them, I wanna quit, no, retire.) 

One man’s meat is another man’s poison

Over the past few months my colleagues must have asked me more than 5 times why I don’t use weibo (a Chinese version of twitter). Well, I’m not interested. As the says goes, one man’s meat is another man’s poison.

I don’t care who eat what in which restaurant. I don’t care who travelled where with whom. I don’t care whose dog is sick. I don’t care whose flight is delayed. And I don’t see any necessity for everyone to know my whereabouts. Living in an era of information explosion, we are being bombarded by all kinds of news and ads everyday. I’m eliminating the trifles and giving myself a little break. 

Last minute trip to Shanxi

2012 is my 12^th year in Beijing. It is the last city I wanna stay in for a 5-day Ching Ming holiday. On a lazy Wednesday afternoon, I stared at the map of China on a website, trying to find a destination for a spring fling – somewhere not too faraway as air ticket prices already went up at the last minute; somewhere not too close to bore me. On a whim, I decided to go to Shanxi.

I arrived in Datong in the morning on Saturday and met 3 girls at the airport. As we were going to the same places, I decided to join them so we could share a car. Later we found out that we were alumni! What are the odds! Knowing them was an amazing part of the journey. 

So, be spontaneous. Follow your hunches. Embrace the unexpected. 

Xuankong temple

Pingyao you won't see from travel guides

Next to a local Catholic church