Tea time at the Westin Beijing Financial Street
We went back the Westin Beijing Financial Street, only to find that our maids were still cleaning our room. We decided to go for an afternoon tea at the lobby of the hotel.
This hotel does not have a big and fancy lobby as the Grand Hyatt Beijing. But the lobby is quiet and beautifully decorated. They have a relatively fine selection of tea at a not bad price, plus something to nibble with.
Sitting in the sofa and sipping tea, we can also enjoy the new year atmosphere everywhere. 
This is the year of the ox, so you will see them everywhere. 
Outside is the court yard of the hotel, and these red lanterns are for decorations only. 
This hotel is not as convenient as the Grand Hyatt Beijing in terms of location. Because it is the holiday season, sometimes we had trouble grabbing a cab. But the room is spacious and clean, and service overall is pleasant.
Setting off fireworks on the new year eve
The most important and common “to-do” on almost every Chinese’s event calendar around the Chinese lunar year, is setting off fireworks. It is rare here in the States that we are even allowed to touch them. Most likely a professional company is hired to shoot commercial fireworks in the event of a celebration.
In China, anyone can buy and set off fireworks of near commerical quality. While fireworks and fire crackers go way back to the time when gun power was invented, they have become fancier (and therefore more powerful) over time. Cases of severe injuries have been exploding during holidays; so up until two three years ago, many cities, including Beijing, banned fireworks.
One thing always true in China: Old tradition dies hard. Eventually the government backed off, allowing fireworks again, but with certain restrictions. In Beijing, residents can set off fireworks in many designated areas within the 5 rings region until the 15th of the first month of the lunar year. Fireworks have to be sold through certified dealers. Only the products of two manufacturers are allowed in Beijing, one of which is the firework supplier for the Beijing Olympic Games.
Fireworks: As fancy as you can get
The price range can vary dramatically, depending on how fancy, how loud, and how long you want. When it comes to fireworks, imagination and wallet are your only limit. 
The most common and also must-haves: firecrackers that mentioned in my previous blog of Erik’s article, selling for 4 Yuan (roughly 2 quarters) for “200-sound”, and 15 Yuan for 1,000. But these little red-pepper-like strands of firecrackers can go up to 50,000 rounds.
As long as possible, as loud as possible
I bagged a set of variety too on the new year eve day. Yes, it can be “embarrassing” because some of my selections are meant for kids. Well, who said kids cannot have fun?
Getting ready for the fun on the new year eve
“Red Light on the Ground”, the fancy big red and black bucket towards the right of the picture is most expensive: It cost me 36 Yuan, and can shoot 9 beautiful and loud colorful balls in the sky. But there are also peaceful kinds: “Climbing Panda” and “Monkey on Wheel”. Some fireworks have to be placed on the ground to set off. But others are so safe that you can have fun in your hand!
Peaceful, but beautiful
The new year eve is noisy, is crazy, is awesome, and is exciting! There were fireworks everywhere, and firecrackers everywhere. But no one can deny that without them, the new year really does not feel much like a new year.
Later on I read a news report that the city workers cleaned 2,264 tons of fireworks debris just for the new year eve! Of course you will see precautions everywhere during this holiday season.
Precautions never hurt
Erik Nillson: Going totally crackers
As the city of Beijing begins its celebration of the lunar year of the OX, China Daily published an article by Erik Nillson, about the local tradition of fire-crackers. I already bought bags of fire-crackers and fireworks, ready for the crazy new year eve. Before I upload pictures, here is Erik’s article.
Erik Nillson
January 24, 2009, China Daily
Get ready for Beijing to ring in the Year of the Ox with a bang – hundreds of thousands of them. The amazing fireworks display will be jointly hosted by nearly all of the greater city’s 18 million residents, who have stayed home and not visited their relatives across the nation. 
It will crescendo at midnight on Sunday or Chuxi (Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve) and continue until Feb 9 within nearly every inch bounded by the Fifth Ring Road, apart from major sites like Tiananmen Square, the Asian Games Village and the Olympic Green.
“People set them off in the streets, in the gardens – you can see them just about everywhere,” says Panda Fireworks vendor Fan Yajun, one of 2,000 certified sellers of fireworks Beijing.
Fan says business has been booming at her stand with up to 50,000 sales a day since it opened on Jan 19 on the corner of Huixin Dongjie and Beitucheng Donglu in north Beijing. It is one of the company’s 193 outlets in Chaoyang district.
“Olympic fireworks are the most popular this year, because they’re new but won’t be available next year,” she says, adding that firecrackers also remain a classic staple.
The priciest set Panda offers is a 790-yuan cluster of rockets that explode in “footstep” shapes reminiscent of the Games’ Opening Ceremony. It’s expensive, but Fan assures shoppers they’ll get a lot of bang for their buck, with 190 blasts launched 30 m into the air.
The footsteps have several equivalents, including “smiley faces” and “triple-eights”, which also discharge in shapes corresponding to their names. However, the triple-eights only detonate 96 times.
A more affordable Olympic option, Fan says, is the 280-yuan “Bird’s Nest” (pictured top), which is shaped like the iconic venue, complete with a green athletics field. It sends up a spray of fountains that also resemble a small-scale reenactment of the Opening Ceremony.
Of course, no Spring Festival celebration is complete without firecrackers.
According to legend, a demonic monster named Nian, the same Chinese character as for “year”, was once skulking toward an ancient village to gobble its occupants when it was frightened away by the crackling sound it made by stepping on stacks of dried reeds.
People have set off firecrackers to scare him off every year since they discovered loud noises were the bane of this beast. Today, firecrackers come in strands of 1,000, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000.
They look like the strings of dried red peppers that dangle near doorways in the countryside and sound like mounted anti-aircraft machine guns.
The sets of 10,000, which measure about 1 sq m coiled up, are called “big fortune” packs and cost 330 yuan. Packs of 1,000 go for 52 yuan.The strands are usually hung from the end of a pole and detonated while someone hoists the rod in the air.
Roman candles cost 88 yuan and rocket 19 explosives up 20 m into the air. Quieter and tamer are the multicolored spark fountains. Fan recommends the Coconut Gala varieties, which send gushing showers of bright light up to 4 m. They come in blue, green and red, and cost 35 yuan each.
You can also light up the night with lantern-shaped boxes of baolingdeng for 65 yuan. These red and yellow fireworks are lined with six fountains that gush with 3-m-high showers of sparks fringed with tufts of flame.
Fan says kids can also get in on the fun – many of the fireworks are aimed, not literally, at the younger crowd and are more interactive.
Pyrotechnically powered spinning discs shoot sparks out the sides and are meant for youngsters to try to leap back and forth as they wobble to and fro. Parental discretion is clearly advised, however.
In addition, there are boxes shaped like tanks with wheels on the bottom and a spark-fountain on the top. When the fuse is lit, they zip along the ground, and since they come in boxes of two for 10 yuan, they’re ideal for racing.
Fan says young girls are especially fond of giant sparklers, which can extend more than 1 m long. Little ladies also enjoy 10-yuan Fair Maiden Flowerpots, which are shaped like a container for colorful flora and send red and green sparks dancing 1 m in the air.
Kung Fu Pandas, which are small fountains in packages shaped like everybody’s favorite fighting bear striking martial arts poses, cost 21 yuan for six.
A windy afternoon at the “bird’s nest” and “water cube”
It is so cold. I am shivering even with my thick winter coat on. People in Beijing wear layers of pants, for example, in winter, a tradition that I have forgotten completely over years.
We decided to pay a visit to the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube regardless. This visit was delayed for over 7 months – I really should have visited China back in August of last year.
It was quite windy in the afternoon. But the sky is blue and the Olympic Green area is nearly empty. “You’d better go before the Chinese new year,” I was told, “otherwise the area will be crowded with visitors.” 
A view that I have become familiar with from the NBC’s coverage of last year’s summer Olympics. 
It is the new year eve, so the Chinese decos are everywhere. 
Even in front of the stadium, there is a huge golden floral setting. 
The lighting surrounding the national stadium has a similar design.
The beautiful water cube in the late afternoon. 
I especially love these sculptures nearby. 
Well, when summer comes and I am able to sit down and enjoy the view, I probably won’t see the view anymore. This place will be flooded with visitors…
Overall, I’d say it’s cold and it’s windy, but it is worth the trip. The only regret is I should have come here earlier.
En route to Shanghai
I already feel tired when I think of that 12 hours flight from US to Tokyo.
The worst case, as usual, is when the economy cabin is packed with novice travelers.
At Minneapolis airport, a woman in her fifties pulling a small rollerback stepped on my feet and cut right in front of me, without even looking up and apologizing. Well, what can I expect?
The very same woman went directly to the economy cabin check-in line, probably hoping to board first.
Then I heard my name being called.
“You are flying business with us today.” The gate agent double-checked my board pass, then gave me a different one.
I like these pleasant surprises. Not only it makes that entire 12 hours of flight much more enjoyable, it is the nature of unexpectedness that pulls the joy on me.
When the world business class started boarding, I glanced at that woman who is in need of a manner re-hab: she is still holding her passport and board pass, waiting, of course, the first in the line to board for economy cabin.
Life is full of surprises and ironies.
We are on the runway, about to take off.
It was not my first time to fly business in a Boeing 747. But for some reason this time I had the mode of looking outside. The view is different.
Yes, the field is still covered with snow, but the sky is clear and bright. I even spotted 7 de-icing trucks waiting. Obviously they have nothing to do right now.
Then it reminded me several years ago, when Atlanta was hit by a snow storm, the airport was a chaos. One of my colleagues ended up sitting on the plane for 4 hours after landing, because the entire airport has only one de-icing truck.
Well, last year Seattle has a different story. They ran out of de-icing fluid.
I thought, for a second, these situations could never happen here. They know snows, and they never ran out of either.
Australian Letter of The Year
This letter popped up as an email attachment from my Australian friend.
According to my Australian friend, “this is an actual letter sent to the then DFAT Minister, The Hon Alexander Downer and the then Immigration, The Hon Minister Amanda Vanstone. The government tried in desperation to censure the author, but got nowhere because every legal person who read it nearly wet themselves laughing!”
Please excuse the language contained within. The author of the letter is brilliant, but honestly, he needs to calm down. If he ever tried to apply a Swiss visa from China, he would have had much higher level of tolerance.
Humm, now I wonder where the “zen” of Chinese people comes from…:-)
Below is one such wonderful communication (in blue color)…
Dear Mr. Minister,
I’m in the process of renewing my passport, and still cannot believe this.
How is it that K-Mart has my address and telephone number, and knows that I bought a Television Set and Golf Clubs from them back in 1997, and yet, the Federal Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date.
For Christ sakes, do you guys do this by hand?
My birth date you have in my Medicare information, and it is on all the income tax forms I’ve filed for the past 40 years. It is on my driver’s licence, on the last eight passports I’ve ever had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I’ve had to fill out before being allowed off the planes over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that I’ve filled out every 5 years since 1966.
Also, would somebody please take note, once and for all, that my mother’s name is Audrey, my Father’s name is Jack, and I’d be absolutely f**cking astounded if that ever changed between now and when I drop dead!!!…
SH*T!
I apologise, Mr. Minister. But I’m really pissed off this morning. Between you an’ me, I’ve had enough of all this bullsh*t! You send the application to my house, then you ask me for my f**cking address!! What the hell is going on with your mob? Have you got a gang of mindless Neanderthal arseh*les workin’ there!
And another thing, look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I can’t even grow a beard for God’s sakes. I just want to go to New Zealand and see my new granddaughter. (Yes, my son interbred with a Kiwi girl). And would someone please tell me, why would you give a sh*t whether I plan on visiting a farm in the next 15 days? If I ever got the urge to do something weird to a sheep or a horse, believe me, I’d sure as hell not want to tell anyone!
Well, I have to go now, ’cause I have to go to the other end of the city, and get another f**cking copy of my birth certificate, and to part with another $80 for the privilege of accessing MY OWN INFORMATION!
Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot, to assist in the issuance of a new passport on the same day?? Nooooo.. That’d be too f**cking easy and makes far too much sense. You would much prefer to have us running all over the place like chickens with our f**cking heads cut off, and then having to find some high society wanker to confirm that it’s really me in the god-damn photo! You know the photo…the one where we’re not allowed to smile?! …you f**cking morons
Signed – An Irate Australian Citizen.
P.S.: Remember what I said above about the picture, and getting someone in high-society to confirm that it’s me? Well, my family has been in this country since before 1850! In 1856, one of my forefathers took up arms with Peter Lalor. (You do remember the Eureka Stockade!!)I have also served in both the CMF and regular Army something over 30 years (I went to Vietnam in 1967), and still have high security clearances.
I’m also a personal friend of the president of the RSL. And Lt General Peter Cosgrove sends me a Christmas card each year.
However, your rules require that I have to get someone “important” to verify who I am; You know… someone like my doctor; WHO WAS BORN AND RAISED IN F**CKING PAKISTAN!!!……a country where they either assassinate or hang their ex-Prime Ministers, and are suspended from the Commonwealth for not having the “right sort of government.”
You are all f**cking idiots.
In the world of visas (1): Switzerland
In the past I do not need a visa to go to Switzerland. Now the Swiss people happily joined the Schengen club. All of sudden, I need a Schengen visa for my Zurich trip in March.
The problem is that it takes two weeks to process a visa, but I am heading overseas in less than 12 days. Given the razor-thin time frame, I contacted the Swiss Embassy in DC. All I wanted to know was whether I should send my visa application or wait until I return.
The lady who answered the phone was polite. After a long list of questions about me, here are the highlights of her response. “No, I cannot recommend either to send visa or wait.” “It does not matter whether you have visited Switzerland before. No difference.” “There is no expedite service.”
I would say the experience is slightly better than talking to a robot or a glass door. Except that robots are cute. 
In the end, for that entire 5-minute conversation, I got nothing more than what their website says.
Suddenly, the old memories about Swiss flashed back.
The first time I learned about their relentless and reckless pursuit of procedures is at Gerzensee a couple of years ago at a conference. One of my Dutch friends is the hard-core sport type. One evening he decided to skip the group dinner (starting at 6:00PM), grab a banana and go for a bike ride.
It was 5:58PM, to be precise.
The head of the waitress had a stone-face and a thick German accent.
“No, sir. Dinner does not start until 6:00PM.”
“No, sir. You cannot have a banana unless the dessert is served.”
“No, sir. Banana is part of the dessert. It has to be served after the main course. To get a banana you have to wait until the main course is done.”
I was there among others, watching the whole scene unbelievably.
Now, the reality is, I need the visa; given my flight schedules all over the places in the next two months, I came up with a strategy — applying for the visa during my overseas trip. I even noted down that in China, it takes 5 business days (rather than two weeks) to process a visa.
An example of Schengen visa
Well, it turns out that overseas people’s life is even more miserable than people in this country.
Here are the guidelines for Chinese citizens applying for a Swiss business visa in China (highlighted in blue):
In order to process the visa application, the following documents in English, French, German or Italian are required:
1. Passport, valid at least three months after leaving Switzerland
2. Two recent passport photos in colour, according to our instructions published on our homepage, with white background, size 3.5cmx4.5cm
3. Visa application form, duly filled in, dated and signed (can be downloaded from www.eda.admin.ch/beijing)
4. Photocopies of the first 6 pages and of all visas and stamps in the passport
5. If you possess so, old passports (original and copies of all visas and stamps)
6. Business card
7. Residence permit (original and copy)
8. Hukou (original and copies of all pages, translation of all family related information)
9. An invitation letter from the inviting company/organisation in Switzerland with detailed programme, purpose of visit, date of entrance and leave, full name, passport number and date of birth of the invited person, coverage of accommodation and travelling expenses, business address, e-mail address of the Swiss enterprise and direct e-mail address of the official representative, telephone numbers and signature
10. Detailed programme of the entire trip in the Schengen area
11. Relevant insurance covering the journey in the Schengen area, which must be valid for the entire duration of the stay, with cover of at least EUR 30,000.— and covering the cost of any emergency medical treatment and/or repatriation for medical reasons. (original and copy)
12. Dispatch letter with name, date of birth and function of the employee, monthly salary, duration of employment, authorisation for absence from the employer and explanation on how expenses will be covered, full address, e-mail and telephone number of employer, stamped and signed, name and function of the person representing the company (original and translation, if the letter is written in Chinese language)
13. Copy of business license of the employer and a translation
14. Full flight booking in English
15. Visa fee EUR 60 the fee with the current exchange rate into CNY is available on our homepage (No change! Only the exact amount is accepted. Not refundable in case of refusal or withdraw! )
After the visa section has approved the visa application and the respective visa fee has been paid, a visa will generally be issued after at least 5 working days after receiving the complete file.
Wow! I stared at the laundry list, speechless.
I would need a pair of bigger and thicker glasses.
After all, I wonder whose eyes will pop up if I fulfill requirement #5. I am on my fifth passport. All previous four passports were full of visas and had to be replaced.
My sympathy to the visa officer who will have to go through these pages of records.
My condolence to these trees that will be sacrificed to make copy of pages of pages of my old passports.
Eat around in San Francisco
For a really good Chinese restaurant, the Chinatown of San Francisco is no longer a “go-to” place. The best Chinese restaurants are in the bay area.
However, there are still reasonably good ones in the Chinatown area. When we had the meeting, we tried R&G lounge. A recommendation from a local friend.
The crabs are their specialty, and are in season. The restaurant offers many ways to cook them. Do not bother with the Salt&Pepper. Salted Egg Yolk seasoning is a good choice.
Another reasonably good Thai restaurant is Osha. Their fresh spring roll is delicious. They also offer a green tea mojito. Boy, they must have dumped a whole cup of sugar: I have to say that bombed.
Happy New Year!
The first day of 2009. Happy New Year!
According to Chinese zodiac, this is a year of Bull. Although Chinese lunar year does not start until January 26th of this year, people already include bulls on their new year greeting cards.
