Beijing...Crap It's Cold!

Well, here I am in Beijing and let me tell you going from Hong Kong to Beijing is quite an adjustment. Let me just say this...Beijing...crap it's cold!

I arrived here on Sunday evening and will be here through tomorrow...then it is off to Shanghai, then to Shenzhen, and if all goes well back in Hong Kong on the 23rd. Just in time to do some Christmas shopping for the wife on Christmas Eve...I love it when a plan comes together.

Beijing is interesting. Monday and Tuesday were disgusting. The pollution was so bad that it was burning our eyes and throats. I will honestly say this...I rather be shot at than breathing this stuff in constantly. At least when the shooting stops you know you are OK...here...who knows what this is doing to my lungs. I can honestly say I have no idea how people live here...you could not pay me enough to live here. I thought Hong Kong was bad...these last few days in Beijing made Hong Kong's pollution look like an amateur. See the picture below, this was shot in the middle of the afternoon (after lunch) and the sun is completely obscured by pollution. When you can look directly at the sun without sunglasses...you know the pollution is bad. It really is quite disgusting...it is a brown/grey color and it covers everything. The cars have a nice layer of pollution on them after only a few hours of sitting outside...lovely.

Luckily we are staying at the Westin here and if it is good enough for W it is good enough for me. Seriously, the new Westin is where President George Bush stayed during the Olympics...albeit I have not been able to talk my way up to the Presidential Suite yet to see what kind of room he was staying in. I can't complain about mine...so, I am sure his was pretty nice too.

So, I won't bore you with the details...the food is good. We have eaten at some great restaurants since we have Larry with us. Larry is a U.S. based auditor, but is originally from Beijing so here knows the city very well and where to eat. His language skills are also great to have. The Hong Kong members of the team speak Mandarin as well, but seeing how it is Larry's first language...he is obviously the best person when it comes to talking with the locals. My Mandarin lessons have not been for nothing...I have been able to understand a bit here and there...and I can make some basic comments...I need to study more.

Let's see...funny story of the day. You know it is cold inside, when you go to the bathroom and your "stream" steams. Yes, I did say inside...the operations here save money by being frugal with the heaters. Our conference room at the first station we visited was a toasty 58 degrees Fahrenheit and when we cranked up the heat (we were too cold) we were able to get the room up to 68 degrees Fahrenheit after a few hours. The bathroom where the heat is off and the windows are open...I am guessing was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. We had a little snow this morning...so, we will see how the day progresses. Cheers from Beijing and more to follow. Oh, can someone explain to me why FedEx stock dropped over $10 yesterday...hello...we are still making money and have earnings...doesn't that count for something?

Your Body Will Thank You...

A few complimentary warnings from Shenzhen, courtesy of yours truly. All of those who know me will vouch that I am an adventurous eater and will try anything at least once. If you dare me to eat something I will be all over it. I love all sorts of food and have tried things that would never ever make it onto Fear Factor. I can’t even describe some of the stuff I ate in Iraq. As far as Asian food goes…I love it. I have eaten at some absolutely wonderful restaurants (nice and not so nice) in China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, Philippines, etc. However, the last two meals I have had for lunch (Wednesday and Thursday) in Shenzhen, China have been absolutely some of the poorest food that I have ever had the pleasure or displeasure to taste. We ate at a restaurant (Jasmine’s) yesterday for lunch and even our local staff (Hong Kong) decried the quality of the food. Most of us accept the fact that we will have to lower our food standards when in Shenzhen; however yesterday’s meal made us reset those low standards even lower. I can’t even describe the food…bad…would be putting it mildly. Let’s put it this way…I once ate the warm brains of a dead goat (as in warm because it was just killed in front of me) and I would gladly munch on some of that rather than repeat yesterday’s meal. Now, when you usually hit a low you can only come up, right? Wrong (just ask the Memphis Grizzlies, 14-39), today’s meal ranked right up there with stuff I have vowed to never place in my mouth again. Today we ate at a place (Ming Tien) that was supposed to be a Hong Kong Café style restaurant. Well, I have eaten at a lot of Hong Kong Café restaurants over the last 12 months and I’ll just say they missed the target on this one the only thing they got right was the tacky décor. They missed the target like Citibank’s latest earnings. So, when traveling to Shenzhen avoid Jasmine’s and Ming Tien if you value your lower intestines…they will thank you for it.