Bái tiān (Day), Hēi yè (Night )

Bái tiān (Day) 

Week Three was my first out on the field and unlike the fate of many who are seconded to Melbourne, I did not have to venture far, just a couple of blocks down from my apartment. Given the client is a leading social game developer in China and Japan, I was equally excited to see the company's headquarters as to be working with my first PwC audit team of nine staff (relatively large when compared to Melbourne, but quite typical for here).

Although I had expectations of a lofty silicon valley esque-office, I was not totally disappointed. Upon walking into the reception, although I was overcome by the acrid smell of smoke, I was also greeted with a flashing colourful display of HD screens and unsurprisingly, staff casually clad in tees, jeans and sneakers.

My favourite part of the day was definitely lunch! As opposed to at home, where lunch breaks are frequently forgone in order to leave the office on time, the culture here is to enjoy a one to two hour midday break and re-engerize for a more productive afternoon. On my first day at the client, my very friendly team and I strolled down the road to a private room for a traditional round table feast of chicken, beef, fish, egg, rice, noodle and congee dishes. Ordering can obviously be difficult whereby extensive menus are presented like jumbled photo albums, which is why I am told a CFO (Chief Food Officer) is always appointed. On our second day we made our way to the infamous Guijie or 'Ghost' St (apparently due the fact its restaurants are open all night for taxi drivers) where we devoured Szechuan style pan fried fish drowning in chillies, garlic and oil, piled with sweet potato slices, tofu skin noodles, steamed cabbage and enoki mushrooms. And this was followed by iphone kareoke, naturally. Such lunches are a daily treat along with oranges and nashi pears offered by the client each each afternoon.

Breakfast on the way to work

On the way to work...

Office Lunching

Office Lunching

And we only ordered level 1 on the chilli scale

Hēi yè (Night )

Beijing has also been busy by night with many word-of-mouth type events popping up from commemorating Anzac day with a BBQ and a footy match viewing hosted by the Australian Chamber of Commerce to celebrating Yom Ha'atzmaut with people from all over the world, Israeli food, music and of course Kedem wine. 

On the way to Yom Ha'atzmaut celebrations with Katharina from Austria

Zhōumò (Weekend)

My weekend highlight was Sunday spent with Warren and Monique from Melbourne who I met at the AustChamb drinks and Monique's friend Amanda. We enjoyed a relaxing 3 course brunch and Pimms on the rooftop at the beautiful Melbournian owned Capital M overlooking Tienanmen Square. This was followed by a visit to the Red Gate Ming-era Gallery inside Dongbianmen Watchtower, one of the last standing gates surrounding the palace city given most were apparently demolished in the 50's by Mao to make way for new roads and buildings. Here we viewed an interesting mix of ancient relics and mod art. 

Capital M Brunch with Monique, Amanda and Warren from Melbourne

Red Gate Gallery

4Corners for "Ben's" birthday

Meeting Ben!

Yep. Sleeping. Just like at work!

At Tammy's for a home cooked meal. 

Yashow Market...lucky I stopped collecting Hello Kitty many years ago!

And this pretty much sums up my days, nights and weekend. Until next time, Zai Jian xx    

A Day in the Life...

Ni Hao! In just two weeks of my being here, I thought I would share some insights into the day to day life in this wonderfully hectic city that is Beijing:


· Costa coffee is much better than Starbucks. Yes, I've let go of being a coffee snob with the no franchise policy.


· An afternoon kip at your desk seems just as effective as an afternoon coffee run..when in Rome! We are also fined 10 kuai by the PwC police if we don’t lock our computers during lunchtime (usually, the worst thing that ever happens to me in Melbourne is that I'll return to my desk to find that someone may have changed my language settings to Chinese....!)


· It is possible to fit 37 people in an elevator with a maximum capacity of 21. 

Office elevator queue!! 

· It’s not uncommon to constantly bump into expats you met out the other night or to make friends at the nail salon and the Gym, like Belle from NYC, Maya from Israel and Lisa from South Africa.


· I’ve become accustomed to the hawking on the street... now learning to ignore the indoor habit where they spit into garbage bins.


· I become uncomfortable and angry when I discover the Chinese man is not taking a photo of the scenery behind me, but actually of me.


· You don't need to go to Maccau to gamble. Simply crossing the street will satisfy this urge where the odds are seemingly against you with the cars, bikes, e-bikes, pedicabs, motor cycles and trucks allowed right of way when the green man/bicycle symbols are flashing, sometimes even travelling down the wrong side of the road; best to do it shielded by a crowd full of other like-minded punters crossing the street.


· There’s an abundance of cute fluffy puppy dogs, some even wearing little doggie booties - not the kind I was expecting. But no sightings of any big dogs, as pets taller than 35cm are forbidden within a 20km radius of the CBD!


· Actual toilets are underrated in Beijing i.e. rare. One must become accustomed to the drop hole- even at a major cinema complex (see further discussion below).


· After walking the streets for miles underneath the warm Beijing sun, that nice brown tan you're sporting is actually a layer of dust.


· Beijing is incredibly large, perfect for exploring; with an abundance of cafes, bars and shops to discover in my spare time, this is my kind of city.

Given all of the above, China ‘moments’ are inevitable... that is, when one finds themselves in awkward, uncomfortable, strange or frustrating circumstances caused by the distinctive Chinese culture and compounded by the considerable language barrier. Here are a few of my own, for example....

· Requesting a foot massage (like the cheap kind you get in Melbourne), but ending up in a full length gown and a foot milk bath followed by a chocolate mask with no turning back....awkward!

· Feeling as if I’m in the Amazing Race when I was sent to extend my visa with just a small map in Chinese marked with an ‘X’ in hand. After a 45 minute cab ride and being dropped in the middle of nowhere, I roamed the streets eventually stumbling upon the three story visa office and of course not a sign in English.


· Being chased by the ‘movie’ police when leaving the cinema a couple of minutes early to beat the ‘loo’ crowd after a long haul seated in Titanic 3D. Obviously speaking no common tongue, I stopped, turned around and argued until I finally understood that the gentleman wanted me to return my pair of 3D glasses. Having left them on my seat, and now confronted by a slew of uniformed men, I surrendered my purse, assuring them I would be back with the glasses when my friend came out of the cinema...surely my designer handbag containing my wallet, camera, and iphone just about covered them !!!


Despite all of the above, I've immersed myself into Beijing life by taking Mandarin lessons, trying local delicacies (nothing too adventurous!), exploring the 798 and Dashanzi Art District, and spending time meeting both locals and foreigners. Enjoy...

My humble abode

A typical breakfast, working on my Mandarin ;p

Office lunch with Iris & Pink 

Shabbat @ Chabad, Lido - Tammy, myself, Dror

Katie from Paris, myself at Dror's birthday party on Saturday

Amit from Israel and myself

Beijing

798 Art District

798 Art District

798 Art District

798 Art District

Sanlitun Village by night

Until next time, Zai Jian! xx

Hutongs

Hutongs (simplified Chinese: 胡同; traditional Chinese: 衚衕; pinyin: hútòng) are a type of narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing, China. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences.[1] Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining onesiheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods.

Much of this weekend was spent in and around Hutongs. On Thursday night I was lucky enough to be taken out by the Hershan family to Madam Zhu, a spacious Chinese mod deco restaurant with its walls covered in quirky posters. We kicked on by making our way to the bars and cafes tucked away in Hutong alley ways. Our first stop was Amilal, a predominantly expat watering hole in Nanluoguxiang. This was followed by some pool and cocktails at Siif in North Luogu Alley.

Madame Zhu

Amilal

Siif

Once more, I hit the town with the Hershans on Friday night by venturing into the aptly named Bar Street, sandwiched between north and south Sanlitun villages where confronting food stalls and mojito vendors line this bustling strip of bars and clubs. I even got to practice my Hebrew at Biteapita, the Israeli joint smack back in the middle of it all.

Bar Street

Turdish Kebab anyone?

On Saturday, a work colleague, Iris (on top of taking me out for lunch every day at work) was kind enough to invite me on day trip with her house mate Eckal. Again we ventured into the depths of the Goulou Hutong, and crossed the Ingot Bridge, separating Houhai and Qianhai lakes lined with buskers, kite flyers and elderly Chinese men playing Chinese Chess.

Shuang Di Nai (yogurt with red beans)

Bin Tang Hu Lu (toffee covered sour fruit kebabs)

Creme Caramel, pear tea

Sichuan fish 

Chinese Chess

Late afternoon I found my way to 4corners for the birthday party of Katarina, a girl I was put in touch with by a mutual friend (thank you Ekta!). Fittingly, I along with a crowd of 25 locals and expats from all corners - Canada, the US, Austria, Singapore, France, Germany and Australia, most of which had not previously met, sipped on ginger mojitos til late over a delicious Vietnamese/Thai/Chinese fusion dinner. Yum!

Gan Bei!

Myself, Nikhil (Ekta's brother), & Katarina 

Katherine, Dodd, Myself, Katarina

Birthday Kamikazes

Sunday I couldn’t resist but return to the Hutong district during daylight for a homely breakfast of poached eggs with salmon on multigrain and a latte at the well discovered expat Vineyard Cafe and capture the surrounding atmosphere; so here you go:

Nan Luogo Alley

Anyone need a faux Chinese passport?

meow!

Until next time, Zai jian! xx