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Wed, March 22, 2006 – Are China & Russia really energy friends?
Today, the big story on TV (almost 20 television stations out of 40) was the visit of Russian president Vladamir Putin
to Beijing,
and the pledge for cooperation between China and Russia regarding oil and gas production. Beijing
was highly anticipating a concrete agreement for a 4100 kilometer Siberian oil pipeline to carry oil from Russia into China.
However, while there was a promise of a natural gas pipeline within five years, there was no word on the oil pipeline. This
visit is just the beginning of China’s Year of Russia, whereby China has 260 events planned for the year commemorating
the theme. The year is also to discuss cooperation in terms of world politics (nuclear arms, Iran,
Afghanistan, immigration policies) as
well as a strategic business partner in industries such as transportation and energy.
Sunday, March 19, 2006 – Peking
University aka BeiDa. While officially opened in 1898 as Metropolitan University, Peking University came into existence when
it was renamed in 1912. BeiDa (how it is referred to here in Beijing) is only a stone’s
throw away from Tsinghua University.
BeiDa has many of the same roots as Tsinghua (in terms of originally founded by US government funds), but has three lakes,
of which the largest (and the only one with water) is the Lake Without a Name, or ‘Wei Ming Hu’. Of note, the
university sign on their East Gate is famous as it was written by Mao Zedong. I saw many Chinese people taking their picture
in front of the gate. Apparently, it is supposed to be very different writing. BeiDa and Tsinghua are the two top schools
in Beijing – with Tsinghua’s business school ranking
as 1 and BeiDa as two. However, while Tsinghua is known for its engineering program, BeiDa is known for its arts and literature
programs. Zhu Tao and I walked around the campus for over an hour, as he showed me different tombs and stone tablets lay.
I even explored the building where Clinton and H. Bush visited.
Saturday, March 18, 2006 – Stolen and Imitation Goods. Every
tour group will tout – a trip to Beijing is incomplete
without a visit to the famous Silk Street market.
While irritating in nature, and exhausting in experience, I have to agree with the statement. The Silk Street market is replete with IMITATION EVERYTHING—purses, watches, outdoor
gear, ski goggles, electronics, jewelry, clothing and decorative art. To this end, it is the epiphany of China as a whole. I find it frustrating and exciting at the same time—annoyed
by the fact that everything MUST be bargained for (paying about 10% of their first offer price is the average); frustrated
by the fact that everything might be a fake; paranoid by the fact that everyone is trying to rip me off…but nonetheless
flabbergasted by the quantity and quality of the goods, and pleased with the prices. Matus, Wes and I were thoroughly amused
for the first hour of our trip, and exhausted by the end of it—and since our feet were needing some TLC, we came out
with three pairs of stylish Adidas, Pumas, and Diesel shoes.
Now, a word on STOLEN goods. FACT: Bikes are stolen in Beijing. Especially if they are nice or new. So, the morale of the story is to always
buy a cheap, used crappy bike (as it is least likely to get stolen) and spend the money saved on a good lock. Also note, never
buy the lock where you bought the bike. Then, they will know how to open the lock and re-steal the bike back so they can re-sell
it. So, here is a little story about how to buy a bicycle in Beijing.
I was walking with Zhu Tao around the BeiDa campus, and we exited the south gate to an area known for its stolen bikes. As
we rounded the corner on a semi-deserted small stone-paved road, we walked past one lady, who quietly whispered ‘looking
for a bike?’ out of the corner of her mouth—‘zao che?’. It was so subtle that I barely noticed it.
Tao, who had experienced this before, picked up on her cue, and asked about where the bikes were. She nodded her head over
to the left, and there were two bikes standing buy themselves. The lady did not budge but said we could go over and take a
look. After examining, Tao returned to the lady and asked how much. She said 70 yuan, and he said, no, 40 yuan. She wouldn’t
bargain so we just left and moved on. I was so interested by how this covert process all worked! But, then again, you need
to know where to go, how to bargain, and obviously how to speak Chinese to do all of this. To those that are willing to pay
70-90 kuai, you can just buy a bike at a bicycle shop.
Friday, March 17, 2006. St. Patty's Day in Beijing! I have to say that our celebration of St. Patty’s at Browns Bar did not
feel like I was in China—Guinness
was free flowing, the crowd looked like a green sea, and the common language of the night was English. The experience was
unreal, and it felt like I was back in a European city! I went out with Ruben, Mike, Man, Matus, and Ana, and met up with
roomy Sammy and Wes… and met a whole host of new friends and saw many people from the Hash run from last Sunday. What
a small world Beijing is!
Thursday, March 16, 2006. Hohai and Addy. My long-time friend Chris
Addy came to Beijing with about 65 other Kellogg MBA students on their two-week spring break
trip to China. I have not seen him in
over six year, as we met over New Years 2000 in Las Vegas!
We met up for dinner and drinks at Hohai—a beautiful lake district with modern lakeside dining and upscale bars –
where each restaurant and bar are individually owned and have their own unique style. Food options included Hunan,
Beijing, Korean, Japanese, and after-dinner spots included
lounge-style hangouts and live music spots (from everything from reggae to Chinese cartoon songs???). Unfortunately, the one
eye-sore of the whole romantic lake scene was the Starbucks glowing at the beginning of the district.
Thursday, March 16, 2006. Climbing Fragrant Mountain (XiangShan). My
IMBA class and a few of us exchange students all met for a group outing—today, we were going to climb Fragrant Mountain. Only a quick 30 minute bus
ride from campus (bus 331), and there we were. The mountain’s uphill trek was essentially stone steps all the way up
to the top. There was a small competition on the quickest people up to the top, and I think we did a great job at 40 minutes.
After having a post-hike beer and a few snacks, we were entertained by the local Chinese playing a game—which seemed
like a combination of duck-duck-goose and the ‘dare’ part of truth-or-dare. There was a lot of running back and
forth, and the person who finally lost had to do some sort of display in the middle of the circle, such as singing or dancing.
It seemed like a lot of fun, but I’m not sure if we understood the game well enough to actually play it ourselves. A
few of us took the scenic route back on a reverse ski-lift that went down the mountain…it was beautiful and comfortable,
until we suddenly halted and then proceeded to go backwards back up the mountain!! After a yelp and a few deep breaths, I
held on tightly as we just dangled above the mountain in a not-too-safe and quite old ski lift! Luckily, things seemed work
things out and we smoothly made it back down the mountain without any more hiccups.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006. My Korean tutee. I started tutoring a young
Korean boy in English today. At first, I could not justify the time for tutoring (given my schedule of two students already),
but I could not pass up the money for just four hours of tutoring a week. It’s interesting because I could get a good
Chinese tutor for 20-30 yuan/hour, but the going rate of an English tutor is 80-120 yuan/hour. Of course, for both, the prices
can go up with more experience, but the discrepancy is huge! It’s no wonder that there are so many foreigners here that
are simply studying Chinese and tutoring English.
Sunday, March 12, 2006. Hash House Harriers in the Bitter Cold! My
first ever ‘hash’ experience…for those who have never heard of this before, it’s not as bad as it
sounds. First, it’s a run—usually from 8-15 K depending on the route. Second, it’s a scenic tour of Beijing—today, we ran at the International Sculpture Center of
Beijing. Third, it’s a networking opportunity with like-minded individuals. In the case of Beijing, these people are usually ex-pats who enjoy having fun with song, merriment and drinks
as well as running and exploring new places. Unfortunately, today was one of the coldest days—as my poor hands were
frozen. In fact, two of my fingers actually turned white while the rest were red…a bit of a scary situation, in my view!
2006-03-07. Tuesday. Classes at Global Village (DiqiuCun). I attended my first Chinese language class at Global Village, diquicun. Thank goodness my ‘best good
friend’ Sarah (fellow Rotary scholar, my twinkie, and also guest bloggist on occassion) told me about this Chinese language
school. First, it’s dirt cheap (at 12 kuai an hour), my teacher is fantastic, and it’s across the place from our
apartment. What else can you ask for?
2006-03-06. Monday. Tsinghua
University—my university. Given the school provided limited
information prior to coming to Beijing, I have thus learned
a lot of things through mistakes, luck, and fellow students. A few examples are as follows… Q: Where do I buy my textbooks?
A: Not at the bookstore, or even in class—but at the foreign student office. And of course, you must pay in cash. Q:
How do I get online? A: I have to download a program (hmm.. how do you do that without getting online, may I ask?), apply
for a special online account, pay some fee, and then login at some website. I still have not figured this out. Q: What is
the grading system here? A: Still have yet to figure out, but I have heard it’s a 100 point system and they appoint
letter grades (A to F—the breakdown has not yet been figured out). Q: How do I access my wonderful forever Tsinghua
email address? A: Go to a website in Chinese, find your password in one of the ten that you received from the school, get
your email address from the foreign office, and press one of the buttons—the one on the left gets you in, but the one
on the right cancels what you have done. Q: How do I get around this campus? It’s huge! A: In fact, it’s the largest
campus in all of China. In a quick glance
of the campus, all you see are bicycles, bicycles and bicycles. Every student has at least one… and more if theirs are
stolen from them.
OK, enough about the Q&A session, here is a little HISTORY about this great school! The university is actually
situated on several former royal gardens of the Qing Dynasty, and was established
in 1911 originally as "Tsinghua Xuetang," a prep school for students who would be sent by the Chinese government to study
in universities in the United States.
Tsinghua is the alma mater for many political leaders and important figures in China.
Also, the "Four Tutors" in the Institute of Chinese
Classics were Tsinghua scholars (Wang Guowei, Liang Qichao, Chen Yinque and Zhao Yuanren).
2006-03-03. Friday. Auto plant tour! We visited the Hyundai and Mercedes
Benz auto plants today—very interesting (hen you yisi)! First, the Hyundai plant—a four kilometer assembly line,
4000 factory workers churn out 66 cars per day! Hyundai is the primary supplier of all the new taxis in Beijing—and there is a government edict that all the old red taxi cars will be replaced
with new ones (mostly Hyundai ones in either green, purple, red, or blue) by the Olympics 2008. Following the Hyundai plant
tour, we ventured over to the brand new location of the Mercedes plant, that has still not yet been completed.
2006-03-02. Thursday. Adventure to the Beijing
airport. I went to the airport today to pick up Matus…an adventure
in itself. First off, there are many types of taxis in Beijing,
that all charge different rates. There is the 1.60 taxi, the 1.20 taxi, the 2.00 taxi, and the 3.00 taxi….all rates
are posted on the back windows, but apparently, all I ever see are the 1.60 taxis. Secondly, there is a black market for taxi,
and these vehicles are not officially registered, and are called black taxis. However, many friends who have lived here in
Beijing for awhile have taken these black taxis, and if you
negotiate a price prior to the journey, you can get a much cheaper rate. But, you should also write down their license number,
just in case you get tricked. So, when in Rome…I took
a black taxi! We negotiated 120 yuan for there and back, and he waited for me at the airport. Plus, we faced traffic on the
way home, and would have paid a lot more. How exciting!
2006-03-01. Wednesday. Operation manual for Chinese apartments. Who knew there were so many complexities in an
apartment here in China, that are vastly different than what I am accustomed to (even after living
in various countries). Let me list a few of the interesting differences: (1) Electricity – measured using a card. You
have to make sure you don’t lose this card, as you will need to replace it and it’s very costly. You have to leave
your home, go to the communal electricity closet, stick the card into the appropriate slow, and determine how much electricity
is left for the house. When you run out, lights go out and you’re out…but no fear, to replenish the card, you
have to go to the China Industrial Bank
(which has operating hours only from 9-4 pm on weekdays), wait in a long line (average is 30 minutes so far), and get your
card recharged (‘chong’). (2) Gas – measured using a meter. Apparently, the gas man magically comes to check
your meter once or twice a month (I haven’t gotten a consistent answer yet from anyone), and a bill appears on your
door. Again, you have to go to the China Industrial Bank to pay this bill.(3) Water – measured by a meter, a bill is
received much like the gas bill. (4) Phone – I have still yet to figure this out, but apparently, it’s supposed
to be a bill too. However, I don’t know how I’m supposed to pay this yet.
2006-02-28. Tuesday. Snowing in Beijing! We woke
up to snow on the ground—meaning cold temperatures! Brr….they even have put a red carpet on the steps to my apartment
complex, to insure that people do not fall! Mar leaves today to head back to Kaohsiung,
Taiwan, while I head to the DB Conference. It’s focus
is Access China 2006, and I heard about China’s energy situation,
the asset management of Chinese insurance companies, and DHL’s divisional strategies in Asia
(as the largest express delivery service). Tomorrow, I’m going to hear about the challenges that Chinese companies face
in terms of globalizing, China’s FDI outflows, and China’s economic mega trends and investment strategy into China.
2006-02-27. Monday. Deutche Banc Gala – A night of history. Last night, Mar and I attended the DB Gala at
the Beijing Hotel. The hotel, located in Wangfujin, is a historical icon. We dined at the same spot the inauguration of the
PRC was held in 1949! How cool. It was a little bittersweet dinner presentation, because they had quite a bit of reverence
to Chairman Mao, and even a dance with the red soldiers. To me, this was a bit troubling, as the Red Guards and Mao were the
cause of a lot of death, pain, and suffering. As the mastermind behind the brainwashing of young teens and the Cultural Revolution,
I cannot have much respect for a man like Mao. However, I understand that there are significant differences between my opinions
and those of some Chinese citizens. Surprisingly, the Cultural Revolution (which was only in the 70s), was only a few decades
ago. However, I find it quite astonishing that so many people in this world do not know of the revolution.
2006-02-26 Sunday. Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Mar and I were off to another day of sightseeing, this time with
about 30 other Deutche Banc clients. We visited the Great Wall of China, a part built in
the Ming Dynasty—which was about one hour away from the city. The wall is just an amazing phenomenon—10,000 miles
long—and the only manmade structure that can be seen from space. It didn’t do a very good job as being a defense
mechanism in the Qing and Ming dynasties, but worked very well as a means of transportation of goods and people. Can you imagine
building the wall, brick by brick? Wow…I’m tired just thinking about it. It was so cold today, that almost every
person in our group left with a new communist furry hat. They were so cheap that I had to get one as memorabilia for myself!
After the Great Wall, we visited the Ming Tombs, where 13 emperors are buried. All of the tombs are exquisite underground
palaces, and only one has been excavated thus far (Ding ling). The tomb location was chosen because it is in accordance with
feng-shui, as an alcove sheltered by mountains (almost 75%) and a small opening into the sea. We visited the Chang ling, which
had not been excavated, so basically, we saw a lovely mound of dirt (in a circular shape) – to represent the heavens.
2006-02-25. Saturday. PanJiaYuan Market and Lama Temple (Yong he gong). Mar and I signed up for the Deutche Banc tour, and met at
the Grand Hyatt in Wangfujin. We received a private tour of the PanJiaYuan market, where Chinese antiques and trinkets are
sold. There was everything, from beautifully carved jade, exquisite paintings of amazing scenery in China, and pearls of all styles and colors. But, since we couldn’t take another
day of bargaining (and probably getting ripped off), we quickly departed for lunch – hand-pulled noodles, and sweetened
haw fruit. We explored the Wanfujin Beijing local snack street, where we saw a lot of unique foods---including kebabs of seahorses,
starfish, and bugs—larva, crickets, grasshoppers, and cicadas. EW! Thankfully, we had already eaten and couldn’t
try these local delicacies. Maybe next time! Next, we were off to enjoy the Lama
Temple, where the Dali Lama studied for many years. We were fortunate
to see the annual show that represented a type of “rain dance” that would bring a good harvest in the coming year,
and to scare away the bad omens; there were gongs, dances by cows, deer, and some ghost-like beings. The Lama temple is stunning,
with many locals praying to the different gods for different reasons: there was one pregnant lady (probably about 8 months)
that was praying for a healthy baby, businessmen praying for prosperity in the new year, and elderly praying for health.
2006-02-24. Friday. Everything is negotiable, my friend! After officially signing my rental agreement, and registering
with the police department, a few of us explored the infamous Silk Market in Beijing
(at the Yonganli metro stop), or better known as “the imitation market”. Everything here requires a lot of bargaining,
and a lot of walking away before you come to an agreeable price. Also, everything needs to be properly inspected for quality—especially
the good fakes. You can get everything and anything you can think of: purses (Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Gucci, Coach, Salvatore
Ferragamo, Fendi), shoes (Puma, Adidas, Merrill, Timberland), home décor (bedding, tablecloths, pillowcases, dining table
runners), outdoor gear (North Face, Mountain Hardwear, Spyder, Timberland,
Colombia), Chinese trinkets and arts, and more! Shop til you
drop…very exhausting because it’s not only shopping, but it’s full-on bargaining! We even experienced a
few arm grabs (they have kung fu clutches, so beware!) and made many new friends (they like to shout at you ‘friend,
how much?’, ‘friend, what is your price?’).
2006-02-23. Thursday. On-time is a relative word. As I learned from my International Enterprises Management professor—who
was not just late, he was 50 minutes late. For a class that was supposed to begin at 9:50 am, he rushed into the room at 10:40
am. Yes, I was still there, as I was finishing up some reading for another class, but about ten students had already left,
and there was only 4 of us left!
2006-02-22. Wednesday. My new roommate! Samuel Bazze Semwangu, a 22-year old American from Chicago (he has just graduated from Northwestern with a minor in Chinese). He’s actually
from New York where he grew up with his parents and his
six siblings! How fun would that be to be part of such a large family! Sammy was a part of the soccer team at Northwestern,
so he is also a gym rat like myself. We’re talking about running the Great Wall Marathon in May…I have to train
a lot! It’s very steep and there are many steps, but would be an amazing experience.
2006-02-21. Tuesday. Traffic in Beijing. To sum
it up, Beijing traffic is a combination of horn-happy cars,
maniacal bikers, and death-wishing pedestrians. In my first drive with Mr. Hao, I counted about 55 honks in the one hour in
the car. This city would be a very quiet place if somehow horns were outlawed.
2006-02-20. Monday. First day of classes. Today was my first day of classes, and it started off very early (with
an 8 am class!). Here is my schedule of classes:
Monday – Business
Chinese, Strategic Management, Business Law, Cross-Cultural Management.
Wednesday –
Operations Management
Thursday – International
Enterprises Management, Doing Business in China.
All my classes seem
interesting, and the 25 exchange students for the IMBA program are in a lot of these classes, so that should be a great opportunity
to meet a lot of people from all different countries. There are students from Sweden,
Switzerland, Norway,
France, Korea, Thailand, Singapore.
Most of these courses are in English, with the exception of my two courses – Business Chinese (obviously) and International
Enterprises Management. Yes, I am actually taking a course in Chinese…which will be a challenge in itself trying to
understand everything and try to read!!
2006-02-19. Sunday. My new apartment. I moved into my new place – at HuaQingJia Yuan, Building 9, Apartment #1306. It’s a cozy 2 bedroom place, with marble
floors in the common area, and wood floors in the two bedrooms. The only complaint that I have about the place is the bathroom
situation…but the bathrooms are the same in all of the building. For some reason, when the builder built this place,
they made the bathrooms extremely small, with the shower basically on top of the toilet seat! From our landlady, we found
out that they actually sued the builder when they saw the bathrooms. But, no fear, currently, I take most of my showers at
the gym across the street. The gym, called Nirvana, is one of the nicest gyms I have been to…the equipment is all new,
they have a sauna and steam room in the locker rooms, great showers, and many trainers helping you out whenever you need.
It is super-expensive for Beijing standards, but for American
standards, it’s still quite affordable. This is my one luxury for Beijing—a
gym and a proper shower!
2006-02-18. Saturday. Waiguoren at Sanlitun. So, after a restless
night of imagining six months with this new roommate, I decided that I was going to get my own apartment at the HuaQingJiaYuan. The HuaQing Garden
apartments, aka the Pink Apartments, are directly across the street from Tsinghua
University, and I can walk to the business school building in ten minutes.
I’ll be on 13th floor of Building 9, in my own 2 bedroom apartment.
I am so excited that I have a home! Today was the new student orientation, where I met my first fellow IMBA student –
Jay (from NYU Stern, on his last semester here at Tsinghua). Jay also lives at the HuaQing Garden apartments, and is in my
building, just on 4th floor. How convenient! Since it’s Saturday night, I had to experience the Beijing nightlife, so a crew of the exchange IMBA students met up at
Bar Blu in the Sanlitun area—the hot spot of foreigners (waiguo ren!) It was fun with good music and very expensive
drinks (a bottle of water was 30 yuan…compared to my big jug of water at home that is only 12 yuan). I met up with Brian
Klein, friend of Chris Addy, who is an economics officer with the U.S. Embassy—and he taught me that in Sanlitun, you
have to question the intentions of some of the Chinese ladies there—depending on whether they were working or not!
2006-02-17. Friday. I need a warm down jacket. We moved to a different hotel today, Xijiao Bing Guan which was
cheaper, recently remodeled, and much closer to my university. I still have not decided on my housing arrangements, but I
met with my Chinese mentor/ buddy Xianli. She took us to see an apartment to share with this 27-year old Chinese girl. Her
apartment was quite nice, and it was an attractive package because all I would need to do to move in would be to pay this
gal. However, I’m a little concerned over the culture differences because her mother has told us that she is afraid
to live alone, and does not want male guests entering the house (as in summer, she’ll be wearing a lot of tank tops).
Hmm…seems like it would be very restricting. I’ll have to think about it (‘kao li’). So, instead of
making a decision, we went shopping! Mar and I bought four new down jackets (‘yu rong fu’) and they are so wonderfully
Chinese and warm. We went to the AnMing factory and bought directly from them…for four jackets, it was only 200 yuan
each (which equals $25 USD). How exciting!
2006-02-16. Thursday. Sashimi and fresh salads in Beijing?
I think I will be ever-indebted to Mike and Man, Ruban’s two roommates, that introduced me to the best restaurant in
the Wudaokou area thus far. Hidden behind a huge building (with a KFC), this Japanese restaurant (which I can never remember
the name, even though I have been there five times already) actually serves fresh sashimi, delicious salads, teriyaki, udon,
and all the Japanese foods you expect—all in Beijing, where the water is not to be trusted, fruits need to be peeled,
and you would never think of eating fresh vegetables! Here is my mom thoroughly enjoying our set meal—which was only
28 yuan for hers and 45 yuan for mine (basically, that translates to $6 USD for a big meal with sushi and salad). Yummy..
I am hungry again thinking about it.
2006-02-15. Wednesday. Apartment Hunting. The whole apartment searching process is something that clearly needs
to a written manual. It is a very unique process, to say the least, and took a lot longer and greater hassle than I had imagined.
Some rules: 1) Every apartment is different, even in the same complex—but often they charge the same price. While layout
and design is the same, when I was looking at apartments (I saw about 30 in one apartment complex alone), all of them were
furnished and remodeled differently, and there was a vast differential in quality. I found out it paid to really take the
time to look around and be happy with what you where you were going to live. 2) You must prepare huge wads of cash, as you
will be expected to pay your rent and deposit (for me, this was seven months of rent) up
front and in cash!!!! Yes, that is correct. Not only are you locked into the
place, but you have to pay everything in advance. I was lucky enough to have a great landlord (‘fang dong’) who
allowed me to wait for the wire transfer from the US,
but still let us move in early. 3) You bargain…even rental agreements. You can bargain for everything in China, and rent is no exception. If you do not bargain
for prices, you can bargain for a DVD player or cutlery or dishes. I was able to get a new wardrobe, a new coffee table and
a microwave! As a side note, you can even bargain your way to a better gym membership and at nice department stores! 4) You
must register with the police station within 24 hours of your lease agreement…of which you will be fined if you do not.
5) You can use a realtor, but you will likely pay more. Otherwise, you can find spots online at spots like www.thatsbj.com. From my experience, I was very happy to have found an honest and not-pushy realtor (‘cheng
feng’) who was recommended by friends. He was able to tell us a lot of information we would not have known if we were
looking on our own.
2006-02-14. Tuesday. Valentine’s Day in Beijing.
We arrived in Beijing today, and braced the cold, harsh winds,
and the pollution. We were greeted by the kind Mr. Hao at the airport, (my mom’s good friend’s cousin) who was
holding up a sign with our names on it. We arrived around 2:30 pm, but we did not leave the airport until 3:30 pm…why?
Well, let’s just say we had a very typical Beijing experience—whereby the parking
attendant claimed we never paid our parking fee, while our Beijing
local friend, Mr. Hao, declared that he did. They argued well over 45 minutes, with the parking attendant counting her bills
about 30 times, and Mr. Hao, getting out of the car, and adamant that he was not a cheap. The best part—was that this
debate was over a mere 10 yuan! I would have been happy to pay 50 yuan to just get out of there, but I am a guest in another
country, so I kept my mouth shut this time. My university, Tsinghua
University, is located about one hour from the airport (if there is no
traffic, ‘sai che’), in the Wudaokou area. We stayed at the Friendship Hotel, a very historical ‘bing guan’
but not the newest or the cleanest. But alas, we had finally settled into a place after an entire day of travel (from Kaohsiung to Hong Kong to Beijing). There
are no direct flights due to the oh-so lovely regulations requiring each flight from Taiwan
to China must go through Hong Kong. So,
yet another year that I have spent my Valentine’s Day traveling and arriving at a new place.
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