Air Pollution Record Breaker

2008 has been a year of climate records for Hong Kong and yesterday the city set yet another: Hong Kong's worst ever day of air pollution. The Air Pollution Index (API) hit 202, the highest reading since records have been kept.

It was beastly. A mix of exhaust, ozone, petrochemical particulates and who knows what else, made worse by a temperature was pushing 100 degrees Fahrenheit with 85% humidity. And there is such a concentration of skyscrapers in the Central business district that there is no breeze to push the smog cake out. It's really gross.

I've become very adept at making my way across town using only the air conditioned skyways between buildings so I never really have to come into contact with the outside air. Reminds me of the game 'Lava Monster' I played as a kid where you've got to maneuver your way around jungle gym in the sandlot without ever touching the sand for fear of being scorched by the lava monster. That's effectively the game I'm playing in Hong Kong everyday as I step out to go to a meeting or simply to grab a sandwich.

HK Cribs

Cool piece on Jackie Chan's Hong Kong pad....

Great Wall of China

You can’t get to Beijing and not journey to the Great Wall and with Ingrid alongside us we knew we had to check it out. Our driver sped 90 minutes north of Beijing toward the mountains of Manchuria and dropped us at our fancy little hotel (http://www.communebythegreatwall.com/en/) at the foot of the Great Wall. The hotel’s too-cool-for-school website over-promised and under-whelmed, but the real highlight of the trip was the small private stretch of ‘Wild Wall’ that runs above the property. No admission fee, no souvenir hawkers, no busloads of tourists to jockey with, no guardrails, restrooms, or signs pointing us where to go. We had it all to ourselves.






The Wall is something like 4,000 miles long and was built over a 2,000 year span at the expense of 3 million Chinese lives, a record that puts Beijing Airport’s Terminal 3 in perspective. But I couldn’t help but to have a laugh as I stood atop one of the watchtowers and saw a commercial airliner fly overheard. Imagine standing guard in full Chinese military armor 1,000 years ago and to be atop this massive wall that you’d been told was impregnable, only to see this new flying technology pass overhead. That would be a ‘Holy Crap’ moment of realization.





Our little stretch of Wall was likely built sometime in the 1300’s and it certainly was showing its age. Much of it was in rubble although the foundation managed to remain intact in most places. Over time winds have transplanted sand and soil onto the Wall and have created a topsoil that now supports small trees and beautiful wildflowers.

It was really gorgeous, and best of all it was dead quiet. It has been a long time since I stood outdoors without any man made sounds to be heard.

Lizzie and I fully appreciated the immense historical significance of what we were seeing. Ingrid on the other hand dangled contently in the Baby Bjorn as Daddy sweated his way up and down the trail to the Wall. We were sure to take as many pictures as possible so maybe someday she can include them in her grade school essay on the Wall.

Beijing

Lizzie and Ingrid tagged along on my business trip to Beijing with me last week and we extended thru the weekend for a mini family vacation. We had a blast wandering the city and seeing the sights. We toured Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City as well as the Houhai and Sanlitun Lakes but otherwise had a relaxing time of just wandering the city at our own pace.

It has been well publicized that the city's residents have undergone a State-funded western charm school of sorts, learning such things as not loogeying on the street and not cutting in line, so they show well in front of the foreign Olympic crowds. We couldn't have been treated more kindly by the people, mostly because we had a little blue eyed baby in tow. It's amusing to see the typical austere Chinese man who otherwise would never recognize Lizzie nor my existence suddenly reduced to a cooing, baby babbling softy as he tries to coax a smile from Ing. She is indeed a little ambassador.






Beijing is in final preparation mode for the Olympics. Teams of volunteers are still being trained, paint is being applied to fences and guardrails and spectator bleachers are being assembled. I was last in Beijing in '05 so I was aware of the amount of building development that was ongoing but what took me completely by surprise was the amount of landscaping and 'beautification' that has gone on to give the city a sense of curb appeal. Hedgerows were perfectly clipped, sod has been rolled out where before it was just dirt, and there were beautiful potted plants everywhere. A city I remember as brown and dusty has morphed into a beautiful garden! Beijing has dressed up nicely for the big dance and hopefully they keep it that way post-Games.

The air quality is still a day to day issue -- it was grimy one day as seen in the photo below of the wacky CCTV Tower that's still in development, but we were lucky to have blue(ish) skies during the rest of our trip. A city that sees 2,000 new cars hitting the road every day (!) has now moved to an every other day system where the last number on your license plate (odd or even) dictates whether you can drive into the city. And all construction in the city has now been halted for the next 2 months to reduce particulate in the air. My driver during the week shared his stories of growing up in a Beijing that had blue skies everyday and he was very much looking forward to the same conditions in the coming weeks.

In another 3 weeks the city will be a madhouse and though Beijing is a neat city, we'll be happily camped out at home watching the Games from the couch.

Run Liu Run

If you're in need of a subplot to get interested in the Beijing Olympics, you'll find it in Liu Xiang, China's national sporting hero because of his gold medal victory in the 110 high hurdles at the 2004 Athens Games. After his gold he said "I want to prove to the world that Asians can run very fast." He's the first person of non-African descent to clock in under 13 seconds in his event. This guy's popularity rivals that of Michael Jordan at his peak. He's beyond huge, bigger in China than Yao Ming, metaphorically speaking of course. And his picture is everywhere in Beijing - Coke cans, mobile phone adverts, billboards, buses. And he is no one-hit wonder, he's set multiple world records and taken gold in world championship track events in the past couple years.

There is even concern among local Olympic organizers that if Liu doesn't win his race in the 110 hurdles, a large portion of the crowd will vacate the stadium and not watch the remaining events. So, this dude has the weight of the entire nation on his shoulders at the Beijing Games. If you're going to pull for one guy from the host country, it ought to be Liu Xiang.

Terminal 3

I was last in Beijing in 2005 and as I sat on the runway of Beijing International Airport to leave the city I looked out the plane window and saw a row of 80+ construction cranes in the process of building the ambitious Terminal 3 project. Last week our plane landed at T3 and we got the chance to check it out. Staggering, in a word. High on the wow factor.

A couple of stats that speak for themselves:
- Budget: $3.8 Billion
- Considered the world's largest building at 14 million sq. ft.
- It is larger than all 5 of Heathrows terminals combined, including Heathrow's new T5 set to open this year which took 20 years to build at twice the price
- Were it an airport on its own, T3 would be the world's largest in size and capacity
- Completed in less than 4 years (How long has the new Bay Bridge been under construction?)
- 2 miles long from one end to the other
- Size of construction crew: 50,000
- Steel consumed: 500,000 tons (the Eiffel Tower is 7,300 tons)
- Concrete consumed: 64 million cubic feet
- Beijing'ers 'displaced' in order to build T3: 10,000

It's so big that it doesn't even feel like China because it's not crowded! Very cool to see.

The Bird's Nest

So this is where the world's steel supply has gone.....I caught a glimpse of The Bird's Nest out the back of a taxi window as I was buzzing from meeting to meeting today and managed to snap it with my Blackberry camera. This will be the center of the action at next month's Beijing Olympics. Quite an impressive structure.

Butt Soup

You might think this looks like some sort of an attempt at a Guinness Book record, but it seems this is just another day at the public pool in China. The mercury has been climbing, and what better way to chill out than to have a swim with 1 in every 6 of your countrymen.

"Butt Soup" All Rights Reserved to Grandma H

Off to Beijing

Off to Beijing on a business/family trip. Postings may slow in the coming days.

Shanghai's French Concession

The French Concession is the area of Shanghai that got its name in the mid 1800's when the French negotiated for its citizens the establishment and government of a small nook within the city. It probably got it's reputation as the "Paris of the East" because of the pleasant tree-lined streets, the fashionable air about the district and local Shanghainese bustle. The eclectic architecture was built with French and Belgian money and shows mixed Chinese-European styles, but the area did not benefit from the trading revenue that other areas of town realized. So by the 1930's it became the city's center of lawlessness and decadence, with denizens earning their keep through crime, gambling, prostitution and the operation of the famous opium dens.

It so happens that the old Mansion we were staying in was formerly owned by the Godfather of Shanghai - triad kingpin Du Yue-Sheng also known as "Big Ears." He represented all that was the outrageous, brash, lawless and decadent 1930's Old Shanghai.

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So as my Mom and Dad sat out on the veranda of their hotel room imagining life in old Shanghai what they didn't know to incorporate into their thoughts was that they were sitting on "Big Ears" Du's balcony and looking out on Du's view. Standing in the foot steps of the Chinese Godfather himself. Now that I am remembering our stay at the Mansion Hotel it was difficult to find any information on the old mansion's history. I guess the owners of the hotel didn't want us to incorporate the opium dens and concubines into our fairy tale of life in old Shanghai.

Street Food Shanghai

Since Bob is something of a risk taker in the culinary art of street food, I followed his lead and partook in the steamed buns from a roadside stall. And though I haven't yet perfected the talent of street food "any place, any time" like some adventurous souls I did enjoy these 5cent buns.