OUR CHINA BUREAU REPORTS IN
Dateline Beijing:
The BF reports that they had their first snow in the capital of the People’s Republic of China yesterday.
The view from Richards office window.
In the meantime, I’ve spent the last three days here in Seattle in shorts and a tee shirt.
I’m thinking that I may go to China to visit Richard in February for a couple of weeks.
But if I do I think I’ll meet Rich in Hong Kong and then from there we’ll go to the Chinese resort in Sanya and stay in a beach front cabana room with our own private Infinity Pool here since I have no interest whatsoever in subjecting myself to a Beijing winter.
I’ll go to Beijing this summer and then from there we can go to the Panda reserve in Sichuan where we can have the Panda babies sit in our laps for photographs in nice weather rather than the arctic conditions that blow off the fucking Gobi desert in the winter time there.
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:59 am
The snow was created by the Chinese by seeding shit in the atmosphere to produce snow. I think we better start studying Mandarin as a second language.
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:41 am
could just be very bad air quality….
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 am
Smart to avoid Beijing in the winter. Especially February. Sanya is cute. And yeah, brush up on your Mandarin.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:53 am
I wonder. How is he staying warm at night?
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:08 am
Sue, he’s staying warm with some 24 year old Brit foreign exchange student apparently. Who looks, if you’ll excuse my snarkiness, just bit too much like a young Prince Charles for my taste.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I’d skip Hainan if I were you and go to a nice resort in Vietnam (about the same distance) and much more interesting! Hainan is like Florida for the Chinese and it’s packed in Feb — and Chinese can’t enjoy a nice quiet meal (or really anything) without screaming at the top of their lungs to everyone at their table (normal conversation). But whereever you go — do bring the nice 24 year old student with you guys!
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:09 pm
will you be posting from china, scott?
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Thats a great question Aug. I know that BIE isn’t accessible to the Chinese due to its ummmmm, adult nature. However, if I go to Microsoft’s HQ in Beijing I will be able to access it there in order to post because the Evil Empire of Redmond Washington has more clout apparently than the Chinese government. You can get Bill in Exile and tons of other banned sites there. And since I have access to Microsoft’s Beijing office I may do some posting from there.
Otherwise I will email my posts to my brother-in-law here in Seattle and he can post them for me since he already has keys to the site.
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Just a note of advice, Chinese New Year or Spring Festival begins on 14FEB2010. Days before that will have millions of chinese on the move, going home or getting their shopping done. If you must go to China, get in days before, or days after. And if you thinking of spending time at a resort during that time, book it early. And if you are planning on traveling around, be prepared for a “shut down” or a “slow down” in services. Most of places in East Asia where there is a substantial chinese population will be very, very quiet for about 2 to 3 days.
It will be the Year of the Tiger in 2010!
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I’ve heard summer in Beijing is no picnic, either. Instead of snow, it’s dust blowing in from the Gobi Desert. Frankly, from what I’ve heard, visiting Beijing isn’t terribly fun any time, what with the horrible air and all.
As for this Prince Charles lookalike: he’s got a big dick. Duh!
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Try to avoid Beijing in the summer. That wind off the Gobi in summer brings dust and the heat is like Kansas City. They also sometimes get “flying shrimp” blown in that Beijingers love! The Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing only to be closer to the barbarian menace off the Eurasian steppes. Nanjing (southern capital) has a much nicer clinate than Beijing (northern capital). Of course, there is only one Great Wall and one Forbidden City! Beijing, so I am told, is lovely in the spring. And do learn some Mandarin! It is devilishly easy to learn to speak, and the Chinese are always impressed when a “red-headed barbarian” tries to speak the only truly civilized tongue!
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
If you can, don’t goto Beijing in the summertime, especially in the month of August. The city at that time tend to become really hot and muggy, and the pollution will make it 2x as miserable.
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
I think I can excuse your snarkiness under the circumstances, Scott.
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Slyder the BF speaks fluent Mandarin, Vietnamese and Japanese so he can be the white boy who impresses the locals for the two of us. Me? I’m just there for the food and the cheap jade.
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:03 pm
And I thought it was just a typical Beijing smog alert with dustings of soot from the hundreds of coal plants they so desperately love.
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:38 pm
You’ll have to be careful about “cheap jade,” Scott. The Chinese don’t have as much of a line between low-end jade and other materials, such as serpentine, aventurine, and chrysoprase and true jade (nephrite or jadeite). True jade, in China, is MORE expensive, and very exclusive. It’s like diamonds to them, except maybe even more precious.