Frozen toes, one sheep, ### tigers and some silly foreigners

Since Devrim, Sheila and Nick have all posted some nice comments on our common trip to Harbin last weekend (060120 - 060123), mine will consist of no more than keywords and pics (saying sometimes more than a thousand words (but require, at times, some clarifying comments.. see below..;)

• Who: Sheila, Habib, Simon, Nick, Devrim, Aude, Rebecca and Dom
  
• Trip: 12 hours. Train. Soft Sleeper. Silly, noisy (drinking) games. Passed out > 2 hours of blackout. Also Chinese can sound like rusty chainsaws (Habib learned it the hard way).
  
• City: Harbin. In the North-East of the PRC. Considerable Russian influence (Architecture, Fashion, Vodka (Elaboration of this point on Devrim's BLOG..)). Bloooody cold (-28C at night. No way one can send a textmessage without gloves. Dropping pants works however.. (eg. silly foreigners..;))
• Ice Lantern Festival: Stunning. Colourful and big style (very Chinese). Made out of Ice (and some carcinogenic benzene) carved out of the Songhua River. (Why Benzene?: Factory explosion. Tons of Benzene contamined the river. Harbin was without water supply for more than a week. A month before the accident the company responsible for disaster had won a National Environmental Friendly Enterprise award from the gov.) What will happen once the ice melts?) Back to Festival: Carved Ice. Cartier on Ice (check my Flickr account for "Cartier attracks all kinds of women" if you like). Flowers in Ice. Light in Ice. Ice. Ice. Ice.. Gorgeous!
• Food: Heaps! Mostly Russian at Russian Cafe. Russian Sausage, Potatoes, Pickles, and Vodka. Also at local Chinese place. Oil with Eggplant. Oil with cabbage. Very good prices. SHOCKER: chicks on stick on the Grill/Braai/Barbie/BBQ.. (see picture below) sold in the streets of Harbin.
• Irritating / Interesting stuff: (a) Eg. chicks on sticks. (b) Stalin, Lenin and Usama for sale. What the hec?!?! (c) dirty water (aka (or rather sold as) Coffee) for 30kuai (ca. 4Euros; at ice lantern festival). On the next day 4 of us ate lunch for the same amount of money... (d) malodour in the hallways of our hostel (e) "Russia meets China" => tank (just next to a destroyer made of ice) at the festival (f) day can resemble night in some of the neighbourhoods of Harbin (see pic below)..
  
• Other fun/Interesting stuff: (a) Fabulous slide onto the frozen Songhua River. Simon performing the starfish. (b) buying extremly cheap firecrackers and setting them off just around midnight. Oh yes, Habib is a firebug as well. (c) The funny "Harbin playmobiles" with integrated heating (and huge exhaust pipe) (d) Watch tigers (some call them male lions (ain't I right, Nick? ;)) hunting and savouring a sheep (controversial topic; but admittedly fascinating). (e) Broaden my personal horizon: there is such a thing as a Liger (see previous post)). (f) Sheila likes sausages on her hair (others use beer, eggs or simply shampoo..)

>> ice cold but top! good, somewhat crazy and interesting week-end trip !!

How about some "book crossing"?

Just read an interesting article in City Weekend:

Breeding Book Crossers

January 05, 2006 -

The cafes, libraries, airports and parks of China's cities are soon to become flooded with literary flotsam as book crossing starts to grip the country. The primary commandment of book crossing - "to release books into the wild" - sounds uncannily like a campaign launched by a guerrilla literary liberation front, however its roots are undeniably apolitical. Although it involves all the stealth of a guerrilla campaign, the political undertones are notably absent. Last month, however, authorities hijacked this popular past-time by releasing over twenty thousand historical, educational and political books into public places throughout the Putuo district in Shanghai. Whether this will have any affect on the population of book crossers is yet to be seen, however, it may help to rouse China's sleepy book crossing community. Currently, China is home to nearly three thousand book crossers who both release and hunt books, however, in some parts of the country the book crossing community is woefully inactive. Those people wanting to share their books, log onto the website (www.bookcrossing.com), register their book, label it and then release it into a public place, so that booklovers can enjoy their spoils. On the website, liberators can indicate when and where they are planning to release their book, so hunters can be ready and waiting. Indeed, it seems to be easier said than done – China, it seems, is an inhospitable place for nomadic books. Vigilant waitresses, waiters and service staff are unconsciously sabotaging the movement, by promptly removing the books from public places. Newly arrived book crossers let out a collective moan when they discovered this trait, however fortunately, most of them have discovered restaurants where the wait staff are half-lidded, or better yet, half asleep.

If you are interested in hunting down a book, or you want to release a book, then visit the book crossing website at www.bookcrossing.com.

Random, just random

Why can't I do it? Why can't I possibly go to bed before 2am in the morning even though...

• I know I'll have to (actually this does not at all feel like an obligation as Exoweb rocks!!) work tomorrow
• I worked the whole day (meaning roughly (have flexi working time) from 9am-6.30pm)
  
• Twisted my tongue during Chinese classes
  
• Savoured Keshav's birthday cake ("Happy birthday" again, you oooold bloke!!)
• Watched an intriguing movie ("Crash": good (even sometimes not all that surprising) characters, pretty relevant plot, some great lessons and beautiful actresses) at Sheila's place
• Had to say good-bye (for the second time) to some dear Aussies: Simon (will soon be a Blogger) and Mishieare (after hopefully spending a great time in Malaysia and a having a blast in Thailand) heading back home to the country of the Kangaroos, the beer and the Vegemite... Sniff, sniff.. However, I get the feeling that I gonna meet these two nomads soon again and am already looking forward to it!! Farewell onto you !!!!

... I still couldn't call it a day because I got the feeling to be missing out on something.. but what?

• To feed my recorder with some silly thoughts while riding a bike?
• To notice that for Aida there is no difference between night and day, except that there's no daylight at nights (which seems pretty logical (except for some Swedish, etc blokes)) ? My beloved, absolutely crazy Tuneswissalo-Geneviève does not seem to sleep, ever (I can usually continue talking to her once I arrive at the office (at 9.30am (GMT +8h)!)!
• To find out that there is such a thing as an alcoholic delirium of jealousy (what the hec..) ?
  
• That my favourite bald (he still affirms that "Les chauves sont plus virils que ceux qui ont des cheveux ! Toutes les filles le disent.") Romand Jean-Claude appeared on p.7 of Le Matin (Swiss boulevard. Niveau comparable to Poetry written by "W" or David Beckhams Autobiography). They called his Lost Highway "un regard intelligent sur l'actualité, un site qui mélange les genres, de l'anecdote à la réflexion d'ordre philosophique" (for all non-French speakers: has something to do with intelligence.. ;). Great stuff! (also the BLOG! go read it!!) I look forward to soon reading articles by this great "philosopher" in some quality papers as well... ;)
  

But then, hey: it's 2am and I still haven't done what I actually wanted. Namely:

• Study some Chinese words so as to increase the total amount of words I know to a stunning 35, or so..
• Finally plan what exactly I could do for Chinese New Year (apart from buying and detonating loads of fire crackers..)
  
• Write some lines about and post some pics I took during our great weekend trip to Harbin, a bloody cold town in the North-East of the PRC. Until I bother you with my personal, silly lines you might want to glimpse at Sheila's BLOG and the picture of a Liger (The product of crossbreeding between a male lion and a female tiger, having features of both but generally being larger than either) Devrim took (Great shot mate; even after so many "breakfast shots";) !

Alright, alright.. won't continue bugging you and finally go to sleep.. ;) Hug ***

Saint Bernards in Lianhuashan

Besides stuff like..:

• Jose Maria (CEO of World Economic Forum) saying China’s pragmatic approach to its development thus far, and of tackling things in a realistic and forthright manner, are already a good basis for understanding how to grow within one’s means when asked what the West could learn from China. (I actually disagree especially with respect to "grow within one's means".)
• Kim Jong Il's secret (luxurious) visit to China and the speculations about the mutual interests. Read the whole article here.
• In Chinese the words for crisis and opportunity are the same.

... my eye caught the following bit of information while reading through the news and searching the net:

"Ten years ago, only 500 people in China could ski. This year [2004], an estimated 5,000,000 Chinese will visit ski resorts."

When reading this, I felt like writing some random lines about our (Simon, Mishie, Nick, Troy, Habib, Anne, Sheila, Eduardo, Soraya, Aude, Rebecca and Dom) great last week-end trip to the Lianhuashan "Ski resort" (about a 90 mins drive from Beijing) .

• Yes, Skiing (as so many other things) is booming in China. However, saying that an estimated 5'000'000 Chinese will visit ski resort is not saying that they could actually ski... ;) I was really impressed by their (kamikaze-like) courage and enjoyed watching some stunning accidents (and cheering/helping them up afterwards; of course...)
• Have a look at the sexy equipment we rented. Isn't Troy's fluorescent pink and yellow ski jacket designed by Phoenix a true beauty? Also: Have a close look at Mishie's butt (slightly bigger and more amorphous than normal..;)

• We felt somewhat like "skiers in the mist" as the fog was so thick that we found out about the existence of the longest (well, approximatively 1000m "long"..) slope (5 in total) only shortly before lunch time..
  
• Yummy food and freeeee drinks during the whole day.. (what a temptation, especially on foggy and somewhat chilly days like last Saturday..) Interesting: the hot "iced tea" and orange juice..

• We tried to do some kick ass jumps, but rather hit (our) ass(es)... For some more on this and other funny anecdotes read Troy's How to embarrass yourself in front of 20 Chinese men
  
• A short but fun Inner Tubing race in the kids park

• Two fairly distinct approaches to what the role of a Saint Bernards ((Swiss) breed of dog) is in a Ski resort:

1. Swiss approach: A Saint Bernard has got a neat little barrel, filled with delicious (well, or at least strong) booze around his neck. His job then is to pep up skiers involved in accidents by infusing them some of the liquid treasure. Alternatively, a Saint Bernard (still and always with his little barrel) lies lazy in the snow, is caressed by skiers and serves as a motive for cheesy pictures.
2. Chinese approach: Tie it in front of a cart and have it transport tourists. No nice little barrel. Not smirking and licking but rather sweating and gasping on pictures with and for tourists. And in the end? Chopped into pieces and served with a smile.. ;)

> a great weekend and a good preparation for the icy temperatures (somewhere around -20C) that await us in Harbin.. à suivre..

First ask, then eat - or how was it again?

Pretty crazy story I've just read (again) in the NZZ (Swiss newspaper):

One of these days Armin Meiwes - a (seemingly) average German "computer expert" - meets the 43-year old Bernd Jürgen B. (hereinafter BJB) online. They chat and conclude a deal. BJB visits Armin Meiwes. Together they cut off Armin Meiwe's "well you know what", fry it in a pan and savour it. After this appetizer and once BJB has lost conscience, Armin Meiwes passes on to the main course. He carves up BJB, cuts him into pieces, neatly packs the pieces into Tupperware, puts stickers on each one of them stating "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday" (well, ok, I invented this last part..) and goes on savouring roughly 20kg of BJB over the following months; defrosting pieces portion by portion.

The striking difference between Hannibal Lector and his German counterpart is, that in the latter case the victim actually agreed to be put on the menu card...

Other things that struck me / jumped into my mind when reading the article:

• Psychiatric experts have found Meiwes to be sane.
• The defense lawyer argued that the crime should be classified a mercy killing. Hm, seems like a pretty "avant-gardist" form of euthanasia to me..
• Should a cannibal that asks his/her victim for permission before savouring him/her be considered a "polite cannibal"?
• Is this a sign of- and strategy to overcome boredom in tidy, "developed", democratically ordered societies such as Germany?
  
• Some of BJBs last words: "there's absolutely no way back for me, only forwards, through your teeth." Well, I'm not sure whether I should call this poetic..
  
• "Alive", the movie about the airplane crash of an Uruguayan Rugby-team in the Andes, should probably be renamed: "The big feast, on the rocks", or something alike...
  
• Oups, "computer expert" he was?! Guess I should talk with my boss about inserting a risk premium into my contract then.. Alternatively I might simply abandon my job at the IT company and apply for a job as physiotherapist of neurotic crocodiles or "Sterilise-ator" of killer rabbits right away..
  
• And I thought (some) Chinese butcheries were the Eldorado of any "carnivore species" imaginable... (you can get everything from boring, "normal" chicken, beef and horse to silkworms, scorpions and dogs)... Guess they should copy (no comment on this..) the strategy of "Joe's meat market" (picture below ((c) Spencer Tunik)) so as to satisfy even the "Armins" among us..
  

.. so, hey, if you feel like you didn't really need one of your arms, a leg or if you want to get rid of some fat pads before the bathing season starts: let me know. We might do something like the "Hannibal-light" apprenticeship programm...

Oh boy, what to do with that kind of information / stories?




cannibalism, hannibal, spencer tunik, crime, freak of nature

Dom is an uncle to be !

Glance at the marvellous little black "bean" surrounded by white noise (Guess it was a wise decision not to study medicine..;):


It's my niece / nephew !!!

It was on Christmas Eve that my younger sister (Simone; oh yes, she is waaay faster than I am.. ;) and her husband (Kurt) told me that they are soon gonna be parents! Logical implication of which being: Dom is an uncle to be!

These were definitely THE news that made my day and I am really happy for Kurt and Simone. How wonderful must it be to see ones baby take the first steps, to laugh at/with him/her when he/she spreads the jam all over his/her face and to quarrel with one another about what word he/she has first uttered (guess my child would say: "Dad, stop making a fool out of yourself" ;), ... ?

Other thoughts that sprung into my mind when I heard the news:

• How does it feel to be pregnant; To have someone kicking you from the inside?
• Yahoooo! This provides me with something like a "father light" experience: Fool around with the kid while always having the option to "return it" when it emits ear-splitting sounds or not so "buenos aires".. ;) Just kidding: I promise to provide the full "caring Uncle" program and not to blame the kid in case I set something on fire or shatter a window..
• Wow, my father is soon going to sleep next to a grandmother (and vice versa)
• Uiuiui, she's 24. I'm 25... Will I ever be mature enought to become and be a responsible father?
• The members of the infamous "Pepsi-gang" (Picture below) need to adapt their business cards! Silly-Lilly becomes Mummy Simone, Olle-Bolle becomes Uncle Dom, Fancy-Fränzi becomes Auntie Andrea and Blacky-Jacky (picture to the right) becomes Uncle Krishna!
• And to share one of my worst nightmares with you: How would I react If I assisted at the birth of "my" child and noticed that I could not possibly be the father of it.. (Dark-skinned or without bowlegs... ;) ?

Ah well, Simone and Kurt, I miss you, hope that you're enjoying the magical moments of being pregnant (or having a pregnant partner) to the full and wish you only the cream of the crop!
Can't wait to see the 3 of you in August (and start spoiling the offspring.. hehe ;)

Looking forward to the Turkish comeback

Shoot.. I've been here for not even 2 months and already need to say "see you (hopefully) soon again" to a great mate. To cut it short: Gürkan I, and I guess I can say we, are going to miss you!

• Who else gets almost ecstatic when looking at pathbreaking projects such as the olympic stadium..
• Who else is going to react to an invitation to the cinema by saying Dom, I can't come to the cinema. I want to spend my money on women.
• Who else cultivates mushrooms in teacups?
• Who else supports the Turkish DEFEAT against Switzerland and the fact that the country of the Fondue, the mountains and the cows rather than Turkey is qualified for the World Championship in Germany in the "stoic"way you did...? ;)
  
• Who else will negotiate prices down to a level where even Chinese salesmen loose their temper to then walk away with a big smile on his face (and the desired good in his bag)?
• Who else is going to defend and protect Lady Echo-o-o?

You enjoy your friends, turkish meat, authentic sheesha and some thrilling moments in your beautiful country until we can hopefully say: Welcome back in Beijing, dear Turkish mate !!!

Roasted Duck, Mannequins, Tonga and Sumit's Tanga (or: My New Year's eve in Beijing)

Let me grab the opportunity to wish you all a thrilling, success- and joyful New Year high in seemingly little but surprisingly big moments! Where did you spend New Year's eve? In a cosy “Chalet” somewhere lost in the snow covered Swiss alps? On the gorgeous beaches of “parque Tairona”, Santa Marta or Taganga? On the slopes of Slovakia? Hula Hula dancing in Hawaii? Among lions, elephants and rhinos in a game park in South Africa? In any case, I hope you had a great start into 2006!!

My New Year's eve was quite a blast and I enjoyed it a lot. At around 7pm I went with some Swiss friends of mine, the (in)famous "Von Schulthess family" (Starting from the left: (An)dre(a)s, Tony, Regine, Florian and his gril-friend) to Liqun, a Roast Duck Restaurant buried away somewhere in the maze of hútòng (little alley) close to Tiananmen. What a place, what a feast! And, believe it or not: it was the first Běijīng kăoyā (Beijing Duck) I ate in my life. Yummy!! The place is really a discovery and I happily recommend it to any stomach interested.

After diner we strolled around the tiny little streets around the restaurant until we got to a store that had been torn down only very recently (one of the victims of Beijings ultra-fast transformation into the “Olympic-Capital”). What lie before us was a mere treasure chest(for non-Chinese): Heaps of Chinese lampions and decent female manikins. We, and especially Regine, instantaneously fell in love with this “all for free” flee market (and the lovely female display dummies..;) We acted the goat quite a bit and had at least as much fun as the increasing number of Chinese gathering around us and laughing at us silly foreigners.. ;) The lampions since then refurbish my room and, while one of the two beauties stayed in Beijing, the second is on its way back to the country of the Cheese and Chocolate.. ;)

Once back at Qianmen we split up. I went on to meet up with some other friends so as to head out (I'll always remember the hillarios conversation in the taxi. Topic: Shilas preferences for, oh what ever.. Guess she wouldn't appreciate me mentionning it here.. ;) to the New Years eve bash at the Tongan embassy. Did you just ask : what and where the fuxxxx is Tonga?! Well, let me introduce the congenial host of an awesome bash:

Tonga is one of the rare countries in the world that are actually smaller than Switzerland. This archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean is the home of some 112'000 persons and a king. Yep, you heard correctly, Tonga is and remains the only constitutional monarchy in the Pacific. At least 0,01% of the total population of this tropical paradise (meaning about 12 persons) were in Beijing on 31 December and invited us over to their embassy for what turned out to be an awesome bash!! The place was cramped with mates from all over the world, good food piled up on our plates and the fridge was packed. I met the first Tongan of my life (very charming, out-going and with a lot of rythm indeed) and enjoyed being around my Beijing mates (Starting from the left: Soraya, Eduardo, Sumit, Dom, Mishie, I admit to have forgotten the (pretty difficult) name of this hillarious Aussie, Pavel and Gürkan).We enjoyed some good drinks, snacked, played a pool game I've never played before (something between shuffle puck and curling (the red thing I hold in my hand is actually the puck one uses to play this game), danced and gossiped until the Chinese TV announced that it stroke midnight! We popped the corks and enjoyed the first couple of hours of 2006 to the full. Even Hu Jintao peeped into the Tongan embassy (picture above).. ;)

Somewhen around 2am another party floor was opened, namely the indoor (whirl)pool(s) in the basement.

Even though I missed the apparently pretty spicy first couple of minutes (ask Gürkan for more details..), what followed was still great: We presented our underwear (well, Sumit for some reason hesitated to show his "tiger tanga" to everyone and finally decided not to hop into the pool..) and enjoyed some waterball, chilling and diving in the warm pools.

While some of the "rumberos" continued (what was a terrific party) in one of the clubs in the center of Beijing, I went home at 4am and snored for the first time in 2006....

Oh boy, may 2006 continue as it started.. ;)