mamafufu

北京一夜 – QQ爱 – 我的最愛 – 隐形的翅膀 – 有沒有人告訴你 – 老鼠愛大米 – 還有我 – 有一種愛叫做放手 – 我可以抱你嗎 – i believe – 死了都要愛 – 想念 – 挪威的森林 – 小酒窩 – 揮著翅膀的女孩 – 天使的翅膀

although beijing is a city where i would call second home today, back in 1989 it was rather an unfamiliar place to me.   this year marks the 20th anniversary of the june 4th massacre in beijing.  while some still debate over what did or did not happen 20 years ago in tianamen square, i am sure it did change the lives of many.

i remember when i first visited tianamen square about 10 years ago for the first time, the local tour guide asked me whether i carried any banner or whether i planned to protest.  he said he wanted to keep a distance from me if i did plan to protest so he didn’t get caught in between.  i didn’t know whether he was joking or being serious.

in the movie kung fu panda there is a reference to this beautiful quote: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present.”

there is also a similar quote in chinese: 昨天已逝，明日是謎，面對今朝，盡力而為

the picture was taken in beijing 香山 last year. it was mid fall and leaves just started to change color. also found this poem of 香山: 香山紅葉夕陽醉, 雨前新茶續前言

it was a casual water-cooler conversation in the office over the traditional chinese snack in the kitchen that was brought over by a visiting co-worker from the china office a few days ago.  it was a good gesture although, apparently, others may not like the snack much.  the conversation went like this:

person A: i wish they have chocolate in china
person B: have you been to china before?
person A: WHY would i want to go to a third world country like china?

i was there but didn’t want to participate in that conversation.  first of all china is not a third world country and it doesn’t matter even if it were.  i wonder whether that comment would have been made or been worse if i were not there.

regardless, it hurt.

better sour preserved cabbage usually comes from sichuan .  fish is the more common fish (桂鱼) as found in restaurants in beijing.  it serves in a big bowl.  more like a soup.

on my flight back from beijing in my recent trip, i read a newspaper (beijing youth daily) front-to-back to kill time.  came across the personals section and something caught my eye.  “single lady 34/1.68 browns university graduate with master degree.  joint venture department manager.  BMW hot spring condo.   seeking …”.

i assume BMW is the car she drives and hot spring condo is the type of home that she lives in.  it is not unique to this ad and many others carry the similar information such as audi duplex condo, volvo water front single family house, benz 460 squre meters condo etc etc.  in a way it doesn’t totally surprise me but at the same time i don’t pretend i understand either.  why is it necessary in a personals ad?

wonder if there is one that says 自行板间.

there are many bbq chicken wing places (烤翅店) in beijing.  they serve bbq chicken wings and lamb kabob in different seasoning, small cold appetizer dishes, and beer (cold or in room temperature).  other than the super hot and spicy one that i tried one bite and wasn’t able to finish, they were all good.  there is no menu and people just know what to order.

that night we had about a dozen of meat eaters and beer drinkers.  we had countless kabobs of lamb and chicken wing with plenty of cold beer to wash them down.  good food, good beer and good conversation – want to join me next time?

i was in beijing a couple of weeks ago.  the headline news were the china’s third manned space mission, the baby formula crisis, the paralympic games, and how the financial crisis in the US may impact the rest of the world.  other than that beijing was just beijing – something will always change and something will always remain the same.

i have never seen a blue sky with white cloud from inside the fifth ring road in my prvious visits.  the one i saw last week was beautiful with the birdnest as the foreground.  it took less than 30 minutes from wangfujing to the tsinghua university on a weekday morning with the olympic traffic control still enacted.  the yanjing beer (燕京啤酒) was still my favorite beverage there.  the dim sum at the jade palace was still the best in town.  and this time i even tried a bbq chicken wings place (烤翅) and played a little badminton.

so where did i go and what did i do after the badminton – a double-session of foot massage at oriental taipan (东方大班) to recover.