ATH - SVO - PVG

I'm sitting on a crowded plane from ATH (Athens) to SVO (Moscow - Sheremetyevo) and will continue to PVG (Shanghai - Pudong) from there this evening. I shall arrive at 9.50 am local time, after a 20 hours long journey if you count the to and fro the airport.

Even though summer isn't the best season to visit Shanghai (too rainy, too hot, too humid), and even though one could suggest that it would be better to rather spend the summer in the 'Sommerfrische' as the Germans say, I'm looking forward to the next three months. 

It was uncertain until a few weeks ago where I'd go this summer. It was either Hull or Shanghai, but things took a sudden turn and that's why I'm going eastward instead of northward.

The first email from earlier this year sounded highly positive. It mentioned 50+ students divided in three groups, four teachers from Hull and a few from SISU. A month or so later, just before Easter, a second email arrived, saying that many students had decided to do the course in Hull and not in Shanghai, that's how Hull came into the game as a summer destination. Geoff, one of the people in charge flew over from Hull the week after Easter and thanks to Howard who did the recruitment in various places in China 50+ students registered. So we were back in the game and had to act fast with booking tickets and applying for visas.

Getting a visa was a difficult task. The Chinese authorities in the consulate didn't like one word in the invitation letter, which is 'teacher'. It says that we're teachers at Hull university and it states our duties (recruiting, giving information, etc.). It doesn't mention teaching, because we are not allowed to teach on a business visa. But still the word teacher is enough for the Chinese authorities to reject the visa application. 

I was asked to have a private word with the man in charge and he asked me many questions. It was like an inquisition. Two more joined the little gathering and it looked like a scene from the films. Only a lamp turned towards me was missing. I managed to convince them that I won't be teaching in Shanghai and that my duties will be as stated in the letter. 

After a long discussion and a second meeting with the very same gentlemen my application was approved and I received my passport with a 90 day business visa a few days later.

Ten or so days after receiving my visa, I am sitting on a fully booked plane to Moscow. I hate this leg of the journey, because it's always fully booked, noisy, narrow and it lasts four hours. The seats are not comfortable and there's limited space for tall people like me. I try to book an aisle seat if possible to stretch my legs a bit. The plane is usually full of young Chinese couples on their honeymoon and sitting next to such a toying couple that likes to tease each other and do all sorts of romantic things for four hours is a pain. Giving them the evil eye doesn't help. 

But it can be worse. You might find yourself sitting next to some drunk and smelly Russians. 

I arrive in rainy Moscow and have to wait for nearly three hours for my next flight. You exit the plane, get on a bus that takes you to the terminal. There you have to go up some stairs and go through transit check. There's always a long queue and it takes ages to go through. There's usually only one official checking passports, visas, boarding passes, etc. Once done, your hand luggage needs to be scanned, and there's only one scanning machine. All this takes place in a narrow room. Certainly not suitable for claustrophobic people. 
Sheremetyevo airport is in my opinion not an airport that makes you feel comfortable. It's long and narrow, seats are limited, toilets are dirty and despite the no-smoking signs, everybody smokes in there. The shops sell mainly booze and chocolate and it's crowded wherever you go. 

After spending my waiting time on a stair case, I board another fully booked plane full of Chinese. At least this leg of the trip is more comfortable. I'm flying with Aeroflot and they have besides economy and business, a comfort class as well. It's something between the other two classes. The seats are wider, more comfortable, there's a console with reading lamps between you and the next passenger, it's two instead of three seats next to each other, there's more legroom, the seats don't become a bed, but are reclining in a way that you don't disturb the one behind you, there are sockets to charge your devices, you get many drinks, food is better than economy, there's proper and no plastic cutlery, etc.

The almost 9 hour flight is long. I work on two translations, play a game on my iPad and listen to music. I also sleep a few hours until the stewardess wakes me for breakfast. An older Chinese lady, who sleeps most of the time is sitting next to me, which is more pleasant than the young toying couple from the first leg.

Good morning Shanghai. It has been a long journey once again.

I go through immigration, take my luggage from the belt, walk though customs and look for a driver holding up a paper with my name on it. I find the young man and follow him to the car park. I was told by one of the ladies from the China office who booked the driver, that the car would be a Buick. It's not a Buick he manoeuvres out of the parking lot, but a VW Touran that makes me think of the recent scandal. At least a posh one with brown leather interior. The driver offers me a bottle of water when I get in. 

Almost an hour later we arrive at the guest house on campus where I stayed last year. I go to the reception and am told that there’s no reservation for me. I’m asked if I know who made the reservation, but of course I don’t know. I message a few people and get a reply from the China office a few minutes later telling me that they're looking into it. Some more minutes later I receive another message saying that a teacher from SISU booked a room for me, not in the guest house but in the SISU hotel, a ten minutes walk. This teacher arrives a few minutes later to pick me up and walk me to the hotel. The hotel is located at the corner of two main roads, it’s an old communist building and looks shabby from the outside. The style of the lobby is not worth mentioning, but I immediately notice that there’s no air conditioning and that the air is coming from a fan. I check in and have to carry my two suitcases up some stairs to go to the lifts. I arrive on the 12th floor, find my room, open the door and find myself in a tiny, dirty, filthy, hot and sticky room. I’m sweating like crazy and try to find the switch for the a/c. I find one and turn it to 3, only to realise that the room doesn’t have an air con, but just a simple ventilation system. The air coming from the ceiling is not cooling the room at all. The windows are dirty and even though they are closed (you can't even open them, they are possibly blocked) you hear the noise from the street as if you were there. I can’t imagine myself living in this room for three months and send some messages around and ask to be moved somewhere else. 

I’m dead tired, sweaty and have to finish and submit my translations, that’s why I don’t take any action yet. When I finish my translations, I walk back to the guest house and ask if there are rooms available. There are. I'm shown a few rooms and choose one on the 16th floor directly opposite the room I had last summer. It’s nice, clean, friendly, spacious and offers a great view. I take it. I'm advised to stay in the hotel for the night to avoid double paying and move in in the morning after 8am. this I do.

I go back to my sticky and depressing room and take a long bath (the best thing about the room is that it has a bathtub), work on a project for an American firm and go to bed. I get up at 6.30am, go to the breakfast room at 7, see that the room is very big, very communist style, which I like, even though it has a depressing aura, there’s only one other guest there and the breakfast is very poor. I have a toast and a fried egg and leave. At the check out I’m told that I don’t have to pay, because I’m a teacher and that the school would pay. Really? I don’t think that’s true. Since they refuse to take my money, I return the key and walk off. A few minutes later I’m at the SISU guest house, check in, get my key and go up to my room. Hardly there, I receive a message from Arthur from SISU asking me why I didn’t pay. I explain and he tells me that that was a mistake and that I have to pay. When I go back to the hotel in the evening, the receptionist doesn’t speak any English, but we find a foreign girl who speaks Chinese and translates for us. The receptionist can’t find my booking and asks me to return on Monday to ask again when the manager is there.

I'm going to meet my foreign colleagues in a cafe on campus and then we walk to the meeting room in the building we will be teaching this summer, where Howard our boss for the summer, will hold a staff meeting. All the Chinese colleagues gather together, there are some familiar faces from last year and there's lunch spread out. Howard tells us all about the various modules and changes and afterwards the colleagues of each module gather in little groups to discuss the proceedings.   
Arthur, our helping soul, hands out our office keys and shows us where it is. I have to smile when I see the room number: 404. Four means death. 

My day finishes with a visit a the 'Blind People Massage Parlour'. There's a massage parlour a few minutes walk from campus, where all the staff are blind. The treatment is absolutely fantastic. You feel like a new person afterwards.

SISU Hotel off campus

SISU Guesthouse on campus

 My cosy room

Views from my window (river with dirty water, metro station under the flat red roof)

 Part of the campus from above

 Double death

If you want to read more by me, have a look on amazon.

Square dancing

I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts that the Chinese like all sorts of activities and that they are quite active and sporty. A colleague has told me that around twenty years ago a crisis hit the country and wages and pensions were cut. Depression hit the people and they felt they needed to do something in order not to get crazy and kill or harm themselves. So they started gathering on squares to the so-called square dancing.
Now you see, predominantly older people, early in the morning and in the early evening, en mass on various squares, gathered in groups of all sizes either dancing, doing yoga, performing Tai-Chi or some other sort of activity. Depending on the area, many gather in parks too. In central Guiyang for example, there are no major parks, so people meet on squares or on a platform by the river. In Shanghai for example, where there is a park near the university I work at, it gets very busy early in the morning. And with early, I mean early, 5.30 - 6.00am is starting time, at least in summer.
What started out of depression has become a nationwide movement and even the younger generation joins in. You see grannies dancing with their grandchildren and also middle aged people doing yoga or something else.
The first two videos where taken from the window of my gym in Huaguoyuan in Guiyang, that's why there's no sound. It was on a weekday around 7.30am. The third was taken on a square in downtown Guiyang on a Sunday afternoon.

The following videos might not show or play on iPhones and iPads.

Twin Towers

While New York used to have twin towers, Guiyang still has them. Although they are not as tall as the original brothers, and they are still under construction, they are a sight in Guiyang, especially at night.
The towers are in Huaguoyuan, opposite my Fuck building, but unfortunately I don't see them from my window, because I have a view to a side street. In front of the twin towers is a park with a lake and between the park and my building is the Garland Mall.
The towers are rather dull during the day, but quite spectacular at night. Also spectacular are the buildings at the left behind them. Various themes are projected on the towers and on the other buildings, and sometimes Tom & Jerry cartoons are shown.

Enjoy the show!

Video may not show and play on iPhone and iPads.

If you would like to read more by me, the following books are available on amazon (not amazon China though)

Next generation business cards (NSFW)

It amazes me every day to see how the Chinese are far ahead of us in many things. I have mentioned and illustrated some of those things in various posts. One of those things are business cards. While our cards look quite ordinary, not to say boring, the Chinese have taken the cards to a whole new level. The topic business cards plays a major role in the film 'American Psycho'. Watch it if you haven't.
Living in a commercial building means that many things are different, not ordinary, especially if the building you live in is the so-called 'Fuck building'. In this building there are a few companies, restaurants, tea places, massage parlours and many, many hotels. Some of them are love hotels and their clientele is couples who rent a room for a few hours in order to have sex.
I have seen all sorts of people in my building, families, couples, business people, young, old, etc.
A few days after moving in, I found a different kind of business card stuck on my door. I took it inside and looked at it for a while. I found it weird and didn't expect to see such a card, not in Guiyang though, as it is very traditional, but I would expect to see such cards perhaps in larger, more modern cities like Shanghai. I kept the card to show it to some of my friends and compare it to our boring ones. While our business cards are usually white and have a few details, like name, telephone number, email address, occupation, business address and perhaps a small sign or drawing (that of a pharmacy, etc.), and sometimes at the back a small map of the area where the business is located, these Chinese cards are totally different as you can see.
I wondered for a bit why it was stuck on my door, but then I realised that they must have thought, that my flat is a hotel room. Half of the 39th floor where I live is a hotel, almost all of the rooms on my side belong to a hotel which is based on a different floor, opposite me is Bobo's music studio and I'm the only tenant on this floor and one of the 5 or 6 in the entire building.
I have found many more cards stuck on my door, so I have a small collection as you can see.
Prostitution is something that exists everywhere, but as a westerner, it is not recommended to use such services in China, at least not in smaller places. As you can read on one of the websites underneath, don't expect too much from these ladies. The main reason to avoid such services is the danger a westerner might face. If you live long enough in the country and learn much about the country, the place you live in, the society, etc. you hear various true stories that make you shiver. Any local lady, whether professional or not, might shout 'rape' or 'abuse' or something like that and the westerner will be arrested, put in prison and kicked out of the country if he's lucky. If not, he'll rot in a prison cell. I heard and read some stories of people who got in trouble not only with prostitutes, but with ordinary women as well. So be careful.

Have a read here:

http://www.wikisexguide.com/wiki/Guiyang
http://www.internationalsexguide
http://prostitutes.sexy-date.net/china/guizhou/guiyang

The business decalogue for China

I found the above screenshot in one of the WeChat expat groups this morning and thought of sharing it with you, since some people want to move to China to work.

1. Everything is indeed possible in China. One visit in this country and you'll be amazed by what the Chinese build and do. They work day and night, so buildings, roads, tunnels, bridges, etc. are built in record time. You see gardeners everywhere taking care of the green, cleaners cleaning not only road surfaces and pavements, but the fences along the roads. You see bullet trains, massive train stations the size of Scarborough (like my wonderful assistant Jing once said), and much, much more. Things can be very simple in this country and many things are simpler than elsewhere.

2. Nothing is easy - especially for westerners. China and Asia are beyond our imagination, beyond our wildest dreams. You think you know the country, the people and the cuisine because you happen to know a Chinese person in your country, watched some programmes and have frequent dinners at a Chinese restaurant? You are so mistaken! There are so many traps you could walk into once in the country, so many things to learn, so many things to pay attention to, and if you happen to have some trouble at work or with the authorities, you'll see yourself on a plane home in no time.

3. Patience is the key to success. That's something the Germans were forced to learn some decades ago. I read in a German magazine once upon a time, an interview with a manager from one of the biggest German companies. Germans are not used to do smalltalk and go straight to business, as there's no time to lose. The Chinese (other Asians perhaps too, other western countries for sure) love smalltalk, dinners, going to a spa, have some drinks, etc. and then get to business. You might end up with a two day getting to know each other marathon, before you actually talk business. So, be very patient.

4. Like the Japanese, the Chinese won't say 'no'. There's this story of a western tourist somewhere in Japan, who enters a hotel and asks at reception if they have a free room. The Japanese receptionist at the fully booked hotel, doesn't say 'no' to the westerner, but tells it him somewhere between the lines. The westerner doesn't get the hints, and walks away frustrated after a long time.

5. Here is your 'no'. And they're absolutely right. You have to spend some time in the country and socialise with locals to learn how the country and the people work and function. See point 2, nothing is easy.

6. If you are used to sticking to plans, go according to plans, plan everything in advance and believe in spoken contracts, as if they were written ones, you will not survive. Things change every second, until the very last second. Expect the unexpected and try to be calm. There's nothing you can do. They are the bosses, they rule the world and you are just a little puppet, an insignificant nothing.

7. Like number 4. People will never tell you anything negative, you have to understand it somewhere between the lines.

8. If you believe that the signature on a contract means you have a safe deal, you haven't understood anything. Read point 6 again.

9. Expect the unexpected. Always. At any time. It will hit you, when you least expect it.

10. If you want to feel better, find a western restaurant (your body, soul, health, etc. will be very thankful), have some booze and book a ticket to either home or somewhere else.