Back to Beijing for the final time

I returned from Qingdao on the coast to Beijing. This is the railway station and it's shocking what the air quality is like compared to Qingdao. It's really smoggy in Beijing and they blame it on Mongolia and the dust. I know it stung my eyes on the worst days.

I was in Pacific Coffee for my usual brunch. Tuya, my Mongolian friend from my previous trip happened to be chatting and we quickly arranged for her to fly over from Ulaanbaator (capital of Mongolia) to Beijing to spend a few days. On other days, we played a great deal of pool. I hadn't played much for years but while in Beijing I started to get pretty good again. I managed to avoid getting completely humilated.

We also frequented Huxley's in Hoohai park quite a lot. It's a beautiful, scenic area of traditional hootong buildings, packed with bars, restaurants, girlie bars, all surrounding a lake. We went there several nights, meeting old and making new friends. This is Gordon, Ana, and another Dutch-Indonesian girl I don't remember the name of.

This is the area known as Hoo Hai Lake or park. I like it a lot. So much to explore but I hardly scratched the surface.

Anyway, my time in Beijing and Asia was over much too quickly, even though I extended it by 3 days to have one more weekend. I flew back to LA with a great deal of sadness after a whole month away. My head tells me that I should be back in April but my impulsive nature being what it is, it might be considerably sooner.

Qingdao side trip.

I took a little side trip to Qingdao to see an old friend and, as it turned out, meet some new ones. Qingdao is about 6 hours by "Bullet Train" from Beijing. It's really nice there because it's on the coast, the air is much cleaner than Beijing, and the weather cooler and more pleasant too.

Beijing: Party Central

Most nights we've been going out somewhere or other. Rickshaw is one of them and Nanjie another. Both very popular with ex-pats and their friends. Here's just a few photos of people drinking heavily and having a good time.

First couple of nights in Beijing

I was feeling pretty sick for the first nights in Beijing. I got a nasty cold and the only thing that kept me going was alcohol. The first night in Beijing some friends gathered to go to a bar called "Rickshaw" and play pool. The next night was my birthday so a group gathered to help me celebrate that with a Chinese dinner at a traditional "hootong" building, on the roof terrace. Ben and I headed out to a few bars for drinks after that. It was a quiet but fun couple of evenings in Beijing. I'm hoping to get my strength back tomorrow for some serious dancing and clubbing.

Hong Kong Part 1

Hong Kong is becoming a city I really love. It is modern yet exotic and different enough to make it a new experience. It's not much like the other places in China, except it has a lot of Hong Kong Chinese people. Who are different to mainland China people even in big cities like Beijing. It also has a large number of foreign workers. I stayed in the Ramada inn for a pretty good price of about US $60 per night. I was on the 28th floor and the view was pretty good. Everything is high-rise in Hong Kong because of the lack of buildable land. Fortunately, they don't have earthquakes .... uh .... very often.

London Job interview

I left my parents house to go for a job interview in London with a company called MPC (Moving Picture Company).




I would be working on the next "Chronicles of Narnia" movie called "Prince Caspian". I enjoyed working on the first in LA at "Rhythm and Hues". It could be a nice experience. I also would prefer living in London than Los Angeles. It's supposed to be more fun, particularly regarding nightlife and social stuff. I had chance after the interview to meet with a couple of American friends who have just moved here. They both prefer London to LA. Unfortunately, the night was over pretty quickly because I had a flight to Hong Kong that evening.