Me Ol' China, a pretty boring and tiring week...

The introduction of the new electronic gates in all stations has been very successful with one exception. You might recall that I was mentioning the troubles in the station close to my apartment, where entering and coming out passing long queues of people trying to purchase a ticket, would have been trouble with the new electronic gates. I was right. The station has been closed for a week now. Imagine if in Rome they have to shut down Termini Station or Kings Cross in London. Well, it’s a week that the station has been closed and I am sure that the reason is the impossibility in flowing through.
The weather has been crazy this week. We had severe storms and sandstorms.
This week has been extremely hectic work wise and I feel pretty tired and stressed from having to run and troubleshoot constantly but, honestly, I still enjoy working here, despite the difficulties in communication and the luck of expertise that changes my job from a supervising position to an effective hands on one.
This is my first weekend without major engagements in a long time and I feel really happy to be lazy. I have been so sleepy all day on saturday and I will do the same today. I need to recharge the batteries…
I discovered that Chinese love Italians. I was in a bar on Friday night watching the Italy vs Romania football match and the local Chinese were all for Italy and some of them were really sad at the end of the match. A few girls had on jerseys with ITALIA written across. I was really surprised even if, as I mentioned before, ITALIA is the most read word on people’s t shirts and the KAPPA brand is the most common one here in China while in Italy nobody wears it.


This is the ad that caught my eye this week. I place it at the third place:


Hello there


My name is Keira Olson, and i am about 8-month old. I am mixed-blood. My father is American, and my mother is Chinese. I am really cute, everyone who meets praises and loves me. I am good looking on pictures too.


If anyone or companies that look for babies to be models, I would be very happy to be one of them. Thanks.


If you want to know me more, you can contact my mom by calling 13269676386. or email to xxxxxxx


But this one wasn’t too bad either. Second Place:


Lovely and jovial purebreed monkeys. Gorgeous baby capuchin monkey for sale. They are raised in our home and handfed by me and my children. We spoil and give them the most excellent attention. They are all ready to leave at 11 weeks old and they are very healthy, daiper trained and tamed and very good eaters.They have been vet checked and will come with a medical record .Pets come with pets'accessories like Blankets, diapers, dresses, toys, starter kits and some monkey baby food stuffs. They would make wonderful companions at your home. shipping is possible if location permits.Interested person(s) should contact me for more information.


Imagine mixing the two ads up! ☺


But the cake goes to this advert published in the Sales/Wanted by a Chinese lady:


I to the present or a lonely, lonely, bored at the time can only appreciate their own naked body. Really good hope that this time there was a sister and I love it Gaiduo Hao, ah, in the future I would not have bored lonely when alone in their appreciation of the body. I really Haoxiang between the sisters as soon as possible to experience the passion of speech can not be happy, do not know what sisters and I would like to enjoy a unique passion between the sisters is happy. Dear Do not hesitate perhaps you.
My Ideal Person:
So if you are in between 20-45 have the same interests and hobbies of the sisters, do not hesitate at any time can always give me the message. I am looking forward to enjoying the moment of passion and sisters come, dear, I do not let the crowd,

I was thinking of some strange behaviours in China. Try to say bless you to a Chinese…. No reaction. They do not even say excuse me or sorry when they sneeze and, unless one sprays, I really wonder why should we apologise! Try to sweat in China. My forehead is always pearled with sweat…. Well, Chinese run to get you a tissue or whatever you can use to dry. It’s a sort of obsession they have with sweating people. I wonder why…


I received millions of emails last week… Actually, it was hundreds… actually two, two emails! Asking for some information about prices in Beijing. Someone is interested in purchasing properties and another just looking for an idea of living costs. Before I go ahead with this I would like to inform those of you coming to Beijing and planning to extend their tourist visa, this carries now some financial engagement. You need to pay a deposit at a Chinese bank amounting to 100 USD for every person per day stay in China. Funds will be refunded on departure. Funny enough, even my family, coming to visit me is subject to this and I will have to place 12,000 USD for two months on a deposit… Bloody Nice!
Always to foreigners coming to Beijing for the Olympics, I would like to say that even in China there are not so safe areas and some touch cookies around. Do not think that being this one a Communist country law and order will keep you safe all the times. A bit of common sense and humility can help. Read this story, extracted from a Forum:


So, I'm down there [Shooters Bar in Sanlitun, a very popular bar in the most entertainment popular area in Beijing] with a buddy Friday night. We can both speak decent Chinese, but not at all perfect. We are wasted. We sit down outside shooters next to two girls, and start shooting the sh*t in Chinese, don't know if they could speak English or not. Within the minute, a worker comes over and asks us to get up and leave. Here is the simple dialogue:
Worker: buy a drink
Friend: wait a second we just got here
W:Buy a drink
F:No, we just got here
W:Leave
F:Make me
*gets close to my friend*
*my friend pushes him in the stomach*
Friend: Back off
*The worker starts getting physical with my buddy, and then starts attacking him*
*I am helping my friend, within minutes there are like 4 bar guys out there with hollow aluminum pipes swinging away, viciously (as viciously as a 120 pound chinese guy can) they try to use bottles, try to stab me with a sharp object on a pole that for sure would have f***ed me up badly (not sure what it was... like a spike on a stick... maybe part of an umbrella stand)*
*I'm fighting my end, my buddy gets knocked on the ground, and beat up mercilessly/stomped while i'm doing my best to knock the little f--- off of him*
*by this point there are maybe 5-7 workers, 2-3 of which have those hollow aluminum bats*
*My buddy runs off, and is chased for at least 300m by bat-weilding chinese guys*
*I take off, because 5v1 ain't fair*
*My buddy is missing a tooth, stitches in the lip, f***ed all to hell, bruises everywhere, but luckily not so serious it requires surgery beyond the replacement tooth*
*The police try to get us in trouble, they appear to be under control of the shooters bar (thats a guess), they refuse to go inside the bar and look for people, refuse us medical attention, try to make us wait for over 45 minutes, some "detective" tries to deny us from taking pictures of my friends face, police say "we are holding one of them", refuses to let us see him, continuously refuses us medical attention until my friend fakes like he is going to faint and then they immediately release us to go to the hospital, unescorted, etc.


The reason we tried to leave the police station multiple times because i think they were trying to pin sh*t on us, and I am damn sure this would be shown on any records in the future when we try to apply for visas.


Now, I know China is a crazy country, and this is pretty much my buddys fault for touching the guy first, but this was so f***ing excessive I have never seen anything like it b4.


So thats my story, but I'm sure that isn't the only story of this maggot's nest of a bar.

Whoever was right or wrong, these things do happen in Beijing and with the booming of prostitution and the authorities not doing anything to crack it down and with the Westerner willing to pay more and more for the local beauties, there are great chances that crime will rise. If you got in a bar it’s virtually impossible to distinguish a prostitute from an ordinary lady. Some Chinese ladies are extremely friendly and talkative. Many of them want to practice English and gladly accept a drink from a foreigner. On the other hand, until they ask where you hotel is located, you will never know that the girl you have been talking to all night is someone after your money and not your heart or other body parts.
I have been collecting horror stories about prostitute working for local pimps so, I warn visitors to be very careful with their belonging and pay extra care when hiring a hooker because, over here, communication is impossible and local pimps can be vicious.


Cost of living.
Buying a place in Beijing… Forget it! Why should you buy? Every 5 years the property you buy becomes old and if your intention is an investment property, after a few years the property will drop in value and the return from renting is pretty low. According to current laws you need a special permit to purchase and you need to be resident in China for at least one year before getting the permit. Property quality can be quite rubbish and the impressive buildings are not so impressive when you look at their structure.. Avoid it you can rent for cheap between 5000 and the sky you find any sort of property in all areas. There are thousands of properties for rent and after the Olympics prices should drop.
Eating out. If you stop to a noodle fast food or any other sort of Fast food, you will eat with anything between 20 and 50 yuan, depending on how much you want to eat. Chinese restaurants, Sichuan or Peking ones, you can eat a full meal spending between 60 and 200 yuan, including fish. The Duck is a bit more expensive and eating a crispy aromatic duck would set you back by 200 to 300 in a luxury restaurant or 150 to 180 in a ordinaary one. A duck is enough for 4 people, though. Soft drinks, beer and water are very cheap. In some fast food a can of Coke costs you 5 yuan and a beer (50 cl) 12 yuan. Transportation prices. Buses 1 yuan per ride and subway 2 yuan per journey. Cigarettes price is very low, between 5 yuan and 20. A packet of Marlboro can cost around 15 yuan, while some locals brands, very popular amongst foreigners too, cost around 10 yuan or less. Cigarettes are sold virtually everywhere. Massages. There are a few Western style parlours that will charge you around 150 yuan for 90 minutes full body massage but locally you can pay as low as 90 yuan for 90 minutes. Taxis. The ride starts from 10 yuan for the first Kms (10 Kms) and I nthe night starts from 11 yuan. Get used to get refused on board, sometimes it’s too far and sometimes is too close, in any case it’s to cheap. No worth buying a car in Beijing. From downtown to the airport can cost you around 100 yuan for a 45 minutes journey. Clothes. Come here without clothes and buy locally. There are a few big market places where you can find perfect clones of popular brands at very low prices and if you are dying for a Rolex, get one here for peanuts. It is fake but when you go back home nobody will have reasons to doubt.


So, come to Beijing with the right attitude. Don’t think that you are coming to an under developed country and that they were nose rings. Just be respectful and cautious, especially when you cross the road on the zebra crossings. Cars have priority when they turn right and, believe me, they do not give a shit about you.

I went to watch the Italy-Romania match in a bar and all Chinese people were for Italy and even the TV cameramen and director: they didn't show the penalty! they were showing some breasts made in Italy and made in Romania and only when the penalty was missed we saw a blond lady raising her arms in jubilation. I though it was because of the camera pointing her tits... Well, it was because Romania missed the penalty. Now... how long it takes to assign a penalty? How long to prepare and shoot and miss it? Well... during all that time we saw some Italy and Romania's tits! Thank you for sparing us the heart attack and, even more, for showing some goodlooking ladies!

Talk later guys, this is my last week as a single man in China and I will try to get my daughter and wife to help me with this blog for the next couple of months to get their point of views about China.


Cheers!