Monday, February 26, 2007

Beijing in Pics


The Portuguese Clan in Beijing + a Shangainese :)

Emperor Temple outside Beijing

The Great Wall


Sunday, February 25, 2007

Chinese New Year

I know I am in debt with you... Sorry!

Haven't written for quite a long time and the blog was kind of abandoned for these days. Well, but I am back... Writing this post sitting in my bed and using my brand new wireless connection. Not bad, huh? :)

As some of you might know this week everyone celebrates the Chinese New Year. Everything closes for the week and even I got one week vacations! :) It is quite an experience. It is a time to be with the family, relax and also "pray" for good fortune in the new year. This celebration materializes with a LOTTT of fireworks, food, visits to national monuments and many millions of Chinese moving from one place to another.

As I won't have so much vacations during the year I went to Beijing for some days to visit my friend Nuno, his girlfriend Andreia and other Portuguese friends who are working there. A 2 hour flight et voilá... Welcome to Beijing! The city is completely different from Shanghai... It is disposed like a square (they believe it is better this way) and all the roads follow this disposition. You don't see a lot of trees and parks inside the city and the weather is very dry. Gobi desert is coming closer and closer to the city and it is said that is wining 12km every year!!!

I had a great time in Beijing. During Chinese New Year I was even invited to have dinner with a Chinese Family, which was a great experience. They ordered over 20 dishes (for most of them I had no idea about what I was eating!!) and we drank all night long... I really thought there was some heavy eating during Portuguese Christmas, but I guess the Chinese beat us quite easily! :) I also visited Tianamen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace and the GREAT WALL!!! It's impossible to miss it, and I must confess it is quite impressive... We just chose the wrong day to visit it once there were thousands and thousands (maybe millions!!) of Chinese visiting the wall... Let's say it was a bonus to our experience.

As pictures tell more than words here you go... :)

Nuno's appartment view in Beijing

Chinese Family Dinner
Fireworks in the street (Leo, Me & Nuno)

The Summer Palace (Good Picture, huh? :P)

Me & Andreia at Tianamen Square

Saturday, February 3, 2007

New Emotions...

You can´t really get enough of this city!

I haven´t posted in quite a while (because it has been quite hard to arrange an Internet connection at home) and I don't even know where to start!!! A lot of fun and amazing stories... Almost unbelievable. I'll try to make a short version of everything...

Me Madalena and Chico got a really nice apartment. A condo with security 24/7 on the 15th floor. 170 square meters, 2 bathrooms, 2 big plasma tv's, a big balcony and a great view over the city and two of its nicest buildings the Radisson Hotel and the Meridien Hotel. I just couldn't get worse than this! My room faces the river and I even got to choose my furniture (from some very fancy (or not) chinese furniture shops). To sum up, I'm living well... Very well! I promise to post some pics from the mansion soon!

We've spent a lot of time doing a bunch of little things (shopping, buying stuff for the house, registering in the police and other) so we haven't really had the time to stop and visit some of the sights... Well, I don't mean the night life! Regarding that one I'm becoming an expert... The supply is so big in here that I could probably go to great clubs every day for a month! No kidding... I'll dedicate one post only to this subject!

Back to our apartment... You already know a bit about it but what you don't know is that we are thinking about getting a maid. The truth is that we don't have any yet but we got good references about a butler that cooks and cleans quite well. All of this in a suit!!! It's sureal... All for 1,5€/hour. He's working for some of my friends and I'm hoping he's not fully booked. I'll keep u updated!


For the record, and before I can tell u more, here are some pics... :)

Me and 27.000RMB (about 2.700€), yes we had to pay CASH for 3 months

Me and Chico at one of the busiest streets in Shanghai (even busier on a Saturday afternoon)

 
in Transition