SPRING IS IN THE AIR and for the last two and a half weeks we have had some of the most divine weather, sunny and 28 degrees. It has truly been a dream and a welcome break from the gloomy cold cloudy winter skies. But this is Holland – so if there is one thing we know it is that it will not last!
We have been taking full advantage of the lovely weather of course and the fact that there has been a couple of public holidays over this period has made it even better for spending some great quality time with the family. Of course the first thing we did was to bring out the gas braai (yes the one we brought with us all the way from Beijing). It is illegal to light any fires here in the Netherlands and of course should you wish to, you would need to get permission from the Gemeente (Town Council) and all of your immediate neighbours. Gas braai’s are totally ok, and of course we don’t need to have a license to braai as I see is now the case with you guys in SA. What the hell is that all about?
We hadn’t had a proper braai for more than 18 months so for the next 7 days we had one every evening. The sun only sets at about 10pm, so we milked the conditions for all it was worth. It was amazing to see the transformation of my family’s mood as I started our first real braai in the Netherlands and it then hit me how gloomy we had all been during the winter months. For the last 9 months we had lived in overcast, cold and wet conditions – day in and day out, and although we were used to not seeing the sun due to the pollution in Beijing, this was not something we had experienced before.
We had heard about the winter blues before, but we thought this was nothing but a myth, until of course we realized we were living it in reality. I had also read some very interesting articles recently about “sleepy middle Europe” which spoke about whole towns actually going into hibernation in the middle of winter and the authors were in fact blaming this and the socialistic way of live for the developed parts of Europe’s poor growth. The articles spoke of towns in the North-East of France either migrating during winter or simply closing the towns down, with its inhabitants literally going into hibernation and sleeping most of their days away.
Now it is not cold enough for that to happen here in the Netherlands, but believe me the winter is cold, wet and dark most of the time. I now understand why energy lamps are such popular items in most shops – with people in fact having them prescribed by their GP’s to combat the effect of the long and cold winters here. I also understand why people are so keen on taking their holidays and getting out (en masse) across most of Europe to escape to places such as Spain and Greece.
I have never really thought about not working on a public holiday or of not taking a long weekend away and I was truly amazed to see how religiously people in Europe took these and then made sure they were somewhere where the sun was shining. I was also very quick to condemn these same people and thinking that the developed world truly deserves their slow pace of growth if people had these kinds of attitudes.
Now I am beginning to understand for the first time how close minded I have been. In fact I must admit that due to the fact that I spend so little time at home and am away most of the time travelling to different countries, I have been selfish in not understanding how the weather of all things could so seriously affect my family. Life is very easy here, except for the weather and I can now fully appreciate why the Dutch moan so much about it. I used to say they have nothing to complain about and thus can only moan about the weather (and the level of taxes of course), but I am beginning to change my mind in this regard.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is a cliché I know, but in this case it is absolutely true. People here are religious about escaping to the sun when the opportunity presents itself, not because they are lazy, but because it is in fact essential. Coming from South Africa you never even give this a second thought, until of course you suddenly no longer have it.
Monday, 16 June 2008
Eastern Nostalgia
AFTER NOT BEING BACK IN THE EAST for nearly 8 months I had the opportunity to travel back to Hong Kong and Beijing again. Hong Kong was the same-old-same-old, but Beijing was just something out of a different world again and yes, I supposedly did live there for a year not so long ago…
First of all, I arrived at the newly built terminal which opened just 3 days before my arrival and WOW! The new airport is right next to the old one and covers more than 1 million square meters, making it larger than the Pentagon. Immigration was smooth, with friendly border guards greeting you in English and no real waiting at all. We had to take a train to the arrivals hall from where we landed but as I walked into the baggage hall, there my bags were, neatly rotating on the carousel and then the walk through customs was a breeze! It is not even comparable to the old terminal, which although also large and efficient, it just a drop in the ocean vs. the new Terminal 3.
If I may digress just for a second, just a week before the new Terminal 5 opened at Heathrow and what an absolute shambles that has been and continues to be. We actually watched the opening here on Sky and it certainly looks beautiful and spacious, but I think that is the only one small comparison which can be made. You will have all by now read the hundreds of news reports about the falling apart of the baggage handling systems and the PR disaster which has followed since. Some of my colleagues spent the entire week in Beijing without their baggage, and some have returned home still not knowing when they will ever receive these again. The latest is of course that BA has sent more than 20,000 bags to Italy by road freight and there they will be sorted and then couriered to customers’ place of residence. Have you ever heard of anything as ridiculous as this?! Of course every customer is now praying that their bags don’t get couriered back to them via Heathrow…
For the UK this has been a PR disaster, for BA and its reliance on business passengers this will still prove to be absolutely devastating as thousands of business travelers start avoiding using London as a hub into Europe.
Now, if this had to happen in China you can believe that a couple of officials in charge of the new airport would have been summarily shot. Terrible I know… All I can say is the new terminal had 3 successful test runs before the official opening and they have had no glitches at all thus far. Flying out is even smoother and man, let me not even begin to talk about the shopping!
Beijing itself has undergone quite a transformational change before the Olympics is about to hit it in August. Many of the construction projects are now complete. The train from the new terminal into the center of Beijing is not running yet, but the tracks are complete and this should be operational very soon. The buildings which were half complete when we left are now receiving their finishing touches and man these are just spectacular. The new Westin Hotel close to our offices in Chaoyang is just out of this world, not to even mention the new CCTV building, which displays some of the boldest architecture the world has ever seen. The standard systems for engineering gravity and lateral loads in buildings didn't apply to this building, which is formed by two leaning towers; each bent 90 degrees at the top and bottom to form a continuous loop. And then of course there is the Olympic stadium with its outer design looking like a bird’s nest. Trust the Chinese to really push the boundaries of architecture and design.
The only problem for me was that they have still not solved the pollution problem. I arrived in a deep cloud of smog and it only really cleared the next day when there was quite a lot of wind blowing for most of the day. The authorities are experimenting with alternate number plate driving, i.e. those ending with odd numbers on one day and those with even number on the next. They are also removing as many government vehicles as possible. We know the factories will be closed and no construction will occur during this period, but whether this will solve the pollution for the 2 weeks in August remains debatable.
I spent nearly a week back in Beijing and it was oddly nostalgic. I got to visit many of the shops we used to hang out in and saw some of my old friends again. There was an old familiarity in coming back to a place where we had once lived, but also a strange feeling that if I had to come back in 6 months again that even more would be changed. The progress is great for a new developing country but also slightly sad to know that soon this place will be as unfamiliar as any new city I will be visiting in the future.
First of all, I arrived at the newly built terminal which opened just 3 days before my arrival and WOW! The new airport is right next to the old one and covers more than 1 million square meters, making it larger than the Pentagon. Immigration was smooth, with friendly border guards greeting you in English and no real waiting at all. We had to take a train to the arrivals hall from where we landed but as I walked into the baggage hall, there my bags were, neatly rotating on the carousel and then the walk through customs was a breeze! It is not even comparable to the old terminal, which although also large and efficient, it just a drop in the ocean vs. the new Terminal 3.
If I may digress just for a second, just a week before the new Terminal 5 opened at Heathrow and what an absolute shambles that has been and continues to be. We actually watched the opening here on Sky and it certainly looks beautiful and spacious, but I think that is the only one small comparison which can be made. You will have all by now read the hundreds of news reports about the falling apart of the baggage handling systems and the PR disaster which has followed since. Some of my colleagues spent the entire week in Beijing without their baggage, and some have returned home still not knowing when they will ever receive these again. The latest is of course that BA has sent more than 20,000 bags to Italy by road freight and there they will be sorted and then couriered to customers’ place of residence. Have you ever heard of anything as ridiculous as this?! Of course every customer is now praying that their bags don’t get couriered back to them via Heathrow…
For the UK this has been a PR disaster, for BA and its reliance on business passengers this will still prove to be absolutely devastating as thousands of business travelers start avoiding using London as a hub into Europe.
Now, if this had to happen in China you can believe that a couple of officials in charge of the new airport would have been summarily shot. Terrible I know… All I can say is the new terminal had 3 successful test runs before the official opening and they have had no glitches at all thus far. Flying out is even smoother and man, let me not even begin to talk about the shopping!
Beijing itself has undergone quite a transformational change before the Olympics is about to hit it in August. Many of the construction projects are now complete. The train from the new terminal into the center of Beijing is not running yet, but the tracks are complete and this should be operational very soon. The buildings which were half complete when we left are now receiving their finishing touches and man these are just spectacular. The new Westin Hotel close to our offices in Chaoyang is just out of this world, not to even mention the new CCTV building, which displays some of the boldest architecture the world has ever seen. The standard systems for engineering gravity and lateral loads in buildings didn't apply to this building, which is formed by two leaning towers; each bent 90 degrees at the top and bottom to form a continuous loop. And then of course there is the Olympic stadium with its outer design looking like a bird’s nest. Trust the Chinese to really push the boundaries of architecture and design.
The only problem for me was that they have still not solved the pollution problem. I arrived in a deep cloud of smog and it only really cleared the next day when there was quite a lot of wind blowing for most of the day. The authorities are experimenting with alternate number plate driving, i.e. those ending with odd numbers on one day and those with even number on the next. They are also removing as many government vehicles as possible. We know the factories will be closed and no construction will occur during this period, but whether this will solve the pollution for the 2 weeks in August remains debatable.
I spent nearly a week back in Beijing and it was oddly nostalgic. I got to visit many of the shops we used to hang out in and saw some of my old friends again. There was an old familiarity in coming back to a place where we had once lived, but also a strange feeling that if I had to come back in 6 months again that even more would be changed. The progress is great for a new developing country but also slightly sad to know that soon this place will be as unfamiliar as any new city I will be visiting in the future.
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