China Blog by Chinaorbit.com

Well, some people just can not listen. A  friend of mine (who does not care if I make some fun of him in my blog) had a good business idea, he did not want to tell me about at first. Still easy to guess: the idea was basically to import goods from China and dont sell them to customers but to wholesalers. Thats nothing new and also the goods were nothing new (some electronics, whatever).   Unfortunatly it does not always work that easy anymore (actually it never does). Of course the wholesalers he contacted had cheaper suppliers already.  Probably you can also find his products for a cheaper price on ebay. Not that it matters much now, because the second problem is, that he already ordered the goods and paid 30% in advance to a Chinese friend he knew from his last stay in China and who promised him to take care that everything in China works well (he visited the company, checked the goods…).   The Chinse friend told him he had already paid the supplier but refused to give him the address or company name.  And this Chinese “friend” appearently promised the supplier more payments and more orders in order to persuade him to deliver a quite small amount.

Now they have to figure out how they solve the problem. My guess: The “friend” still has the money. If you want to export goods, you need an export license. Unless the supplier has this export license, the “friend” needs a trading company to take care for the shipment. And until now he refuses to give any contact data but insists on the whole payment first.

In Beijing you can find countdowns for the start of the Olympics 2008 everywhere. Some of them only display the days, most of them are accurate to the second. The unit I am living in also has a countdown but they update i every day manually. Every morning they exchange the numbers (except of the weekend). Since a few days, this countdown is wrong.

Chinese New Year – Part II.

Beijing really gone crazy – unbelievable

Beijing welcomes the Year of the Rat! Enjoy this video taken in Beijng.

Beijing traffic is ridiculous!! It’s a good thing more subway lines are being built because it would be great to relieve SOME of the traffic jams. Even out of the rush hour time period there’s traffic. Yesterday I was in a taxi and it took him 6 light changes to finally get past the intersection. I’m from New York so I understand there can be traffic, but this is out of hand. New York there are other routes to take but here there isn’t, so you have to wait.

Basically I sat through traffic, moving inches, light after light, before I couldn’t take it anymore. I threw my less-than-what-the-meter said-fare at the cab driver and ran to the closest subway station. Only to be pushed and shoved onto and out of the subway cart. Exhausted and frustrated I arrived very late for my meeting. Good thing everyone else was too.

So the football season is coming to a close and everyone knows what that means…..SUPERBOWL!!! Yes, I’m from the US, but I can’t help it, football is great. It’s actually the only sport I watch. Actually Super Bowl is great. I love the spirit of Super Bowl. I love the comrodity, the gathering of friends or family, the competing with friends or family, the shouting, the screaming, the physicalness, the brand new hilarious commercials, and of course, the loads of food and beer devoured throughout the entire game.

If you haven’t been part of a Super Bowl party, you’re definitely missing out. Even if you don’t understand the game, it’s great. Men and women shouting at the TV screen with buffalo wing sauce covering their painted faces or bright colored football jerseys, beer spilling every time there’s a good or bad play. It really is a sight to see….

So anyways, it’s Super Bowl XLII, Super Bowl 42. And while writing this blog, the New York (my home state) Giants has just sealed the deal for the Super Bowl. February 3rd New England Patriots vs New York Giants. I’m just hoping there will be a bar here in Beijing that plays it.

I’m really looking forward to this game and even the commercials, another favorite part of Super Bowl. So lets drink some beers, eat some wings, and shout like mad men this February 3rd. LET’S GO GIANTSSSSS!!!!

So I just recently saw the Beijing Acrobatics Show and Kung Fu Show, both really amazing. I personally liked the Acrobatics better just because it was more entertaining and I understand how hard some of the moves they do really are. The Kung Fu was more of a dance performance or musical story.

Anyways, these people perform things that you literally must see to believe. I’m sure I could describe it to you, but its just not as exciting as when you are there witnessing 15 people on one bike!!! My friend said throughout the entire show I looked like a 5 year old at a candy store, pure amazement was glued on my face and I was actually sitting on the edge of my seat. I don’t want to sound like I work as a spokesperson for them, but for 110 rmb a ticket, it’s definitely worth it. 1.5 hours of pure entertainment. PLus they sell beer at the concession store in the Chaoyang theater.

So the evening started off with a great show and a tipsy Eric. The rest of the night included delicious Japanese food, delicious Japanese sake, and me trying to eat as much wasabi as possible. I didn’t get far since my mouth was on fire from the first big bite of it.

I definitely recommend the shows, so if anyone wants the phone number of the guy that I used, Paul, let me know, I can pass it along. Tickets normally start at 180 rm, so he gives you a very discounted price.

Crowded subways, McDonald’s, meat sticks, the forbidden city plus the movie “Warrier” – available as DVD one week after its release.

A Taste of Beijing.

Some clips of the China Orbit team in Beijing. Shows you a little bit of daily Beijing life. Enjoy!

I saw the hugely anticipated movie The Warlords on Sunday. It was all in Chinese with only Chinese Subtitles. I couldn’t find any theater in Beijing that showed The Warlords with English subtitles. There is ONE theater for expats that show Chinese movies with English subtitles however I just found out it is closed for renovations until January 2008, great…So I decided to watch the movie anyways, I was with my Chinese friend who could translate any of the necessary conversions to inform me of what the hell is going on. Plus it’s an action/war movie, how hard could it be to understand, one guy is mad at another guy so they’ll fight. Pretty simple.

So the movie was really good even though I only understood 5% of it. Action scenes were intense and well choreographed, and Jet Li, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro were all good actors. I definitely recommend this flick, “a very man movie”, as my Chinese friend says.

Now this tribute to hoops is probably not what you’re thinking of. This tribute to hoops is not for basketball, its not for the Olympic Games, its not even for the hoolihoop. It’s for hoop earrings and all those beauuuutiful girls that wear them. Why oh why do us men love them sooooo much? They attract almost as much attention as the female’s god-gifted breasticles and apple bottom, I said almost. There’s just something about them…they way they hang, the way they sway and bounce when women walk the way they do, the attitude they project, the swagger they bring, the raw sexiness they exude, the way they make women look so put together you understand and believe that yes! there is a god. And the simplicity of it all is even more astonishing. Hoops. A pair of large earrings shaped in a round circle that dangle, usually made of silver. It’s just that simple ladies. These little things can make a man do crazy things. They make us men buy you drinks, dance like a fool, pay for dinner and a movie, and even take you back home sometimes. So women all around the world, please keep on wearing those dangly earrings. I as well as every other heterosexual male bow down to you and them. Keep looking sexy, keep moving that body, and keep breaking our hearts. We love it too much.