If you got the impression that we experienced Hong-Kong as a rather uncomfortable city to live in, well, then you are perfectly right. So we departed to Beijing with a frown, expecting the metropolis to be similar, or even more difficult. How wrong we were! First of all, we met Wu Jiqing, Steve’s former mathematics study-mate in Darmstadt, who now lives and studies at the ETH Zürich. He will accompany us through China during 2 weeks, whereas he’ll see the different places for the first time, simply like we do. We are very glad to travel with him and don’t know how we will survive in China after his return to Europe. He is not just a great help in organizing things but it is also a pleasure to talk with him about everything we notice and think about.

But this is not the only aspect we like in Beijing, where we stayed at the highly recommendable “Lucky Family Hostel” and met Mathias Boegner, internationally renowned violin player and professor. The city appeared to us totally different from our expectations. Yes, there is smog, but it is bearable and nearly vanishes on the weekend (just a pity that sometimes the view is not very clear). Apart from that, the capital is a fascinating mix of wide and monumental communist architecture, harmonic traditional Chinese style and bold modernity. Due to the large Stalinist-like avenues and the rather low buildings (seldom more than 15 floors), the metropolis appears bright, very bike-friendly and is able to deal with the masses without hassle and stress. Especially in the center there are also many “Hutongs”, old little labyrinthine streets with small houses of not more than two floors, often lined by trees. The atmosphere is so relaxed that you would never think you are in the capital of one of the most dynamic countries of the word. Finally, huge green parks with lovely lakes contribute to the high quality of life. Continue reading →

Hong-Kong, the first city where something should go terribly wrong on our world-trip …. our plan was easy: stop there on the way to China, get the visa for the People’s Republic (as a German resident I could not get it in Argentina) in two days and enjoy the other two days visiting the metropolis. However, the Chinese embassy had other surprises for us. When we handed in all the necessary forms, I was told to provide tons of additional documents. But even worse was that the express service was not available for Europeans anymore and therefore we would get the visa after 4 days, which would be too late to catch our plane to Beijing. The official who told us so was so rude and aggressive that we can now understand why the dragon is China’s heraldic animal. It seemed like we would have to wait over the weekend and then try to get some new flights, while a friend of us was waiting in Beijing all the time (since we won’t travel in China on our own during the first weeks, but be accompanied by Wu Jiqing).

At the same day, Steve found a travel agency which announced they could offer him to get his visa in 3 days without providing ANY documents other than his passport. As he had no real alternative, he simply tried and accepted. But for French citizens, things are more complicated: there was no other way for me than providing the required documents (flight tickets, international insurance, travel schedule and hotel reservations, whereas it doesn’t matter whether the latter ones are faked or not) and I would have to wait the 4 days anyway. I must admit that I should have known this before, because it is all written on the French websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Unfortunately for me I had just phoned the German and the Argentine embassy of China, which both told me it would not be a problem to get the visa in Hong-Kong in 3 days, but I had not thought there could be some differences between German and French, since until now Europeans had always been treated equally. Hence, I would miss my flight to Beijing on Friday, without a chance to change anything about it. I later found out that the whole reason was Sarkozy’s welcoming of the Dalai Lama like a head of state …. Continue reading →