36 Hours in Beijing

I spent 36 hours in Beijing for work. Sixteen hour flight there (via Singapore) and 16 hour flight back, one night on the ground.

I saw a lot of freeways.

I saw a lot of the inside of taxis (Volkswagen Passats, very cheap).

But I managed to steal two hours to take a taxi downtown to see the Forbidden City.

It's a fab place to visit. Cost AUD12 to get in and it was really the only place I saw mobs of people.

For a HUGE population I was struck by two things in Beijing - the complete lack of people walking around the centre of town, and the lack of bikes. Cars can only drive on the road every second day (it goes by number place odds and evens).

Had to have Beijing Duck in Beijing. We were directed by the concierge to a great place called Hua's Courtyard Restaurant. I definitely recommend a visit. The Beijing Duck was excellent.

Restaurant strip in downtown Beijing.

While I was at the office we had the May birthdays celebration. The Black Forrest cakes came in these amazing boxes. I wanted the boxes more than the cakes.

On the last evening before my flight out we went to the Beijing Workers Stadium to this beautiful restaurant. Sorry can't recall the name but it's on the outskirts of the stadium. This is a photo of the inside.

A super quick whirlwind of a visit, but fun nevertheless. Must return to have a proper look one day.

Paris in photos

Images from my two days and nights in Paris.

Images from my 2 1/2 days at our seminar just outside Paris.

Je fait du velo aujourdhui

near Paris, 1 July 12.22 am

Dear Peeps, I am writing this instead of joining my colleagues on the dancefloor. Not really interested in dance floors where colleagues are concerned I must say.

So today we had the usual seminar things - workshops and the like - and then this afternoon we indulged in the national sport of France - cycling. Ninety of us left the hotel on bikes for an 8km ride around nearby villages. We were organised into teams of 8 or 9 and asked to complete a course, do a bike riding agility test and find clues etc. You get the idea - teambuilding stuff. I am pleased to report that as the only Australian I felt I represented my country well by being the quickest female through the agility course!

After the bike ride we were advised that our next event was kayaking. Those of us who wanted to race our kayaks were asked to raise our hand. In a rash moment a Swedish colleague and I decided to go in the race. We thought it would be about 100m so we put together a game plan to try to beat all the others. It turns out that the race was 5km... after the first 100m we were completely spent. Nevertheless we were the first all-female team to finish.

I just know that between the bike riding and the kayaking I will barely be able to walk, talk or hold a pen tomorrow.

Half a day left of the seminar tomorrow and then I will be back out to Charles de Gaulle Airport for an Air France flight to asia and then back to Sydney by Sunday morning.

Would I like to stay a little longer? Of course. I think I'll have to work on a family holiday here next European summer...

Soldes and other stories

near Paris, 30 June, 10.24pm

If I was able to upload my photos I would show you the queues outside Chanel, Tod's, Gucci and other designer stores on Rue St Honore. Tomorrow is the official start of the summer sales in Paris but today was the unofficial start. So for Simon's benefit - no I didn't indulge. for Firegazer's benefit - don't worry the credit cards are safe. Unfortunately the stores didn't open until 10 and some not until 11am and I had a taxi to catch to our seminar outside Paris.

My original plan today was to visit the Musee D'Orsay however even at 9am for a 9.30am opening the queues were too long to guarantee a decent viewing before I had to leave today. Instead I continued to walk along the Rive Gauche until Pont Alexandre III, then up past the Petit Palais (YSL retrospective on, but again wasn't opening until 10am) over the Champs Elysee and up to Rue St Honore for a bit of window shopping. There was a considerable police presence including plain clothed security officers from the bridge right up to the Palais d'Elysee so I wonder if the President was expected to arrive or leave? The security presence was significant enough to signal that I shouldn't loiter to find out.

I followed Rue St Honore past the Madeleine until Place Vendome and then took a right down to the Tuilleries and then up to Le Louvre and back to the hotel.

If I had more time I would simply walk all the back and side streets around Paris. But I had a taxi to catch to our seminar venue outside Paris.

Our seminar is all very United Nations with a representative or two from every country that is part of our Company complete with headsets and translators. I have never listened to presentations translated through headsets before - it is quite tiring. Tomorrow, however, we will be divided into same-language groups. The seminar is largely in French and English but for many of the participants they have to choose the best of the two languages for them even though they are natural Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish or Russian speakers. The most impressive are the Swedes who speak perfect English AND French in addition to Swedish.

I really must improve my French...

Ile de la Cite, La Defense and Avenue Kleber

Paris, 29 June 10.30pm

Once the rain cleared I walked to Ile de la Cite and past Notre Dame. As a 15 year old I climbed the stairs to the top of Notre Dame and then climbed out onto the roof and stood holding onto one of the metal spires at the top. Somewhere I have a photo of this. These days the roof is surrounded in razor wire.

Later on today I was told that the best icecream in Paris is to be found nearby. Shame I didn't know that at 10am this morning.

My first real adventure of the day was catching Le Metro, by myself. I was to meet some colleagues at our offices in La Defense the (mini) skyscraper district to the West of central Paris.

The centrepiece of La Defense is the Grande Arche, an enormous marble square-shaped arch which was extremely difficult to photograph up close. Think ultra modern Arc de Triomphe.

With unpredictable Paris traffic I was advised to take the Metro. Too Easy. After lunch I was advised that the quickest way to get to our other offices near the Arc de Triomphe was by RER - the high speed express Metro. Am now officially adept at Le Metro. It took 15 minutes to get from La Defense to our meeting place via two metro lines, a trip which may have taken 30 minutes by taxi in lunchtime traffic.

After our afternoon meeting we went to the Cafe Palais Royale in the 1er arrondissement for dinner. Driving down Rue St Honore I was disappointed that with late opening times I wouldn't get a chance to check out all the boutiques before I have to leave tomorrow morning.

Leaving the restaurant was still perfectly light at 10pm. It is now 10.30pm and twilight has just descended.

Tomorrow, the Musee D'Orsay and then off to our global seminar outside Paris.

Raining in Paris

Paris, 29 June 6.51am

Before I left home on Sunday night I briefly considered packing a small umbrella.

I now wish I had.

I have woken up to a rainy day in Paris which puts a hole in my plans to walk from my hotel in the Louvre-Le Halles district along the Rive Gauche past the Eiffel Tower and back over the Seine again to my meeting in the 16e arrondissement.

There is also a slight chill in the air so I am glad I have packed long sleeved shirts/trousers as well as my summer work dresses.

On the plus side I am able to open the windows in my tiny hotel room so I am sitting here at a tiny desk, looking out a large open window onto a side street with classic Parisienne apartments.

Update 9am

The rain has stopped and the sun is peaking through the clouds. Once I have finished preparing my presentations I'm hoping to go exploring for a couple of hours with my Beijing colleagues. My Middle East and Sub-continent colleagues don't arrive until later. I'm hoping to catch a look at the Musee D'Orsay.

J'arrive a Paris

Paris, 28 June, 9.45pm

No entry card to fill out, no customs to speak of. Welcome to Paris.

It has been 21 years and six months since my last visit. Staying in a little tourist hotel in the 1e arrondissement about 50m from the Comedie Francaise with Le Louvre within sight.

My colleagues from the Beijing office arrived earlier today but are already in Monmartre having dinner. Not hungry after 30 hours of travel so had a chocolat chaud at a cafe opposite the Comedie Francaise. Cost: 4.5 Euros. Yikes. If I just pretend that 1 Euro = 1AUD then I'll stop hyperventillating at the prices.

What's not to love about Paris? At 8.30pm there are people milling about everywhere; tourists having their photos taken in front of the glass pyramid at Le Louvre to locals and tourists eating at over-priced cafes. All the patrons waiting for their performance to start outside the Comedie Francaise were dressed in black and white. What was with that? Looked fabulous.

I have a meeting tomorrow. Have brought along a packet of Tim Tams for afternoon tea.

Not quite in Hong Kong

In transit at the airport.

I just know that you will all nash your teeth in envy when I say that I am on my way to Paris. For work, not play. I'll be back on Sunday hopefully with a photo or two.

Is it just me or is Hong Kong airport counter-intuitive? Perhaps you just have to have been here once before to get the system. I disembarked from my Qantas flight to find no simple explanation on how to find my way to the transit area or an airline lounge. It didn't help that I arrived at 5.30am local time and there was no-one at any of the information desks.

So I followed the time-honoured tradition of milling with the crowds until I worked out that I had to line up for another 30 mins to go through security, again. But find a lounge? Had to ring Firegazer in Sydney to look that up on the interweb. No clear signage.

Changi airport much better.

So here I am brushing up on my basic French phrases. Despite working for a French company I haven't managed to re-ignite my schoolgirl French.

I figure that I need to be competent in catching a taxi and finding my hotel. Alarmingly my phrase book notes that an important phrase to know when catching a taxi will be: S'il vous plait roulez plus lentement.

Please slow down.

Okay, wish me luck.

Jet-no star Service

Main Beach, looking towards Surfer's Paradise,  7am

Last week I was our quarterly management meeting, held on the Gold Coast. At the same time, Firegazer was overseas at a "strategy meeting" (meaning: company-sanctioned golf trip). We had to employ a live-in Nanny for the children. For some people this is easy. They ring an agency, a nanny arrives, end of story. Me? The thought of another person who is not related to me looking after my children for days on end is a little terrifying. Especially when she is a complete stranger. Anyway, I wrote copious instructions, the nanny arrived and I left for the airport.

You will understand that it was extremely important to me that for financial reasons the trip away be productive and for personal reasons that I arrived home when I said I would.

Enter the famous Jet-no star Service.

I arrive at the airport on Tuesday and check-in the required minimum 30 minutes prior to the official departure time. Those who have travelled Jetstar will know that you must do this regardless whether the flight is delayed from its official departure time or not. Sure enough, once I had checked-in I was told the flight was delayed an hour. Fine.

An hour and a half later we board the aircraft. After an additional half-hour we are told that there is a problem with the audio system and they would have to re-boot the aircraft. Can't fly with a dicky audio system.

Half an hour later, audio system still not functional. And the engineers can't fix it. No matter, there is a spare aircraft so we will offload and board that one.

Meanwhile our 7.30pm dinner arrangements are looking a little dicey.

At 8.30pm, three and a half hours after our scheduled departure we finally take off. When we arrive at the Gold Coast we have a funny story to tell at the dinner that we finally have at 10.30pm that night.

To lose one audio system, Mr Jetstar, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness

The management meeting was scheduled to run for three days but as I had children to return to and the others were going to spend the third day playing golf I decided to leave at the end of the second day. The Nanny had to return to her day job early on the Friday morning so I was to get home by 10pm on Thurs and then she would leave.  The kids had rung me each night to say how they missed me and PL said he couldn't sleep.  I said I'd be home on Thursday night and on Friday morning when they woke they would find me in my bed.

Again, the flight was delayed an hour.

And again, once on the aircraft after a half-hour wait we heard that the audio system wasn't working. Surely not. Am I an audio system jinx? This time I was on the last flight out. There wouldn't be a spare aircraft hanging around and we were about to miss curfew at Sydney airport.

I rang the nanny. Could she PLEASE stay the night and get the kids to school the next day? Luckily she could as long as she could get them to school by 8am.  The kids were already asleep so there was no way she could warn them I wouldn't be in my bed when they woke, like I promised.

Then the pilot spoke again. Not only did he confirm that we would have to stay the night but that there was some sort of fire emergency at the airport and the buildings were being evacuated. We would have to stay on the aircraft for the time being.

I was originally on a 7.30pm flight. At 12.30pm I arrived at our overnight hotel knowing that I had a 3.30pm wake up call to catch the first flight out the next day. I had a choice - spend 30 minutes finding some food or get an extra 30 minutes sleep.

Despite having not eaten since lunch I chose sleep.  I dreamed of never flying Jetstar, for business, again.  That is until next time I have to choose the cheapest possible flight.

Where the girl from The West travels to The West of The Far East

A day or so after starting my new job I was asked to a one-day meeting of my fellow HR Managers from the APac region to be held in China in July. In Chengdu.

Where is Chengdu you ask?

Think Western China. Think last stop before Tibet. Really. Apparently you still can't go to Tibet unless on a registered tour, but that's another story.

Here's a map to help.

It may be more familiar to you as the location of the 2008 earthquake.

So what did I think?

Well, apart from the long distance to travel for 1 1/2 days of meetings (six flights of four or more hours in seven days) it was well worth the trip.

I spent most of my time in a conference room. I also spent a good deal of time thinking I was going to die from over consumption of extremely spicy Sichuan food. But apart from that I experienced things that make such visits all worthwhile.

• Ate an amazing 16-course lunch where every course was either steeped in, covered in or made from five types of tea (white, green, black, yellow and oolong).
• Played Mah Jong, in China, to local rules (I won).
• Caught local taxis that were driven as if they were bicycles.
• Caught a ride in a taxi that went through red lights, pedestrian crossings and the wrong way up one-way streets.
• Was spoken to by a 7yo Chinese girl, in perfect English.
• Was told that Chengdu was the 'laziest city in China'. I think a better translation is 'most laid back city in China'.
• Realised that there are certain medications that one should take when visiting a country whose national cuisine is likely to upset a delicate western stomach.
• Found that, in the absence of such medications, flat Coke is quite a good cure-all.

There is, apparently, a local saying that roughly translates as "The Sun is High and the Emperor is Far Away" which would aptly describe the laid back approach in this city far from the sights of Beijing.