Beijing II

My second day in Beijing was a rainy day. First I went to have a coffee at Starbucks at Oriental Plaza which is a huge shopping complex on Wangfujing Street. I strolled around and was impressed by the sheer grandeur of the buildings and streets! But actually I was a bit disappointed of Beijing and I couldn't really imagine how they ever will be able to organize the next Olympic Games. The smog was thick as butter and even when it was supposed to be sunny you could hardly see a sunray. The public transportation system in specific and the traffic in general were everything else than well organized. They only have two subway lines but hundreds of buses.

The problem with the buses is that if you can't read the chinese characters you won't be able to figure out where the bus is going and where the stop is you have to get off. So the only mean of transportation is taking taxis. But here as well, taxidrivers don't speak any english at all. Actually nobody does (as far as I was concerned). Anyway, I had my coffee at Starbucks and then I decided to walk to the Temple of Heaven which is approximately one hour by walking. The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City and was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.

Beijing I

I had my flight to Beijing on Tuesday, 9/11, which is exact the same weekday as in 2001 when the two airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. I was pretty early at the airport in Zurich-Kloten so I even found time to have a coffee in the Airside Center Starbucks Store. Boarding time was 5:30PM but my flight was delayed. In Vienna all connecting flights were negative, except the one to Beijing! I was flying with Austrian Airways, but I was slightly disappointed of the service they did. The airplane was old and the board entertainment system too. And for you engineers out there, I have an assignment: Why can't you build soundproof airplanes? It's that noisy in there because of the aircraft turbines I had to listen to my iPod with maximal volume and the music was still very low. During the night we could see Moscow below, an immense sea of lights down there.

Finally having arrived in Beijing I took the airport shuttle to the city centre, and then I struggled to find my hostel. There was no subway in that direction, no busdriver understanding even a single word in english, even the taxidrivers didn't know the location and they as well spoke no english at all. Anyway, a taxi drove we at least in the right direction and the rest I walked even though I was tired as hell. I had to share my room with a finnish guy who took the transsiberian railway from Moscow to Beijing. We talked for a while and I then explored the neighborhood by myself. I walked to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Outside of China, the square is widely known for the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 when over 500 students lost their lifes. The square is 880 metres south to north and 500 metres east to west, a total area of 440,000 square metres, which makes it the largest open-urban square in the world.
I met a chinese couple from Shanghai and went to drink tea in the hutongs, which are narrow streets or alleys around the Forbidden City. After that nice experience I went back to the hostel and immediately fell asleep...

Summer X

When do you feel happy? And how do you measure happiness? I thought about that quite often recently, as I had my exams and therefore I had to take a backseat to most other activities like doing sports or reading books/magazines as well as watching movies and surfing in the internet. So what makes me happy? Friends? Girls? Success? Sports? Job? Money? I think it's a good mix of all of that. But there loads of other activities and things that help to feel happy and confident. Reading, music and movies, time to think, time for myself. And this is also very important. I actually need people around me, but sometimes I only want to be alone with my thoughts. Sometimes I just imagine how things will be and what may happen in the future. Sometimes I compare all the billions of possible ways how things could turn. Sometimes I just set a goal for myself and then I give everything to reach my goal. These are things which make me happy... And I now that anticipation is the highest form of joy...

Actually I was just listening to a song that reminds me of the good time I had last fall. And again, I guess music has another big influence on my mood. There are songs I basically listen only during practice in the gym and others that make me feel sad cause they remind me of certain things...

But back to my time this week. I five exams in the last two weeks and now there is only one left on Monday. Yeah, Monday. After the exam we're going to a party to celebrate the end of the exam session. And on Tuesday my flight leaves for Vienna and then for sizzling Beijing! Damn, I can't wait anymore! Got my visa last week and now I'm ready for China! But Tokyo as well will be amazing!

I'm posting once more a Starbucks sign, as today me and Jonathan went to the new-opened Starbucks store inside of Orell Füssli at Bellevue. So you can order a delicious Frappuccino and enjoy a book right on the cozy sofas. I found a nice book called Lounge Design, where you can see the world's best lounges! Just amazing!

Besides Jonathan, Lukas and I went to Lausanne on Sunday. We just had the idea to go to Geneva or Lausanne by train. As we all had something to learn or read the six hours journey passed by quite fast. In Lausanne we had some lunch, did a short sightseeing and went to Starbucks... You wouldn't believe, but I have to change my lifestyle a little bit and one thing that I want to change is: Drink less coffee which means not going to Starbucks anymore!

Next time I'm gonna post pictures of my trip to Beijing and Tokyo! Will be back 24th of September!