Blogs from Chaoyang district, Beijing, China, Asia - page 5

Beijing – Did someone spike my drinks!!! After touching down at Beijing Airport everything seemed quite normal and it was so easy to find the right train, go straight from the train to the subway and get off at my stop. But from this point forward nothing else was “normal.” I don’t know where to begin when trying to describe this place, it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before which is great because after all that’s why I’m travelling. The vast number of people, the pace of everything, the heat, the pollution, the non stop spitting, the lack of any English and the neon signs can be over whelming to say the least. So far I’ve been ill, had numerous headaches and walked miles just to get from one place to the next but still I’m ... read more

And finally we're here! There's been a bit of a break, as we've been very limited as to internet access since Almaty... We left Uzbekistan on the 6:43 to Almaty; a journey of approximately a day and a half. The first stage was nice and easy, as usual, until we hit the border crossing, then the usual interminable wait set in. Fortunately the departure from Uzbekistan was less fraught than the arrival, and it was rather nice to see the little guards compound from the train, rather than the inside, listening to the train departing without us. So, two hours at this border, which was interesting as the customs guards did identify a couple of the huge nylon bags, under our seats, and questioned us regarding them - clearly they weren't ours, and further conversations with ... read more

Hi, It has taken me a few weeks to get my act together and figure out how to start a blog. So I'm posting what I wrote a few weeks ago. I'll soon catch up today. My First Week in Beijing - early March I’m having a quiet day today after a hectic jet-lagged, but exciting, first week in Beijing. I arrived on Monday morning and I was in the office by the afternoon. I am in temporary accommodation in a mini-apartment about 20 minutes walk from the office. The initial convenience is all-important because it spares me having to take taxis or public transport just to get to work. No doubt you are expecting me to have lots of comments on how different Beijing is to the Western world. The amazing thing is that, on ... read more

I’m compressing week 3 & 4 simply because week 3 was pretty boring apart from visiting an overpriced flower market. As last Friday came to an end, so did my first month as a member of the working force in Beijing, so I thought a review of my acquired love-hate relationship would be most appropriate. Starting off on a positive; I got paid, and better yet, it qualified as minimum wage in most respectable developed countries, so I didn’t need to contact the union… not that there are any in Beijing. And to bring equilibrium to this, I must mention the bad, the very bad… I’m sick of the ‘pleasant forest harmony’ song that gets repeated over and over again in the lobby of my office building. This prompts me to get from the entrance door ... read more

Joshua Stahl 3/14/2011 Internship Journal #2 Dear Journal, Over the last two weeks, I have been pleasantly surprised at the amount of responsibility that China Supplier has given us. Not to mention their genuine want to get to know us on a personal and professional level. They value our opinions, and most of all they value us as people. Our responsibilities over the past two weeks have included uncovering the likelihood of utilizing a new platform that not only connects buyers with suppliers, but allows China Supplier to facilitate the whole process on the buyers behalf. This process opens up a whole new market for America, because the tariff and logistics portion is being taken care of by a credible firm. That’s where we (Alyssa, Obi, and I) come in. They wanted us to carefully scan ... read more