Beijing, day 5

Monday morning back to work, after all I'm not actually here to see the sights, I am here to visit some people and hold a few interviews. So I head out to Ericsson tower to meet my contact there. The taxi takes me far out of the city to an area of almost only corporate towers and office buildings. My contact Jing Hou, or Jessie as her English name is, turns out to be a bit offhanded and does not speak as good English as I had hoped. As our meeting is less well planned than the one at the Swedish embassy, coupled with her offhandedness, I do not really get as much as I had hoped from the interview. Jessie, who is an accountant is just not qualified enough to tell me the things I am interested in but I get some good stuff anyway. It seems that, due to not being able to meet with more companies or even the trade council, I will probably have to shift focus of my article but that does not matter, I think it can become a good one any way.

After the meeting with Jessie we take a small tour of the company but, being an accountant, she has very restricted access so we can not get into that many places. Apparently security is very tight and I can not even take a picture in the lobby. Its nice to talk with Jessie about this and that during the tour to the coffee room and the lobby but she has to get back to work and with that, my working day is over. Time for more sightseeing. 

I have one big thing left on my list and this one actually has a bit to do with my article so is suitable that I do it on my working day. I am going to the Beijing Olympic stadium. The first building I get to is the water cube or H2O3 as it is written in a more in innovative way. This is where the swimming contests were held and it is a huge, rather magnificent swimming pool. This however turns out to be a bit boring so I head onwards to the main point, the birds nest stadium. As I draw closer, I here bombastic music from some hidden speakers, “ONE WORLD, ONE DREAM” they boom over the grounds. And the music is suitable, the birds nest is just as bombastic as the music despite the big beams crisscrossing to give it that characteristic birds nest look. Being inside has a very special feeling to it as I walk out on the main sports field, but the feeling is not as string as I had hoped. The feeling can best be described as being part of something very big and important, but there is only a little bit of it left in the empty seats and running track. As I exit the arena the sun is beginning to set and as I watch the stadium in the dying light I feel that it is the sunset of the Olympic games, at least this time.

I go to the silk market one last time to pick up some tailored shirts Ive ordered then get back to the hotel. From there I make my way back to Tian'anmen square to see it at night. It is now that I clearly feel how much of a restricted society China really is. There are a lot of police about and and for some reason you are not allowed out on the square. This efficiently kills off a lot of the nightly activity in this area of the city. It feels like the government is trying to keep people at home to keep them under control, The square itself however is beautiful, all the big surrounding buildings covered in lights. 

As I am standing there a man and a woman come up to me and start talking. They are very friendly and ask a lot of questions as we walk along. They suggest getting some coffee and I say that I haven't eaten yet so we decide to eat together. They take me to a small restaurant which looks more like a teas house than an actual restaurant. I get suspicious since I have heard of people tricked into going to drink tea and ending up paying a lot but since I only want food I think it might me OK. But, soon enough they are pouring up tea for me and I realize I have been trapped. Well, there is nothing for it but to t´bite the cookie no matter how bitter it might be and enjoy myself as best I can – take the consequences later. We eat, drink and talk and have a merry old time all around until it is time to leave. Bill turns out to be for a whooping 1150 yuan – the cost of a smaller luxury meal and this is just standard Chinese food and some tea. Fore some reason – I suspect that they simply want my money and that my “friends” get there share of the profit – everything is hugely expensive. And as if that is not enough, the man suggests that me and him split the bill, the girl can not possibly be expected to pay when there are two men around. I manage to ge away with “only” paying 450 yuan of the total as I argue that we should divide it fairly but is still very expensive compared to the standard 30 yuan or less.

This is me being tricked

It is a sobering walk home in the cold, lonely night when I realize that Beijing is a city full of trixters who all want my money. They may be nice to you at first but it is not genuine, they just want to get a piece of you. Its sad that it is that way because Beijing is a nice city but going around not trusting anyone is a less than nice experience. Its strange how, being white, makes the Chinese think you have bucket loads of money and that they can get a piece of if they act nicely towards you. I might have a bit more than your garden variety Chinese but I am definitely not rich. Ending the day in this bad way I just hope tomorrow is better.