Over the past 2 weeks the Harlem Shake meme spread all over the Internet. The hype seems to be a bit over by now, at least I don’t see that many new mentions in my feeds anymore. When companies like Pepsi start to release their own Harlem Shake video ads you know the hype is probably over the top. On the other hand, the song just hit the #1 position on iTunes today and even my kids are now jumping up and down to the Baauer music – my fault, I showed them a couple of the videos over the weekend and they liked it so much that they now keep on shouting Harlem Shake instead of Gangnam Style.

Interesting is that I did not see many Harlem Shake mentions in social media feeds from Chinese friends, so out of curiosity I did a quick search on Tudou and Youku. It turns out that for the search term 哈林摇 there are only less than 300 videos on both sites together. Harlem Shake gives a few more hits, but also these seem to be only foreign-made videos. And just 3 of them have over 100,000 views, which is very low for Chinese video sites. As a comparison, while I am writing this YouTube gives 8.5 million search results for Harlem Shake and the current top video compilation has been watched 13 million times so far.

Either the Chinese are a bit behind on this one or they just don’t like it. My take is that because the dance videos spread during the height of Chinese New Year many Chinese may have missed it, but that the hype may still come. Not that I am waiting for it, I have actually seen too many versions of the dance over the past days already. In case you missed the whole phenomenon, below a compilation of the best Harlem Shake videos on YouTube.

A compilation of Harlem Shake videos on YouTube

Today is the 5th day of Chinese New Year and finally life becomes more normal again. The first few days of CNY there was virtually no traffic on the roads and you could drive everywhere in the city in a matter of 10-20 minutes instead of the usual 30-60 minutes. That is, if you have your own car, because there were not many taxis around yet. But today quite some taxis seem to be back from the countryside and most are empty.

On Monday I had planned to have drinks with a friend in a bar, but the place was still closed so we ended up at his house with a bottle of wine. Last night I drove by the bar and noticed it was open now, so we’ll try again tomorrow.

City Supermarket is still on a holiday schedule, which I found out this morning when I wanted to buy yoghurt at 9 AM with Scott. The store did not open until 10… We were not the only ones who were surprised to see that this supermarket opened later, during the time span of a few minutes at least 3 other people wanted to enter the store.

Smog levels are still pretty high, especially because of the fireworks. On Chinese New Year’s Eve the smog level for the first time exceeded the upper limit of the index (which is quite scary if you think about it). And last night the level was even higher, because of the massive fireworks for the Fortune God. I actually had the feeling that there were more fireworks last night than on CNY eve, and they for sure lasted longer (from 6 pm until 1 am, and then again from 7 am onwards – so I did not get a lot of sleep).

Business wise not much is happening yet, I only have 3 meetings this week and before people call me they send me a SMS to check whether it’s okay to call. In a way I look forward to next week when all offices are open again and when you can get things done. I just hope the traffic could be a bit longer like it currently is though.

It’s New Year’s Day in China, the first day of the Year of the Snake. Grace’ family from Beijing came over to celebrate the holiday here, so it’s a food and drink extravaganza at home. Last night my father-in-law prepared the New Year’s Eve dinner, he spent the whole day in the kitchen making all the dishes. It was excellent, especially in combination with the bottles of Champagne that I had opened to accompany the food.

The kids got presents and hongbao (red envelopes with money) from everybody, and Scott was already musing about what kind of things he could buy now. After the meal the family watched the annual CCTV New Year Gala, and I read some magazines. I am not a big fan of the show, if you have seen one you have seen them all. Scott and Elaine loved it though (I guess that says a lot about the level of the show!) and could not stop watching the stand-up comedians and the songs and dances.

At a certain point I fell asleep on the couch but the kids were still awake. I was a bit jet lagged, because we just came back from a week in Canada, and a big meal plus some nice wines don’t help to stay awake. The fireworks woke me up at midnight though and we all watched it from the 3rd floor of our house. I felt there were less fireworks than in years before, but maybe that was because I didn’t go outside this year. But the smog certainly wasn’t less, at 1 AM the index was above 500 (which is the upper level, above 300 the air quality is considered hazardous). Probably good that I stayed inside.

Today we drove out to Sheshan to climb the mountain there and to get some fresh air. The roads were quite empty and the drive went fast, helped by the fact that all tollroads are free during Chinese New Year, so you don’t waste a lot of time in traffic jams at the toll gates. But Sheshan itself was very busy and I was glad to find a parking space close to the entrance gate of the mountain. Also the access to the mountain was free now (it used to be quite expensive), but that also meant that thousands of others decided to hike up the hill as well.

Despite being 30 kilometers from Shanghai the air at Sheshan was actually still pretty bad. The kids asked why the air smelled like smoke and when we were at the top there was not much of a view because of the air pollution. Not sure if the walk was very healthy, but at least we got out of the city for a few hours, which is always a good thing.

Last week Grace and I had an appointment in Macau so we flew over for a short visit. We arrived on Wednesday evening and were picked up by a limo that drove us to our hotel. We had decided to stay at the Cotai Strip, the new area with all the casinos, and we got a reservation at The Galaxy.

The last time I was in Macau (for the Macau Marathon 2006) the whole Cotai strip did not exist yet, so we had no idea whether the hotel was a good choice, but a business connection had booked it for us and it turned out to be an excellent one. We got a big suite on the 29th floor with a great view over the Cotai area from all the rooms, and even from the bath tub in the main bathroom.

The hotel itself is part of a larger complex, with a huge pool/beach area on the rooftop above the casino, that they share with the Okura Hotel and the Banyan Tree resort. The pools are amazing and they make this an excellent location for a vacation with kids. The resort has the biggest rooftop wave pool in the world, and of course this pool comes with its own white sandy artificial beach. If you need some more space there are even some pool villas built on the rooftop (all with private pool), they are part of the Banyan Tree resort.

I am not a gambling man, so I wasn’t that interested in the casino, but of course we went there at night to take a look. I had seen quite some casinos in my life, but never one as big as this: I would guess the main area is at least a few hundred meters long and completely filled with gambling tables and slot machines. And most tables had people playing! It seemed almost every player was from mainland China and in the 30 minutes that we spent there I did not see one other non-Asian person. Of course the real high rollers don’t come here but spend their money in one of the many VIP rooms in the complex, the place where the real money is made (or, more likely, lost).

We had dinner at Yamazato in the Okura Hotel, a very good Japanese restaurant. Our plan was to just have a light meal of sushi and sashimi, but in the end we still wanted to have something more to eat so we went for the Wagyu beef. Generally I am not a huge fan of Wagyu (a bit too fat for my liking), but this one was so well prepared that it melted on my tongue. In case I should ever come back here I will order it again!

After dinner we went over to the Venetian, which is just down the road. Another huge complex, but a bit lower end than the Galaxy. The place has not one but three indoor Venetian canals, complete with gondolas and with 24 hour day light (just like in Las Vegas). The shopping mall is much bigger than the one at the Galaxy and the casino blew me away. I thought the Galaxy was big, but this one is even bigger. Later I found out it’s actually the biggest casino in the world with a playing area of 546,000 square feet (to put this in perspective, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas has 170,000 square feet). But the Galaxy plans to double its size in the next 2 years, so in 2015 they may be the biggest in the world.

Thursday we had an appointment in downtown Macau and were picked up from our hotel early in the morning. We were done by lunch time and walked around a bit in the old town looking at some of the sights, before having a late lunch at a nice Portuguese restaurant. We still had a few hours before our flight back, so we took a car to the Venetian to look at 2 of their exhibitions: Titanic and Human Bodies. I had read a lot about both of them and it was great that we could see them here.

Titanic was very well made, with among others original artifacts from the ship several cabins that were rebuilt. Interesting to see how life on board was in those days, with complete segragation between the different travel classes: not only the rooms but also the restaurants, bars and relaxation areas. The part that describes the sinking of the Titanic was quite scary, because it was completely dark and they had some pretty good audio effects. There was even an iceberg that you could touch to get a feeling for the cold.

Human Bodies was a different experience. The exhibition has been in the news for years and is quite controversial, but that did not stop me from taking a look of course. Seeing real human bodies in different poses is quite scary, especially because you can see them up close (there are no glass cages or so, theoretically you could touch the corpses). When I saw a pregnant woman with a baby inside her I had seen enough though and left the exhibition. An interesting experience, but seeing it once is more than enough for me.

After that we walked back to our hotel, had a coffee and were picked up by a limo to drive us to the airport. There we found out that our flight would be delayed… But the Air Macau lounge turned out to be pretty good and had good wifi, so we spent the next 3 hours there online while tasting some Portugese wines. The flight back was uneventful and we were home by 10:30 PM.

More pictures of our trip to Macau here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chijs/sets/72157632607518016/

 

After reading Tyler Hamilton’s The Secret Race last summer I realized that Lance Armstrong was a bully and a liar, but I had never expected him to confess all his doping sins. I was surprised how calm and emotionless he was during the interview with Oprah Winfrey, at least during the short part that I watched.

The next months and years will not be easy for him. First he lost all his Tour de France titles, then he lost his Olympic medal and now he lost his credibility. And he will face the financial consequences: he probably made sure the lawsuits won’t bankrupt him, but it will certainly hurt him a lot.

I don’t feel bad for Lance though. He made life hell for many of his fellow riders who confessed before him, now it’s time for him to face the consequences. He thought he could get away with everything he did, but in the end he realized that he was trapped and that even his political connections could not save him anymore. I think that’s the main reason he confessed. Hopefully this will make cycling a better sport.

Today I had a photo shoot for an article in the Holland Herald, KLM’s inflight magazine. After taking some pictures in the Spil Games office we drove to the Bund for some outdoor ones. For days I could not see the Pudong skyline from my office window, but today the smog had cleared up a lot and the sun was finally visible again. Perfect weather for taking magazine pictures, except for the fact that it was freezing cold (around 0 degrees Celsius but with a major wind chill factor over the river). 

The past days were not the best ones for most parts of China, because pollution levels were getting from bad to worse. I am glad that I don’t live in Beijing where the pollution was off the charts for several days, but even Shanghai (which is directly on the sea) had hazardous levels of air quality. The air was smelling foul and I had a headache for 2 days in a row, something which is very unusual for me. 

The air was so bad that several friends of ours were considering to fly with their kids to Hong Kong until the smog would disappear. We kept Scott and Elaine inside, no playing in the garden or in the playground for them. Also the school informed us that the kids were not allowed to go outside if the air quality was over 150 (=unhealthy level threshold).

I wonder what the government will do about this, because the situation seems to be getting worse by the month. When I lived in Beijing from 2000-2002 we had heavy smog in wintertime as well, but nobody measured it and at the time most people blamed it on the fact that Beijingers in the hutongs heated their houses with coal. But that has changed and now cars and industrial pollution are the main culprits.

The good thing about China is that the government has the power to change things radically and they may be forced to make radical changes (only hybrid or electric cars anyone?). Everyone knows this will jeopardize growth in the short run, but I think they don’t really have a choice. Because of the hukou system most Chinese still can’t easily move to different cities, and there is a limit to how much pollution they are willing to endure for themselves and their families. At least for now the worst pollution seems to be over and I could take some pictures from the riverside promenade at the Bund, a place I had not visited in a very long time.

A Happy 2013 to all my readers!

On New Year’s Eve I took it relatively easy with a big family dinner followed by a party at Danny Wilms Floet place and then Champagne at home at midnight, because New Year’s Day would be longer than usual. Yesterday we flew to Vancouver with the family for a few days of winter vacation combined with several business meetings.

Because Vancouver is 16 hours behind Shanghai the day lasted 40 hour and my experience is that partying late or drinking a lot does not help a lot with jet lag. Certainly not if you also have to take care of the kids during the flight.

The trip itself went better than expected, although I did not get a lot of sleep. Air Canada has a rule that your kids have to sit in the row in front of you in their Executive First Class suites, something we did not know when we booked the flight. But the kids fly so much that they both did not mind that they could not see us during the flight. Take-off and landing are sometimes a problem for Elaine, but after talking to the purser Scott and Elaine were allowed to sit next to us at the beginning and end of the flight.

After dinner Scott watched a cartoon TV program for about 10 minutes and then went to sleep very quickly. Elaine, however, did not want to sleep. She got up from her seat all the time and wanted to watch films or play games. First I let her do that but after a while I also wanted to sleep myself, so eventually I decided to lie down next to her until she was asleep. Then she started complaining that her bed was too small… After about an hour of trying I just sat at the end of her bed and sang the Dutch song “Slaap Kindje Slaap” to her, which immediately worked.

Then I was not sleepy myself anymore and watched a stand-up comedy program with a glass of port wine and some cheese. When I went to sleep it was 7 AM in Vancouver already… About an hour later Scott woke me up because he had to go to the toilet. I helped him with that, but as a result I was completely awake again and could not sleep anymore. I nodded off a few times, but all in all I did not get more than an 1-2 hours of real sleep.

We landed in Vancouver around 12:45 PM, went through immigration and got our suitcases. My parents picked us up and drove us to our house in West Vancouver (booked through AirBnB). The place we rented is quite nice and I especially like the view over Howe Sound with the snowcapped mountains in the background. Beautiful!

At night a friend came over for a glass of wine and afterward we had a quick dinner in Horseshoe Bay. During the meal both Scott and Elaine almost fell asleep, so we didn’t stay long and put the kids to bed. I was so tired that I started to write this post but stopped after about 10 minutes and went to bed as well. It was a long but very eventful New Year’s Day, a good start of 2013.

Last night we had dinner at Sam Flemming’s house and while driving back it was snowing hard. So this morning when I got up the first thing I did was to look outside to see if Shanghai would be white. And indeed it was, although it was just a very thin layer of snow.

It hardly ever snows in Shanghai, so Scott and Elaine were very excited and wanted to go outside before breakfast already. I didn’t think that was a good idea, so they both finished their meal in record time and then immediately put on their winter coat, shoes and gloves.

There was not a lot of snow, but just enough to throw snowballs at their dad and for them to realize that snow in your face is really cold. After playing in our garden they rode their bikes to the playground where they both played on the snow-covered slides and had a lot of fun.

I had a hard time getting Scott and Elaine to go back home with me, but the promise of making them both a hot chocolate worked. They asked me if they could play in the snow again in the afternoon, but most of the snow has melted away in the meantime so I’m afraid that won’t be possible anymore. At least we still have the pictures!