Next Monday I was planning to fly to Beijing in the late afternoon for a 2 day trip. However, it now turns out that President Obama will be in Shanghai on Monday and plans to fly to Beijing on Monday late afternoon for a dinner with Hu Jintao. Knowing China a little bit that likely means road closures in both Shanghai and Beijing around the time that Obama plans to travel, and delayed or cancelled flights on the Shanghai-Beijing route.

Obama (or Oba-Mao as some people started calling him here) will stay in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday, exactly the days that I also plan to be there. Because it seems to be more of a sightseeing trip than a political trip (he only has two meetings, for the rest he wants to see Beijing’s tourist spots and even the Great Wall), I am afraid there will be traffic control on many roads, leading to even more traffic jams than usual.

My plan was to fly back from Beijing on Wednesday night, and guess what? That’s exactly when Obama plans to fly as well. Not sure yet what I will do now. In order to avoid delays caused by the President’s visit, I will probably I take an early morning flight to Beijing on Tuesday and I might take the first flight back to Shanghai on Thursday morning. Now I just hope that the Chinese government is not planning to create as much snow fall next week as they did both last week and this week…

After the first part of this post yesterday with three book descriptions (actually five, because the first was a trilogy), today four other English language books – plus a few Dutch titles that I read but won’t review.


The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
In a list of best novels read in 2009 this will likely be number one. What a marvelous book! I bought it as an ebook in August this year after reading some positive book reviews for the book. Then to my surprise I noticed that I already owned the book in a paper version (albeit in Dutch, not in the English ebook version). I apparently had bought it a while ago (the book was published 5 years ago already) and had forgotten about it. That happens to me regularly with DVD’s, where I buy them twice because I forgot I already purchased them earlier, but with books this was the first time. Not smart, but the book was so good that I don’t mind having it twice. The Shadow of the Wind plays in post-war Barcelona, where a young boy finds a rare book called The Shadow of the Wind, that he likes very much. He tries to learn more about the author and finds that he has been killed during the civil war and that all of his books seem to have been destroyed. As the book continues the boy (growing into a man during the course of the book) finds out that the author may not have been killed but traveled to Paris. The more he digs into the writer’s life the more he realizes there are incredible parallels to his own life. The book is partly a mystery and thriller, partly a historical novel and partly a romance novel. That, combined with Zafon’s excellent storytelling skills made this into a must-read book for me. A pity I only read the book now and not a few years ago already. The good thing is that I can now already start reading in Zafon’s next book The Angel’s Game, a book that has partly the same characters as The Shadow of the Wind.

Beach Road – James Patterson
Two weeks ago I was looking for a quick read and because James Patterson normally does not disappoint me and the white beach picture on the cover page looked very attractive to me, I decided to buy it. That was a mistake. The book itself is mainly about a lawyer that defends a black basketball player who is accused of killing 3 white guys with a gun. Each chapter is written from the view point of a different person, which makes the book kind of difficult to read. But that’s not the main problem I have with it. After reading about 80% of the book the story line suddenly changes completely. The reader learns something that turns the story around completely, but which is so highly unlikely that I wished that I would had never bought the book. I like a book with a twist in a storyline, but what Patterson did here is just totally unbelievable. A waste of time, and probably the last time that I buy a book from James Patterson without checking some reviews first.

Dan Brown – The Lost Symbol
I had been looking forward to this book for quite some time, and the moment it became available I immediately got it as an ebook. It was an easy read, it only took me a few days to finish it. But after finishing it and thinking it through, I felt a bit disappointed. Sure, the story was fun to read and it had a lot of interesting facts about the Freemasons and hidden symbols in Washington D.C. But I felt it was almost a copy of The Da Vinci Code in a different setting. Following clues and solving puzzles while chasing a killer. That is not necessarily a big problem, but in this case it is, because I felt that The Da Vinci Code was a much better book. The Lost Symbol was hyped quite a bit before it was published, and for me it did not live up to its hype. Especially the end I found particularly weak, the solution to the puzzle was a disappointment and the author could have skipped the last 20 pages or so. A pity, but I guess after a huge hit like The Da Vinci Code it is very difficult to come up with something better, the expectations had been just too high. Not a bad book, but a far cry from The Da Vinci Code.

Haruki Murakami – What I talk about when I talk about running 
Until five weeks ago I was running almost daily to train for the Shanghai half marathon. Until I suddenly sprained my ankle in early October and had to stop running completely (I just started again 2 days ago). As a compensation I decided to read a book about running – well, actually my colleague Richard gave me the book to read – and that was a good choice. Of course it made me miss running even more, but it was nice to read what another runner thinks about while running, or what his motivation is to run a marathon or join in a 100 km ultrarace. For me running has several purposes. The main is that I want to stay in good shape so that I can always run 10-15 km without any problems. I also do it to stay sane; sometimes work is quite stressful and running after work makes me feel much better. It also makes me more productive: when I come home tired after a long day, a 30 min run on the treadmill makes me feel completely fit again. Same thing in the morning, after an early morning run my day is normally much more productive. It turns out the writer has partly the same reasons, and it’s interesting to read his thoughts about running and during his runs. He shows a side of himself that most people probably don’t know about. The book is a bit like a blog, in the sense that the writer shares personal stories and feelings, and for a runner like me these are very recognizable. However, I think that if you’re not a runner you won’t enjoy the book very much, except maybe when you are a big fan of the writer. So for non-runners I would not recommend the book, but if you’re crazy about endurance sports like me you might enjoy the read as well.

I also read a couple of Dutch books that I won’t review here because most of my readers cannot read Dutch. Among others De eeuw van mijn vader (My father’s century) by Geert Mak that I liked very much, and several books by Adriaan van Dis (among others Een Barbaar in China, Familieziek and De Wandelaar). See also my blog post about Adriaan van Dis for some more background on the writer and his novels.

If you have any book suggestions for me, let me know. Happy reading!

A few weeks ago I received an email from a reader of my blog who wanted to know something about what books I normally read. Then I realized I did not write about books for quite some time. The last time was probably around New Year, when I wrote about the best books that I read in 2008. That post was about non-fiction books, but I also read quite a lot of fiction (mainly novels). I normally read in bed before going to sleep, to relax a bit and get my mind off of work (I often work until late at night, and if I close my computer right before I go to sleep I don’t sleep well). Below are some of the books that I read during the past 3 months or so. I’ll break up the post into two pieces, otherwise it will be a bit too long.

Stieg Larsson – The Millenium Trilogy 
(The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who played with Fire, The Girl who kicked the Hornet’s Nest)
I started reading the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson while on holiday in Holland in September. I had not heard of the books before, but the first book was on sale so I just gave it a try. The next day I already bought part 2 and 3! The books are partly a thriller with several story lines that all start in part one, and partly the story about how a small magazine is fighting for its existence. Next to that the book also gives a good insight in Swedish society (6 week holidays, going home at 5 exactly, most people seem to have summer houses and spend many weekends there – maybe the reality is different?). Once you start reading you want to finish all 3 books, even though the main character Mikael Blomkvist is not somebody I could easily relate to. He is very much against big corporations and people that earn good money by worker harder and smarter than others. But that makes it also intriguing, while reading the book I thought often about his actions and I tried to understand him. Maybe that was part of the attraction of the book? He seems very happy with his life and that is great for him, but I would not want to be him. I feel the main character is very much like Stieg Larsson, and it’s a pity he passed away before he could see the success of his books. The other main character, Lisbeth Salander, is even more weird. But her weirdness adds to the storyline, and without her there would not even have been a story (at least not in part 2 and 3). The books are quite a long read, book 1 and 2 both about 500 pages and book 3 even more than that. But they are an easy read, and I read each book in a couple of days. If you’re not sure just read book 1, which is a complete story with a real ending, and decide after that if you also want to read the other books.

Anthony Capella – The Various Flavours of Coffee
When I read books about wine I always have the urge to open up a bottle. This book is centered around coffee and it had exactly the same effect on me: several times during the book I just had to make myself a freshly grinded cup of black coffee! Therefore if wonder whether people who don’t drink coffee would enjoy this story as much as coffee aficionados. Most of this historical novel takes place in 19th century London, where a young aspiring poet and lover-of-life-without-money, Robert Wallis, meets a coffee trader who employs him to write a book that defines the aromas of all kinds of coffee. Robert falls in love with the coffee traders daughter, and that is the thread that keeps the story together. The Various Flavours of Coffee is a bit of a strange book actually, very different from a ‘normal’ novel. The book combines a love of coffee with a story about love and romance, with the struggle for woman’s voting rights mixed in and with a background story that shows the bad side of hardcore capitalism. It is not a book that will end up in my top 10 for this year, but it was still well worth the read because it is so different. The story was quite interesting with some strange twists, the descriptions of life and doing business in London in the late 1800’s were excellent, and of course I learned a lot about coffee as well. One drawback for me was that I could not relate to Robert Williams. He is just plain lazy and (just like Mikael Blomkvist in the Millenium Trilogy) he develops strong anti-capitalist principles. Nevertheless I do not regret reading the book and I might try out other books by Anthony Capella.

The Ship and the Shore – Vicki Baum
This was an unexpected book, I found it in my parents book shelf while vacationing in Holland and read it during a weekend in Shanghai. The book was written in 1941 by Austrian writer Vicki Baum. I had never heard of her and had to look her up on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicki_Baum): it turns out she was one of the first modern bestseller authors and she among others also wrote a book about Shanghai (note to self: I need to find this book). I loved the book, it describes the events that happen during one night on a ship that is due to harbour on an island in the Dutch West Indies. It’s a story about love, plantation life in the tropics in the late 1930’s and the racial tensions between the white planters and the local workers. I loved it and found it so good that I may reread it in a couple of years. The descriptions of life on board and on the island are very vivid and make the story come alive. The story itself is very special as well, the further you get into the book the more you start to understand the characters and what motivates them. If this book is still available somewhere (or would become available as an ebook in the future) I would highly recommend it.

Tomorrow I will post the second part of this article, with among others the best book I read so far this year and a book that will appeal to all long-distance runners out there.

Almost 5 weeks ago I sprained my ankle pretty badly while doing a trail run at Tianmashan. I originally thought that I would not be able to run for 1-2 weeks, but it turned out the injury was a bit worse than I had  expected. It took 3 weeks just to get rid of most of the pain, so then I tried running again for the first time. But that was a bad idea: after running for just 10-15 minutes the foot and ankle were suddenly a lot more painful. I managed to wait another 2 weeks before this weekend I finally allowed myself back on the treadmill. I say ‘managed to wait’ because it was very difficult not to run for me. When you are training for a half marathon and suddenly cut out all training you literally feel a bit depressed. I need to run in order to relax after work and of course to stay in shape (I gained several kilo’s over the past 5 weeks, just because of burning a lot less calories).

Last night I ran a very slow 15 minutes on the treadmill (about 2 km) and everything felt fine afterward. I was very relieved, but did not want to cheer to quickly. I know from experience that only the next day you really know if you are going to be fine, so I was a bit nervous when I got up this morning. But everything felt fine, even during (and after) the yoga class that my wife and I take every Sunday morning. I was so happy that I went for another 3 km run right after yoga, and my foot still feels fine! There is still a bit of minor pain when I try to run outside, so that I won’t do yet, but on the treadmill I am doing fine.

So now the question is how I am going to prepare myself for the Shanghai half marathon that I plan to run in less than 3 weeks. First of all I am glad I opted for the half marathon instead of the full one, going for a full one without real training would be virtual suicide. I should be able to finish the half marathon without much training, but I won’t be able to get in shape on time. I think I am going to try to run 4-5 times a week from now on, beginning with short runs (5 km or so) and going up to 10-15 km by next week. I won’t go for speed during training, because I cannot run a personal best time anyway, but at least I want to be able to finish the race without too much pain.

I am also thinking about doing a mini detox during the next 2 weeks. I did one last year in preparation for the Hong Kong Trailwalker and felt a lot healthier while doing it. I won’t overdo it, however, especially not because I also need to practice a lot, so my body needs the calories. I probably should just avoid alcohol & coffee for a while, but still eat relatively normal (more veggies, less meat). And for sure the fast food chains in Shanghai won’t see me until after the half marathon!

When I was growing up in the 1980’s in Holland I used to watch the literary talk show Hier is… Adriaan van Dis. That’s probably what made Adriaan van Dis quite famous, but he is much more than just a TV host, because he is actually one of Holland’s most famous writers (both novels and poetry). Over the years I read most of his books, with themes that are mainly related to his personal life, such as his families Indonesian roots, his homosexuality and his travels all over the world. Most of his novels are easy to read and quite witty – even though many of his themes are relatively heavy. He plays with words and combines them in innovative ways, sometimes even inventing whole new words.

So when I heard a few weeks ago that Adriaan van Dis would give a talk in Shanghai this week, I immediately signed up for it. I looked forward to hearing him speak about his life as a writer and he didn’t disappoint me. Because many Dutch people live in Hongqiao, the event took place there. Good for me, it was literally a stone’s throw from my house in a nice coffee bar / restaurant just off Hongmei Lu. About 80 people turned up for the event, a lot more than I had expected. I saw a lot of Dutch acquaintances that I had not met for a while (some I had not seen for years actually), and because the event only started at 8:45 PM instead of the planned 8 PM, I had a lot of time to catch up with old friends and get to know new people.

One of Adriaan van Dis’ first books described a trip to China in 1986. It was titled ‘Een barbaar in China’, literally meaning ‘A barbarian in China’. I reread the book on the plane from Holland to China last week, it’s a short novel that you can read in 2-3 hours. During his 1986 trip he traveled along the Silk Route and spent about 6 weeks in China. Living in contemporary China you don’t recognize the China that he describes. And the opposite happened to him: he was in China for the first time in over 20 years, and he of also did not recognize the country anymore. He seemed to be impressed by Shanghai, making a rhyme on the way from the airport to the city along the lines of Shanghai high high high and Shanghai buy buy buy, upon seeing only skycrapers and shopping malls.

‘Een barbaar in China’ was of course a topic during the evening, but he mainly talked about his latest book De Wandelaar (The Walker), in which he describes the daily walks of a Dutch person living in Paris with his dog. Adriaan van Dis has been living in Paris for many years and makes daily long walks on his doctor’s request, so the book is based on his own experiences, showing the darker side of Paris that most tourist never get to see. Quite interesting to hear, especially because I had just started reading his book. He also talked about his upcoming book about South-Africa, that he is currently writing. Adriaan van Dis studied South-African language and literature (Afrikaans) and he revealed that he had even been trained in Paris in the early 1970’s to infiltrate in South-Africa to support the ANC (he never used his training though). Based on what he told the audience the book should be an interesting read as well.

The evening ended around 11 PM. I enjoyed hearing Adriaan van Dis speak, he is very eloquent and has a very big knowledge about all kinds of topics (especially literature and politics). I assume that next to writing and walking around Paris, he spends a lot of time reading magazines and newspapers. During the evening I decided to read all of his books that I did not have the chance to read yet, including some of his poetry. He read some of his poems and they were quite impressive – even more so because he explained the background and because he read them himself. It was an evening to remember, thanks to the Dutch Association in Shanghai for organizing this!

Spil Games Asia is looking for a Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), based in Shanghai. I have spoken to a couple of good candidates already, but I want to make sure I don’t miss any candidates that are not aware of the job opening. In the past I found some excellent people through this blog, therefore I decided to put some information on this position here as well.

What does the CCO at Spil Games Asia do? This will be a new position in the company. The way I see it, is that the CCO will be in charge of all marketing, product and business development activities for the Chinese websites of Spil Games Asia. This means that you are in charge of growing the websites (more users, spending more time on the site, coming back more often etc.) by optimizing the product (new features on the websites, different structure etc.) and by setting up the right partnerships with other companies and products. Depending on the background of the candidate the role could be even broader in the future. You will report to me, but functionally you will also report to the CCO of Spil Games in The Netherlands.

Who are we looking for? The best candidate (M/F) is a smart, internet-savvy, experienced manager in an online (preferably gaming) company with a passion for and understanding of everything related to the Web. If you’re not active online there is no need to apply. You should speak, read and write fluent Chinese (native Mandarin speaker preferred, basic or intermediate Chinese skills is not sufficient) and have good written and spoken English skills.

You should like to work in an entrepreneurial environment, because we try to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit in the company. That means work hard & play hard, but it also means that every renminbi has to be earned first before it can be spent – something multinationals sometimes tend to forget. The ideal candidate will have at least 10 years work experience out of which at least 5 in an online environment. A technical background is preferred but is not a hard requirement.

If you’re interested or want more information feel free to get in touch with our HR manager Ms. Switer Cheng at switer.cheng (at) spilgamesasia (dot) com

Bad luck, I dropped my G1 phone last night and my screen did not survive it. Because the phone has a touch screen it is virtually useless now. I am going to try to get it repaired, because I really like the phone’s operating system. If that doesn’t work I will need to start looking for a new phone. Not sure what I will do in that case, another Android or going back to the iPhone?

I like Android, but I also still like the iPhone. However, buying a iPhone 3G or 3GS in China does not make sense. The hacked version cannot be used on China’s 3G networks and the official one has no wifi. Even more important, and a fact that has been overlooked in every media article that I read about the lacklustre sales of the iPhone in China, is that I cannot use my current China Mobile number on the official iPhone. There is no number portability in China between providers, and because the vast majority of people uses China Mobile they would all need a new mobile number in order to start using the official iPhone that is sold by China Unicom. In combination with a price that is a lot higher than the hacked version it is not surprising that nobody wants to buy it. Did Apple overlook this?

It took a few years, but Shanghai Disneyland has finally been approved! The original idea to build a Shanghai Disneyland was thought up by former premier Zhu Rongji in 1990 during his tenure as mayor of Shanghai. It took Disney and the Chinese authorities almost 20 years to get from an idea to an approved plan! In 2006 it seemed there would be a go (see my blogpost about it), but it seemed the Shanghai mayor was not able to get it past the State Council.

The park will be about 1000 acres, which would be similar to the parks in Tokyo and Paris, and bigger than the original Disneyland in Anaheim. The location will be quite close to the city, somewhere between Pudong airport and downtown. The legal structure will be a joint venture in which Disney will only have a 40% minority share (maybe that’s part of the reason why it took so long to agree on this?), and 60% will be owned by a consortium of government appointed companies. That likely won’t make it a lot of fun to manage the business, good luck with that Disney…

Accoring to a CCTV report this morning the park should open in 2014. Considering how quickly the Expo Shanghai 2010 site was built, that seems like a very long time. Just in time for my kids to be old enough to appreciate the Magic Kingdoma and its rides, though. If we still live in Shanghai by that time of course (I have no plans to leave), but otherwise we’ll surely come back to visit.