潘伯霖在中国 . . . nuno @ china

the end...

2008-09-16T22:22:00.006+08:00

dear all,

friends, family, and all of you who followed this blog...
...it's time to inform you that the chinese-beijing chapter of my life has ended by now...
and with it this blog also, so it's time to say goodbyes!

i guess some of you are asking "but why did he left china?"...
...i was working in a joint-venture company between portuguese and chinese companies. well, the portuguese mother-company decided to sell their part of the joint-venture and thus all the portuguese people that was working there left the company and with me was no different.
...but and most unfortunatelly this happen just before the olympics...so i didn't had the chance to live it...was really a pitty!

...after 19 months of china all i can say is that I LOVE CHINA!

我爱中国

...and, definetely, i want to live there again someday!

...so

再见北京 Goodbye Beijing

再见中国 Goodbye China

告别我的朋友 Farewell my friends

it was a pleasure...a big lession...a huge oportunity...a big adventure...and I WILL COME BACK...

to all my true chinese friends and all of the great friends i made i beijing a very big kiss and hug...AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL THE MOMENTS!

i will let you know about my next adventures....here!

cheers...and hail CHINA....thank you CHINA and CHINESE PEOPLE

luiza @ beijing

2008-09-16T21:19:00.007+08:00

my father Gualberto, my sister Luíza and me...such a nice time we spent together!

better late than ever, right?!?!?

last weekend of march i received a very special visit for the weekend in beijing...
...and who can be more special than my small sister Luíza! my 3 year old brasilian sister has come with my father to spend the weekend with me at beijing, can u believe it?

it was a great great great weekend spent in family!!!

first thing i did was to pick up luíza and bring it to my company and let my colleagues and friends know her!...

later i made a home dinner for all of us....since luíza was already in china the previous two weeks and let's say that she isn't the biggest fan of chinese food...so she was really needing a brother-home-made-pasta!

first a little chat before dinner...:D

than a little dance to open our apetittes

than a nice italian pasta

and desert....ice cream of course!

next day morning (saturday, march 29th, 2008) we went to beijing blue zoo to see fishes and see animals.

my father, Marilu (Luíza's mother), and my sister

in the afternoon we tried to go to the forbidden city but it was already too late and the weather wasn't too good...so we went to see the tiananmen square!
but once we arrived there...and let me tell you prior that tiananmen square always has a lot of persons....a chinese girl notice my sister and ask to take a picture with her since she was so beautiful...and my father allow...3 minutes later we had a crowd sorrounding us asking to take pictures with luíza...just take a look!

...we took almost an hour just to get free of people and continue our walking!

sunday morning we wake up really early and went to a more less isolated part of the Great Wall - MuTianYu...and we were so lucky, great day, great weather and almost no one up there...

...once we got back to beijing...we went to the forbidden city....

what can i say...what a great weekend spent with family....on the other side of the world!!!!...who would have guest this 2 years ago?...

for the rest of the photos .... click here ... or watch the slide just below

hangzhou

2008-08-07T19:52:00.003+08:00

after hong kong...next station: hangzhou

for those who follow this blog already heard about hangzhou, for those who not...you can always check my last year's post of hangzhou...just click here

therefore...the difference this time is that i went there with andreia and took a lot of photos...

... zai jian!

hong kong

2008-08-07T19:20:00.009+08:00

after 2 and a half days in macau...next stop: hong kong!

first of all hong kong is a completely different city from any other city i ever seen!!!

hk is a really tall, noise and crowed city! if you think beijing is crowed, well, think again!...hk is much worse since the street and avenues are no where near the size and width of beijing...so it's a lot of people in a much smaller space...so you have corredors above the roads which are the sidewalks of the people like this ones....

and since hong kong isn't flat as beijing...and it has mountains right on the back of the marginal...so and in order to facilitate the movement of the people, they built the biggest escalator of the world....just more than 200 meters of escalators!!!

on rush hour, hk is soo noisy than when i was on the streets with andreia i had to talk to her close to her ear like we were in a disco...it's just incredibly noisy!

everyday at 20:30...you can go to the kowloon side (oposite side to hk seperated by the ocean) and watch a lights festival on the hong kong side...here's some photos

the beauty of hong kong island is that you can easily take a bus and after 10 to 20 minutes you're on the south side of the island....on the beach....or you can visit the stanley market...or check the buddha on the mountains....and this was what i liked most in hong kong...everything is close and not like beijing that you need at least two hours by car, bus, train or plain just to have the chance to see real nature.

here's so more photos...

...definetely a place to visit again...and a place to live sometime in the future!

ciao hong kong!

Macau

2008-07-10T09:51:00.009+08:00

Last week of May i had a week of vacations with Andreia.
We went to Macau, HongKong, Hangzhou and Shanghai!

great vacations!

we started with Macau, where we were for 2 days!
first thing i felt about Macau was WOW!
We were coming from Zhuhai (Mainland China) and we cross the border there to Macau on GongBei. Once we pass through the chinese side, the first thing i saw was this...

wow...so cool, right after the chinese characters you have portuguese...great, so easy...i wish it was like this in Beijing...there you have chinese characters and then pinyin!

We staid in some friends house...
Thank you João, Pedro and Marta for receiving us!

Macau still has two sides of a coin....on one side you still can see the portuguese language everywhere...streets have portuguese names, menus, informations...a part of the island is still very much portuguese- Taipa- , despite the number of portuguese is deacreasing and decreasing every year...but you still can get the feeling that you're in Portugal on the street walking!

...and of course you can find Portuguese food that i was wishing for a long time to eat....like "ameijoas á bolhão pato" (praws with a portuguese sauce)

...on the other side of the coin...Macau is now like Las Vegas...casinos are everywhere!...and are always open...24/7 with speed boats constantly coming from Hongkong and other places!

and there's even a casino that inside has an immitation of venece

The Venetian

to see the entire photo album of macau...click here

next station: Hong Kong...coming soon

nba world champoions 2008

2008-06-18T13:52:00.006+08:00

there can be only one....

...and it was found...

+ BOSTON CELTICS +

2008 champions in 6 games...
...but in the last game won for the biggest margin ever in an nba final game!
WHAT A WIN!!!

congratulations to the celtics...
but special complements to the heart and soul of this team...

Mr. Kevin Garnett...the real MVP of the finals...and of the season

and...as Mr.Bill Russel predicted....he won a Championship!

complements to the 2008 finals mvp...paul pierce the all career celtic

and the clinic finisher ...ray allen

all of you surely deserve it!!!

next year will they win again?!?

it was the most exciting season and playoffs of the last 10 years!

and for those kobe bryant and lakers' fans...just one thing: you've got "the" player...but they've got "the" team...
...and for those of you that still think you can compare kobe to jordan...here's the answer:

see u next nba season!

May 21st 2008 - the happiest night in beijing....and in moscow

2008-05-23T17:03:00.007+08:00

May 21st 2008...here's a date i'll never forget!

Champions League Final 2008 between Chelsea and the my heart's team Manchester United!

Me and a some friend arrange to meet in a bar around 2:30 a.m. (because that's the hour in China to see the game live!).
So at 2:30m a.m. there i was ready to see the match of the season!...but my friends never came...no problem...i would see the game anywhere anyhow !

there I was at "the den" ready to see the match!...the bar was 50-50% teams fans!

and ronaldo scores and i couldn't contain myself and had to scream loud "GGGOOOOAAALLLL!!!"

but the luckely 1st hald Chelsea score just before halftime and i was really disappointed...but kept confident in a United win!

2nd half was tough and things seem going for a Chelsea goal...but we arrive to the end of the regular time with a equalizer in the scoreboard...

then extra-time and emotion were "dancing" on the air!

and it comes the lottery penalties....and ronaldo misses...and now i get really nervous but still confident!

....and than dear john terry misses....and the rest of the story you know!

!!!!MANCHESTER UNITED EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!!!!

well...i can tell that i was completely attached to the tv the whole game...and i can assure you that i've "suffer" a lot through out the game...

but the next day i could already take some jokes on the game...

just to finish...i left the bar at 6 a.m. and went home to slep 1 hour and to work!
and i don't need to tell you that the next day i was the happiest tired person in the company!

THE HAPPIEST NIGHT I SPENT IN BEIJING!

P.S. a special word to mister Ryan Giggs that on May 21st 2008 became the biggest Manchester United legend...even bigger than Bobby Charlton!

Nº1 United's player in European Games played
Nº1 United's player with games played with United shirt
Nº1 United's player with highest titles conquer (2 European Champions League - 1999 and 2008)

THANK YOU RYAN GIGGS!..the red devil!

do you like maltesers?..what?!?!?!

2008-05-15T14:41:00.003+08:00

let me take you to a conversation i had in the office a month ago between me and...let's call her "little cloud"...for those you follow my blog, you know her!

nuno: so, what you're eating?
little cloud: some really nice chocolate!
nuno: yeah?!?....which one?
(and she shows me the chocolate package!)
nuno: isn't that maltesers?
little cloud: mal...what?
nuno: maltesers!!! crunchy chocolate balls!!!!...don't you know?
little cloud: mal...what?...don't know what you're talking about!...this is@@@@@@ and it's really good and famous in china, everybody likes it!
nuno: whaaaaattt??....you never heard about maltesers???...ok...i rest my case!
little cloud: wanna taste?
nuno: .....hum....don't know!

...only in china!...that's my comment! LOL

want another example?...

...see KitKat in china...or maybe not the real one!
who's saying these are similiar to the original one?...how can you tell?!?!

i'm with the boston celtics this year!

2008-05-13T12:58:00.013+08:00

this video below i couldn't avoid putting it here once i seen it (and i saw it many many times)! i love too much the game of basketball and this it's a representation of the love and passion i have for the game and for the players, coaches and staff evolved in the game!

Bill Russel meets Kevin Garnett
the past meets the present
one hall of fame with one future hall of fame
one with 11 NBA titles and one that will have NBA titles!

may a player and a person like Kevin Garnett be remember as a NBA Champion and a Hall of Fame!

and may Kevin Garnett be remembered as the CELTIC of this decade!

Sichuan - the earthquake

2008-05-13T10:02:00.003+08:00

if in beijing was a pseudo-earthquake...

in Sichuan on the southwest of the China, the earthquake was real!
it was an 7.8 on the Richter scale!
by now there are more than 8,000 deaths and at least 15,000 injured people!

for those, my sincere deep feelings!
these people is the same who suffered the great snows and cold in the winter.

the people in Sichuan were so affraid of replicas of the earthquake that last night many people slept on the street...

my hopes goes with does that suffered, suffer and will suffer with this Sichuan's earthquake for a quick recovery to their normal lifes!

may your god protect you!

earthquake in beijing?...sorry, you said where?

2008-05-13T09:23:00.003+08:00

"pseudo"-earthquake in beijing...

...when yesterday i was first told of that my immediate answer was:
- "Do you think the chinese government would allow an earthquake here?...come on!"

but, there it was, the side building being evacuated when no one felt the earthquake except a person in the office. then someone started with phone calls and chats on msn and suddenly discover an earthquake happen minutes before...and that 99,9% of the people didn't felt...

so someone in the office calls the building security who says it would be advisable to evacuate the building...then someone is even afraid the building would collapse.
so, we take a look outside the building and we can see the people coming up already.
we call the building's security again, and again they say to evacute.
so we evacuate, but the funny thing is, everybody USE THE ELEVATOR..."come on! spare me!"

once we arrive downstairs there a big cue of poeple in the elevators to come up, but we still go outside. Once outside and after 3 minutes a coleague turns to the CEO and says:
-"so now we cannot work more today, can we go home?"
and the CEO wisely said yes or else he would have to deal the rest of the day with people feeling pseudo-psychological-unreal-earthquakes.

you want my opinion?

is like this...earthquake? what earthquake? an earthquake that almost no one felt (and i still believe no one really felt it), with no fire alarm or any alarm at all in the buildings, that everybody still uses the elevators to go down and no building security personnel comes to every floor to help people go down and make sure the floor is empty. GIVE ME A BREAK!

conclusion is: every excuse, no matter how ridiculous it is, is good to get out of work...that's it.

funny comment: "you should have seen the faces of my colleagues, once we where outside and I said: "so, who wants to take a day leave and don't work the rest of the day?"...you should had seen, if a day leave was discounted from their annual day leaves, you would seen how many would work the rest of the day!?!?....no need to wait, i'll tell you....ALL!"

in the end i want to say thank to all the family and friends who shown concern about me (after listening or reading the news). I'm great...no worries!

ps. the earthquake in beijing, the government said it was a 2.2....

beijing botanical garden

2008-05-11T12:25:00.004+08:00

X

...well...better now than never!

...i'm sorry for lately leaving the blog on the shadows, personally i don't the real reason why i stop writing on it...maybe because i've been lazy lately!

on the last weekends of february, when is still cold, me, andreia, carlos, mariana, tiago and tomas (tiago's son) decided to take a look at beijing botanical garden!
of course we knew since the beginning that we couldn't expect to see flourished gardens, but we knew that there was a huge greenhouse...so we went there to check it.

and i have to say that the greenhouse is a very beautiful and colorful place...but really hot and humid inside...like a tropical forest!

but there was a great surprise in this visit...just imagine what we found out?

...yeah, greenhouse is one of the favourite places in beijing for future and/or recent married couple to take photos for their marriage album...therefore we saw brides everywhere!

famoso...até na china!!!...grande Rouxinol Faduncho

2008-04-17T16:15:00.006+08:00

vejam lá o que eu descobri!

Rouxinol Faduncho e os seus cães de loiça...em chinês! (click aqui...se não acreditam!)

...tem videos do homem e tudo!...é o maior!!!

e vejam lá quem são os artistas tugas que tão na coluna da direita!...
...sim, é ele mesmo...o nosso "outro" grande artista...Quim Barreiros!

Biba aos hóhmes!

Vitória de Guimarães ! ! ! CAMPEÕES ! ! !

2008-04-08T14:34:00.007+08:00

...palavras para quê?!?!?....CAMPEÕES!!

...a cidade de Guimarães está em festa...e eu do outro lado do mundo também!

Parabéns ao Vitória de Guimarães Basket Club!!!!

Vencedor da Taça de Portugal 2008...ganhando ao bi-campeão nacional (Ovarense) nas meias-finais, e ex-vencedor da taça de Portugal (Porto) na final!!!

Ficam os videos dos últimos segundos da partida...

e dos festejos...

...e mais festejos...

...e mais festjos no Toural...

Abraço a Guimarães!

Why do Chinese Internet users like government controls?

2008-04-02T10:55:00.006+08:00

what can i say...what can the world expect from the chinese general population with a mind-set like this...i rest my case!

...this is a news from the chinese website "danwei" (www.danwei.org)

" Deborah Fallows, a senior research fellow at Pew Internet & American Life Project, recently published a short paper packed full of commentary and stats about the Chinese Internet: usage habits, demographics, content, trust in online media, government controls etc.

Fallows' paper summarizes a survey funded by the New York-based Markle Foundation and directed by Mr. Guo Liang and his research team at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Below are some noteworthy excerpts from Fallows' paper:

• "most Chinese say they approve of internet control and management, especially when it comes from their government."

• "over 80% of respondents say they think the internet should be managed or controlled, and in 2007, almost 85% say they think the government should be responsible for doing it."

• "79% of Chinese said internet companies should manage or control the internet, just over two-thirds, 68%, identified parents, 64% schools, and 59% internet cafes."

• "87% of internet users would control or manage pornography; 86% violent content; 83% spam or junk mail; 66% advertisements; 64% slander against individuals."

• "Half of respondents said online games should be controlled, and more than one in four (27%) said online chatting should be controlled."

• "An influential and highly informed group of elite Chinese bloggers continues to test the limits and vigilance of the censors."

• "Declining trust in reliability of online content. Over four years of tracking user reaction, trust in the reliability of online content has fallen by one-half, from 52% in 2003 to 26% now."

• "Only about one-third of internet users (30%) said they considered online content reliable."

• "Three-quarters of respondents deemed reliable most or all the information on government websites, compared with 46% for pages from established media, 28% for results from search engines, 11% for content on bulletin boards and in advertisements, 4% for information from individuals' web pages, and 3% for postings in chat rooms."

• " 93% of internet users said they considered much of internet content to be unsuitable for children."

• "61%, thought internet users could easily become addicted to the internet, and the same number thought users could easily be affected by online pornography.

• "43%, said the internet could lure users into making the wrong kind of friends."

• "42% said internet use easily presented risks to personal or private information." "

Source: http://www.danwei.org/internet/why_do_chinese_internet_users.php

west vs. east

2008-04-01T18:01:00.006+08:00

the ocidental vs oriental perspective...trust me at least for chinese - it's true!

"a picture is worth more than a thousand words"...

so...

3 meals in a day

expression of anger

net of contacts

elderly in day to day life

handling problems

lifestyle

moods and weather

noise in restaurant

in a party

ponctuality

queue when waiting

sundays on the road

the boss

the child

the trend

thinking

transportation

travel

...by 潘伯霖

ups...big coincidence

2008-02-11T13:12:00.000+08:00

yesterday afternoon i was going to wanfujing (one of the most commercial avenues of beijing) and as i was walking on the subway station's big corridors i saw this poster..."impossible is nothing"

... i get out of wanfujing subway station and move along the avenue...and i look at my left side and what do i see?...something familiar but with some differences..."anything is possible"

...and i start thinking..."i saw something like this just a few moments ago"...5 minutes later a light shines in my head..."impossible is nothing"...now i have to get back where ever i found that...so i go back to the subway station to go back home...and there it was...

..."impossible is nothing"...hum, how cames two slogans of sport brands are so similar...or am i dreaming and it's a really strange coincidence?...

ah...there's a small difference...one brand is ADIDAS and the other is LI-NING (chinese)!

no comments....just bad luck for adidas i think! :P

Price Shock: Food Inflation in China

2008-02-11T13:00:00.000+08:00

since i came back to china one of the things i'm noticing most is the food price and how crazy have been the marketers in shops like silkmarket and yashow (places where you can find really cheap prices for everything like sneakers, clothes, electronics, watches, etc). the marketers start with such a high price that i get irritate instantly and don't even start barging with them...i just get the hell out of there and ask to myself...what happened is this 2 months i was outside china...

...well, here's a big part of the answer!

get it?

Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) - Beijing vs. Hong Kong

2008-02-11T12:48:00.000+08:00

this is a very funny serie...it's called "sexy beijing"...you can subscribe it in youtube!

for now just take a look of su fei's latest sketch!

nice ah?

archway annual party

2008-02-07T20:03:00.000+08:00

the opening of the party

on January 16th, just 2 days after i got back to work...my company held its annual party...

...well, let me say to you that was really funny...and has usual i was "the clown" of the party...

there were a lot of games to be played and in each of them, the organizers (archway's staff) would randomly pick up the participants...and i don't know why i was almost always chosen!

see for yourself

since i lost a game...they punished me and made me eat a really unpleasant cake!

alice is preparing me for the funniest game of the night!...you'll agree...you'll see!

the final result...alice is so talent,isn't she?...i DON'T AGREE! :D

a video of the game...or show...as you prefer

last but not least....the 4 portuguese getting ready for the passarele and a dance...

me, hugo, carlos and tiago...the 4 portuguese of Archway

me and carlos signing karaoke...a portuguese song that i didn't had a clue!

angela, charles and me...but at least in the end i own several prizes!

...so...any comments? :D

now tell me "the chinese copy everything"!

2008-02-05T15:54:00.000+08:00

just see how microsoft competes in "their" monopoly...

nice ah!....

新年快乐 (100th post)

2008-02-04T14:22:00.000+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year! 新年快乐

As all of us must be earing, there's a serious sequence of snow storms in south and southeast of china...but fortunately we just had some days of snow in beijing (i'll post something about it later).

Snow occasionally falls in southern cities like Hangzhou, but the recent crippling winter storms have been the worst in 50 years

But in my 100th post i will like to express my many thanks to this great country who received me so well and which i already feel myself a part of it!

I specially wish a Happy Chinese New Year for those who are suffering with the weather (having difficulties to arrive to their hometowns to meet their family for this important festivities, with no electricity, no eat, no water...)! I really hope your difficulties would be past on as fast as possible and that all of you may take a pleasant Spring Festival with your beloved ones!

Families in Chenzhou, part of Hunan Province, have been without electricity, water and heating for as long as 10 days.

I hope new like this one will end popping up now!

Cold Chinese Grow Angry Over Lack of Preparation

SHANGHAI — For two weeks running, much of this country, long known for its capacity for mass mobilization, has been tied in knots by a series of major snowstorms.

Although the snowfall has been described as the worst here in 50 years, it has been nothing like the deep cover that blankets parts of New England or the upper Midwest in many winters.

But its crippling effect seems to have been mostly because of surprise. The storm knocked out electricity and water supplies, threatened the coal supply that fuels the country’s power plants and stranded millions of Chinese on the eve of the year’s most important holiday.

Many of the worst effects have been in parts of east-central and southern China, which are largely unaccustomed to serious snowfall.

for the rest of the new see:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/world/asia/04snow.html?ref=world

Font (text and pictures): New York Times

cooming soon . . . @ beijing

2008-02-02T12:18:00.000+08:00

just have a look on what's almost complete in beijing in terms of buildings!...

...and the CCTV new building mentioned in the video - my office desk as a big windows just in front of it!!!

the bird's nest

the water cube

the national theater

so...what do you think?...and this is just some of many buildings and constructions here for the olympics!!!

...the city is changing...everyday

beeting records...of negative temperatures

2008-02-02T11:41:00.001+08:00

it's, now, been two weeks that i beat for the consecutive days the lowest temperature and wind chill i caught in beijing...in my morning 6 km bicycle rides from home to the office!

well...the only thing i can say is that this makes me remind of the cold winter of 2005 in Finland!...

as you can see...

well...i can tell you one thing...it's freezing outside!

and by the way...the day before was -12ºC and the wind chill was -19ºC!

address and phone number

2008-01-24T10:54:00.001+08:00

friends and family

here you have me and andreia's address and phone numbers:

北京市朝阳区西坝河东里2号UHN国际村6号楼2单元3007室 (in chinese)

Beijing ChaoyangQu Xibahe Dongli 2Hao UHN Guojicun 6Haolou 2Danyuan 3007Shi (in english)

nuno: 0086 135 21201434
andreia: 0086 135 52731944

...waiting for your visit!!!

house hunt - speedy and effective

2008-01-19T11:34:00.003+08:00

has most of you should now, i landed in beijing on january 7th!

and just for you get an idea of how fast things go in this country, and particularly in country, just let me tell you this: we arrived at 10:30 a.m. and by 1 p.m. we (me and andreia obviously) were already seeing an apartment to rent (which we didn't like). But before going to see that apartment we called an agent (lisa) to search available apartments with certain requirements within a determined area in the city.
so, once we saw the first apartment (arrange by my chinese teacher anita), we visit a park in the city and around 6 p.m. o'clock we were coming back to claudia's (which was the apartment were we slept the first days) and the agent call us to see a studio at 6:30 p.m.! Despite being completely tired me and andreia decide to take a shoot and see it.....and we couldn't be pleased with what our eyes were seing....just this....

and once we entered the studio with the agent…10 seconds later, I looked to andreia and she looked at me and we said “we don’t need to see any other house…this is exactly the kind of thing we want!”.

So, the next day in the morning (Tuesday) we were signing the contract and on Wednesday afternoon we moved to our new home!

…how faster could it be?...we landed on Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon we are settling down on our new home with contract-rent signed and closed for one year!!!!

This was just great…we’re so happy with our new home!

Cheers, 潘伯霖, pan bo lin, nuno

back in beijing...

2008-01-08T08:10:00.000+08:00

hello dear friends and family,

i'm back in beijing, since yesterday morning, and i wanted to officially declared this blog open for volume II...

as before you will find here my adventures, curiosities of china, some particular episodes of my life and, perhaps, even other teams...but now i will, fortunately, have andreia by my side in volume II of this new adventure!!!

...so meet you here or somewhere else....

kisses and hugs,

...in the other side of the world again....nuno, pan bo lin, 潘伯霖

goodbyes and future...

2007-10-27T11:50:00.000+08:00

this is the goodbye post!...till january!

from 1st post (click here to check it) to last...

i'm really anxious to go back and meet my family, friends and specially my girlfriend!
i feel fortune to have this opportunity and i feel really happy because i achieved all my goals for this year:
- get the most experience of the internship
- use the opportunity of the internship and launch my international career
- learn chinese language
- travel the most i can inside china

all done!...that's why since i agreed terms with Archway my anxiety about leaving china stopped and started the anxiety to go back to portugal!...can you guess why?

so...for you to know here's my itinerary till my return to china:
- arriving in portugal tomorrow (28th october - 22h45m)
- 8th to 14th november i'll be in england (london and oxford)
- 30th november till 8th december - spain (barcelona, zaragoza and madrid)
- 12th to 27th december - brasil (rio grande de sul)
- middle january comeback to beijing...my home this year and the next 2 years!

and the thing i feel most more fortune is...

...look who's coming with me to china in january!...my girlfriend Andreia!
...the moment we decide to come together to china was the happiest moment i had during my stay in china!

therefore...my puzzle will be complete!...how could i be more happy than i am?

EU AMO-TE GATA!

big kisses and hugs to all my family and friends!

... to be continued in january ...

...by nuno, pan bo lin, 潘伯霖

What is the meaning of the chinese flag?

2007-10-27T11:38:00.000+08:00

The red color of the flag is the symbol of the revolution, signifying that the political power of the People's Republic of China is achieved through bloodshed and lives laid down by countless revolutionary martyrs who marched forward wave upon wave in the heroic struggles for the revolution. In the upper-left corner of the flag there are five-pointed yellow stars, of which the big one represents the Communist Party of China and the four small ones the people of all ethnic groups of the country. One point of the big star points right up the flag and of the four small ones each has a point pointing towards the center of the big star. This shows that the Chinese Communist Party is the force at the core of the leadership of the Chinese people of all ethnic groups who unite closely as one round the Party. With the color of the stars in yellow this means the great cause of socialism has a bright future. With the flag-staff painted white, that is to suggest flawless purity and loftiness.

surprise party in Archway...for me!!!

2007-10-27T11:19:00.001+08:00

first of all i have to thank my chinese friends and workmates of Archway!

yesterday, my last day of internship (but i'm coming back in january) they surprised me with a surprised farewell party! they bought a cake and gave me a card signed by everyone!...i was really touched for this move!...after 9 months working with them, now i consider them my friends and it was a pleasure to work with them and to have the possibility of learning so much from them!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO ALL OF THEM!

still i want to give a special thanks to the people i work with more:
so THANK YOU: john, alice, joy, lisa, lucy shen, horace, dillon, wendy, cher, lucy sun, susan, sheery, jacky, matthew, peng, mr. li, angela, mike, charles and henry...

...by 潘伯霖

3 things to know about chinese culture

2007-10-27T10:34:00.000+08:00

close to the end of this 9 months in china, finally i tell you about 3 curious things of the chinese culture that i've been wanting to tell you for already a long time but never had will enough.

so it goes:

chinese have the terrible habit of spitting any time they feel like (which is a lot of times). this happens everywhere, it's not only in non-big-city environments, in all my trips in china i've seen this! The "spitters" are mostly men but you can also see women spitting as well! It's just a terrible disgusting habit!

therefore now and then the chinese government or local authorities create some actions and/or laws to try to contain this....but none of which has been successful! here's 2 examples:
- around march, shanghai local authorities approved some kind of rule that said that the taxis there should have a "spitting-box". you know which was the reason presented by them for that action?...fabulous...they said that since all the taxi drivers keep opening the car window (either they were free, with some customer or stopped) and spit, so the local authorities were concern about the bad image for the tourists and wanted to avoid some situation like: a taxi driver justs opens his car window and spits (without even checking if someone is near - this is absolutely normal) and maybe they can "score" in a tourist....which i can bet you that happen before!
- for the olympic games the chinese government implemented a new penalty (at least in beijing) saying that whoever gets caught spitting have to pay a fine of RMB 50 (around €5)...but never seen anyone give any kind of warning/notice to the "spitters"...so my opinion is that this is just another chinese government public image move...
  
  Note: i have to say that most of this chinese that i've mentioning isn't people with proper education...but still, my guess is, they are more than 95% of the chinese population!!!
smoking!...china is probably the country in the world where the percentage of population that smokes is higher! but the funny thing is: women mostly don't smoke. so this is a cultural issue!...accordingly to my smoking friends the cigarettes are weaker than europe (and you can see here all the famous brands of cigarettes being copied!...no news on that, this is china!), and the cigarettes packs are really cheap...around €1!
therefore i see this as a very interesting thing as well, since this is the country where from old ladies around 60 or 70 years old till young persons like 20 years old everyone keeps saying to me "you shouldn't do this" or "you shouldn't eat this, or drink this since is bad for your health...", etc....but the smoking issue, it just goes on and on!
chinese relaxing position: here's something interesting, as you can see in the following photo, this is the chinese relaxing position!.....they eat like this (workers of the buildings on the street), they rest like this, i just haven't seen anyone sleeping like this but i'm sure if i keep searching i'll find on!...
i tried this position many times...but can't stand more than 10 seconds because is too tiring! lol

well....sorry for the long post, most of you must have notice by now that i don't like to write long posts....but anyway is something that really wanted to tell you for a long time!

...by 潘伯霖

curiosities...but also truths

2007-10-24T16:59:00.000+08:00

check this post in joao alves' blog! (just click here)

zoo

2007-10-21T14:14:00.000+08:00

nothing much to say of the beijing zoo...it was a well spent day!

just 2 small notes:
- the aquarium is just great!!!...and i had the luck to assist a show with dolphins, a water-lion and a seal...enjoyed a lot!

- all the other animals except the ones in the aquarium and the pandas seem like they are really bad treated...you can see the sadness in their deeper-dying-eyes!

anyway....check the photos! (click here for the album)

official communication!

2007-10-14T16:39:00.000+08:00

dear family and friends,

my internship is finishing in October 26th and my flight back to Portugal is on October 28th!....but....

....THE ADVENTURE IN ORIENTAL LANDS WILL NOT FINISH YET.....because....

...it's my most pleasure to announce that i agreed terms with CTTC Archway (the company where i'm doing my intership)! MORE TWO YEARS OF CHINA FOR ME!

...and the greatest thing is...

...remember i mentioned to you on past a post that i was missing just one peace of the puzzle to make it perfect....

...well, let's say that, when i come back to beijing in january 2008 the puzzle will be complete...

...and it will be even better than this year!!!!

NEXT YEAR YOU ARE MOST WELCOME TO COME AND VISIT ME!

a big big hug and kiss for you all....coming back soon....by 潘伯霖

a nice september saturday

2007-10-14T15:29:00.001+08:00

a statue in Tienanmen

south part of Tienanmen

well....this post comes really late...but better late then never, right?

this is the photo-documentary of a well spent september saturday afternoon on the south of Tienanmen's square.

a tea demonstration on a street-shop

me, antonio e alexandra went there to explore a hutong (old beijing's neighborhood) and a Mosque (with chinese influence).

me and antonio couldn't resist and we embrace the chinese fashion....or not!

...and we ended up finding a very interesting place...the place where cinema was born in china...the first cinema of china where the first movie was shown to the public....a magical place!

1st cinema of china

hutong on the south on beijing

what a expositor on the front door of a shop

a photo in the mosque

for the rest of the photos click here!!!

by 潘伯霖...

autumn in beijing

2007-10-14T14:40:00.000+08:00

autumn is definitely the best season in beijing!
often you are gifted with a clear blue sky, green and flowers everywhere and the pollution seems far away!

so the everyday bike ride to work that already feels like a therapy (on my way to work is like a slow-wake-up before work, and on the way back it's like a clear-mind-out-of-work therapy).

but on autumn you're blessed with a great feeling and enjoyable temperature!...

...the report of my morning daily trip to work! (click here to see the photos)

guilin, yangshuo and longshen trip: conclusions?!?

2007-10-04T15:25:00.000+08:00

well...
...i felt i "re-born"...
...won 5 years of life...
...took more than 900 photos...

here you have the picture that might summarize my feeling about the trip...

anyone want to join me next time?

by 潘伯霖

longshen...the rice fields

2007-10-04T15:06:00.000+08:00

after one and a half relaxing day at yangshuo, the next stop was longshen!

longshen is a incredibly beautiful village (north to guilin) on the hill of the rice-field mountains! . . . it's just something absolutely peaceful!

once arrive there i had probably around a thousand stairs to clime to arrive to the top of one of the mountains...where the view is simply breathtaking!

after hours exploring the rice-fields, village and surroundings...i stopped in sweet small restaurant in the village (which was mostly made of wood and bamboo)!
...the restaurant had a big wood balcony with a great relaxing landscape...nothing more perfect after hours exploring those mountain hills!!!

i will let the photos speak for myself! (click here to see all the photos)

curiosity: check the outfits and the hairstyle of the native ladies in the village...very nice!

so...what do you think about this trip....nice ah!

by nuno, pan bo lin, 潘伯霖

yangshuo...a paradise on earth

2007-10-03T13:12:00.000+08:00

after half a day in guilin me, anita, reuben and victoria rent a boat to go down the ribber to yangshuo (a small village 90km south of guilin)!

the boat trip was very refreshing despite the small boat and the 3h30m trip!...
the landscapes were amazing and so unusual!

we left guilin on friday early morning and the boat trip took all morning...once arrived in yangshuo awe just put our bags in the hostel, had lunch and went on a bicycle trekking lost in the beautiful landscapes...you'll see what i mean by the photos!

after the bicycle trekking, we had a quick shower and went to the the night fishing with the dark raven-ducks (that's how they call it)...and it's actually quick interesting since the fisherman just drive the boat and the ducks dive in the water and get fish but since they have a tight wire in their neck they can't swallow the fish, so the fisherman picks them up and make them spit the fish...it's quite interesting and unusual as well!

for the evening i went to a festival in the river with dozens of bamboo shaft, fisherman, dancers, children, lights...i'm speechless!

just click here to check yangshuo's photo album!

greetz to all, by 潘伯霖

trip to guilin...a "re-born"!

2007-10-03T12:34:00.000+08:00

back to the blog after almost one month without any post...i'm sorry!

well, i came back to tell about about my middle september trip to the south of china!
destination: guilin!
date: septembter 13th to 16th, 2007
companions for the trip: anita (my chinese teacher, and a couple o new zealands we met once we arrive there - reuben and victoria)
Guilin in locate in the south province of china - Guangxi!

it's a gorgeous place...that definitely deserves a visit!...it's close to yangshuo village and longshen rice fields...that later i'll post for you!

...sorry, but for this trip i will let the pictures speak for themselves!

elephant trunk hill in guilin

a relaxing moment!

just click here to see all the album!

a small bamboo shaft trip around the elephants trunk hill...and a little surprise for you (me speaking chinese! ;) lol)

a walking at night on the street and what do you see?!?!

enjoy it!

Qingdao - chapter VI - Streets

2007-09-09T11:48:00.000+08:00

on the street...with my grand grandmother's underwear . . . LOL!

here you can see what the rest of the city looks like

it's a nice and chinese city!...a place that definitely deserves a visit! (click to check the rest of the hotos)!

THE END ! ... of Qingdao trip! ! ! . . . by 潘伯霖

Qingdao - brides...

2007-09-09T11:38:00.001+08:00

does anyone wants me to bring a dress when i came back?

to be continued . . .

Qingdao - tunning!

2007-09-09T11:34:00.000+08:00

a picture worths more than a hundred words...

to be continued . . .

Qingdao - chapter V - Beer Festival

2007-09-09T11:04:00.000+08:00

...one of the reasons why i wanted to go to qingdao was the beer festival !

well...just imagine a really large space where famous beer brands have big plastic barracks and inside there is a singer or something else amusing the public and inside you can only drink the respective beer brand and eat some appetizers!....and there is a lot of beer brands there!

as you can imagine there was a lot of chinese there...and some foreigners!

the environment inside is great and you can even find there a nice amusement park with roller-coasts and much more things!

you can check it in the pictures (just click here) . . .

something rare...a chinese with a mustache!...since almost all of then don't have bier

to be continued . . .

Qingdao - chapter IV - Catholic Church Museum

2007-09-09T10:39:00.000+08:00

continuing...

in Qingdao, we surprisingly found out a Catholic Church...which isn't anything close to normal in these oriental lands!

therefore we had to enter and check it out!

...and we find out....ok, it's a church, but not quite a normal church, it was more like a museum, where all the pictures and objects had an explanation at the side and where was more chinese taking photos than people praying...

here you can see it (click here to see it) !

even in the church...chinese find a place to sleep!

. . . to be continued . . .

Little Cloud never went to the beach!!!

2007-08-28T14:27:00.000+08:00

just had one great conversation now! . . . and i just can't resist not writing this right away in the blog!

the conversation was with some chinese friend of mine . . . let's call the person in question (the victim of my post) . . . well, let's call her Little Cloud!

Quoting:

Little Cloud: I never been to the beach!
Nuno: Wwwwwwhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaatttttt????????????
Little Cloud: No! Never!
Nuno: you are really weird!
(...)
Nuno: Joy, have you ever been to the beach?
Joy: Yes!
Nuno: Lisa, have you ever been to the beach?
Lisa: Yes!
Nuno: Robert, have you ever been to the beach?
Robert: Yes!
Nuno: Cher, have you ever been to the beach?
Cher: Yes!
Nuno: Little Cloud, you are weird!
Cher: Little Cloud, don't tell me you never been to the beach?
(...)
Nuno: Carlos, have you ever been to the beach?
Carlos: eeeeaaahhhh....yes!
Nuno: see Little Cloud, you're weird!...you NEVER been to the beach!?!
Carlos: You never been to the beach?????????????
Little Cloud: i never had time!
Nuno: what?????
Little Cloud: I never had the chance! it's REASONABLE!!!
Nuno: it's reasonable?
Little Cloud: YEAH!
(...)
Nuno: I'm gonna write a post to you!....right now!

2 minutes after a seated in the desk i get this thought messenger (quoting Little Cloud): believe "me, it is common for people never been to a beach in China"

如果你说这样！- if you say so!

for "legal" purposes it's better not to mean the english name of my chinese friend!...maybe she can sue me! ;)

surprised ? ? ?

dinning...@ darkness!

2007-08-26T18:21:00.000+08:00

yesterday i had the funniest experience!

i went for dinning at Whale Inside Dark Restaurant (click it for more info)!

well...basically: the restaurant is a complete darkness and you can't see anything at ALL!...
the waitresses have night vision cams!
it's thrilling, terrifying and funny!...you really get the impression what it's to be blind!

just imagine waitresses that don't speak english, putting a dish in front of you and picking up your hand to show you the dish is in front of you!
...what do you do after?...well, let's say that your hands invade the dish, touch everything, get so scares and 2 seconds after you give up eat with knife, fork or spoon...you use your hands like Robin Hood!

...you really don't know what are you eating!this is what i saw for the hour and a half we were there!...small tinny red lights signalizing the waitresses and 2 green dots...their night vision cams!

is the most interesting experience! everything is shocking and astonishing!

you can't imagine the kind of sensations you've got!

my experience mates were alexandra, joão, claudia, ricardo, gonçalo, m.joão, antonio!...

a dinner to remember for sure! LOL

p.s. unfortunately it's not allowed to take digital cameras or anything that can give light! therefore there isn't any photo or any video of the dinner! (my guess is: they really don't want us to see the decoration of the restaurant!! LOL)

greets to all!!!

Qingdao - chapter III - beach curiosities!

2007-08-25T15:56:00.000+08:00

well... you would believe how much there is to tell about the chinese-style-beach!

it was an excitement going again to the beach one year after...and in china!...i was really anxious and without knowing what to expect!...

let's start with some curiosities/facts/rules you certainly will find once you visit a chinese beach:

mostly everyone don't use a beach towel
...where do they lay down?... pretty much in the sand... and some on newspaper pages or plastic bags!
no one uses parasol...they use umbrellas
in china, specially in the north people (woman) appreciate a lot white skin, therefore they all go the beach with their own umbrella, why? ... i think is because man love white skin, and for my understanding they believe white skin means purity!
at leas 70% of the skin product sold in china is all about whitening the skin!
what do they wear on the beach?...well they wear what in europe was used maybe 50 years ago!...
bathsuits; bikini with big "top" parts and lower parts with skirt incorporate;
basically there is an intrinsic rule: you should be ashamed to show your body!...therefore there are ladies that even took bath with dresses!

all i have to say is that it's a great EXPERIENCE to go to a chinese beach! there just so many different things out there...things you won't even imagine...and it's really funny to watch them!

just another tinny curiosity: the chinese parents totally dedicate their time to their children on the beach. So you just need to look around and watch parents doing sand-castles as well as other games/activities...it's rewarding! (for my point of view, in this aspect, they're rule models!)

well...let's cut the crap....where's some pics and video! (you can also click here to see the photos!)

. . . to be continued . . .

Qingdao - chapter II - seaside sidewalk

2007-08-23T11:24:00.000+08:00

seeing the ocean again!...after 10 months!

first of all let me introduce you to my trip mates to Qingdao...

antónio...the journalist!

anita... my chinese teacher (there was also a friend of anita...but i miss her name...sorry)

saturday morning we left the hostel by foot driving into the Qingdao streets searching for the ocean!...on our way there we passed in interesting streets and a market (but i will tell you about it later). today let's concentrate in the thrilling moments before seeing the ocean again! and the nice sidewalk side-by-side with the ocean where green landscapes mixes with ocean/beach landscapes...quite nice ah!

see for yourselves (you can click here to see the pics)! . . . to be continued . . .

Qingdao - chapter I

2007-08-22T23:52:00.000+08:00

a weekend outside beijing (18-19 August, 2007)

...after more than 10 months no seeing the ocean and beach (counting the 7 months i'm in china) . . . finally i sense it again!

Qingdao is a beach city in china one-hour flight southeast beijing!

it's known for it's annual beer festival!...and because it's one of the closest beaches from beijing!

it was occupied by germans during the 19th century and by japanese in the beginning of the 20th century!

Sketch map of Qingdao in 1906

the reason why i went there??? - 3 reasons:

see the beach, ocean and swim on it
check out the beer festival
get outside beijing after 7 weeks here

present pics of the city

this is just the 1st chapter...i have so many things to tell you! (lot of curiosities and stories to share with you)!

August 18-19th weekend, 2007 . . . to be continued . . .

by 潘伯霖

Beijing Guo'An vs. Barcelona

2007-08-14T23:47:00.000+08:00

i told u... and i was there!
it wasn't a great game...but it was fun!
my journey companions: antonio and ricardo!

curiosities:

the game was played in Fengtai stadium on the southwest part of the city (maybe 30km or more away from my home)
the game was in beijing, as you know, but you hardly hardly could found a flag of the home team! (chinese market thinking!)
in stands, there were more foreigner singing for Beijing Guo'An than chinese!
there was a slight police intervention: 3 foreigners (Guo'An supporters) challenge a group 100 chinese that were supporting for Barcelona
antonio and ricardo were interviewed by the chinese TV and some days after they're passing in the nation-wide TV news!

minor details - antonio speach to chinese TV: "I'm supporting Beijing Guo'An! I don't care about Barcelona stars! We have our own stars...but i don't know their names!"; "Guo'An will win 3-0!"; "I'm a Guo'An supporter since i'm a child!"

minor minor detail - Beijing Guo'An was founded in 1992 and antonio was born in 1983!

here you have some pictures (just click here) and 2 videos!
small note: portuguese mothers don't let your kids watch the 1st video...(higher ranked shitty portuguese words!)

a supporting shear!...or maybe not!

who says Guo'An lost 3-0 after seeing this dominance!

by 潘伯霖

and i'll give you...finally...my Chinese Teacher

2007-08-14T23:28:00.000+08:00

i should did this long time ago...
but, lately i don't have much free time!

but...i had to present you my best chinese friend...
...my chinese teacher...Zhao Yan...in english : Anita

Anita and João Medina (two great friendship relationships born in China)

my public BIG THANKS to you Anita!
she's been great to me!
a great teacher...you'll notice in my chinese next time you meet me! lol ;)
she's a big "source" where i can ask and learn about the greatness of the Chinese people and Culture...and beyond this, i own a real friend!

The guy in the picture is an ex-expat in beijing - João Medina - who left last month. Another great friend I made in China!...Abraço grande Medina!

by 潘伯霖

H@LF YE@R

2007-07-25T20:43:00.000+08:00

on July, 23th made exactly half year i landed in CHINA!

would it be just a half year of many half-years to come?
who knows?

i'll keep you posted!...
..6 months from which i want to take the most experience (professional, personal...and, of course, traveling) ! ! !

this post is just a mark in my chinese-life-experience!
it's been 6 amazing months! i feel a fortune person for my last half-year...there is only one thing missing...BEIJING BECAME A HOME!

by nuno, pan bo lin, 潘伯霖

Cuandixia . . . a sunday day trip

2007-07-22T21:25:00.000+08:00

On 8th of July i went to a small lovely village 90km west of beijing - Cuandixia!

it's one of those small chinese symbolic villages full.
a place where live more less 70 families and everything is shared among all.
it's on the cost of the mountain and you can see, sense and breath the ancient china in the simple life of these people...definitely a place to refresh your spirit and get away from the big city environment!

see for yourself....

Cuandixia photos! . . . click to check the photos

nuclear power station

2007-07-21T17:48:00.000+08:00

like the world already knows...

...a big nuclear power station just outside beijing!

...no comments

eye-sight-visibility

2007-07-18T23:27:00.000+08:00

i'm so happy today!...today was the day with the most clear blue sky since i arrive to beijing!...you could see as far as your eye-sight could!!!

you know those beautiful and perfect pictures that we see of some places on the net...well, today was one of those days to "catch" this pictures!!! so beautiful!!!! clear blue sky with none pollution-clouds!

i just felt sorry because i don't any close window to my desk!...and today was really one of those days that the outside brightness would lighten-up your day...

no pictures of the occasion...no camera with me! sorry! (anyway, if you wish to know what i'm talking about just google "beijing pics"!

greetz,
nuno, pan buo lin, 潘伯霖

last expensive shopping

2007-07-15T12:49:00.000+08:00

well, after searching and searching for nice shoes in markets with only fake stuff i couldn't fine anything nice...

...so i turned to non-fake shoe stores and last week i found a very nice one with great shoes with chinese brands.

the result?...i bought 2 nice pairs of real-leather shoes
price?...you want the total or by pair? lol....RMB 560 (more less €56)

very very very expensive...don't you think?...at least for the kind of prices i'm used to now!

by 潘伯霖

undiscovered street

2007-07-15T12:10:00.001+08:00

yesterday night antónio and claudia suggested to have dinner in a recovered hutong (name for the old and poor chinese neighborhoods)...
...at first it sounded strange, but only after we try an opinion pops-up...so why not go?

so we went, and when i arrived there i found out that place is considered the best recovered place in the last two at beijing.

imagine a chinese traditional with no high-building, just a tight street full of chinese small houses, many of which are nice little quite bars, little shops and stores, and restaurants. Most of the bars and restaurant have a large balcony on the roofs (since each house has only 1 floor) and you can seat there with a peaceful and calm environment...

and a surprising news- you couldn't see any high-building on the surroundings, and you couldn't hear any car...and you could see trees...very nice place! very very nice!

a place to come back again and again and again!

here the dinner pictures, some other day i will ride my bicycle there and take pictures of the street itself.

by 潘伯霖

alé barça alé....oooohohohoo alé barça alé!!!

2007-07-14T17:46:00.001+08:00

FC BARCELONA Vs. BEIJING GUO'AN - AUGUST 5th 2007

already got the tickets!!!!...care to join me?!?

basketball on a bunker!!!

2007-07-14T17:32:00.000+08:00

Finally after a long and big search i found some friends to play basketball!

well, after playing outside in the 1st weekend....and we melted playing under 35!!!!

the 2nd time the chinese friends choose a very unusual place...
...well i enter the taxi, call my chinese friend to explain to the taxi driver where and i get dropped in the entrance of a hutong (poor neighborhoods in beijing)...so i was like..."where am i?"
i saw some kids with basket balls and asked where was the place...they pointed at the hutong and said we had to enter and i was like "sounds too strange!"...

so me and joão entered and after some meters we see this...

we enter and start going down some stairs...what did we find....the down down down there was a a big room with arcade machines, pools and other things and if you go a little down you have a great fresh basketball playground....it sounds like a bunker right?...and, maybe it really is!!!!

look at this detail...the light in the bar are "Spalding basketballs"

great place, great games!....and from now on i'm going there!

by 潘伯霖

my work post

2007-07-08T18:57:00.000+08:00

for the most curious here is it...

strange darkness

2007-07-03T15:59:00.000+08:00

last wednesday happened a really strange climate phenomenon...

...in a matter of seconds the sky just turned dark and at 13h30m seemed it was late at night...

...explanation???...don't have...
...it was funny and interesting moment, all archway's staff was standing at the window and i just kept saying..."does some has a digital camera? Can some one take pictures?"...we tried with some mobile phones but the pictures were bad...and this monday Dillon sends me an email with the pictures...thank you so much Dillon!

by 潘伯霖

after 5 months

2007-07-01T16:42:00.001+08:00

Last saturday, june 23rd, made exactly 5 months since i land in China!!

many things have happen, many stories weren't told, many feelings arised, many places were visited...and many experiences were lived

conclusion: it's been A M A Z I N G ! ! !

now:

i can speak a little of chinese!
i can eat with chopsticks
my chinese is enough to travel all over the country
i made new friends!
i gain valuable professional experience
i'm still waiting for a lot of friends to visit me...when are you coming???
and it's been more than worthwhile
hail china!...i'm in love with this country!
hail the chinese!!...because of their good heart and great hospitality!
how about the future ?!?!
I MISS A LOT YOU, MY DEAR FRIENDS!!!

Well, despite being openly criticizing china, chinese government and other stuff, i have to show my great gratefulness to all the chinese who received me so well!...thank you my friends! you made it easy to adapt to this great country!

About China, well, let me just tell you this - me and my friend's have been receiving a lot of people that come to visit us and china...and, to be honest, i don't remember one that didn't fall in love with this country!....so my only words are : YOU JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING!!!

a big big big hug to all of you!!!...see you....someday!!!

by nuno...or chinese name - 潘伯霖 (pan bo lin)

chinglish

2007-06-28T21:18:00.000+08:00

here is a simple sample of the chinglish signs i saw in the wild elephants natural park in Yunnan Province during the may vacations...the album is fantastic...
...you will learn "chinglish" with the album!!!

by 潘伯霖

i am @ home

2007-06-28T20:41:00.000+08:00

do you know this feeling?...of course you do!...everyone does!

...so you know what am i talking about!!!

you know that deep breath that you take when you are away from home for a while and on your way back you so anxious that you just want to arrive fast...

...that's what i felt the when i came back from Yunnan Province (my may vacations on the southwest of china) as well as when i returned from Hangzhou (a month ago)...i felt HOME! (click it check my home @ beijing)

when i got out of the airplane i just had that comfortable feeling like "so good to come back home!"...

...yes, i can honestly say that beijing feels like home!!! and it's becoming better and better as my chinese improve!

by yours "partly-chinese" 潘伯霖

hot...and next day even HOTTER

2007-06-28T20:24:00.000+08:00

this photo was "stolen" from joão medina's blog

the end of last week was unbelievable hot!!!....

it was 40ºC but it felt like much more!!!

but since the Chinese government has a law that says that the people that work in construction can skip the day if it is more than 40ºC so the government gives others to all the media interpreters and "sabotage" all the street temperature display panels!!!

you can only work, sleep and survive with a/c !!!

but because the a/c is responsible for 20% to 30% of energy wast in the summer, the chinese government decided to control the a/c and they only refresh the air till 26ºC.
the question is how they control it?...i really don't know!
don't make the mistake of asking: is it possible to control?...a clear answer: this is China!

a big "hot" kiss/hug to all of you!!!

by 潘伯霖

exemplo prático da cidadania chinesa

2007-06-19T19:59:00.000+08:00

ora vejam...para os mais cépticos!...basta clickar

1º passo, auto-reconhecimento

2007-06-18T10:02:00.001+08:00

dado este ser um tema sensível e apesar de ter deixado este post, em inglês, aqui durante umas horas depois fiquei a pensar e penso ser matéria demasiado sensível e propensa a polémicas por isso fica só em português. (até porque a maior parte dos meus colegas e amigos de trabalho sabem do meu blog e o post poderia criar-me problemas indesejados).

seja como for, eu que tanto falo bem deste país não posso fechar os olhos às coisas más que aqui acontecem e existem.

sendo eu um dos maiores críticos á falta de civismo de uma grande parte da população chinesa não poderia deixar passar em claro o novo "requelame" dos Jogos Olimpicos de Pequim 2008...

Não é minha intenção "magoar" os chineses ou a cultura chinesa...
Eu gosto imenso deste país...
Sou feliz aqui...
Estou grato a todos os chineses que me acolheram tão bem e ajudaram na minha integração...
não tenho qualquer razão de queixa dos chineses para comigo, e só tenho a falar bem...
mas...
não posso fechar os meus olhos a certo tipo de coisas...

esta spot publicitário penso que será o 1º passo para a china e os chineses aperceberem-se que de facto há uma grande falta de civismo...nada o que aparece no video é realidade e o normal é acontecer exactamente o contrário na china.
mas também sou da opinião que com o tempo e a "pressão" governamental este grande povo pode mudar e aprender regras e condutas básicas de civismo.

p.s. não posso dizer que o que vemos no video aconteça sempre em portugal e que todos os portugueses se comportem desta forma, o mesmo aplicando-se aos outros países. Mas que de facto há uma grande distância entre o "nosso" civismo e o dos chineses...isso existe!!!

Hail China!!!

by 潘伯霖

sneakers...

2007-06-17T19:13:00.000+08:00

for basketball sneakers fans...

...last friday i bought the lastest Gilbert Arenas sneakers (Agent Zero - Gil Zero) for RMB 200...(around 20€)...

you have to love china!

hou hai lake

2007-06-13T20:45:00.000+08:00

hou hai lake is just north of the Forbidden City...

it's a very beautiful place which absolutely deserves a visit!!!

big lake....small boats....birds....ducks....surrounded by nice restaurants, bar and small squares where chinese dance as a part of their exercise and therapy!...

well....the videos and the photos will tell you the rest!

by 潘伯霖 !

1 to 10...in chinese "hand-language"

2007-06-13T19:43:00.000+08:00

a little of nostalgy

2007-06-08T16:37:00.000+08:00

...6 months ago...

...a little of nostalgic never made any harm....

this happen on the 13-day formation i had between November 16th to 29th in Lisbon.

on the last day, they call some persons (4 to 9 at a time) and said the name of the companies which we were going to....and after saying it for the all the (4 to 9) persons they would say something like: "and the common thing between this people is that: ....."

...check the result for yourselves!

"CHINA!"...

...but before all this big emotions we sang the 10th edition INOV CONTACTO's song!

by 潘伯霖。。。

being emigrant

2007-06-08T15:47:00.000+08:00

it's impressive the kind of things you have access to being an emigrant...

you get to meet the Portuguese Ambassador...Rui Quartin dos Santos
you have the opportunity to meet the Portuguese Premier Minister...José Socrátes
you get invite to official receptions on the House of Portugal (Portuguese Embassy)...

...a whole world of possibilities are open to you, you have an open door to people with "influent" position available to help you...

next monday evening i'll be again in a reception at the Portuguese Embassy...
...reason???....celebration of the Day of Portugal (June 10th)

here you have a photo of all my portuguese friends in beijing (the ones that came with me in the same program - INOV CONTACTO).

(from left to right: António Larguesa, Alexandra Paulino, Susansa Sousa, Nuno Mendes, Gonçalo Santos, Sr. Embaixador Rui Quartin dos Santos, Marta Marques, David Loução, João Medina, and myself - Nuno Pereira).

by yours 潘伯霖

only in china ! ! !

2007-06-05T16:41:00.000+08:00

today appear, in the portuguese press, a ... chinese news (i have no words to describe it)

...i translated it for you!

Waiting for the sentence

In China, inside a cage-jail, some dogs awaits the moment to be killed. Some animal-rights-movements are, obviously, against this acts, not because the concept itself but by the way these dogs are murdered. The Chinese believe that dogs' meat, considered a specialty of Asian's cuisine, becomes tastier if the dogs dye with fear, so they let them caged close to the local where their former "friends" died so they can feel, smell and hear the moment of death
(font)

...only in china ! ! !

by 潘伯霖...

...coming soon to shanghai...and i'll be there!!!

2007-06-02T10:45:00.001+08:00

in october @ shanghai....another dream coming true!?!

hangzhou

2007-05-30T11:59:00.000+08:00

last week i went to hangzhou...where is it?

i meet my Yunnan province trip-mates rapazote, bom, alves and a new signing chico @ shanghai.

from there to hangzhou is just a 2-hour bus drive.

hangzhou is consider by chinese like one of the most beautiful cities of china, maybe even the most!...no discussion about it!

imagine a city that the city center is a enormous lake (the West Lake) with a lot of trees all around, small islands, chinese traditional bridges connection edges, clean air, flowers, birds, children playing, nature environment and sounds... B E A U T I F U L ! ! !

calmly ridding a bicycle around the lake is almost a therapy ! ! !

despite it, it's a 6 million inhabitants city and also has big buildings, crowded street, traffic... but after seeing and being embraced by such landscapes, you don't even notice it...

...it was another great short-trip!...

...this city together with suzhou are considered the China's Veneza...

...suzhou...a place to visit in the future!!!

it's amazing the diversity you can see in China...

next away weekend stop - hopefully qingdao (beach) !!!

by 潘伯霖

p.s. (for those you don't know what "潘伯霖" is...just look at the blog's title...it's "pan bo lin"- my chinese name...in china be chinese, right?)
p.s.2 - i still received the photos from my trip-mates. i'll post some later (in this post).

...death sentence...

2007-05-30T11:31:00.000+08:00

Ex-Head of China FDA Sentenced To Death

Ruling Comes After Alarm Over Tainted Exports

By Edward Cody

Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, May 30, 2007; Page D01

BEIJING, May 29 -- The disgraced head of China's drug administration was sentenced to death Tuesday for accepting what a court described as "huge bribes" to approve faulty medicines, including a batch of antibiotics that killed six patients and sickened 80.

The sentence handed down to Zheng Xiaoyu, 63, former chief of the State Food and Drung Administration, was not unprecedented in China's long struggle against corruption. But it was unusually harsh and was interpreted as a signal from the government that it is determined to look after the public's interest.

...the rest on the news....

to end up I just want to quote the reaction of a chinese friend after seeing this news: "Unfortunately, it's normal in China...but all the Chinese know there are much worse government's party politicians that this guy..."

by 潘伯霖

raining like hell...in beijing?!?

2007-05-22T14:17:00.000+08:00

today i feel like london!...do you know this sound? (london in the rain - variety lab...great sound)

it's raining a lot in beijing since i woke up!...
...i feel the air different...
thank god for this rain, i was missing it!...on the other hand(?!?), thank god or thank the chinese government ?!?.....thank chinese government...

look at the humidity - 94%...this must be a record in beijing
...i don't recall a single day with 30% + of humidity...

...government is powerful ah...they forecast their own decisions...

by 潘伯霖

wheather control . . . it's official!

2007-05-22T12:47:00.000+08:00

after the launched rumor yesterday...here's the confirmation from chinese mouths!

...from China Daily (a national daily newspaper...with the necessary government filter...of course)

Gov't to set up center for weather control
By Wang Shanshan
Updated: 2007-05-21 06:37

A national command center for weather modification will be built before 2010 to coordinate the practices of rainmaking and hail suppression around the country.

China regularly suffers from natural disasters, and its weather-modification operations are the largest in the world, a report by the Xinhua News Agency said yesterday.

Thirty of the country's 34 provinces, municipalities, autonomous regions and special administrative regions and 1,952 of about 2,900 counties have been involved in such operations and they are equipped with 7,113 anti-aircraft guns, 4,991 special rocket launchers and more than 32,300 people, figures from the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said.

Since 1999, some 250 billion tons of rain have been created and 470,000 sq km of land have been protected from hail. By 2010, the volume of artificial rain is expected to reach 50 billion tons a year, the Xinhua report said.

Weather modification is even being used to help Beijing prevent a downpour forecast for the opening day of the 2008 Olympics.

The report said that by 2010, all weather-modification efforts would be coordinated by central government with support from provincial, municipal and county administrations. A national weather-modification experimental base will also be launched, it said.

Having a national command center and experimental base will better protect the country against extreme weather conditions, the report quoted an unnamed official from the meteorological office as saying.

China is at more risk of being hit this year by extreme weather, such as drought, floods and typhoons, than at any time over the past decade because of climate change. Droughts could seriously affect northern areas, while heavy rainfalls could hit the south, Zheng Guoguang, director of the CMA, told China Daily last month.

Consideration is also being given to the health and safety of those involved in modification efforts.

In May last year, the operator of an anti-aircraft gun in Pengshui County of Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality had his right arm blown to pieces and a passer-by was shot dead.

The county has four such guns for use in weather modification.

On Friday in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province, a meeting to discuss safety issues was held between officers from two of China's seven military areas headquartered in Jinan and Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, and representatives of the North Sea Fleet of the navy, all of whom are involved in local weather-modification efforts.

(China Daily 05/21/2007 page3)

the question now is: what don't they control???...any thoughts on that!?!?

...by 潘伯霖

speechless

2007-05-21T11:30:00.000+08:00

this post is just to keep you with your "feet on the ground". despite all the good things...this is still a communist country...and everything is controlled...if you don't believe just check the reuters today's news...

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese technical college for boarders has defended compulsory pregnancy tests for students as a responsibility to them and their families, local media reported Friday.

The college in Urumqi, capital of the far western region of Xinjiang, had tested new students for several years and would ask those who tested positive to leave, the Beijing News said, citing students.

"We are a closed boarding school. Every year we ask new students to take routine health checks. The pregnancy tests are just a part of that. This is a duty toward the students and families," the paper quoted an unnamed school official as saying.

The school, where girls aged 17 and 18 comprise 70 to 80 percent of new spring semester students, gathered "whole classes" of girls into a hall to pass urine samples on to doctors, the paper said.

"If a student with an abnormal result is discovered, doctors will report it immediately to the school's student board," the paper said.

Some students with positive results had voluntarily quit the school and others had been asked to transfer. Students had borrowed class-mates' urine to avoid the tests, the paper said.

"The idea of being tested as soon as entering the school makes me feel very uncomfortable," the paper quoted Xiao Tang, a new student, as saying.

Other students were more sympathetic, describing the tests as a "warning."

"It's a big loss of face to be tested pregnant," student Xiao Ping said.

Economic reforms have loosened state control over people's personal lives in China, where, as little as 20 years ago, paternal "work units" would commonly approve marriages and child birth.

But birth out of wedlock remains taboo and heavy-handed enforcement of China's one-child policy, including forced abortions, is common in poor rural areas, rights groups have said.

font: reuters site

how far can the control of the government go???

(i'm already getting used to have all the blogspot.com blogs blocked by the government...maybe they will block this post also...nothing new about it here)

curiosity: people in beijing said that the government control the WEATHER...or else how could the government promise that it won't be 90% possibility of raining...if you ask any "beijinger" if they think the government control the weather, lots of them will say "of course!!"!

i just wanna say sorry to my chinese friends, i know most of you don't approve this...but still I have to post it to show my friends the good and bad things of your country...sorry.

by 潘伯霖...

apple vs. microsft....

2007-05-20T12:37:00.000+08:00

VS.

...now....Google Reader!!!

2007-05-20T12:26:00.001+08:00

...next stop...google reader!

imagine that instead of you visit and checking your favorite blogs and news sites, you can be notice each time a new post/story comes out...great idea ah?...that's exactly what google reader does!...and even allows you to check the new post/story without having to visit the respective site...it "sucks" it to your google reader page or to your igoogle page (if you added this gadget) and you can read it, watch the photos, see the movies...fantastic right!

so you only need to have a google account...it can be gmail, or any other....and with a single account, you can have "almost" everything for only a click-distance!

how can you subscribe my blog?...easy...in google reader you just had a new subscription and insert my blog's link...just that easy....ah!!!!
....how can you identify that a site can be subscribed?...easy, just check in the right side of the adress bar if you see this sign...

hen hen hao....te bie hao....tai hao!!!....

my complements to google's team....by 潘伯霖...

iGoogle...fantastic!!!

2007-05-20T12:15:00.000+08:00

-try it, you should try it...you MUST it!
-test it, check it, revised it...you MUST use it!

where is it?...just check your upper-right corner in the google.com page!

...imagine what a internet page where you can access news (sport, nba, reuters, cnn, espn, etc) , weather forecast, horescope, curiosities, check your gmail, hotmail and others, google talk, messenger, to-do-list, notebook, google reader (you subscribe blogs and each time a post is release you immediately are notice [later i will tell about it]), calendar, rated released movies, wikipedia, dictionary, calc, ...you name it....all in the same webpage....so what do u think ah?

CONGRATULATIONS GOOGLE!...i'm one of your top fans!

RMB 3,000 in 2 minutes- how???...easy....

2007-05-20T10:50:00.000+08:00

(videos should be censured by parents...parental advisory explicit content!)

as promised here it is....the story...a bet in Yunnan Province!!!

many adventures where lived during the trip at Yunnan Province!...but there always some specials ones!...so here's one of my favourites! seems a good looking lake, right?
near Shangri-la, we went to a natural reserve park, something quite beautiful, great views, mother-nature, are you getting the point?!...but

there where some, well let's call it, "strange"! almost all the park where cover in yak sheet....but

big sheet-peaces!!!....i couldn't believe it in a natural reserve park!

anyway....we where arriving to some lake that wasn't clean at all, and you can see the sheet all around the lake and some inside the lake. We where there and i don't remember quite well who started but i think it was Rui Bom!....here is the dialogue (it was something like this):

Rui Bom (RB): "el kid, i'll offer you RMB 1,000 if you throw yourself to this lake?"

R: "be careful, don't say that twice cause i just might do it!"

just watch the yak-sheet around the lake

RB: "bullshit!"
Nuno Pereira (NP): "you know what, i'll offer you RMB 1,000 more!"

João Alves (JA): "me too, i'll offer you RMB 1,000 more!"
RB: "see el kid, we give you all RMB 3,000 to jump to the lake! how many deceases are there????"
R:"i'll do it!"
RB,NP,JA:"do it if you're a man, a real man would do it!"
RR:"RMB 3,000 in 2 minutes, never own so much money so quick!"

João Alves, R (the swimmer), me and Rui Bom

well, and since R is a marketing-guy you could notice that he was thinking...probably he did a SWOT analysis, evaluated the 7 Ps and the 4Cs...and he decided that....

the rest of the story it will be told by videos and photos!

chapter I - RMB 3,000 for a "jump"!

chapter 2 - where he is jumping to!

chapter 3 - changing around many chinese-watchers!

chapter 4 - the final details!

chapter 5 - the testings...

chapter 6 - and, finally...

and this is the end result!...

who's dangerous now?....he is inflammable after that swim?!?

a small note to the JACKASS program....this videos have all rights reserved...if you want it...pay for it!!! :P

my special complements to the big star of this event....el kid....deceases are expected and will be monitored in the next 6 months!

by 潘伯霖...

enough for last 6 days...???

2007-05-13T18:09:00.000+08:00

...with this one it will make 11 posts in a week!...satisfied?

i will give you some days to catch the track of my blog...
meanwhile i will be waiting for you feedback...ok?
ni men gei wo fan kui....meaning: you give me comments!!! lol :P

but the trip-posts aren't over...following:

mr. R wins RMB 3,000 in 2 minutes
videos (portuguese-mothers with small kids...some you should censured to your kids...parental advisory explicit content...
signs in chinglish (chinese+english)...

再见...潘伯霖

and...finally XiShuanbanna...

2007-05-13T17:56:00.000+08:00

...full of my post for only one day?!?...or enjoy the narrative?

...to finalize this amazing trip...we went to sleep on tree house in a natural UNESCO protected park...with wild elephants!!!...the least i can say is: UNFORGETTABLE ! ! !

now i can say you that all of those sounds we hear on vietnam war movies are exactly the same...water surrounding, whispers, birds, mosquitos, insects that produce small light-spots...scarying and at the same time peaceful... mother-nature embraces you and you embrace it back!!!...what a night!

of course the following day we visit all the park, which really deserves a visit!

except the 15€/night we paid in kunming...tree house one the second most expensive (should i say this or maybe the second less cheap?)...it's was 9€ per night!

....wanna know a funny thing...there wasn't electricity the day we slept there because of a big rain...so candles...what did we do, came outside a little, play cards while the candles lasted and i, personally killed a red mosquito...just to make it more interesting!lol!...just joking, i had to, it was in one of our tree houses!

...not to be continued...lol...潘伯霖

4th stage.....Shangri-la

2007-05-13T17:51:00.000+08:00

...strange for me...since i've been in xangri-la in the southeast of brasil...but this is another one

...another small and ancient city...3900 meters above sea level surrounded by mountain with top-snow-cover!

beautiful... for these one i will spear you my "words"...i leave you the pics

later i will tell you how mr. R. won RMB 3.000 in only 2 minutes...to be more specific a bet worthing €300... i'll post it later...

by 潘伯霖...

3rd etape...Lijiang

2007-05-13T17:41:00.000+08:00

...what a beautiful city...
...do u remember those movies with chinese cities that seem that all streets have a small parallel river that obligates you to pass trough a bridge each time you need to go to a shop....it's lijiang!!!

we rented there a jeep and a chinese guide (non-speaking-english) for two days and we went on trekking!...we went to a canyon, rapid rivers, buddhist temples (3900 meters above sea level), disco night...and in the two day tour we slept in shangri-la....but that one i tell you in the next post.

photos...

cheers...潘伯霖...

2nd stop....Dali

2007-05-13T12:25:00.000+08:00

...continuing...

after one day and a half in kunming we pick up a bus and went to dali....5 hour trip, just "peanuts" since during this week of vacations between buses, vans, jeep, flight we've been inside vehicles for probably almost around 48 hours!

Dali is a very beautiful place to visit...it was the first time i've seen the "other side of the coin"...after months living in big metropolis and visiting shanghai finally i see the china that i was expecting in the first place when i came here...

Dali is a ancient city...very well conserved full of tradition, culture...each pore of your body can sense it and feel it!!!...it's like you seen so many times in movies, far-well green fields, mountains still with some snow in the top, the 4th biggest lake in china and the surprise in most of the chinese faces to see a foreigner on those areas!

the first day in dali was amazing...we rent some bikes and just go anywhere our mind, our thoughts, our feelings and our instincts told us to...we supposedly had some orientation spot...which proved to be wrong... we ride down the mountain (on roads...of course, the bikes were too bad for anything else), than we flew through stone roads across the agricultural fields and went to the lake. there we had a very nice chat with a lot of chinese kids that were enjoying the lake and all of them were really excited to see us!...
...afterwards we continue to ride and we found ourselves in one of those chinese villages with really straight roads full of spirituality where only a few foreigners have the pleasure to visit...we stopped in the local market and had fun with some kids....you should had seen the surprise look of the youngsters when we took a picture and showed it on the digital camera screen...it seems like they never seen it!

here you have the photos....

for those who are asking for the videos...there are very nice videos...i'll post later all of them!

...to be continued....

blogs...links...keep track

2007-05-13T11:33:00.000+08:00

hi, it's been a while since i "keep track" of the recent blog's i just added on "blogs to keep track" that you can find after the beijing's and guimarães' clocks.

all the blog are very well written and are quite interesting to follow, this way, if you wish you can have more curiosities about china! these are also blog where i take ideas of posts to write to you.

66 Qing Dao Lu - blog of my yunnan-trip-mate joão alves!...he's living in shanghai...but his blog is in portuguese...
In Transit! - rui rapazote's blog...my friend who i spent with my february vacations and also my yunnan-trip-mate...also lives in shanghai...and his blog is in english...
O Desterrado em Pequim - joão medina's blog...expatriated portuguese friend in beijing...very interesting blog (i found myself quite sometimes stealing ideas for my blog)...it's in portuguese...
李振藩 Bruce Lee - rui bom's blog, the last of mine yunnan-trip-mates...very funny blog, lot's of curiosities...he lives in shanghai also...in portuguese

so, from now how you can check their blog and see for yourselves...

trip photos, 1st stop Kunming

2007-05-13T10:40:00.000+08:00

as expected....photos...you can expect a post for each city/village/place where I "settle" for a day ;)...

...by the way, you now you can subscribe my blog and be notice each time i post something new?...i'll give the later later....still in beta version!!!

Kunming is the capital of the Yunnan Province on the southwest of China!
It has around 4,000,000 inhabitants and to be honest my first impressions was...this is a really small town...but later i find out it was definitely the biggest city were I "passed" during my may vacations!
...you might think it's unimaginable but this city doesn't have any discos...and believe we asked everybody for it, hotel receptionist, foreigners, taxi drivers, police officers, you name it....no one no anything about any disco!!!....boring ah ?

really close to Kunming there is an amazing and astonishing place....STONE FOREST , i.e. really a stone forest ... i don't know how it's possible to be totally natural....but it is, how in the hell some many big stones "fall down from the sky" in such restricted place???

...to be continued....

cheers...潘伯霖...i.e...pan bo lin...i.e...nuno

第一个中文新闻 ! ! !

2007-05-12T14:24:00.000+08:00

This is a post in chinese....first you’ll find chinese symbols, than in pin yin and finally the english translation!...enjoy….to show some of my new recent capabilities :P

大家好

你们怎么样？

这是第一个中文新闻，你们相信吗？

我们继续

说一些简单中文，好吗……

我叫潘伯霖，我二十四岁。我从葡萄牙来。
我在2007年1月22号到中国。我来中国在中交虹桥工作 (cttc archway).
所以在三个半月后我可以说我很喜欢中国和北京。
我在北京等待你们。我的家就是你们的家，我的家门为你们开放……请快点儿！！！！

我想念所有的朋友！

正如你们看到的，我能说点儿和写点儿中文了！！！……怎么样？……原因是我的中文老师！……她名字叫anita和她教中文非常好！……我非常喜欢她和我们上课但是我不得不学习更多的中文在我家！……那很难！……

你们不知道但是这个中文新闻是作业是我的中文老师给我的！……

在结束以前，我想说我很感激Anita！！！……高兴认识她！！！

再见！！！……潘伯霖

...now the same text in pin yin!!!...chinese in our abc!

di yi ge zhong wen xin wen!

da jia hao

ni men zen me yang?

zhe shi di yi ge zhong wen xin wen, ni men xiang xin ma.

wo men ji xu.

Shuo yi xie jian dan dong xi, hao ma....

wo jiao nuno, wo er shi si sui. wo cong pu tao ya lai.
wo zai er ling ling qi nian yi yue er shi san hao dao zhong guo. wo lai zhong guo zai zhong jiao hong qiao gong zuo (cttc archway).
suo yi zai san ge ban yue hou wo ke yi shuo wo hen xi huan zhong guo he bei jing.
wo zai beijing deng dai ni men. wo de jia jiu shi ni men de jia, wo de jia men wei ni men kai fang!...qing kuai dian^er!!!!

wo xiang nian suo you de peng you!

zheng ru ni men kan dao le, wo neng shuo dian^er he xie dian^er zhong wen le!!!...zen me yang?....yuan yin shi wo de zhong wen lao shi!...ta ming zi jiao anita he ta jiao zhong wen fei chang hao!....wo fei chang xi huan ta he wo men shang ke dan shi wo bu de bu xue xi geng duo de zhong wen zai wo jia!.....na hen nan!...

ni men bu zhi dao dan shi zhe ge zhong wen xin wen shi zuo ye shi wo de zhong wen lao shi gei wo de !...

Zai jie shu yi qian, wo xiang shuo wo hen gan ji anita!!!...... gao xing ren shi ta!!!

zai jian!!!....nuno

p.s. rui bom zhi dao ma?

...translation...

first post in Chinese!

hello everyone.

how are you all?

this is my first “Chinese” post, can you believe it?

let’s go on!

I will only speak/say simple things, ok?

I’m nuno and I’m 24 years old. I’m from Portugal.
I arrive at China on 2007/01/23 and I came to work in CTTC Archway.
so after 3 and half months I can say I like very much China and Beijing.
I am waiting for you in Beijing. my house is your house. the door of my house is open for you!...hurry up a little bit, ah!!!

I miss you all my friends!

As you can see, I can speak and write a little of Chinese!!!...how about that?... the reason is because of my Chinese teacher!....her name is anita and she’s a very good Chinese teacher!... I like very much her as well as your lessons but I have to study a lot at home!..it’s very hard!

You don’t know but this Chinese post was my last lesson given homework!

I couldn’t without saying that i am very greatfull to anita!!!....it’s a pleasure to meet…

Bye bye, nuno

chinese lession no1 - title explanation

2007-05-10T10:53:00.000+08:00

blog's title - 潘伯霖在中国 . . . meaning???

1st chinese lession!...ready?!?

潘伯霖 - "pan bo lin" - my chinese name!

潘 - "pan" is a similar pronouncation of my last surname (Pereira)
伯 - "bo" means brother, older brother (which i am)
霖 - "lin" means rain!

so take you own conclusions about the meaning of my chinese name!

now the other 3 symbols:
在 - "zai" means at/in/or
中 - "zhong" means center, middle
国 - "guo" means country, but these guo's symbol is only for China, so
中国 - direct translation "center country"...apparently that's how chinese see their country...center of the world!....wanna see a world "chinese" map???

to finalize 潘伯霖在中国... "pan bo lin zai zhong guo"....direct translation: "nuno at china"

yours, 潘伯霖 :)

Yunnan routes...

2007-05-10T09:59:00.000+08:00

...no big plans, just a lonely planet's guide, good mood, and flow throw the Yunnan province!!!

to be honest, before our flight to Kunming (Yunnan province's capital) me, João Alves, Rui Bom and Rui Rapazote didn't have any defined and detailed plan for our trip. Only our strategic masterminded João Alves add some knowledge about this adventure...but what the hell, what do we need a plan for?...just follow our "instincts"!!!...and a lonely planet's guide can be very helpful in these situations!

...we add the strictly basic information for the trip...as we were going, we just keep on asking questions about what should we visit and therefore...

so, just to localize you Yunnan province is in the southwest of China.
northwest of the province are Bhutan and Tibet is also near.
west and southwest of the province is Burma.
south of the province is Laos and Vietnam.
(check the map...picture "stolen" form Rui Rapazote's blog...i'll give the link later)

(this one you can see "catch" our trekking routes!!!)

mr. João Alves.....非常感激你 (i.e. fei chang gan ji ni)...meaning "i'm very greatfull to you!"...

greetz to all!

memorabel trip - Yunnan Province

2007-05-08T22:38:00.000+08:00

YUNNAN PROVINCE

In China, the first week of May, International Labor Day, stops the whole country for one week of vacations!
Thus, and as expected I had to get outside Beijing and explored this enormous country!... therefore, I join 3 Portuguese friends from Shanghai to explore the Yunnan province in the southwest of China. My fellow trip-mates are Rui Rapazote, Rui Bom and João Alves. We meet all in Kunming – capital of Yunnan Province!
To be honest I didn’t know what to expect since they were the ones planning all the trip. I was just excited to travel around the non-seen China!... what should I expect?!?!...pictures and movie’s scenes came at my head in hope to find something similar!

(right to left- me, João Alves, Rui Rapazote, Rui Bom)

My itinerary: Beijing – Kunming – Dali – Jiliang – Shangri-La – Xishuanbanna – Beijing
I can resume my trip to you in just one word: unpredicted! Basically there wasn’t any concrete and solid plan, we just flew as we wished to... so we could do anything that came to our heads!

I just can’t describe the tremendous natural diversity I’ve seen!
Just check out the diversity:
- Stone forest… what is a stone forest?... just imagine before you see the pictures!!! (Kunming);
- Ancient city – Dali – temple, lost villages in space and time, the 4th biggest lake in China, long agricultural fields;
- Lijiang a city 3000m above sea level, canyons, rapids, a Chinese-cinematographic-city, white mountains;
- Shangri-la, another old-lost city on the unseen southwest part of China with Buddhist Temples at 3900m above sea level, Unesco Natural Reserve;

- Natural Park with wild elephant and us sleeping there in a three house fighting a red mosquito and adventuring throughout the jungle, cable-car 30 minutes non-stopping, rich-animal-selling open market (illness everywhere…supposing), night card-game under candle-light, visit tea plantation and all productive process;

And we manage to do all of this and still pass around 48 hours inside buses, vans, jeeps, ferries and other vehicles. We were from sea level to 3900 meters above it, therefore we catch 5 ºC to 32 ºC at night, humidity from 50% to almost 100%.

In the middle of all these there was still time to visit some minorities traditional villages like Dai villages where we were invited to visit a family and honorably had tea there and a very special drink made from rice was offered….60% of alcohol!!!...

It’s amazing the amount of different views, scenarios, feelings, experiences, develop and ancient cities, lost villages… and little small nice children that seem never saw a photo camera so surprised are they reaction after seeing it and watching themselves in the digital camera screen.

More posts will come about these trip…..as well as videos, photos…and links to my trip-mates blogs!!!....this has been an impressive trekking trip and since I don’t have much talent to write you can check different angels and posts about it!

Miss you my friends….mi casa és su casa….so what are you waiting for to visit China?

"chinese-american-portuguese" football match

2007-04-16T10:09:00.000+08:00

first sport experience...

last friday (april 7th) i had a football match of the office (archway)...and when i stop thinking, i couldn't remember when was the last time i played football....maybe 7 years ago!!!!

we rented a nice place to play with artificial grass, nice pitch....the place is owned by hungarians and in the near future they are going to organize a tournament called "Puskas tournament" where the major idea is to get "national" teams from all over the world!!!.....the portuguese, as expect, are thinking about organizing a team and try our chance!!!...our small "world cup"!!!....so maybe i will start playing football regularly...

back again to the match....it was a very nice match with chinese, american and other portuguese....everyone had a great time and the conviviality was great!!!...it's was a fair match with a lot of fair-play!!!....an experience to repeat much more times....i hope!!!

let's cut the crap....here are some pictures...you can deduct yourself the rest :P!!!!!

cheers all!!!

daddy's visit

2007-04-13T16:07:00.000+08:00

two weekends ago, my dad visited me!

he was in china for some business work and he took a weekend off to visit me in beijing!

my portuguese mates (from the same exchange program as i) went out this weekend so i was alone just with my father, but on wednesday another friend from shanghai (João, also from the same exchange program) also came on the weekend with two visiting friends (Bia and Carme).

Saturday me and my father just walk around some known streets in beijing while João, Bia and Carme went visiting Tienanmen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace.

At night we saw the peking opera (very nice), had a nice dinner in an Italian restaurant, Annie's, and later we went to a live-jazz bar to have a drink/coffee.

check some videos of the peking opera:

Sunday morning we rent a van (including a driver) to take us to the Great Wall of China (badaling). We spent there 3 thrilling hours...we had sun, than the strong wind came and it ended with snow...it was unbelievable, beautiful, unforgettable!!!...perfect (just snick the photos and video).

videos on the Great Wall of China:

we came back to beijing at 3 p.m. and João, Bia and Carme took a cab to the airport to get back to shanghai while me and my father went to the beautiful Summer Palace!

one more video:

Summer Palace

after it, and despite being exhausted we still went to a market for some shops....

...and, as you can imagine, after walking so many km and defying so many steps, by the end of the day we just wanted to rest.

it was a really pleasant weekend!...after 11 months i meet my father again.....and still manage to see my friend João Gago and gain two new friend Bia and Carme....and so, to all of you, thank you so much for the weekend!!!! you're a great company and we're a great team!

hope to see u soon!

abraço grande Pai,
abraço Gago,
beijinhos Bia e Carme

remember where u are

2007-04-03T14:56:00.000+08:00

this is china and whether we wanted or not...this isn't any democratic country and sometimes things happen that refresh your memory about where you are exactly.

It's now been more than 2 weeks since "our" Chinese Government felt that all the blogs from Blogger.com shouldn't be accessible in their lands. Thus they simply insert it on their list of forbidden sites, hence "maybe" they feel that, at least, some blogs of bloggers may have information which cannot be access by Chinese people...which information am I referring to?...i really don't know!.....the only thing I know is that from today it's been 16 days since i can't see my own blog.

I even send an email to the Blogger supporting problems team who immediately answered: "I'm afraid that your local government has been blocking all Blog*Spot pages from being shown within that country. I'm sorry about that, but unfortunately there's not much we can do.".

and this is one of the things that refreshes your memory and make you realize where you are and what kind of government and rules applies in this country.

Therefore, I am sorry if I am not updating my blog as I wish but it makes it difficult to post something while being unable to see the layout.

Sorry for this....but this kind of situations are so above me....can't do anything!

beijinhos e abraços a todos!

Wangfujing

2007-03-25T12:56:00.000+08:00

and later on my sunday tourism afternoon i went to Wangfujing street...a street where basically you can find everything...shoppings of all sort of stuff in each door on both sides of the street and on the back of those shopping you can find small street with "traditional chinese shops"...

just watch and see for youselves...

any comments ladies???

Temple of Heaven

2007-03-25T12:47:00.000+08:00

Last sunday, despite the cold weather i decided to do some tourism by my own...and the chosen destination was....The Temple of Heaven...a very quite, peaceful and spiritual place!

as normal...pictures say more than a thousand word!

missing you all...
gretz....nuno, the new beijinger!