Seoul and other things

Where to begin? Perhaps I will break this in to two parts.

Part one. Welcome to Jas Johal. After being orphaned by my previous colleague Ben, who took a great opportunity at the “other” network, I found out in late August, early September that my new corresponded would be Jas. Jas is a Vancouver guy, and has spent numerous embeds in Afghanistan. He was also the India correspondent up until the spring when he returned to Vancouver to cover some maternity leave.

So Jas has applied for his Visa for China, but in usual Chinese fashion has been left waiting for 2 and half months. Hopefully it is resolved soon and after my Christmas break the China bureau will be up and running again at full speed.

In the mean time I have been doing a little shooting here and there as Canada and China celebrated 40 years of diplomatic relations in the fall. You wouldn’t know it by the speed of the visa process, but I digress. To many ministers blew through Beijing doing nothing but photo ops and refusing to take questions from the Beijing based Canadian media. Funny, sound a bit like Ottawa.

Part two. The biggest thing lately has been North Korea and South Korea playing kick the can. It has cost the South the lives of 2 marines and 2 citizens. So I don’t wish to make light of there deaths, but I will give you my take on it.

After the shelling, Jas and I talked about going via phone, I didn’t think that Global would pay for it, even though it is a large story with the potential to drag the US in to another war and also possible the Chinese. I doubt it will come to that but Mr. Kim is unpredictable and the Chinese are protective of the Yellow Sea.

I arrived on Saturday night, the 26th of November; Jas flew in from London on the 27th. He was able to line up a professor Andrei Lankov. Interesting character, a little bizarre in mannerisms but knows what he’s talking about. Boils down to this: Blackmail. Give the North Koreans half a billion dollars, they will knock it off for a while. The sub incident, and the shelling are both messages to the US, and South Korea, saying hey, we want food and money, give that and we will be quiet. Don’t and we will cause trouble for you.
Perhaps an over simplification, but I kind of agree with his assessment.

China is the one that concerns me. China with all their economic strength wants to be see as a world player and be take seriously. Well time for them to stand up and smack there neighbour and friend upside the head and tell them to knock it off. China and maybe Iran and Burma are North Korea’s only friends. China is the only country that can apply any pressure on North Korea. Their failure to get involved I think is why they still are not up to the responsibility of being a World Power. It seems China’s biggest concern is that an US aircraft carrier is now in the Yellow Sea. Well if you don’t get off your duff and get involved, expect to see a lot more of the American Navy floating around your house.

Alright, that’s it for now, feel free to comment or tell me I’m way off on my assessments.

Had some great Korean BBQ and Kimchee in Seoul. Have most of my paperwork done for next year and should have my passport back any day now.

So technically 9 months to go in my little deal here. Have to have a talk with Maggi and the bosses, but looking forward to coming home and getting back to family, friends and fishing. Will see if I have one more blog in me before Christmas. If not, enjoy and if you are around Ottawa between the 15th and the 29th, email or call as I’ll be tucked in to Dunrobin Ontario for Christmas. Thanks, Barry.

Been a while i know...

Hello! Been awhile I know. I should call more often, but really not much news to share.

For those of you who don’t follow news much, you might not be aware that my colleague and partner in this little adventure of China has decided to ply his trade with the other private network. The good news is he still works in Beijing so I still have a good friend here. Best of luck Ben, and look forward to working with you again soon my friend. Thanks for bringing me along on this Asian experience.

Now as to what I’ve been up to? Not much. After the GG was here Ben let if out that he was leaving. So two weeks later I was home for couple weeks of holiday. Some fishing, but not nearly enough. Got re-acquainted with my dog, my wife, and my family. At the end of it, there was a little retreat and party for the out going Kevin Newman. Doesn’t seem like a nine year run, but it has been that long. From the beginning of September, 2001 to now. Covered a lot of air miles in that space of time and some interesting stories as well. I can’t thank him enough either. Without Global National with Kevin Newman, I’m not sure where the road would have taken me.

Now for the new guy, Jas Johal. Jas has been Gnat’s India correspondent, so he is no stranger to news and working on a shoestring. Looking forward to the Chinese giving him his Visa soon. So I’ve spent the last 6 weeks or so sorting out internet problems and keeping a low profile.

Late September, my wonderful and patient wife Maggi came for a visit. Went down to Xi’An to see the Terracotta Warriors. The overnight train was a interesting adventure. The length of China’s history is pretty cool and to see this place was fascinating. We also hit the Lama Temple here in Beijing and saw the Monks at work. The chanting is pretty cool. Also went out to the summer palace, another beautiful spot full of history.

Heading out soon a quick little overnight trip about fertilizer and potash. Will try and remember my still camera and hopefully will do a little better in keeping this up to date. For now enjoy a few pictures.

Governor General Visit

The GG was in town early July so Ben, Fan Di, Sean from CTV and I where the pool for it. Got to see the pandas, tour a garment factory and spend may days sweating in high humidity and and heat. Also toured a rebuilt school in Sichaun.

Most of these pictures come from Fan Di. the Video is below for you oh and ah over. Still not sure if panda is tasty though.

Shanghai PJ's

A while back Ben Fan Di and I traveled to Shanghai for the opening of Expo. One of the stories we did was about PJ's. Seems a long time ago wearing your bed cloths out to do your shopping was considered a sign you where wealthy and had leisure time. For expo there was a big push to knock that off. Didn't seem to have much effect on the locals. Athough when we stopped people to talk to them they weren't thrilled to be seen on TV in their PJ's. Pictures are courtesy the fabulous Fan Di.

Lightening

Was able to capture some cool shots of lightening with the video camera.

Here are a couple of stills and a slow motion of the strikes.

Yurts so good...

Not much new since the little Thailand episode. Glad that's over with and in no rush to repeat it.

Most recently had to work a weekend and Fan Di, Ben and I headed up to Angula Lake. About 5 hours drive from Beijing into Hebei, towards Inner Mongolia. Actually it is part of the Mongolian plateau. What makes this lake interesting is that although it is still on the map, it dried up six years ago. We spoke to some locals who remember fishing and enjoying the lake as well as making some money on the tourism side. WIll post the story once it has aired. Also had the fun of staying in a yurt. See pictures above.

As an aside, I work in a very strange business. So i'm in the middle of nowhere with Ben, but the weekend show decides that they can't live without Ben filing Kyrgyzstan. Ethnic violence and TV are a match made for each other. Not that Ben and I are going there, just file'er from where you're at. Now since Ben and I are literally in the middle of nowhere this presents what I would call a technical challenge. So it's 10 pm, the power is out do to an electrical storm, and I'm fair away from 3g cell service. So Ben writes said item and my resources producer suggests phoning it in. Not a bad idea, but one better. Send it as a voice note. Seems our blackberries can send voice note. So out comes the ipod mic/earphone combo and viola, TV. A medium as it is rarely done well. So from a Yurt in the middle of China, we bypass thousands of dollars of TV gear and file the voice track for a story on Kyrgyzstan. Done in the middle of a power failure in an electrical storm. Was a very strange night.

Also managed to lift a still from the video that caught a bolt of lightning. Pretty cool. Was a wicked storm over night. Made the yurt experience that much more interesting.

THAILAND MAY 19TH

Wednesday May 19th

Inner Mongolia

Here are some stills from Inner Mongolia. We are about 800 to 900 km East of Beijing. It's in the South West corner of Inner Mongolia. Ordos is the city where we stayed, but we drove in to the desert to get some element for the Cashmere Goat story that I will post once it has run.

The new member of our team here in Beijing is Fan Di. She has taken the job of our bureau producer. You may remember Qi, well he left us for a job at Global Times as a reporter. He will be missed, but Fan Di is a great addition for us as she has worked for Aljazzera TV and for the McClatchy Paper Group, so she comes with a lot of experience.

For the Goat story Ben and I wound up chasing, or herding the goats for the most part of an hour to get one On Camera. Oh and it was also in the middle of a snow storm.

Was still nice to get out and on the road for a few days. They other adventure was that the Hotel we had booked into didn't take foreigners. Seems they would get in trouble if they got caught renting to rooms to anyone but Chinese. We did stay one night with them but we where quickly forced to move to another hotel. Kind of odd but it's China so nothing should strike me as strange anymore.

The older women in the photo is a former herder. She now pens her goats and lives more or less right beside them. We where the first foreigners she had ever met. She was also the first goat keeper I'd ever met so there you go.

My thanks to Fan Di for the pictures that appear in part of this post!

Mongolia

Went to Inner Mongolia, a part of China, not to be confused with Mongolia proper. Was a cool little three night trip. Got to see the Cashmere sweater factory and Cashmere Goats. That story will follow shortly. He is a item that ran last week on a new town that was built, but lacks a little something. People.

Hong Kong

So I had to get out of China for a night. Actually got two nights out of it. The long and the short of it is my camera gear is in China without being charged import duty. It’d be about $15,000 or so. Instead of paying the duty, my gear is on a document called a Carnet du Passage. French for “ you should be able to come and go with your stuff for no cost, just don’t stay longer then one year!” It is a renewable document every year and keeps you from selling the stuff abroad and not paying tax or duty on it.

Of course this being China it’s not so simple. Both times they have seized my stuff. Apparently they won’t recognize it if you call it Professional Equipment. So after much back and forth the wording was change to say for Fairs and Exhibitions. Now, I don’t take part in fairs and exhibitions. But what do I can, I just need my gear. So after trying to get an extension, (the Chinese would only give me 6 months,) I had to get out of the country. Hong Kong counts as out of China; although Hong Kong is now part of China but I don’t think I’m the one to be discussing the turnover of Hong Kong to Mainland China. I didn’t study much in high school, as my parents will attest.

Which brings me to this, here is a couple shots from Hong Kong. Need to go back when it is a little sunnier, but hey was able to get out of Beijing and enjoy a milder greener city for a night or two. Maybe next time I’ll opt for Thailand or the Philippines. The nice thing is it timed out nicely to be over the Chinese New Year. Oh and yes, the fireworks continue. Day 15.

Oh the first shot is Beijing at night the rest are HK

Sunny Sunday

As I sit and enjoy a bright and sunny Sunday in Beijing, (it’s 11 degrees and I’m in a t-shirt getting more stares than I usually do in this town,) I'm hit by one word. Dignity, Pretty simple word, “the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect.” Something we all like to keep, and something we think we show others.

So I'm disappointed. I've been sitting at Starbucks and watch a guy who is roughing to put it mildly. Over the last 46 minutes several hundred people have walked by. Some glance down, some look away. Very few have bothered with him at all. The 7 punks that stopped seemed to take youthful pleasure in trying to spook him. All the while one moron is videotaping it. I do hope that these Nike clad yahoos never wind up like this guy, but for one week. Just so they can see what it's like to that guy for a while. Guess I’m getting old and I’m starting to be curmudgeonly.

So that’s my observation for the day. The people of China are no different than the people of North America. Little time for others and many not willing to show a little dignity to someone who is down. I'm no different. I turn a blind eye to it all the time. I guess it just takes watching other to remind me that it doesn't take much effort to show someone a little respect and dignity.

PS, as I’m digging in my pockets for a couple of small bills, three others in the space of about a minute all drop a little bit in to the mans cup. All of them under 30, I guess there is hope after all.

New Years Eve

Olympic fever

So as I reassess my career decision on coming to China, and yes I made the right one, I'm watching with envy the party that is the Olympics. When announced I thought it was a huge waste of money. Now that it's here, I'm wishing I was there. There is an infectious spirit to it. To bad we can't bottle it and use it when other tragedies like Haiti and others happen. Maggi, my wife is volunteering with the Canadian Ski Patrol so she is enjoying the spirit as well. Hope she has a blast.

Just before Christmas, Ben, Qi and I did a quick trip up to Qi's home town to find the Coach for the Chinese Aerial Team. He is a Canadian. They have a shot at medaling so forgive me if a give a little cheer for the Chinese this winter. Enjoy.

Here's a little story about one of the many villages that have been affected by China's rapid growth. Not the most uplifting tail, but reality for many people here.

Aired Jan 27th, 2010

No news is good news...

So with all the tragedy in Haiti, Asia is off the map for the powers that be and control my work so all I have to post is a few pictures from little a stroll on the 30th. Just down from Confucius Temple is the Guozijian. Built in 1287 it was the the highest institutin of learning in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. I didn't go in, as i really don't belong in in places of higher education. My high school records would back me up on that. Stopped for a tea at the Lazy Cafe and watched the sun go down on the hutong.
Enjoy.

Lama Temple

In an effort to "get off me arse" and away from a neon tan, I had a lovely 3 days off. With a reporter away and a produce in Tianjin, I took advantage of the time to sleep late and go to bed early. Well as early as I could.

Saturday morning here brought a light dust of snow and a somewhat windless day. So of I wondered to Lama Temple. One of the more touristy attractions it is located just of line 2 subway at Yonghegong stop.

It’s part of the yellow hat sect. (no I’m not making that up). Built according to Wikipedia in the 1694 Qing Dynasty era. Here is Wikipedia’s take….

Building work on the Yonghegong Temple started in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty. It originally served as an official residence for court eunuchs. It was then converted into the court of the Prince Yong (Yin Zhen), a son of the Kangxi Emperor and himself the future Yongzheng Emperor. After Yongzheng's ascension to the throne in 1722, half of the building was converted into a lamasery, a monastery for monks of Tibetan Buddhism. The other half remained an imperial palace.

After Yongzheng's death in 1735, his coffin was placed in the temple. The Qianlong Emperor, Yongzheng's successor, gave the temple imperial status signified by having its turquoise tiles replaced with yellow tiles which were reserved for the emperor. Subsequently, the monastery became a residence for large numbers of Tibetan Buddhist monks from Mongolia and Tibet, and so the Yonghe Lamasery became the national centre of Lama administration.

The temple is said to have survived the Cultural Revolution due to the intervention of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. It was reopened to the public in 1981.

Beautiful spot. Lots of people burning incense and a few of us tourists taking photos. I’ll have to start reading a bit about the Buddist, but I would image the government here would want me to mention the Big Guys name here so the code word now for the Dali Lama will be referred to as Rene Lévesque and the movement will now be know as the Free Quebec society.

Enjoy.

Just about a year ago I set out on the road...

What a difference a year makes. Doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that I was packing for what at times seems like an extended road trip. Home is still in Ottawa, but seems I now have a second home. It’s amazing how quickly time passes. Just a year ago I was saying goodbye to my wife, dog, family and friends. At times it feels like yesterday and at other times seems like a lifetime ago.

In the space of a year I’ve met many people. From the couple who eke out a meager living recycling bottles and selling tourist maps to the mother of one of the students killed in 1989 Tiananmen Square. The Canadian Doctor who has a team that brings smiles to kids with cleft palates who otherwise can't afford the surgery and would be left to a lifetime of poverty. A guy who still to this day makes and flies kites the old fashion way.

I’ve been up north to Chungchun, down south to Nanning, and wind farms in Hebei. Went to Taiwan to see the Dali Lama. Been to Thailand for a riot, and Philippines for floods. Still much to see and do; Cambodia, Vietnam would be nice to visit this year. Burma, but I doubt they’d let the likes of us in. Also would like to get out to Mongolia to see the Gobi desert and points beyond.

I guess the best part of this job is seeing new things. The Great Wall is always a spectacular sight. Especially when you can get away from the crowds and have it all to yourself. So as I start year two and put my family through another year of missing, worrying and wondering I just want to say thanks for putting up with my adventures and we will see you sometime this year. Happy 2010!