lychee's china 荔枝的中国

2009-09-08T13:07:00.003+02:00

chicago 2009

2009-06-10T17:07:00.001+02:00

things

2009-06-10T17:04:00.002+02:00

:-)

2009-03-23T23:54:00.002+01:00

tan dun in tonhalle zurich, paper concerto & water passion, composer & oscar winner for crouching tiger hidden dragon soundtrack
li donghua, tan dun

2008-10-03T15:44:00.003+02:00

hallenstadion zurich

2008-10-03T15:38:00.001+02:00

hallenstadion zurich

2008-10-03T15:34:00.002+02:00

hallenstadion zurich

2008-10-03T15:19:00.004+02:00

hallenstadion zurich

2008-10-03T15:13:00.003+02:00

hallenstadion zurich

2008-08-12T22:04:00.002+02:00

entrance lights in jazz cafe, montreux jazz festival

2008-08-12T22:02:00.003+02:00

2008-08-12T22:00:00.003+02:00

montreux, some views

2008-08-12T21:58:00.003+02:00

nestle, headquarter of the world in vevey

2008-08-12T21:54:00.002+02:00

2008-06-30T21:38:00.003+02:00

zurich by nite

2008-06-22T23:14:00.008+02:00

2008-06-22T23:01:00.003+02:00

euro 2008 soccer in zurich.. my office happens to be just inside the fanzone...quite a party

2008-06-18T23:35:00.001+02:00

hallenstadion zurich, the police concert

2008-06-18T23:29:00.003+02:00

i worked for the police concert in the stadium and somehow i was quite attracted to the roof of the hallenstadion ;-)

2008-06-12T23:01:00.002+02:00

2008-02-23T20:50:00.002+01:00

carnival in zurich ;-)

2008-01-22T21:17:00.002+01:00

2008-01-22T21:09:00.001+01:00

the myth (name of the mountain!)

renting skis...

2008-01-02T16:05:00.001+01:00

2007-09-02T01:20:00.000+02:00

in the countryside!!

2007-08-23T00:20:00.001+02:00

a walk in zurich.......

2007-07-30T13:28:00.001+02:00

2007-04-05T15:03:00.001+02:00

----this blog is taking a rest----

2007-04-05T15:00:00.000+02:00

2007-02-25T12:52:00.000+01:00

after and before. the fireworks...

2007-02-17T20:33:00.000+01:00

some long exposure pics outside the window in hongkong garden

2007-02-17T20:28:00.000+01:00

at a friends house the view over lots of firework

2007-02-17T20:25:00.000+01:00

!!!happy new year!!!

2007-02-17T20:22:00.000+01:00

olympic souvernir shop and ad in jusco supermarket

on a bench in the supermarket

candies for new year

2007-02-16T19:43:00.000+01:00

sunset in qingdao and an old man doing some exercise in the parc.

2007-01-03T07:16:00.000+01:00

yesterday at hongkong garden...

2006-12-30T02:40:00.000+01:00

faked mercedes benz !!! while we were driving i read the name underneath the number by accident and saw that it was written meroedes instead of mercedes. it seems that this one is not self made by stickig the name on it, it seems that it has been bought like that, because there are so many mercedes signs on the car that must be all fake. you can click on the picture for a bigger image. i took several pictures and the guy inside looked at me in a strange way. i think he even didn't realize why i took pictures...

2006-12-27T13:54:00.000+01:00

merry x-mas!!

copied product package designs. near these there were also the originals. unfortunately the package is the only thing copied, the inside is not really edible...

2006-12-22T14:53:00.000+01:00

street restaurant, views

2006-12-22T14:52:00.000+01:00

eating hondun at a street restaurant

2006-12-13T07:51:00.000+01:00

the dentist had very old equipment, exept of this swiss air flow thing. he asked me where i'm from and then was happy to show me a machine from my country ;-)

2006-12-13T07:50:00.000+01:00

my friend visiting a dentist. she had some tooth ache and the check was for free.

2006-12-09T14:54:00.000+01:00

wholesale market for everything exept what we're looking for...
ok there is a lot we can use, but still there are many things missing four our production.

2006-12-07T16:39:00.000+01:00

visiting the police
i wanted to make the registration today here in qindao. i still have a tourist visa which is valid till end of january. i will change it soon to a residence visa, but i though i would register already in the city a bit earlier. i handed my passport to the police officer and after a while of looking at it she gave me a book with laws for foreigners and said 35, 40. so i read those parts which stated that foreigners should register after 24h after arrival in china. i arrived in august....number 40 said that there is a fine to be paid if one registers too late. i told her that i have a tourist visa and i don't think that tourists register after 24h when they come for holidays to china. she said that you have to register in every singel city after 24h if you don't live in a hotel, for example if you stay at your friend's home or rent an apartment. this is crazy! even with a tourist visa! nobody had ever told me that, and i don't think that any tourist does that. so actually all my friends and my family who stayed in my flat for holidays were here illegaly...anyway other parts of the laws have other regulations...very messy. maybe she shows only this part of the regulations to every foreigner to get some money for herself, who knows. i also wanted to buy this book, but she said it was the only one here...
later i told her, well so i won't register is it ok then? she said no, i have to do it anyway if i don't leave the country. my husband was very angry and called her boss because the way she spoke to us was very insulting. after a while she became friendly, we had to go to another room and suddently she said everything is ok, and she made the registration without fining us. also she said if we would be friends in future, nothing like this would happen anymore....thats how it works in china, always need relationships or shouting...

2006-11-28T17:23:00.000+01:00

bilingual kindergarden

2006-11-28T17:21:00.000+01:00

bilingual kindergarden: last pic the mini toilets, it's not really visible on the pic, bt they where really much smaller than the "normal" ones.

2006-11-28T17:19:00.000+01:00

today went with the neighbor to pick up his kid in this biligual (chinese, english) kindergarden. it costs 1500rmb per month and the kids can stay during the whole day. there are small classes for about 8kids, a lot of staff and teachers from all over the world working there.

2006-11-21T11:46:00.001+01:00

crowne plaza hotel

2006-11-21T11:39:00.000+01:00

korean food. as there are thousands of koreans living in qingdao, there are a lot of korean restaurants too. also most of the signs in qingdao are written both in chinese and korean. maybe we will once make a trip to korea, there is a ferry from qingdao to korea, it takes about 15hours and costs only 70$.

2006-11-13T07:14:00.000+01:00

qingdao 4.may square, one of the city centres. i think there are about 3 city centres. the one here above, one in the old german part and one near laoshan, but the laoshan one is under construction. yes, a whole new city centre will be there, near our home and it should be finished before 2008 as everything has to be perfect then. (qingdao is hosting one part of the 2008 olympics.)

2006-11-13T07:09:00.000+01:00

weihai again... 威海, 山东大学 here the shandong university campus of weihai. we stayed again only 2 days and it was sooo boring. (although the university campus is beautiful because it's all new)

2006-11-07T04:51:00.000+01:00

^qingdao city 青岛市 and urban planning exhibition:

the new airport (almost finished now)

olympic yacht centre (almost finished now)

2006-11-06T05:43:00.000+01:00

arriving at huangdao黄岛 in the veeery foggy weather, everything looked so mystical. they're building a bridge now from qingdao city to huangdao distric. also a tunnel will be built.

2006-11-06T05:42:00.000+01:00

ferry to huangdao (yellow island) 黄岛

2006-11-06T05:36:00.000+01:00

ferry to huangdao 黄岛, the developing district of qingdao. it takes about 30min with this ferry and tickets cost 7.-rmb. the faster ferry is 9.50rmb and takes 15min to huangdao. i thaught huangdao is more developped already, but it was like a chinese village and very dirty. so we just had a lunch and went back to qingdao city.

2006-11-05T14:28:00.000+01:00

market in jinan 济南山师东路, shan shi dong lu, near shandong normal (teacher's) university山东师范大学

2006-11-05T14:25:00.000+01:00

market in jinan, shan shi dong lu, near shandong normal (teacher's) university

2006-11-03T10:50:00.000+01:00

this man was a teacher and is now the "writer of the village". he has to write official announcements and put them on a wall in the village. this announcement here is a list of names of inhabitants of the village who helped to build a bridge near the village. so here they will see their names and the place where they can go to get their salary. they will get about 600rmb for the work they have done. (normal salary for a construction site worker in large cities is about 40rmb/day).

2006-11-03T10:48:00.000+01:00

details in the village

2006-11-03T10:44:00.000+01:00

fish we ate from the moonlake

2006-11-03T10:18:00.000+01:00

near the home of my husband's father, they are building a huge city for universities and schools, building started last year. here in the pictures is a small area of it. it's really in the middle of nowhere, about 30min away from jinan. there will be 9 schools/uni. every university will hold about 50 000 students. planning of the area includes 2 huge lakes, called moon and sunlake. also there will be huge shopping areas, hotels, golf courts and so on. there are already a few students who have moved there, but it's still under construction and will be finished in about 2 years.
now all the peasants have to move. its very nice!!! they get a lot of money, a flat and a lifelong rent in amount of their former earning. every person will get about 50 000rmb, 40sqm new flat (or 80sqm for couple) and lifelong rent about 150rmb/month. 150rmb is the amount they earn when they are peasants. they will have no land anymore, therefore they would be jobless, so that's the reason for the 50 000rmb (at least, it depends on the land they have) they are all very pleased because they will not have to work so hard anymore but get the same salary as if they would work! now they're all planting some expensive plants so that they will get some more additional money. they are realy pleased, it's not as always written in the west that they are forced out of their homes brutally. they have had a open talk and negotiations about the amount of money they will be paid. the state is doing a great job here. later the peasants plan to do new businesses with the students in the future. for example some will open internet cafes or restaurants.
now my husband is still in the family book from his father. also our child will be in that family book, so we will get the money and the flat too! whoohoo! i hope they wont decide to change the place. but just in back of the village there's already a huge lake and a huge golf court, so soon the next phase is going to start.

2006-11-03T10:11:00.000+01:00

inside qingdao university campus

2006-11-03T10:04:00.000+01:00

old german catholic church, qingdao

2006-11-03T10:01:00.000+01:00

old german catholic church, qingdao

2006-11-03T09:56:00.000+01:00

messy courtyard, qingdao old town

2006-11-03T09:52:00.000+01:00

beach no.1

2006-11-03T09:14:00.000+01:00

another building in old town qingdao

2006-11-03T09:12:00.000+01:00

a beautiful clear day in qingdao, near our home

2006-11-03T09:09:00.000+01:00

...some things in the sand...

2006-11-02T18:01:00.000+01:00

i was happy that wikipedia is accessible/deblocked again (all languages exept chinese), i thought they're opening up now...but a few days later my blog was blocked...grrrhrhrrr!!! now again all blogger blogs are blocked! very annoying!

2006-10-23T15:35:00.000+02:00

car accident near our home. it was too dark for taking pictures. there where two crashed cars. the car who crashed the other in the back was about 100m away, so it must have been a strong crash.fortunately the people were already evacuated when we arrived. i hate the driving "stile" here.

2006-10-21T13:36:00.001+02:00

2006-10-17T18:13:00.001+02:00

walls and a plat starfish...

2006-10-11T13:18:00.000+02:00

may 4th square qindao: "the golden weeks", national holidays. we went to the city center because we were expecting some sort of a communist military show or at least some national anthemn singing. but there were just tourists there, no shows at all! even in the night there were no firecrackers or anything. on all 60 tv stations i've got there were only 2showing some patriotic shows...so the reality is not really as we though it would be when we hear about china in the west...
on 6th ocober there was the traditional moon festival. there they had firecrackers and parties, unfortunately i was ill those days.

2006-10-11T13:16:00.000+02:00

national holidays, kites and skyline qingdao

2006-10-11T13:12:00.000+02:00

nice street food...njammnjamm

2006-10-11T13:11:00.000+02:00

old german building, qingdao

2006-10-06T16:51:00.000+02:00

painted windows, qingdao christian church built early in 20th centrury by the germans who were occupying qingdao for 99 years.

2006-10-06T16:50:00.000+02:00

qingdao christian church

2006-10-06T16:44:00.000+02:00

qingdao christian church

2006-09-27T12:05:00.000+02:00

shanghai pudong airport. this is a pic from our arrival 2 month ago.

2006-09-27T12:00:00.000+02:00

this is finnland, helsinki. it's a picture from our flight to china, we had to change plane in helsinki, because since swissair died, there is no direct flight from switzerland to china..sniff

2006-09-24T17:25:00.001+02:00

2006-09-20T15:06:00.000+02:00

cloth shops in taidong area.

2006-09-20T15:02:00.000+02:00

what the f....

2006-09-20T14:58:00.000+02:00

ad campaigns. (plural, the bed was another campaign...)

2006-09-20T14:52:00.000+02:00

"coffe cola" örks

collecting signatures for a greener and more cultivated city (i wonder what they will do with the signatures)

2006-09-20T14:50:00.000+02:00

more of the tai dong buildings

2006-09-20T14:46:00.000+02:00

tadong shopping street. they have painted most of the commie blocks here

2006-09-20T14:44:00.000+02:00

2006-09-20T14:39:00.000+02:00

wasteful art...

2006-09-20T14:36:00.000+02:00

yes life is so dangerous...

2006-09-20T14:20:00.000+02:00

busride...

gasride...

taxiride...

trainride...here it's written that u can put u'r chewing gum there, finally a legal chewing gum sticking wall!

2006-09-16T17:53:00.000+02:00

lonely penguin at the polar ocean world construction site

2006-09-16T17:52:00.000+02:00

polar ocean world, one part of the huge building

2006-09-15T15:03:00.000+02:00

where the aliens live, or the real seaview houses...they are being demolished soon i think, now still are used by fishermen.

2006-09-15T15:00:00.000+02:00

this is the famous path wich is over 40km along the seaside (last pic again the new polar ocean world). i did't see a lot of it by now only this part here. later we'll go and explore it!

2006-09-15T14:52:00.000+02:00

this is near our home, walking for about 2min straight to the sea. one side the laoshan mountains and the other side the sea. here it's very nice because there are only very few people at this part of the sea which is really seldom in china...

2006-09-15T14:48:00.000+02:00

some more villas in our double dragon garden...

2006-09-15T14:40:00.000+02:00

still our neighborhood. our place is called "双龙园" "shuang long yuan" which means double dragon garden. here in china you always live in gated communities. there is a guard there at a main gate but ours doesn't care about visitors. in some communities you need to fill in a form if making visits and some don't care. but however nearly all communities are gated and have a name, also for poorer people or high rise buildings. it just seems to be normal here, maybe because staff is so cheap here. i don't know if it's really necessary because i feel safe in china (if walking, not if taking bus or taxi...), i never had trouble and i can walk alone at every day or nighttime.