Almost Home

As I think about the last four weeks I am fortunate for the memories I have made, the people I have met, and the experiences I have been able to have.  I am truly sad to to be leaving the team that I have a just started getting to know.  As I look back and read my own blog I think of everything that I have not written about my experiences.  So much of the hotel, and the people I have met.  Somethings, I guess, have to be for just me.   I didn't write about my bad hair cut and color, about bartering for a watch and having it ripped out of my had with a woman yelling "Well then buy the Original," or of the people who took my picture, the women who glared at me for no reason.  I didn't write about the day I felt like I was in another world completely.  As I leave this place in mere hours I am reminded that home is a half  world away - not the place where your bed is.  I am excited to go home.  My only fear in leaving is that I will leave behind the me that I have found here.  The me that is unafraid, brave, talented, creative, passionate.  I saw it here.  I held it.  I made peace with what I am good at and what I am not.  I made peace with me.  

"If Only"

This weekend in a Hutong near the drum tower we found a bar.  Not so much a bar as a place that name classic drinks in their kitchen, and called them strange things; If only, If, If I'd never, If you, If me.  This bar was called "Siif."  I think, hope, it was more to be  "See If" as opposed to "The Siff" which I wouldn't wish for anyone to catch in a Hutong.  Nevertheless, I was side tracked, I had an IF ONLY.  I picked it by the name not knowing what was in it.  It was a perfect lemon drop, with a cherry and no sugared rim.  But it was great.  A perfect sunday treat.  It made me think about all the if only's I've had.  If only I'd done this sooner.  If only I was braver.  If only I didn't drink the tequila shots.  The strange hutong hideaway reminded me that IF's are OK.  If i did, if I didn't, if I was, if I wasn't.  I like the if.  If's are never the challenge.  Begin afraid to find out what they entail is. 

Street Food

I would have never in a decade think that I would miss the smell of street food.  Noodles, boiled blood, peanuts, meat of all shapes and sizes on sticks in a broth made of who knows what.  It took some time, but now as I walk down the Hutong Street kitchens I want to eat it all.  As all the faces stare at me, I stare at their food.  What is that?  What's in it?  I'm oddly unafraid of a lot of things, but street food is still scares the heck out of me.  

Rickshaw

This was hands down the best Rickshaw Driver I'd ever seen.  I almost paid him 10 RMB to let me have a hap.  

More than one Child

I know that I am brilliant and all, but I had to ask.  When the law says you can only have one child, what happens when you find out you are having twins?  The answer...You have twins.  It's just that simple. 

On this day in China I realized...

That all the children are beautiful.  They are just as lovely as any other, but they dance in public parks, chase each other round and round, they slide down the steps of thousand year old temples.  No matter where one may visit, it is good to see that we are all so similar, and children are the beacon of that truth. 

If there is one thing I have learned...

I know I know.. I have used this line a lot.  But I must say that "if there is ONE thing I have learned" it must be DON'T PISS OFF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT!  Yesterday Christie's auctioned off two pieces of looted Qing Dynasty relics.  They were part of Yves Saint Laurent's estate.  Well this is what everyone is talking about.  The Chinese government has been trying to acquire them, without paying the $40 million they went for.  It's scary, their is talk of Christie's not being allowed to trade in China.  So, why would Christies make such a bold move taking part in that auction.  Why wouldn't Yves will them back to China, or why would his benefactor not will them back to China, or why would Christie's (when approached by CHINA) not step and refuse to sell.  Man, they are sitting ducks now.  I can't wait to see how this turns out.  

Ok ok, I've been ready too much China Daily with my toast in the morning.  Now is a good time to get a hair cut, something about after Chinese new year, and the well being of maternal uncles.  I don't understand all this LUCK stuff, but I cant help by play along.  So I too went for a hair cut.    

I'll bring home some China daily's as well.   It's great too have the Chinese perspective on the world economic crisis.  I see what it is effecting, but I read that it is not taking a tole here.  Is lying by omission really lying?  Nope, it's just neglecting the truth. 

More of the Fairmont Beijing

I don't know if you can tell but the sign says "Champague Bar"  It's pretty awesome.  

The Fairmont Beijing

Everything is made in China

Today, I bought 4 pairs of new prescription glasses....   for less than $200.   Their is something wrong with the price of quality eyewear in Canada.  

You can by watches and handbags and cashmere OH MY!  But you know what you can not buy in China?  Women's underwear!  I can only assume that all women here wear their underwear up to, if not over their chests.  I'll try and take picture tomorrow. 

Lessons Learned

When you have to get up at 6:30am to climb something called "The Great Wall," one would think it wise to get a good nights sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, drink lots of water and mentally prepare for this type of excursion.  I managed to do not one of those things, completely disregarding the fact that I was going to have to climb anything.  To make a long story short; did you know clubs don't close at 2am.  Who knew?  I was just waiting for Suzy Wong's to close so that I knew it was 2am, and I could get a few sold hours of shut eye then make this trek.  But no, with no last call I just kept going, and going, and going...then I was reminded of my plans to conquor the beast and I looked at my watch.  4:45am, WHAT?  How did that happen?  How far are we from the hotel?  AN HOUR?  What?  

So, I arrived to the hotel, stripped off my clothes, slept on top of my blankets from 5:45am till 6am when my wakeup call came.  Then I went back to sleep until 7am when my party called to see if I was still coming.  I threw some things together, tired my sneekers, and flew out the door.  I grabbed breakfast to go, TONS of bottled water and I was off.  

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a terrible person to be around with a hang over; good thing it's just setting in now.  

I'm so happy I went, I climbed my heart out, I had a moment of silence in all of this.  It truly was amazing.  I can say I survived The Great Wall of China!

This week in China

I must being at the beginning...

The Swissotel (My Current Living Conditions): Well what can I say. I get hung up on when I order IRD, there are no F&B standards that are followed. Its a little sad. But the topper of it all. I have had breakfast every day at 720pm. Everyday the same host asks me my room number and if I am with Fairmont. Once, just once, REMEMBER who I am and just say good morning. Once, please! Or I might start making up room numbers.  Also every day the same kids calls me a taxi and asks me where I am going.  I actually yelled at him the other day because he just had no idea where I could be going.  "The same place I go to every day at 8am - give me a break here"  He had no idea I was angry.

The Fairmont Beijing: The hotel it's self is beautiful. Italian marble covers nearly ever surface. All spaces are open and have great flow. Everything is very feng shui and I can not move any furniture. The building has two towers the Reignwood Building and the Fairmont Building which are joined with a section of building holding the spa, fairmont gold and the pool. They are owned by one man - Dr. CC (Not what he is called to his face). I get the impression that he just wants a hotel to show that he can have one. He also have a personal Opera theater in his building and Placido Domingo on contact to come sing for him. This theatre is one of the most beautiful rooms I've ever seen and It's hard not to sneak in at the end of a long day and just sit on the stage and sing. Dr. CC made all of his money because he invented (and marketed very well) Redbull. So opposite the Fairmont sign on the building is a massive Redbull sign.

The Flaws: Well, construction workers here have NO attention to detail. Floors are not flat, walls do not always meet flush with the adjoining walls, they forgot to (just ignored to) put in grease traps and kitchen drainage. It's fun. We have no water or consistent power in our main kitchens as of yet. It's pretty difficult. Also from an H&S standpoint this place is a mess. Marble floors in the bars and no matting. Heavy doors that open to kitchens and debussing areas that have two and three steps directly outside the door. So dangerous. My favorite! Fire doors everywhere! That can not be propped open and do not stay open if you try because they are so heavy. They are not marked whether to push or pull and are often locked. SCARY! We have not gone through any fire training but hopefully will this coming week post the Mandarin Oriental fire.

Some getting used to: No one eats dessert in this country. After 5 days without a piece of chocolate I started to go a little nuts. Yesterday I went to the market to find a Dairy Milk and YES I was successful. But in general no one eats dessert - ever. After dinner fruit is customary - and that is why they are smaller here! New York Cheesecake does not exist. The food is amazing everywhere. I went to the Grand Hyatt to have dinner and see the lounge. We have almost a copy of their restaurant concepts. We had Peking Duck, jelly fish, pigs ear, fried whole fish, and some chestnuts and cabbage. Everything was amazing. The lounge "Red Moon" was a beautiful bar. It was long and narrow and to well laid out. The bar sold sushi and cocktails, they had a great whisky list (must have imported many items). They also had a cigar space with a large selection of cubans, red leather chairs and the best ventilation system I've ever experienced. No smoke lingered in this space at all. As an overview the people here are very gracious.

Ok... that's about it for me. My wake up call will happen in about 10 minutes. Its the part of the day where a lovely asian woman SCREAMS at me "It's 6:30 perfect, wake up call" and hangs up. If I didn't want to wake then, I'd have no choice. It's like my mother is here to get me out of bed. 10 minutes later a second call will come even if I dont want it, and I'll get screamed at again "2 time 6:40 perfect, Wake up call".. I'm up I"m up!

I miss you all so much. I'm all adjusted and comfortable. I can find my way around through the building, and the teams know who I am. It's great. I've made a few fast friends. This weekend I have rented a driver for the day with a few others and we are going to the wall, and the summer palace.  

The things we lost in the fire

Last night I fell asleep, as I have been most nights, to the BBC.  I work up around midnight to what I thought was a dream.  A hotel was burning down in Beijing that was slated to open in weeks.  What a funny dream I was having.  Finally, at 4am when I woke for the day, I realized I was not dreaming.  The New Mandarin Oriental had burned to the ground.  Of course their will be a lot of speculation as to why it burned down, but so far fireworks is being blamed.  The Lantern Festival and fireworks all over the city went on until the wee hours of the morning.  

On my way to the hotel, I had my taxi take me past the shell of the Mandarin Oriental.  It was quite sad.  All those Jobs.  All that work.  All that investment.  The silver lining - as there always is one - we will get some great colleagues out of it.  But please, all you hoteliers, take a moment of silence for the loss.  It may have just been a building to some, but to that company it was a flagship property far superior to all the rest.  Still very sad!

I'm Fine, I'm Safe, I'm Fine I'm Safe!

That's all I said over and over as my plane landed in the beautiful, massive Beijing Airport.  A structure that you have to take a subway to get to the adjacent building to get your luggage.  

I'm fine.  I'm safe.  

Last night I arrived to my small, but relatively perfect apartment in the Swiss Hotel.  It's not a lot, but it'll do just fine.  I arrived to an evening of fireworks - I hoped they were for me, but it was for a celebration of Chinese New Year - The year of the Ox.  As I write this, it is the last night of Chinese New Year, the Lantern celebration and there is fireworks in every one of my windows.  Not like the few we see during Splash, these have been going on for almost three hours now, and for miles and miles.  It's actually quite beautiful.  

Today was Day 1.  Most of my day was spent getting situated in the hotel.  It is beautiful, but has its flaws.  My team is lovely, and all the local outlet managers and supervisors are the most eager young people I have ever met.  I am excited to work with all of them.  Post breakfast, which was challenging to get through as my nerves had gotten the better of me, I started working on the cocktail/wine/liquor lists for the Champagne Bar and the Lobby Lounge - two amazing spaces.  Right now, I am proofing menus. 

For anyone who likes bars or design please look up the Lan Club in Beijing.  I went there for dinner tonight, and its amazing.  It's built on the 5th floor of a mall.  The whole fifth floor.  I felt like I was popped into an Alice and Wonderland trip.  It was a great place.  Now I am off to bed with my menus.  I'm going to try and sleep through all the fireworks.

Geez Louise Murphy!

Well it's only been 4 months, a round of Mandarin lessons, and a trip to Mexico later and I finally get to buy a ticket. I finally get to to go China. I will arrive there on February 9th 2009. I am very excited to be there. To open an amazing property. To experience something that, frankly, scares the moses out of me. But I am very excited. Not for the flight though. But all that terrifies me, also excites me.