One World One Dream...

BEIJING, BEIJING, BEIJING...

Olympics 2008 has transformed Beijing into a very different city.

Yes! I made it to Beijing.
After seeing the impressive Olympic display and fantastic looking venues on the telly and Brix's photos from his Beijing trip, it's hard not to pay a visit to Beijing...especially no excuse when I was visiting Hong Kong, and it's less than 4 hours away.



The Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed Birds Nest, is as impressive a structure as I have imagined it. Designed by Swiss Architects Herzog & DeMeuron, took under five years to construct, was the stage for the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the field events. Cant quite figure out the logic of the frame and it appears to be over-structured...but it's such a marvellous space to be in. The fun National Aquatics Centre, known as the Water Cube, is also available for visiting. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get in due to entry fee costing more than the Forbidden City... and I chose the Birds Nest out of the two. The Cube apparently is the first polyhedron steel structure to be built based on the water bubble theory, and also the only closed public building entirely clad in an outer membrane. It changes colour due to the LED lights installed in every 'bubble', but it didnt change colour when I was there.















Construction are still visible everywhere in Beijing but the whole city underwent almost a complete transformation for the Olympics.










A lot of the old Hutongs (old alleyways) and traditional quadrangle houses were demolished to make way for new malls, roads, subways, office buildings, terminal, Beijing National Theatre, CCTV building, etc.
Gone are the days when there were more bicycles than motor cars. Not many Hutongs left where the local people can mingle, gather and play chess. Traditional houses have been replaced by rows and rows of high-rise. It's frightening how much Beijing has changed in the last 10 years.

Good job the Great Wall, Forbidden City and some quadrangle houses are preserved and left for the next generations to enjoy and appreciate.

What? It's been over a year ago!??!

I was reading a copy of the 'Now Then' and came across this advert which reminded me of my trip to South East Asia... it all seems such a long time ago.

Sapporo, capital city of Hokkaido in northern Japan. It is famous for its seafood, ramen, beer and more. It was also the first city that me and my mate started our 4-month-travel.

Japan, compared to many other countries I have visited, is a very clean and friendly country. Despite many Japanese people do not speak English, many do bend backwards to help total strangers. We have been very fortunate to be helped by many during our stay, but one particular old lady comes to mind every time I talk about Japan.

We met her when we did our 30-odd-km cycling from Wakkanai to Japan northernmost point, Cape Soya, on pootle shopping bikes with no gear.
It was getting late and the weather had turned nasty. We had to race against a constant headwind and this had slowed our progress down considerably, soon it was pretty obvious that if we didn't hitch a lift or something, we wouldn't be able to make it back to Wakkanai station to catch the last train back to Asahikawa. The taxis that we came across wouldn't take the bicycles we were riding, but fortunately this little old lady came to our rescue when we tried to get into an empty hotel to use the phone. She didn't speak any English and despite our best effort to explain our situation using a pocket size Japanese phrasebook, she could see that we needed help but other than that, she didn't really have a clue what we were on about. So she flagged down a police car in the hope that the police could help us... and guess what? The police didn't speak a lot of English either! After a lot of deciphering using the phrasebook (which seemed like an age) the policeman finally realised that we needed to get back to the station quickly but unfortunately the bikes wouldn't fit into his car. The little old lady stepped in again by getting her husband to use his pick-up truck to get us back to the station, and we were just in time to catch the last train! Very lucky indeed. Me and my friend would like to thank this old lady but we don't even know her name.

Other than its friendly people, there are loads of other things that worth mentioning too... Japanese festivals, beautiful and colourful costumes and kimonos, Japanese contemporary and historic architecture, provocative sculptures and idols, toilets with advance technology (they usually have buttons that activate tasks such as squirting/ cleaning your bottom, music to mask the sound when you are pee-ing, heated toilet seat, etc),
onzens and rotenburo, hot springs that help relaxing your body and soul, shopping malls that leave you speechless, musical pedestrian crossings, convenient stores to almost every corner of the streets, vending machines every 10m or so selling everything from hot/ chilled coffee in cans, green tea, beer, sake, cigarettes, magazines, batteries, ice-cream, bread, voucher for ramen, and more,
bright neon lights in Shinjuku and the largest pedestrian crossing you will ever see, bullet trains that run like clockwork (and I mean that, they were always on time and on schedule, spaceous and clean too), budget hotels with tiny capsules for businessmen, fugu fish sashimi that might poison those who dare tasting it, creamy tofu, awesome food raw or cooked...


There are just too much to list, so why not go and see for yourself? We were in Japan for 6 weeks travelling from the northern part to the southern corner. Much were experienced, tasted and seen, but we have only scratched the surface. There are still so much to be seen, so many places to visit and so many things to try. I, for one, will definitely be going back there for more, visiting the less popular places, learning more Japanese, experiencing the cherry blossom/ snow festival and trying more Japanese food.

Sheffield scenes

Various parts of Sheffield photographed recently...

First one is the well known Arts Tower with the newly restored Weston Park in the foreground. Restoration work has been ongoing in Weston Park and will be completed in 2008 returning the park to its former glory.

Second picture is the nearly completed Jessop West building.

Located at the heart of the Sheffield campus near the Brookhill roundabout, the new energy-efficient home for the Department of History and the Schools of English, and Modern Languages and Linguistics, was designed by German-based architects Sauerbruch Hutton in collaboration with British architects RMJM.

Third picture is the award-winning Sinclair Building designed by Project Orange. The new premises replaced the old 2-storey building with two levels of retail and four upper stories of apartments. It was designed to make a bold statement - its black facade so unlike anything on the Glossop Road had been chosen to "project aspiration and in an area where there is already plenty of luxuriant terracotta faience".

The next picture is the “Sound House” on Gell Street which is part of Sheffield University’s Music department. Instead of the usual metal/ timber cladding you see everywhere in the immediate area, this one is clad in a rubber/ fabric type cladding and only time will tell how well this new material performs.

The pictures that follow are the Peace Garden with its fantastic Goodwin fountain and jets. This feature usually provides hours of fun for kids and adults, who find it hard to resist not getting wet running through between the jets. Nearby across the road from the Crucible Theatre is the Winter Garden and Millennium Gallery.

Lastly, is the Information Commons with its bold jagged pre-patinated copper facade and contrasting black terracotta rainscreen tiles on a concrete podium. The building combines a library and IT resource providing students with various types of environment including different acoustic requirements.

There are loads more interesting buildings and spaces in Sheffield, so watch this space or if you cant wait, visit the following:

More Sheffield Pictures...