Save water and energy

Having enough water and energy is one of the big challenges for China during the coming years.
Every way to save water and electricity is tested and today in many restaurants in Beijing You find that the hand-basin do not have any taps - the water is controlled by photocells. This not

just to save water but also for sanitary reasons to avoid contact and to spread bacterium.

In our apartment all use of water, gas and energy is measured and we simply pay for what we use.
The method is very "hightech" copared to what I am used to from Sweden.
We have meters every where... In the kitchen wo meters for there is the gas-meter and two meters for water (hot and cold). In the bathroom whe have meters for hot water and for toilet water (water of lower quality!). Finally, out in the hall you find the electricity meter.

You have two "credit cards" with chips and when you put them into the meter you can see how much water or gas you have left to use. To "upgrade" you take your cards and go down to the lobby and pay either in a machine or in the office. Back in the apartment you put the cards into the meters again and your new balance will be updated into the meter. A smart way to let everybody self pay for what they use. If you want to save energy and money you can!

Big brother is watching

There is a lot in media about China beeing an open country before the Olympics. But there is still a long, long way to go. Almost every day CNN news in TV is censored and You have a black TV screen for some seconds. Blogspot and other blogs are closed down so we can not see what we put on our blogs.
And all these TV and Video cameras everywhere - in streets, shops, stations, trains, buses, elevators, parks ... Yes, they are everywhere!
In Guangzhou, in south China, another 100 000 video cameras are to be installed in public places to a cost of 200 million Yuan. When finished there will be 230 000 cameras in that town. According to the local police, between January and July, the surveillance cameras provided the police with 800 clues which were used to help crack 570 cases...

An "odd" day in Beijing

As a test for the Olympics the Government is for four days trying to bring down the airpollution in Beijing. This by just letting 50 percent of the cars use the streets per day - getting 1 million cars away from the streets.

So, today and Sunday all cars with an "odd" last number in the license plate is allowed to drive and tomorrow and Monday all with an even number.
I was amazed - it worked! Traffic was almost as back in Sweden and almost no one with a wrong number was driving. The penalty was 100 RMB which is quite a lot of money for many people here.
Today a drive from south of Beijing to our factory in the north that normally takes 1 hour just took 35 minutes.

There is a rumour that one month before the Olympics the situation will be the same - odd numbers one day, even the next day. For a short while like over this weekend I think it will work but not for a longer periode. Chinese people is creative and very soon we will see cars with changeable licensplates...







Not eveybody was following the rules!
This busdriver got caught by the Police
and had to pay 100 RMB for driving on
the wrong day!

Welcome to Park Avenue 4:16 D

August 1st we moved to our new apartment at Park Avenue and it have been some hectic days before getting settled.

When we returned from Europe the landlord had furnished the apartment with items from IKEA according to the list we made before we went away. Everything was in place, TV, Internet, telephone, DVD - all installed and tested.

We are lucky to have very good landlords - a young couple that live in another apartment in the centre of Beijing.

Park Avenue is at the south gate of Chaoyang Park so it is a little bit more east of the centre than San Quan and we are not anymore able to just walk to the shopping and restaurants but the apartment is new, bigger and it is also closer to drive to the factory and the office.

Back in Beijing

Back to the traffic jams, back to the smog and heath
- I am back home!

This will be what I will live whith for the next two years. My Long Term assigment is starting tomorrow.

Still missing one of my bags from the flight from Paris to Beijing. Fingers crossed...
(bag arrive Beijing on Thursday - 4 days delayed...)