Getting around

Honduras and Belgian embassies events

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Honduras Embassy event

There is a common link between the Honduras and Belgian embassies events: a Belgian Princess.
Thanks to Ms. Leyla I attended the reception in the Intercontinental hotel Sanlitun.
The theme: “The night of the Feathered Serpent: Celebrating Friendship. In the Year of the Wooden Snake, we commemorate the Second Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Honduras and China, inspired by the Feathered Serpent-a symbol of wisdom and renewal in Mayan culture, bridging our histories and traditions.”
Guest of Honor: Honduran Minister of Tourism, Ms. Yadira Esther Gómez.
Impressive performance of the national hymns and interesting presentation of Mayan legacy.

Ambassador Salvador Moncada, who is married to the Belgian Princess Esmeralda (Marie-Esméralda – Lady Moncada)), who could not attend.
Princess Marie-Esméralda is the youngest child of the late Leopold III of Belgium and his second wife, Lilian Baels, Princess of Réthy. She is a journalist, author, documentary-maker, environmental activist and a campaigner for the rights of women and indigenous people.
Sir Salvador Moncada is a Honduran-British pharmacologist who was supposed to receive the Nobel Prize, did not get it and was instead decorated by Queen Elizabeth II.
See here more details about the Princess in Dutch and English: 231018 Esmeralda
Also happy to meet HE Paulette Bethel Ambassador of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and HE Martin Mpana ambassador Cameron

Trio Zadig in Beijing

Belgian Trio Zadig performed in the Belgian Embassy in Beijing on 22 May 2025. Watch here a short video of their performance.
This concert marks the kick-off of the exciting event series, “A Sense of Europe”, with a focus on a Steinway Grand Piano currently residing at the Embassy. (on loan from Peter Ritzen).
Miclen LaiPang, the violinist, Marc Girard Garcia, the cellist and Guillaume Vincent on the piano captured the essence of Mendelssohn and Piazzolla.
The Trio brought exceptional instruments with them: a “Charles Castleman” Antonio Stradivarius c. 1707 violin (on generous loan by the esteemed Belgian academic institution Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel) as well as an Andrea Guarneri c. 1675 cello, both accompanied by the embassy’s Steinway Grand Piano Model B.

The performance was really top level and impressive. We were served drinks and a buffet.
I finally met Princess Esmeralda with her husband HE Sir Salvador Moncada, ambassador of Honduras.

Old China Hands Lunch 4 October 2024

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Golden Week

Being right in the middle of the Golden Week of 1 October the Old China Hands Lunch 4 October 2024 saw only 21 participants, not bad under the circumstances.
We had the pleasure of celebrating 50 years of China for our friend Raja. As far as we know he is the “oldest” OCH in our group.
We prepared a banner and a special cake for the occasion. Many lined up to take a picture with the celebrity!

The food

As always Morel’s spoiled us with the food. See the pics for some of the dishes

  • ham salad Andalouse OR puff pastry with chicken curry Indian style OR fresh daily soup
  • veal scurry sauce sauce served with salad and Belgian fries OR sliced roast beef with gravy served with cauliflower and pan-fried potatoes OR pan-fried snapper Meunière served with daily vegetables and boiled potatoes
  • daily dessert

Gilbert on YouTube

Video with my interview got uploaded on YouTube channel:

“I have been living in China since 1980.”
By King Kwesi
I must say it’s a bit long but it gives a pretty good overview of some aspects of my career.

Origin of “Old China Hand”

If someone is an old hand at something, they are very skilled at it because they have been doing it for a long time.
In 1940s America, the term China Hands came to refer to a group of American diplomats, journalists, and soldiers who were known for their knowledge of China and influence on U.S. policy before, during, and after World War II.

Old China Hands Lunch 2 August 2024

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Summer time

Our Old China Hands Lunch 2 August 2024 had 22 participants, many away from Beijing and last-minute cancellations. Special guest was Nelson from Brazil who is the correspondent of Folha de São Paulo, a newspaper I read when I was in Brazil.

The menu (see the pics):
– sliced smoked salmon stuffed with seafood and garden greens OR poached eggs with wine merchant sauce OR Morel’s chef salad (ham, blue cheese, pan-fried chicken, beef on lettuce) OR cream of tomato soup
– fricandeau of beef served with hot cherry and mashed potatoes OR beef tenderloin Stroganoff served with market vegetables and steamed rice  OR red snapper Provençale style served with daily vegetables and mashed potatoes
– daily dessert

Raja in the news

Our friend Raja was again in the news, see the BRTV clip of 25 July 2024 here.

Raja speaks Chinese as a native and beats us all as the “oldest” Old China Hand!

Hong Kong pub

In March 2020 I had reported in this post “RIP Old China Hand” that a famous little bar in Hong Kong disappeared.
Well, it is back as reported in LinkedIn by Sanjeev Aaron Williams on 27 May 2024:“I maintain that Hong Kong will never be “back to normal” because the paradigms on which it was established, are collapsing in a changing and disruptive world.
That said, the return of the pub “The Old China Hand” is to be welcomed. Long term residents will recall its original location in Wanchai pre-1997. It moved to Kennedy Town until the building was demolished and recently re-surfaced in Sheung Wan, on the corner of Hollywood Road and Po Yan Street. They kept some of the original pre-97 decor including its red neon sign.

Huge Daliushu market in Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

A real surprise

A friend took me to explore the huge Daliushu market in Beijing. I never heard about it, I knew about Panjiayuan, Hongqiao, Pearl Market, Silk Market and some other smaller and less well-known markets. Daliushu – see the map – is in the South East of Beijing between de 4th and 5th ring.
The market is open during the day, till late afternoon and is just simply huge, several buildings and several floors. Prices are incredibly cheap, see the pictures of the clothes where they sell each piece like for 20 and 30 RMB. Immense sections selling textiles, shoes, jewelry, decoration, electronics, kitchenware, professional kitchen equipment, small shops (a lot of Russian imports), birds, crickets, name it.
We also found some real antique shops, in one we chatted for a long time with the owner.

On Tuesday evenings, starting around 4 to 5 pm, there is a vast, mainly outdoors flea market, where you find about anything, antiques, old electronics, camera, watches, old tools, decoration, toys, whatever.
We chose the right day, arriving on a Tuesday afternoon and sticking around to see the evening market. It’s also called “The last ghost market”.

For the whole duration of the visit I was the only foreigner, and no, no any Africans shopping…

I bought boots

Except some Russian dark chocolates I bought nice leather boots, 550 RMB. Those normally sell for way over 1,000 RMB.

Panjiayuan is the most well-known “antique market” (or called flea market or curio market) in Beijing, on the southeast 3rd ring road. I haven’t been there since maybe 15 years. The stores in the market open every day while the street stalls just open on weekends according to Travelchinaguide. More about that market here.

Yantai City in Shandong

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Big conference

We were invited to Yantai City in Shandong by the Foreign Affairs Department to take part in the 2023 Conference on International Exchange of Professionals and International Experts’ Tour. I was there as rotating chairman of the Foreign Experts Group of the Belt & Road International Talent Fund, under the State Administration of Foreign Experts.
The Conference originally planned to have 300 attendants but I understand they finally had over 500. Location was the Crowne Plaza Yantai Sea View in Laishan District.

On 17 April we traveled by train from Beijing South Railway Station (after a coffee and snack) to Yantai, always comfortable.
Near every day we could hardly see anything from our hotel room as there was always fog coming from the sea. Only the last day we could finally see the sea!

Yantai has a population of around 7 million, located south of the junction of Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. It is the largest fishing seaport in Shandong. Yantai is currently the second largest industrial city in Shandong, next to Qingdao. However, the region’s largest industry is agriculture. It is famous throughout China for a particular variety of apple and Laiyang pear, and is home to the country’s largest and oldest grape winery, Changyu.
Major industries are agriculture, wine and brandy, petrochemical, gold mining, biomedicine and many other.
This is the first post about Yantai, more to come about the Conference, factory visits and more.

Seafood and seafood!

On the evening of 17 April a first seafood dinner with friends in Xiao Hong Jing (Little Red Whale), supposed to be one of the best in Yantai. The choice is impressive: abalone, cockle, mussels, shrimps, prawns, oysters, scallops, crab, screw shells, octopus, fish, snails, razor shells, ostrich eggs, silk worm cocoon, worms, bugs, … The mussels were rally soso as I am usd to the top quality in Morel’s restaurant…
The next day we went back again to the same restaurant, along with other foreign guests who brought vodka of I think 65%.

See the short video! (VPN needed)

I later discovered I had some seafood allergy, I blame the screw shells because it all started already in Beijing where I ate those for the first time. A bit annoying but found the right medicine cream (Eloson).