Launch of the Belgians in Beijing Club

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

We can say in some way that the dinner at In & Out (Yunnan Restaurant, see my earlier comment) on 14 January was the start of the BBC, our new Beijing Belgian Club. There were some preparatory meetings in the previous weeks to brainstorm on how to set it up.
See: In Out Yunnan Food

 

There were some initiatives in the past, more than ten years ago, with Michel Lens organizing the “Blue Lotus”. But at the time, response was rather lukewarm – my own experience is that the Belgian community in Beijing is hard to mobilize, while in Shanghai that is not an issue at all.
But now we have some enthusiastic volunteers and we hope we can look ahead to a nice gathering of Belgians here in the capital! A first idea for the website was planned and the domain name reserved.
Since then the name has been changed to “Belgians in Beijing” (BiB). A logo will soon be chosen. See the new website: http://www.belgiansinbeijing.com/
The next “official” event will be on 11 March in the Belgian Embassy.

Rotary Beijing’s New Year Reception

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

The Charity New Year Reception was held on Tuesday, January 12th in PE Daniel’s showroom at Jiancai Jingmao Dasha (Beijing Building Material Trade Tower). Twenty-five guests participated in the event including two Rotaractors. Three bottles of fine wines donated by La Cava De Laoma were auctioned off as were three paintings donated by PP. Mike Ma. The proceeds from the auction will go towards the funding of club projects. The total collected in the evening (tickets, auctions, donations) was close to RMB 50,000.

 

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See here a selection of the pictures, by Celine and Gilbert.

Internations: Beijing Book Reading Group special

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Internations has many groups active in Beijing. This is one I try to join whenever I can. This time, Sunday 10 January,  the book discussed was “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman.
Location was again Iqiyi Cafe next to SOHO Sanlitun.
Special was the birthday celebration of the Group Consul, Kevin Paul Goodmann. He got a big surprise from some of the members: a big special birthday cake and a box of very tradional Beijing cookies.

Interesting discussion as always!

 

Old China Hands lunch 8 January: highest attendance

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

On Friday 8 January, for once the second Friday of the month (and the year), our monthly lunch at Morel’s Restaurant.
I think we beat or equaled our highest attendance with 37 participants.

We nearly filled our side of the restaurant. As always the mixed crowd enjoyed the casual discussion and mingling.

Discovering another Chinese “fast food” restaurant chain: Xibei

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Xibei serves Shanxi specials and has many outlets all over Beijing. I call it Chinese fastfood because of the large crowds, the queing and the rather cheap prices. My visit was on 7 January 2016.
I had to wait for well over 20 min. at the Ginza Mall outlet (Dongzhimen), made interesting as I could watch some of the cooks preparing the food. All pretty well organized and clean.
I was told the “long-hour stewed fish” was recommended but by the time we ordered they had run out. Oh well next time.

The dishes were pretty good and I liked their popular cold noodle dish, among others. Price very reasonable: no drinks (free water) and food (plenty) for two: some RMB 110.
Always puzzling why some restaurants are so popular while others remain rather empty. One of the mysteries of Beijing, at least for me.