Jon Greaves: Service Science, Gadgets and BBQ (not necessarily in that order...)

Time really has flown for the last week here in Beijing. I think its a combination of many good meetings with my team and getting to explore some of the local attractions. Some of the highlights include

• Attending the ERI new years party, this was a really great evening. Some very impressive acts and some great talent, my favorite was the band playing Bon Jovi's "its my life". I think I volunteered Tae Kim and myself to do Karaoke at next years party, Sin-Yaws only comment without blinking was you better be good. So Tae, you and I need to practice :-)

• Visiting the great wall, and climbing (a small) section. This really was breathtaking both in terms of the wonder of the wall and also making the climb. Truly amazing sight. Sarah Yin acted as our guide (thanks Sarah), I learned many new things. I even was asked by a complete stranger to have my photo taken with her. That made my day :-) Amazingly my blackberry decided to go crazy and pull in a bunch of email while on the wall. Sarah was kind enough to translate some calligraphy from Chairman Mao - " He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man"

• A tour of Tiananmen Square and the forbidden city, the beauty of the forbidden city was stunning and since the weather was so cold very few ventured our so was not so busy as the summer time. In Tienanmen Square I learnt about the "hello, hello people", street vendors who are looking to sell everything from fake rolex watches to Olympic games merchandise.

• The Temple of Heaven - Sandy Gong was kind enough to take us on a tour on Sunday morning, again another amazing place. In the morning many retired people gather to dance, sing and practice martial arts and calligraphy. The calligraphy was written on the pavement in water and evaporated before your eyes.

• Learning about tea, I think I first tasted english tea when I was about 7. My reaction was "why would anyone drink this?", i've not tried tea since that time. Sandy took us to a tea shop that also teaches the history and origins, we tasted 5 kinds of tea and much to my surprise I found that I really enjoyed Oolong tea. I can see myself drinking this regularly.

• The many great meals during the visit, my favorite was hot pot which is similar to fondue.

I would like to thank the managed services engineering team and Sin-yaw/eri for taking such great care of me. I'm already looking forward to my next opportunity to return to Beijing.

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