Wednesday 27 May 2009

Rock Climbing in Ritan Park


Ritan Park is not only one of the most beautiful parks in the heart of Beijing, it offers also adventure in the middle of the city:

Outdoor Touchstone Rock Climbing!

This is the best place for beginners and advanced climbers to go outdoor rock climbing in Beijing. There is a Touchstone Climbing Club called Dianshi that you might want to join for a little fee.

Open: from about end of January to the mid of November, 10am-9:30pm
Ritan Park, near Northeast gate
phone: 138-0105-2361

More info via related links:
China, Asia, Climbing and Fixed Gear Bikes by Ines Brunn
Rock Climbing.com about Ritan Park
cityweekend on rock climbing in Beijing

Make sure to have good equipment !

And this is a good time to introduce you to my new sponsor: Climbing Gear

I am glad to have sponsors - it is not only motivating - it is also a little reward for my time spent on this blog.
Thanks for visiting my sponsor(s) and your reader support.

Photo by Ines Brunn

Tuesday 19 May 2009

better get a .com domain name for China readers ?

Ah, this is really a mess!

Why again?!

I get emails that people even cannot access there blogger accounts anymore to continue blogging, not to speak of all the readers in China that cannot read the blogs anymore ...

I checked my country statistic and it is true: no more hits from mainland China!

Not only the editor and readers, also the sponsors are not amused !

I think it was never that bad since I started blogging. It means even the little tricks to go around the Great Firewall of China do not work anymore!

I also own the domain name BeijingNotebook.com
So far I deemed it not necessary to use it. I was afraid of loosing all comments and get a set-back in the google ranking (which is 4 out of 10 so far).

If the situation is still the same next week, I will set a pointer (have to find out how?!) to allow the use of the '.com' domain name that will then redirect to my blogspot address. Any hints from experts? The best way to do this?
Thanks !
Xie Xie !

Monday 18 May 2009

Made in Beijing: 0813 beach + spa wear

0813 is a beach wear label which was created in Beijing in 2008 by two German fashion designers.

The label's clothing and accessories offer unique combinations inspired by the beach, spa and pool side.

It is offering relaxed easy pieces without missing the right bit of glamour:

Linen dresses and flower printed scarfs, yoga outfits, sleeveless dresses in terry cotton and big beach bags, ....







... hooded jumpers in terry cotton to snuggle up for kids, ...

... fine knitted tops with harem pants, ...

... effortless chic with embroidered tunic blouse, beach towels, wrapped beach skirt... long neck holder dress combined with chunky, silver pendants, pearls and stones, hand knitted hats, trendy handbags...

The two creative ladies, Karin Schneider is a clothing engineer and works all over Asia as quality manager and Ira Walendy is a fashion designer based in Beijing, target with their products the hotel business and its fashion boutiques. The brochure says: supporting your companies corporate identity we will provide you with sophisticated high quality and accessories customized to your requirements.

When you live or stay in Beijing you might choose to contact Ira at ira0813(at)live(dot)com to have a look at the bags or bikini wraps and all the other clothing. Ira also hosts cashmere parties at her home in Lanebridge where you can order custom made sweaters or jackets in your favorite colours, style and size.

Saturday 9 May 2009

A Little Beijing: an anusual guide for unusual travellers


If a visitor to Beijing is walking through its amazing old hutongs (alleys) he might want to buy a postcard of the impressions he had to write home about. Then he or she will look around and realize that there are no decent postcards available (so far) in this (still slightly) communist country. And if it happens that this accidental traveller is a photographer and graphic designer, she might later come up with a creative idea.

Linzy Q., the accidental traveller, is a talented photographer and professional graphic designer based in Singapore. Also she is a passionated postcard writer and likes to discover places by walking, egg. Beijing. So she came up with this simple but beautiful idea of an unusual postcard guide for 7 Beijing walking tours. She made the pictures and styled the cards, published it in Singapore and won a design award. She even blogs about her project that has a modest name: A Little Beijing.


The idea is that the visitor just grabs about 10 postcards per tour and per day that guide him/her to touristic sights along non-touristic hidden gems or vice-versa. The Little Beijing project becomes interactive when users give feed-back on the blog or prove that the postcards have arrived.


The more pictures I see the more I want to own one Little Beijing postcard set myself. You do not necessarily need to write postcards, buy Chinese stamps and send them home (hoping that the postmen don’t like them too much…). You could keep them as souvenirs or stick them into your scratch book.

So far the Little Beijing guide is only available in a few bookstores in Hong Kong and Singapore or online via a little Beijing.

I recommended Linzy to get in contact with shops in Nanluogu Xiang Hutong (near the Drum Tower) in Beijing. They sell unique Beijing souvenirs beside their own branded products. Also the Beijing Bookworm in Sanlitun would be an excellent selling point for this visionary guide. I would guess that the expat crowd will jump on it what makes the perfect gift for birthdays, newcomers, visitors and farewell parties.

A big thanks to Lara Dunston from cooltravelguide who gave me the hint and posted about it here.

-----------------------------------------------
Interview with Linzy Q, the maker of A Little Beijing (via mail) :

BN: Linzy, how did you come up with the tours? Did you walked them by yourself, did you ask friends?

Linzy: I came up with a 7 day guide of places that I’ve been to or stumbled upon that i think is interesting. Back then, I was constantly surprised by new findings. While heading to a place, I’ll find something else along the way.

BN: How many tours do you suggest? Do they have names?

Linzy: Each day is differentiated by a different colour so easier for navigation on the main map. each card is numbered, with the name of the place. egg. 3.07 (http://alittlebeijing.blogspot.com/2008/03/to-ilsy.html) would be the 7th card of day 3, with "Nightlife by the lake" being the title. there are also cards like 6.02 where it's a record of my feelings for a place rather than just a proper write-up introduction.

I see this whole guide as a documentation of my Beijing and by passing this guide on to others, it would become theirs. When they write their thoughts over and send it out, the whole project becomes interactive.


BN: Who is your target group? Chinese and foreigners?

Linzy: adventurous travellers who are looking for more beyond the basic touristy attractions.

BN: Where did you realize your idea? Where is it printed? Singapore?

Linzy: yup, everything was done back here in Singapore.

BN: Are you a graphic designer? Photographer?

Linzy: I'm a graphic designer and photography is my way of remembering things/people/places/events.

BN: Do you collect postcards from where you travel?

Linzy: I do!!! I have this habit of collecting postcards and sending them back to family and friends when I’m travelling.

BN: You plan this for other cities?

Linzy: yup, definitely.

Thanks for the interview and all the best for your project and the ones to come!

(Photo Source: Linzy Q)

Friday 8 May 2009

Directory of 61+ Women English-language China Bloggers

Today I received some traffic from a blog that I have not heard or read about yet: CNReviews.

So, I followed the link and discovered that the two guys behind that blog, Kai lives in Shanghai and Elliott in Silicon Valley, have compiled with some support from others a quiet complete list of female bloggers who write in and about China in English language.

Some blogs are well-know to me. And among those are a few I had no idea that they have female editors! Very interesting list. Thanks for the effort and thanks for including Beijing Notebook!

If you are or know a female blogger in China you can add your/her blog to the list by leaving a comment on the CNR blog.

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