因工作關系，我要到北京工幹。先在香港轉機，於是約了位識了幾年的網友見見面。要她一拖二，又要打擾了她的爸媽，真的有點不好意思。其實，早在三兩年前寫網誌認識的網友跟現在識的有些不同，因為當時認識的，是比較用心去認識雙方。大家有一些共同話題與人生目標，所以很有共鳴。所以，就算我已經少在Yahoo Blog出沒，但大家仍有保持聯絡。

Because of my work, I’d to go to Beijing for work. First I had a stop in Hong Kong before arriving in Beijing. I made use of that transit time and met up with a blogger friend whom I’ve got to know for a few years already. She took her 2 little ones along, and I felt bad about having to bother her parents as well. In fact, I know this friend already for a couple years, and this friendship is somewhat different from the bloggers you get to know these days. In those days, we really put our heart out for our blogmates, and we have more or less common topic to talk about or common goals in life. Therefore, though I don’t come to Yahoo Blog often, I still keep in touch with these friends.

看著她的大兒子由小嬰孩到現在口齒伶俐，亦看著她的小女兒由嬰兒變到現在會行會走的可人兒，真的覺得時間過得很快！跟這位朋友一面吃，一面傾談，很高興，連時差也忘了，老虎也可以打幾隻！其間，這位朋友的媽媽還不停點了美食，催我吃！

I witnessed her eldest boy growing from a baby to an expressive child, and her daughter growing from a baby to a little girl walking and running around. Time really flies by quick. We had a great time talking and having dim sum together. I even wasn’t that much bothered by the jet lag. In the meantime, her mom kept on ordering nice food for us, and encouraged me to eat more.

短短幾小時，又過了！要北上啦！在等待上機前，還是頂不著魚蛋粉和紅荳冰的誘惑，吃了才上機。其實這是個好的決策，因為到達北京酒店時，已經是晚上九時半，酒店內不再供應晚餐了！幸好，我在香港去超級市場走了一趟，買下杯麵，只是在房內只能找到這兩條棒棒，當作筷子用。

Those hours flew by and I’d to go back to the airport for my next flight. Before boarding, I couldn’t resist having my first bowl of fish balls noodles and a red beans drink which turned out to be a good decision. When I arrived Beijing, it was already 9:30pm where the restaurants from the hotel were closed. Luckily, I also brought a cup of noodles in the supermarket in Hong Kong before I left. Just that I couldn’t find anything to use besides these two stirring sticks as chopsticks.

其實，我每次出差只會見到機場、酒店、辦公室和餐廳，很多時吃的東西或去的餐廳，我是無權過問的。在北京的辦公室，午餐是去公司附近的飯堂吃。供應時期是中午十二點至下午一點，但飯菜一定是冷的。我拿著一個大銀盤，由拿著兩個大飲勺的服務員，把飯菜倒在銀盤上，感覺像吃監獄餐。不過，我當然要照吃，因為不知會做到何時才回去吃飯。還有的是，有時去的餐廳，格局比較不衛生，會見到飯客會四處吐骨在地上。而服務員亦有時不太清潔，見過某服務員流著鼻涕用手抹過後，又替我們放碗筷。亦試過，因為人家沒有公筷這回事，所以會用自己吃過的筷子匙羹，放進大家一起吃的飯菜甚至湯內。或許我要求高，但又怎辦呢？你又不想令帶你來的同事難做。不過，幸好，不是晚晚都這樣，有一兩晚都吃過好東西，包括全聚德的北京填鴨。幸好，我在北京一個星期，沒有怎樣不適。

Actually when being on business trips, you don’t get to see anything more than airports, hotels, office, and restaurants. Also, which restaurants you end up going isn’t really up to you to decide. In our Beijing office, we sometimes go to the canteen. There food is served between at noon and 1 pm, but food remains to be cold anyway. I held a big silver tray and then the waiter holding two big scoops would toss food onto your tray. You kind of felt like a prisoner at that moment. I did eat some of that, since I didn’t know when we would be going for another meal. Also, sometimes the restaurants we went to weren’t that hygienic. You would see some people spitting food all over the floor, and even the waitresses weren’t that clean. I once saw a waitress that was serving us went wiping her snotty nose and used the same pair of hands setting our table. They tended to use their own set of chopsticks or spoons all over the food we shared. Maybe I was being picky, but I didn’t want to make a fuss about it either. Luckily, we did go out to other restaurants from time to time, so I did get some nice food as well, like the Beijing duck. And so far, over the whole week I spent there, I didn’t really get sick.

雖然自己是中國人，但我想我不會習慣在內地生活的。我當時會掛念在其他國家可以擁有的言論自由，資訊自由等。這在內地是沒有的！還有的是，就算內地文明了幾多，幾多人富有了幾多，但有時像欠缺了一些。即使他們出入四五星級酒店，穿的是甚麼名牌，但你會覺得他們仍欠了一些氣質。他們仍會拿著一把叉，叉著大包吃，或大大聲吃喝。我不是說自己比人家好，或高尚了，只是覺得中國還是行好一段路才能追得上西方國家。

Though I’m Chinese, I don’t think I would ever get used to living in mainland China. I really missed at that time freedom of speech, including media and press. That does not exist in mainland China. Also, even though mainland has gone a lot more civilized, many have gone very rich, somehow it still misses something. Though there are plenty of them walking around in a 4, 5 stars hotel, wearing branded clothing, you really miss a certain feature in them. They would still hold a fork, poke it into a bun and eat it like that. I am not saying I’m much better than others, or that I’m in a higher class, but I think it will still take China quite some time to catch up with the western world.

在大陸，我今次的任務是訓練在大陸的同事。但有時，始終真是有些文化差距，他們會無意中做些令你驚歎的事，包括在我講解其間走了去做其他不大重要的事，或在與人家網上談天。我不是教師，所以我不會出聲訓斥。

This time in mainland, my mission was to train our staff in China. Just that maybe there is still certain cultural difference, they would from time to time do certain things that shocked you, e.g. they would just walk out of the training while you were still talking to do something irrelevant. Or they would go chatting online with someone. I’m not a teacher, so I won’t go lecturing them.

今次我回大陸，發覺自己面皮又厚了！我是在九七前在香港讀書的，所以我的普通話只靠上了一個月暑假班，但今次我會更有勇氣去講。講得不好，也不再怕人取笑，因為笑人的不會記住，反而被人笑完分分鐘會有機會學正音，會更快記住。

This time being in China, I must say I have gone more thick skinned. How’s that? Well, I was in high school in Hong Kong before 1997 (when Hong Kong was handed back to mainland China), so my Mandarin knowledge came mostly from a month of summer course. Yet this time I had more courage to speak up, even though I can’t speak perfectly, but I am not afraid of people teasing me, since those who laugh at me won’t remember, while I can actually learn to speak proper Mandarin.

Tags: Beijing; angel mama; Tobia; fish balls; cup noodles; beijing duck; freedom of speech