We'll find such lovely things to share again

It has been three years since covid had prevented me from seeing friends in France freely, especially those with children. End 2020 I thought best not to visit friends so as not to spread the virus. End 2021 I chose not to see anybody indoors and unmasked for fear of catching the virus and not being able to go back to China. Now that I have been fully vaccinated, and having caught covid just before leaving for my holiday one month ago, I felt free this year to go on a big tour of France to visit my friends who were available to see me!

My tour of France was principally centred on the sea, friends and food. I left my parents' country house in Southwest France on 3 January for Bayonne, still on the Atlantic coast and close to the Spanish border. I finally took the time to visit the historical centre of Bayonne which I had not managed to stroll through during the three years that I was stationed in that region from 2017 to 2020. I did go back to the beach in Anglet where I would sometimes go for a lunchtime swim break when visiting my colleagues who were posted there. I also went back to the local restaurant serving delicious and simple local food for a bargain, targeting the armies of builders, painters and carpenters who are constantly erecting new houses on this highly sought-out coastal area.

I rented a car in Bayonne and drove all the way to Nice on the other side of France by the Italian border. There was unfortunately no snow for skiing in the mountains this early winter so I spent all my time seeing friends and former colleagues. My first stop was in Pau from 4 to 7 January. I had seen most of my friends and former colleagues already last winter or when I had left town two years ago. I enjoyed deliciously crafted food at L'esberit and Maynats restaurants. The foody scene in Pau is becoming increasingly elaborate and it is more and more difficult to find an empty table in a good restaurant by chance. Bookings are highly recommended even for the simplest bistro. I managed to be there to see the new year's concert of the Pau orchestra and choir, which I was part of when I used to live there: a great show with lots of jokes between pieces and the usual festive Blue Danube, polkas and other classical hits. This being the 20th anniversary of the new year's concert in Pau, the producer had interwoven the Happy birthday theme into several of the orchestral pieces as a clever leitmotiv emerging from the music all along the concert.

I drove along the Pyrenees mountains to the Mediterranean Sea for my next stop in Agde where I was hosted by Brittany S. with whom I had sung in small ensembles when we both lived in Bangkok in 2009. However, we had met again since then and our latest reunion was in Nairobi eight years ago when Brittany and her husband Bruno C. were driving through Eastern Africa with all their possessions and themselves tightly fitting inside a van. Their small house just by the beach had a marvelous view on the sea and they prepared delicious vegetarian food during my stay there, sharing viewpoints about life with their volubile son Phoenix.

I continued hopping along the Mediterranean to visit my current Beijing colleague Julien B. who was also on holiday at his parents' house in the oyster-producing village of Bouzigues, close to Sète. Unfortunately, there was an administrative order preventing all the seashells to be consumed because of a temporary food safety problem. However, they had prepared and frozen lots of stuffed mussels, a local specialty, before Christmas and I got treated to a delicious home-cooked meal of Mediterranean seafood in Languedoc style.

From Bouzigues, I drove on to Montpellier where I stayed with my postgraduate school batchmate Vianney H. I had last seen him in the Summer of 2020 when I had come to Montpellier for a job interview. I also took the opportunity to meet some of my former colleagues from Cirad, some of whom were on the opposite side of the job interview table last time I had seen them, or with whom I had worked in Vietnam when I was based at ILRI in Nairobi eight years ago. This was an opportunity to share insights on covid management in France, Vietnam, Western Africa and China. To take a break from the feasting of the past two weeks, I had very simple fare of butternut soup and pasta with grated cheese at home with Vianney, who was ridden with flu and had no appetite himself.

I then moved on to Marseille where I met up with Thibault V. whom I had last seen in 2017 just as he had come back to Paris from Cameroun and I was moving out of Paris for Pau. He took me to the Miramar to sample an enormous serving of traditional bouillabaisse fish soup. I had more local seafood with deep-fried squid rings and baitfish, along with lots of olive-based veggie dips the next day in a small provençal restaurant on the old port of Marseille after visiting the exhibition dedicated to Mediterranean food cultural heritage at the new Mucem museum of Mediterranean civilisations.

My last Mediterranean destination was Nice from 12 to 14 January where I jogged along the famous Promenade des anglais, went to visit the sites where Henri Matisse had painted colourful art, went to the opera house for a staged show of Schubert Lieder, and ate more seafood in Mediterranean style. Overall, my trip along the Mediterranean allowed me to taste many facets of the Mediterranean diet. However, having eaten in rather large quantities, it would be difficult to still call it a diet in these circumstances.

After four days' of shopping and seeing other friends in Paris, I took a train to the Western-most part of France in Finistère (meaning, the end of the Earth!) in Brittany. I had more seafood and lots of the local crepes specialty while also meeting with very old friends. I met Thomas V. and his family in Brest. Thomas was a high school student with me in the Netherlands from 1988 to 1991. However, we had seen each other again afterwards, most recently when we were both Parisian in 2016. 

 

 

I then went South along the Brittany coast to Penmarc'h in French Cornwall from 19 to 22 January spent with Cyril A. Cyril and I were boarding together during graduate school in Paris. Although we were not from the same batch year, we kept close contact after graduating to different postgraduate schools. I had visited him in Montpellier and he came to visit me in Bangkok in 2009 but we had not actually seen each other in 14 years. The big surprise was that Cyril happened to live just 50 km away from his graduate school boarding mate Michel D., whom I had probably last seen in 2002, more than twenty years ago!

 

I found it very satisfying to interact freely again with old friends after three years of covid wariness about in-person meetings. I am now back in Paris with my parents but I will still be meeting with many of my Parisian friends in the coming days. This tour of France reinforced my strategy to keep regular contact by email, Whatsapp and post cards with my good friends. Although we do not see each other often, when we do meet, it seems like just yesterday and there is little catching up to do. We just need to exchange the latest news and enjoy our mutual company, until the next time comes to meet again. 

We'll gather lilacs
Ivor Novello, Julie Andrews

Tis the season to be jolly

With covid sweeping unhindered in Beijing, I caught the virus mid-December, which was rather unpleasant and tiring. More distressing: it prevented me from hosting guests for celebratory pre-Christmas dinners and the music we were supposed to sing for the third Sunday of Advent service went unsung because nearly all the singers had caught covid! 

So I was releaved to get out of morose Beijing on 17 December for a few days of duty travel to Hong Kong. It was an opportunity to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law, whom I had not seen in the flesh since June 2019! We shared many delicious dinners in the restaurants which were reopening after the Hong Kong covid spell of last spring. I even enjoyed the rather kitch Christmas spirit pervasive throughout the city: Christmas decorations and lights, carols suffusing out from all the sound systems of malls and lifts, gourmet goods and ingredients in the shops and supermarkets. All these things were sadly missing in Beijing this past month.

The weather was wonderfully sunny during my six days in Hong Kong. I went out for a hike in the new territories with my brother. I took a day off to roam around town and on the bay. The skyline is always impressive and uplifting.

 

 

 

I have now arrived back in France for Christmas with my parents and the rest of my family.

 

 

Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Nana Mouskouri, Christian Christmas songs

While thus we agree, our toast let it be

One of the activities I have taken most pleasure in during my time in Beijing has been singing with a group of men in an octet. I created the octet with seven other singers from the Deutsche Kantorei Peking: four tenors and four basses. We call ourselves "The deep side" of the Kantorei.

We have been rehearsing regularly for small projects linked to the German evangelical church, or to produce our own concerts in bars around town. We sing an eclectic repertoire of music going from Renaissance to modern arrangements of popular music; we explore the German-, French-, English-language repertoires, with some attempts at traditional songs in exotic languages such as Basque. 

Most important for me, this group is also a source of companionship and good fun. Apart from the singing, we also take the opportunity to share a meal and drinks at each rehearsal and after our concerts. 

Not only do we enjoy singing, eating and drinking together, but our audiences also enjoy our performances. We still have to work on knowing our parts better so as to lift our heads out of the scores and interact with our audience; we are told this eye contact is still missing. We will be working on it for our future gigs. We already have two producers who want us to sing again in their venue. 

Despite covid sometimes preventing all eight singers to take part in an event, those who are left still keep singing with glee!

The Anacreontick Song
J.S. Smith, The Hilliard ensemble, The singing club, Harmonia mundi

Where have all the flowers gone?

Yesterday I visited Yuanmingyuan, the Garden of Perfect Brilliance*, in the northwest of Beijing. It is part of the complex of summer palaces built by the early Qing emperors from the 17^th century. Here, the rulers and their court came for green scenery and fresh air outside of the central Forbidden City. Like the more famous Summer palace complex just to its West, Yuanmingyuan was destroyed by French and British military troops in 1860.

Entering the complex from the East gate, I took a quick look at the map of the garden and saw there were lots of palaces and temples marked out. I eagerly started my visit. I first strolled through the section featuring the remains of the imperial palaces built in Western-style architecture. When visiting historical sites in China, I am often disappointed by the general practice of reconstructing or refurbishing old heritage buildings so that they look very colourfully new. This makes for good photo opportunities but I personally find the historical patina more attractive than vivid colour contrasts. In Yuanmingyuan, the chosen archaeological principle seems to be radically opposite to what I have seen in other Chinese historical sites. Only the baseball-pitch size walled labyrinth among the Western-style structures had been reconstructed to its original appearance. The marble columns, doorway capitals and balustrades were all that were left of the other palaces. I moved on to the much larger complex of traditional Chinese architecture buildings.

I first circled the convoluted lake of Changchunyuan, the Garden of eternal spring. The whole surface of the lake was covered by a sea of lotus, their large leaves like plates balancing on the top of a field of twirling poles. The lotus blooms had already wilted off. I had to imagine what a sea of lotus blooms could have looked like at the beginning of the Summer.

For the next three hours, I wandered through a very large garden with nothing much to see other than the foundations or floor plans of illustrious old buildings. Sometimes, there was just a green field or a small hill with a signboard in front of it indicating this was the location of a former early Qing dynasty palace. The signboards were sometimes just 50 meters apart. This place used to be densely built up with palaces, pavilions, temples and man-made gardens. And then it struck me: the choice not to rebuild the structures to their former glory was probably the wiser one to make the visitor imagine how vast and grandiose this Imperial Summer palace must have been and realise how stupid mankind is each time it irremediably destroys a part of its own priceless cultural heritage.

* Thanks to Josh D. for the poetic translation

Where have all the flowers gone
Joan Baez

There, above noise and danger, Sweet Peace sits crown’d with smiles

 

Since I have come back to China in February I have not been able to leave the municipality of Beijing because of very strict covid prevention measures in China. With the situation coming back under control I have finally managed to leave Beijing for a long weekend in the coastal southeastern city of Xiamen.

It was wonderful!

 

 

I must admit that it rained all four days that I was there so the weather was extremely humid, and so was everything one touched. However, the strong downpours made the day-time temperatures more bearable than if the sun had been shining strong. 

 

The hot humid weather, the sound of heavy rain falling on the roof and streets, the lush green vegetation, the seaside air, the mix of colonial and modern architecture, clean streets and public toilets, the delicious local food specialities and seafood, the sound of Hokkien spoken by the older folks... It all reminded me of Singapore. So I felt very much at home on Xiamen island and on its Gulangyu islet.  

 

 

Strolling and getting lost within the array of narrow streets of Gulangyu with its early-20th-century buildings was very soothing. I enjoyed walking for hours without a goal while knowing that I would certainly come accross something very interesting and without ever getting lost on this small islet. At random moments, one would hear the sound of a piano being played in one of the houses or numerous music schools.

 

Sipping several of the local tea brews was one highlight of my stay. Fujian is very famous for its teas.
Sipping tea while admiring old buildings;
sipping tea by the seaside;
sipping tea in a Zen garden:
I had time to reflect on my current situation and plan for other travel projects in China. 

 

 

There is a country far beyond the stars
C. Hubert Parry, Songs of farewell, Choir of Trinity College Cambridge, Conifer

I want to break free

After five weeks of home leave in France, I have managed to fly back to China. I had chosen Shanghai as my port of entry because the municipality had until very recently the friendliest quarantine rules for newcomers into China: 14 days of strict quarantine with medical observation in a hotel room followed by 7 days of self monitoring and free to roam within Shanghai.

I have just completed my 14 days of quarantine. The hotel dedicated to the quarantine of diplomats in Shanghai has the advantage of its majestic views overlooking the Huangpu river. I was not fortunate to get a CBD Pudong view, but the northern side view was still interesting with cargo ships cruising by and the regular crossing of ferry boats. The lounging armchair in the bedroom was particularly welcome to sit by the window and enjoy the view.

My daily meals were delivered to my bedoom door three times a day. The fare was of good quality, varied and nutritious with lots of vegetable dishes. It was all Chinese food, including breakfast with its steamed buns and salted vegetables. I did not get as large a variety of steamed buns in the morning as during my previous quarantine in Tianjin, so the morning breakfast was the least interesting meal of the day. However, I was treated to a custom-addressed gift basket from the municipal foreign affairs office containing fresh fruit, chocolate and biscuits. It was a welcome addition to the ordinary quarantine fare.

My quarantine coincided with the lunar new year festival this year. When I asked whether we would get some sort of culinary treat for the new year, I was told that it was likely though I should not be expecting anything extraordinary. On new year's eve, I got an extra box of Chinese dumplings for lunch and for dinner. Dumplings are a traditional family meal for Chinese new year symbolising all the good wishes you pack into them with the mince. I was thrilled to get another extra box on the 1st-day-of-the-year lunch and on the 2nd-day-of-the-year lunch containing balls of glutinous rice filled with sweet sesame paste. Glutinous treats are another staple dish for the lunar new year because their gooiness is a symbol of all the good wishes sticking to you for a long time.

Despite the culinary extravaganza and the stunning room view, I must admit the 14 days stuck inside my bedroom did become a bit boring. There is a limit to listening to music, reading e-books and surfing the Internet. I did do some physical and vocal exercises every evening, but these are no substitute for a jog out in the park or the community of choral practice. Working days were easier to pass as I could telework with my colleagues sending me tasks to do remotely. This time, I was undergoing quarantine with six other colleagues from the French embassy. We had created an online chat group to share impressions, news and jokes. It made this quarantine a bit easier than last time when I was really alone.

The bad news came in early during the quarantine: because of the Omicron covid variant taking over the rest of the world, and in the run-up to the Beijing Olympic games, Shanghai municipality had decided to reinforce the health safety conditions of its quarantine to avoid covid cases appearing. The first 14 days of quarantine with medical observation are now followed by 7 more days of quarantine with self observation. I have changed hotel last evening. The hotel room is smaller; the view from the window on a carpark with palm trees bundled up for the winter is underwhelming; I am served my food three times daily at my bedroom door; I will still undergo two PCR tests this week. The only difference with my first 14 days of quarantine is that I now take my own temperature and report it to the hotel management twice a day.

I made the most of the long evenings alone to send out emails with my new year greetings. It is still time to wish all my readers a roaring lunar year of the tiger.

My wishes are in the bubbles: Break free of outdated ways of thinking; Safety; Tranquility; Friendship; Powerful; Delicious food; Music.

I want to break free

Queen, The works, EMI

Comic strip: Hergé, Titin Cigars of pharaoh, Casterman

The autumn leaves

It had stayed relatively warm and summery in Beijing until only this week. To get some fresh air and some sense of autumn, I had two solutions: go up in latitude or go up in altitude.

I did both!

First in mid-September, I went with my friend Josh to Jilin in the Northeast of China, just by the North Korean border. I climbed up Changbaishan again. However, we were puzzled by the impossibility to walk up the volcano. A bus took us along with other visitors into the national park, up the mountain and dropped us 500m below the crater. We only had 1 500 steps up a concrete staircase to walk before reaching the top. In this northern province, the leaves on the trees were bearing beautiful autumnal colours.

 

And again last week, I travelled with my colleague Julien (with whom I had visited Xinjiang and Qinghai this Summer) high up above 4 000m on the Tibetan plateau in Sichuan province to the Yading valley national park. Just like in the national parks of Jilin and Xinjiang, we were bused along with other tourists from the main entrance at the bottom of the valley up to the main visitor centre inside the park. From there, we shunned the crowded minibuses that ferried visitors into the upper part of the valley and found a pathway where we were allowed to walk through the autumnal landscape unhindered by the crowds. 

In both Jilin and Sichuan, I ate very tasty fresh wild mushrooms at nearly every meal: stir-fried with other vegetables and meat, stewed in a pot with country chicken, boiled in a hot pot to give a strong umami flavour to the broth. In Jilin, I saw many locals picking mushrooms from the forests we visited, filling up several bags with them at each picking session. Collecting and eating wild mushroom are indeed an essential part of autumn for me having passed many autumn holidays in my parents' forest country house in Southwest France.

Autumn leaves
Jazz Music Korea