Belgian National Day in Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Yes on 21 July

For many years Belgian National Day in Beijing was shifted to 15 November, King’s Day because of the summer holidays. A lunch reception was rather for the diplomats, we attended the evening reception along with some 120 Belgians and friends. The weather was threatening the fun, the embassy put a big tent on the patio, good idea as it rained the whole day till late afternoon. It was all in the residence, next to the new embassy that is nearing completion.

It was also the farewell of Ambassador Dr. Jan Hoogmartens and other staff of the embassy. We will all miss them, they were our support during the depressing COVID years.
The new ambassador is said to arrive in Beijing very soon.

Good food, beer and more

We were treated with great Belgian goodies, Belgian fries, Brussels waffles, delicious buffet by Morel’s Restaurant and lots of Belgian beers.
The mystery machine in pic 07 is an authentic Brussels waffle machine.
The ambassador opened the Methuselah Chimay bottle, yes 6 liters! I gave it a try (of course). Happy to discover two new beers for my collection, see pic 13.

Learn more about Belgium

Check this interesting article: “30 things I’ve learned about Belgium in 30 years”.
The Brussels Times 1 June 2023

 

DiDi app updated

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

App not in my Apple Store

As mentioned earlier the app is not available on my Belgian App Store.

The weird but nice thing is, the app is regularly updated anyway! If I click more info, oh no, app is not available… but I manage to see somehow the details of the update.
So once you have it – it stays active.
See two recent updates and the versions received.

Old China Hands 7 July

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

After the COVID years…

Many of members were traveling in China and the world so our lunch Old China Hands 7 July had only 15 people. Many left for the first time since a few years due to COVID. We expect the next lunch lunch on 4 August to be the same, most are away for July and August.

But we still had a great lunch and chat. The food by Renaat Morel’s team, delicious as always.

Home is Where the Heart is

A book is coming out very soon, telling the China stories of several of our members: Mark Levine, Raja Magasweran, Terry Crossman and yes myself. I also know well most of the other contributors.

The book is the work of New Star Press with Chen Shuo the talented reporter who skillfully wrote my story. The book is to be published in USA by Waymont International Publishing House with the title “Home is Where the Heart is”.
See another book it published “I Grew up in China” :230210 growingup and the announcement of our book: 230210 Wheretheheartis,

A bit weird but The U.S. publishing company cannot be found on the Internet…
I already have the full PDF of the book and I made a PDF of only my part, 33 pages with many of my pictures.
Except for one single sentence (no details!) the text is absolutely correct.
Now waiting for the hard copy!

Old China Hands 2 June

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

All away?

The RSVP I received for the lunch of Old China Hands 2 June 2023 revealed so many of our friends were traveling or simply busy. Well, we made it with a total of 24 OCH happily chatting and enjoying the food in Morel’s Restaurant.

See the menu and some of the dishes!

Poor Greg pushing the wrong buttons

Our friend Greg had the disappointing news his video of the Anniversary failed. Well, at least we had the pictures!

Our famous OCH – Renaat Morel

Renaat is always somewhere in the news.

This time he was honored for his restaurant by BRTV (Beijing Radio and TV) in an event on 23 April. You can see the frame in the restaurant.

Other famous OCH

Oops yes this is Raja and myself.
All details you can find in a previous post.

Raja had found an old picture of the two of us, somewhere in the late eighties we guess. Location and exact time unknown…

DiDi app update

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Didi Rider app today

The latest Didi app update mentions: “With DiDi you can catch/get a ride with a tap of your finger within minutes. Our full English interface, 24/7 in-app English customer service, and presence in over 400 cities across China makes us the most reliable and convenient service to get you where you need to be!”
This link supposedly gives details about DiDi Rider app.

However reality is different. Again my Belgian Mac App Store says it is not available. Apparently it was available at some stage, it is in my mobile and it seems to be working fine, see the screenshots above.
Then I found this link with a QR code:

It says: “Scan the QR code to Download DiDi on your phone”.

You can see a list of countries, not sure if it corresponds with the Mac App Store availability:
Argentina • Australia • Brazil • Chile • Colombia • Costa Rica • Dominican Republic • Ecuador • Egypt • Japan • Mexico • New Zealand • Panama • Peru • Russia
Interesting enough the list does not mention China. I did not scan the QR code as the app is on my mobile and it could mess up everything. But if someday the app goes dead I might try.

I also found a possible download from a third party, worth a try…

softonic download

The download link is here.

Total confusion is the word. So, don’t ask me how I got the app working…
It all depends on your mobile (iOS or other) and for iPhone where your App Shop is located; if in China sure more easy.
Any feedback is appreciated!

Didi back in app stores. Really?

On 20 January 2023 SCMP wrote:
Didi Chuxing’s main app returns to Apple, Android app stores in China after Beijing gives green light for new user sign-ups
The ‘Didi Chuxing’ ride-hailing app returned to Apple’s store on Thursday, while the Android version was restored by Wednesday on various local platforms
Didi Shunfengche, a car-pooling service, and Uber China, the Didi-owned local platform of the US ride-hailing giant, remained inaccessible on app stores.
Well that was not the end of the story!

Didi resurrected and don’t ask how

After my warnings about the Didi app on the iPhone, the app finally crashed. Now (February 2021) the English Didi app is resurrected. Like a miracle!

Earlier, “Didi is gone!”

As I wrote on 15 May 2019, Didi app disappeared from App Stores.