Several of my Dutch friends in the China/Hong Kong area have lately started blogs. The first one was Thijs Bosma, who set up heyworldhereiam.com on Dec. 11, 2005. Thijs moved to China early December and is working on several projects, and at the same time looking for a job in Shanghai. He is obsessed with skyscrapers, so Shanghai is the right place for him to be. On his blog Thijs talks about his daily experiences in adjusting to life in Shanghai.

On New Years Day 2006 also Marcel Ekkel set up a blog: MarcelQPO. Marcel is a former Dutch marine, and the title of his blog derives from there (Qua Patet Orbis, the motto of the Royal Dutch Marine Corps). Marcel is now an entrepreneur in Hong Kong who might move to mainland China in the near future. He loves endurance sports, he will for example run the Hong Kong marathon this weekend, and is considering to join Gary and me on our Himalaya mountain biking trip later this year. His blog talks about his observations and experiences of life in Greater China.

Lastly, Floris Fibbe set us a blog on January 6: Fibbe in Shanghai. Floris is a Dutch lawyer who decided that being able to speak Chinese is essential, so he studied Chinese for a full year in Shanghai. Still not satisfied with his proficiency in the language he moved to Harbin (North-China) last week, and just found a local family to live with during the next two months. If you want to follow his hardships there (no shower!) make his blog a daily read.