Today is the 5th day of Chinese New Year and finally life becomes more normal again. The first few days of CNY there was virtually no traffic on the roads and you could drive everywhere in the city in a matter of 10-20 minutes instead of the usual 30-60 minutes. That is, if you have your own car, because there were not many taxis around yet. But today quite some taxis seem to be back from the countryside and most are empty.

On Monday I had planned to have drinks with a friend in a bar, but the place was still closed so we ended up at his house with a bottle of wine. Last night I drove by the bar and noticed it was open now, so we’ll try again tomorrow.

City Supermarket is still on a holiday schedule, which I found out this morning when I wanted to buy yoghurt at 9 AM with Scott. The store did not open until 10… We were not the only ones who were surprised to see that this supermarket opened later, during the time span of a few minutes at least 3 other people wanted to enter the store.

Smog levels are still pretty high, especially because of the fireworks. On Chinese New Year’s Eve the smog level for the first time exceeded the upper limit of the index (which is quite scary if you think about it). And last night the level was even higher, because of the massive fireworks for the Fortune God. I actually had the feeling that there were more fireworks last night than on CNY eve, and they for sure lasted longer (from 6 pm until 1 am, and then again from 7 am onwards – so I did not get a lot of sleep).

Business wise not much is happening yet, I only have 3 meetings this week and before people call me they send me a SMS to check whether it’s okay to call. In a way I look forward to next week when all offices are open again and when you can get things done. I just hope the traffic could be a bit longer like it currently is though.