When I set up Spill Group Asia just over 2 years ago we were just two people, and worked from the China Bay offices (where I was a managing partner at that time). Within a few months we were at 7 people and we had to move to a separate office. We managed to get into the Jiaotong University Incubator Center in Xujiahui, together with tens of other start-ups. A nice working environment for a young company, especially considering the free help from the university and the low rent.

But when companies grow there comes a time that you have to leave the incubator center. Spill Group Asia now has about 70 people (including the developers in our game studio Zlong Games), and therefore a few weeks ago we were asked to look for a ‘regular’ office. We were lucky to find a place quickly, in the same Creative Park where Tudou used to have its offices until about 2 years ago.

Right now Spill Group Asia divides its staff over two separate offices, but in the new place we will all be in one space. Much better for the communication and company culture. We can still grow a bit (we have over 650 m2 available) and the central location on the Suzhou Creek close to People’s Park is also not bad. We plan to move late April / early May to the new office, after we finish redecoration of the place.

Every day the Shanghai Daily’s front page shows how many days are left until 08-08-08, the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Today the front page told me that in exactly 150 days the Olympic Games will start. China already has its dedicated Olympic TV Channel where you can watch Chinese sportsmen and women prepare for the Games, or where they repeat all kinds of sports from past Olympics. It has become my station of choice to watch while running in the gym.

Also the preparation for the Olympic Torch relay is in full swing, and one of our friends was actually selected to be the torch runner for part of the route. The torch will even go to the top of Mount Everest this year, they were testing the feasibility of that during our Lhasa-Kathmandu bike ride last year, when we passed through Everest Base Camp. I am sure the progress of the torch run will be in the news every day.

Ogilvy decided it was a good time to do some research on the level of excitement of the Chinese for the Olympics, the Shanghai Daily reported today. According to their research 74 percent of the Chinese are either “excited” or “very excited”. In Beijing 79% of all people said that they were excited, and only 2% would leave the city in August (note that Chinese normally do not go on summer holidays like most Europeans do).

Strangely, the population of Beijing’s satellite-city Tianjin was among the least excited (no percentage reported). They would have the advantage that they could travel to Beijing by train for the event, without all the hassle of restrictions in car usage and other Olympic annoyances in their city. What’s also surprising is that the highest level of excitement was measured in Guangzhou (80 percent). This city is over 2000 km south of Beijing, and you would expect that the further away the less the excitement would be.

Generally I feel that the level of excitement is a lot higher than what I see around me. Most of my friends and colleagues in Shanghai like the Olympics, but it’s not (yet) a very big thing to many of them. Many tell me they would not even consider going to Beijing, in order to avoid the crowds and traffic problems.

According to the article 34 percent of Shanghainese plan to travel to Beijing for the Olympics. This is a figure I refuse to believe. That would mean that about 6 million people would travel from Shanghai to Beijing (and back) during the Olympics, totally impossible. Most could not even pay for the trip, especially not with the skyrocketing hotel prices. I therefore have some serious doubts about how the survey was performed. It’s nice for Ogilvy’s PR, but something about the results cannot be correct.

But whether the results are correct or not, I am sure the Games will be a huge success, and of course I am going to be there. I booked all event tickets long in advance, and also have my airplane tickets to Beijing (I even managed to use my Air China miles for that). So watch this blog in August for Olympic updates!

A couple of years ago I had a very nice apartment with a big balcony overlooking the Suzhou creek in Shanghai. Even though the Suzhou creek was not as nice then as it is now (but also not as dirty as 10 years ago), I really enjoyed sitting on my balcony watching the boats pass by while drinking a glass of wine or beer. The only bad thing was that my balcony was about twice as big as the balcony of the 20 stories of apartments above mine. Why was that bad? Because several of my upstairs neighbors had the habit of throwing things down from their balcony. No complete trash bins of course, but things like cigarette butts, chewing gum and the occasional newspaper. Annoying, but there was no way of knowing who did it so I could not do something about it.

Fast forward to today. I am now living at the top floor of another apartment building, so nobody can throw trash on my balcony. However, people below me still seem to do so, because this week a notice appeared in our building that warns people not to throw trash off their balcony. The notice says that over the past months the compound management noticed more and more trash on the ground. To prove it, they put some huge pictures of cigarette butts that were found on the ground. In order to stop the littering, the management warns the occupants of the building that they have now installed cameras, in order to catch the wrongdoers. A bit overdone, but at least they try to stop it.

But the thing that really caught my eye is the punishment in case they catch you: public shaming! The notice said that they will inform all the residents that you are the one who is responsible for the littering. Not sure how they plan to do that, I assume just by posting your name and the number of your apartment next to the elevator (where the notices are now as well), but I would not be surprised if they would even put your picture there. I look forward to seeing the offenders there 🙂 And one more thing: To make sure people don’t feel offended or want to save face, the notice ends with “make sure you inform your maids about this” – as if they would be smoking on the balconies!

One of the things I like about Hong Kong is that on Hong Kong Island you can walk from one shopping mall or skyscraper to the other using elevated walkways. Very convenient, you don’t need to cross streets and because they are covered you don’t even need an umbrella when it rains.

Shanghai is now going to copy this in Pudong, the financial and business district where most of the skyscrapers are located. There will be a ring-shaped elevated walkway linking most of the skyscrapers in Lujiazui (the CBD area around the Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao and IFC) and the metro stations. The plan is apparently already several years old, but only now it was approved.

The construction of the project will start in June already, but when the project will be finished was not reported so far. The first phase of the project will be a link between the Super Brand Mall on the Huangpu River and the almost finished International Financial Center.

I think it’s a great idea, because so far it has always been a hassle to walk around in the area. And I am sure it will be good for all the bars, restaurants and retail outlets if the tens of thousands of people living and working in the skyscrapers have easier access to them.

(Source: Shanghai Daily)

I am using Twitter more and more, it’s an excellent tool to keep in touch with people, get some quick information that is difficult to find on the internet, and also a source of entertainment.

For the entertainment part I came across a Twitter user today, Confession. You can see the page at http://twitter.com/confession. People can leave their confessions, without other people knowing who posted it. As can expected on the ‘anonymous’ internet most are sex-related, and it’s frankly amazing what people put up here.

Some examples that were posted earlier today to givey you an idea (I just randomly copy/paste a couple of them):

• I wish my wife would have an affair so she’d stop being such a frigid ice queen.
• I only make friends with women I might have a chance at screwing.
• I think I was scared of the pink floyd song ‘Run Like Hell’ when I was younger, though I don’t know why now.
• i just farted…excuse me
• I still masturbate to the thought of my ex, almost nightly.
• Occasionally, I rub one out at work.
• Xeni Jardin might look like a drag queen, but I still think she’s smokin’ hot.
• My cock hooks to the left. If anyone wants to get fucked around a corner, I’m your man.
• my husband gave me an STD last year from his cheating. weak men make excuses to themselves for hurting others

I decided not to subscribe to the Twitter user, but it is an ‘interesting’ form of entertainment. It shows the worst of what people do or think, and maybe for some it’s a real substitute for a confession. Or do people just make these things up? Enjoy – or not…

If you want to follow my regular updates on Twitter go to http://twitter.com/marcvanderchijs (Not many confessions though 🙂

Overhead in an upscale restaurant in Xintiandi, while having lunch there today on their terrace in the sun. At the table next to me a couple sits down, an old Italian man in a suit without tie wearing dark sunglasses, and his young Chinese girlfriend who, judging from the way she acts, seems to be here for the first time. He wants to order beer, but she is a bit reluctant. He does not care, under the motto “a day without alcohol is a day not lived”. The waiter arrives at their table.

Man (in a thick Italian accent): “Two Heineken please”
Waiter: “Large or small, sir?”
Man: “Ah, you have different sizes. Then give us a large one with two glasses”
Waiter: “OK, a large Heineken with two glasses”
Man: “Make sure it is ice cold”
Waiter: “OK, with ice” and immediately walks away
Man (screaming loudly at the waiter who is almost inside already): “No, no ice, I just want ice cold beer”
Waiter: “OK, cold beer”

2 minutes later the waiter comes back with a large glass of draft beer and two small empty glasses. The Italian almost goes ballistic: “I ordered a large bottle of beer” (he did not, by the way, he just assumed it would be a bottle – which is of course logical if you ask for two glasses with a beer). The inexperienced waiter has no idea what he did wrong and brings another large draft beer to cool the man down. But now the young girl is not happy, because she suddenly has to drink a whole large beer by herself.

I decide to leave the couple to themselves, ask for the bill and leave the scene.

I am a big Nokia fan, and for that reason I did not buy an iPhone, but stayed with my Nokia E61i. Probably a good idea, because an iPhone is nothing special anymore in China with a rumored 400,000 iPhone users (I actually do not believe that number, it must be much less, and it’s likely a part of China Mobile’s negotiation strategy with Apple). But when I saw that a Chinese company came up with the HiPhone, an iPod clone for about RMB 1000 (EUR 100) I decided to order one just for fun.

Today the phone was delivered and I took pictures during the unpacking process. They can be found here as a set on Flickr. My first impression is that the design is remarkably the same. Not only the phone itself, but even the box the phone comes in. The phone seems to be a bit thicker, but when it’s turned off it looks almost the same. Once you turn it on the opening screen is exactly the same as the iPhone (the picture of the earth was copied), but when you come to the main menu you immediately see this is a copy. The buttons just don’t look as sleek as the original iPhone ones.

The phone is a bit lighter than the iPhone, because it’s completely made out of plastic. It has a touchscreen like the iPod and that works well. If you change the direction of the phone, the picture will also change its direction. And you are even able to zoom in and out with two fingers. It’s not as smooth as the iPhone, but it works.

The phone has a dual sim card, which is quite useful for me when I am travelling. I did not try it out yet, but if it works its a great feature. The phone comes standard with two batteries, and it has an mini SD card slot (I bought an additional 2 GB card, the standard memory is only 512 MB). Furthermore it has a camera and video camera, quality is better than expected for such a cheap phone. MP3 audio also works fine, although the quality of the speaker could be better.

But of course for EUR 100 you don’t get a 100% copy of an iPhone. I tried to get the internet to work, but am only able to get onto WAP sites. It seems that the phone does not support internet… Not a good thing for an iPhone copy! Also there is no wifi or 3G as far as I can tell, only GPRS. Fine for China as long as there is no 3G anyway. The font used in the HiPhone is plain ugly, and I don’t think you can change it.

All in all a nice gimmick. For EUR 100 you get a camera, MP3 player and a good phone in one, in a nicely copied design. I will use it occasionally for business trips, but my main phone will surely stay the Nokia. The best thing about the phone is the text on the box and on the back side of the phone: “HiPhone – Innovation changes the future”. It seems the manufacturer is not only good at copying, but also has humor!

It was a relatively clear day today, and I decided to take some pictures from my balcony and out of my windows. The top picture is a picture of the almost-finished Tibet Hotel. Construction companies have been working on this building for years, but each time they had to stop because of (I assume) financial problems. The hotel is as good as ready now, but I do not see much activity on the site. In the background you see the 262 meter tall Grand Gateway towers.

This picture is the outdoor swimming pool and little park with ponds in our compound. The pool is only open 3 months a year. Next to the pool is a high-end Balinese Spa, with private rooms with jacuzzi’s and sauna’s. Open to the public, and well worth a visit (but much more expensive than regular massage places like Dragon Fly).

The World Financial Tower, China’s tallest builing for now, is almost finished. It towers above the Jinmao Tower. To the right the Oriental Pearl Tower can just be seen.

The Xujiahui Cathedral, the largest church in Shanghai, built between 1905 and 1910, partly destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and now being restored.

Innovative advertising: a company erected a huge bottle in front of Grand Gateway during Chinese New Year. The bottle consists of LCD screens that show advertising or TV shows.

Some more pictures taken from my apartment this morning can be found here.