Have a look at the new mugs, coin bank, candy holder, tea holder and tumblers released today.

Gift Sets

If you don’t know what to bring back to your relatives and family for the Chinese New Year, the Starbucks gift set is a perfect gift.  They launched three gift sets namely the Via Travel set, New Year coffee gift set and the Verona Valentines gift set.  I will post the price once I return to Beijing.

Bearista and My Starbucks Rewards Card

This year’s Chinese New Year bearista is the dragon.  This bearista is released regionally with prices vary depending on location (Manila-Php 795, Mainland China-RMB 128).  Grab it while you can as it has a good ROI because of the limited release.

The My Starbucks Rewards Card also released their special edition dragon card.  It’s similar to the other My Starbucks Rewards card which will allow you to earn stars and get a gold card. 

Well.. what are you waiting for.. grab them while you can!  Happy collecting!

(Photo credits: Starbucks China website)

New Subway Extensions & Line

Subway Line 8 (lower left):  If you frequent the subway or you’ve been travelling in Beijing, you might have noticed that the connection to subway line 8 is temporarily closed.  This is due to the construction of the extension of 6 stations to the north of South Gate of Forest Park.  Subway line 8 is scheduled to open by the end of the month.

Subway Line 9 (upper right):  I thought that travelling to Beijing West Railway Station will be a breeze but apparently that won’t happen till September 2012.  This month, the new Subway line 9 will open it’s Southern section which will have 9 stations with a length of 10.8 km.  Line 9 will connect to the Fangshan line in Guogongzhang.  Technically, it’s still a standalone line and won’t connect yet to the major lines in the city.

Subway Line 15:  It’s not the western section which will be extended but the eastern section.  Four additional stations will be added to the eastern section of line 15 which will extend this line further by 10 kms.  This line is rarely full and actually quite nice to ride.  However, the transfer from line 15 to line 13 is a pain as it’s a fair walk.

The good thing with all these extensions and new line, subway fare remains at RMB 2.0.

Social Insurance for Foreigners

In 1 July 2011, the Chinese government introduced a new Social Insurance Law for foreigners.  All foreign employees, including permanent residents of Hong Kong and their employees are subject to this law.

Five types of insurance payments will be shouldered by both employee and employer starting 15 October 2011.  These insurances are retirement, medical, unemployment, maternity and injury.  Some companies have yet to commence on the contributions as they are not sure how will the employees claim back their contributions once they leave China.  It’s actually very vague but the only thing that’s definite is everyone should comply.

Thus, when I opened my pay slip this November, I was dismayed by the deductions that were made on my monthly salary.  Here’s a quick rundown for the employee and employer contributions for Beijing employees:

Countries such as Germany and South Korea are exempt on certain insurance payments due to exemption agreement with China.

Other News Tidbits:

• The Chinese New Year exodus will start by 8 January 2012 as the Chinese New Year comes early at 23 January 2012.  Expect packed bus and train stations as well as airports. 
• The singer who’s famous for the song “Right Here Waiting” will be holding a concert on 18 December 2011 at 8:00 pm.  Catch Mr. Richard Marx at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium and reminisce the past.

• New Year:  January 1 to January 3 (Sunday to Tuesday).  Work on December 31 (Saturday).
• Chinese New Year:  January 22 to 28 (Sunday to Saturday).  Work on January 21 (Saturday) and January 29 (Sunday).
• Tomb Sweeping Day: April 2 to 4 (Monday to Wednesday).  Work on March 31 (Saturday) and April 1 (Monday)
• Labor Day:  April 29 to May 1 (Sunday to Tuesday).  Work on April 28 (Saturday)
• Dragon Boat Festival:  June 22 to 24 (Friday to Sunday)
• Mid-Autumn Festival: September 30 (Sunday).
• National Day:  October 1 to 7 (Monday to Sunday).  Work on September 29 (Saturday).

That’s it!  Hope you can plan the year ahead.  I’m pretty sure I won’t be going anywhere for National Day as my brother and sister in law will be coming.  As for the other holidays, I still don’t know.  I might not opt to travel much as I think I overdid it this year.  Happy Holidays!

12 Days of Gifting

For 12 days starting from December 1, Starbucks store in mainland China will have a daily promo for their customers.  Here are some of the promos that they’re having based from conversations with the baristas.

• December 1 (Thursday):  Free upsize for every purchase of Christmas beverage
• December 2 (Friday): Buy a Steel Christmas released tumbler and get a free tall beverage
• December 3 (Saturday):  Get 20% off on snack foods sold in the counter.
• December 4 (Sunday):  Buy 3 Coffee Press and get a free Starbucks Timer
• December 5 (Monday):  For every purchase of a bag of whole beans, you will get a free 3 pack VIA.
• December 6 (Tuesday):  For every purchase of a 12 pack VIA, you will get a free 3 pack VIA.
• December 7 (Wednesday):  Free upsize for every purchase of Christmas beverage
• December 8 (Thursday):  Buy a Christmas version of the Starbucks Rewards Card and get a free tall Cafe Latte
• December 9 (Friday):  Breakfast meal @ RMB 30:  pastry and tall beverage
• December 10 (Monday):  Buy a Christmas tumbler and get a free cup of daily coffee.
• December 11 (Tuesday):  Buy one beverage and get 50% off on pastries and sandwiches
• December 12 (Wednesday):  Buy one get one daily coffee.

Moreover, from December 1 to 31, for every purchase of the new Christmas Starbucks Rewards card, you will get a free card case.  I had a look at this case already and I was not impressed.  It’s made of cardboard and pretty low quality.  You could create a better one on your own.

New Mainland China Stores

On 30 September 2011, Starbucks opened its first store in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province.  The store is located on the first floor of Wanda Plaza.  Shijiazhuang city mugs, tumblers and demitasse are available for purchase.

On 11 November 2011, Starbucks opened its first store in neighbouring city Langfang in Hebei province.  The store is located on the first floor of Wanda Plaza.  I can’t confirm if they have their own city tumblers, mugs and demitasse yet but according to the Starbucks website, from November 18 to December 9, for every RMB 119 single receipt purchase, you will get a free 3 oz city mug.

On 18 November 2011, Starbucks opened its first store in the main transportation hub of Zhengzhou in Henan province. 

For tourists planning to visit Harbin for their annual Ice and Snow Festival, you won’t have to worry of finding a good cup of coffee as Starbucks will open its first store in this northern city on 1 December 2011.  The store is located on the ground floor of Songlei Mall, just outside 55 Central Avenue.  Taobao is already selling their city tumbler way before the grand opening of the store.  Maybe the seller is getting it directly from the factory.  He/she would be my friend’s best friend if that’s the case. 

Well.. that’s it for now for Starbucks.  Stay tuned for more updates.  According to the baristas, the Chinese New Year merchandise will be released by 1 or 2 January 2012.  Hopefully a preview of the merchandise will be available mid-December.  If so, I will be posting it here for your viewing pleasure.

Price Increase

I usually try to eat Cold Stone once a week when my boyfriend is here or when I’m with my friends for dessert.  When I purchased a small cup of my favorite Strawberry Banana Rendezvous in the end of October, the cost was still RMB 27 without waffle.  However, when I went there yesterday, a small cup costs RMB 30.  They also removed my Strawberry Banana Rendezvous from the menu and replaced it with Strawberry Chanson de Paris (strawberry ice cream, strawberry, banana, cotton candy, graham cracker pie crust).  I haven’t checked the other prices but that’s the most notable increase.

Cold Stone Creamery Card

If you’re a frequent customer, I would suggest that you purchase a Cold Stone Creamery card for RMB 20.  Every time your purchase something at Cold Stone, you will get an equivalent point for every RMB 1 spent.  Points can be exchanged for free ice cream.  I’ve already redeemed a pint of ice cream for free with my card.  The number of points required to exchange for free ice cream varies every quarter so you might as well ask before you exchange.

Promotions

• RMB 100 for 4 ice cream coupons:  in celebration of their 23rd year in business, from November 1, 2011, customers can purchase 4 ice cream coupons for RMB 100 (savings RMB 20).  Moreover, when you purchase this promo, they will give you 1 free Cold Stone Creamery Card.  Only 10,000 sets will be available for purchase so get them while you can.  They will be perfect for Christmas presents.
• Buy one, get one ice cream (medium cup):  Every Tuesday in the month of November, if you purchase a medium cup of ice cream of any creations except for Black Dazzle Dance, you will get another medium cup of ice cream for free.  Just show them your Cold Stone Creamery Card.
• Buy one, get one ice cream (pint):  Every last week of the month, some Cold Stone Creamery stores offer buy one pint of ice cream, get one pint of ice cream free.  No card necessary.
• Buy a RMB 50 coupon for RMB 27:  from time to time, group buying site www.manzuo.com will sell RMB 50 coupons of Cold Stone Creamery for RMB 27.  It’s reliable as I’ve already purchased two and used one yesterday.  It’s a single purchase coupon and cannot be combined with any other promotions.

So, what are you waiting for?  Grab a cup of this yummy ice cream!

My Starbucks Rewards VIP Night

Loyal customers will be given a chance to be one of the 500 people to get a first glimpse of the new Christmas merchandise. From now till October 31, MSR card members who would like to participate the VIP night must register online for a slot. On November 4, an SMS message invite will be sent to your registered phone which will be your ticket to the VIP night. Five hundred members of Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will be pampered on the night of November 7.

Christmas Mugs

There will be seven Christmas designed mugs which will be released in November 8 at your neighborhood Starbucks store. Sizes will be one set of 8 oz mug, four 12 oz mug and two 14 oz mugs. No price details yet.

Christmas Tumblers

Starbucks tumbler collectors will go broke if they plan to collect all eleven Christmas designed tumblers. Sizes of these new tumblers will be five 16oz, five 12 oz and one 10 oz.

Coffee Blends & My Starbucks Rewards Card

The annual Christmas blend is back in regular coffee bean packs and VIA packets. Moreover, for those who like their coffee strong, the regular blend is roasted to Espresso Roast level.

After selling all of their regular white My Starbucks Rewards Card, a new Christmas design My Starbucks Rewards Card will be available for sale at your local Starbucks shop. I am hoping that for those who attend the VIP night, a free card will be given as a giveaway. In any case, for Starbucks card collectors, this will be a limited edition card that will be gone like a snap.

(Photos taken from Starbucks China website)

On Thursday afternoon (October 13), a two year old girl in Foshan, Guangdong province was left bleeding by the side of a road after a hit and run accident.  The girl was initially hit by a car, after several minutes, was then hit by a truck before helped by a 57-year-old lady who dragged her to the sidewalk.  In between the car and the truck, several people passed by the child without helping or doing anything to her.  Chinese media and internet users are crying “lack of morals” of the people who passed by the child.  All I can tell them is, they are  hypocrites.

Hypocrites?  One of the things that my colleagues told me when I first arrived in China is to never help a person who is injured.  Why?  Most of the time they are poor people who are looking to milk you for money.  If they find out that you have money, they will ask you to pay for the bills and ask for further compensation.  There’s even a running joke among my friends that if you want to be hit by a car, choose a Ferrari or a Jaguar to hit you as the person behind the wheel has money to pay you for compensation. 

So back to the little girl, is it really my business to help her?  If I were the passers by in this situation, the only thing that perhaps I can do at that time is to call the police and probably direct the flow of traffic to move away from the little girl.  Touching the girl and helping her will give people the incentive to think that I did something to her.  Moreover, I’m not a doctor and I’m not sure if moving her will harm her more.

Am I being apathetic with my solution?  I hope not but really, living in China makes you ignore the cruelties of life.  Being a foreigner in China and not knowing their language will be more disadvantageous for you as you don’t know their rules.  I’ve experienced being held and initially accused of something that is nothing, I never want to experience it again. 

(Photo taken from chinadaily website)

Anniversary Collection

Every year in September, Starbucks releases their Anniversary collection aka The Mermaid.  The Anniversary collection includes new tumblers, mugs and coffee blend.

Pike Place Collection

To celebrate their 40 years in the business, they are commemorating their beginnings with the 1971 mug, Pike Place Diana tumbler and pike place mug.

Via Collection

Via is packaged as something similar to instant coffee which can be easily carried around.  To emphasize this effect, Starbucks released new mugs and tumblers that are coined as “to-go”.

Other Collection

The coffee roast series mug and tumbler are back.   They have already released Sumatra and Kenya.  For this release, they have the espresso roast.  The mug has it’s own box and the regular tumbler.

To signify that autumn is here, they have released mugs and tumblers in pink, yellow and purple with falling leaves design.

The original plan was to go with a group of people from the US Embassy. We will be taking the train to Harbin and take the plane back. However, as January is considered their peak season and the Chinese New Year is just around the corner, tickets to Harbin sell in a blink of an eye. With no tickets in sight, the group dwindled down to 3 people (Shaady, Donny and I). Shaady and Donny flew on Friday night, while I flew on Saturday morning. I was lucky to be able to get a train ticket back to Beijing courtesy of my colleague’s parents who are based in Harbin.

As for the itinerary, there were several suggestions on where to go and what to do. In the end, here’s what happened on our weekend trip:

• Sophia’s Cathedral
• Central Street
• Snow and Ice World
• Harbin Polar Land
• Sun Island
• Tiger Park

Two days in Harbin is more than enough unless you want to go skiing at Yabuli or enjoy the freezing temperatures. We still had time to go to Zhaolin Park but as you have to walk around on way below zero temperatures, nobody was really that enthusiastic to brave the cold again. Furthermore, point and shoot cameras do not really go far in freezing temperatures.

If you want to see what I was planning last year, here’s a link to my Harbin post.

PS.  I know this is long overdue but it’s better late than never! 

On my previous trip to Japan, my friend and I didn’t factor in the cost benefits of getting a JR pass.  All we know at that time, is that it was very expensive.  On my upcoming trip, my sister already planned the whole itinerary thus knowing how much we would need to shell out in case we don’t go for the JR pass.

What is a JR Pass?

The Japan Rail pass is a rail pass sold to overseas visitors and Japanese nationals qualified to live in a foreign country by the Japan Rail Group.   The pass offers unlimited travel on JR group’s extensive train networks, local JR bus companies and JR Miyajima ferries.

The price for each pass differs between time period (7-day, 14-day, 21-day), variety (green/first-class, ordinary) and user (adult or child). 

Prices are quoted in Japanese Yen and the actual cost in local currency is calculated at the time the Exchange Order is issued.  The Exchange Order must be purchased prior to your arrival in Japan and will be converted to the Japan Rail Pass on specified counters at the airport or city centers.

Where can you purchase the Exchange Orders in Beijing?

The Japan Rail pass can be purchased in Japan Rail’s authorized sales offices and agents.  In Beijing, you can purchase them from the following companies:

The companies in the list are all accepting JR pass orders as at 9 Sep 2011.  Kindly contact them before you purchase your Exchange Orders.  When you do purchase your Exchange Orders, bring your passport and your cash or credit card.

If you wish to know more about the Japan Rail pass, you may visit their website at http://www.japanrailpass.net

Happy Travels!