Kijiji

Great news! It turns out that Dolae is actually a male cat. So that’s nice.

I haven’t written much about work so I think it is time.

When I arrived in Beijing 3 weeks ago, I was very skeptical about whether I would like working here. China was so overwhelming, and I was not sure how I was going to enjoy – let alone contribute – in 4 weeks at Kijiji. I was also probably more excited about working in India than in China. But I realized this week that this sentiment has reversed. Work here has been much, much better than expected.

First and foremost the people here have been great. Our CEO, Jian Shuo, is really impressive. He is in his very early 30s, worked for Microsoft for about 6 years before becoming Kijiji’s first employee, and basically built the business from scratch. He is also one of the biggest bloggers in China and his English blog is definitely worth reading.

Second, everyone else here has been extremely nice and welcoming, even though I cannot communicate in their language at all and need help doing the most basic things. We are a small office of about 20 people, and everyone is really friendly. I can’t always get across 100% of what I mean to say, and I definitely don’t understand 100% of what is said, but everything is working out well and we are having a lot of fun. People have taken me out to countless different lunches, dinner places, home to their apartments, to Hangzhou. It has been amazing.

Third, I think both the online classifieds business and my project here at Kijiji are both very interesting. I will write about both in more detail in separate posts.

Finally, I haven’t worked for a “real company” since an internship after my freshman year of college over 9 years ago. It has been pretty cool doing actual work, instead of consulting or investing, even if is only a summer hiatus. It’s also been fun working for a start-up – lots of exciting things happen, you can make real changes in the business really quickly, and most importantly I wear flip-flops every day.

Another photo from Hangzhou:

Hangzhou

On Sunday I went with 5 people from Kijiji to Hangzhou, a little town 2 hours by train west from Shanghai. Although I am calling it a town because I had never heard of it, it has about 6.5 million people. So city may be more appropriate.

When Marco Polo found Hangzhou in the 1200s, he called it “Paradise on Earth”. Most Shanghainese think it is the most beautiful city in China. I agree that it is quite nice – there is a huge lake in the middle of the city called Xihu (West Lake). It has all sorts of lotus blooming in it, mountains rising up all around it, a number of big pagodas and little tea houses, and two really long stone bridges that were built in the 300-400s that lead out to a little island in the center of the lake.

We got to Hangzhou around 11:30 and had a nice lunch in an old Chinese house. Then we walked all along the lake, admired the scenery, took photos and generally goofed around. As I have mentioned before, often decisions get made in Chinese and I am only consulted at the last minute. Around 3:00, I get asked if I know how to ride a bike. Hesitantly, I answer yes. And of course, next thing I know we have rented bikes.

As many of you who have ridden bikes with me in Ireland, the beach, or my triathlon, I am a good bike rider when there is nothing around me, but when there are objects nearby – anything from elderly Asian women to pesky water bottles – I tend to hit them. The thought of riding a bike around packed Chinese streets was a bit terrifying.

Also the bikes that we rented were very small – kind of like a regular bicycle, except you couldn’t turn the handlebars hard and peddle at the same time because your knees will hit them. And there was only 1 gear.

We start out riding on these paths near the lake. Not so bad. Then we go around the bend and there are tons of people and bikers and these trams that shuttle people all around. But I discover that I have a little bell. So I keep peddling along, sweating like crazy, and ringing my bell all the time and just hoping people get out of my way. There were a few close squeezes when the path got narrow. And once I ran into a bush (but bounced out and recovered nicely). No major disasters.

Then we get to the end of the path, and take a turn for a major road. Now we add cars and buses to the mix. I am sure I am going to die. We keep going for a bit, I sort of get used to driving near chaotic traffic, and everything seems ok. Except I am very ready to be done biking and it has only been 20 minutes. Finally, we get to a huge tunnel and which of course we decide to go through. There are two lanes of traffic and a “bike lane” on the right side. A tiny little bar divides us in the “bike lane” from the road. And there is not much room between this bar and the tunnel wall. I am struggling to just stay in a moderately straight line and not tip over into traffic and get run over. Then, this beeping comes from behind me and won’t stop. I quickly look over my shoulder and see a moped in the bike lane! I squeeze as close to the wall as I can and hope for the best. Sure enough, he starts to pass me. He zipped by me, and I bounced off the wall but gracefully managed to straighten things out and keep on peddling. The tunnel kept going and going and going – it was probably only 6 or 7 minutes really – but finally I made it out, and eventually back to the lake. I am done with biking.

One final Hangzhou story – since it was supposed to rain, I brought a rain jacket and wore cargo shorts instead of bringing a backpack. I brought my iPod, camera, some clifbars, passport, wallet, cards, etc. I am not sure exactly why, but everyone was amazed by how much stuff I had managed to bring with me. Apparently, there is a Japanese cartoon cat that has magic powers and can pull anything out of her “pockets” whenever she wants. So now, my Chinese nickname is “Dolae” because I resemble this female Japanese cartoon cat. Great.

More photos later, but for now:

Xihu (West Lake)

Team photoOur Triumphant HeroSunset at XihuStud with umbrellaDorae (I hope there is no resemblance)