Something personal - photos from my trip to Germany

I want to share this with you, my dear readers. It was the first time I was going home to my hometown in Germany in 8 years. Finally in  Munich we enjoyed a lot of activities - but it was very cold. Food is nice like always - especially the many sorts of bread & sausages, cold cut & cheese. Many kinds of that food you still cannot find in Hong Kong & surely not in China.
Here some pictures with a short description.

The hallway of my aunt holiday farm house in the bavarian alps near the famous Chiemsee. This house is very old, but nicely renovated & preserved some of the real nice historic parts more than 300 years old. The little person there walking straight to the staircase is my son. When I was young I have spent many summers in that house and the first thing when I entered the house I was heading to the staircase - because my room was upstairs. And so did my son, when he entered the house for the first time - never being there before.

A very cold morning in Munich at 7.30 am - sunrise - photo out from the balcony of my mother appartment.

Almost same view as the picture with the sunrise - but now late afternoon & it is freezing.

Another shot from the farm house: Some small library with famous, old history books & the complete range of "Meyers Konversations Lexikon" - more than 100 years old.

A typical winter food: "Blut & Leberwurst" (Blood & Liver sausage). Just heat up in hot water. Wait 10 minutes + serve with Sauerkraut + Beer ! Delicious - this is the bavarians HOT POT !

Another shot from the farm house: One room has a 300 year old "stuck ceiling" - it is protected by law as a historical memory (or similar). Isn't it nice ? Do we also not have enough of this kind of things in Hong Kong & China better to protect and not just demolish it for the sake of growth or the sake of some property tycoons ?

Last shot now: Again from the farm house hallway - a very old chair - somewhat almost 400 years old - I know that chair since I was a young boy.

So now I hope you enjoy that pictures - even this is all very far away from the meaning of the blog. But this is the nice thing - just mix up all & at least it is for your entertainment & for your good information. Thanks !

Visa to USA for Chinese Nationals........

...finally "somebody" somewhere found out how useful it could be to bring more chinese tourists to the USA. Because they have a certain buying power what is good for the US retail sector. So here at least some news about some relaxation for visa applications to go to the USA.
Please read here - this is from here:
quote

US liberalises visa procedures for Chinese

PTI Feb 10, 2012, 05.40PM IST

Tags:

• US Visa|
• non-immigrant Chinese

BEIJING: The US has liberalised visa procedures for non-immigrant Chinese as it stepped up efforts to woo more tourists to help its ailing economy.
Starting next Monday, qualified non-immigrant Chinese applicants to the US can renew their visas without undergoing another interview if their visas expired less than 48 months ago.
The scheme was launched under a pilot programme announced yesterday by US Ambassador Gary Locke, state-run China Daily reported today.

US consular officers handled over a million visa applications from China in 2011, a 34% increase. The growth rate accelerated to 48% in the last three months of 2011.

Now almost 90% of non-immigrant applications from Chinese nationals are approved, Charles Bennett, minister- counsellor for consular affairs at the US embassy, said.

Chinese tourists to the US, on average, spend more than USD 6,000 per trip, compared with about USD 4,000 spent by all other international travellers, according to statistics from the US Department of Commerce.

More than 800,000 Chinese visitors contributed USD five billion to the US economy in 2010.

The new initiative includes B (temporary visitors for business and pleasure), C1 (transit), F (students), J (exchange visitors) and other categories, covering 95% of the total visas issued by the US embassy and consulates across China, according to Locke.

The previous policy only allowed an interview waiver within 12 months of the expiration date.

"We expect that this will benefit tens of thousands of applicants in China, saving them time and money, and making it easier for them to travel to the United States more frequently," Locke said.

On January 19, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to significantly increase travel and tourism to the US, with the goal of increasing visa-processing capacity in China by up to 40% in 2012.

This goal, combined with previous measures announced by the US embassy to streamline the application process to allow Chinese applicants to be interviewed in a more efficient manner, is the country's latest effort to attract more visitors from emerging economies, such as China, to boost the ailing US economy, the report said.

"We find that once a country relaxes its visa policy for Chinese tourists, it usually produces immediate results in the growth of visitor numbers," Jiang Yiyi, director of China Tourism Academy's International Tourism Development Institute, said.

Locke, however, did not respond directly to a question on whether this initiative was aimed at boosting the US economy.

The pilot programme does not apply to first-time applicants.
unquote

Perfect match to the post below: Now very soon Guo Mei Mei can buy her LV, Gucci & Hermes much cheaper in China

Already a rumour for some weeks: The Government in China is looking forward to lower the import tax on luxury goods. This is good news for Guo Mei Mei and all other big spenders in the mainland. No need to go HK anymore - maybe only for image reasons (surely as long there will not be ZERO import tax in China - HK always will be cheaper). But the real "riches" they anyhow go Milan, Paris or London - no matter the price.
Please read here from 19.07.11 THE STANDARD (Hong Kong):
quote
Beijing's hint of luxury
Staff reporter Tuesday, July 19, 2011
In Beijing's Caishikou Department Store, people are buying gold as if they are purchasing vegetables. And in the Shin Kong Place shopping mall, sales of luxury products such as Gucci and Prada are set to reach 400 million to 500 million yuan annually.
And that, according to a top Beijing official, is why the time is fast approaching for tariffs on luxury goods to be lowered in the mainland.
Such a move will boost sales and consumption and is in keeping with the 12th Five Year Plan, Zhang Guoqing, the deputy director of policy research at the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.
But he stressed the final decision and the timing rest with the Ministry of Finance and not the Commerce Ministry.
"High tariffs on luxury goods no longer reflect the actual situation in China's economic development," Zhang said in an interview in Beijing with Sing Tao Daily, sister publication of The Standard.
"It is generally accepted that an appropriate adjustment of tariffs on luxury goods is necessary and should be done ... if you don't adjust it, people will buy these goods overseas and help other countries' consumption."
High tariffs are intended to discourage people from adopting a luxury lifestyle - but times have changed with the rise in incomes and people's aspirations to pursue a certain quality of life.
When the prices of goods in the mainland are double or even higher than their cost outside the country, local money flows overseas, Zhang said. He believes that billions of yuan now going overseas will remain in the country if tariffs are lowered.
Mainland consumers spent four times more on branded luxury goods in overseas markets than in the domestic market last year, due primarily to the large price differences, a recent World Luxury Association survey found.
It was reported in June that tariffs on items including cosmetics, cigarettes and liquor will be among the first to be slashed by up to 15 percentage points, followed by jewelry, clothes, bags and watches. No timetable was given for when this will happen.
Earlier, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian said it is "inevitable" that the mainland will lower some tariffs on imported goods, especially mid to high-end products.
If the Finance Ministry decides to go ahead with the cuts, Hong Kong retailers selling luxury goods and the tourism trade might be affected.
unquote