北京同仁堂……百年老點（1） ？

我不是在宣傳。

這一趟來北京受朋友所托去同仁堂買一種中草成藥。跑了幾家，銷售員均說在他們的連鎖店沒有這種存貨。他們還笑說，我的朋友應該是在旅遊點買的。於是我打電話回香港，朋友說他買藥的同仁堂是在天安門奧運倒數時鐘附近。藥店的裝修是古色古香，有百年老店的感覺，他還在店外拍了照。

感覺有點不對，天安門開店？租金肯定很貴。我在倒數時鐘附近逛了一圈，老店倒沒有，那裏其實是博物館，底層有幾家旅遊服務的便利店。終於明白什麽是旅遊點。沒有旅遊團的時候，它只是古典建築。

極度懷疑朋友的藥，成效是真的還是心理作用？

藥的心理作用已經不是新的概念。若干年前，哈佛大學已經做過一個實驗。實驗是這樣的，把兩種分別是藍色、紅色但沒有藥效的膠囊給志願者，並告訴他們：藍色會令人抑郁，而紅色會令人亢奮。結果發現有大約50%的人因為你告訴他抑郁或亢奮而產生相同的效果。

是否應該告訴我的朋友？

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備註：（1）老點：廣東話，俗稱，意思是騙人。

Beijing, are you ready?

I was unable to log in in Beijing last week. May be the hotel wanted to limit internet usage, which was free there.

Finally I got a chance to come back to Beijing this year. 11 months have passed since the last time I was here. I miss Beijing as I had a fine time when I lived here in the last 3 years of the last century. Joy was “made” in Beijing anyway. I have mixed experience in my last trip. I met the worst client I ever have but also a rejuvenated Christian who was once-a-nasty-person.

And Beijing is getting set for the Olympic Game next year. They really mean business.

The first experience you have for any place would be the airport. They are still catching up with the upgrading of the airport. In the context of customer service, however, they are close. This is something innovative. There is a panel of buttons in front of the immigration officer. If you have been waiting for too long or are not happy with the service they provide, you can press the unhappy button. (Of course they also provide a happy button.) It really speeds up the process. It only took me 5 seconds to go through border control. I asked my Australian co-trainer and he had the similar experience. And you can see smiley faces and hear “thank-you” from the immigration/custom officers. Taxi drivers are more friendly and helpful than before, I must say. Even they know that you are tourist, they are not trying to cheat you.

However, pollution is a huge problem. This is the week right after National Day Holiday. It should be a clear-blue-sky as factories stop operating for a week. When I was 30 minutes from landing Beijing, I could see the polluted air above the city. This is a consistent observation, unfortunately. An Australian who lives in Beijing put it in a serious context. She is an English teacher who travels frequently to other cities as well. In all directions, she can spot the pollution when she is one hour away from Beijing. They open the 5th Metro line on the last Sunday. But people believe that it won’t help much. I believe the Chinese government will use drastic approach next year. They really need to.