Back in the Day

On the Shenzhen - Macau Ferry, December 31, 2005.

Fireworks, Beijing 2006 style

This was the first year that Beijingers were allowed to light off fireworks in the downtown area after a number of years of restrictions. They went completely apeshit. This is the view from my hotel room, note that some of the fireworks are shot from people's 20th floor windows. 安全第一！

Best gift ever

Why wouldn't you put a rabbit carcass on the front of the box?

SWFC

Why wouldn't you build something 1.5x taller than this right next door?

15,200 Feet Above WenHai

At the base of Snow Dragon Mountian, Yunnan Province. Notice the herd of yaks on the right side.

Photo Finish

Only in China can you take over the horse track after the races for your own event.

Moganshan

Had my old man our for a nice last week. We went out to MoGanShan where we did some biking and hiking. These are photos of our hike through the bamboo forests surrounding the guesthouse.

Anyone living in Shanghai who requires some outdoor time could do well worse than taking a weekend in the hills here. Truly worth the three hour drive.

Total cost for the weekend (lodgings for weekend, food from Carrefour, heady beer, drivers, Tsingdao beer, more local beer, Cool Ranch Doritos): 950rmb/person.

Pray, Homie.

ZhaMei Monestary, near Lugu Lake on the Yunnan/Sichuan Border

Probably The Best Photo I've Taken (to date)

This is up in Lugu Lake, Yunnan/Sichuan Province, China. Went there for a week plus. Shot using my Diana F+ Lomo.

The Jungle Bar

The first month I lived in China was spent at a big private school outside the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. It was indicative of China and Shenzhen's glaring gaps between the urban, industrializing areas and the rural, farming poor. While we were within Shenzhen city limits, by going out the back entrance of the school and walking for ten minutes, we'd be in a world of run down homes with little tying them to the modern world, basic farming on small plots of land, and the "Jungle Bar".

The Jungle Bar was not a bar, but the little shop the local villagers went to for everything from soy sauce to Pringles. Its shelves were packed with one or two of all the basic necessities, and thanks to their electric scooter anything could be procured from the industrial area a scant 10 minute ride away. Just on the other side of the school were large factories, apartment buildings, electronics shops, grocery stores. The Jungle Bar side was jungle.

We drank their beer at cement picnic tables under the shade of aluminum roofing and some spotty palm trees. The local dogs would lie in their stench nearby while we hooked up some speakers and listened to ODB. The Tsingdao cost 3 RMB.

That is how I spent 4-5 nights per week for my first month in the country.

Where's Waldo?

That's me, doing what I do best: sweating in a factory.

Just for the record, I am the only person sweating. This is usually the case.

First Post (hopefully also not Last Post)

Summer in Hong Kong is no joke. Humid, hot, generally horrid weather mixed with the scents of wet markets, decomposing trash, and the guy standing next to you. Gruesome usually, uncomfortable constantly, tolerable only indoors. A long slog, but we didn't move here because it would be the easy life. No, we are here for the action, adventure; sweaty summers be damned.

This afternoon I get my new China visa, and Saturday we storm the mainland to celebrate the 4th of July. The celebration will include a pool, a tailor, Japanese food and beverage, topped off with a KTV dessert. After we recover, I will push further up the Pearl River where hotel meals and Corporate-ese awaits. Deadlines to meet, deals to discuss, margins to analyze. Later in the week I'll pull a quick 18 hour tour of duty in Shanghai, avoiding the glitz and glam, and embracing an early morning car ride to the middle of nowhere.

After the trips to Malaysia and Idaho over the past 6 weeks there's little hope of any kind of quick vacation in July or August. Worse yet, we have now entered into the Hong Kong Public Holiday Draught (aka, Bring on the Level 8 Typhoons, Please). From July 2nd until September 30th there will be no random long weekends, sneaky Tuesdays off, or even the previously unknown Buddhist holiday to keep us out of work. Here's hoping for a strong gust of wind, black rain, and level 8's.