Posts tagged ‘PicOTD’

PicOTD: Watching Beijing’s Only Male Belly Dancer

August 9th, 2009
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The opening of some sort of design store we got invited to by a woman that showed us a couple of apartments. What these guys are staring at with such interest is Beijing’s only male belly dancer. Actually, he may not be Beijing’s only male belly dancer but he’s definitely one of the few. A skinny Chinese guy with pointy hips and long beaded extensions which he would whip around dramatically while peeling his lycra-ed self off the ground from various bridges and executing various frightening pelvic maneuvers. If you managed to duck the helicopter rotor-like beads you would definitely get damaged by the jutting hip bones. It’s at least equally possible that they are staring at the belly dancer’s backup crew who are in fact female and, although Chinese, have much more going on in the hip section. Another classic ...READ MORE

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PicOTD: Unfortunate Photo Ops

August 1st, 2009

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At least a year back now in a class trip to Shaoxing. Outside the liquor ‘factory’ where I sat out the tastings with the two serious muslims on the trip. I spent a lot of time talking to one of them, a stout guy from Tajikistan who had the entire Qur’an in audio form on his cell phone and suddenly started playing a section for me outside a cave full of Buddha’s until the teacher told him to give it a rest for a while. He didn’t actually speak Arabic himself. In the parking lot groups of Chinese tourists took turns taking ultra-embarassed photos with some of us laowai. Herds of them would push one of their friends into the frame with us and then snap away until their friend managed to escape. It was like trying to force a bunch of 9 year olds to dance with each other at a school dance. Cooties galore. Giggles for days. Glorious cross-culture ...READ MORE

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PicOTD: Shanghai Aquarium/Don’t Taze Me Chou

July 23rd, 2009
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In almost three years in China, I have never been as frustrated with the Chinese masses as I was at the Shanghai aquarium. Steph and I went there before a flight back to Beijing. A flight that turned into a multi-hour riot at the airport, culminating with us all being locked on the plane. And then forced to get off.
The kids pounded on the tanks containing rare species, emblazoned with bilingual warnings + pictograms beseeching visitors not to pound their fat, greasy litte palms all over the goddamn glass. Parents shooed kids under barriers so they could photo them near the shark tanks. Children stuck their hands into the tanks, which, unfortunately, were not full of pirahnas. The world’s longest underground sea tunnel, 155 meters underground and 50 or so meteres long, apparently required No Smoking signs.
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MMMmm Meat!

June 21st, 2009

delicious duck's blood -- my favorite

That’s right tweeeple, couldn’t help but hit you with my favorite line from Clueless in that title therrre. After some serious template meddling/quasi-arguing with tweeps about whether or not people are actually tweeting out of Iran (are they?) I’m packing it in and heading home for some one-pot noodle. However, I’d rather be eating this no doubt delicious dish just up above in that pic: Poached jellied duck blood & eel & pigs intestines in pungent sauce. I mean seriously, wouldn’t you? ...READ MORE

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Once Upon a Time in China

May 14th, 2009
new project in the works

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reassuring words for tough times

May 13th, 2009
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Staring at the sun

May 3rd, 2009

staring at the sun

You can check websites, or even get the daily air pollution numberes twittered to you, but if you really need further confirmation of how bad the air is – if the heavy gray cloud and slightly smoky taste in your mouth aren’t enougth – try staring at the sun. Yup, on extremely smoggy days in Beijing you can do what your parents and teachers always warned you not to, stare directly at the sun. It’s not as cool as it sounds, because while your eyes may not be burning, your throat is.
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history for the taking

February 10th, 2009

after two weeks in a quiet little town called america i’m back and blogger than ever. driving one night back from o’hare airport i witnessed this historic moment on the illinois/wisconsin border. when i went back a few days later i saw the new signs omitted any mention of a governor and went with the generic ‘illinois welcomes you’ thus avoiding the need for new signage when yet another illinois governor gets indicted. urban planning. ...READ MORE

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cctv9

January 18th, 2009
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the cctv building. waiting to go into the China International Gallery Expo ‘08. since the art market, like every other market, is tanking this year’s CIGE will probably be a whole lot sparser. the cctv tower will be fininished though and it looks fantastic. the structure is dynamic, as your taxi twists around one of the nearby massive interchanges wthe building turns with you. a steal at 700 or so million dollars
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the venice of china

January 16th, 2009
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an hour or so out of hangzhou. actually if you google ‘venice of china’ you get a number of answers, none of which seemed to be this place – unfortunately i’ve forgotten the name. i keep thinking it’s chao xian but that actually means north korea. despite the bank builidngs looming in the backgrounds over tiled roofs this place still feels old and untouched. there are pepsi signs, sure, but they’re salvaged banners sewn together to create umbrellas and into curtains to separate rooms. like many places in china – including the dusty brick villages slapped up around glowing drainage ditches not far from our beijing home – clothes are washed in the water.

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