Count Victories:
Archive for the ‘China’ Category
Big Big Medals
Sunday, February 21st, 2010Sleeper train to Guilin, China
Saturday, August 16th, 2008Begin the begin.Now starts the next leg of the awesome journey. Crossed the border into the People’s Republic of China. Border documents, Tsingtao beer on the train. (The logos and t-shirt slogans found here are refreshing and often goofy-hip.)
As the train rolled north and past the Guangzhou factory region, I saw trash camps and plots of wasted land. At one point, in the distance, we could see dire plumes of dark factory smoke rise up into the stratosphere as the was sun was setting. It’s an area worth exploring again, to more fully come to grip with our increasing impact on this planet. (Yes. More pictures to come..)
Come travel with me, fellow seekers!!….
Yangsho, Guilin, Chickens, Geese, ducks, hot weather, the beautiful Li River.. and more, tomorrow…
Hong Kong Art explorations
Thursday, August 14th, 2008Art pictures from Hong Kong. Birds….
The predictions about typhoons was wildly exaggerated… Unexpectedly, the weather has been really great. Tropical and humid, but no storms or rain.
Olympic Inferno – Equestrian. Trot Trot Canter Gallop
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008Equestrian Dressage Grand Prix
Beijing 2008: Olympic Qualifiers.
August 13, 2008 – Hong Kong – Sha Tin
I’m lucky to attend this Olympic event in Hong Kong. Beijing wasn’t a safe place for the horses, as they couldn’t guarantee their quarantine, so Hong Kong proudly got to co-host the Olympics by holding this event.
This Olympic torch burns so brightly, that you could feel its heat, even on this hot tropical night!
More cool pictures to come!!!
Trot Trot, Canter Gallop.
in the rhythm of
Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick Push” :
To any place with stairs, any good grinds the world was theirs, uh
And they four wheels would take them there…
Till the cops came and said “There’s no skating here.”
[Chorus]
So they Kick, Push Kick, Push Kick, Push Kick, Push Coast…
And the way they roll just a rebels without a cause with no place to go.
So they Kick, Push Kick, Push Kick, Push Kick, Push Coast…
Hong Kong
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008Discovery Bay, art, ferry ride to dinner, weird shops, Johnnie To’s basketball court.
“Hello, Yau Ma Tei” art exhibit on Shanghai Street. Street Pictures.
Pictures to come.
Macau, China. Cirque du Soliel “Zaia”
Sunday, August 10th, 2008Took the hydro ferry for a nice day trip to Macao. The weather is great and this is a cool set of islands. Coloane has a relaxing beach of black sand, perfect swimming. Saw some highway signage that had been ripped from the ground from a prior typhoon.
Macau is becoming the Asian version of Las Vegas gambling haven. The large hotels that shoot skyward and many are still under construction, are a bit disturbing.
But went and saw Cirque du Soliel’s new show called “Zaia” in the Venetian Macao. It’s about a little girl’s dream /journey into space, where she to gains a better perspective on her and humanity’s relationship to Earth’s environment. A perfect story for a polluted part of the world, no?
Small review and a strictly tourist pictures from Macau, soon.
Macau – Olympics Fuwa creatures
Cirque du Soliel in Venetian Macau
This place is way too opulent, but a great show. I’ll write more about it soon.
Venetian Hotel Macau China
did they spare any expense when building this place? It’s sort of ironic that it is so over the top while the “Zaia” show is about being more in touch with our natural environment.
Coloane and the black sands
Dinner, beach, moon, bus.
PS: The famous good almond cookies on the street…
PPS: ..also fantastic custard tarts of Macau.
Sham Shui Po Street
Saturday, August 9th, 2008Dim Sum, and other amazing meals in Hong Kong
The morning started out with tasty Dim Sum. Lunch was a fantastic Vietnamese spicy beef stew and dinner was amazing Indian food, found in a hidden walkup in TST. All was amazing and all was very affordable. I like this town already.
Kowloon Cultural District – “Our Life in West Kowloon II” exhibit
Went to an exhibit that was closing this weekend. The building was evicted and is being redeveloped, so organizers filled each floor with photographs and installations that highlighted how the living conditions are for poorer residents. One room housed twenty people, all strangers. And another room had one of the infamous cage homes (basically a cage a large as a simple twin-sized bed). It could be called home and locked up when not around. Hong Kong has been getting rid of the Bed cages, but from what I was told they do still exist.The organizers where chronicling the way people live in Kowloon, not the disappearing building. “The spirit of Sham Shui Po exists in the people and their lifestyles, not the buildings..”
Our Lives in West Kowloon II — Society for Community Organisation’s exhibit in a building set for redevelopment this month on 55 Kweilin Street.
Another item that is disappearing from the Hong Kong streetscapes are the individualistic letter boxes.
Hungry Ghost Festival, Temple
The burning of paper figures are helpful to warding off the hungry spirits. I like this temple shot of 14 day incense coils and the paper maché horse in front of the temple.
Sham Shui Po street scenes
Lots for sale on teh streets here: clothes, electronics, funky re-furbished CB radios, “new” mobile phones, and cheap tasty food – like pudding-on-a-stick and tea.
Chungking Mansions (“Chungking Express”)
Late night at Chungking near TST.. Wong Kar Wei where are you? What room are you in? Hello? Hello?
A long appreciative day, Zzz Zzz
Hong Kong, China. 8/8/08
Friday, August 8th, 2008Holden in China for summer vacation & adventure.
08-08-08 8:00pm+
Here I am at the Hong Kong airport arriving just a hour or so after the Olympics have begun. 
The international airport in Hong Kong has become very modern and efficient. My bag was waiting for me right after immigration swiftly checked me through. The photo was taken after I picked up my bag and reads 2 hours and 14 minutes after lucky start time of 08-08-08 8:08pm.
Here is a photo of me, taken in front of the Omega timekeeping board and a large screen of the opening ceremonies and a proud display of Chinese Olympic pride everywhere. Everyone in the airport seemed happy and I feel ready for a shower and some sleep.
This is a great trip so far. More of my photos will appear episodically as I travel, but most likely after my China travel.
China and the Environment
Thursday, April 17th, 2008A good series of radio shows this week, all regarding China, and all broadcast from China.
The terrible story behind the story of China’s economic boom is the astounding environmental devastation that has come with it. China’s air, China’s rivers, even China’s seas, are deadly and dying. Half a billion Chinese do not have access to safe drinking water.
Problem is, the boom and the environmental crisis are two sides of the same coin — and growth-hungry China doesn’t want to let that coin go…
For three decades now, the number one goal of China has been hyper-growth and development. More towers — like those going up in Shanghai — more factories, more power plants, more coal. And in growth China has succeeded. But the price has been something approaching environmental catastrophe. Can China stop the spiral? It’s not clear.
China and the Environment OnPoint Radio from WBUR Boston.