Posts Tagged ‘china’

The Real Thing: China Summer 2008

// July 7th, 2008 // 12 Comments » // Personal

During the entire trip, I kept a play by play journal listing the events of each day. I also… when my cellphone had batteries left… recorded random audio musings. Now I decided to just let the pictures do the narration. Please note that my camera really sucked (wait til next entry, where it turned the gorgeous Chateau Lake Louise into a one-dimensioned murky grey, so apologies for that.)

Vancouver Airport

Random other people leaving at Vancouver International Airport. Wow, look at the red carpet they have for the business class people!

Vancouver Airport

One last look at the gorgeous blue sky baby! (And of course, plane necessity: flip-flops)

Food for the plane

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. A journey of THREE thousand miles requires lots of food and entertainment.

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China Summer 2008

// June 22nd, 2008 // 8 Comments » // Personal

Just got home from the Vancouver Airport, more photos coming soon. Here’s the past four weeks in brief!

The trip begins!

  • REMINISCENCE: The feeling of reaching one’s childhood home is indescribable; it will always be home in a sense no matter how far I travel or long I’m away
  • EXHAUST: Rush hour on a 6 lane Beijing avenue lasts til 9 PM (holy bejeezes!)
  • METRO: a electronic card is Beijing’s all access metro card; most buses cost 40 cents ($0.05), now there’s incentive to ride public transport; way better than Vancouver’s system; two flatscreen TVs on every bus
  • LUXURY: Stayed at two four star hotels and both of them had bathrooms with a CLEAR GLASS WALL looking into the room… oh the initial embarrassing incidents…
  • OBSESSIONS: Was given the honor to come up with an English name for my little cousin. Any guesses? Hehe, won’t keep you hanging, he’s now my little cousin Harry! I plan to name my other little cousin Ron XD
  • TRAVELING: Places visited: Beijing for a week @ grandpa’s house, Changsha in Hunan province for a few days, and Donggong in Liaoning for two weeks @ other grandma’s house
  • READJUST: Still recovering from the most bloody annoying cold ever, no fevers thank god
  • LABOUR: The maid who takes care of my grandma and cleans and cooks is 60 years old, wow, cultural differences i guess
  • HAGGLING: Spent about 1000 yuan ($150) and bought bags and bags of new clothes

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Gotta start uploading photos…

Popularity: 4% [?]

Guess where?

// May 29th, 2008 // 17 Comments » // Personal

You may be wondering what’s with all the China-related posts lately, well, the surprise is out, I’m in Beijing! I got here earlier this week and will be staying for a month.

So, any questions for me about the city/country? Want to check if your site works in China?

I’m in a web cafe XD. Mum’s rushing, gotta dash.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Destruction, Death, Survival, Love

// May 24th, 2008 // 10 Comments » // Music Monday, Wordless Wednesday

Yes, I know it’s physically impossible to have Wordless Wednesday and Music Monday categories on the same day (which ironically enough is NEITHER of those days…), my categories need fixing.

The beginning of this week were official days of mourning in China. Imagine the nation standing still with only foghorns, car horns, and sirens in the background for three minutes. That’s what happened at 2:28 PM Monday. I’m just touched by the humanity of it all - newspapers and websites donning a coat of grey and black in mourning, journalists breaking down in tears in the middle of live reports, the leaders going to the front line, children’s bodies found with pens in hand as they had no time to react, clocks stuck at 2:28, a man saying “thank you everyone” when he was lifted out of the rubbles after three days, only to pass away minutes after.

In Beijing, after the three minutes of silence, people erupted into cheers that haven’t been heard in Tiananmen Square in… ever (video)? I find that Chinese people don’t usually go out and cheer for something they love, especially their country, so this is rare and historic indeed!

I guess the pictures can speak for themselves.

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Beichuan Secondary School, taken a day before the earthquake at a seniors event. Two thirds of the people in that school would not be alive the next day.

Newspaper covers collected in a collage, the giant words mean “Mourning” (source)

Migration - a couple carrying everything they owned to move to a new place.

Rest in peace.

Oh god.

Candles surrounding the words Wenchuan, the county at the epicenter of the Earthquake in Sichuan.

Every bit counts. Donate to the Red Cross today.

Awww <3

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tibetan Terrorists and American Hypocrisy

// March 18th, 2008 // 28 Comments » // World for the Week

Free Quebec! Free Texas! Actually just give the whole lot back to the natives! What? That’s a little extreme you say? How can Canada remain Canada without a huge chunk of Quebec? What happened to all the history they shared together? If the public and the media continue to condemn the Chinese government and side with those bloody Free-Tibet protesters, I say our next step is to release Quebec from the evil grasp of the Canadian government and return USA soil to the Amerindians who got there first.

UPDATE: titled changed, yay.

For those who don’t think this is exactly headline news, here’s to quickly fill you in.

Free-Tibet Supporters: Free Tibet! Human rights abuse! Let Dalai Lama go back! No Olympics!
Tibetans: *burn stores* *harrass citizens* *threaten police*
Chinese government: LIES! ALL LIES! I’m giving you a deadline to stop burning things.
North American human rights groups: The Tibetans are suffering! Free Tibet! Shame on the Chinese government!
CNN: HEINOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN COMMITTED IN TIBET, PEOPLE DIED, SENSATIONAL STORIES, OMFGZ!!

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