tbaroundtheworld

Just before heading off to Beijing last Sunday to meet my kiddo (see blog “My Day at the Airport”) I took a walk to the local statue factory. I found this place a little more than a year ago on one of my very first bike rides here in Kai Fa Qu. On that day I was looking for a way up and over to Big Black Mountain, one that didn’t exclusively involve using busy streets, and I found a way around the park across the street from my apartment. At that time, there was no road through the park and so I went off to ride around it. On the far side, reality was not what Google maps had insisted it was – I could not see a road that went the way I wanted to go. So I improvised and started up a quiet street through an industrial district. Two blocks into it, I was graced with a vision of a giant Buddha, sublimely staring at me from above the trees. Of course, I stopped and had a look, and what I found was remarkable – a big factory lot full of dinosaurs, soldiers, cows, horses, Bodhisattvas, the bu...

On my most recent trip to see the Warriors, I was able to spend a lot more time just taking pictures. On my first visit the place was crowded and well, it was my first time so I spent more time listening to Lily my guide and less time trying to push my way up to the railing to get some photos. Besides, the magnitude of the place made it seem more appropriate to try to capture the grandeur instead of the individual details. This time with my kid alongside and Lily regaling her with the historical details I was free to enjoy the minutiae which produce the genuine magnificence of the Warriors. Rumor has it that if you can find two identical Warriors, the government will give you the statue of your choice and given that there are more than 6000 of them on site it’s probably a safe bet. From the vantage point of the walkways that surround the pits it’s clear that few of them even look enough alike to be related. You can see the ethnicity of the men – south people vs. north people – as well ...

Just a single photo to sum up Tiananmen Square during the biggest sandstorm of the year.  

Here we are.....  

I've been trying to arrange a visit in China with my children for the better part of these last two years, and finally it has come together. Between their schedules, my schedule, weather, college graduations and whatever, it's been a tough thing to pull off.   And compounding it of course is the sheer magnitude of the arrangements to travel from that side to this one. But after a lot of juggling and planning and false starts, it all started to become a reality today.   My youngest is due to arrive tomorrow and to make sure that I'd be there to meet her I left today. I can't imagine any travel eventuality worse than getting off a plane in China and having to figure out how to get around. I think you can probably navigate most western airports with a little bit of English and a dose of sorrowful appearance but here it's just so alien and so little makes sense that having this be your first trip abroad would be a challenge to just about anyone, even the most resourc...

My original plan when moving to China was to live in a “serviced apartment” building that was under construction. The timing looked good – the place would be ready by August of 2008 and I was moving more than 3 months later. Well, with all things involving estimates and timing here the ready date kept slipping and slipping until my move date came and I had to choose some temporary quarters. Much to my disappointment, this meant living in a hotel until my new home was ready. The concept of “service apartment” is interesting – you pay a bit more rent but they do everything for you. Cleaning, linens, even a free breakfast down in a restaurant. It’s a similar idea to an extended stay hotel in the US except that these places are really nice. The unit I’d planned to live in looked like any well appointed penthouse in any major city in the world - truly sophisticated, nicely designed and easy on the eyes if you like modern. And so I was quite disappointed as my second deadline came and went. ...

All across China the final night of the New Year festival is celebrated with fireworks. Not the 24-hour-per day-being-shot-off-in-your-neighborhood-resulting-in-untold-injury variety, but rather the official government-sanctioned type. In Dalian, they’re held down by the ocean and on the right side of town in a spot called Xinghai Square. It’s actually an oval, and hardly a square despite the name. It’s surrounded by fancy high-rise apartments (home to many expatriates who don’t mind commuting 2 hours to work) and some fanciful sculptures of athletes rendered in white metal window screen and representing each of the Olympic sports. Why the Olympic athletes are not across town in Olympic Square is beyond me, perhaps they thought the Olympic rings were enough over there and so shared the wealth by putting the sportsmen over here. In any event, one end of the square has a giant “book” that looks a lot like a skateboard ramp without railings. In the US it would be fenced and closed due to ...