End of an era
Last day of work.
Month: July 2009
K28: The train to Beijing
Too many stops, not enough sleeper cars. Don’t ever do it on a hard seat ticket.
If you’re ever in Dandong, stay at the Crowne Plaza.
A rather unfortunate fact: My favorite part about my mini-holiday to Dandong was the hotel I stayed at. Crowne Plaza Dandong was probably one of the best things I’ve ever treated myself to. This is not a slight on Dandong (the town was fun), but Beijing has been rather rough on me. I think I’ve […]
Thoughts from Dandong
First impressions: Dandong feels like the Myrtle Beach of China, complete with waterfront seafood restaurants and an island with a small amusement park. There are bright neon lights at night, a road and walkway along the river and lots of public spaces. It is in these public spaces where Dandong comes alive. Many groups of […]
Dandong-a-dong
I’m off to Dandong in a few hours, so I thought I’d best start preparing for my trip! According to Wikipedia, it’s a coastal city in Liaoning Province at the mouth of the Yalu River delta, which means it touches the Yellow Sea, East China Sea and Korean Bay. This makes it an important port, […]
Smog eclipses eclipse
Millions saw the eclipse while I looked over cubicle walls out my office windows to try to find the sun. This was the first time I’ve been in the correct country and had an opportunity to see something so cool and rare, but Beijing’s stupid pollution (and maybe clouds) got in the way. It was […]
Quick Takes: Developments
Google music is revolutionary. I now have all the hottest and latest Chinese music (and the popular karaoke songs) so I can be that much more Asian. Beijing nights are not as comfortable as they were a few weeks ago. Chilling out on my balcony before bed is impossible now. They put up traffic lights […]
Tongs are more than utensils and hallways
I’m not a lawyer, but I had to polish a user agreement. The user agreement forbids content that incites unlawful assembly, unlawful tongs, unlawful parades and/or unlawful demonstrations, among other things. At any rate, I learned what a “tong” is. It’s not just something you use to grill meat! It’s something far cooler. It’s an association, […]
Are we tools?
Hung out with the foreigners from the office today after work. As usual, had very interesting conversations that provided intriguing perspectives on the motherland. Then met some more foreigners from the States who were here interning with some city planning folks. Made me wonder: As Westerners, we tend to think of our Chinese colleagues as […]
Tidbits
I wrote a post recently about a Web site featuring Chinese nappers. To ruin the fun and save you the time of looking at all the (hilarious) pictures, the point of it was: Chinese people can sleep anywhere. Like on bicycles, park benches and rocks, and usually in a really awkward position. Anyway, here is […]