Expatriate Games

10 Days in Kunming – Perspiration Free

Welcome to the land of no humidity…

That was the first thing I noticed about Kunming… the weather. During the 10 days I was there the temps topped out each day out in the mid to low 20′s with lots of sunshine and no humidity. It was nearly perfect. I had gone to Yunnan to check out the local music scene and specifically to shoot last weekend’s 500KM City Music Festival. It was a bonus to be able to spend time with old friends as well as make some new ones along the way. Of course, I managed some time to walk around a bit with a camera.

I was happy to discover the fine folks of Yunnan Province, like many of their countrymen, are equally adept at the fine art of sleeping. This guy was selling photos of the beautiful, tranquil scenery in Green Lake Park. Perhaps a little too tranquil, he was totally gone. The shot was taken with a wide angle lens directly in front of him and except for some REM flutters, he never moved. The guy in the second shot was sacked out on a bench beside the croquet pitch. He wasn’t homeless, just taking a snooze. Love the shoes…

Entrepreneur

No Croquet Today

Unlike here in the hinterlands of Guangxi, there is a thriving music and art scene in Kunming. I met a number of musicians and artists of both the Chinese and expatriate variety. Among them was 22 year old Yang Yang, a painter and one of those old souls you meet from time to time. She spent a few days helping me with translation and was supposed to help carry my gear as well. That went by the wayside when we realized my bag was bigger than she was. Despite her wee stature, she’s also a compelling model and we found time for an impromptu afternoon photo session at a local studio. I’ll write more about young Yang Yang here soon. That’s her below with musician/artist Jan Hassmann and photographer Yereth Jansen. They were in Moondog having a discussion about an upcoming meeting of Kollective Kunming, a collaborative group of artists with an aim to bring together the local and international artist community and provide a platform on which they can share their work. Jan is a multi-tasker who somehow balances being a musician, producer, painter and college lecturer. Lately he’s been playing his Gibson for The Great Apes and will figure prominently in a future post here as well. Yereth is a very talented Dutch photographer and digital artist who makes his home in Kunming. He has an impressive portfolio full of interesting work which you can check out on his website. We’d made a loose plan to spend some time together with our cameras but in the end there just wasn’t enough time. Next trip Yereth!

Kunming Kollective

Yang Yang and I were able to take a walk around The Kundu Night Market late one mid-week evening. It’s an interesting area… a lot of night clubs, karaoke bars and discos rung by the market. As usual, I gravitated toward the edges. These were all shot with a Canon 5D MarkII and either the EF50mm f/1.2L USM or EF 24mm f/1.4L USM lenses…

昆都夜市 – Kundu Night Market

Real Cigarettes

Car Wash

Yang Yang on Yellow Canvas

98

Seeing Red

走开! (Go Away!)

My first night in town I met a musician named Eddy Kneefel at The Lost Garden Guest House. A couple of days later I discovered he is also a photographer of some renown. His photography of China was featured in an exhibition at the Dutch Pavilion during last years World Expo in Shanghai. What are the odds of meeting two Dutch photographers in one week… in China? Eddy is the driving force behind Sea Loving Mammals, a rock trio that also features my friends Philippe and Charlie. Here’s Eddy at The Mask in Kundu…

Eddy made some time to take me for a walk around the city and we did a little shopping, talked photography and music while taking some photos on a perfect Friday afternoon. Here are a few of those shots, again all with the Canon 5D MarkII and either a 50mm f/1.2L or EF 24mm f/1.4L lens…

Purple Shoes

Pure Breds

Bong Hit

“Don’t be eye-ballin’ me boy…”

Water Weight

This guy above was unabashedly watering down the center of his cardboard stacks in order to add weight for the recycling scale. He was none to happy we were hanging around with cameras. I mentioned The Lost Garden Guest House earlier. I was able to stay there for the entire 10 days. It’s run by my friends David and Yu Jia and both the hostel and restaurant are fantastic. The pizza is the best I’ve had in China and the beer was actually cold every time. The room was clean, the bed was comfortable, the water was hot and the service was excellent. Dave you can send my check now. No seriously, no one paid me to say that. I am, however, open to endorsement deals.

The Lost Garden

So yeah, about the music scene. Between visits to various local clubs, the Tiger Battle of the Bands and the 500KM City Music Festival, I think I saw 18 different bands perform during those 10 days in Yunnan. Throw in assorted DJ’s, a couple of band rehearsals, scantily dressed dancing girls and models, dealing with inept festival organizers and surviving a ride across town on Charlie’s scooter, it all made for an interesting time. It sure beats pounding nails for a living. The festival featured Cui Jian as the headliner. Predictably some of the music was great, some not. I’ll get photos posted here as soon as I can. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this one. The guy calls himself 玩世不恭 (Cynicism) and he’s the lead singer for Kunming rockers 赵亚旭. The band is really tight and while young Cynicism has just an average voice, I have to admit… he’s a great poser.

 500KM City Music Festival –  赵亚旭

Until next time…

Peace!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 18th, 2011 at 11:58 PM. It is filed under Blog, China Nights, Documentary, Music, My China Life, Photojournalism, Post Slider, Thumbnail Slider, Uncategorized and tagged with 500km city music festival, 5d mark II, asian, canon, china, china youth, chinese, culture, documentary, expat, expatriate, kunming, laowai, live, My China Life, photo of the day, photography, Photojournalism, photos, rock and roll, rock music, street, yunnan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.