10 Minutes – Chef Zhiang from Hunan
I was in Nanning last week and in my free time managed to get out for a few photo-walks with some Flickr friends. Flickr is particularly great in one aspect, the ability to meet up with fellow photographers from around the world, knowing beforehand that you’ll have at least one thing in common. Over the [...]
Elvis
Howdy folks. It’s been busy ’round these parts. I’ve been in the weeds for more than a month now finishing up school and juggling about 37 different projects or assignments of some sort. I’ve just about hacked my way through so I’ll be posting more here soon about all the changes. Among the biggest changes, is [...]
Foreign Bodies – Laowai in Liuzhou
A couple of nights ago I met a bunch of Liuzhou Laowai. I’m not talking about THE Liuzhou Laowai (Ken). The folks at the Liuzhou Foreign Affairs Office, in conjunction with the Liuzhou Workers’ Hospital, sponsored an Expatriate Health Symposium/Banquet at The Nationality Restaurant located inside Long Tan Park. The event was a bit contrived, as [...]
Two Nights In Boao
During our short visit to Hainan we were able to get out a couple of nights and mingle with the Boao locals as we scoured about looking for dinner. We were usualy welcomed with big grins with an occasional curious stare now and then. As I mentioned yesterday, this place is friendly. The sidewalks were full [...]
10 Minutes – The Pineapple Lady of Nan Qiang Village
Lily and I were able to jet away to Hainan Island for the holiday weekend. It was a last minute decision, as we seldom manage to wrangle time off at the same time so we figured we should take advantage of that. We definitely needed a break. We’d been struggling with some major decisions and [...]
Girls of the 14th China International Photography & Electrical Image Machinery Fair
As mentioned in the last post, I attended the China Photography & Electrical Image Machinery Fair in Beijing last week. It was a lot of fun, maybe even a bit overwhelming at times! Every manufacturer of any kind of camera and or camera accessory was in attendance. I somehow managed to get home without buying anything [...]
Beijing Nights
Last week I attended The 14th China International Photography & Electrical Image Machinery Fair. It was an interesting event with pretty much anything and everything to do with photography represented at the show. Amazingly, I was able to get out of there without buying either my coveted Leica M9 OR a medium format film camera OR [...]
10 Minutes – The Knife Sharpener
A few days ago I met this slip of a man just outside my apartment building. Li Yongkui is a charismatic traveling knife sharpener. The 32 year old father of 2 walks from neighborhood to neighborhood, pulling a grinder along behind him while touting his services via a recorded message played on a beat up [...]
Cat’s Pause – South China Final Four Edition
It’s been quite a while since I wrote anything here about my obsession with Kentucky basketball. A couple of years ago I was quite vocal on the blog, lamenting the state of the UK basketball program during Billy Gillispie’s final season as it was unraveling into a big blue mess. That was then. Two years [...]
Sunshine
After weeks of dismal, dank weather we finally had a decent day this past Monday. The parks were full of old folks taking advantage of the warm up, myself included. I hadn’t been out with a camera since coming back from Beijing three weeks ago and it was good excuse to once and for all [...]
Lantern Festival – 2011
The Year of the Rabbit is officially in full swing now. With last night’s Lantern Festival, The 2011 edition of Spring Festival is over and it’s time for all of us here to go back to work. Lily and I took a walk down to the Liuzhou People’s Government complex where there were lanterns and [...]
Liuzhou Goes Live (almost sorta)
I’ve been feeling much better of late, so much so that I’ve actually been getting out a fair amount over the past week or so. A couple of days ago I had the great fortune to be invited to Liuzhou Television’s first ever Spring Festival Gala. Government officials put the live show together, hoping that [...]
Tribute To A Dog
After more than a month of inexplicably wasting away, our little dog Chewy died on the 9th of January. She was still young, having just turned four. None of the “vets” here in Liuzhou were able to determine exactly what was wrong with her, nor could they figure out an effective course of treatment. Of [...]
Natalie & Nick In China (Day IV Xi’an) – The Terra-cotta Warriors & Tang Dynasty Show
Day 4, our 2nd day in Xi’an, may have been my favorite day of our tour. We were well-rested and the weather was once again remarkable. We met our guide Melissa at the hostel at 9 and then headed out to see The Terra-cotta Warriors. During the drive Melissa regaled us with stories about Emperor [...]
Natty & Nick In China (Day III Xi’an) – The Muslim Quarter
On Saturday morning we said goodbye to Jia and Beijing and headed to Xi’an. Packing, the taxi to the airport, check-in and security were all uneventful, as was the 2 hour flight. I’ve had a few folks ask about where we stayed, as well as more specific travel questions about transportation and the like. I [...]
Natty & Nick In China (Day II Beijing) – The Wall, The Acrobats & The Olympic Village
I forgot to mention that our first day together in China was actually Thanksgiving. After our walk through Tiananmen and The Forbidden City, Natalie, Nick, Jia and I wrapped up the day with a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner at The Union Bar and Grill in Sanlitun. Brother, did I ever have a lot to be thankful [...]
Natalie & Nick In China (Day I Beijing) – Tiananmen Square & The Forbidden City
The kids arrived safely very early last Wednesday morning and we’ve been going at it pretty hard since. Everything has been going fairly well, with just a minor hitch or two. We’ve made it *home* to Liuzhou, after touring Beijing, The Great Wall, Xi’an & The Terra-Cotta Warriors and Guilin. Our accommodations have run the [...]
Playing Games In China
Yes friends I am alive and well. I’ve just had too much going on as I try to wrap everything up before the kids arrive in four days. Yes… just four more days. I’m like a kid waiting for Christmas. Those of you who know me are acutely aware that I can never seem to [...]
10 Minutes – Card Sharks of Que Shan Park- 雀山公园
One thing I really like and admire about the Chinese is how the older generation stays so active and engaged with one another. Excluding all but the coldest of days, I can visit any park in Liuzhou and find groups of retired folks dancing, singing, playing music, performing plays, practicing Tai Chi, or taking part [...]
Aquabike World Championship
I spent the summers of my youth working at my grandfather’s Kentucky River boat dock near Ford, Kentucky. I probably swam in that river nearly every day it was warm enough between the ages of 8 and 14. If I’d had one of these things, I’m not sure I’d be here today. The Aquabike World [...]
10 Minutes – Yan Qiang
I was fortunate to get out with the camera for a few hours everyday during the National Day Holiday and both the weather and a few of the resulting photographs have been memorable. The fall season in Liizhou is far too short, but when it does finally come it is seriously nice. Reminds me of [...]
Beauties… by the beast
Historically, I haven’t taken many of these “glamour” type shots, but it seems I’m being asked to do so on a fairly regular basis now. This kind of photography, doing it right, doesn’t come easy to me but over time I’ve gained enough confidence to feel comfortable in at least sharing some of the work. There’s [...]
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!
I want to thank everyone who took part in the September giveaways by registering for the RSS feed here on the website. It was a fun way for me, and I hope for you as well, to kick off the launch of the new site. We had 382 official entries either here via the blog, [...]
Confucius’ Birthday Bash
We had a big party here this past Monday and I somehow managed to snag an invitation to the grand opening of Liuzhou’s new Confucian Temple, staged to coincide with Confucius’ 2,561st birthday. It was a much bigger deal than I’d imagined. It turned out the celebration was a nationwide thing, as for the first [...]
