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 [...]
A Walk With Jeremy
Photojournalist and friend Jeremy Breningstall was in Liuzhou over Chinese New Year. Lily and I were treated to lunch by Jeremy and his lovely wife Lisa and then we managed to get in a short photo-walk through some of the 胡同 – hutongs (alleys) near the city center. Here’s a small collection of black and [...]
The Diabetes Report – (by the numbers)
Howdy folks and welcome to the South China edition of Diabetes Central. I dunno exactly why I’ve been putting off this post/update but here’s the skinny. I returned from Guangzhou a few days ago and after the latest round of tests I find myself equipped with a short and long-term treatment plan, and a lot [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Liujiang Sunrise
Goodbye Summer… The weather is slowly changing. I recently mentioned the good fall weather doesn’t last long here and sure enough today has been cloudy with a little drizzle and oh-by-the-way the humidity has returned. I was fortunate to get out very early yesterday with a full crew and we managed some decent shots before [...]
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, [...]
Liuzhou Metal
As part of an ongoing photo-documentary I’m doing on China youth, I went to see a thrash metal band last night at a new outdoor concert venue here in Liuzhou. My friend A Quan plays bass in the band and I’ve been following him and the other boys for well more than a year now. [...]
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 [...]
The iPad Giveaway…
There seems to be some confusion among some folks as to exactly how to register for the September giveaways, so with the middle of the month nearly here I thought it might be best to try and explain everything a little more clearly. I launched the new site on September 1st and I wanted to [...]
The Derriere Affair – Drama on the MTR
Day 4 (continued): Hong Kong to Tai O to Hong Kong Our Hong Kong adventure continued on Sunday afternoon with an unplanned and subsequently not very well thought out trip to Tai O. Tai O is a small fishing village popular with tourists and photographers on the far western side of Lanatu Island. It’s an [...]
Hot Hong Kong
Day 4 : Hong Kong Sunday morning dawned and a very hot, humid day was developing in Hong Kong. Able to stay in our hotel room until noon, we pushed that envelope to the limit. We stayed at the Wharney Guangdong Hotel in Wanchai and I’d say that while it was not a stellar hotel [...]
Hong Kong Baby!
Day 3 – Shenzhen to Hong Kong The plan was to take the 11:30 ferry from Shekou to Hong Kong which would put us in the city around 12:30, more than enough time to get settled into the hotel before meeting friends for a three o’clock photo walk. Already hot and humid when we left [...]
