one night in beijing

some of these pics i am merely posting up bc i'm fairly sure my computer will crash once again and i will lose photos again

Taipei 101

Taipei as viewed from Taipei 101 at dusk

one night in shanghai

One crazy night out in Shanghai with my friend Henry

大同

The initial bus ride from Beijing to Datong, Shanxi Province was foreshadowing of what was to come. We made an epic pass outside of Beijing through the mountainous region which encapsulates sections of the Great Wall. Further on, when we were essentially on the edge of nowhere at all, a nasty storm came rolling up. We were sitting in the front row, so were given theatre like views of what was coming on. And it came on slow at first: utter blackness in the distance at 3pm. Suddenly, all was eclipsed with blackness of clouds and burning coal and the wind which was blowing swept over little villages that looked deserted and ruined. I was strongly reminded of scenes from "The Road." It was seriously frightening, looked like the oblivion.
Then once we reached Datong, I discovered it is the worst shithole of the shitholes I've seen in China. Worst shithole city, that is. There was a creepy strangeness about the place. I actually liked it, particularly bc it was the exact place I had once conjured in a dream about living in a run-down industrial city. That crumminess and grittiness felt altogether familiar. Walking through certain sections brought me back to the vivid dream I had once had.
The specialty in Datong was rabbit head. We happened upon a street where the only restaurants lining either side were ones serving severed rabbit heads. Large vats of heads bubbling in five-spice powder (五香粉). Naturally, we tried one.

my dad at age 18

Here in Taipei we went to my dad's high school which he attended for 6 years. We were able to locate an old yr book with his picture...

cool building in xiamen

somewhere btwn baotou and beijing

At the tailend of our Inner Mongolian journey we took a 10 hour bus ride from 包头 to 北京. The bus driver did not stop once, except for briefly on the side of the highway during intense traffic, clogged up between endless trucks transporting loads of coal. During that time I got off to snap this haunting image of a nuclear power plant behind a makeshift cemetery.

everything will be out of order from here on out

With all the blocks put in place for blogging in China, all my entries have been and will be disorderly for an indefinite period of time. The actual order of events goes as follows: Shanghai to meet with Alexei, a spell in Xiamen, then Beijing to Datong (Shanxi) to Hohhot (Inner Mongolia) to Xilinhot to Baotou and back to Beijing, then a few days in Xiamen and then now I am in Taiwan. All my vignettes will be out of order. Some pics are mine, most are Shawna's. We go!

inner mongolia

内蒙古, picture taken with Shawna's camera...