Click for a smattering of new pictures.
July 30, 2008
New Video and a Proper Post
So here’s my newest video for current. Look for an essay about the band somewhere shortly hopefully.
Now, for a proper post.
This past weekend we did the first really post worthy thing since I’ve been here. We went to Hong Kong. I would say it was like going to a completely different country, but that’s mostly true (it’s a special administrative region, if you care). What was most remarkable, to me at least, was how diverse it was.
Especially where we were staying. Chunking Mansions is a run-down tenement block in the middle of all the ritz, popularized by Won Kar Wai’s early film Chunking Express. The bottom two floors were full of shops, internet cafes, restaurants, and peopled by a mix of Indians, Africans, HK Cantonese, and tourists. It was like being in a western city. One of the things about Beijing is that if you’re not a foreigner, you’re Han Chinese, and that’s pretty much it. So diversity was exciting, as was Indian food.
We spent our time in HK seeing sites, staying out late, visiting with Kyle’s cousin Nick, and seeing Batman. Another cool aspect of the city was the level to which it wasn’t built in enclaves. Expensive boutiques were next to oldish apartment complexes, and outside of the central business district, everything seemed pretty mixed in.
One of the things I enjoyed most was riding the Tram on HK island. We weren’t really going anywhere, but it was a great way to get a look around, and the breeze from the second floor was simply fantastic. DimSum was good too. And did I mention Indian food? Otherwise, everything was pretty great, and the harbor was a great place to relax at night and have a beer. I would go back.
Now we’re back in Beijing, I’m busy working on a couple projects, and I have a JOB INTERVIEW tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes. I know I promised pictures soon, and I’ll say it again. Soon, there will be new pictures.
Love from the Big Dumpling,
Martin
Now, for a proper post.
This past weekend we did the first really post worthy thing since I’ve been here. We went to Hong Kong. I would say it was like going to a completely different country, but that’s mostly true (it’s a special administrative region, if you care). What was most remarkable, to me at least, was how diverse it was.
Especially where we were staying. Chunking Mansions is a run-down tenement block in the middle of all the ritz, popularized by Won Kar Wai’s early film Chunking Express. The bottom two floors were full of shops, internet cafes, restaurants, and peopled by a mix of Indians, Africans, HK Cantonese, and tourists. It was like being in a western city. One of the things about Beijing is that if you’re not a foreigner, you’re Han Chinese, and that’s pretty much it. So diversity was exciting, as was Indian food.
We spent our time in HK seeing sites, staying out late, visiting with Kyle’s cousin Nick, and seeing Batman. Another cool aspect of the city was the level to which it wasn’t built in enclaves. Expensive boutiques were next to oldish apartment complexes, and outside of the central business district, everything seemed pretty mixed in.
One of the things I enjoyed most was riding the Tram on HK island. We weren’t really going anywhere, but it was a great way to get a look around, and the breeze from the second floor was simply fantastic. DimSum was good too. And did I mention Indian food? Otherwise, everything was pretty great, and the harbor was a great place to relax at night and have a beer. I would go back.
Now we’re back in Beijing, I’m busy working on a couple projects, and I have a JOB INTERVIEW tomorrow. We’ll see how that goes. I know I promised pictures soon, and I’ll say it again. Soon, there will be new pictures.
Love from the Big Dumpling,
Martin
July 21, 2008
July 17, 2008
just an update
So it’s been about a week I guess, and I can’t complain. China continues to be China, and the summer continues being hot. Lots of touring with Louis and his gang, a rainy trip to the great wall, and a couple of kickass concerts, and now I’m heading south to the city on the sea, Shanghai, for the weekend.
I’ve started working as a freelance consultant, polishing interviews. It’s fairly mindless work and the pay isn’t too bad. I’m still trying to be a journalist, and doing a little better than before. A new podcast is up by the way. Last night I went to my first expat dinner party of this trip. I never cease to be impressed with how smart and cool a lot of the people living here are. Others are less so, but there are enough people in Beijing that you don’t have to be friends with someone purely based on shared heritage.
Because louis was here, we’ve been treated to some truly fantastic meals by friends of the family. Heaping dishes, groaning tables. It’s a big change from the street food I’ve been eating on a pretty regular basis. We even went to an old Beijing style restaurant, which serves my favorite dish, a kind of fermented doufu resembling brains. The dish is grey, spreadable, and undeniably delicious. Kind of like cottage cheese mixed with….something else. Other highlights included a foot and a half tall leaning tower of fried potato sticks, a delicious (and fancy) round of peking duck, and a plate (ordered by accident) of bitter melon which we finished in spite of its rather terrible taste.
For day to day account’s look to Kyle’s blog. I’ll be putting a new batch of pictures up soon.
Heart. Martin.
I’ve started working as a freelance consultant, polishing interviews. It’s fairly mindless work and the pay isn’t too bad. I’m still trying to be a journalist, and doing a little better than before. A new podcast is up by the way. Last night I went to my first expat dinner party of this trip. I never cease to be impressed with how smart and cool a lot of the people living here are. Others are less so, but there are enough people in Beijing that you don’t have to be friends with someone purely based on shared heritage.
Because louis was here, we’ve been treated to some truly fantastic meals by friends of the family. Heaping dishes, groaning tables. It’s a big change from the street food I’ve been eating on a pretty regular basis. We even went to an old Beijing style restaurant, which serves my favorite dish, a kind of fermented doufu resembling brains. The dish is grey, spreadable, and undeniably delicious. Kind of like cottage cheese mixed with….something else. Other highlights included a foot and a half tall leaning tower of fried potato sticks, a delicious (and fancy) round of peking duck, and a plate (ordered by accident) of bitter melon which we finished in spite of its rather terrible taste.
For day to day account’s look to Kyle’s blog. I’ll be putting a new batch of pictures up soon.
Heart. Martin.
July 10, 2008
July 09, 2008
I've been podcasting!
Check it out. My bit starts in at 7:30 or so. (click bypass this message, to get to the page. I swear I'm not a known spammer)
July 08, 2008
Just sort of living...
Since my last post, gosh, almost a week ago, I haven't been doing too much. I landed a podcasting job (pro bono for the time being), and have been doing a little other work, mostly making big plans that may or may not come to fruition. But I'm trying. And Kyle is here.
We went out to bars for the weekend. A student bar for the 4th, where everyone was chanting, U-S-A, and drinking bud heavy. It was a good time. Saturday night we went to a new bar in search of free food and drink, and then to an older one for free rock. Not a bad night all things considered. I hope I never chant USA. I mean, the brazilians chant ole, the Chinese yell Jia You (yo) which might mean "add gas" but really means, "come'on guys, lets win this thing." All the US has is stupid initials.
We also went to the Summer Palace, which was pretty, as usual, and full of tourists (both national and international). Tonight we saw Hancock, which was a bit silly but pretty fun, in a huge theater, and then I went and sat in the park and pretended to be a reporter.
Some people shied away, but one man, a drunk construction worker was very keen to talk to me, to complain about how he'd been working for a month and hadn't gotten paid. If they don't pay in the next couple days I might get invited to come down to the worksite and take a look. We'll see if it actually happens. I spent an enjoyable twenty minutes listening to revolutionary songs sung by a group of 30 or so aging communists. It's refreshing to hear, and even a little anachronistic. I think I'll go back and keep hanging out with them. But that's it. It hasn't been crazy, but it's been good. If you write me emails, I'll write back.
We went out to bars for the weekend. A student bar for the 4th, where everyone was chanting, U-S-A, and drinking bud heavy. It was a good time. Saturday night we went to a new bar in search of free food and drink, and then to an older one for free rock. Not a bad night all things considered. I hope I never chant USA. I mean, the brazilians chant ole, the Chinese yell Jia You (yo) which might mean "add gas" but really means, "come'on guys, lets win this thing." All the US has is stupid initials.
We also went to the Summer Palace, which was pretty, as usual, and full of tourists (both national and international). Tonight we saw Hancock, which was a bit silly but pretty fun, in a huge theater, and then I went and sat in the park and pretended to be a reporter.
Some people shied away, but one man, a drunk construction worker was very keen to talk to me, to complain about how he'd been working for a month and hadn't gotten paid. If they don't pay in the next couple days I might get invited to come down to the worksite and take a look. We'll see if it actually happens. I spent an enjoyable twenty minutes listening to revolutionary songs sung by a group of 30 or so aging communists. It's refreshing to hear, and even a little anachronistic. I think I'll go back and keep hanging out with them. But that's it. It hasn't been crazy, but it's been good. If you write me emails, I'll write back.
July 03, 2008
July 02, 2008
Ch-Ch-Changes.
It’s common knowledge that Beijing (and China more broadly) has been changing as quickly as I used to change my clothes (up to 4 times I day I’m told). But lately, the changes have been slowing down. I’ve returned after a year and a half, and found everything as I remember it for the most part. Sure that building didn’t used to be there, and things are suddenly more expensive, but the City really looks…the same. What’s changed more than anything is how I see it.
Today, in honor of my birthday, and the fact that I’ve yet to land a real job, and the fact that the weather had turned (only in Beijing does 90 degrees and 100 percent humidity count as nice) I went for a long walk in a part of town I’d never been to. I knew I was walking south east, and that’s pretty much all I needed. I brought a camera, and a book, and I was all set.
I walked along busy streets for a while before turning down a side street into an older neighborhood. This is the kind of street (it could be called, albeit improperly, a hutong) that once struck me as cool in a quaint kind of way. By the last time I was here I’d graduated to seeing it as a valuable example of realness. The street was full of people who didn’t necessarily want to be my friend, filth, dogs, people selling vegetable, and children with crotchless pants (the subject of another post maybe…). Some other time I might have stopped to take pictures, but today, I just felt kind of sorry for the people living there. They didn’t want to be carrying on a semblance of tradition. Give any one of them an apartment in a nice new building and they would have taken it in a second. There was nothing romantic about their situation, there was little value in their squalor.
There are still romantic back alleys in Beijing, where grandparents live in direct opposition to modernizing influences, where toddlers play on the same streets their parents played, but this part of town, the middle nothing between the third ring road and the zoo, was not that. But that’s ok. City’s have shitty neighborhoods, and Beijing is like any city in that regard. Physical changes may have slowed (never stopped) but the city is still in flux. All of the sudden there are poor people in the socialist republic, and hopefully they’ll succeed in the new way of life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
