Today's Interesting News

--The article is mostly about spitting and public behavior, but I had a good laugh about the parts on English signs. I wonder if I'll still be laughing at the Chinglish when I'm 80. "Some translations are trickier, like describing pullet, which is a hen less than a year old but appears on some menus as Sexually Inexperienced Chicken. Mr. Tool said one prominent sign had become a regular photo op for foreigners: the Dongda Anus Hospital. Mr. Tool intervened. It is now the Dongda Proctology Hospital."

Today's Interesting News/Sites

-China is the source of the bird flu virus, according to reports by international news agencies. "It's not true!" says that Chinese government.

-The war on dogs continues in China - this time in Chongqing. I am so glad I have a cat. If this same thing happened in Shanghai and I had a dog, I would definitely consider fleeing to another city.

LiveJournal Blocked

I just learned today that LiveJournal has been blocked in China. Luckily I moved everything back to Blogger. However, who knows how long access to Google's Blogger will last...

2002-2003 Web Albums

My web album project is finally finished. Spending 500 kuai to digitize my photos is probably one of the better investments I've made in the last few years. I've put the Web Albums up on picasaweb.google.com/alexliang79:

001a) Jan. 1, 2002 - June 30, 2002 - Jinan
001b) July 1, 2002 - Mar. 18, 2003 - Jinan

002a) Feb. 9-12, 2002 - Qingdao
002b) Feb. 13-14, 2002 - Weihai, Chengshantou, Yantai
002c) Feb. 14, 2002 - Penglai
002d) Apr. 12, 2002 - Taishan
002e) Apr. 22, 2002 - Weifang

003a) Apr. 26, 2002 - Shanghai
003b) Apr. 27, 2002 - Wuyishan
003c) Apr. 28-29, 2002 - Xiamen

004a) Aug. 31 - Sept. 1, 2002 - Jiuhua Shan
004b) Sept. 2-3, 2002 - Huangshan
004c) Sept. 3-4, 2002 - Taiping Hu
004d) Sept. 5-8, 2002 - Hefei

005a) Sept. 9-11, 2002 - Xian
005b) Sept. 14, 2002 - Xiahe
005c) Sept. 15, 2002 - Qinghai, Mengda Tianchi
005d) Sept. 16, 2002 - Taersi, Qinghai Lake
005e) Sept. 17, 2002 - Xining, Lanzhou
005f) Sept. 18, 2002 - Jiayuguan
005g) Sept. 19, 2002 - Dunhuang
005h) Sept. 19-20, 2002 - Hami, Urumqi
005i) Sept. 21-22, 2002 - Kashgar
005j) Sept. 22-23, 2002 - Karakoram, Karakul Lake, Kashgar
005k) Sept. 24-25, 2002 - Hotan, Taklamakan
005l) Sept. 26, 2002 - Turpan
005m) Sept. 27, 2002 - Tian Chi

006a) Oct. 9, 2002 - Shanghai
006b) Oct. 10, 2002 - Putuoshan
006c) Oct. 11-12, 2002 - Shaoxing
006d) Oct. 13, 2002 - Hangzhou

007a) Oct. 19-20, 2002 - Datong, Yungang, Hanging Monastery
007b) Oct. 21, 2002 - Pingyao
007c) Oct. 22, 2002 - Taiyuan
007d) Oct. 23-24, 2002 - Shanxi to Sichuan
007e) Oct. 25, 2002 - Jiuzhaigou
007f) Oct. 26, 2002 - Huanglong
007g) Oct. 28, 2002 - Leshan
007h) Oct. 29, 2002 - Emei Shan
007i) Oct. 29-31, 2002 - Chengdu

008a) Nov. 19-23, 2002 - Hong Kong
008b) Nov. 24, 2002 - Macau
008c) Nov. 27-29, 2002 - Sanya
008d) Nov. 30, 2002 - Zhaoqing

009a) Dec. 30, 2002 - Yixing
009b) Dec. 31, 2002 - Zhouzhuang

010a) Feb. 2, 2003 - Beijing
010b) Feb. 3-4, 2003 - Harbin
010c) Feb. 5, 2003 - Beijing

011a) Feb. 24-26, 2003 - Hainan Inland
011b) Feb. 26-27, 2003 - Sanya
011c) Feb. 28, 2003 - Haikou

012) Mar. 3, 2003 - Beijing

Today's Interesting News/Sites

--Shanghai still has a ways to go before becoming an "international" city, especially with their signs in English. Why don't they just find a native English speaker in Shanghai to work as a language consultant?

--An outlook on the social security situation in the villages of China

Today's Interesting News/Sites

-A train ride from Shanghai to Chongqing currently takes 42 hours, but this will be cut down to a mere 8 hours. This will be in 5 years time, however, it's still damn impressive.

-Powerful winds blow over a train in Xinjiang "Province".

-Rich people in China are some of the worst.

-More cabbies trying to rip-off foreigners in Shanghai. The foreigner paid an average of 38 RMB per km, but luckily, the policy nabbed the bastard.

-A cool website with maps of the subways systems around the world

-Hangzhou is getting a subway line.

-Another good source for interesting news. Content comes from contributions from the web community.

Digitizing Photos

Prior to the beginning of 2003, I only had a film camera. During my first year or so in China, I took several amazing trips and captured some unbelievable sights.

Until recently, I had no idea that photo stores, such as Kodak, could scan your negatives and thus digitize your photos! I brought in all my negatives (39 rolls) and in about a week, all were burned onto one DVD. Amazing! Better yet, this only cost me 500 RMB, which breaks down to around 12.8 RMB per roll. (I'm really hoping this was a good price.)

Next project - sorting out all these photos and putting up some web albums! (I thoroughly enjoy time-wasting projects.)

Here's a photo taken near Karakul Lake in Xinjiang.