Every so often I see something that reminds me that things here really are opposite to the way they are in the west. Not just how things are done, but how things are thought of. As I was sitting in a cab in traffic (what else) this afternoon, a large bus pulled up alongside, and […]
Electric Running Machine
This evening I was at my neighborhood gym, having a good walk on the treadmill (my creaky knees won’t let me run), and I noticed that the Chinese name for the treadmill is dian dong paobu ji. Literally translated, that means "electric moving walking machine." Pretty descriptive, actually. The Chinese language is kind of fun […]
Stop Stop Go Go
I did one of my most unfavorite things in Beijing today—spent an hour in a cab on the Third Ring Road traversing from the east side of town to the west side of town between 5 and 6pm. Dreadful. In theory, these famous ring roads (which all other cities are imitating and rushing to build) […]
Shanghai-ed in Bangkok
I’m in Bangkok, Thailand now for a conference. I flew down here on Sunday, but had all day Monday free before my conference started in the evening. In the afternoon I headed downtown with two items on my agend: taking pictures at the Grand Palace, and meeting up with friends. I took a taxi […]
Power Off
A necessary accessory of life here in Beijing is the cell phone. I remember a time 20 years ago, when almost nobody had a phone (and all phones were, for some reason, orange!), but recently the government announced that there are 400 million cell phone users in China. Based on that, one could say that […]
One Step Beyond
A friend, who writes for "That’s Shanghai" magazine, has a new article posted online, titled One Step Beyond: There was an old joke I heard as a kid: a city slicker is lost in the countryside; eventually, he happens upon a local walking along the dirt road. The guy asks for directions back to the […]
