"Toilet Culture"...what the....???

Let's just hope they can keep this clean...

"A lulu of a loo"

Back in Beijing & can access flickr!

I arrived back in Beijing yesterday afternoon...feels great to be back. I never thought I would call China home, but I do...for now.

I previously reported that flickr was blocked in China. It may have been last week, but can access it now. This is the good news. The bad news is, the pages (and images) in flickr are not loading completely. Pages with photos will load, but the actual photo won't appear. The status bar at the bottom of the page says "done" ... hmm. This may just be a network glitch now, but likely has something to do with the great fire wall.

So, I think I got my hopes up. Sucks to not be able to view images, but at least I can load up my images for those outside of China to view. The saga continues...

This is getting old, really old...

Users rage against China's 'Great Firewall'

It seems that since I left Beijing last week for India, flickr.com is the latest casualty of the Great Firewall. It's starting to eat at me. Blogger blocked again and now flickr, where I have all of my photos (OK, not all, since I've been slacking).

I understand why the blocking happens (understand = know the reasons...not agree with), but I'm fed up. What can I do? Find work-arounds. I'm moving back into yahoo hosting for my blogs (have confirmed that it is accessible in China...as of now). As for flickr...not sure yet. I guess I'll just host my pictures on yahoo via my hosting account.

This sucks.

Biodome II anyone?

Space pioneers wanted for 520-day Mars experiment

This reminds me of the movie "Biodome." Don't think Pauly Shore is going to make the cut for this one though. Odds of this being turned into a reality TV show? I would say not good, but they should definitely consider it. I can't imagine the doors not being opened before 520 days.

Bangalore @ 6:30am

I decided to take a walk through the streets of Bangalore this morning. It's amazing to walk out of a nice hotel and see what you see around here. Not even pictures can tell the story about how far behind India is in many aspects.

This woman caught my eye as I was walking back to the hotel. I wonder what her story is. I don't even want to guess.

India vs. China - Outline

I'm on my third trip to India (Bangalore) and have spent about nine months in China (Beijing) so far. I think it's about time I start providing my view of a comparison between the these two massive countries.

What I'll cover (if anyone would like any other areas covered, let me know and I'll try my best):

1. Ease of travel to & from (Visas, Airlines, Routes, Airports, etc...)

2. Transportation in country (Driving services, taxis, etc...)

3. Infrastructure (Roads, Power, Water, Internet, etc...)

4. Hotels/Apartments

5. Population/Poverty

6. Skill/Capabilities/Cost

7. Foreign enterprises and investment

8. Stock Market

9. Culture

10. Language/Communication

11. What people think (about their own country and others).

12. Manners

13. Corruption/Government

I think that'll be a good start.

Blogspot blocked in China...again

Can't access manninchina.blogspot.com from China. This is getting old.

Pinyin to English / Chinglish to English / Old English to Proper English

Beijing is really starting to make an effort with changing out Chinglish to English. The most well known example is the change from the "Dongda Anus and Intestine Hospital" to the "Dongda Proctology and Intestine Hospital." That place is right near my apartment, laughed every time I saw it.

Here's an article covering the other areas...

"Hello toilet, goodbye WC for Beijing Games"

Some concerns with this:

1. Taxi drivers cannot speak English. Out of the thousands of taxis I've ridden in Beijing, a handful could speak some, very broken, English...similar to my level of Chinese. If street signs are changed to English - are the taxi drivers going to understand? I think not. Same goes for Olympic venues, restaurants, etc... I had heard all taxi drivers in Beijing have to pass an English test prior to the Olympics if they want to drive during the Olympics. I'm not sure how this is progressing, but from what I can tell...it hasn't move past "Hello!" and "OK".

2. I don't want to see the pinyin removed. For someone who lives here and is trying to learn Chinese to effectively communicate with the the people of China, the pinyin is very helpful. Keep the pinyin, add the English.

3. Good luck with the menus...that's all I have to say about that.

I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of pointing during the 2008 games. Pointing at maps, location cards, menus, sporting events, etc...

Windows Live Writer & Google Reader

After connection issues with live writter, it's working again. This is nice, especially because my blogger account still remains 100% in Chinese.

I've started to use Google Reader, mainly so I can read wordpress blogs (which are blocked again by the Great Firewall). However, I can't find a way to comment on blogs via Google Reader...is there a way to do so? If not, any other solutions out there?

Taxi ditch

I've done it before and I'll do it again in Beijing. There are some great taxi drivers in this city...the guys who are very cheerful, nice and always willing to help and deal with my poor Chinese...they even teach me to say things properly. Then, there are the guys who are  just aholes...pretend they don't understand you and then try to rip you off.

I have some friends in town visiting; they got to experience taxi ditch last night. Needless to say, they guy wasn't too happy when we ditched at a red light. As he pulled up to me and spoke some choice words...I did the same (those, I can say perfectly). We then hopped in another taxi and went on our way.

Frustration

My blogger account remains in Chinese, no matter how many times I've changed the country/language settings + cleared cache & cookies. The "recognize your country" function for some websites really sucks. Just because I'm in China doesn't mean I want my account in Chinese!

In addition to this problem, wordpress is yet again blocked.

Last...yesterday I went to the Lenovo "restaurant" with some other assignees here in Beijing (from Greenock, Scotland). My Chinese is the best of the group (which isn't saying much), so I did the ordering. Needless to say, it was a complete debacle. 5 minutes in, we had 4 or 5 waitresses hanging around us giggling and trying to figure out what the hell we wanted. In the end, we got what we wanted, just a bit too much of it.

Immediately following that, I contacted the language school and got my classes back on the calendar.

India

IMG_0055
Originally uploaded by MJM80.

After my second trip to India (Bangalore), it's starting to grow on me. This time around, I think it was the King's Castle. He had some cool stuff in there...namely, some elephant feet. I think they have fungus under their toe nails though. The head that belongs to a couple of those feet was also in the castle...picture is in the flickr stream, somewhere.

BTW...the King lives in the Castle too...weird.

Back at home...in China

Finally back in Beijing, after the US & India. Good to be back...lots of catching up to do.

Fast & free

I didn't think there was that much of a difference in internet speed from US & China, but wow, I really do notice a difference. At this 5 times faster here. And of course, the ability to roam the internet freely is a nice change.

Home sweet home

After 20+ hours of travel, I'm finally home in Buffalo. It feels good. I felt really weird when I was in Chicago, seeing so many people, that weren't Chinese. I also got to experience my first taste of home "hospitality" ... as I asked a woman working at one of the ticket counters in Chicago ... "can you tell me what terminal flight X is leaving from?" ... "No, I can't!" ... "Thanks so much for your help." So, that was nice.

First meal...BBQ chicken finger sub. First drink...MILK.

Hope to get some sleep tonight. Then it's off to Tony's in the morning for a haircut and then some friends from Raleigh are flying in for my brother's stag this weekend.

Goin' home!

Well, after 8 months in China, I'm finally making a trip back to the US. Hard to believe it's already been 8 months, seems like it's only been a couple.

So, off to Buffalo, NY tomorrow. 10 days there. My older brother is getting married on May 5. Stag (bachelor party) this coming Saturday. It's been more than 8 months since I've seen most of my family & friends, so I'm really looking forward to it. I've also got my liver nice and primed for the amount of alcohol consumption that will occur.

After the craziness in Buffalo, I'm heading down to Raleigh, NC for 4 days. More family and friends to see there & I'll finally get to see the new Lenovo campus there (wonder if I'll have a desk...likely not). Have a round of golf planned with some friends and people from work too.

So, after 2 weeks in the US, I'm off to India for a few days for work. Then finally, back to Beijing.

It'll be nice to get away from here for a while, but I'm sure I'll miss it!

Biking in Beijing

Yesterday was another great day in Beijing (the weather, that is). Saturday was golf and Sunday was biking around the death trap roads in Beijing. I didn't have a bike, until yesterday. I went to one of 1000 bike shops around Beijing and tried a few out. They don't really have any monster size bikes around here, but the one I got is big enough. A GIANT mountain bike with front shocks...very important for riding around Beijing.

So, after the purchase, a friend of mine and me headed off for a ride around the city. Started off at Ho Hai, then through the Forbidden City and back home. Was great. Almost got ran over a few times, but that's part of the experience.

Birthday in Beijing

Saturday was my bday, getting older. On Friday, my team had a little surprise for me. A cake & a video. Here's the video...sorry, can't share the cake.

MILK

I have not had a glass of milk since August 15, 2006. I can't remember a time before that when I've gone more than one day without a glass of milk, let alone 8 months without. I would say that I had averaged at least a gallon every two, maybe three days. Growing up, we lived on milk. Milk with every meal, including pizza. My parents probably spent more on milk than anything else.

In China, I do have milk. I put it in cereal and coffee, that's it. The taste isn't horrible, but it's just a lot different. I won't drink a glass of milk here.

I'm heading back to the States next week. People keep asking me what I miss most. MILK. A weird answer, yes...but I miss it. Of course, family and friends too...but as far is the non-important stuff goes, it's milk.

Get the milk ready mom & dad, I'm coming home!

‘Mayor of Seneca Street’ dies at 60

‘Mayor of Seneca Street’ dies at 60

I can't say I remember Joey all that much, but I do remember him at block parties around South Buffalo. I'm sure he'll make some more people smile wherever he ends up.