Posts by Chris Waugh
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The ancient pagoda for which the park is named.
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See how huge she* is? That's me and my daughter being overwhelmingly dwarfed.
*Avalokitesvara is always female in the Chinese tradition, although she did enter China in the original either/or state, sometimes represented as male and sometimes female.
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and more from today's early spring Qingming/Pure Brightness/Tomb Sweeping Day (the actual festival is tomorrow, but we have Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off) roaming. Through the trees rose a massive power station and a giant 观音/Guānyīn/Avalokitesvara.
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No birds, flowers or cars yet.... But anyone got any idea what kind of tree this is? I was quite intrigued by the long, pale green shoots.
(wife and daughter on the bench in the background)
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Hard News: The Huawei Question, in reply to Sacha,
Ikea, even.
I just checked to make sure, and I was right, Ikea does indeed have only one store for the 20 million-odd people of Beijing. And that's in a location with good transport links (although, a rather complicated off-ramp set up for those driving on the 4th Ring Road from the east). So if Brewer's trying to attract them to Auckland, all I can say is "good luck".
Oh, and thanks for the clarification re: Otahuhu.
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Hard News: The Huawei Question, in reply to Matthew Poole,
His issue is that the street has lost its position as the premier shopping street and is, instead, becoming more like the shopping strips in the likes of Otahuhu.
The article linked above specifically mentioned allegations that some of those shops were opened for visa/immigration/residency purposes at least twice, although without naming any particular ethnic or national group. That suggests that there is more to the issue than any councillor's desire for Queen St to be high-end retail.
I don't know Auckland well enough to know what "in the likes of Otahuhu" means. Clarification?
I do know I really enjoyed being in the Queen St area last time we were in NZ and seeing signs in Korean, Japanese, simplified and traditional Chinese, and whatever other languages and scripts there may have been. That had me thinking, "Now here's a place I could bring my family to live in." But then again, I probably have a very different world view from anybody on the Auckland City Council.
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Capture: Better Food Photography, in reply to Islander,
Cheers, Islander.
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Success! A satisfied customer.
Still haven't got the gear for muffins, cakes, and whatnot, but have enough for pizza, although the oven dictates a series of mini pizzas. My better half was pleased, and the wee one would eat a bit, point at the pizza, and shout "Na!" (which is actually surprisingly good Mandarin for a 1 year old and could be equally interpreted as either "bring! (it to me)" or "that! (is what you must give me now)" - she knows what she wants and makes her feelings very clear).
I must say an oven that creaks, groans and bangs as it heats up is a bit scary to use. Especially in a kitchen so tiny and with a power cable so short that getting it going requires a very careful negotiation of extension cord from power source between oven and sink.
And, of course, it was a new recipe, at least for the dough (haven't baked anything in years, got a lot of work getting my skills back up to speed), with the usual new recipe jitters. Give me a few goes to get me more familiar with it and all will be well.
But satisfied customers! Now that's what cookings all about, right?
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Capture: Better Food Photography, in reply to Islander,
she whinges in self-defence,
No need for self-defence there. Maps are both useful and immensely awesome. I've always loved poring over maps dreaming of the faraway, exotic (or even close by and just slightly different) places on them. Most of my maps are kept at home only because it is rare for me to travel outside the range of the maps kept in my car. But they're there, waiting for that "one day", when maybe we decide to drive down to the beach at Beidaihe for a summer holiday, or whatever...
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Well, in my defence, I keep a multi-tool, torch and 2 map books in the glove box of my car, a sponge and chamois under the front passenger seat with wiper fluid that I always buy 2 bottles at a time (it's really dusty most of the year here). I keep a plastic bag in my camera bag. But the place outside Beijing I'm most likely to visit (trips to other places are extremely rare, therefore planned accordingly) didn't have indoor plumbing until only last October, so no sink plugs.
