Posts by Chris Waugh
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Huh. Just as I saw the news, my internet connection crapped out, and I wound up trying the cellphone, which is usually painfully slow. It managed to provide me with the information I was looking for, but now I see it randomly chopped a few words from my comment. Oh well.
Just got word my family is all safe and well. Do try and stay safe Ross and everybody else in the area.
"only Wellington", geez, I've only been told only my entire life that we're only waiting for The Big One.
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6.5 quake in the Wellington/Marlborough region? is ok?
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Good to hear, Hebe. With a bit of luck my wife gets out tomorrow....
In the meantime, street vendor and potential customers, Gongti Beilu.
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Hard News: A different kind of country, in reply to Jeff Rowe,
and I’m going there tomorrow night to watch a movie about corruption in China. What should I do???
Sorry, but I had to laugh at that one. The way this government is going, I'm starting to think that they'll have removed a lot of the potential culture shock I'm likely to experience on returning to NZ.
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Capture: Upside Down, Inside Out, in reply to Nora Leggs,
She's doing fine, hopefully she'll be out in a couple of days. Thanks.
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Capture: Upside Down, Inside Out, in reply to Nora Leggs,
either it’s new or someone spends a lot of time polishing it?
New-ish. I try to avoid that part of town, but my wife is in a hospital just down the road from there, so I’m seeing that statue every day for the time being. It’s been there a couple of months at least, though, as I saw it when I last had to go to the NZ embassy, which is also close by.
ETA: but given where it is, I'm sure somebody spends a lot of time polishing it regardless of how new it is.
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Statue reflecting on itself – and three of me.
The Stumble Inn. In Sanlitun's The Village.
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Southerly: Getting There is Half the Fun, in reply to Konrad Kurta,
on the venerable China Southern. Shudder.
I do not envy you. When I first came to China I flew China Southern from Hong Kong to Changsha. It was a 737-300 or above, but looked and smelled old inside, the seats cramped as close together as possible, dark and dingy. The inflight meal was a packet of crackers and a can of fizzy thrown at you. Fortunately the flight was only 1 hour. A year later I flew China Southern Changsha to Guangzhou on the way to Norway. Same deal, with the added bonus that descending into Guangzhou the plane kept zigzagging all over the place, getting ever closer to the rooftops and rivers that looked thick enough for us to land on, as if the pilot was lost and was about to jump out and ask for directions.
Then again, my Mum flew China Southern to and from Beijing a couple of years ago and was quite happy with them, so it would seem they've improved.
Oh, and when it comes to zigzaggy approaches, I think the scarier one would be the approach to Yuncheng, Shanxi, in smog so thick I couldn't see the ground until we were uncomfortably close. I can understand the pilot struggling to find the airport in such (in)visibility. Then when we pulled up to the terminal and the door opened the first thing I smelt was coal. Ahhh... back in Shanxi.
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Rainy days mean…. jumping in puddles, then complaining that your feet are wet.
... no work to do, so the bengbengche (ute, China-style) stays home. (oops, forgot the picture)
... and the mountains have reappeared.
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Ah, yes, Hell. I went to get a drink from the supermarket in Hell Senteret and found the ice tea stacked next to the fridge. But that was the most hellish thing that happened to me there. They have a beautiful little railway station with a sign saying "Hell Gods Expedition". Definitely worth a visit, even if for no other reason that whenever somebody tells you to go to Hell, you can say, "Been there. Lovely little town. A bit chilly in the winter, though."
