Some photos

Here is a picture of my washing machine dial. I took this photo to work and had someone translate it for me. Unfortunately my washing machine is now broken, but I'm telling you it was my ayi who broke it, not me! Now the dial doesn't go around by itself anymore. I'm trying a load at the moment but I can't get it to spin.



Here is a picture from Senior School training karaoke and talent night. This guy Roy was so funny, he dressed up like a woman and danced around. We were all killing ourselves.

This guy on the right, Mike, was hilarious as well. On top of this picture he had a picture of the same body but with a shirt on. Then he ripped it off. The skit was about a Mr Hong Kong competition.




Here I am engrossed in Karaoke and looking like an idiot with my eyes closed! Oh well, as long as it gives a few people a laugh. I'm here with Merlin, who does not look like an idiot, the saving grace out of the pair of us.





Here is a cool dish I had at this restaurent called People's 7. At this restaurant you have to work out a puzzle in order to get in through the front door, and into the toilets. Its quite a cool place. This dish is cut up raw brocolli and the bowl its in is made of ice.

Auscham ball - space tyrants and cowboys

It was off to Jin Mao Dasha (High rise) and the Hyatt Hotel on Saturday night for the Australian Chamber of Commerce Annual Ball. It was sponsored by Qantas among others so we got a proper boarding pass to enter. There were lots of great outfits but apparently I drank too much to take many photos, only one of me and Libby with a green man.

I know the back view of my hair looks like a dogs breakfast, but guess how much at the local hairdresser??? 30RMB ie AUS$5!!! Bargain. Of course there was the disadvantage of not being able to communicate what I wanted done (all I could say was 'Saturday night, I go to celebration, want beautiful.'), but that made it more of an adventure. My lovely friends told me it didn't actually look like a dogs breakfast, it was just an unphotogenic hairdo. Then I went to get nails done, with a Mandarin speaker so lower risk, for 80RMB (hands and feet). Bargain. Then I got a taxi to the Hyatt. Bargain. Except that I got two taxi drivers in a row who didn't know where Jin Mao Tower is, which is like being a taxi driver in NY and not knowing where the Empire State is. They kept saying something, which after about 5 minutes I worked out was 'shenme lu?' (what street?). The second taxi driver had the sense to drive me to Pudong and then yell at everyone out the window to ask directions, although maybe he did that out of desperation after I pretended not to understand and made no move to exit the taxi.

[Here is Mairin, Libby and me, photo taken by Ian; some of my great friends in Shanghai.]

Anyway, had a nice evening, its always fun dressing up. I was a slacker and didn't dress up in theme but I brought my ball dresses so all was good.

Beijing 北京

Thought I'd upload a few images of Beijing that I hadn't gotten around to putting up yet. I was up in Beijing a few weeks ago (seems like months ago). Here's a picture of one of the guys who directs traffic and helps pedestrians across the road. They have them on virtually every corner in the busy parts of the city, Shanghai too. These people vary in personality. Some are real tyrants, I can't say I've met any who are particularly friendly or want to have a conversation. They all have a whistle, and they will use it. But actually their bark is worse than their bite, if you walk across anyway, there is nothing they can do. You can also see some of the bikes around. There are still heaps of people on bikes riding around the city. I'm thinking about getting one to ride to work. You can get them for about 150RMB ($30AUS). They are pretty crap, but better that way as they're less likely to get stolen. But no one wears a helmet. But they do ride at a very leisurely pace. Any Chinese on bikes tend to avoid Westerners. Apparently its because there's that 'avoid a collision with someone who doesn't speak the same language as you at all costs because it will be a really difficult situation' mentality and the 'Westerners are too rich to collide with' mentality that contribute to this.

There's a pretty area to the north of the Forbidden city with a nice lake, called Beihai Park. There's also a massive number of people to ride you around on the back of a bike in a little carriage so you can tour the hutongs, which are the old style houses in Beijing. They are basically four buildings around a courtyard, and a number of families would live in them. The building to the south would be lower than the others, to let the sun into the courtyard in winter.

x
x
x
x
x
x
x

Me in the pedicab thing. It was a rainy day.
x
x
x

x

x

x

x

Just love driving into oncoming traffic.....

Hangzhou

Well I don't have much to say about Hangzhou, even though its meant to be one of the most beautiful towns in China, or at least the Shanghai district. I went down there on Tuesday night, went to the client the next day and then returned to Shanghai on Wednesday night. All I really noticed was that it was very hilly. Shanghai is very flat, so that was a change. The hotel was really nice, anyway. I'm going back down again on Wednesday so hopefully I'll get a chance to see West Lake, which is meant to be really beautiful, and get a chance to drink Westlake tea, which is meant to be very tasty.