Having come up in the 1970s, I listened to plenty of Barry Manilow, and I have a soft spot for him. A few years ago, I caught him on “Family Guy” and decided that he was absolutely awesome: what a sense of humor! In addition to writing so many great songs! Then, last week I… [Read More]
Blog
A Penny I Don’t Like
I’m on the record as being a fan of the penny. But here in China, the closest thing to a penny is the jiao, which is a tenth of a yuan. A yuan is worth about $0.15, so a jiao is worth about $0.015. I don’t like having a wallet stuffed with little bits of… [Read More]
The View From My Window
This is quintessential modern China: lots of people, lots of traffic, lots of construction. And, for course, it is all going on outside my window!
A scene that cracked me up
I came across this kitchen while wandering through the Wenshu Monastery, and it just amuses me no end. It’s not so much the interplay of religion and the mundane as the elaborate altar.
China is noisy.
The sign at the left is from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The pandas like it quiet. No wonder they are going extinct in modern China! It’s noisy here, between the construction and the traffic. It seems like every major road has a building project, every block has a new building going… [Read More]
