Looking through some old photos, I came across these tricycle wheelchairs on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City when I was visiting a couple years ago… I’d never seen anything like it before, or perhaps I’m too sheltered. I did a bit of digging and these chairs are actually manufactured in Ho Chi Minh City, by KienTuong, you can see their advertisement stuck on the wheelchair and check out how it works in the video below; oddly fascinating:
Turns out, they are the same company who has teamed with and produces wheelchairs for Whirlwind Wheelchair, a non-profit, aiming to bring wheelchairs to the disabled of developing countries. You HAVE to watch this video (10 min on PBS) about the Whilrwind Wheelchair process and learn about the organization’s support for open source wheelchair development. What a wonderful design process!
我几年前在越南旅游的时候见这样的轮椅；在别的地方没见过。我再在网上看看原来这样的轮椅就在越南做的。做轮椅的公司KienTuong也是一样的公司帮Whirlwind Wheelchair做它们的轮椅。Whirlwind Wheelchair是一个非营利，看看视频介绍它们的意思和设计工序。
Just the start of a funny collection of photos of nothing I’d see in the States:
Beijing, China (courtesy of my classmate Tim. Thank you!)
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
在亚洲的街上休息休息：这几张照片就是开始的系列。真有意思，在美国没见过。
Found in Danshui (淡水), a port city north of Taipei, Taiwan:
“禁止设摊” (Jin4 zhi3 she4 tan1) translates to “It’s forbidden to set up a vendor’s stand”
I suppose as long as you are not directly selling the items from this public space, it’s perfectly acceptable to use the space for storage or display of your vending items! The Chinese really do make use of all the space they have, interpreting signage as they wish and hanging laundry anywhere possible. Is it a result of the over-population or of just being as resourceful as possible? Probably a combination of the two.
在淡水，台北北边的港口城市，看都标志说“禁止设摊”但能用公共空间当存储。。。能挂腊肠好像挂衣服。
I took this photo during my trip to Nanjing only as a way to document my walk that day and the things I’d seen. Looking at the photo again, now, I’m not quite sure what’s going on here…There’s something really intriguing to me to know what daily life is like for this lady.
Definitely hanging laundry to dry in the middle of the street: nothing new.
Definitely construction going on: also not new…Though the bricks look really interesting, blocking the garage door-sized opening.
Most interesting is the old lady with her chair and shoe shine accessories..? She looks so lost and confused, though I’m sure she’s far from it.
我在南京散步的时候照这张照片， 原来没有什么意思只用记得。现在我在看这张照片， 我不知道照片里它们做什么。。。照片里的老太对我真的有意思。 她每天的生活，每天做什么我要知道。哈哈。
照片里肯定有街上干衣服：不是新闻。
肯定有建设：也不是新闻。。。但用砖堵门有意思。
最有意思是老太和她的东四。他的皮鞋油东西。看起来她迷失或者比较愦，但肯定不是。
Suzhou, known as the Venice of China is famous for its canals (many of which have now been filled in), but there are also many smaller towns around Suzhou also built on the canal system. Zhouzhuang is on of them. A true tourist destination, having to pay RMB$100 to even enter the town as a visitor! It really skews my perspective of authenticity, because the money is used to preserve the old town ‘look’ and ‘feel’, but the real commercial business there are the small shops selling souvenirs, trinkets, and supposedly local specialties. Beautiful nonetheless and makes me wonder what life is really like living along a canal.
The flickr set here.
Definitely one of my favorite trips:
Our trip to Hangzhou was oddly perfectly (un)planned… trying to save money on one nights lodging, we decided to take a slow train (7 hrs) and get sleepers on the train instead of taking the typical 3 hour ride from Nanjing to Hangzhou. We arrived Hangzhou at 4:30am… just enough time to go to West Lake (四湖）to see the mist over the lake and the sky a very deep blue color just before we watched the sunrise at 6am, and then saw the elderly start to wake up to walk, do tai-chi, stretch, and even scream as part of their morning rituals. We saw exercise groups too! With their banners and heard of people marching or jogging to the same rhythm. The whole experience among others in Hangzhou are indescribable.
Flickr the rest!
Oddly, I realized that many of my best photos were from the sunrise/sunset we enjoyed and I have much fewer photos from other parts of the trip which were more enjoyable for the experience itself. Like biking around 四湖 in the middle of night and getting lost on our way back to the hostel where we were staying, which should have taken 30 minutes, but instead took 3 hours! Though, there’s a totally fresh perspective on a place at night than during the day when there are crowds of other people around… I’m happy just thinking about it 
I totally understand why this is such an inspirational place for writers and artists.
Back in May, I mentioned taking a trip… and have finally uploaded photos!
Nanjing was once China’s capital and from the visit to the lovely garden in the Presidential Palace to the Nanjing Massacre Museum there was a lot to take in for a short 2 day stay. Even when I’m in Beijing, I’m constantly surprised by how friendly the locals are when asked to help or give directions; this was even more the case in my experience of Nanjing. Perhaps the smaller (yet still very big) scale city sees less ex-pats and locals are more receptive? Anyways, helpful and friendly people are always a plus when traveling. Aside from the historical sites and the great street food around the Confucius Temple, the city was much like any regular metropolitan city: hustle and bussle, shopping malls, commercial buildings…
I found Nanjing to be quite walkable and very green with trees lining the major streets, making it a rather enjoyable journey
See the full Flickr set here.
And previous related posts are here, here, and here.
There’s been remarkable change of the Shanghai skyline in 20 years. I wonder what city life was like in Shanghai 1990…
1990:
2010:
via BusinessInsider
An insightful collection of photos that a friend emailed, “Skills found in China”:
Thanks Cyril!
