haircut in the park

3RMB for a haircut in the park! Outside of YuYuanTan Park (玉渊潭公园) there are barbers-on-bikes giving haircuts and shaves:

glass as barbed-wire

Finally, I’ve taken some time to see a real, not yet reconstructed, about to be demolished Hutong. More photos to come! I just had to post this one first: Broken glass is used as an inventive way to scare off intruders from trying to gain access into this home. I’m also imagining colored glass and the […]

square coke bottle concept

Who doesn’t like greener products? Here’s a student’s concept for a greener soda bottle: via theBigPicture and see Coke’s bottle evolution here.

flagged umbrella

A tour guide with her flag and umbrella.. clever and inventive way of combining the use and function of 2 products:

albino strawberries (aka Pineberries)

Pineberry: the hybrid of a strawberry and a pineapple. It looks like a confused strawberry, that’s white with red seeds. This designer fruit — allegedly smells and tastes like a pineapple — will be sold in 45 Waitrose supermarkets across the U.K. for the next five weeks while they’re in season, ABC News reported. Cross-breeding fruit […]

edible spray paint

Here’s a way to do a little something different to surprise the guests at your next dinner party: Bling out your food with Korefe‘s edible Silver and Gold spray paint! Brilliant! ;) via DesignVerb

fake wasabi peas

Fooled, yet again, by the packaging! Not wasabi at all, not even spicy (they were savory!)… and brown does not equal green! ;p

shrink wrapped table setting

Each table setting was shrink-wrapped… to provide a sense of sanitation? This technique does ease the process of setting tables when customers are waiting hungrily for their seats. Each table setting is pre-kitted after washing the dishes and can be handed out easily to seated customers. And the shrink wrap, does somehow give the notion […]

trash collector

This is a pretty handy trash receptacle.. the worker can wheel the container or carry it on their shoulder, like a bag. And the lid automatically opens because it’s secured to the handle, which makes it easy to sweep trash and debris. I wonder what would be different about this scene if the product were […]

which door do you use?

Is it really necessary to have an additional third door on the side. It seems like this would create more problem with traffic flow than to reduce it (at least on the way in..) Awkward. I wonder if there was a reason for this, like saving in materials..? Was there an extra door laying around […]

tourists posing

It’s always a funny site to see tourists posing with monuments :) And I’ll be first to admit that I do the same. Even more entertaining is that the 2 couples were nearly on top of each other, attempting to take the same photo!

photography: ordinary Chinese laborers

Documentary photos of the life and work of ordinary Chinese laborers are exhibited by Jiang Lingda, a freelance photographer in Shanghai over the span of nine years. Coming to China as a foreigner, many times we overlook the standard way of life here (or as you may see in some of my posts, finding the ordinary […]

cute bike

Just made me squeal like a teenie-bopper :)

restaurant buzzer

Many of the restaurants here have call bells at the table with corresponding buttons to call for waitstaff service. I’m not sure if it allows for better or worse service. The ‘ding-ding-dong’ sound can be easily ignored, making it difficult for customers to get service. Or it can be great, attentive service when needed as […]

calligraphy strokes

I’m taking a calligraphy class in addition to the Chinese I’m learning. Step one: brush stroke sequence and direction. It’s very difficult to control the brush in the exact directions as shown..!

parking sign: bikes

Yup. Designated area for parking your bike: “zi xing che cun fang chu” A utilitarian sign:

renren.. china’s fb

I’m slowly learning about some local, Chinese sties. One of which is RenRen .. and I’m debating if I should make an account to see what it’s all about. I’m afraid that my level of Chinese literacy is not quite up to par yet… Anyone have any RenRen vs. Facebook comparisons? thanks to my new friend […]

living hinge fork

I’m starting to realize that some of my fascinations may seem a bit silly to local Chinese. Regardless, I was super excited to find a collapsable plastic fork packaged with my cup of noodles! I’m curious though, why a fork over chopsticks…? (apologies for the poor quality pics)