Tag: lifestyle

resting on the streets of Asia

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。

yellow diaper stripes

Jan Chipchase writes a short entry about the failure and successes of color-changing diapers that alert parents of a wet diaper (or nappy): Yellow nappy stripes – a familiar, comforting sight for parents indicating that the contents of the container/nappy are dry – with a few drops of liquid the stripes turn blue. Whilst it […]

random photo: China life

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 […]

DWR: lighting

There’s something very interesting and modern about these partially handblown lights. I can’t pinpoint what it is that I like about them, perhaps it’s the organic shape or the interesting contrast of lamp flowing into itself…regardless, I want! Though the phallic-ness could get a bit disturbing after a while.. via DesignWithinReach

Blow Sofa

A collapsable blow up sofa…cool concept, but a bit excessive with supports and accessories? The blow-up, minimalist concept is great! The reference to natural, recycled, packaging material is a bit of trend: The sofa is made from 100% recycled paper dunnage bags with a metal rack and rubber straps. It is easy to transport when flat and […]

flickr uploads: Hangzhou and West Lake (西湖, 杭州)

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 […]

guest post: Sally Wu “Bathing at Beida”

My friend Sally, a Master’s in psychology exchange student from Taiwan, is studying at Peking University (Beida) this semester. I’ve been happy to help her with some translations and she’s kind enough to contribute one of her stories here: “北大洗澡記” 每天晚上校園都有不少人手提著塑膠袋或是小提籃，裡面放著盥洗用具，在寒冷的夜晚裡，走向公共浴室洗澡。我則是和室友走向更遠的浴室，因為那裏洗澡的地方有門可以關上。我來到北大最讓我驚訝著的兩件事，第一件事宿舍裡沒有洗澡的地方，第二件事是洗澡的地方沒有門可以關上。我聽我室友說在公共浴室洗澡，大家彼此可以看到對方的裸體。不過後來拿到港澳台學生用的洗澡證，我的心情好許多。因為港澳台辦公室知道台灣、香港和澳門的同學不習慣這樣的洗澡方式。有了這張卡，我們可以被允許進入留學生公寓的浴室，保全人員會先檢察我們的證件才讓我們進去洗澡。 我的大陸朋友說，這樣的洗澡方式都常在北方比較常見，所以南方人到北方求學，常常會很不習慣。不過她說，她們得習慣環境，因為這樣的生活習慣在北方已經很久了，即使跟行政單位反應也是沒有用的。我聽完不能理解為什麼反應是沒有用的，於是我只好點點頭。 “Taking a shower at Beida” Every evening there are many students walking through campus, bringing their plastic […]

laundry on the streets

A look into the interpretation of “public space”…. There’s one thing with hanging laundry outside one’s window out in the open; it’s certainly another to hang laundry to dry from public lamp posts! Love these silly Chinese.

biking in the rain

Blury photo alert! Even biking in the rain, the Chinese use umbrella’s.. I saw many more umbrellas on this rainy day than raincoats. And how sweet of this girl to hold the umbrella as a passenger. Another thing I noticed was that there were very few black umbrellas, if any. In the west, we’re used […]

china boy

Eating his noodle-lunch and checking his cell phone… at age… 7-ish? Adorable.

Flickr uploads: a local Hutong

I spent an early morning wandering a local Hutong a couple weeks ago.. Although I wasn’t able to capture it on camera, it was great to watch people start their mornings: brushing their teeth on the streets together, trash collectors starting off their mornings, children walking to school or waiting for the bus, elderly walking […]

old man playing Chinese chess

Randomly strolling through a neighborhood, I found some old men playing Chinese chess, as they often do in parks. I’m amazed at how active the Chinese are at old age, from dancing groups, martial arts, and card or chess games…all done in the local parks. I wonder about the stories they have to tell and […]

capsule apartment

I thought my room was small; this is a very different lifestyle…! With space pressures increasing in Beijing, the first “capsule apartment” complex has now opened in China’s capital – and according to China Hush it’s found at least one tenant. China Hush reported the opening of the capsule complex in Liulangzhuang, Haidian, earlier this month. According to […]

public toilet map

So smart to orient the map the same way the street is laid out! Proof that community living and communal bath houses and toilets are still used and needed, even in a ‘developed’ city like Beijing: I do wonder if this map is for locals or tourists, since it’s placed on a main street that currently […]

clever pottery: coffee mugs

A clever way to keep the spoon out of the way when trying to drink from your mug! (But does the handle of the spoon get wet from liquid dripping?) Lovely, regardless, for the novelty.

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 […]