As winter settled over Beijing, it occurred to me that what I really needed, what I had failed to experience after nearly 5 years in China, was cold weather so severe parts of my body might freeze off. That kind of cold must be fun. And so, without fully considering the ramification, or putting my affairs in order, I agreed to fly to Hailar, Inner Mongolia for a couple of days in December. Honestly, how cold could it be?

Really cold. On a good day, 20 below zero. When I found this out, there was only one thing I could do, buy lots of new clothing. Ski pants, puffy jacket, long underwear, extra thick socks, gloves, 2 hats and more gloves. For good measure, I bought some snow boots too. I considered a motorcycle helmet, but figured the visor would inhibit taking photographs.

Alas, I should have opted for the helmet. The whole point of the trip was to photograph a coal-fired power plant still under construction. That may not sound like a fun project for most, but I could not have asked for more -  all access to a huge feat of engineering over 100 meters high. Okay, I did ask for one more slight detail. Specifically, I asked Gianfranco for a power plant near Beijing. Gianfranco is my friend who happens to be an engineer on many such projects. Sure, Beijing is nice, but he thought this would be more interesting as the place would be covered in snow. I suspect he found the thought of me freezing my keister off while taking photos worthy of a laugh as well.

If there is one word I would use to describe Inner Mongolia in wintertime it’s "white". There was not a lot of snow, but everything was dusted with it. After lunch, we headed to the project site and Gianfranco attempted to find someone to take me around as he would be attending a meeting. However, since his meeting was postponed, and he could not find anyone available to make sure I did not get myself killed, he decided to join me. Just to be clear, walking around a construction site in the middle of winter is not Gianfranco's idea of fun. I got to hand it to him though, he bared it with fortitude as I would have turned back after five minutes in his shoes (see image below).

The scene below reminded me of model airplane parts

Construction worker taking a break and probably wondering what the heck I'm doing up there.

The way down.

"Get to close to that transformer and it will fry you."

Gianfranco led me around in sneakers - for nearly 2 hours. I had boots on and my feet were still cold.

The next afternoon, when the business of the trip was finished, we drove for a couple of hours to the city of Manzhouli on the Russian border. This place was loaded with enough Russian signage and residents that I wondered if we had accidentally crossed over the border in the twilight.

We ate some fantastic Russian food, that I neglected to photograph, and then the guys went out for drinks while I decided to tempt fate with some night photography in town. I just felt like I had not really experienced the cold yet.

After we started driving, ice formed on the inside of the windows

Livestock grazing under the most inhospitable conditions

It did not take long. After a mere 20 minutes, my feet were getting cold. A couple of times, I walked into stores just to warm up for a bit, but I found after an hour, my toes hurt so bad that I had to retreat to the hotel to really thaw out. Aside from my feet, everything else stayed warm. Surprisingly, even my hands did too, though I did stick them in my pockets as often as possible; gloves and all. That hand warmer in my pocket was immeasurably helpful as I had to wear a thin glove to operate the camera. Even the camera did not mind the cold weather.

Locals clearly ignorant of the dangerous weather conditions in which they live

Manzhouli has dozens and dozens of snow sculptures

Oh the irony!

Perhaps the local secret to staying warm can be found within.

For me, the trip was a success; let’s face it, I survived intact. My only regret is that we did it all in two days instead of one. The next time I go back to Inner Mongolia will be during July, when all the grass is growing and the hills are awash in a sea of green. I hear it's beautiful that time of year. All the same, I’m taking my coat.

Me, wearing a cold-weather hard hat. Power plant - done. Now, where's that coal mine?

The rumors are true, once again, I've been moonlighting on you. My life as the Beijing Baba has continued since I last posted a note about it here. I'm in the current double month issue of Beijing Kids and this time my musing is about Reina's lack of sleeping habits when her mother is away. Honestly, I think it is the best piece I have written for the magazine thus far. Click here to go directly to the story on their website. The previous article, in November, was a retrospective on Reina's surgery, but in case you are interested and/or you did not read about it on my AND blog here in Dec 2008, you can check out my look back on the topic for BJ Kids here.

But wait, there's more. I also wrote a piece this month for www.baicaimag.com. They are an online magazine about the arts. The story is about my perceptions on Beijing culture. Please note, I'm no expert. Anyway, if interested, the story is here, along with a few photos of mine. I'm not at all pleased with the layout they used, but baicai is new and I'm sure they will improve over time.

And so as not to get razzed about it by those of you aware, I realize that the end of January is fast aproaching and I owe you to fabulous posts from my work last year that I was unable to squeeze in before year's end due to...uh...all the last minute writing I was doing. Yeah, that's it. Not to worry, I'm on it. Really, I am. Why are you looking at me like that?

There is a statistic about phones that shows, in the USA anyway, that if you don't use a feature on your mobile phone in the first three days, you probably never will. So many gadgets these days are loaded with more features than we really need or even pay attention too. Cameras are not exempt from this, especially those innocent looking point-and-shoots.

Case in point, Savvy has a Canon Ixus 750. Great little camera that, in all honesty, I use a lot more than she does. So the other night, we invited a few friends from AnD over to our place for a home cooked meal and I snapped this pic with her camera.



It's not even a keeper. I was about to delete it when I noticed on the little screen the green chair in the B/W. How did that happen? So I investigated the features it was set on "Color Accent" and low and behold, a world of options opened before me. For someone who does not care much for post production work, this is a fun, easy to use and way underutilized feature. These pics have not been touched at all since I clicked the shutter.




Aw, her wittle tummy was all full and she gots sleepy


Gave Wu Di some lipstick


Pat chillin' on the sofa

These are not great shots, but here's a feature I was oblivious to and it was at my fingertips all the years we've had this camera. So, the lesson here is always play with the features. Or read your manual. You decide.

I've a few cool things to write about, but I've been swamped for time these days. My only New Year's resolution is to get this blog up to date by month's end. Stay tuned....

No trip to Shenzhen is complete without a jaunt across the border to Hong Kong. If I'm going to be honest though, Hong Kong would be a lonely place for me were it not for AliveNotDead.com. The truth is, everyone of my friends in HK is a result of AnD. Don't forget, I've never lived there. For me, it all began with Mark Moran, but it has morphed into a great circle of creative and dynamic friends that continues to grow every time I visit.


Will C. explained why Lan Gong Yuen restaurant is a part of Hong Kong's culinary history. Then we went somewhere else to eat.

In the morning, I met up with Will C. for a bite and a walk around TST. We even randomly ran across the new GTOX shop which is worth checking out. Eventually, Patrick Chow woke up and joined us for some dimsum before Patrick and I headed to Causeway Bay to meet up with Raffi and his legion of young models who are at his beck and call to promote the Legend smack down that AnD is involved with. I think Raffi mentioned that Mr. Rottendoubt himself was going to get into the ring this time; or maybe I misunderstood him.  Anyway, Patrick and I have been trying to connect ever since I moved to Beijing and he was studying there for six month. That was over 18 months ago, but we finally met face to face.


Raffi and Patrick try to see things eye to eye.


As you can see, Raffi is dedicated to his work.


Models may be cute, but Patrick knows a real pro when he spots one.


As the ladies began to pass out the fliers for the Legend event, I became aware that there were other pretty young things in CWB trying to promote products. A bevy of amateur photographers also took note. This Santa's helper was showcasing some new Microsoft hardware.


Raffi liked the hardware she was demonstrating. I think they would make an adorable couple.


More leggy models demonstrating the latest X-Box offerings. They must have been cold.


Even more photographers. Desperate? Well, we did see some handing out business cards, but I'm sure it was for professional opportunities.

Later, Raffi was kind enough to invite me (without much prodding) to the Mavis Fan concert. He did not even mind that I had never heard of Mavis Fan. This was an outdoor concert in Thai Bo or someplace like that. He didn't mind that I had no idea where that was either.


Mavis Fan and her band 100% at an outdoor concert in Tai Po





I've randomly attended four concerts without prior planning while living in China and each time it was for a singer from Taiwan. Without question, this was the best show I have attended and Mavis Fan is clearly my favorite singer from Taiwan. True, I only know of four, but I'm confident she will be better than the next performer from Taiwan who's concert I will no doubt randomly attend in 2010. That the venue was outdoors and so intimate only made the show that much more special. Check out Raffi's more knowledgeable post about the concert here. I even got to chat with one of my favorite HK artists for a bit, Josie Ho.




The lovely and talented Mavis Fan

The next day, after a fantastic Vietnamese lunch with Boon (Boon!), I met up with Spencer Douglass while he was conducting one business meeting after another at a table in Starbucks.




Warning, the next photo is strikingly shocking and may frighten small children, the elderly and the squeamish.






Spencer recently did some hand modeling and they shaved a bit of the back of his hand, making him look rather...odd.


Spencer introduced me to a number of artists including the lovely Hungarian film maker Lilla Ban.


And I finally got to meet Reni, who seemed really relaxed while we hung out.

Specially thanks to Jack for letting me crash his place for a few days. Why I have no photo of him or Boon (Boon!) is a mystery, but it is probably because I never took the camera out while with either of them.

Hopefully the next time I'll be back in Hong Kong will be sooner rather than later.

As a favor to Jesse Warren, I hopped on a plane and flew down to Shenzhen to shoot the 2009 China Surf Open. Jesse has probably done more than anyone to promote the sport of surfing in Shenzhen and he put in a ton of time and effort to organize the event. I went a few days early to catch up with friends and see about some possible exhibitions in the coming year. Everything was looking good until 24 hours prior to the competition. That's when the wave report made it evident that the surfers would be "surfing" on flat seas. Unfortunately, Jesse was forced to postpone the event.

Not being ones to whine about misfortune, we decided to head to a neighborhood in the Central Business District that was being demolished for a bit of night time photography reminiscent of the future a la Terminator; hopefully minus all the skulls and dead bodies. For those of you who don't know Jesse's work, he has spent the past five years creating some fab photos of Shenzhen at night and he has a penchant for getting onto the rooftops of the city's tallest skyscrapers. Dave Learn came along for the shoot too.

So lace up your boots and prepare to enter a Shenzhen Wasteland.








We considered trying to go inside this one, but decided against it - wisely.


The beast that brought down the neighborhood.


Jesse takes a break to remember the old neighborhood.


One of the last buildings still standing. Anyone need a 48RMB ($7)hotel room?


We finally found a building that we felt was safe enough (sort of) to climb for a better view.


Dave at ISO 256000.


Straddling the void.


Jesse managed to find yet another place to chill. House party anyone?


Any idea what this is? Shot courtesy Dave Learn.


The way out. We decided not to go any higher. Shot courtesy Dave Learn.

More on the trip to come. Happy Holidays to all and a fond farewell to Gangxia West Village....