Since WuDi is traveling for the International Wushu competition in a secret location somewhere in Canada (no, I don't remember where it is), I told him I would post up some pics from his Big Beijing Birthday Bash, even though Pat said I was not allowed to post up any more images of WuDi. Hope they don't pull my blog license over this.



The extravaganza took place at what must be one of the largest karaoke rooms on the planet. It had multiple seating areas, a dance floor and a grand piano. It was bigger than most karaoke businesses in Hong Kong. Which is good, because a lot of people showed up, though you won't be able to tell that from any pics I took.

This was before most people showed up...honestly.


Our newest AND convert to Beijing!


Zhou Xiao Fei makes it to another birthday party.


Busy, you bet, but not too busy to stop by.


Ian makes it back to Beijing to celebrate.


That cake doesn't stand a chance.


He claimed it was his first time to take a stab at a cake.


Cake anyone? No. Why not?


Okay, I'll take two slices.

Happy Birthday to a great friend.

Even though our friends had to cancel at the last minute due to illness, even though two typhoons were baring down on the Philippines, even though our flights might get canceled, we felt bound and determined to attend the First Annual Alive Not Dead Boracay Beach Party. Okay, so I must have been dreaming about the AND bit, but we still went to Boracy anyway.

Although I get to travel often, this trip to Boracay was the first non-family obligated holiday Savvy and I had taken since Reina was born. In spite of the terrible weather experienced by many in the Philippines, somehow our flights managed to avoid the brunt of it and we were only delayed two hours on our connecting flight to Boracay (the previous day, all flights to the island had been cancelled).

When you travel in the off season to a tropical paradise, there are things you should expect, wind and rain are both a part of that expectation, but we did not anticipate the intensity of the storms. Fortunately, most of the wind and precipitation occurred at night. Still, the impact was awesome. At times, walking back to our resort on the Diniwid Beach, the wind was so fierce we had to lean firmly into it. Several times Reina was blown away. I mean, her hat was blown away. It was quite windy. You get the idea.

Most days we just played on the various beaches that Boracay has to offer. Though Reina was not particular about which patch of sand she plays in, Savvy and I preferred Puka Beach and Diniwin to the famed White Beach. The stretch of sand is impressive along White Beach’s shoreline, but it is so developed, it feels more like being on a boardwalk than on an island paradise. Case in point, the presence of a three-story Starbucks. Add the large number of people on the beach, even in the low season, and the less popular beaches seem all the more charming for their quite seclusion.

We had a great time, but felt we got more bang for the buck when we visited the shores of Thailand. For that matter, we felt holiday travel was cheaper in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Bali too. Oh, and Bali has such great snorkeling sites. Still, I can’t complain about the flight time and almost everyone speaks English. And the people we met were great. So, if you want to go and you would like a photographer to guide you, I won’t refuse any reasonable offers. I’m looking at you DY.

To visit my Boracay photo album, click here.

Though I almost missed his visit to Beijing, I managed to connect with Charlie Chien a couple of nights ago at Xiu Bar in Soho. Charlie was there to celebrate his producer's birthday. I could not stay for long, but was there long enough to take a few clicks.

I’ve a confession to make, and I know for some of you this is going to be hard. I’ve been cheating on alivenotdead.com.

No, no, it’s okay. Take a moment. Let it sink in.

A few months ago, I was approached to write a column for That’s Beijing Kids, a magazine devoted to life in Beijing for people with, you guessed it, kids. Beijing Baba is a regular column in the monthly magazine that is shared by two writers. When the editors found themselves short one father, they searched for a competent, sane writer with kids. Failing in that effort, they contacted me. I know this will chafe some of you, my writing a bi-monthly column and a blog simultaneously, but try to understand, I’m only doing it for the children.

All seriousness aside, if you are interested in the paternal aspect of my life, you can check out the latest story I wrote for the September issue by clicking the link here.

And while I’m on the topic of confessions, I’m also about to take a 10-day trip to Boracay to see if it really does have one of the greatest beaches on earth. That, and I felt AnD needed more beach photos. It will be a hardship. One that I will gladly endure for you. And the children.

Yes, leave it to the photographer at the recent Beijing Alive Not Dead dinner party to be the last to post up images of the nights foolery. No matter. On Friday, Etchy hosted an intimate dinner party (read small) for 8 of us. I'm sure there would have been more, but the whole thing was rather last minute. Still, the absence of others was our gain as the restaurant featured Guizhou cuisine. For you die hard foodies, there was no ciwawa.




I always forget to shoot food, so this is for D.Y. and his bottemless pit of a stomach.




First time I met Firebird. He's a funny guy and his personality is such that it fills a room.



Thanks to Karen for knowing where to go for the Guizhou eats!


This boys tried so hard to impress Zhang Lan Xin, but all she chould do was laugh.


Battle of the bicepts. I suppose it depends on what your tastes are. I callenged them all to an endurance contest, but everyone balked when I suggested we swim 50 laps to see who the strongest is. Even after I promissed not to let any of them drown. Push up? Uh...pass.


Inside the mind of a creative marketing genius. Not sure why Etchy was photographing his arm, but who am I to question the master? Actually, I aplied the sticker to Wu Di's chest for the comic effect of watching Zhang Lan Xin rip it off. He's lucky he has no chest hair - and that we were too busy laughing to remember to take a picture of his reaction.


I've seen her cover on FM Magazine at the newsstands. Congratulations! Check out Etchy's post to see the cover featuring Zhang Lan Xin and shots from inside the magazine.