A pirate, viking, cowboy, cat-woman, and monk took to the streets for some fun back in 2006.This was probably the most fun I've had on Halloween. Check it out...

 

 

 

Just up the coast is the PInghai peninsula, part of Huizhou, which I have been trying to visit for years. I always see it on Google Maps, and it's the next peninsula up from the Dapeng peninsula (Nan'ao, Xichong) In June, I finally got the chance to go with a couple of good friends. There's nothing better than setting off on a roadtrip like this. I didn't know what to expect, and I guess that was a good thing because I was neither blown away nor let down. Here's a few photos from the trip:

The view I knew I had to see:

Bigger: http://photogiving.smugmug.com/China-Travels/Pinghai-Trip/gangkou-pan-unedited/904185764_esYDP-X3.jpg

HijAbby:

What the hell is a YCG? These are BCW (Beautiful Chinese Women)

Asking help out the car window:

The beach in town was dirty and kind of disappointing:

Holding Hands:

Pinghai Harbor:

Hotel room dance party:

Pulling water from an ancient well:

Cute old woman:

Over the town:

Great trip! Recommended (but not highly) but I do plan on going back for a surf trip sometime soon. As for the photos, I used a Canon 50D + 30mm 1.4 and a Canon S90 compact. It was more than enough and I enjoyed traveling without a billion lenses for once.

I've been doing beach parties with my friend Sebastian for several years now. It's become a kind of tradition that we both look forward to every time. Our first party was only announced the day before, and we got 33 of our friends on a bus and had a great time, despite losing a couple hundred RMB in the end. No big deal. Since then, we've learned how to properly arrange a party. Several weeks ago we held our 4th event: Aloha Sunrise Beach Party. We decided to offer as much as possible for as little as possible, and in the end, I think this is the right approach. Here's a little bit of what happened:

Continuing the Man's Day series. Walking around the streets drinking beer is very conducive to street photography. I don't know why, but almost everybody I came across was very receptive to having their photograph taken. Maybe its the extra smiles that come with the consumption of beer. I can only recall one person who actually ran away from me as I pointed the camera in their direction. In conditions like this, give me a fast prime lens, and I'm good to go. In this case, its the Sigma 30mm 1.4 (50mm equivalent on my camera) It's just perfect for low light night shooting. Here are a few portraits from the night. All are straight from the camera, unprocessed:

Definitely my favorite of the night:

Father & Daughter (you'll never get turned down by this combo):

The first "men" of the night:

Extremely cute older woman:

Peace Signs:

Security. These guys were eying us for a while, so decided to engage them:

"NO! NO! What does this mean?"

Another Father/Daughter combo:

She's obviously a bit more shy than he is:

And to finish off the night, a cute bbq girl:

To see ALL of the photos from Man's Day, just click here.

Last Thursday was "Man's Day" in parts of Germany. Apparently, men go around the neighborhood with a mini keg on a wagon, greeting and sharing brew with the neighbors. My German friends brought this holiday to China last year, and it was a blast. Our personal Chinese twist involves going around to different 7/11s and convenience stores, one by one, and having a beer at each one. Seedy train station area Luohu was our stomping ground of choice. All in all, we made 8 stops (a bit past my plan of 6). It was a good night for sure. Here are some pictures of the dudes:

Seb & Adam, two of the original Man's Day participants:

We picked up this African dude for one beer and he was gonna hang, but then he dropped out pretty quickly:

Eric:

Yours Truly:

Getting a bit rowdy (we cleaned up):

Ray + Guiness (we had a different kind of beer at each stop):

Jeremy starting the night off with an Erdinger:

Chris, one of only two German's on the scene:

Anthony (this is probably my favorite picture of the night - love the expression):

So that's it for the dudes. All these pictures were taken with my Sigma 30mm 1.4 - that's all I need these days. Stay tuned for a follow-up post featuring random Chinese people we encountered along the way!