Here's a travel story I wrote about Dafen Art Village in Buji. This little kid just stared into the camera for several shots without making the slightest expression - then went back to his cards. You've probably already been to Dafen, but if not, check it out!

Fiona and employee friends at Starbucks. This is why I love my wide angle lens - the perspective. The other day my friend Fiona invited me to the grand opening of a new Starbucks in Shekou. Fiona runs a tea shop, but ever since a Starbucks opened next to her shop in OCT, she has taken up a taste for coffee. Anyways, as soon as I walked in the door I was greeted by a party-like atmosphere. Everybody was given a stamp upon entering, and our job was to find someone with the same stamp, so we could then claim a prize. Eventually there was a drawing and more prizes given. All food and drinks were free, so I tried a couple of really expensive things I usually don't get. Normally they don't let you take pictures, but this time, everyone had their cameras out, even the employees. It was really crazy and fun and I've never experienced anything like that at Starbucks before. I spend a lot of time in Starbucks writing and uploading photos to my galleries and server; its like an office to me. I never spent much time in Starbucks in America because I didn't drink coffee then, but I was always aware of its bad reputation as a big chain that killed the competition and small business. I think its different in China. The idea of coffee is new here. A friend commented that the employees are "looking for something different" and that Starbucks represents something new and different for China. One thing for sure is they are always friendly, I've even developed a crush on the girls who work in my local Diwang branch - haha. However, I don't understand whey they need to charge American prices for coffee in China. I guess its the whole package. The environment is nice, and of course you have the free wi-fi connection. Its also nice that you can keep your own mug there and get a 2 kuai discount on coffee. One thing for sure is that I am thankful to have a place like this in China to hang out and get some work done. Here is a gallery of photos from the Starbucks opening in Shekou, and here is a small article in the Daily, which I wasn't even planning to shoot for the news - it just occurred to me that it might be newsworthy. The picture somehow doesn't show up, but you can see it better in the first photo in the gallery.

This is Bilky, a girl who was featured in my recent article about breakdancing in Shenzhen. Her photo was not included in the paper so here is one. I've found that nearly every school around the city has a crew of students who breakdance. Quite the healthy scene, it seems. However, the best place to see breakdancing in action is by the Shenzhen Cinema in Dongmen. I've gotten to know some of the guys there recently, and its really amazing what they can do. I've always had a goal of being able to do a windmill, maybe one day...

The paper held a fund raising party for the victims of the earthquake last weekend, featuring a variety of local expat musicians. The closing act was a band featuring Leon Clark, who is quite the photographer himself, and little did I know also a bass player (above). All in all, 100,000 RMB was raised for the Red Cross with about 150 people in attendance. Here is a gallery of photos from the event.

The guy you see above doesn't spin hip hop, but he's a great DJ anyways. His name is Li Weiming and he spins at Ibiza (where I spin old school party hip hop about once a week) This article about DJing is the 3rd in a series on hip hop culture in Shenzhen. Unfortunately, I went away to Shanghai, so I couldn't go around and interview and get more action shots of the DJs. However, I was lucky to have the help of several friends, who did much of the writing in my place. Susan Buchanan, Darcy Fisher, and Roosevelt Faulkner: thanks! I did a bit of research about the history of DJing to get the facts straight for the introduction and learned a lot in the process. Check out this video about DJ Kool Herc for more!