A Chinese family buzzes around on the family bike.

I’ve been trying to take shots of scooters and bicycles from my “sniper’s nest” at local coffee joint, MoMo Bar. I usually get too busy chatting or drinking coffee (or milk tea) to capture anything memorable.

Many people remember the old images of China: Thousands of people of bicycles. It’s not like that anymore. Bikes and scooters are still popular, but that old images should be sepia toned.

Five people are the most I have seen on a scooter. What about your other Asia-based expats? China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand: What’s the largest number of people you have seen riding a scooter?

Pretty picture, ain’t it.

Instead of shooting self-portraits I tried something different last Sunday. Using a suggestion from Digital Camera Magazine (one the many photography magazines I picked up while in England) I spent a couple of hours “messing about.” English magazine are expensive in Hong Kong, about three-times the cover price.  They would be more expensive in mainland China, if they were stocked.

With only 338 shots I managed to capture a few decent droplets. It was fun, and absorbing, it nothing else. Craig Ferguson has spurred my creativity. I spend a lot of time thinking about off-camera flash.

I’ll be offline for a few days. If I don’t respond to comments or emails it’s not because I stopped loving you.

The weather forecast: Rain, followed by thunderstorms, followed by more rain.

It will be wet this week. I thought we had escaped the spring rains; That they had decided not to pay us a visit this year.

I was wrong, as I often am.

Umbrellas won’t protect you from the onslaught. Your clothes get wet from walking to and from work. Wet shoes and socks are a fact of life. Daily wardrobe decisions are made based on what is least wet. Washed clothes never quite dry.

It matches my current state of mind perfectly. Pathetic fallacy is sometimes more than a literary device.

Wish me luck. If nothing else, I will be clean.

Candles at Yuxu Ancient Temple, part of the Lin Zexu Memorial Park, in Humen, Guangdong Province, China. Yuxu is the place in Chinese mythology, where the immortals live. Authorities are unsure when the temple was built.  A stone marker in the temple explains it was repaired in 1800.

Humen was the town where Lin Zexu seized and destroyed opium imported by British traders, and the first town attacked in Britain’s subsequent retaliation: The Opium War.

A shrine to Kǒng Fūzǐ, better known as Confucius, in the Princes City, Guilin, China. Guilin has been one of China’s top tourist spots since the 14th century.

I’ve made some great friends on these old intertubes. A lot of people use the internet as means of distraction or entertainment. I use it to connect to a life I’ve nearly forgotten. Lately, instead of looking westward I’ve turned my attention closer to home.

I recently met (virtually) some cool new China bloggers. Like me, they are “teaching the English.” Living in China is not easy for a temporary resident. It’s not especially easy for a seasoned expat. I generally steer clear of the pissing and moaning common to China’s expat blogging community. My blood pressure is high enough without angry rants.

I digress, as I often do. I’ll get off my soapbox.

Expatriate Games (a wicked name for a blog, I might add, being a fan of the book the name is taken from) is a fantastic photo blog. EG, as I kindly call him, shoots fantastic portraits and scenes from life in China. I wish I was so skilled. Check out his flickr stream.

A China newb, Graham Woodring, blogs at An American in the Far East. He hasn’t been in the Middle Kingdom for long, and I look forward to his thoughts as he experiences a different culture and life. I hope his search for milk is successful.

Go west, it was once said. Josh at Far West China, blogs from The Middle Kingdom’s western frontier, Xinjiang Province. Josh mixes news and photographs from western China and recently won the 2008 Best China Blog award.

Most foreign residents in China love shopping: Haggling in the market, searching for the ultimate (and often campy) bargain. There are many global devotees of online auction house ebay. Few know about China’s own ebay-like site: Taobao. Yes, it’s all in Chinese, which makes navigation difficult, but Taobao kicks proverbial butt.

One enterprising soul has created the Tao Bao Field Guide, featuring interesting (and wacky) products for sale on the Chinese auction house. More importantly, The Tao Bao Field Guide offers step-by-step instructions on registering an account, searching for items, and starting your online shopping spree — All in English. I no longer have to bother my coworkers.

The good things about new friends, regardless of real-life or vitual status,  is they soon become  old friends.