While it has been dreadfully chilly, the afternoon sun from my “sniper’s” nest at Momo Bar has provided some wonderful light. Two days of sun? I can’t believe it. Last week it was hot – shorts-weather. This week? I’m wearing a toque and long-johns. There’s no insulation in south China homes – plain old cement walls. If it’s 40 degrees outside, it’s 40 degrees inside. Often, it’s warming outside than it is inside. I think the Chinese weather has developed bi-polar disorder and needs medication and therapy.

It was wet too weeks ago, I don’t mean rain or assorted precipitation, I mean wet.  Like every tile surface was covered in water. I don’t know the physics behind the phenomenon. My Chinese friends believe it is water in the air. My belief is that warm weather after ten days of temps just above freezing, caused condensation to form everywhere. Please, correct me if I’m wrong.

I witnessed the downside of the freakish wetness in my second apartment. I hadn’t been there for three weeks. I noticed as I prepared to sleep Monday night that the sheets smelled decidedly funky. Upon closer inspection I find lovely black mold spots on my pillows and a strange connect-the-dots pattern on a sheet. Lovely. I went home the next day, linens in hand, ready for the washing machine and Mr. Sun.

Chinese Lunar New Year is also called Spring Festival. It should be called Almost Spring Festival. I spoke with a Canadian in Shanghai earlier this week – he opined that Canada was warmer than China. That’s not enough to draw me back but is certainly food for thought.

I’m off to Hong Kong tomorrow to a Strobist shoot with some local photographers and 3 models. The public wharf in Kennedy Town, Hong Kong Island is our location. Photos of Asian models to follow.

From my usual perch at Momo Bar and spied this young lad taking a hearty sip of milk tea. If there’s one thing a growing toddler needs it’s a good hit of sugar and caffeine. Welcome to China.

Grandparents are generally the caregivers of their grandchildren. While mother and father are out making money, granny or grandpa are at home with the kids. An afternoon visit to the playground features a stunning contrast in ages: Wrinkled faces that witnessed the Cultural Revolution chat as wee ones climb, laugh and cry. There are domestics, mostly rural village girls, but they are not as prevalent as the Filipina, Malaysian and Indonesian domestics in Hong Kong.

A year from now I will be able to take this photo of Grandmother Stevo and still-percolating Baby Stevo. Mrs. Stevo’s mother will be coming to live with us. This raises some issues. Grandmother Stevo speaks neither English or Mandarin, only her village dialect that I find impossible difficult to understand. And, Chinese child-rearing is not the something I want to comment on. I’ll hypothesize: If Dr. Spock’s work has been translated it hasn’t been read. The One-child policy has led to a lot of spoiled children but not a sparing of the rod.

Mrs. Stevo returned from the hospital yesterday with a fresh ultrasound pic. I’m not being unkind when I say the 1.5 pound Baby Stevo looks like some sort of bizarre sea creature. Ultrasound images are about as flattering as photos of yours truly.

This image was shot “on the sly” with a Phottix Hero Wireless Live View Remote.

Miss May of Momo Bar

May works at Momo Bar, a local shop selling milk tea, coffee, and assorted beverages. The shop is also the closest available purveyor of French fries. Try eating endless bowls of rice: The fat content of fries ceases to matter.

May is a firecracker like many Hunan girls – who are known for both their beauty and temperament as fiery as their province’s cuisine. A visit to Momo Bar is an almost daily activity. Bar is a misnomer – there is no bar. The shop is small storefront with chairs outside. Closed for Chinese New Year I spent ten days Momo and May-less.

I recently learned May is from Chenzhou, Hunan Province, a stone-throw from where Mrs. Stevo was raised. You can’t say much about Chenzhou: It’s small by Chinese standards, only 600,000 residents. I’ve spent some time in the city but haven’t really explored. A few years back I missed meeting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao who arrived in Chenzhou after the city was ravaged by a summer flood, a day earlier than me .

Milk tea, for the uninitiated, is an interesting beverage made of tea and milk, served hot or cold. Some may have tried the similar bubble tea, available in some areas of North America. I’m sure Paddy has a had a milk tea or two in Hong Kong. Daily Bubble Tea, from the island of Taiwan, is a blog not a beverage. You can’t drink it but it’s certain worth a visit.

I shot this with my repaired Canon 40D, on-the-sly with a Phottix Hero Live View Remote. While the Canon is fixed the same cannot be said for my main computer. It died last weekend. My 22″ monitor is idle (and probably lonely). This old laptop is tired. If the photo appears really strange (color-wise) please blame the aging laptop monitor, not yours truly.

My life has undergone drastic changes over the past year.  I no longer get to “hang” with the young folk  of various nations as I did when teaching ESL in China. Most of my “hanging” is with my wife, although I don’t know if one can “hang” with their spouse. I’m not down with all the hip lingo.

One of the teachers I worked with last year has returned and is living in my spare room. The strapping lad, English teacher cum skater/writer has given me back the ability to “hang.” I recently tagged along while he tricked with some local Chinese skate rats. I snapped a few with my old Canon 400D, lamenting its poor performance.

Strapping lad, a former Nike intern, is putting together a blog on Skating in Shenzhen China. Skateboarding in China isn’t what it is in North America, he explained. In China, you can skate almost anywhere. And, given the effectiveness of Chinese security guards, skaters have little, if nothing, to worry about.

That said, the sport has been slow in taking off. A flickr commenter mentioned pro skate teams have been coming to Shenzhen since 2001. The sport has yet to become widespread among young people. While Shenzhen has a population of 12 million – being hip-deep in Chinese skaters isn’t a real fear. Yet.

Socially, China is 20 years behind the west. I have witnessed women’s fashion progress from the Cyndi Lauper-esque outfits I saw in junion high to the sweater dresses I remember from high school.  Aside: A member of the world’s oldest profession (not farmer) dressed in a Cyndi Lauper outfit, complete with crimped hair, is amusing. Sometimes, life in China is like a look at your past, or a never-ending Halloween party.

I hope to spend some more time shooting the skaters (with a camera, not a gun) if it gets warmer. The weather has been dreadful. Four days of temperatures near freezing in an apartment with no insulation or central heat is not something anyone sane wants to undertake.

As I was saying, Shenzhen, China is a sprawling city, it’s hard to believe that places like Sanmenkou Island co-exist with monolithic concrete creations. The airport and the Shenzhen’s beaches are separated by 50 km. I’ve been to the beach twice in my almost five years in China. I like the beach, I don’t like public transportation. Luckily, on our October holiday excursion, a friend had a car.

Dongchong beach was our destination. From there it was tickets on a small and scary boat across the water to Sanmenkou Island. The boat’s pilot, a Kejia man, has skin the color of leather from his daily journeys back and forth across the south China Sea, smiled as his craft smashed through the waves and his passenger squealed.

A large dog, in China? Sanmenkou Island must be a magic place.

If you’re from a large city you can appreciate what Sanmenkou has to offer. The island rises like a tree-covered, crooked finger from the Pacific. There are few cars, few people, and the only sounds are children splashing in the sea and the waves lapping at the sand and rocks.  Peaceful. Serene. Idyllic.

A photographer (or two) have been known to shoot Shenzhen's Sanmenkou Island.

Most of eastern Shenzhen is undeveloped. There are settled areas, but the green mountains make urbanization difficult. Two nuclear power plants and a prison share the area, as do merry-makers looking for a quiet escape.

Sanmenkou Island is place where time has little meaning. People seem to drift from place to place, ghosts of their busy city selves. Small hotels, fresh seafood, the remains of a military facility, and climbable hills offer these ghosts a variety of way to stay content. An afternoon on the island is a restful tonic to the weary urban warrior or the burnt-out traveler.

The day never ends at Sanmenkou and Dongchong beach. As dusk settles hordes of people arrive to spend the night on the beach. Facing east, it offers the early-riser a chance to watch the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean

Dusk over the mountains at Sanmenkou Beach, Shenzhen, China.

Thanks to David at Random Wire for recommending this great spot. His flickr images gives a much better picture of the place.

Getting to Sanmenkou Island, Shenzhen

Boats run from Xichong Beach and Dongchong Beach to Sanmenkou Island. Prices vary, be prepared to bargain.

Beach at Sanmenkou Island, Shezhen, China

It’s easy to forget that Shenzhen is more than just concrete. It’s a sprawling city, the east on the South China Sea.

Tomorrow: My day at the beach.  Stay tuned.