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.

Mates for life. We could learn from fowl. Shenzhen, PRC, October 17, 2007.

There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Factory Sunrise ©2009 AsianRamblings

From my apartment window, an image with my Canon 40D, finally back in my possession. Why can’t I sleep in? I managed to this week to stay asleep until 5 am. Oh, to be a teenager again… Scratch that. I’d rather wake up early than ever be a teenager again.

I spent part of the weekend inside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Wan Chai, on Hong Kong Island. Getting from Shenzhen to Hong Kong is easy: Train, ferry, or bus will take you to the once-British colony.

When you miss your bus, and the one you board breaks down, you can be somewhat late.  On the way home, running between Hong Kong and China immigration checkpoints at 10:50 at night so you don’t miss the last subway train, is also not recommended.

I did get a new toy. A first attempt at time-lapse photography. Pretty bad, but it show promise.

Tropical Storm Goni, the western Pacific region’s seventh storm of the year, is headed for the Chinese mainland.  Forecasters predict the storm will hit the Chinese mainland between 6 pm and 9 pm (GMT +8) on August 4.  The storm will most likely make landfall south-east of Maoming in Guangdong Province. Tropical Storm Goni is expected to bring wind gusts of up to 74 kilometers per hour.

Nearby Shenzhen, Macau and Hong Kong will be on the periphery of Tropical Storm Goni and should expect rain and strong winds as the storm moves west through Guangdong and Guangxi provinces before weakening into a tropical depression.

Tropical Storm Morakot in the Western Pacific.

Official in Taiwan are watching Tropical Storm Morakot that formed earlier this week east of Taiwan. Taiwan has received less rain than usual this year and officials have said rationing may begin if the drought continues. The course of Tropical Storm Morakot is unclear. The storm’s heavy rainfall would be welcome in Taiwan. The storm is expected to affect Taiwan August 7 or 8.

Source: etaiwannews.com
Maps: Weather Underground

I haven’t had much to say lately. Things have been busy. Finishing one phase of your life, and planning for another, is not an easy task, especially when government bureaucracy is involved. Such is life in China.

Random Conversation

As I sat on the 777 from Beijing to Shenzhen, a small boy, maybe six-years-old, climbed into the aisle from the bank of seats to my front.  The lad’s eyes opened wide when he spotted me. There was a brief consultation between the boy and his father before he walked over to me.

“Good morning,” he said.

It was 6 pm.

“Good morning,” I replied, my young-learners happy face prominent.

He stared at me, concentrating.

Finally, he said, clearly and loudly, “Snake.”

“Yes,” I parroted, “Snake.”

“Snake,” he said again.

I nodded. “Snake.”

Then he ran back to his father and I returned to Michael Palin’s Himalaya on my iPod. I am willing to bet that good morning and snake are the only English words he knows. I wonder about the curriculum of his kindergarten.

The Stevo eats Beijing Roast Duck. Yes, it is tasty.

Random Thoughts

Beijing Roast Dusk is as tasty as you have heard. Consuming it with 26 bottles of beer makes it more so. I wonder if Madame Donna can make it?

Don’t be in Tiananmen Square while experiencing distress in your lower GI tract. The square is 40 acres, and it is a long hike to the facilities.

Real men eat chili peppers, even if it leads to abdominal distress (see above).

The woman on a street corner that offers you a massage at 1:30 am is not really offering you a massage.

Don’t ever take a Hong Kong MTR train at 6:00 pm on a Friday afternoon. If you must, lube up first to increase your chances of  getting in and out of the train and station.

Half-asleep dreams, where your wife is so close you can touch her are sweet, but few and far between.

Watching three dogs try to mate is funnier after consuming too many beers than it would be sober.

Yogurt can be an almost adequate substitute for mayo when making tuna salad.