Flower Power

The Singapore Botanical Garden is not the type of thing I normally get excited about. But after several people told me it was worthwhile and reading several recommendations online , it was my first destination last weekend.

I am, relatively speaking, a fan of public parks and open green spaces. I appreciate nature and enjoy the tranquility and magical design of our world. I am also a big fan of Central Park in New York, which I especially love because of its juxtaposition within one of the worlds most urban centers. Therefore, I appreciated Singapore Botanical Garden's suburban location and lack of entry fee.
Unlike central park where signs lead to 'the Great Lawn' or 'Strawberry Fields' or 'Walman Rink', signs here where titled 'rain forest', 'Orchard Garden', Ginger Garden'. Of all the exotic choices, my first choice was "Orchid", the largest collection of orchids in the world.

I could try to put into words how fascinatingting, exotic and magnificent the garden was, but seeing as I am not much of a writer, these images are a better representation. The complete set can be seen here.

I will also add that the heat and humidity of Singapore can be stifling. I was convinced that in spite of the heat, the people managing the orchid garden somehow dialed up the humidity even more. A fact you might notice when you see water perspiring on several flowers. Needless to say, the day required a stop back to the hotel for a shower and change of clothes.

3 Min in Bali

Before coming to Shanghai I stopped over in Bali for some meetings. We stayed at this great hotel. The weather was wonderful but unfortinately I spent the majority of my time in conference rooms.
Dinners where fun and I met some wonderful folks, however these pictures represent the bulk of my time in the sun. I did however make a point to swim in the Pacific. It was salty and very similar to the Atlantic.

Weekend Won

On Thursday I started to feel shitty. On Friday the feeling got worse. It was the flu - AKA, the 'Chinese Flu', AKA - "welcome to China - you're sick".... FUCK... Really???

On Friday night it hits like a ton of bricks; sweats, aches, cough, congestion... being sicks sucks. Being sick in another country sucks even more.

A few lessons learned however (CHINA FACT):
1) Get a VPN so you can watch netflix
2) There is a delivery food service called Sherpa.com - CRITICAL!
3) Stock up US cold and cough products, they just don't have them here... So i'm toughing it out with some advil i brought...

Four movies (Buy the ticket, take the ride; a Hunter T. bio, Full Metal Jacket, Bronson and Trainspotting) and 12 hours of sleep later, its Sunday morning..... Still feeling under the weather, but its a beautiful day and I can't bring myself to stay cocooned in my room for another 24hrs. Did I really travel half way around the world to sit in bed and watch movies???

So its off to lunch with the only two people I know (who I don't work with); American couple from Cali who are old friends with one of my best college buds.... Lunch is good and then off to to do what all folks do on Sunday - hit up the knock off video store!!

In NYC, you occasionally see guys hawking $5 DVD's on the street. Well let me tell you - in China they have elevated this to an entirely new level. I swear, it looks like a legit store, until you go to pay and its 10RMB (~$1.50) per DVD (which I was told was expensive)... unbelievable.. Anyway, still haven't tried em out, so will report back on the quality.. But thought I'd catch up on some classics.

After lunch, I went to check out the Shanghai art fair - I thought, "this will be a great way to see all the gallery's in the city without having to schlepp around"...

Well - I was wrong. It was 99% crap, so i took the business card for the only gallery that looked at all credible (Shanghart) and headed to their actual gallery...

CHINA FACT: All stores are typically bundled together on the same street. For example, there is an entire street of guitar stores... Just like there is entire area of gallery's.

Anyway - Shanghart is located in the M50, which is somewhere between an artist colony and gallery village. Kinda like Brooklyn, but more concentrated and in China... The road is completely covered in Graffiti, and its basically open studios all the time. Unfortunately, the art quality left something to be desired, but I will keep looking.

So thats Sunday. Gonna pop in a movie and kick back till another work day rolls around....

Eastern Days

I recently moved to Shanghai for work on a temporary basis. I'll be here through the end of the year. In the spirit of sharing, which is the purpose of this blog, I thought i'd shift gears from random cultural internet items of note, and focus my attention on random and interesting Chinese items of note....

So... My first observation.... The below images represent one aspect of Shanghai and China... Over the next few months I hope to show you others....

Summer is here. Break out the Yellow Bat!

Really interesting article on the history of the wiffle ball (and bat)...

"What do you need? You need a Wiffle Ball, a bat, and another kid to play with," said David J. Mullany. "And really that's it."

Proof that the internet is awesome

tremendous website of random and historical photos and miscellaneous articles...

Competition?