The banknote for a hundred RMB is pink.  There are coins, but there is also a piece of paper that represents half an RMB (think fifty cents).  It’s still like Monopoly money to me and I have been spending like I own Broadway. Today, I went to the ATM and pulled out 1,000RMB. 100RMB is about $15US, so I have about a hundred and fifty bucks in my wallet.   That’s a lot of cash to me.  And it is soooo easy to spend here. What surprised me about Shekou is that the cost of living is actually higher here than…

My friend Holly has asking me to show her how to use her camera better.  Since my class in Hong Kong, I feel a bit more qualified showing her the basics, so we planned a morning dedicated to this end. The great part about this whole day was that we only traveled about 15 minutes outside of where I live, but I actually felt like I was in China!  When I told this to a friend of mine, he kept repeating, you are in China… but to be honest, it simply does not feel like this sometimes.  I mean, I…

Hope your holidays are filled with fun!  

I spent last Saturday dedicated to fashion.  Yes, me and fashion.  We held hands, whispered in each other’s ears, and just giggled all day.  The thing is, we hadn’t seen each other in a while. You see, we used to be much closer, but then I bought a place.  And well, fashion turned into a new garbage disposal for the sink, HOA fees and so, you get the point.  We grew apart. Now, within this blog, I may have mentioned several thousand times how things just aren’t convenient here.  For instance, I really want a bulletin board to hang things…

Today was a beautiful day in Shekou. My friend and I had lunch outside and the sun on my face felt phenomenal.  The air has been terribly polluted lately.  Try to imagine about 1,000 buses with smoke pouring out of exhaust driving in circles around your neighborhood all day – bingo, you are in Shekou.  Well, we had some rain, clearing out the smog and on top of that, the temperature has just dropped.  It’s surprisingly cold, but great to wear winter clothes!  It’s a wonderful way to start winter break. I’ve now been here for about six months and…

People assume that I know a lot about cameras.  It’s a reasonable assumption as I have a website dedicated to my photos and I love to take pictures.  However, there have been many times when I haven’t been able to get the photo I wanted because I don’t know how to work my camera.  And now I have a fantastic camera with a great lens and I thought, it’s time to face a long-standing fear – the mechanics of a camera. Look. Numbers, mechanics, logic… not strengths. I have learned to work around and even become more logical, mechanical, and…

I miss my family and friends.

‘You kick defenseless puppies?’ Well, no I don’t but since I have told people that I am not traveling this Christmas break, the reaction is about the same.  You see; it’s really easy to travel here.  I am going to Bangkok over the Chinese New Year and the cost was about $221 US round trip.  Not bad. However, I have decided to stay in Shenzhen for Christmas, as there are several things I want to do and see around here.  I am taking a couple of photography classes in Hong Kong, plan to visit Macau, and a couple of friends…

My landlord and a worker just left my apartment. It’s been about four months since I got here and I am now just putting up my photographs.  I would have liked to have put them up myself but apparently in Shekou, something about the walls, one needs a worker to hang things. I still have a couple of items I want to get but overall, my place is starting to feel like home. Right now, I am trying to decide if I want to go anywhere over the holiday break.  I mean, such a tough decision… Bali, Istanbul, Beijing.  These are…

The headscarves threw me a bit at first.  I am simply not used to seeing so many in one place.  I had never traveled to a Muslim country, but there I was in Malaysia surrounded by hijabs (google it).  Now the interesting thing about Malaysia though is that there are other religions happening there, so it’s actually quite diverse. However in every hotel, there was an arrow on the ceiling pointing towards Mecca, and I did hear the call to prayer a couple of times. I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. Per usual, Westerners tend to stand out in Asian countries,…