At Shanghai’s Hongqiao airport, there are now baskets of free lighters to greet arrivals passengers who undoubtedly had their lighters confiscated before their flight. I had a hard time choosing, but finally settled on a hot pink clear one inscribed with the legend, “punchtobacco”.
Free Lighters
Escape from Beijing
[Tokyo, Japan]
Since Beijing was preoccupied with military parade mania over the October holiday, it seemed like a good time to escape to Tokyo.
Full set here.
Bonus: learn Chinese from an animated panda on Japanese television.
Shanghai Style
My rambling notes from the week of SHContemporary are up at Artforum China; read the full article online here or in the vault. They didn’t end up using all of my pictures, however, so here are a few extras below…
midnight at 10am
Where was I during the longest and most complete solar eclipse of my lifetime? On the Bund, in a rainstorm. If we didn’t see the sun, at least we saw the darkness.
The Races
(Hong Kong)
Wandered around ART HK 09 (lamely attempting to play paparazzi for Scene & Herd), saw friends, drank on rooftops, went to the track… the usual.
Full set here.
BKK Notes 004: Found Photos (& Sticker)
Some incredible ’60s photos I found in Chatuchak Market… plus sticker from About Cafe. Full set here.
Words of Caution for All Us Dilettantes
“No Dabbling.”
[Sign on decorative waterfall/pond, PVG Airport, Shanghai]
BKK Notes 02: Creepiness
One of the first days of my trip, my friend Connelly sent me a link to a Bangkok Post story about how the “head of a foreigner” had been found dangling from the Rama VIII bridge. Out of this gruesome tragedy, the line that struck me as somehow blackly funny was: “Investigators do not believe he took his own life.”
I later realized that on a trip in 2007, I had hung out for an entire afternoon under this same bridge while some friends were filming. It was lovely – fried fish from the barbecue stand, little dogs and teen skateboarders zigzagging past each other, and at 6pm sharp, the requisite group aerobics. (more…)
BKK Notes 01: Leopard Medical Brand “Brown Mixture” (aka “Leopard 5-Star”)
This cough syrup is sold over the counter in every 7-11 and Family Mart in Bangkok.
Bangkok Days (From the Snow to the Sweat)
When I lived in Hong Kong, the flight to Don Muang (and then Suvarnabhumi) was a frequent and familiar one… but since moving up north, far less easy to wrangle. Luckily I got to head back for a bit recently. I didn’t realize how much I had missed it.
Beijing was still covered in snow when I left, and grey when I returned. Just like “The Wizard of Oz,” BKK remains the Technicolor in the middle.
Full photo set here.
From Vientiane to Beijing in Theme Magazine
As my last spurt of journalistic productivity before going on my present “sabbatical,” I have two pieces in the current issue of Theme Magazine (NYC). One is on Beijing band “Ourself Beside Me” (also known as “Ourselves Beside Me”; there is no definitive right spelling and I suspect the girls prefer it that way); the other on Thai television show “Dreamchaser.”
Profile: Ourself Beside Me, Theme Magazine, Issue 17, Nov/Dec/Jan 2008/2009 Eureka!
Theme: Dreamchaser, Theme Magazine, Issue 17, Nov/Dec/Jan 2008/2009 Eureka!
Sookdy Apartements
My dream apartment in 1963 Vientiane.
Basically when not with the video crew, I just walked around this tiny, adorable capital taking pictures of old sixties buildings and eating croissants. How colonial!
More here:
http://flickr.com/photos/samanthaculp/sets/72157604824954350/