I didn't actually get to go to Tibet this time, but I got a little taste of Tibet here in Sichuan. On Wednesday, after a long, windy drive through the mountains of Sichuan, Han Yang and I reached Ma Er Kang, a small town full of Tibetan-style houses and prayer flags, that is the capital of Aba Zang and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. We stayed ( Read more... )

I kinda forgot to mention it, because I've been so busy, but I'm back in Chengdu, China right now. I spent a week in Yangjuan Village with Steve Harrell and some of the new students in the exchange program. I got some good research done for my senior thesis, and did a bit of hiking too. For the past few days I've been hanging out with old friends ( Read more... )

Oh my god, Skype is the greatest thing ever. I just had a three-way call between myself, a Japanese guy and a Chinese girl, both complete strangers who turned out to be very interesting people. We chatted for like two hours, alternating between Japanese, Mandarin, and even a little Cantonese. And it didn't cost a dime. This is the best way to learn ( Read more... )

Which metros have you travelled on?


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You know those electric scooters everyone drives around in China? Well, a company in Bellevue called Evader Motorsports just started importing them to the US. I want one so bad. Too bad they're like $2500. I guess I should probably just save my money and buy a bicycle instead.

Little Miss Sunshine is my new favorite movie. I've never seen a film that made me laugh so hard while pondering existential meaning before.

Sure, Israel may be making a heavy-handed, disproportionate response, but I hope my country would do the same if actually invaded by a neighbor. If Israel can destroy Hezbollah, then good riddance. Hezbollah is a cancer in Lebanon and the Middle East, and not even Syria and Iran are coming to its aid. For god's sake, even Saudi Arabia blamed ( Read more... )

Haha, if you understand Chinese, watch this video: Sexy Beijing, a spoof on Sex and the City. This white girl does a hilariously good job of bothering old folks with her "hutong" accent.

According to the BBC, the Chinese economy just surpassed the UK economy in size (as measured by GDP converted to dollars*), becoming the fourth largest national economy in the world, behind the US, Japan, and Germany. If I remember right from my international political economy class, that puts China's economy at just slightly greater in size than ( Read more... )

The rock concert tour industry seems to about to expire, along with its aging stars. Is this a bad thing? Isn't it a little sad that The Boss now has to wear kneepads when he slides across the stage?

Last year, according to the concert trade journal Pollstar, 6 of the 10 highest-grossing tours starred artists in their late 50's or 60's, among them ( Read more... )