Post by nikkortorokkor on Sept 12, 2011 2:14:53 GMT -5
Hello again everybody.
The good news is, the official censor does has not deemed all you good folks at CC to be a threat to impressionable young minds, so I can access the board from behind the Great Firewall.
Some of your photos I can no longer see, however, since some photo-sharing sites are infra dig here including, it seems, Picasa web. Picasa even tells me I haven't an online account anymore!
In the 8 years since I last lived in the Middle Kingdom, the lads have got cooler (ill-fitting sharkskin suits have been replaced by basketball casual and lots of expensive haircuts) and the lasses have got *erhem* rather more daring - showing leg and cleavage that would've got them all sent to a nunnery only a decade ago. Many towns and villages have become remarkably tidy and the age-old practise of noisy expectoration has, mercifully, all but disappeared among the young.
Cycling has become a middle-class hobby as well as a working-class mode of transport. We are well served here by the Guangdong Greenway, a system of leisure-targeted cycleways and routes. Great for a Laowai (foreigner) who is not in the car and driver set (a wit once remarked that there are 2 kinds of Laowai in China - those who have drivers and those who ride bicycles - I'm definitely among the latter).
Less welcome is the absence of photo-processing equipment. I expected it, but it still bites. I've seen one dusty minilab fronted by a case of well faded Fuji Sensia cartons, and that's it. Today I spotted a little shop with fresh boxes of Kodak and Lucky. I'm heading back after I write this to stock up. If it comes to it, I can send the film off to one of the good pro labs in HK.
Why am I bothering with film? Well, until I can afford an M9 (ha-ha) or at least an X100, I'm stuck with either an old digital compact or one of my vintage rangefinders (I brought 2 with me). The shooting conditions (lots of action everywhere, crowded buses or a bicycle for transport, heat, humidity and a real danger of thievery) make me hanker for the speed, silence, low weight and low profile of a rangefinder.
So, watch this space. Once I get some film and find a reliable processor, I'll try and post some shots of my new world.
Cheers,
Michael.
The good news is, the official censor does has not deemed all you good folks at CC to be a threat to impressionable young minds, so I can access the board from behind the Great Firewall.
Some of your photos I can no longer see, however, since some photo-sharing sites are infra dig here including, it seems, Picasa web. Picasa even tells me I haven't an online account anymore!
In the 8 years since I last lived in the Middle Kingdom, the lads have got cooler (ill-fitting sharkskin suits have been replaced by basketball casual and lots of expensive haircuts) and the lasses have got *erhem* rather more daring - showing leg and cleavage that would've got them all sent to a nunnery only a decade ago. Many towns and villages have become remarkably tidy and the age-old practise of noisy expectoration has, mercifully, all but disappeared among the young.
Cycling has become a middle-class hobby as well as a working-class mode of transport. We are well served here by the Guangdong Greenway, a system of leisure-targeted cycleways and routes. Great for a Laowai (foreigner) who is not in the car and driver set (a wit once remarked that there are 2 kinds of Laowai in China - those who have drivers and those who ride bicycles - I'm definitely among the latter).
Less welcome is the absence of photo-processing equipment. I expected it, but it still bites. I've seen one dusty minilab fronted by a case of well faded Fuji Sensia cartons, and that's it. Today I spotted a little shop with fresh boxes of Kodak and Lucky. I'm heading back after I write this to stock up. If it comes to it, I can send the film off to one of the good pro labs in HK.
Why am I bothering with film? Well, until I can afford an M9 (ha-ha) or at least an X100, I'm stuck with either an old digital compact or one of my vintage rangefinders (I brought 2 with me). The shooting conditions (lots of action everywhere, crowded buses or a bicycle for transport, heat, humidity and a real danger of thievery) make me hanker for the speed, silence, low weight and low profile of a rangefinder.
So, watch this space. Once I get some film and find a reliable processor, I'll try and post some shots of my new world.
Cheers,
Michael.