October 2008

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Beijing Temple Fair

  • Photos Taken at the Changdian Temple Fair in Beijing, February 2007.

November in Ningxia

  • Photos taken on my trip to Yinchuan and Guyuan, November 2006.

Guyuan, China

  • Check it Out
    These are photos taken on my recent trip to Guyuan, Ningxia.

Cherry Blossom Festival

  • DSC_0062
    A park near my house had a cherry blossom festival today. I spent an hour or so there this afternoon with my camera. Enjoy.

Terra-cotta Warriors

  • Xian_2006_072_small
    Photos taken of the Terra-cotta Warriors, near Xi'an, China. These figures were cast and buried around 200BC, and were undiscoverd until 1974.

Saturday in the Park

  • Dsc_0034_small
    Photos taken in and around a Beijing park on an early spring Saturday.

Cambodia 2006

  • Looking Out to Sea
    Photos taken during my visit to Cambodia in January.

Kashgar

  • Double Wide Yurt
    An album of photos taken in and around Kashgar.

To Xanadu

  • Recitation
    A selection of photos taken on our trip from Beijing to Xanadu, October 4-6, 2005.

Neighborhood Stroll

  • Pensive Child
    This is an album of photos of various people and scenes that I pass daily as I walk or ride my bike between where I live and where I work.

National Day 2005

  • Catholic Church on Wangfujing
    These pictures were taken in an old "Hutong" section of Beijing, and on Beijing's main shopping street on National Day 2005 (October 1).
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March 14, 2008

Ceremony and Pop-tarts

One of the features that my blog-hosting service provides is statistical information on "page views" to my site.  I can see how many times in the course  of a day my website is viewed.  Beyond that, however, it also tells me if someone visits my site via a link from another site, and even tells me which linked site the visitor is coming from.  It's kind of creepy, if you think about it.  If a visitor links from another site directly to a particular post, I can see that as well.  So out of curiosity I check each day to see how many people have viewed my site and try to figure out how they're getting here to see if I can see any patterns.  Most  come from links on friends' blogs, but a lot seem to come get to my site as a result of doing a Google search.  Interestingly, I've noticed something very odd---the two most common Google searches that send people to my site are "Don't Stand on Ceremony" and "Pop-tart Burns." Yes, I have written two posts on those subjects, and they can be found here and here.  Searching for the ceremony one is understandable--it's a common Chinese phrase so someone researching Chinese culture would likely encounter it and want to learn more.  But pop-tart burns?  I guess I have found some small comfort in the fact that I wasn't the only person on the planet stupid enough to burn myself with a pop-tart.  Who knew that it was so common?? 

So, if you're looking for information on the Chinese love of ceremony, and dealing with pop-tart burns, folks, this is the place to be!