Author Archives: d4vid

Over the last two years, I’ve spent many, many hours in this airport lounge in Xi’an.  Good times, good times.

Security at the Kashgar airport was insane.  To get into the ticketing area, you had to show ID and undergo the most thorough pat-down I’ve ever been subjected to.  Crazy long lines, stretching outside into the freezing cold.  Then another … Continue reading →

I thought this image from Kashi was telling:  remnants of the city’s ancient wall, surrounded by razor wire and with a surveillance camera perched on top.

Ah.  A hospital for “common people” rather than, say, Cedars-Sinai.

“Chiken” is “chicken,” I assume.  But wait, do they feed the apples to the chicken?  Is it like food for chickens or is it human food that’s a mix of apples & chicken but with double the amount of expected apples … Continue reading →

Throughout Asia, I’ve seen some pretty absurd things written in English on clothes.  Misspellings.  Mangled grammar.  Embarrassingly unintended vulgarities.  But I have a real about not taking pictures of people without their permission and I’m always reluctant to ask people … Continue reading →

Lying, as it does, at an important crossroad of the Silk Road, Kashgar’s Sunday Market is legendary, providing a hub for over two thousand years where goods could be traded between East and West. It is sprawling.  Absolutely sprawling.  It makes the … Continue reading →

I call this one “Blackbirds in Tree with Smokestack and Cooling Tower.”

While I’m at it, I might as well update my population chart. Location 地方 Population Chongqing 重庆 52,100,000 Tokyo 东京 37,800,000 Shanghai 上海 34,000,000 Beijing 北京 24,900,000 Hangzhou 杭州 21,521,000 Tianjin 天津 15,500,000 Xi’an 西安 13,500,000 Los Angeles 洛杉矶 13,000,000 … Continue reading →

I started wondering wondering if Kashgar was the farthest I had ever been from where I grew up.  (Almost, but not quite, as it turns out.)  In the spirit of the population and elevation charts, I made this: Location 地方 … Continue reading →