Tag Archives: #animals

Pizza

Posted on October 6, 2016 by d4vid

All I wanted was some Western food. According to Google, Jiayuguan has two pizza places.  I walked to the first one, but couldn’t find it.  I walked to the second one, but couldn’t find it either.  I decided if there … Continue reading →

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Edge

Posted on October 5, 2016 by d4vid

I had come to faraway Gansu province to complete a journey I had started months ago when I visited the Old Dragon’s Head in Shandong where the Great Wall of China dead-ends into the sea.  Now I’m here at the Western edge … Continue reading →

Posted in 嘉峪关 | Tagged | 4 Comments

Menagerie

Posted on October 3, 2016 by d4vid

The short road back from Bird Island to the main highway was surprisingly slow.  Locals — some on foot, some on motorcycle — had no qualms about blocking traffic. In Mandarin, I quipped to my driver, “They call it Bird … Continue reading →

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Peninsula

Posted on October 3, 2016 by d4vid

One of the major tourist spots in Qinghai is 鸟岛 (Niǎo dǎo meaning “Bird Island.”)  In fact, the Hanzi character for “island” comes from the character for “bird” atop the character for “mountain.” However — much like Monster Island — … Continue reading →

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Wild

Posted on October 2, 2016 by d4vid

Went to the 西宁青藏高原野生动物园 (Xīníng qīngzàng gāoyuán yěshēng dòngwùyuán) or the “Xining Zoo” or more accurately “Xining Wild Animal Park” or even more accurately “Xining Tibetan Plateau Wild Animal Park” or for the truly pedantic “Xining Qinghai & Tibetan Plateau Wild … Continue reading →

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Lions

Posted on September 14, 2016 by d4vid

It is said that the founder of Singapore saw a lion here and, so, named the place Singapura (“lion city” in Malay.)  But it was probably a Malayan tiger he saw because there’s zero evidence lions ever lived here. Regardless, … Continue reading →

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Wonderland

Posted on January 5, 2016 by d4vid

So, this is the deal.  Every year, they hue blocks of ice from the Songhua River, stack them into amazing structures, and light them up. Snow covering the ice — and sometimes blowing along the ground in gelid flurries — … Continue reading →

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Maquettes

Posted on December 5, 2015 by d4vid

Visiting the Xi’an Museum, Debbie pointed out that tons of ancient sculptures look like maquettes from some Disney animated feature.  Evil villain, rotund sidekicks, kindhearted old ladies. This one is a caravan driver with his sassy camel sidekick.

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Griffith

Posted on October 7, 2015 by d4vid

There is an apocryphal story that a thrifty Golden Age movie producer1 once said, “A tree is a tree, a rock is a rock, we’ll shoot it at Griffith2 Park!” I thought of that quote while riding through the Nikko … Continue reading →

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Animals

Posted on February 6, 2015 by d4vid

Ever since Alex told me that the German word for “raccoon” was “waschbär” meaning “wash bear” I’ve been absolutely fascinated by foreign words for animals. Some of words for animals in Chinese are just straight-up calques.  The word for “sealion” … Continue reading →

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Sheep

Posted on February 6, 2015 by d4vid

On February 19 it will be the Year of the Sheep. In unrelated news, I was invited by coworkers to dinner to eat an entire sheep. Yeah. An entire sheep. Here it is:I was told it usually serves twenty people … Continue reading →

Posted in 上海 | Tagged | 2 Comments