“But the missing from this official story, as it was missing from official reports on the Tibetan riots, is any acknowledgment that Uighurs in general might have legitimate grievances. Grievances about the influx of ethnic Han, the relative lack of economic opportunity, demolition of their traditional cities, limitations on their right to freely practice their religion, or whatever.

That’s a serious omission because, while it is made with an eye on propagating an official story of the spread of development and prosperity, it comes with a long-term price: it inflames the very tensions it attempts to paper over. And it, with marvelous efficiency, it inflames them on both sides. Uighurs are given the impression that their concerns are considered unworthy of acknowledgment by the State, a situation that is a classic recipe for convincing people to take extreme measures. Other Chinese, meanwhile, are deprived of any context for the riots, which feeds into a colonial attitude toward Uighurs that I have experienced firsthand. If you believe that you have given a people nothing but development and progress and economic opportunity, and they rise up against you, then you will come to see them as at best treacherous and untrustworthy and at worst as less than human, with predictable consequences. Legitimate grievances or not, the riots are almost certainly doing terrible damage to the Uighur cause in China.”

“Collective violence is a funny thing. Grievances, hatreds, jealousies, and resentment can linger in the collective consciousness for a long time without being expressed through bloodshed, but the longer it simmers the more extreme the reaction when the barrier is breached and violence enters the repertoire of resistance.

I personally found the wanton violence on the part of the rioters in Urumqi to be abhorrent. But it’s also important to remember, as too many people in the United States failed to do in the aftermath to 9-11, that seeking to understand WHY somebody would commit acts of violence is NOT the same thing as condoning those acts.”

quotes from 2 sensible pieces on the most recent urumqi riots, by Imagethief and Jottings from the Granite Studio, very much worth reading for some context on the situation.
for twitter updates, follow @malcolmmoore and @melissakchan.

not that different from the black and white version. i like the fact that, despite it being a color film, the colors turned out so subdued… spring can be like that too. and i haven’t got tired of looking up to the tree tops yet… :)

anyway, i searched the internet left and right until i stumbled on someone who does exactly what i was looking for! olga medeiros is a nice brazilian lady, who lives and works in the gubei area. she does manicures, pedicures and waxing in a friendly and professional environment, with products of good quality. just send her an email (olga.medeiros@gmail.com) to schedule.

so here it is, a first hand recommendation for girls in need! olga really deserves some publicity and posting it here is really the least i can do :)

* although I think she does waxing for boys too, but i’m not 100% sure

ps – posts are a bit delayed due to a mix of deadlines, a friend’s bday party, more mess ups by a certain airline regarding some pets, and general life craziness… but i am trying to catch up!

from the asian art newspaper:

During his second trip to Asia, Thomson based himself at the thriving British Crown Colony of Hong Kong in 1868. There he studied Chinese and Chinese culture while making a few short trips into Guangdong. Thomson’s major China expedition began in 1870. For two years he travelled extensively from Guangdong to Fujian, and then to eastern and northern China, including the imperial capital Beijing, before heading down to the River Yangtse, altogether covering nearly 5000 miles. In China, Thomson excelled as a photographer in quality, depth and breadth, and also in artistic sensibility. The experience he gained, and the techniques he developed, on the streets of Beijing laid the foundation for his Street Life in London, compiled five years later. This established him as the pioneer of photojournalism and one of the most influential photographers of his generation.

From 16 April to 18 May the exhibition China through the lens of John Thomson will be at the Beijing World Art Museum, so you still have a few days to catch it if you’re in the capital.

After that, it will travel to The Fujian Museum (14 June to16 August); Guangzhou Museum
(26 August to 25 September); and Dongguan Exhibition Center (3 November to 2 December), before travelling to the World Museum Liverpool in the UK to celebrate Chinese New Year 2010.

(via heading east)

yesterday when i got the film back from the shop, i glanced the negative and was relieved to see there was something there, so maybe not all was lost. i got home, ran to the computer and put the cd inside, and what do i discover? a film of shaken, overexposed pictures. hum… could it be? i flip the holga around, and there is the culprit: the switch on the bulb position. oh well… i don’t know how that happened, but at least it isn’t broken!

in the end, i don’t completely dislike the string of caffeinated photographs that came out of this roll. here are a few:

lovely day, lovely park and a lovely surprise: the baby (& momma) got used to the sling we gave them when she was born last year! the first experience with it was a bit disastrous and we thought it would never be used it again… but actually, lulu says both she and her mom use it quite regularly now!

b.’s grandma takes her to the market in her sling everyday, and to the inquisitive looks she gets, she explains it’s a modern & european thing… :)

i love the concept of the sling – an uncomplicated piece of fabric that holds your baby safe and close to you. in portugal, they were made popular by the talented hands of rosa pomar, who also makes unique and beautiful dolls that make babies (and grownups!) happy all around the world. :)

now, meet this cappuccino:

a real work of beauty, isn’t it? look, look:

*happy sigh*

also, there are milkshakes, some pastas, paninis and other simple things. and a cat. oh, and pizzas. with carrots in it.

all mingled in a strange bohemian/cozy decoration, that you don’t see too often around here. the ceiling is wallpapered with newspapers that have gone yellow, the cat has scratched all the sofas…

and yet, it feels right. i believe i could spend my days here, marveling at the photography books and magazines they have, working quietly, enjoying the soft brazilian music, patting the cat and sipping cappuccinos.

tired of the sterile cafés in shanghai too? the marienbad is on 55 wukang road (but really, it’s on the beginning of anfu road). enjoy!

following a tip from dingle, i investigated the possibility of doing the stretch between jinshaling and simatai… 10kms on the wall sounds like a bit too much, but in the end we decided to just go for it instead of the manicured & ever-crowded wall in badaling. if we were going all the way north, might as well make it memorable!

so i searched around for ways to get there (about 3 hours from beijing), and stumbled upon jeff, a really nice couchsurfer in beijing who regularly organizes trips to people who want to go there. if you tell him you want to go there, he might know of other people going there on the same day – the driver’s fee is 450rmb for the car – the more people, the less you pay. meet our driver, mr. pei (13161847160):

mr. pei is a cheerful chap, knows a bit of english and is eager to use it! he dropped us in jinshaling and was waiting for us in simatai as promised – no driving the foreigners to fishy places to shop or eat, whatsoever.

the chinese say the wall is like a dragon stretching over the mountain tops, and i couldn’t come up with a better comparison if i tried.

the jinshaling-simatai trek takes about 4 hours. 4 hours of nearly vertical climbs…

…and descents…


… of watchtowers lined up…

…some of which in precarious conditions…



…with some caution signs…


…of neatly lined up steps…


…or caotic and hard to walk ones (or sometimes even on parallel paths to the wall)…


… 4 hours of feeling on top of the world…


… and then asking ourselves if we had the guts to actually finish this adventure…

but we made it, 4 hours, 4 bottles of water and 90rmbs later! (50+40 entrance fees for the different parts of the wall)! yay!

paulo took his gps with him and mapped the walk, and in the end it turns out the total is closer to 6km (from parking lot to parking lot). still, good exercise and magnificent views! if you’re in shape, i highly recommend it. :)

i believe we were lost or looking for something else when we stumbled on the donghuamen street market… but we were instantly converted, and came back every day at dinner. food is one of the (main) reasons we travel, and so it was impossible to resist the temptation!

here’s how the tested snacks ranked, according to the “yummy or meh” classification:

crunchy dry yellow thing: meh. quite tasteless, and hard to eat with the mini-sticks they gave us!

stewed meat on bread bun: yummy! this was excellent! perfectly spiced & stewed, with lots of fresh herbs, and lots of sauce from the stew.

squid: meh, not that good. the sauce they covered it on was a bit too sweet for our liking…

fried “banana” balls: yummy! but banana? these things tasted nothing like banana! a fluffy favourite nonetheless :)

meat on wrap: meh. not good.

strawberry/pineapple stick: yummy yummy yummy! those strawberries were gigantic and thus a little lacking in flavor, but the pineapple is sooo tasty… it more than makes up for the rest. you can also have these in other combos (just strawberries, strawberry/melon, strawberry/kiwi…).

meat kebab: yummy! although we didn’t quite get which kind of meat it was, but probably lamb. very tender.


there were also lots of strange things, like snakes, starfish, sea horses or crickets… they must be popular among foreigners, since all the vendors waved them at us… but i’m not that much of a fan.

donghuamen night market, beijing from ana campos on Vimeo.

that’s it! i would highly recommend this place if you want to taste a bit of everything, and i have to say my belly had absolutely no complaints (this being street food and all).

a little advice though: more than 20rmb is probably too much for anything here, so raise an eyebrow and be ready to speak out if they ask you for more than that. don’t be dumb.

by then the clouds had mostly cleared and so the next few pictures are a mix of blue, red and gold. the forbidden city is a magnificent palace complex (the world’s largest) where china’s emperors used to live up until 1912. the buildings have curious names like east glorious gate, hall of supreme harmony, hall of preserving harmony, halls of literary glory and military eminence, palaces of heavenly purity and earthly tranquility…

i guess this is what comes to mind when many people think of china, the country’s picture postcard. it’s beautiful and grand, filled nonetheless with little (and big) details i loved:

now i feel like go and watch the last emperor again…