The Adventures of Daniel Kwan

Decided to give video blogging a try so maybe I can type less in the future. These were recorded last night and tonight.

Wow those were awful. I had no idea it’d be this hard. Here are a couple people much better at it:

• Aric S. Queen on Current.com - talks about living in China
• Pat Condell on YouTube - talks about religion and society

I don’t agree with everything they say, but I do wish I could be as articulate.

I took some photos for Mtn.ghost Quipment while I was in California earlier this month. Forgot to shoot their racing gloves. Maybe I’ll shoot those here in Shanghai.

This is Danny, Linda's brother.

This is Linda, Danny's sister.

Gogo dancers Ktina and Sheena, and their beautiful smiles.

Also reedited some older photos these past couple days.

This is Jennifer, the first person I shot for Mtn.ghost.

This is Michelle, an awesome gogo dancer.

Below are the rest so far. And of course they can also be viewed at mtnghost.com, which was recently redesigned.

I’m going to miss California. Nice weather, cars, angry topless chicks…

My flight is this afternoon and I haven’t packed, so I’ll write about my USA adventures after I’m in Shanghai. Thanks a bunch Bob, Mike, Andrew. I had a great two weeks because of you guys!

(Photo credit: Andrew Ho)

9:00 PM last night, thirteen hours after the iPhone 3G went on sale and 30 minutes before the mall closed, there was still a long line to get into the Apple Store at Valley Fair (a huge mall in San Jose). Didn’t look like a lot of people from the front, but the bulk of the line was around the corner.

I took the pics with my iPhone OG. I’d like to get the new version but it’s $600 without a service contract, and the GPS (the new feature I’m most interested in) probably wouldn’t be too useful for me when I go back to Shanghai anyway.

Some photos of my trip from PVG to PEK to come back to the States.

Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) – Terminal 2

Airbus A330-200

Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) – Terminal 3

Boeing 747-400 Combi

I was expecting Beijing Airport’s new Terminal 3 to be a lot more impressive. It was big, but that was it. All the stores were clumped into one area and there were only a couple cafes along the way to my gate. I didn’t get a good look at the outside, but I didn’t like the interior architecture and overall look.

I’m guessing they wanted to mix modernity (cool, muted colors) with a traditional Chinese color scheme (warm, saturated colors), but it all just turned out ugly. That’s what happens when designers aren’t given creative freedom. Also, they seriously needed to turn up the AC. The place was hot.

Pudong Airport’s new Terminal 2 (which I just realized opened on the same day as PEK’s Terminal 3) looked much better, at least from the inside. Again I didn’t get a good look at the outside. The check-in area was nothing special, but the halls to the flight gates felt very comfortable and had many stores along the way. It felt like SFO, actually.

By the way, to anyone who takes Airport Bus Line 1 to PVG, note that the bus stops at Terminal 1. Air China is at Terminal 2 so you’d need to take the shuttle that goes between the two. This can be a pain if you have a lot of luggage.

One last thing I want to mention: the lady at the PVG information desk who told me where to find the Terminal Shuttle spoke fluent English and was very friendly. When I left, she smiled and said “have a nice day,” and that actually did put me in a nice mood. Unfortunately the Air China lady at the check-in counter was a bitch. The flight crew was friendly though.

Anyway, some more pics below. Enjoy.

» See the full post

Below pics (not by me) from here.

I had no idea what this was about either. Fortunately Lisa’s able to explain these things to Chinese illiterate people like me in her new blog, Lisa Road. Now it totally makes sense!

This is already old news to people in China (and right now I’m not in China so I’m excused), but check out China’s demonstration of their counter-terrorism prowess.

“Get out of the way! We have to pee!” Does anyone still play CS? Somebody needs to make a Segway mod for those who dare to be easy targets.

Flame throwers are especially useful of course, because when terrorists take hostages or blow themselves up, they’re never around any civilians.

Apparently for the track and field people who catch on fire. The caption at the website reads “water canon vehicles to disperse ‘mobs’.” Hmm. What kind of mobs, I wonder.

These images are from China Daily, China’s English language news website. You won’t find “biased Western reporting” there!

Chinese politics (PRC) makes me sad. I really don’t want to talk about it so don’t ask. Yes, American politics is dumb as well, but at least people bluntly talk about how stupid it is. But in Chinese politics there’s just so much nationalism and denial involved, which makes having a meaningful discussion impossible. Ugh…

Anyway, so what does this have to do with the above Suzumiya Haruhi video? Absolutely nothing. Politics makes me disgruntled but this video always makes me happy. Look at how cute they are! ☺

Tomorrow I’m going back to California for two weeks. I get to fly on the wonderful Air China, which is always an adventure.

Seats can’t be reserved in advance online nor by phone, so I’ll have to check-in at the airport extra early to get a better seat. I hope to get there four hours early.

The two-hour pit stop in Beijing will let me visit Beijing Airport’s new Terminal 3, which opened three months ago. It’s the largest terminal in the world. (I like airports.)

Air China’s economy seats don’t have individual video screens, so I’ll get to enjoy the movies on the projection screen with everyone else, like in a theater.

Best of all, Air China passengers tend to have a distinct sense of conduct you won’t find in many other airlines’ passengers. They’re generally more – how should I put this – lively.

I can’t think of a better airline to spend more than 10 hours on. (Sometimes you have to look on the bright side to maintain sanity.)

My name is Daniel Kwan, and this is a photoessay of my life in Shanghai.

In April 2008 I moved to the crowded city of Shanghai.

I live in an old building next to a busy airport. It’s noisy sometimes.

I work with a bunch of Asians.

Everyday at work I line up for exotic Chinese food on tin plates.

After lunch I teach my coworkers English. Or at least I try.

In my free time I like to sit and think about life.

On weekends I usually visit my woman.

The End.