I always feel sad and nostalgic when I think of the past...
Look at these photos of the Shanghai of "yesteryear"...
more
Photos by: randyi66, spiky247, Diamond Header and kl loth on Flickr.
Sorry I have been away for so long. To make up for it though, I have one heck of a crazy post for y'all.
I have stumbled upon something very very interesting, by chance.
I have discovered that there is a twin sister of that giant, crazy, colourful tree/flower sculpture thing in Gubei!!
I'm sure many people (both residents and tourists) have passed that sculpture wondering what it's doing there.. It seems like it's in the middle of nowhere (which it sort of is, at the junction of some very busy big roads/freeways) on a big patch of grass. It is definitely eye-catching, some may say gaudy but personally, I like it.
The bright colour breaks up the horribly grey polluted sky...
It seems that everyone has seen the sculpture but nobody knows anything about it.
Until now!
Like I said, I found the twin sister in Lyon. And have managed to dig up some info about it (excuse dodgy translation):
The bouquet of giant flowers is a work of Korean Jeong-Hwa Choi, entitled “Flower Tree”.
It was exposed on the place Antonin Poncet, near the quays of the Rhone, at the time of the 7th biennale (September 18, 2003-January 4, 2004). The sculpture circulated since, in particular with the royal saltworks of Arc and Senans in 2004, before integrating the public domain of the Town of Lyon (deliberation of July 13, 2006). The common one wished to acquire it because of the passion of the Lyoneses for this work which they have a long time, like you, kept in their memory. Currently, the sculpture is in the course of restoration to find all its colors and to remake its appearance at the same place as in 2003. It will remain there during all 9th Biennial Contemporary art (September 19, 2007-January 6, 2008) then will join a site whose localization is not decided yet.
Over the years, the living sculpture, "The Flower Tree" is one of many symbols of Lyon. The Tree Flowers was installed in place Antonin Poncet during the Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2003. The sculpture was created by Jeong-Hwa Choi and is the reason the sculpture is located in place Antonin Poncet (because it has chosen the place for his sculpture itself). The sculpture is made of stainless steel and painted with polyester resin and measures 6 meters with a total of 85 flowers of polyester resin.
Now it seems that the public has become a fan of The Flower Tree. I asked a few questions to people who passed the statue to see the reaction of the public and each person said they liked the sculpture and thought it was pretty. I also asked if they thought it was an obstruction in a beautiful place with Lyon Rhône on one side and the hill Forvière on the other, but they said they did not think it was an obstruction of anything and instead, he added color and interest to the sector. One person said, "[The Flower Tree] brightens the landscape of the 2nd District because the colors of the sculpture has bright colors that are not found in winter. For my part, I find it pretty."
However, not everybody was happy with the sculpture. In fact, it was the Commission Supérieure des Monuments Historiques who originally opposed the installation of the sculpture. The Commission said the tree was to flowers "misrepresenting an exceptional" and was "too modern highly intellectual."
Personally, I agreed with people so I did a survey. I pass by the tree flowers almost daily and, in my opinion, the sculpture is a living work of art that gives a bit of joy and color to the neighborhood and the majority of people who view the work of Jeong-Hwa Choi each day.
I just found this website.
GO TO CHINA
There are some great photos and basic information on there, check it out!
Hi to Michelle over at Bleeding Espresso :)
Here is my flickr fun grid. I have omitted some of the questions though.
1. What is your favorite food? Italian
2. What is your favorite color? Light aqua
3. Who is your celebrity crush? Paul Walker
4. Favorite drink? Isotonic drink
5. Dream vacation? Mayan Riviera
6. Favorite dessert? Cheesecake
7. What you want to be when you grow up? Librarian
8. What do you love most in life? Photography
9. One Word to describe you. Unique
1. Italian Job Set, 2. light aqua, 3. Paul Walker, 4. No Sweat, 5. Mayan Riviera - Aventura Spa, 6. cheesecake, 7. Librarian, 8. 23.366 I have an eye for photography, 9. pathway to heaven
The Bund (simplified Chinese: 外滩, pinyin: Wàitān) is an area of Huangpu District in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road (East-1), which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District. The Bund usually refers to the buildings and wharves on this section of the road, as well as some adjacent areas.
The Bund is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai. Building heights are restricted in this area.
The word "Bund" means an embankment or an embanked quay, and comes from the Urdu word band, meaning an embankment, levee or dam (a cognate of English terms, bind and band, German term, bund, etc.). "Bund" is pronounced to rhyme with "fund". "The Bund" as a proper noun almost invariably refers to this stretch of embanked riverfront in Shanghai.
The Shanghai Bund has dozens of historical buildings, lining the Huangpu River, that once housed numerous banks and trading houses from Britain, France, the U.S., Russia, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands and Belgium, as well as the consulates of Russia and Britain, a newspaper, the Shanghai Club and the Masonic Club. The Bund lies north of the old, walled city of Shanghai. This was initially a British settlement; later the British and American settlements were combined in the International Settlement. A building boom at the end of 19th century and beginning of 20th century led to the Bund becoming a major financial hub of East Asia. The former French Bund, east of the walled city was formerly more a working harbourside.
The Bund was famously featured in novel Empire of the Sun by British author J.G. Ballard, based on his experiences as a boy during World War II. The book was later made into a film by Steven Spielberg.
The Bund is a setting (and namesake) of the Hong Kong television series The Bund (1980) and film Shanghai Grand (1996). The story of both involve pre-World War II era gangsters competing for control of the Bund.
Ah yes how I love Flickr. I've gotten a few requests from people representing certain companies wanting to use my photos for an article. This, I think, is highly flattering considering that I think compared to the rest of Flickr my photos aren't even that great. But still, it's good for an ego boost I guess :)
Anyway just got a msg from a girl from nowpublic.com wanting to use one of my pics for a strange but interesting story. Apparently Japan is using face recognition technology in their cigarette vending machines to determine if you are old enough (20 is the legal age) to buy them! Apparently it's accurate 90% of the time. The rest of the time they need you to scan in your driver's licence. Sounds pretty hi-tech to me although I doubt it would've worked for me considering when I was 28 I looked 18 (and now I look approx. 6-7 years younger than I really am).
In other news I did a pilates class. Naughty girl I should be doing this every week but only manage to do it once or twice a month. The class is nice and small (usually around 6-8 people) all housewives like myself ;) who else can attend a class at 10am on a weekday? Ah yes.. the life of a 'tai tai' who does nothing but go to beauty salons and manicurists. oh puh-leeze, we're too busy making sure our figures are nice and lean at the gym! hahaha. Well in the case of most women in China, it seems, most are naturally slim and lean anyway. Pilates is good for strengthening your stomach and back muscles and feels really good afterwards, but the next day I'm in so much pain.
Our apartment compound was collecting money on behalf of the Red Cross for those earthquake victims. I gave them everything I had in my wallet (I mean, how much money should one carry to the gym which is in/right next to my apartment anyway? Not much right... ) I gave them 150 RMB and felt quite proud of myself. There were donations ranging from 20 to 3000 RMB that I saw, most giving around 100 RMB.
Well I'm feeling good now, the weather is lovely, I now should make myself some lunch before heading out and doing something else to occupy my taitai life ;)
I was reading this article which tells you how to "hack" your Canon point and shoot camera. It covers these models: A450
A460
A530
A540
A550
A560
A570
A610
A620
A630
A640
A650 IS
A700
A710 IS
A720 IS
S2 IS
S3 IS
S5 IS
G7
SD450 (IXUS55)
SD500 (IXUS700)
SD630 (IXUS65)
SD700 (IXUS800)
SD800 (IXUS850)
SD850 (IXUS950)
SD870 (IXUS860)
SD1000 (IXUS70)
TX-1
It looks really complicated to me but could be lots of fun for a geeky gadgety camera person!
Rail maps at People's Square showing the new lines.. crazy stuff.. the People's Square station has 20 exits!! 
View of Cloud Nine mall through a taxi window
Some place I have no idea where but I liked the colour.
Qipu Lu
Gorgeous book cover of a children's storybook
Carrefour today:
If you translate "Spice girls" into Chinese and then back into English it becomes "Spicy Girls" so it's Chinglish I guess. I found it amusing because my mother calls that group the "Spicy Girls" too!
There was some crazy shoe sale going on. 10-20 RMB (about $1.50-$3) a pair! I did take a quick look and the styles weren't too bad but the queues were horrendous and the quality wasn't that great.. but the price is just unbelievable! Only in China, eh?
Something about giving away free bags. Carrefour's bid to help the environment. They are probably warming us up for when they stop giving out free plastic shopping bags. I feel so stupid now thinking it started tomorrow, when it started yesterday! (the 6th). I could've claimed my free enviro bag today but didn't :(
We got new kitchen taps! Yay for Mr Fang.
Some crappy dinner I made - lamb chops, fried rice and lettuce. The hubby liked it, though, amazingly.
I've also added photos to my Paul's post yesterday (the 6th!)
Related post
Last Saturday we took my mother who was here visiting to our fave massage place. I got into a discussion with my mother's massage girl (who I picked out for her) about my camera. Turns out that she had that same camera as me (Did I also mention that I noticed some girl at the Nanhui blossom festival also had the same camera - I had no idea it was so well-known and popular). Now, when I bought it it was a brand new model so the most expensive it'll ever be. It was more expensive than Hong Kong or USA, but cheaper than Australia. Anyway so this girl tells me she also bought the G9 and I was really shocked because to me it was a lot of money but to her it must've been a mega huge fortune.
Anyway, it turns out her 2 year old son threw it out a window!!! Can you imagine? He likes playing with things and throwing things.. I was horrified. Gosh this poor girl who spent her life savings on a fairly expensive camera (expensive for a point&shoot anyway, and very expensive for an average Chinese person). I felt so heartbroken for her. But he's just a little kid who doesn't understand so what can you do? :( My mother took it upon herself to give her a lecture on parenting and not keeping expensive objects within his reach. haha.
Anyway, I'm thinking of getting a flash unit. One that will be compatible with Canon SLR models too. The 430Ex Speedlite is the smallest unit (current model) with a rotating head. It looks hilarious and kind of stupid this tiny camera with such a massive flash on it though!
Here is a good article about flash units for the G9.
Random photos from last Thursday
Sushi and tempura I bought from Freshmart (approx 95 RMB worth). I didn't have a proper platter so I put it on our cutting board. It looks pretty good even if I do say so myself!
It was a full moon I think, or almost. We've been blessed with beautiful blue skies and sunshine every day (it rained yesterday, Saturday but apart from that it hasn't rained in ages!). This is the view out of our living room window, taken about 6pm:
A 21.5 year old photo...
I've been sleeping in my grandfather's study slash spare room and just discovered that underneath all that clutter on his desk is a thick piece of glass and underneath that glass were some old family photos.
The photo is a bit blah because of the glass (there is no way I could move it) but you can just make out the people in it...
Across the back row:
The first three people on the left - I don't know who they are but I think they are my granduncle's family... (is that what you call your grandfather's brother?!)
Then, there is my granduncle (who has since passed away :( ), my grandfather, my great grandmother (who turned 90 then and has since passed away :( ), my grandfather (who I am staying with now), my mother, my grandmother, my uncle (aunt's husband), my uncle (who is here from Sydney now as well), and my father (who is here from Sydney now as well).
My aunt is missing (she probably took the photo), and my other uncle (and his family) who lives in California.
The three kiddies in the front row are: Me, my one and only sister, and my cousin (who is here now in Taiwan as well, from Sydney!).
Yes I know I bloody look anorexic and I can assure you I was well fed! I get my 'skinny genes' from my dad.. you can see how skinny his legs are too! (LOL) and also the socks thing... why my sister and I both had our socks like that?! ... What was the deal with that? It's pretty funny I guess. My sister is now 28 and my cousin is 25. How fast does time fly?!
I feel compelled to write about my camera because three people/friends have bought the same camera recently upon my recommendation.
This is the third digital camera I have owned.
The first one was bought in 2001 and was a gift from my mother. It was a small, silver Kodak somethingorather and had 2 megapixels and NO optical zoom. Also, photos without the flash came out looking like nothing. It only really took good photos outdoors in adequate lighting. It was pretty crap and I ended up resorting to using both my SLR and compact film cameras instead and was dying for a new digicam...
The second one was bought in 2004. I bought it on eBay because I really wanted the black model which was not sold in Australia (I really really hate silver!). Also, I could get it cheaper that way. I paid AUD$600 (including exchange rate and shipping) instead of the $800 I would have paid if I had bought it in store locally. It was the Canon powershot S50 and had 5 megapixels and 3x optical zoom. The seller didn't ship overseas but I got it through a very unconventional way. I had it shipped to my uncle who lives in the States, he brought it to Taiwan. He and my dad were going to be in Taiwan at the same time so then he passed it to him and then my dad brought it back to Australia - phew! I was so happy with it. It was brand new in the box and what with all the bad stories about eBay I didn't have any problems with the seller nor the item. It still works perfectly now, despite me dropping it a few times too.
Despite the S50 being a great camera (has several manual modes and can record in RAW format) there were some things I longed for which it didn't have. I really missed the ability to use filters (as I could with my SLR camera), I really wished the optical zoom was 'better' (preferably at least 10x), I wanted 'image stabilization', a better macro mode, a 'vari-angle' LCD screen, and the 2:3 format.
I researched and researched (am a research-aholic as well as a camera-aholic) and concluded there wasn't a single camera that existed that met ALL my criteria. I searched through dpreview.com endlessly to no avail. I contemplated getting the Panasonic or Olympus models with the superzoom - 10x, 12x, 18x even! or the Canon S5IS (at the time S3IS). However the more I researched the more I realised I really wanted a smallish camera and a Canon camera as I really think they make the best cameras. Almost all the news photojournalists use them.
I found a little beauty called the Canon G7 and decided that was the one I wanted. But what with being in debt from the wedding, it had to take a back seat for a while... luckily I waited because in September 2007 the Canon PowerShot G9 arrived on the scene. I had suspected that a new model would replace the G7 but Canon wasn't giving anything away! I perused forums and blogs awaiting any news and hoped that the G8 would be able to record in RAW format (the G7 couldn't) and have a better than 6x zoom. I got the first wish but not the second. However, the LCD screen on the G9 is much better too. It is a whopping 3" and you can view it easily from all angles making overheard or low shots easy.
So in October (just before the Japan trip) I finally got my hands on the little G9 beauty. I bought it in Pacific Digital Plaza in Xujiahui (after scouring PDP, Metrocity and Hong Kong Plaza for the best price). I paid about AUD$580 for it (it had only just come out in China at that time).
It's not a perfect camera by any means but it suits me perfectly. Many have asked me (knowing I'm a photo/camera buff and that I studied photography throughout high school and university) why I didn't get a DSLR. The reasons are simple:
1. They are expensive and get outdated much more quickly than film SLRs
2. They are big and heavy and after having a neck injury I no longer wish to carry a heavy camera around my neck
3. I like to take 'photojournalistic' every day type shots and you can't do that easily when you have a big huge camera which attracts attention
4. I don't like the feeling of being a target of being mugged whilst I am travelling overseas. I have actually been mugged before for my cameras (they didn't get away with anything except some cash) so it's not a pleasant feeling!
5. I know people buy SLRs and mean well but never end up using them much and taking them out because they are 'too big', 'too bulky' and stuff. So what's the point of a camera if you aren't going to use it?
6. I don't believe that SLR cameras 'take' better photos, in the same way that buying a Porsche won't make you a better driver. It's the PERSON that takes the photo, not the camera!
So, I wanted a camera that had SLR type features and functions but was still compact. The G9 is not small by any means but I can easily still fit it into my palm, my pocket, or a pocket inside my handbag. Best of all it has the ability to use filters with it, or to add on an external flash (which is my next camera-related purchase). I think the 6x optical zoom is good enough. I rarely need to zoom in that much and the digital zoom takes it up to 24x zoom! Another bonus for me is that it takes the exact same batteries as my other Canon camera.
I love it! I won't rave on about the technical aspects and tests as you can read about that on various sites online. But if you are a G7/G9 owner who stumbled upon this make sure you check out this site - customized accessories for the G7/G9 which look like they actually were made by Canon, including a hot shoe cover, and the new cable release.
I spoke to a friend who is also a Canon fan and was also looking for a new camera and was contemplating getting a low-end DSLR till I told her I had my eye on the G7 and together we awaited the released of the G9. We contemplated getting the G7 (since it would now be cheaper) but both ended up getting the G9. Then, I had another friend tell me that they bought the G9 too (previously a G2 owner). Then, recently, I met up with my sister and her boyfriend here in Taiwan and he was fascinated with my camera and I was telling him all the great features about it and it won him over too! And he ended up buying one just hours before leaving for the airport to go back to Sydney. He was particularly impressed by the fact that it is 12.1 megapixels! :)
So to summarise... I'm a secret geek girl at heart, I love gadgets (except mobile phones), and I love the Canon G9! It fits most (but not all) of my criteria and I hope to use it for a long-ish time (well, at least 3 years judging by my history ;) )
PS - the reason why the model 'G8' was skipped was because it sounds like a rude word in Chinese!! hahaha...(the S4IS was skipped too because 4 is a bad luck number in Chinese/Japanese superstition).
PPS - I have now taken over 10,000 photos with it (5,000 alone on the Japan trip) in just 3.5 months - scary!
One of the things I wanted to do in Kyoto was to take geisha photos. This is when you get dressed up wearing traditional make up, kimonos, getas, the whole shebang.
It took me 2 hours to be transformed from a normal every day Asian girl into a Japanese geisha (or maiko or geiko - apprentice geisha). The make-up took ages to do. During that time I couldn't touch my face and to be honest I didn't really feel the need to cos I was so frozen and scared I'd mess it up or something. I rarely ever wear make-up and have only got my make up done professionally twice (one of which was for my wedding). As well as that I normally cannot wear mascara because the bristles irritate me and make my eyes water like crazy.
Firstly, I was told to get changed into their special toe socks, and a thin white cotton undergarment. Luckily the indoor heating was good or else I would've froze!
Secondly, I went upstairs to the make-up area. They first put this cold thing on the back of my neck, which I later found out was some kind of oil. Lots of oil. It looks like white powder but it is a thick oily gunky thing the consistency of oil paints! This was supposed to make me beautiful? LOL. The eyeliner was tricky. I don't recall ever having used liquid eyeliner before and she put it right into the inner corners of my eyes and I tried to hold it back but alas, the waterworks started running. I had to get a tissue to soak up the moisture and compose myself before we could continue. I didn't want to use the mascara but she told me my eyelashes would be white. She didn't use much pressure and just only put it on the ends so it ended up being OK.
With that done I was instructed to go downstairs and pick out my kimono. Easier said than done! The girl who got there just before me was trying to tell me it was hard to choose. My Japanese is extremely basic but from what words I do know she said 'muzukashii' which means 'difficult' so I knew she was trying to tell me it was difficult choose and difficult it was! There were about 100 designs, all different colours and prints. I wanted a red one but the only nice one was an orangey red and I wanted a pinky cherry red. Instead I ended up choosing a green and blue one (totally not red!) because of the beautiful cherry blossom prints all over it. Hubby said that my kimono was the prettiest one that he saw.
After I chose the kimono they dumped it on the floor in another room and then I had another staff member 'dress' me. They put padding on - kinda thin flat pieces of wadding around the top of my chest (just under my neck), stomach and waist areas and this was tied with cotton string. Then they put on another robe, yet more padding and more string. I lost track of how many layers there were. Five? Afterwards the kimono went on. At this point I could barely breathe and the heavy wide obi sash was digging into the top of my pelvis bone - fun! I asked if they could loosen it a bit and they did but it still hurt (damn boney pelvis).
With that done, some more long pieces of fabric were tied around my waist near the obi and then they plonked a wig that felt like it weighed 1kg on my head. Plonk. Wow. Now I looked like a real life geisha!
Almost done.. I had to put on my shoes. The shoes did not seem to match up. The one on my right foot seemed smaller and way tighter than the left foot, so tight I couldn't barely get my foot in, so they gave me another. But that ended up being an inch taller than the other one - crazy stuff I tell ya! So I spent the whole time limping.
With that done they put my own hair pins and elastic in a little purse and I met hubby and the photographer out the back in a little alleyway. Once outside I was freezing! The temp. was in the mid-teens or so and my torso being wrapped in so many layers was fine but my arms were freezing. Oh well, on with the show!
Luckily it was a Friday and not too bad in terms of the crowd. Everywhere we went we didn't have to wait long for people to move out of the way to get that perfect shot. Strangers came up to me and wanted a photo of me or with me. I just smiled politely but wanted to say to them, "Psst! You know I'm a fraud, right?" It was quite funny actually. But I actually was quite composed and didn't let the cat out of the bag! That was until we met an Australian couple and I couldn't hold it in any longer. I said to them, "You know I'm not really a geisha?" and they said, "Oh, we know." And then hubby and I got chatting to them.. hehe. On the whole it was easy to remain composed because I was forced to take tiny little steps and walk very upright and everything and once you start doing those things you actually start to feel refined and poised, LOL.
The photographer was only with us a for little while but we paid for 60 shots and got 80 so I was very happy with that. Then I had 15 mins with hubby (which I tell you felt like an eternity) to roam the nearby streets and take more shots with our own camera. On one hand I wanted to go on forever and take advantage of the time and this beautiful location, on the other hand I was slowly getting into agony city. The cold I could take, the uneven shoes I could take (they were platform clogs, and and shoe was a lot higher than the other remember?), the trying not to laugh or 'lose' it I could do too, but the wig! Oh the pain! There was one spot where the wire frame was digging into my head and I swear about to give me a major headache. It was poking. I don't know why I didn't feel it initially but man it was painful.
Still, in hindsight I did have a lot of fun and I'd do it again in a heartbeat! :D If only to realise how much pain the real geishas have to go through! haha. I'd recommend it to any female visiting Kyoto. For the guys, you can get dressed up as samurai. :)
Afterwards it was even more fun. 8 layers of baby oil to wash the makeup off my face! :)
Seen today: So that's what people do when they are riding their scooter and their hands get cold!
When I first arrived in Shanghai I found myself sitting on a train with my mother. A man walked up and down through the carriages selling maps. We bought one and someone sitting near us commented, "Why buy a map? Shanghai is changing every day. Tomorrow the roads will be different."
Of course to a newcomer this comment seemed a bit absurd but what he said was entirely the truth. Shanghai is changing every day at an extremely rapid rate.
Another day I was out with my mother and we were browsing the big Xinhua bookstore in Grand Gateway. I hovered around the English section (very small) and browsed through the books which were not wrapped in plastic. I came across a book called "A Changing Shanghai" and made a note to myself I would buy it later. Well yesterday I finally bought it. It is a fascinating book filled with photos of Shanghai taken 10, 20, 30 years ago and photos of the same places as they look today. I an endlessly fascinated with photos such as these. I already own several books like this about Sydney.
I feel so many emotions (shocked, saddened, confused, excited, happy, strange, humbled, perplexed, amazed) when I look at such photos comparing the same place with photos taken decade/s apart.
I feel sad because I'm a very nostalgic and sentimental person and I always like to have things the way they were and don't really like change. But on the other hand I realise change can be for the better and the Chinese are a tad obsessed with 'progress' and building more and more. One final thing I wanted to say was - in most cases the photos were only taken 10 or 20 years apart whereas in many parts of Sydney you need about 50 years to see some real change. I know that the suburb I grew up on has barely changed at all and most of the houses on my street are still the same (albeit renovated). There have been a few changes over the last 20 or so years, but the really drastic ones happened about 50 years apart.
Here are some pictures from the book:
Hongqiao Road station 1983
Hongqiao Road station 2004
Pudong exit of the Yan'an tunnel 1990
Pudong exit of the Yan'an tunnel 2004
Xujiahui 1990
Xujiahui 2004 (virtually unrecognisable!)
If you are interested in buying it you can get it from any bookstore in Shanghai that sells English language books. The prologue is in both English and Chinese. The cover is silver and there is also a second edition with a bright green cover.
A few days ago I was playing around with Photoshop and turned some of my photos into what looks like miniature toy towns. It was so much fun and the results look pretty good I think! Note if you are viewing this blog from China you need to install the Flickr add-on for Firebox to circumvent the great firewall. You can get it from here.
Overpass near Huaihai Lu
View of Xujiahui in distance
Busy roads in Xujiahui
People's Square (Renmin Guangchang)
What do you think?
I am soooo angry words cannot express how mighty pissed off I am to find one of my favourite websites, flickr.com is now blocked in China too.
Last night I accidently typed in flicker.com without realising my mistake and saw that some cybersquatter is trying to sell it, and rejected the latest offer of US$600,000. What an idiot.
Meanwhile, after I realised my mistake and went to the correct site, strangely, none of the images were displaying. None At All. Not my own, none in a search, NONE. I immediately assumed it was my computer or ISP being slow or something and just left it....
...to try again this morning, to find that it was still like that. I got suss. I got very, very suss. I went to my trusty Shanghai sites to find that it had gotten blocked by China. Interesting, it is also blocked in parts of the Middle East. If you do a google search you can read more about it.
Geez!!
As if it isn't bad enough that every time I find something through google for a wikipedia article I have to circumvent their blocking by going to answers.com first, and as if it isn't bad enough that I even have to go through another site to access this blog, my own blog, (and any other blogger blog, as well as livejournal blogs), but now I can't even view my own photos on Flicker!
Bastards.
There are always ways around this though. It's just a pain having to use them but better than nothing.
Someone has already invented a Firefox plug-in to view flickr here.
Why I like Flickr
* I love photography. I love looking at the beautiful, awe-inspiring photos from people's everyday lives, holidays, events, everything. I have only a handful of pictures up there but always planned to put more up when I got my next computer upgrade.
* I love that I can search for random things and find a RECENT picture of it. If I go through google images I have to search through tonnes of crap to find anything half decent of what I'm looking for. Some examples of things I searched for... when I was planning our wedding I looked for bouquet, cake, invitation, dress, veil, etc ideas. When I am holiday planning I liked to search for hotels as I can actually see what the room looks like inside for real, not some fake glossy brochure type outdated photo that is on the hotel's website. I like to look for places to go to, or things to do. I love I can search for almost any keyword and turn up a bunch of really interesting photos on that topic.
I just realised I don't know if that plug-in works for Mac or not. If it doesn't I'm going to cry.. booo hooo... :(
PS - if you are interested (which I doubt you would be unless you are in China), you can read more here on the flickr website for updates.
