The "selfie"

For people who know me, I am pretty slack when it comes to taking photos of my travels.  For some reason, I never think to get the camera out and squeeze off a few snaps.  Hey, I lived in Bangkok for a year, and have about 30 photo to show for it.

So, since moving to China, I am trying to change my habits and take lots of photos.  Of course, these days it's easier as the iphone has a reasonably good camera, so I don't have to rummage through my bag to find my camera.

I was going through my collection of China photos the other day, and I realised something - I am turning Chinese.  How do I know this?  I am taking far too many photos of myself, what the world has renamed as the"selfie".  One of the things I noticed when I first moved to China was the amount of time the Chinese, especially girls/young women, spend taking selfies.  You look through the photos on QQ (Chinese instant messaging) or Weibo (another social media site) and most of them are selfies.  How did this happen to me?  Is it something they put in the rice that makes you do this?  How have I not realised what I am doing?

Anyway, after getting over the initial shock of what I have been subconsciously doing these last 11 months, I decided to dedicate this blog entry to a collection of selfies I have taken since arriving in China.

This is one of the first selfies I took, aboard a fast train from Tianjin to Nanjing.  As I have mentioned before, train travel is one of the things they do well in China.  Efficient, always on time - and fast!  Well, that's if you take the fast train.

The photo on the right is my first visit to the bank to transfer money back to Australia.  They make it so difficult, it takes a whole day.  First stop, the tax office (20 minute taxi ride one way) to pick up proof I have paid tax.  Next, I have to take my passport, contract, tax certificate, endorsed salary slips, and my first born into the bank.  On this day, I made the mistake of going in at 2pm - and waited 3 hours!  Now I wait until the next day, and line up at 8:30 in the morning!


I am writing this blog from my hotel in Changchun. The last time I was in Changchun was in late December, when the temperature got down to -35 degrees!  I took this photo at the subway in Beijing as I was going to the airport to catch my flight.  As you can see, I am rugged up and so looking forward to spending 36 hours in -35 degree weather.  Thank god for central heating!

One of the lessons I learnt from travelling in China, is never arrange to arrive back in Beijing during peak hour.  I made the mistake once, coming back from Tianjin via fast train.  To get from the fast train station to home, I have to take the subway.  You can't get the full experience from looking at this photo, but let's just say that when you have luggage and a backpack, and you and 20 million Chinese are trying to squeeze in the train, it's not very comfortable.


OK, the next series of selfies were taken at various airports in China.  I travel by plane to 6 of the 7 cities I visit regularly, so I spend alot of time in airports.  The bad thing - most of the flights are usually delayed.  The good thing - I'm still thinking of a good thing.

During the recent QingMing holiday (tomb sweeping), I decided to try somewhere different, and flew to Beihai.  Beihai is in Guangxi province right down near Vietnam.  It is warm and humid in Beihai.  Felt just like Kuala Lumpur.  This photo is standing by the sea with my hotel in the background.  Nothing great about Beihai - it was just nice to get out of the Beijing cold for a few days.



The St Patricks Day Irish Ball is one of the biggest social events of the year in Beijing, so a group of us got 2 tables and decided to party like it was 1999.  Only problem was I was suffering from food poisoning, and wasn't 100%.  I think I only had 2 or 3 beers and a shot of whiskey.  Let's just say it didn't help the food poisoning.  But I scrubbed up OK!

The last photo pretty much sums up the last few months in Beijing.  I can't remember what summer was like, but winter and now spring has produced some of the most polluted days since I have been here.  They measure the PM 2.5 particles in the air (particles that can get into your lungs) on a scale of 1 to 500. In January, it got to 728!  So, I bought a mask.  I used to laugh at people who wore masks, and now I am one of them.  It is one of the real low points of living in China.  I heard the other night that 700,000 people a year die from pollution related illness.  It seems rather high, but afterall China has 1.3 billion people - so maybe not that high.


Well, there you have it.  A quick blog dedicated to the "selfie".  It's as Chinese as Chairman Mao and MSG. As I said, right now I am in Changchun for 2 days of music research.  It may not sound that special, but Changchun is pretty close to the border of North Korea.  So if anything kicks off, let's hope that South Korea don't over shoot.

Zaijian!