I love Helmets

Some westernly placed folks were going to Zapata's last night so I went along being that they host free margaritas for women between 10pm and 12am on Mondays. I had about 8 and wasn't even remotely buzzed so of course, I was getting what I paid for... limey flavored slush with a hint of tequila. Sophisticate.

I'm going to a press conference about a musical or something this afternoon. Enthralling.

Yesterday, I saw someone almost die. It was a terrible accident. A man was riding along on his motorcycle in the designated two-wheeled vehicle lane and a little divider thing came up that divides the cars from the two-wheeled and he ran straight into it and smacked right into the pavement (without a helmet, of course). The motorcycle fell onto his leg and he was out for a few seconds then tried to stagger up and pick up his bike because he knew more traffic was coming. He almost fell over again and no one was helping him!! I couldn't believe it, particularly because we were right in front of the police HQ. I didn't know what to do because I knew I would just confuse the situation with my lack of Chinese speaking. Finally, a man holding a little girl went over to him so I left but it was a really sick noise and I was really worried!

So, here's a photo of a guy in one of those equestrian helmets they rarely wear. My new photo taking tactic is to pretend like I'm taking the photo of something behind the person but actually just am interested in them. This one has Jing'an Temple in the background.


Karaoke castle.. they love karaoke. A lot.


My pipedream to be the Alan Lomax of China continues. I came upon this fellow on my way home from the North Korean film. In the middle of it, someone tells him I'm filming and I think he gets fancy then; they both thought it was very funny. He is blind and the best one I've found so far.