Summer in town

What a cracker of an evening in town,

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Summer time

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Your pants go here

Couldn't tell if this was intentionally "ironic" or whatever ..

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Intersection

Last weekend I was back in Shanghai, just passing through so I dropped in at the infamous Rainbow Hotel hear Hongchao airport for a night.  I had forgotten the view of the nearby freeway interchange - all four levels of it. Watching the lights at night can be mesmerizing, that's for sure.

look closely .... you are getting sleepy .... OK I had been on the road for 3 days at that point. 

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More dancing

Now summer is in full swing, the dancing groups are out every night, wherever there is room to dance.

Just a fun way of getting out with friends for a little exercise. 

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Free basin

This basin is truly free - self contained, self sufficient, ready to go at a moments notice !

When we go to my second favourite barbecue restaurant in Liaoyuan they always put us in the same room. This the view I have from the table, this free standing basin is just so quintessentially Chinese I finally decided to take a photo.

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Cake names

Just for fun.

"Love you without reason" "Red memory in Polard"

(Enjoy this moment)

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Puff balls

The first of the daisies have gone to seed, 18th of May

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Chinese Chess

Every day on this corner they play Chinese Chess.  And every day the guy who runs the nut stand is watching.  It must be a pretty good level of competition, they get a good crowd.  If you want to buy some nuts or seeds you are going to have to get the guy's attention !

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Stickers on everything

In China people leave the wrapping on everything, until it's way too late and it is disintegrating.  I guess it is so things look "brand new"  In restaurants, the little transparent plastic stickers on drinking glasses are carefully preserved.  My office chair still has the plastic wrap on the legs which is now in tatters.  It's like that kid from school, when you went to his house on the weekend they had all the furniture wrapped in plastic and if you wanted to watch the TV you had to sit on this sweaty plastic cover on the couch. squeek squeek.

In China it's like that with the cars. All the cars. Everywhere !

The stickers stay on until they rot off. These are all pretty new. 

Everything, including the delivery stickers from the factory. Lookit my new car !

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Dinner and a club

On the 16th of May my friend had his wife in town for the weekend, another guy bought his wife along so we went to my favourite restaurant for dinner (barbecue) then to the local club.

David, his wife, and YY's wife Dora (the explorer)

again with the crazy t-shirts

everything you can think of, barbecued on a skewer. Love it. 

Got to the club around 8, plenty of tables to choose from. We grabbed a good one on the side (floor level balcony) near the stage. 

Massive screens and laser show to keep the audience entertained between acts.  At times the windows 3.x "starfield" screen saver would pop up which is instantly recognisable to an old IT guy like me.

Just a real old fashioned night club, they have two or three sets of performers with their own lead singers and dancers that rotate through the night, probably 2 or more costume changes per hour per team, with guest solo acts in between, jugglers, comedians, acrobats, you name it.

Each act is introduced by an EmCee that keeps the crowd entertained between acts. (The original Master of Ceremonies, not MC as in rapper).  The whole act changes each month. Must be about time to go back !

Turns out you aren't supposed to take photos.  When I tried to get a few close ups of the sword swallowing guy who was eating lit cigarettes they told me to give it up. 

And the whole thing goes on until dawn, with food of all types, drinks, give-aways, auctions, and countless stretchy balloons in the shape of animals, antlers, love hearts, to wear on your head and eventually pop with cigarettes until the next round of balloons comes out (Like everywhere else, the club is a smoking environment).   We left around 12:30.

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