New website

I realize I don't really update very often. Luckily, I started a new project back in March, it's called 365. I take 1 picture a day in an attempt to remember what I did that day and to improve my photography skills. I try to update it about once a week. You can check it out at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/young.lauren/365#

I started the project back when my camera was broken, ever since I got a new camera it has made my life so much better! I am able to get pics I want without having to take it 10+ times. And now I am able to take more people pics because the pics actually turn out, instead of a blurriness of light distortion. Thanks Mom for the camera, I still love it!

Shanghai

Last week was midterms so I got 4 days off and decided to go to Shanghai. Originally I wasn't very excited but after reading all of the books and websites I heard it was dubbed as the NY of China. It didn't quite live up to the hype, but I still had a good time.

These pictures are from Fuxi park in the city. Erik and I kinda stumbled on it on accident, it was pretty cool though, we ended up spending most of the day there.

A shooting game aimed to kill all of the endangered species. The funny thing was most of the kids couldn't even hold the gun up straight, I think it was for the parents really.

There was dancing in the park, some couples were pretty hard core about it. This lady was a bit crazy in the head and took to dancing with her red tea bottle.

Kids loved these row boats, I loved those plastic wheel things in the background. We were going to go on them but they were expensive. I think this is a genius idea if you have a rowdy kid. Kids would go on enthusiastically and within 10 mins would be lying down because they were pooped from running. We even saw a mom with her 7 month old baby go on, I don't know how she thought that would work out. I was picturing a human dryer scenario in my head, after a while she too gave up and took to lounging inside.

Shanghai museum. I wasn't too impressed, I feel like I have seen better exhibits at the Asian Art Museum in SF. Especially the Ming Dynasty exhibit my mom took me to before I left for China. I kinda feel like China sells itself to the highest bidder, like all of it's true masterpeices are somewhere else in the world because they were willing to sell it for a quick buck. I don't know if this is true, or if I am just jaded from the plethora of China history memorabilia I have been exposed to throughout my life. I liked the calligraphy exhibit the most, in some pieces you could see the different emphasis placed on different words from the abrupt brush strokes to the different sizes of each character.

A cute street in the French Concession, very colorful.

Finally, I am too tall for something! I knew China wouldn't let me down.

The Bund, Shanghai's famous skyline.

Yu Gardens/Old Town. This area furthered my conviction that China sells out, in this small complex there was traditional folk craft, (aka small clay figurines of your head, your picture etched on a stone, your name written in Chinese), a Haagen Daz, and 2 Starbucks.

The Shanghai World Expo 2010 mascot. Shanghai is doing crazy amounts of preparation! A good deal of Shanghai was under construction which made me really nervous to walk under anything and took away from some of the beauty. This guy was everywhere you turned, even at McDonalds!

Public Humiliation at the Boardwalk

This was taken at the Xiamen Boardwalk. I pieced together the different videos, take note of the little girl, and the man in the blue jacket. Enjoy. :)

Music Concert

This was a Chinese folk music band. They were a cool group. Even the venue was cool, it was a drug dealers mansion that was converted into a hotel after he was arrested.

Student Play

The prompt was: What would you do if you were stuck on an island by yourself.

SE Asia- Siem Reap, Phenom Penh, Cambodia

Cambodia was the last stop on our trip. Initially I wasn't very excited to go, but it turned out to be the most socially intriguing country for me.

Our first stop was Siem Reap. It was ok, Angkor Wat was interesting to see, but after a while all of the ruins started to blur together. What I found to be more interesting was the huge amount of children selling various tourist items. One girl could count up to 10 in 5 different languages, and say 10 for $1 in all of those languages. She must have been 13 years old, and should have been in school.

Angkor Wat


An invasion of monkeys. We made the tuk tuk driver stop so we could take pics.

Next up was Phenom Penh. In PP we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Originally the building was a high school that was turned into a prison/torture center and is now the location of the museum. The school was converted by the Khemer Rouge as a facility to torture and house their prisoners, before eventually killing them. I had no idea that a genocide that killed 2 million people took place in the late 70's. What is even more upsetting is living leaders of the KR have yet to be punished for their actions. The KR targeted scholars, government officials and other high powered Cambodians, in an attempt to destroy all history of Cambodia. It is no wonder that Cambodia is having so many problems today. The most interesting exhibit was one of a Dutch diplomat that had originally supported the KR's cause. It displayed pictures of his tour of Cambodia in the 70's with commentary of what he thought in the 70's and what he now realizes about what was really going on in Cambodia. Most of the pictures he had taken he now concludes were staged scenes by the KR for his visit.

A room and bed used to torture. Prisoners would be tortured here and thrown into cells the size of bathroom stalls.

The Killing Fields was a mass grave for the victims of the KR. This monument is filled from ceiling to floor of victims' skulls.

After seeing the horrors of the KR, Kelly and I decided to take a cooking class to brighten up our trip.

In the class we learned to make spring rolls, Amok fish, and sticky rice with mango. It was delicious.

I wish I could make that here. Maybe if I have visitors I will try...no promises.

Yoga

Lately my body has been really creaky, so I decided to go to a yoga class tonight. I found a yoga studio from the ex-pat website and contacted the instructor. I didn't know exactly where the studio was, but thanks to my improved Chinese (and a paper with the address written in Chinese), I was able to find the building. When I arrived in class, I realized it was conducted in Chinese! Luckily the instructor realized I didn't speak much Chinese and translated what she was saying for me. Man, I was not expecting to get so sweaty from yoga, at other times my body was shaking from the positions we were doing. I am glad I am starting yoga in China, because if I am doing the position wrong, I can just pretend I don't understand the translation. Bad, I know.