One of the most important parts of exploring a new country and culture is — for me at least — trying all the new and exciting foods.

China is no different. In fact, China offers more opportunities than many of the places I have experienced to-date. This seems to be the result of a strange historical and cultural combination whereby food is initially eaten through necessity and then continues to be eaten through that dogged Chinese determination that is ‘saving face‘.

It’s quite amazing what you can get ‘on a stick’ here:

I am reliably informed that all of the most expensive foods taste bad. Taste is — apparently — not the point.

Ever since purchasing jbmorley.co.uk, I’ve been planning a redesign of the website. Something a little more modern. Anyone not reading via RSS or Facebook will have noticed that this redesign has now happened (quite some time ago in fact).

It would be hard, in this new design, to miss the mirroring effect on all images. What started as a small personal challenge of adding Apple-style image reflections to my WordPress image rendering plugin [seemingly, it is] has become a significant feature of the new design. People say copying is one of the highest forms of flattery. I hope it can be viewed this way.

Another significant aspect is the header. This has formed an increasingly important role in my last few designs and, with version 3.0, hosted almost entirely my own photos. While, the feature has been very popular, I have omitted it in this latest design, hopeful that this gives greater focus to the main content of the page and allows for better presentation of a wider variety of media.

Of course, as always, I continue to maintain all of my previous designs, any of which can be selected from the ‘Themes’ drop-down box. I am also slowly trying to add to the collection various designs produced for friends. While other projects keep this task from progressing at high speed, expect a trickle of different styles to be added in the coming months.

If you ask someone to describe Beijing, it’s highly likely they will mention the pollution. In fact, tales of Beijing pollution travel far and wide and, as if they didn’t have enough on their plate, it’s even been causing concerns for the Olympics.

With all of this, it’s only natural that friends and family should inquire about the pollution. Is it really all that bad?! To answer this, I took a photo out of my window a few days ago:

The photo is taken mid-morning and is of what I would describe as a ‘two block day’. Quite literally, one can only see two blocks down the street. ‘One block’ days are not uncommon.

Since leaving Japan I’ve had little time to keep on top of the various photos I’ve snapped. Hopefully, as I slowly settile into some sort of routine here, I’ll have more time to sift through the vast number and upload a few.

In the meantime, here are a couple from my last months in Japan. The photos of Akihabara were requested by my father who, it seems, has developed quite a fondness for its gadget-strewn back alleys.

In the past, I have made a number of postings about things one might see or experience only in Japan. Having now spent about a month in China, I can say with reasonable certainty that this phenomenon is not only limited to Japan but that each country sports its own, unique, oddities. China no less than any other.

Two shining examples stand out thus far — captured on film for posterity:

The Osama Bin Lolly — for want of a better name — seems to be a wonderful example of the marketing techniques of a country which doesn’t quite understand international politics. That attitude which says, ‘if their photo is on the front of a newspaper then they just must be famous’. Somehow the good vs. bad argument just doesn’t enter into it; there just isn’t the comprehension. It is this same attitude which keeps much of Asia thinking that to be British means you must be personally aquainted with David Beckham, the Queen or — god forbid — both.

The second example is more of a multi-directional misunderstanding. Here in China Beijing, the city is gripped in Olympic fever. And by that, what I mean is, it is impossible to go anywhere without seeing the ugly mug of one of those mascots.

The Olympic slogan adopted by China reads “One World, One Dream”. A wonderful sentiment. Until, that is, it is borrowed and tweaked into something bound to upset any freedom-loving American:

Since encountering this, Junko has explained to me how it might not be quite as extreme as it first seems. Apparently, here in China, ‘red’ can mean popular, successful, etc, and might not — in fact — be referring to the ideals of Communism which first spring to mind. Either way, it gave me quite a chuckle.

Apologies to any readership located in China. Wikipedia links will be unaccessible as, for some reason, the government feels the need to block this wonderful resource…

Update: Mouse has pointed out an alternative take on the Olympic mascots.