Happy (Chinese) New Year!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

It's the year of the Ox here, and the city is celebrating in style. In the land of cheap, plentiful fireworks and lax civic restrictions, everyone's a pyrotechnic artist. The fireworks have been going literally non-stop on all sides since about 6:00pm. In the city, every building serves to echo and magnify the reverberations so that each explosion sounds like ten. The fireworks aren't just the little crackers you get in the States, either (although there are plenty of those). I'm talking about rockets 50 feet in the air, triple bursts of color, and on and on, displays grander and more intricate than any civilian show you've ever seen on the 4th of July. Walking down the street, you feel like there must be a war going on somewhere. I expect to have video soon.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009!

We just returned from Beijing, and I realized that I'm about 5 sets behind on my picture posting. So without further ado, here are a few more views of our fair city decked out in both autumn and winter colors. These pictures were taken at different times from the top of a 25 story office building downtown.



As you may have already heard, it snowed recently. Here are some views from our apartment and around town.



Enjoy the holidays!