What to do when you are bored?

Shanghai can be expensive.
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Rain on Nanjing.
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Street store on Nanjing.
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More rain on Nanjing.
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Color!
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The lotus are in bloom right now. These flowers are giant!
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So, what does any self respecting world traveler do when they are bored? Why they go to Shanghai, that's what they do.

I really had no reason to go other than I wanted to get out of Linping for a while. I like big cities. Linping is not one of those. It is small. Around 100,000 people. Sure it is close to Hangzhou, which is sitting at around 4 to 6 million depending on who you ask. I can get to HZ in a little over 40 minutes, but even HZ isn't Shanghai. Hangzhou is quite tourist oriented. Shanghai is flat-out big city.

Shanghai is a quick two hour bus ride. That puts me at the entrance to the metro, which makes getting anywhere quite simple. No taxi's, no city buses, no mess. In under three hours I can go from my apartment to sipping a beer in my hostel.

Lack of updates lately. Sorry.

It's hot. 40'C hot.

I got the columnist position at the local newspaper. To my Canadian friends, I didn't say anything because I didn't want to jinx it. But I have been tossing the idea with a local here about writing an article for the daily paper about my life in Linping. I wrote a proposal, he translated it and that is that. They thought it was a good idea. So once a week I have an article and a picture.

I have been in a photo slump lately. I have found that I am not happy with my current camera set up. It works great for the work I do in Canada. For sports it is great, for set up shots it is fine. But for street work, actually walking around taking pictures, it sucks. First of all, the weight. The cameras are heavy. Carrying even one camera and lens for a day takes its toll on my body. Second, the size. They are big. Big equals reactions. Small cameras tend not to get reactions, even when people know that you are taking their picture.

Enter my Leica. After wanting one for the better part of 10 years, I finally have one coming. It is still in Canada, waiting to come with Danielle and Brian when they come. Nothing too fancy, just an M2 with a 50 f2 and a 35 F3.5. The pocket book is a little lighter now, but I think it should do, at least until I decide on the $4000 M8 digital.