April 19, 2011

Dancing fountains - Zhaoqing, China

Looking down from my room at the Pearl Hotel. I only stayed there one night... but apparently, the dancing fountain show happens every night. It was a beautiful view and the show was quite good. I could actually hear the music from my room (bad "sound proofing")... so I chose to embrace the show. What you don't see in this image is the giant television screen that's just to the right. I couldn't understand what the television was saying (it was in Chinese)... but when I woke up, I had the urge to start advocating public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources.

March 10, 2011

7 Star Lake.

This picture is of a beautiful lake in southern China. The name of the lake is actually called "7 Star Lake" (great tourist ploy by the Chinese government?)... it's in the Zhaoqing province. It makes you forget that you're in the heart of the biggest manufacturing zone in the world.

March 8, 2011

Sepia toned dream.

This is a lake in Zhaoqing, China. I tried to give this photograph a mixture of modern and retro. You can see vivid details of the white rock in foreground, but then I blurred out details in background... making it look a bit like an old painting. Anyways, I thought it came out pretty cool.

September 16, 2010

The view from the self-proclaimed '7 star' OYC Hotel (aka mosquito hotel). It's actually quite a breathtaking view when it's not too smoggy. However, the OYC is just a super weird hotel. It is either completely filled with people or completely empty. Apparently, it hosts some government functions (which causes it to get full). When it's empty, it feels like a reenactment of "The Shining"... because it's just so massive and creepy. A few of the creepy things listed below:
-In order to get to the gym area, you need to go through a giant/underground maze that leads you past a "cavernous pool" (a pool designed to look like you're in a cave). When you get to the end, they have a large cafeteria set up that is always empty.
-The breakfast buffet has a giant fish tank in the middle of it... with a woman swimming in a mermaid costume.
-There's a slight mosquito problem in the rooms... because the maids are kind enough to turn off your air conditioning and open your doors when you leave for the day (which can also cause your sheets to get damp if it's humid enough outside).