As Seen by TV

Well, here they are.  Night #5 of Chinese New Year in Shanghai… once again putting my life in danger… and in the aftermath both camera & photography covered in ash.  All completely worth it.

Keep in mind it wasn’t foggy at all that night… those are all clouds from the firework explosions going on in every direction.  It’s mayhem at it’s finest and most beautiful. 

Enjoy.

CLICK HERE to see the post from last year: CNY – Year of the Tiger (2010)

Day 4 of Chinese New Year… went for a stroll around Xujiahui (actually, the first 3 are from around my office).  Fireworks in every direction, every night for almost 2 weeks long… Shanghai almost literally turns into a warzone.

The night of day 5 is when all hell breaks loose (besides New Years Eve of course)… and those pictures will be uploaded soon.  The images of  Chinese New Year day 5 from last year still holds the record for the highest traffic to my blog, ever… so, why not check out that post again HERE (warning: dope photography!).  This year’s to follow soon!

My roots lie in Antwerp, but many of my friends live around Brussels… so rain or shine (or snow), there is a lot of driving back and forth.  Honestly, there is nothing better than snow on the ground and a rental in your hands.  I just thank them lucky stars that my rental car had German plates, as winter tires are mandatory in Germany but not in Belgium.

The snow was amazing, all the years I spent in the Benelux and I’ve never seen such a blanket across the entire country (the south got up to 60cm).  I was there for 10 days, and it snowed every other day… truly amazing.  First white Christmas since the 60′s, and the most snow since WWII!

One morning I also went for a little hike through the Sonian Forest (Zoniënwoud / Forêt de Soignes) located just south of Brussels, which was simply amazing.

Some night shots around Upper Quezon Hill, Baguio City.
The following day we rented a jeepney and accompanied the family for a day at the beach, heading from Baguio down Kennon Road through Rosario, a 1500m decent to the seaside, where we enjoyed the warm water and BBQ’d fresh fish on the beach…!

A stroll through the streets of Old Shanghai…

Snapped a couple shots on the way to Carrefour the other night…  all around Zhaojiabang Lu.

Day’s 3+4 of shooting with the 12-24mm Sigma lens… first two are near my office building (left, in picture #2), while the others were taken around Jing’An Park.

Boom.

And yes, there is a semi-naked dude chilling in the subway entrance in that last image… keep in mind, it has been +35C all week (right now it’s 39C)!

These are images I took just over a month ago from around my neighborhood, Xujiahui.  When I moved here, this site was just a normal block filled with shops and traditional Chinese houses (my complex is right across the street), which was then reduced to this construction site 2 months later, and is now subsequently, a massive parking lot.  So goes the large-scale urbanization of China.

My somewhat short walk took me from Tianping Road & Guangyuan Road, across Huashan, up Gongcheng, and back down Hongqiao to the XJH intersection (by the way, in case I haven’t mentioned it before, all the streets in Shanghai (well, most of them) are named after the cities and towns of China).