Beijing Blog Reader's Choice!

Don't get excited. I didn't win an award. In fact, I don't think Beijing-ren can even read my blog yet. But since I have some random followers in Korea, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Laos and other parts of Asia, I'll count that as a win. I guess that subject was a bit dickish and at least partially misleading.

There is good news though. I have been very busy lately and will be departing for Indonesia and Malaysia this Friday. I wanted to let my readers choose what I write about next. I've gotten a lot of request by email, but the official vote will take place here. I figure, the more say you actually get in what I write, the more likely you will be to read it. And the more likely you are to read it, the more likely you are to think: "Wow. Marc totally deserves a street crepe for this, I'll click on one of the fine advertisers that grace his site".

Here is the list of potential topics:

-Drinking/Partying in Beijing
-Silly Exercises Old People Do
-More Street Food Posts
-More Shopping Posts
-Ultimate Frisbee in Beijing
-Things I miss about America / Things I like more about China
-Any crazy red tape I've experienced (might hold off on that one for now though)
-Beijing Architecture
-Trips we've taken within the country
-The Malaysia/Indonesia trip

Clearly, if you'd like to hear about something else, you can write it in as your comment.

And also, remember, YOUR (blog topic) VOTE COUNTS.

Since the most comments I've gotten so far on a single post has been six, this vote could easily recreate the US Election of 2000.

The entire Blog Topic vote could be decided by ONE SUPREME COURT JUDGE'S COMMENT ON THIS BLOG POST.

And, if you are still reading, here is a reward for your dedication:
I finally learned what street crepes are actually called:
煎饼, pronounced jianbing and inaccurately and un-deliciously translates to "pancake".

Basketball's Popularity in China + 798 Art District

This past weekend, we went to the 798 Art District in Beijing. Beijing Magazines, websites and travel guides bill the district as Beijing's Greenwich Village or its SoHo. They describe a former industrial park that was overrun by the hipster elite punk rockers where the avant garde arts flourished.

Despite the abundance of interesting art of all mediums, its pretty clear that whatever independent spirit the park once had has been co-opted by the international art scene and bank rolled by large companies.

This is evidenced by the existence of a King Lebron James Basketball Court Shoe Wonderland™. I may have messed up my imaginary translation, but when wandering around the former industrial park, I saw in the distance the towering visage of the most recent and still American King (Sorry Elvis. Sorry George). When we got closer, we heard dribbling, squeaking and whistles. People play basketball EVERYwhere in Beijing, but I was a little surprised to see a Nike-sponsored King Lebron James Basketball Court Shoe Wonderland™ Gym. Complete with a horde of amateur athletes playing a refereed game.

Of course we went in and watched for a bit. I pretty much wanted to stay long enough to get a cool action picture and, as you can see, I got what I was looking for. The experience was a little surreal. The place was full of neon and weird shapes and I'm pretty sure the court and nets were regulation for a middle school. I felt like I was in Double-Dare. I also half-expected the buzzers to be replaced by a pre-recording of Lebron saying "BZZZZ The Period is Over - BUY MY SHOES". I guess the extensive branding was enough.

As I said, the park itself was full of galleries and a lot of young Chinese and older westerners. I was most interested in some of the graffiti that remained around the place. Though I'm not sure how much was original and how much was added after the boutiques started going up, it was still pretty cool.