Shanghai afternoon light is beautiful!
Over the past few months, I have come to love the afternoon light in Shanghai…
It’s brilliant when things come together..
Sometimes in China, things can be a bit rough and ready. This time, I was very lucky to find an electrician who seek perfection in the work. The way he glued the light socket onto the acrylic box was brilliant, he was using a syringe to help direct the flow of the glue… no mess, just perfect!! An ingenious idea…
I love it when I’m learning something new everyday!
My first light box and many more to come…
Posted 9 months, 1 week ago at 10:14. Add a comment
Efficiency backfired!
Some things in China can be done in lightning speed but in this case… setting up a new wordpress blog took 4 whole days !
Having promised an artist to help set up her new website (more like roping in Roger’s IT help), we spent the next four days tearing our hair out, bemused by the fact that how complicated it had turned out!
Day 1 –
Took a day to figure out the Chinese instructions on how to set up PHPadmin. I’m finding myself becoming very ‘geeky’ by the day! (HELP!) and figuring out techy codes in Chinese is definitely not my forte!
Day 2 –
Took another day to figure out the website didn’t come with database! Hosting package here is so archaic, we just couldn’t believe the package didn’t come up any database!
Day 3 –
The artist bought the database but we then found out MySQL software that came with the package was completely outdated! Version 3.2 instead of the latest version 5.1 and no technical support was available for v3.2! Excellent?
Day 4 –
Another call to the hosting company and after the fourth attempt, we have finally got the 5.0 MySQL software and guess what… we managed to upload Wordpress!! Yippee…. only took four days to do a 3 MINS job!!!!
And… guess what.. we are just at the beginning of the process!
Posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago at 17:58. 1 comment
China – There is a person for that…
Nothing in China is impossible and there is always ‘a person’ for everything… just like The Apple slogan…
My quest for making a light box…
Day 1:
Having come up with an idea for my coming exhibition, I was filled with excitement and went straight to the acrylic supplier with my simple image, hoping they could make a light box for me, including all the electrical fittings. And of course… nothing was ever so easy. Here in China, shops are very specialised and the acrylic shop owner just not interested in my light box and how I wanted it and suggested I should ask the electrical shop two doors down. I walked down the street and found the shop was turning off the light.. bad luck!
Went home feeling slightly defeated but was determined to learn about the technical aspect of light box construction. Google came to the rescue and was feeling more prepared for Day 2 quest…
Day 2:
2nd attempt: I went straight to the electrical shop and managed to talk to someone who was not only knowledgeable but patient. He came up with a practical solution to fix the light and not only that, he also found me a acrylic light box maker (across the road) and between them, I have got my light box made! The electrician is fitting the light and the acrylic supplier is making the box! Yippee…
Lesson learnt..
It is very evident that it’s not about what we know but who we know! Here in China, there is always a person for everything… just a matter of knowing! For that… I’m grateful I can speak the language! 
Posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago at 17:25. Add a comment
Special treat…
Start of a beautiful day – Cheung fan, condensed milk bun with a cup of HK style coffee – Yumm….
Posted 10 months ago at 11:28. 1 comment
You gotta love Chinese efficiency !
Within 24 hours, the temperature in Shanghai dropped more than 10′c from a high of 26′c to 12′c yesterday! The flat felt cold for the first time and I thought it’s time to make sure the heaters were working properly.
I rang up the landlord asking if she’d arranged for someone to come and check it out. Within 15 mins, the repair company rang to arrange for a time for the technician to come over. When I asked when they’d come and expected the answer to be 2-3 days, instead she said the technicians could be there in an hour or so.
Within half an hour, we’d three technicians in our flat, fixing the heaters and everything was fixed in an hour!
Chinese efficiency… you gotta love that!