doof.me.uk

I finally saw Linus Torvalds live! I think, however, reading his online rants is considerably more interesting than watching a staged conversation. 🙃

I went to Zhouzhuang ancient town a few weeks for a day trip. It takes just an hour or so by bus from Shanghai, and because of that it’s extremely crowded on the weekend and also very commercialised. There’s also not many indoor attractions and museums to visit, just a lot of shops. The town is just 10km from Tongli which I thought was much more picturesque and authentic so you might as well just go there, although I haven’t been back since it got connected to the Suzhou metro. I want to go back to Anhui for a weekend sometime, as I really enjoyed visiting the old towns there a few years ago.

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On a clear day I can see in the distance a very tall tower-like thing from my apartment. On closer inspection it’s a giant Ferris wheel! It’s about 45 minutes walk away, near Shanghai south railway station. As it’s 108 metres tall and Shanghai is totally flat, from the top you ought to be able to see everything, but unfortunately the day I went was a bit hazy / polluted.

Bottom of the wheel…

At the top! I can see my apartment from here!

The wheel is attached to a fairground

It was almost sunset the first time round. Here’s a bonus night photo!

There’s a really nice garden a few metro stops away from where I live (the station is also called “Guilin Park”). It only costs 1元 to go in! It’s not as impressive as some of the gardens I visited in Suzhou but it’s quite pleasant for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. Especially with the cherry blossoms in spring…

I forgot to post anything from my work trip to Chengdu last year. A bit late, but I saw pandas for the first time ever!

Panda, eating some leaves

In a sort of semi-wild panda sanctuary. The best bit was when one of them climbed up a tree, looked around, and then climbed/fell down again. Otherwise they lived up to their reputation and didn’t do very much.

Panda, in a tree

Two pandas, playing?

Here’s another of these traditional water towns. It would be quite unremarkable if it wasn’t in the Shanghai suburbs, which makes it very easy to get to (it’s actually just a few km from where I live). But this also means it’s full of tourists and very over commercialised. It’s definitely worth an hour or two walking around though. Getting there is really easy: just take subway line 9 to “Qibao” and the follow the signs to the old town.

So I decided to take a job doing open source-y things for a certain well-known CPU vendor. More on that in the future, maybe. But as part of that I relocated to Shanghai. Now I live up here in the sky:

Some apartment blocks and things

Last weekend there was mini-typhoon. It rained a lot and then there was this really strange sunset.

I didn’t notice the construction site when I viewed the apartment

I was at home visiting my parents last weekend and decided to go out for a walk eastwards through the marshes towards Rye. But I didn’t make it that far and ended up in the ancient village of Winchelsea.

The Church is worth a visit as it’s very picturesque, and Spike Milligan is buried in the graveyard. The day was just a bit too gloomy to be enjoyable though, and the bleak marshland landscape didn’t help.

Winchelsea church

While I was out I met a lunatic. He announced “this is the year!” and then proceeded to tell me all about how Qanon is right about everything and something I didn’t quite follow about feminists. I think he was from 4chan.

Near where I met Qanon’s representative

I’m back in the UK now but somehow things seem … different. When I left Heathrow in February it was snowing and around freezing. Now it’s 30+ degrees and all the grass has turned yellow. Weird.

Somewhere near Marlow

Went for a walk the other day between Loudwater and Henley. Just following the Chiltern Way like I did way back in 2011.

I have to admit the new scenery is rather photogenic, and the complete lack of mud is a welcome bonus.

Henley park

I spent a few days in Hong Kong on my way back to the UK. Can’t remember how many times I’ve been here now, feels like a lot…

Street in Kowloon

The temperature is about the same as the UK, fortunately all the buildings have air-con.

Sunset by the harbour

On the second day it was a bit rainy and cooler which seemed suitable for a little hike. I did this route to Kowloon peak.

Kowloon in the mist

I wouldn’t really recommend it as it’s mostly just dull road, apart from a brief section where I took the photo above, and once I got to the top everything was hidden by cloud. Reminded me of that time I went hiking in Taipei. Although the information panel below suggests it’s quite scenic here in good weather.

Scenic spot (maybe)