Near Yonghegong. I love the typeface used on this sign. So friendly!

黑面蔡 is the brand of starfruit juice from Taiwan. It literally translates into “black face Tsai”. Not sure if my family has anything to do with it but it has been around forever and even when I lived in Taiwan during the late 80’s.

Another not very PC brand that has been around since I was a kid… Darlie (aka Darkie) toothpaste. Also a product from Taiwan…

Taiwan is just asking for it…

And this is just WRONG…

I just found my V-Moda Vibe headphones at the bottom of the washer! Yes! The soak, wash and spin cycles!

I NEED to know if anyone else has done this before and if their headphones survived. I read about some Apple headphones performing better after a wash. But I’ll wait a couple of days before putting them into my ears…

UPDATE: These headphones are still rockin’. Now cleaner than before!

The Olympics and Paraolympics are officially over. Quick facts & updates:

1. FYI, I am still in Beijing. I have been in Beijing for almost a month.

2. I have been attending classes at Central Academy of Fine Arts in the Experimental Art department. It is a very different yet interesting curriculum. 90% of the time, the work is on paper or in discussions. There is not a proper studio in the department, so I suppose this is the “experimental” aspect of it. Most of the work is “outsourced”. The rest of the academy is pretty classically focused. Some of the graduate painting students are still sketching or painting models as class assignment.

3. I did go to the Olympic Stadium and watched a game last week. It is very big and there are lots of people there. Coca-Cola is a major sponsor and I hope it is not the reason why they have painted the inside of the stadium red.

4. Beijing subway is the shit. It is 2 RMB, about 30 cents, and is new and clean. The system is of course not as well developed as New York. It is just amazing to see what they built in such a short period. The stations are equipped with air conditioner on full blast, frequent trains, swipe card turnstiles, clean bathrooms (squatters with no teepee, of course) and airport-trainesque double door tracks… the kind where there is a glass door and wall outside of the train body. This way, no one can throw themselves or trash onto the tracks and you risk a double squeeze if you run for the train.

5. Speck, capicola and prosciutto all taste and look like Virginia Ham in China.

6. I have been looking at apartments to rent… The rental prices skyrocketed for the Olympics and it has been tough to find a reasonably priced and clean space. I’ve looked at over 30 apartments and worked with about 11 brokers. I think I am going to room with some students from the Academy. One girl is from Queens, another from Hebei and we are looking for a 4th…

7. HiPhones, just one of the many Chinese replicas of the iPhone, sells for only 700 RMB. My unlocked iPhone first generation works great here.

8. 2 new sites coming soon! One is a “Eats” blog and the other is still a secret.

More to come, stay tuned.

Lately, there has been alot of changes. The air is changing. The market is changing. People around me are changing. I am changing. So things places etc is changing, too…

What started out as a semi-anonymous things places etc blog will now become a more personal things places etc blog. I suppose this is also something that I’ve decided to end as I am leaving New York next Tuesday.

Next month, I am not going to renew this domain name www.thingsplacesetc.com for 3 reasons:

1. it is kinda hard to spell and type “thingsplacesetc.com”
2. I would like to post more personal entries to keep everyone updated with my new life in Beijing, China. My new blog space will simply be paulatsai.com/blog or something like that. I’ll keep you posted
3. I have another secret www project. This will be something a little different and less structured than a blog… I don’t know what it is yet. But I got the domain already so you know it is coming.

English language lessons for the Olympics on Wall Street Journal.