China Expat Life

Living without trust

This is really a topic I’ve been thinking about since back in December/January when our dog Addie died. I wasn’t sure how to put to words my feelings about it and so have shelved it until now. I don’t know that I’m any closer to knowing how to verbalize it, but maybe this post will …

May 27, 2009
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Murder in the Hood

Murders in the news are as common as the weather report, and are rarely read with any greater attention. It is not often that they touch your life in some way, even if just remotely. Unfortunately, such is not the case with Suzhou’s most recent homicide, as it happened only a couple hundred metres from …

May 10, 2009
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My ChinaTravel.net Feature on Suzhou

A while back I was approached by the fine folks at ChinaTravel.net, an English-language travel site about China that is “editorially independent” but strongly affiliated with Ctrip.com — one of China’s largest online travel booking Web sites. The site’s editors wanted me to put together a summary article on “my Suzhou”, and as of last …

May 4, 2009
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On seabugs, mother-in-laws and holidays

As many of my friends pack up and head out to face the torrent of travel over the May Holiday, I’m just happy to finally have a moment to sit down and type randomness on here. My mother-in-law arrived from Dalian Thursday evening and while Maggie and her enter day three of non-stop-family-gossip, I’m hiding …

May 2, 2009
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Disturbing Dubai

It’s rare that I hit on topics here that don’t involve myself, my adoptive country of China or my homeland of Canada. However, I just finished a long investigative report in The Independent about Dubai, and felt the need to share. The article, written by Johann Hari, shocked me. I had never really put much …

April 7, 2009
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Hi, I’m China and I like to blow shit up

As a foreigner, it’s impossible to live in China for any length of time and not develop some sort of Chinese New Year strategy. Most, the rich and clever ones at least, leave the country. Getting the frack out well before the world’s largest human migration takes place and starts blowing shit up is ideal, …

January 30, 2009
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Happy Niu Year To All

Well, once again it is Chinese New Year’s Eve (this’ll be my forth – and I’ve still yet to find a good pair of earplugs). We should be celebrating tonight with some newcommers to China, and that’s always fun. Maggie’s got pots a bubblin’, cooking up some good dongbei food and we’ll be heading downtown …

January 25, 2009
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Optima Dog Food Saga: It’s Done

Most often I feel time is moving much faster than I expect it to. This last month, however, is an exception. It’s hard to believe that it was just over four weeks ago that we got the news about our Optima dog food being contaminated with aflatoxin. Only a month ago that we began to …

January 22, 2009
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Shanghai Daily-late and dollar short

The Shanghai Daily finally got around to reporting on the emergency recall of dog food after pets poisoned and seem just as confused as the rest of the net on where the Optima dog food comes from and how it ended up killing dogs in China (including my baby). The site reports: Since the end …

January 12, 2009
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