Stay Healthy
You have all probably heard of (or perhaps experienced) that most dreaded of holiday souvenirs - Montezuma's Revenge. We have our own variation here in China, which I have variously named Mao's Revenge, China Rot Gut and the Middle Gurgle ...

A Little Rioting to Bring Me Back
Hello Vicad Readers, I must apologize, again, for leaving this blog space empty, again. Over the last few months my growing frustration over increased Internet censorship has caused me to visit fewer and fewer websites, culminating in a near abandonment ...

Traveling in China
How many of you have read "The Good Earth?" To be completely honest, I don't remember too much of the Pearl S. Buck classic. I've been thinking about rereading the book for three years now, but I've been unable to ...

The Day That Nothing Happened
Tiananmen Square Looking Towards The Forbidden City Tiananmen Square Looking Towards Mao's Tomb Tiananmen Square Guard The Chairman Sees All, at the Entrance to the Forbidden City Well, here it is June 4th and as expected, it's just like any ...

No More Twitter Fun
I am back from my travels and back on the grid, as much as the Great Firewall of China will allow me to be. Today and tomorrow are very important dates in the history of China. It has been 20 ...

Public Vs. Private
Have I mentioned that there are two types of behaviors in China? Well, there are. There is public behavior and then there is private behavior. I think this is a cultural thing dating back to our old friend Confucius' time. ...

To Mask or Not To Mask
The sister-in-law has successfully been retrieved from the airport and is now sleeping off some of her jet lag. I'm taking the opportunity to connect to the electronic world, because I am one of those people who find it difficult ...

The Server Is Not Responding - Internet Censorship
Looks like Victoria is in for a rainy Sunday today. Knowing a little bit about local rainfall over the last year, I guess that is not bad news. I am sitting in my office on a cool and sunny morning, ...

Pardon My Absence!
I'm sorry to have been away from the Advocate website this past week - I've had some computer and Internet issues that have left me unable to post. Oh, the humanity! As addicted as I am to the 'net and ...

Snack Time
I've been focusing almost entirely on food for the last few weeks, so I think this will be my last post on the topic for a while. Time to move on to something new. But first: Since moving to China ...