Expo Scoop: Miss World 2005 @ Iceland Pavilion

– If you’re heading to the Shanghai Expo and don’t feel like spending your day under the sun in line for one of the biggie pavilions; head over to the (surely cool) Iceland Pavilion, where you can rub elbows with Miss World 2005 Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir. According to the Iceland Expo site, Unnur is heading up … Read More »

Lasseter explores the Internet according to China

– Tom Lasseter, who in 2009 took over the Beijing bureau chief spot for McClatchy Newspapers from long-timer Tim Johnson, has a great post on his blog about the GFW. Due to a computer glitch, Tom lost his VPN the other night and without it decided to traipse around the Internet as viewed from inside China … Read More »

Review: Invisible Browsing VPN (ibVPN)

– A little down recently about my regular VPN’s lackluster speed, I started testing out a new service called ibVPN (Invisible Browsing VPN) and am decently happy with the results/ease of use. The service is strictly PPTP and not SSL, which I suppose is both a pro and a con. From my experience PPTP is faster … Read More »

Laowai Answers to questions about China

For what feels like forever, I’ve been tinkering away at a new feature here at Lost Laowai, and I finally feel its at a stage where I can announce it. It’s called “Laowai Answers” and it operates pretty much on the same principle as any of the many of other “q & a” components out there — most notably Yahoo Answers and Answers.com — except ours is completely China-focused.

The concept is simple — have a question about China, post the question, get a answers from fellow China expats and travellers. Just a lil’ Laowai helping Laowai love. A two-way street where expats can gain and share knowledge about living, working and playing in this crazy country we call home (even if for some that’s only temporary).

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Amazing Dalian Oil Fire/Spill Photos

No matter where we end up in China, or out, the first port of call any laowai makes in this country surely stays near and dear. Such is Dalian for me. I lived in Dalian for my first 18 months in China and return at least once a year to visit inlaws and friends.

The city is constantly touted as a clean and beautiful city, so, to see it suffering through one of the country’s worst oil spill disasters sucks. To catch anyone up who hasn’t caught this on the news, two crude oil pipelines exploded in Dalian’s Xingang port last Friday. The fire took 15 hours and thousands of firefighters to quell, but over the following few days has caused an oil slick that extends more than 180-square kilometers off the coast — stopping it from reaching the open sea is a top priority.

Boston.com has collected a number of striking photos chronicling the event in vivid detail. Many of the photos were captured by Greenpeace activists on the scene to assess the damage. Photos after the jump.. Read More »

Is China buying Canadian politicians?

– With the first of this year’s two G20 summits set to kick off tomorrow (half hour later in Newfoundland), big black shiny busloads of politicians from around the globe are descending on Toronto for a few days of intense protester dodging (it really is an under-rated sport). And just a day before Hu Jintao’s 5.0-magnitude … Read More »

Photos surface of Shanghai’s new Apple Store to be

– With no official launch announcement yet, fevered reports are popping up across the Applesphere with new photos of the “cloaked in red, and guarded by ninjas” cylindrical glass tower entrance to Apple’s new underground retail megastore in Shanghai. Set to open mid-July, the red curtains are an auspicious signal to the large Apple lovin’ community … Read More »

Introducing the aPad – cheap shanzhai iPad hits Chinese marketplace

– Dying for an iPad, but feeling a bit guilty that you’d be supporting a company that drives their employees to suicide? Maybe you just don’t have the better part of a grand to drop on a new toy? Whatever your reasoning, there’s a new shanzhai iPad to the rescue. A Japanese news report announced the … Read More »

Ever thought you were lucky? You’ve got nothing on these guys…

– Two car accidents at the same intersection show two amazing examples of what it’s like to live with a horseshoe up your ass. This video was found at a relatively new blog, SinoBeat, penned by Hao Hao Report member Dentrite (Mo Yu). It offers up a good collection of topical Chinese stories by and is … Read More »

China, might be time to let the DPRK slide into the DARK

– So, nice way to end the week — my neighbours might be going to war. Fuck. I’ve been operating with newsblinders on lately as I try to keep everything on the rails with a new baby in the house (apologies for a lack of updates, but that’s why). As such, it hit me off guard … Read More »

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