A New Year for Far West China

Happy New Year to everybody!  My wife and I rang in 2009 without too much fanfare here in Xinjiang and are happy to have the next three days off from work.  More than anything the solar new year is just a happy reminder that the lunar new year's celebration is just around the corner - one that will be a much-welcome break for us.

I have begun this new year with the exciting news that Xinjiang: Far West China has been named the Best China Travel Blog for 2008!  Thanks so much to everybody who voted for this site, I do appreciate your support (that goes to you, Pam!).  I would also like to congratulate all of the other very worthy winners including Joel at The China Observer (#1 Business-Law Blog), David at China Sports Review (#3 Business-Law Blog), Michael at the other Xinjiang blog The Opposite End of China (#2 News Blog) and Will at Imagethief (#3 News Blog).  A full list of the winners can be found by clicking the picture to the left.

It's at this point that I am very tempted to reflect on the past year and tell you all of my best or most popular posts, and if I did I certainly wouldn't be the only blog to do so.  Instead I've decided to keep that contained to the right-hand side of this blog (but do check it out!) and use this post to focus on the coming year.  I have a tendency to take myself (and this blog) too seriously at times while the point is to just have fun, so I've been trying to think of things that would shake up my normal "blogging routine".

Here's my ideas for some things I want to do this year and I'd love to get your feedback on any of it, PLEASE:

• Xinjiang's Best Food:  I would love to continue this series this year with the possible addition of a "How to cook your own..." video series.  This would of course star my wife instead of myself, but I think it could be something worth trying.
• Xinjiang Worker Profiles:  The longer I live here the more I notice all the local people around me who work hard and for the most part go unnoticed, and I've already been talking with some of these people to get their story of why they're here in Xinjiang.  Examples include taxi drivers, Uyghur bread makers, a Uyghur doctor, and some government officials I know.
• Short Stories:  This website exists because I have learned to love writing (and I live in Xinjiang), so I want to have fun with some creative stories.  I find that I personally retain information when it is attached to a colorful story, so instead of just rehashing a news story I want to tell you a true-to-life (names changed) story from perspectives other than my own.  Example:  I went to a Uyghur wedding last month.  I could just rehash the details of the wedding in first-person and what I thought about it - you know, the regular blog stuff - but instead I think you would get so much more out of it if I had fun living the story through the bride's eyes (a personal friend).
• Photo of the Week/Month:  I'm not sure how often I would want to do this, but through all the travels my wife and I have made around Xinjiang we have amassed a large quantity of high-quality pictures that we haven't yet been able to share.  I could just load them all to a photo sharing site but I'd rather give people the chance to enjoy them.  Those photo sites are like walking into a museum - you only appreciate the first few until your legs get tired (or in this case your eyes).

Any other ideas?  What part of China intrigues you the most, and if you live here, what part of Xinjiang makes you the most curious?  Please leave a comment or contact me with any suggestions, ideas, or advice.  I seriously love where we live in China and want you to feel like you already know this place after reading the blog for a month or two.  That's what a travel blog is supposed to do, right?

Best China Blog Awards Voting 2008

As some of you have already noticed, this blog has undergone some major renovation over the past month. I've been trying to add a hint of professionalism in the design to accompany what I hope is high-quality writing. At one point I wanted to move everything over to my own hosting, but after a few snags and a bit of frustration I was forced to just add a domain name to this site and redecorate it. Even though Blogger has its limitations, I'm proud of how it has turned out and if you're reading this through e-mail or an RSS reader I suggest you take a look.

Best China Blog Voting

On another note, today marks the opening of the Chinalyst "Best China Blogs" awards. From now until the end of December any person with a computer connected to the internet (which is you if you're reading this) can cast a vote for their favorite China blog in one of six different categories (Business, News, Personal, Technology, Travel, & General). I've had a difficult time deciding whether this blog should be categorized as a "Personal" or a "Travel" blog, but since most every post has been focusing on particular place or part of Xinjiang, I've decided to put it in Travel.

If you have enjoyed reading this blog I would greatly appreciate the 10 seconds it would take for you to vote for FarWestChina. It's really simple: just go to the FarWestChina Chinalyst page and click the "+"to vote.  You don't have to register, type in your e-mail address, or do anything like that.  Just click and you're done.  Simple, right?

Click on the picture to go vote!

Other Blogs of Note

While I'm at it, I'd like to take this chance to point you to a few of my favorite China blogs.  These are just a couple, and if you're really interested in all of the stuff that I read on a regular basis, take a glance at my sidebar or just go to my links page.

• Wall Street Journal China Blog:  This seems like a no-brainer, but I mention them because I love their "Best of the China Blogs" series they do every day.  It's a human blog aggregator and it allows little blogs like mine to get some visibility every once in a while.  Two of my posts have been mentioned by WSJ, the Chinese Wedding post and the Xinjiang Cotton Crisis post.  Thanks guys!
• Imagethief:  This blog focuses on PR within China, written by Will, a PR professional living and working here in China.  Thanks Will for your advice and encouragement - I'm still trying to implement a lot of what you said.
  
• The China Teaching Web:  As a teacher here in China, many of the posts on this site have been invaluable.  Robert, one of the writers there, does a great job of analyzing various issues and common problems faced not just by teachers but by anyone who calls China their home.
• The China Observer:  For those of you more business-minded, this new blog written by Joel has some great insight into China's economy and business sector.  There are so many big China business blogs out there but as a small-time blogger myself I tend to root for the newer, smaller guy.
• China Sports Review:  This blog, as its name suggests, focuses on sports here in China.  I have no idea who writes it, but it's good stuff.  There's plenty to learn and enjoy, such as their latest post about changing ages in China sports.
• Bezdomny ex Patria: Chris is from New Zealand but now resides in Beijing and does a great job translating interesting news articles about China.  If only my Chinese was that good.
• Waiguoren Critic of South China: Matt is another fellow expat who lives in Shenzhen.  It's stories like his that help remind me that I'm not the only person who thinks life over here in China is crazy.

Finally, as a side note and to close this rather lengthy post, I also want to point anyone who is interested to a very simple blog put up by my talented Uncle Bob.   It's pretty new and has nothing to do with China, but I think his paintings are superb and you should just take a look.

Thanks again to everybody for reading and I look forward to the next year of blogging.  Writing is a fairly new hobby for me, but I like it, and I hope you do as well.  Peace, and happy holidays!