Year: 2024

Tirana, Albania (Day 1, afternoon)

Albania was constitutionally atheist under communist rule and religious people suffered persecution. Now, religion is back. On my first afternoon in Tirana, on my wanderings, I saw a new church, an old mosque that somehow survived, and a mosque so new it hasn’t opened yet.

See below to find out who the guy on the horse is and see photos of:

  • Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral
  • Skanderbeg Square
  • Et’hem Bey Mosque and the Clock Tower
  • Toptani Mall
  • Toptani Castle
  • Namazgah Mosque (and Downtown One)

Continue reading Tirana, Albania (Day 1, afternoon)

Tirana, Albania (Day 1, morning)

When I woke up in Tirana, I had a vague plan to walk around and see some of the sites I’d seen in a couple of listicles on my phone in the airport while waiting to board the plane in Frankfurt. I had no idea just how far I’d walk, or how much I’d see!

Luckily, the hotel was right in the city center, and the weather was fantastic: a little cold, but amazingly bright and sunny, and I saw in real life almost everything the internet told me to look for.

See below for photos of:

  • Tirana Marriott Hotel, Air Albania Stadium, and some university buildings
  • Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard
  • The Pyramid of Tirana
  • The Lana River at Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard
  • Rinia Park and the Taiwan Center

Continue reading Tirana, Albania (Day 1, morning)

A Trip from Hangzhou, China to Tirana, Albania

We did not go to Albania on a train. That was just the first part of a long journey!

I made this on https://www.greatcirclemap.com/. (Yeah, we flew over Russia…)

For the first time in a long time, I got on a plane (two planes, actually) to go somewhere for fun that wasn’t my hometown. But first I got in a taxi, and on a train, and in another taxi, and spent the night in an airport hotel, and took a shuttle bus, lol.

Why Albania? Siqi was invited to a workshop, and I decided to take leave from work and go too. I’d never been to Albania!

We left on the evening of Tuesday, January 23 and returned in the afternoon on Monday, January 29. We had three full days in Albania, which I’m posting about separately, and then we did the whole journey again in reverse.

See below for more on the journey from Hangzhou (to Shanghai to Frankfurt) to Tirana, Albania.

Continue reading A Trip from Hangzhou, China to Tirana, Albania

Books I read in 2023

The best book I read in 2023 was Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein. I liked it because it offers a lot of insight into politics, religion, culture, and human psychology.

The runner up was The Crowd, by Gustave Le Bon, which I liked for the same reason!

I only read 27 books in 2023, approximately one every two weeks. For comparison, I read 45 books in 2022, and I think that was the lowest total since I started keeping track in 1999. The truth is, I moved to China in December 2022 and started a new job at the beginning of 2023, so all my routines got turned upside down. Also, I was pretty slow getting through the four-volume Journey to the West, which was not to my taste.

Of the books I read this year, 10 were ebooks that I read on my phone or kindle, and 17 were printed books.

Of the 10 ebooks, 2 were free public domain ebooks, 1 was free on Amazon because the author decided to give it away, and 7 were purchased.

Of the 17 printed books, 2 were bought by my office, 12 were books I already owned, 2 were bought new, and 1 was bought used.

See below for notes on the content of this year’s books.

Continue reading Books I read in 2023

Places visited in 2023

In 2023, the memory of strict Covid travel restrictions was still fresh, especially at the beginning of the year. But as time passed, people in China (myself among them) were more encouraged (and more inclined) to go out and move around (and spend money).

Siqi and I went on two big trips in 2023: one to his hometown, and another one to my hometown, where we got married! 🙂

See below for an illustrated overview of where I went in Hangzhou, other parts of China, and the US.

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Movies watched in 2023

In 2023, I watched 7 movies in a theater, 5 on DVDs I own, and 1 on a plane. The rest, my husband Siqi and I watched online using a streaming subscription or rental platform of some sort. Subscriptions and online rentals are cheap in China, and the China platforms have Hollywood stuff with the original English audio, but here as elsewhere, no single platform has everything.

See below for top recommendations and a complete categorized list of what I watched, with some brief notes.

(It’s 2025 now, so these are movies I watched 1-2 years ago. If I don’t remember them, that’s partly why. Or maybe they’re just not that memorable. Or both.)

Continue reading Movies watched in 2023