The heat wave that coincided with my August trip to China brought both positive and negative surprises. The luxury French hotel I stayed at in Xian was forced to place me in their Presidential suite for three days, as it was the only available room with working air conditioning. Ah! When fortune smiles upon you. On the downside, the van I hired to shuttle me to the Beijing train station spontaneously overheated and burst into flames with me inside of it. Luggage was quickly tossed out of the smoking rear hatch as locals ran to assist with bottles of water and fire extinguishers. It was so hot throughout my time in China that I questioned whether my film would fog or melt and these images would be lost. Thankfully - all memories were preserved! ......
(full essay available upon request)
