One last photo of summer

Welcome me back!

From the final days of summer, to the return to Beijing, I'm back.
Reading back on the posts I kept under wraps while I sorted out my Vancouver departure, I realised I'd left not a moment too soon. I was obviously not myself without my better half those lost six months. The past 8 weeks here in his arms are just what I need to put my suspicions to rest and get on with our lives together.

Old Marine Drive

Entrance to the free parking area. Heading south on Marine Drive, take the first right after 16th. Note the closing time is changed by the Parks Department according to the time the sun sets. Trail 7 is just before the WC on the left about 1km down this road.

A new sign on Trail 7

It had to go up sometime.

Packing up - 2

I usually don't take photos of guys I don't know at Wreck Beach without their consent.

I decided that this one was 'safe' because their faces couldn't be made out with the setting sun behind their backs and what with using my cheap cellcam.
I won't say when it was taken or anything more about them,
other than that they were a cute group of hot Asian guys.
They didn't even get completely naked, which I don't begrudge them.

Recently, I'm all for tan lines!

Summer - for me, finally

Sure, it's been hot for most of July but only now can I start to enjoy it. Nevermind that it's cloudy and somewhat cool today, yesterday was not only hot, but humid. So it was perfect timing to find a watermelon I'd bought the other day - and had fogotten about til yesterday - chilling in my fridge. I was a little out of practice in cutting one open! It was so sweet ... and still is. Can't believe I've already eaten half of it.

To add to the feel of summer, tonight will be the second of six firework shows at English Bay Park. I didn't go the first on Wednesday because I was still delerious from the medication I was taking, though I did catch some of its fuzzy colours from the street out in front of the friends' home I've been staying at while convalescing. Still semi-residing there ... which is precisely why I would have forgotten about what's in the fridge at my own place.

Unless it's actually raining, I'll finally get over to the Oasis at Wreck Beach tomorrow. There have been many reports in the gay press and from word-of-mouth that the RCMP have been 'warning' people parking along Old Marine Drive (the convenient spot to park one's wheels at the top of Trail 7) tabout people having sex in the woods. The horror! Many surmise the increased police activity has been due to the ever-encroaching new residences nearby. Some even fret the end of the nudist era at Wreck Beach will come to an end before long. All the more reason to go down and find out what's going on firsthand.

Bird watching

No, not me.

My camera was certainly not focused on him
when the fog first rolled in early this afternoon.
But he insisted I take a few shots of him with the birds.

Packing up - 1

Casting a long shadow at The Oasis

Devoured

Leftovers

Unlike some people ...

... these birds are not alone.

Follow the ->

In the sand at Wreck Beach

Trail maintainer

Keeping the path along the beach passable

Fully clothed at the nude beach

When there's nobody around, what else is there to do?

Gay crackdown in China?

A friend just told me about Oasis in Beijing being raided recently and I found the article here:

http://shanghaiist.com/2008/03/31/a_big_gay_crack.php

Video snapshot I took in front of Destination on 8/9 March.

How distressing that the guys at Oasis were detained and/or taken away! I truly hope they are all okay. That’s surely not going to be good for their business in the future. A real shame. Their new location near Dongsishitiao is a nice place - though not at all like a Western bath house, it was quite hopping with a nice mix of young/old & local/foreign guys … and action to be had all over the place.

I was inside Destination during the first police “raid” on the night of the 8th/9th March. If I recall correctly, it was at midnight that the music suddenly ended. Friends who had just arrived outside were not allowed in. Then before we went out to meet them, security told us we would not be allowed to re-enter. There were a couple of police cars outside with their lights flashing, but no obvious (uniformed) police presence inside.I departed China as previously scheduled a couple of days later, and since friends who have gone to Destination said it’s not as busy as it was before the brief closure. (Perhaps not a bad thing as it was sometimes packed beyond comfort.)

China is generally not gay-unfriendly. My Chinese partner & I held hands everywhere we went - though we are certainly not out to his family. If there’s any complaint I have about being gay in Beijing, it’s that there aren’t enough gay bars or venues.