The China Adventures...Finally!

I know, I know, I promised to post these 2 months ago but I've got a good excuse.

TickerHound's been going surprisingly well this summer and it's been monopolizing the vast majority of my time. So now my blog AND my girlfriend hate me and my entrepreneurial spirit :(

j/k

In any case, here are my pics from June's trip to China...we had an AMAZING time!

Beijing is much cleaner than it was 3 years ago, but it also lost some of its "edge". There were no more gypsy cab drivers at the airport trying to drag me into their overpriced cabs, no more fake DVD's being sold on the streets of Beijing and my white T-shirts didn't turn brown from the rain anymore.

I guess some would call this progress, but for me, I missed my Beijing funk.

Don't get me wrong, there were still some funky sights to be seen, but China definitely got its act together for the Olympics.

Shanghai was great too, but then again, it always has been. I think on my next trip to China I'm staying out of the cities and heading into the countryside. It's high time I see what the vast majority of the country lives like, not just the wealthier (comparatively speaking) city folk.

So without further ado, heeeeeeere's China!

This was my friend Winston's wedding. His wife's mother was one of the higher ups at China's CCTV. Therefore, there were more people manning cranes, cameras and fog machines than there were guests!

Great wedding though! Congrats again Winston!

Who's ready to drink??


My boy Mao lives here.


I don't know why but I thought these outdoor, branded food/drink kiosks were so cool.

A spot of tea?

And now for the food!


I'll post more pics soon enough...this just made me reeeeeally hungry!

On the road...

Sorry for the lack of posts - I've been on the road, mainly down in South Florida.

Surprisingly there's a bit of a hustle n' bustle down here - not in the tech sector, but rather in sectors like mortgages (well not so much here anymore), finance, insurance, etc. The standard of living is so cheap that if you make a moderate 6-figure income you can live like Puff Daddy.

There's also a booming adult entertainment sector in Miami - mainly for online-only companies, but these guys are doing big business nonetheless.

On a whim I decided to check out home prices - not that I'd ever move down here, I'm a New Yorker all the way - and I couldn't believe what I found.

I checked out a 5 bedroom, 3 bathroom, multi-floor home with a built in pool, court yard and jacuzzi with a 2 car garage...price tag?

$1.5 million!!

Do you know what $1.5 million would get you in New York? Maybe a 1 bedroom in a decent building in the West Village.

It blows my mind at how overpriced New York Real Estate is. However, the situation may be changing soon, for renters at least. Over the next 12 months there's going to be roughly 160 new buildings going up in some of the trendier (highest demand) areas of New York. In my opinion, this is likely going to cause a drop in rental prices across the board, especially in these areas (West Village, Chelsea, Midtown west).

So anybody thinking about renting, sit tight for a few more months and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I don't really have enough expertise to make any calls with respect to the home buyers market in New York, but with interest rates where they are I wouldn't be so quick to take a mortgage out right now.

Hopefully the Fed will do something to fix that this week.

On another note, I'll try to post more this week. I've been busy working on the front-end for my new web project and it's been taking up a heckuva lot more time than I thought it would.

Hope you're all doing well...Wayne, over and out!