Winter Trip--Li River to Yangshou

Here we are at the start of our trip down the Li River. This is the part of China that is often portrayed in pictures--high limestone hills, small farms, quiet villages. As you can see, the day we were there was foggy, giving a mystical aura to all we saw.

I will not make many long comments on this blog. The pictures speak for themselves.

Water buffalo along the river.

The back of another boat like ours. The passenger area was actually quite nice and very clean. We traveled for 4 1/2 hours so we ate lunch on the boat as we watched the scenery pass by.
Our lunch was probably cooked in a kitchen similar to this one.

If you think this looks like a snake in the bottle, you are correct. If you notice, there is a bottle of something alcoholic next to the snake bottle. That's because this is the bar on the boat. If we wanted to pay the price, we could have had snake wine with our lunch. It still makes me shudder to think of it.

We saw some small boats with only a couple of tourists on it. I think I liked the bigger boat better.

Other boats passed by loaded with fruits and vegetables to take to market. Some of them were loaded with souvenirs. They kept pace with our boat and the people hawked their wares by standing on the roof of their little boats.

Women doing their wash in the river. The water was COLD. I imagine their hands were numb as they scrubbed and scrubbed.

As we arrived Yangshou I snapped this picture of an elderly man with his cormorant. More about the birds later.











We disembarked at a nice pier and walked for 15 minutes to our hotel. The walk was through a gauntlet of shops with everyone trying to sell us something. Actually, this was one of the best places to shop that we saw on the whole trip. Knowing what I know now, I would have bought more things there.

After checking in to the hotel, we boarded a golf cart-like vehicle and went for a tour in the country. We stopped at a family home which is opened up to tourists. This is the courtyard.

The house was full of surprises. The family had several generations living there. They were Buddhist and here was one of their shrines. Interestingly enough, a TV was nearby and some children were watching it.

Another room contained two of these. If you think it looks like a coffin, you are once again correct. The family is "wealthy" by local standards and the grandparents already have their coffins built for when they die.

The next surprise came when we stepped out the back door. Can you guess what this is? I will say I was very happy it was quite cool. Does that give you a hint?

This picture gives a better perspective. It was the biggest wasp nest I have ever seen. Like I said, I'm surely glad there were none of them out flying around.

Everywhere we go, people are surprised at how tall Jim is. Teenagers, especially, walk carefully by him to see how they "measure up." This lady was no teenager, but she was very curious about Jim's height. So, we took a picture. She may have been amazed at how "tall" he was, but we were amazed at just how "small" she was.

We left the farmhouse at dusk and enjoyed the scenery as we made our way back to town. Here are some of the pictures we took.

Half Moon Arch.

After dinner we boarded some boats to go watch the local fishermen catch fish using cormorants. They tie a string around the bird's neck so he cannot swallow the fish. Then they go out on a boat with a bright light. The birds dive into the water and catch the fish. They can hold 4 or 5 fish in their gullets. They are trained to return to the boat where the fisherman has them hop up onto the deck.

Then he squeezes the fish out into a basket. After that the bird is sent out to catch some more fish. Because of the bright lights we could see the birds under the water catching the fish. It was a fascinating experience. Don't know what the PETA people would say to this, but it works for the Chinese.

Winter Trip--Hong Kong

We spent almost four days in Hong Kong. Our China Teacher's Program (CTP) winter conference was held there. We were quite busy with that, but did take the afternoons and evenings to do some sightseeing. We stayed on the Kowloon side and took this picture from the waterfront near our hotel. It shows some of the skyline of Hong Kong with Victoria Peak in the background.

Here's a night view of the same skyline from a different angle. There is a light show every evening with the buildings lit up and laser lights flashing. It was quite a spectacle.

We were in Hong Kong 35 years ago. Needless to say it has changed. At first we were quite disappointed. It just seemed to be a big city with an incredible amount of skyscrapers. We took the tram ride up to Victoria Peak. I remembered going up on a winding, narrow road. No more. But after wandering around the huge lookout buildings, we went outside to this area to take pictures. As we were meandering along, we came across the small road I remembered (now blocked off, however). It made me feel good to know that my memory was still intact. We took a double decker bus down the hill--an exciting trip from the top deck as the bus wound around on the small, steep streets and back to the city.

After Victoria Peak we were looking for the Sun Yat Sen Museum and in the process discovered some of the Hong Kong we had remembered from 1973. Here is one of the narrow streets. Note the three building levels. The first is the old apartments; the next is the high rise apartments; last is the really tall skyscraper. I thought it was the perfect picture to show how Hong Kong has grown and changed through the years.

We were happy to discover the Hong Kong we remembered--narrow streets, shops, steep hills. This is looking down one of the steep streets.

And here is looking down a market street. I was so happy to find it, as the street market was one of my lasting memories of our previous trip.

When we arrived and went out to look at the harbor, Jim commented that the harbor seemed smaller than he remembered from when his submarine used to come in and anchor. Sure enough, we discovered that both the island and Kowloon are "growing." Here is a picture of the next area of growth. Piles are being driven into the bay and eventually the water will be drained, land will be filled in and buildings will be built on what used to be part of the harbor. So, yes, the harbor is actually smaller.

I also remember many sampans and junks from when we were there before. This is the only boat I saw that evoked those memories.

This building houses the Sun Yat Sen Museum. It was originally a mansion built by a Chinese businessman. For a number of years our Church owned it and used it as a chapel and mission headquarters. Then the church grew too large to be housed here so they worked with the government to trade this building for some other land to house all the offices and chapels. The Chinese have restored the building and made an excellent museum. As a tribute to the church, they left the baptismal font, and it is now displayed along with a plaque telling about when the church owned the building.

One morning our CTP group went to the Hong Kong temple. It is on a busy street, but Jim ran across and took this picture. it is a lovely building and we had a wonderful time there. I am the little red dot standing in front of the wall. Of all the new buildings in Hong Kong/Kowloon, I liked this one the best.

Winter Trip--Shenzhen

We spent one day in Shenzhen. It is on the border next to Hong Kong. Thirty five years ago when we visited Hong Kong, we took a tour into the New Territories and looked over into what was then referred to as "Red" China. The poor little village we saw was Shenzhen. Since then it has developed into one of China's richest cities with a population of 10 milliion people. It is sort of a suburb of Hong Kong--meaning people live here and work across the border. This is a whole yard of construction equipment--acres and acres. Shenzhen is a growing city.






The only place we visited in Shenzhen was a theme park that had two sides. One side was a miniature China--sort of like Madurodam in Holland for those of you who have been there. The other side was called China Folk Culture Villages. This is like the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. The story is that some Chinese officials visited the PCC, were impressed and decided that China needed something like that so the minorities in China could display their ethnic dances, clothes, homes, etc. China is 92% Han Chinese with 56 ethnic groups making up the other 8%. Southwest China is home to many of these groups and we enjoyed visiting them and learning about their culture. Here in Shenzhen we could see many of them without getting on a bus. The following pictures were taken at the China Folk Culture Villages.










The dragon welcomed us and the place was decorated extensively with lanterns, flowers, and assorted colorful streamers to celebrate the Chinese New Year.











































A dancer from western China. Note the Indian influence in the costume and the long gold artificial nails.





































Unfortunately, I did not take notes about which culture was in which picture. So you will have to just enjoy the pictures without much comment.




































We saw this instrument and costume at the cultural village and were pleasantly surprised to see the same costumes later as we toured in southwest China. I think the instrument looked and sounded like an old fashioned washboard.





































Women dancing to the music played by the above musician.






















We saw several inside shows. This one was from the northern part of China.



























This is a dance from the Uigher area of China. We saw this area last fall on our trip along the Silk Road.













































Perhaps the most impressive show we saw was in a big arena. It was put on by the Mongolian minority. As you can see the costumes certainly gave a feel of Ghengis Khan and his thundering hoards. The riders staged a mock battle and their displays of horsemanship were amazing. I had heard about the riding ability of Mongols but it was spectacular to see.



















Preparing for the mock battle.














Along with all the shows, there were displays of artifacts. Here Jim is trying his hand at a grinding machine. Not an easy job.


After spending the day in Shenzhen we went on to Hong Kong for our midwinter conference.

Winter Trip--Hainan Island

After Shanghai we expected Hainan Island to be extremely hot. However, as you can see from the sweater, it was quite cool. Our tour guide's parents spend the winter there and they told him it was the coldest weather they'd seen in the 5 years they had been coming down. But the sun was shining and it was very pleasant--not swimming in the ocean weather, but a nice break from the cold north.

Hainan Island is the southern most point of China and helps to make the boundary of the Gulf of Tonkin so it is actually south east of Hanoi, Viet

Nam. Anciently, several emperors came to Hainan for the winter. They determined that it was one of the four corners of the earth. (Remember the square earth from the museum in Shanghai.) Anyway, as we walked down the path to the ocean, the view was wonderful. When we reached the water, we walked along the sand and around many HUGE boulders to get to the rock that was determined anciently to be the corner of the earth. It was interesting to me because I expected it to be the end of the island at least, but actually the shoreline continued on for miles.

Don't know just what criteria was used to make a "corner" but here is the rock that marks it. Maybe it is because the rock is square. Anyway, we have now been to one of the four corners of the earth.

Many of the rocks had Chinese writing on them. There were signs telling what was carved on the rocks and who was the emperor or leader that had the carving done. Many were painted red so the tourists could read them. The one here was supposed to bring good luck to the person who rubbed the side of the rock. You can see someone leaning against the boulder. I guess rubbing was not enough for him. We also went over and rubbed on the rock. I figure at our age we need all the luck we can get.

Along with the beach there were several gardens in the scenic area. One had many bushes trimmed and decorated to look like creatures. Here is Jim with his head in the dragon's mouth. If you look closely, the tail goes way off in the distance.

I found myself petting a whale. It is the closest I expect to ever get to a "real" whale.

There were also several elephants "roaming" through the gardens.

Since we live in the city, this was the first time we had been in a country location. It was also the first time we saw the typical pointed woven hats that are associated with rural China. If you notice, you will see not only the typical Chinese pointed hat, but ones with a flat top that I associate more with the Viet Nam area. These women were just sitting and enjoying the sunshine.

We discovered that we were on Hainan at the same time as an international orchid show. It was the last day, but we managed to get over to see the flowers. They were beautiful and the displays were both fanciful and elegant. Here are a couple of the more exotic. The first is the center piece of the show. It is a big world globe that rotated around. The countries are all made out of orchids, quite an amazing display.

Here was one of the more fanciful displays. I think this one came from somewhere in the south Pacific area. Orchids came from as far away as Europe and Australia as well as all over China, Japan and southeast Asia. We had a good time looking at all the flowers.

After leaving the orchid show, we ran across this scene. I'm not sure what these are called. The little gal mixed some batter and put it in this machine. Then she turned it on and out of the spout came some brown, shredded wheat-like substance. She then took some scissors and cut it into the small squares you can see in the bowl. We were curious so we bought a bag for $1.50. There were enough to share with all the teachers. It didn't taste bad. Some thought it was actually quite good. I wouldn't go that far, but it did have more flavor than a cardboard box, although the texture was probably the same.

The next day we took a trip to Monkey Island--a small island off the coast of Hainan Island. We rode over on a cable car and had a bird's eye view of the ocean and the fishing vessels. The monkeys were cute and all over the place. Here is a mother and a small monkey.

We saw a couple of shows with trained monkeys. This was the most amazing act we saw. The goat walked along on the tightrope and when the trainer placed the ball on the rope, the goat got on it and balanced himself. All the time the monkey was on his back, jumping around and doing tricks. It was quite an awesome display!

Monkeys were not the only cute sight on Monkey Island. There were crowds of people, especially children who loved the antics of the monkeys. This little boy is dressed in one of the ethnic costumes of southern China. He was so cute, I couldn't resist a picture.

Hainan was discovered by Russian tourists long before it became an attraction for the Chinese. I imagine the Russians really enjoy getting out of Siberia and going to Hainan for a winter holiday. While we did not want to go swimming, the cold air and water didn't seem to bother the Russians who swam anyway. At any rate, most of the signs on Hainan are in Russian. We ate dinner one evening in a Russian restaurant. It was good and we enjoyed the meal.

The other two nights we ate at a courtyard where there were many little eating places--sort of like a food court at a mall, only outside. We did have some good food, but thought the skewers of raw meat, fish, squid, etc. were worthy of a picture. We did not eat the squid, but had some good pizza, crepes, and other interesting items.

Our next stop is Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Keep tuned for those adventures.