China Mosaic

Mary has inspired me to make mosaics, so I've delved into my archives to look for themes. For this China one I made a unique pattern and used red borders. It was fun fitting the photos into the different shapes to show them to their best advantage, but I think I like the squares better.


Starting with the red door and going clockwise: Door to Forbidden City, Sidewalk Calligraphy, Yao Woman washing her hair, Lunch in the Hutong, Panda Bear, Summer Palace, Terracotta Warriors, Gold Buddha at Wild Goose Pagoda, Artistic Dumplings, Li River Valley, and in the center The Great Wall.

Made in China

For hundreds of years travelers have brought home souvenirs as reminders of their travels. We are no different. Here's one little thing we got on the Great Wall. There was actually a shop inside one of the towers. We've adding it to our collection of other little buildings.

We also managed to purchase these two replicas of the Terracotta Warriors. Our guide kept trying to herd us into a movie of how the tomb was discovered, but we persevered and went to the gift shop. We also bought a guide book about the Warriors and had the farmer who found them while digging a well sign it. He seemed a little grumpy that day, but I can guess why. He sits there all day writing his name in these books, not understanding anything anyone says to him, probably regretting the hoards of visitors the discovery brings to his once peaceful village.

We also bought a few of these cute toothpick holders. They come with lots of different designs on them; birds, pandas, dragons, scenery.

I like this souvenir best. We got it at the Shaanxi History Museum in Xi'an. It's a replica of a terracotta horse from the Tang Dynasty.

I guess we should have bought more souvenirs, but then we wouldn't have this souvenir. It's only about $12.00, but priceless to me.

Chinese Signs

China is trying to welcome foreign tourists in many ways. One way is the increasing use of English on signs. Unfortunately, they often lose something in the translation. Like this sign:

I'm glad there wasn't an emergency at this hotel, because this confusing map might have caused me to scatter incorrectly.

This sign caused us to ponder what suddenness was and we decided to avoid it at all costs.

Smoking is quite common in China especially among the businessmen, but it was nice to know that we were always in non-smoking rooms.

This sign was near the river and I'm thinking it was anti-littering.

This sign was encouraging people not to walk on the grass. I think. Maybe.

At all the tourist destinations we saw star-rated toilets. These were not only clean, but they frequently had toilet paper and western toilets.

Speaking of toilets, all over China you see these toilets. The Chinese prefer them because you don't touch anything and we all used them with no problems, but some Westerners had trouble with them and were constantly looking for western toilets.

One enterprising restaurant had this thoughtful solution for their western patrons:

One evening we had a drink at this bar. We wondered if our drinks were poured from Mason jars.

But, after all the hub-bub of shopping and sight-seeing, it was always comforting to pass through a civilized airport. Thanks China, for showing us such a good time.

Wanna Buy a Rolex?

After the silk tour we hopped on the bus for the 2 hour ride to Shanghai. We settled into our new hotel, got cleaned up and went to the Acrobat Show that evening. There was something wrong (ergonomically speaking) with the seats, but it didn't seem to matter because the show was so exciting. The best part was when they rolled a giant steel mesh ball onto the stage and put 5 *yes FIVE* motorcycles into it. They were zooming around inside it, avoiding each other by mere inches, at high speed. It was amazing! I'd never seen anything like it. I tried to get a picture of it, but the motorcycles just look like grey blobs.




Our first day in Shanghai we went to the Shanghai History Museum. Its four floors contain a wonderful array of artifacts, all beautifully displayed. Unfortunately, we only had an hour and a half to see it all; not nearly enough. I was particularly interested in the costume section where we saw an impressive collection of native clothing. I had no idea anyone made clothes from salmon skins!

We also saw fabulous pottery like this gorgeous Ming/Ching/whatever bowl. This thing is hundreds of years old, but it looks brand new. Not at all like the "antiques" the vendors sell that look old, but were made last night.

Then we drove to the Pudong area and went to the observation deck of the Jin Mai Tower. The elevator ride to the 88th floor is smooth, quiet and non-stop. The only sensation of rising is your popping ears. The view was awesome, but smoggy. The building just to the right in the photo below is a new building under construction that will be even taller than the Jin Mai.

After a double-whammy daily obligatory factory tour (silk rugs and cashmere sweaters) we had Mongolian barbeque for lunch and went to the Knock-Offs market. I'm not a haggler, I don't understand the whole process, I don't like being grabbed and pulled into shops, and we both found it extremely tiring, but the Lord of the Manor bought a Rolex anyway. So what do you think, does it look real?

Our last day in Shanghai we walked to the Yu Garden and Bazaar. It was a little more relaxing than the Knock-Offs market, but still the relentless hawking of tacky souvenirs gets annoying. We did manage to find a really nice tassel there to add to my collection.

We also walked across the zig-zag bridge, past the tea pavilion and this statue. We stopped to admire the koi. I thought it looked awfully crowded in there, but why should the fish live any differently than the
people? Tomorrow I'll post some interesting photos of signs we saw in China. Their translations are often quite amusing.

Suzhou and Tongli

The cleaning crews at the hotels generally swooped into our rooms before our coach even left the parking lot, and it's a good thing because frequently someone would forget something. The item would be whisked to the coach and given to our guide. She would then hold it up, ask who's it was and we'd be on our way, thankful for the hotel's efficiency.

On the day we left Guilin it happened again. That morning it was a little bottle that looked like whisky. "John" admitted his ownership, and claimed he'd left it because of our impending flight to Shanghai. Then our guide asked if he knew what it was. "Noooo, not really", he said. So she explained that it was like Viagra wine. While the whole bus erupted into hilarious laughter, "John" kept trying to explain that he didn't know, didn't need it, didn't really drink it, etc. Yah, right.

After surviving the worst food on the whole trip, and a wild crosswind landing, we finally arrived in Shanghai only to be herded onto another bus for the 2 hour ride to Tongli.

Tongli resemblesVenice with its canals and gondola-like boats. It was wonderfully peaceful and quiet walking through the misty rain. First we visited the folklore museum, then we took a ride on a gondola. Then we visited a restored example of a typical home.

On our way out of town "John" found this wine shop, but it was closing. We were beginning to sense a pattern here.

The next day we visited The Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets in Suzhou. It was originally constructed in 1140 AD and recreated in 1770. It is said that the gardens of Suzhou are some of the finest in China, and indeed, a recent gift, 1001 Gardens You Must See Before You Die, describes this garden on page 767. It was beautiful and contained all the classic images you'd imagine. Round gates, standing stones, water, bridges, koi, pavilions, wisteria, and peonies.

In fact, while the rest of the group was paying attention to our guide, the Lord of the Manor and I slipped away and found these peonies. Peonies are one of my favorite flowers, so how could I resist taking portraits of them all? Whilst I snapped away, he kept track of the group and we slipped back without anyone noticing.

Our obligatory daily factory tour was silk that day. I found it interesting how silk is harvested and processed into fabric. It reminded me of Mrs. Humphrey's first grade class where I helped out when Teen2 was little. Every spring silk worms were hatched and grown to adulthood. The teacher would put a little box of worms on the hyper kids' desks. It somehow helped to calm them down so they could do their work. Perhaps it was their rythmic munching. Alas, we saw no live worms here. The worms are first killed with heat, then soaked in water and unwound. Eight to ten strands are spun together to make the threads then dyed and woven into beautiful fabrics. The imperfect cocoons are made into comforters. I know we had silk comforters on the beds in our hotel rooms and they were light and warm, but not too warm. I kind of wish I'd bought one since our down comforter is often too warm for our climate.

Next up will be Shanghai. Don't touch that dial!

Li River Cruise

Our last day in Guilin we took a cruise on the Li River. Several boatloads of tourists cruise this river every day. It's a nice four hour ride and includes lunch. The eroded limestone karsts along this section of river have been the subject of Chinese landscape painting for centuries. The subtropical climate bathes them in a constant mist adding to their mystique. The shores are home to bamboo groves, rice terraces, small villages and the ever present water buffalo.

Our boat was big and carried about 80 tourists. It had bathrooms and a kitchen way aft, and they served a decent lunch, but I'd much rather have been on one of these boats. We saw these traditional bamboo raft-type boats everywhere. I would love to take a ride on one and see how they are made.

We passed by this village as the farmers were preparing their orange harvest for shipment.

And we watched this fisherman setting his net.

And when this view appeared our guide helpfully pointed out that it's the landscape shown on the 20 yuan bill.

Our guide also told us that water buffaloes have a pretty easy life here. They only work a few weeks twice a year to cultivate the rice terraces. The rest of the time they just sort of wander around keeping the weeds down.

After lunch the Lord of the Manor had a little nip of this cobra wine. I think it's all a show for the tourists and it seemed quite expensive for the tiny sip they sold him, but now he can say he's had snake wine.

After the obligatory daily factory tour (pearls this time I think) we had dinner at a place that prided itself on showmanship. Here is an example of their talents. It's supposed to be a farmer with bags of rice on his boat. The farmer was made out of a cucumber and a tiny egg with a tomato hat. The bags of rice were vegetable dumplings. Not only was it the cutest food of the whole trip, but it tasted good too.

After dinner our guide suggested foot massages since Guilin was famous for them. Nine of us said we'd like to do that, so off we went in the bus again. We all trooped into the place and *surprise* they showed us into a large room with ten chairs! Group foot massage! It turned out to be one of the high points of the trip. Not only was it a superior massage, but our masseuses worked in unison, so we all moaned at the same time. It has to be one of the most hilarious things we've ever done.
I still have a few more days of the trip to tell you about and then I'll get back to normal life here Amongst The Oaks.

Guilin and the LongJi Terraces

This day turned out to be the most memorable day of the trip for me. We left our hotel early in the morning for the 50 mile ride to the LongJi Terraces and the village of Ping'An. The village is accessed via a ticket office, a minibus ride, and a ticket checking gate. It sounds touristy, doesn't it? Yet, it isn't a Disneyland type mock-up, it's real village where real people live and grow their rice, and go about their business. A lot of them now make their business the tourists, but the village is still a fascinating example of traditional life.

At the minibus parking lot, women were trolling around with postcards, bracelets and embroideries. This one in particular latched onto me trying to sell me something. I told her "Later", and scurried up to the gate, glad to be shed of her.


This new prosperity is helping people; we saw two new homes being built as we climbed up to "Seven Stars" where lunch had been arranged. The buildings jut out over the hillsides and are all wood with no nails used in the framing. However, the roofs are dark grey clay tiles, and the homes have modern windows.

All construction materials must be carried up the hill or salvaged from old homes like the roof tiles. Here are windows being carried up. Notice how the pole is bending under the weight? Glass is heavy, but these people are extremely strong and hardy. Every excursion involves thousands of steps up and down the hills.

In fact, everything comes up the hill on foot. And if a tourist feels they can't walk up, the locals will carry them up in a sedan chair. For a price, of course.

While walking up we saw many interesting activities: farmers working the rice terraces,

the Yao women washing their famously long hair,

sticky rice being cooked in bamboo,

strange foodstuffs,

and cute little kids.

We finally made it up to the top where we caught our breaths, enjoyed lunch at (believe it or not) a hotel, took in the view, and pondered this amazing culture.

And my little friend back at the parking lot? Yes, she found me. And yes, she sold me a bracelet and some postcards. And she seemed quite smug about it too.