China part 2

I have over 4,000 photos to choose from! Not that I took all of them myself, but there was a group of us, all invited by Zixu for his sister's wedding, and we decided to share photos since it was ridiculous to all be taking photos of the same thing. (photo shows us sitting, at the far right Zixu and his sister (Zijing) and her fiance Tao (with the squirt gun), and the rest are Zixu's college friends that came). It's hard to believe that over 4,000 photos can be taken in 2 weeks! What were we thinking? I have this theory that we take so many photos because we want to bring it back with us, but we never can. Also, digital photography has made excess just as possible for the ordinary folks as for the professionals -- now WE can take 10 photos to capture just the right light or expression -- and we do!

But, WHATEVER! I am grateful that we can. If we can't bring it back with us, we can at least remember better. So, with that said, here are more photos of China. The above photo, as well as the previous post's nature photos, were taken on our hike past the Black Dragon Pools and waterfalls. The hike was in the mountains near Miyun, Zixu's home, about 45 minutes north of Beijing. It's not like we haven't hiked before, but a hike in China certainly has a different flavor --shapes, colors, how a public trail is run -- there were concession stands ( photo on right) and souvenir stalls where we are used to ranger stations and small museums. But having easy access to ice cream bars (bean, lychee, mango flavors) was very nice!

Afterwards we went to a lovely restaurant, also in the mountains, and ate, as usual, too much. They have a great idea in China! Big round tables with huge lazy susans in the middle, and then they just pile plates of food on them, and you snag whatever you want as it rotates past you. I need not say that we ate exclusively with chopsticks the whole time we were there -- and managed to gain weight despite this handicap. There was fish, beef, chicken, and lots of vegetables, very few of which we recognized. All completely delicious!


The next day we visited the Emperor's hunting lodge and summer retreat (mostly built by the Qing dynasty (1600's to 1911), the last dynasty before Communism took over) in the cooler mountains in the north -- photos also on previous post. Escape from the oppressive heat and humidity of Beijing -- the main seat of government historically and presently -- is very important! Indeed it was quite cold when we were there, and the umbrellas we bought were useful to keep us dry in the rain that fell at the beginning -- and all during the trip provided shelter from either rain, or relentless sun. Anyways -- All government business moved to this huge walled preserve in which we took an 11 km unforgettable scary open air tour bus ride (no seat belts, no railings, narrow road, steep road, cliffs and sharp curves, breakneck speed and
seemingly indifferent bus driver--although we did survive, so he apparently knew what he was doing). Zixu also gave us the opportunity to get a boat ride over to a hot spring, which, as it was warm weather, really didn't look all that remarkable although there were more cool buildings. The most remarkable part was when the boaters had an argument. We couldn't understand any of it, of course, but it SEEMS they were arguing about who would have the job of poling us over there. Apparently the guy who was sleeping wasn't awake enough to say, "not me" because they woke him up and he was one of the two that took us over.

Many days we ate at restaurants, but even when we didn't, Zixu's mom had wonderful food ready for us. If you look real carefully, you can see the rooster's head in the meat dish. We didn't eat that! but everything else was wonderful. We also got some basic cooking lessons, in part to reduce the work for Zixu's mother and aunt, and in part so I would learn to cook it so Zixu could have more homey food when he returns to Washington. It will take some practice before my cooking looks as good, is prepared as efficiently, and tastes as great as what they prepared, but apparently my efforts were good enough that they have hope for me. Still, much as we enjoyed all that genuine "chinese food", by the end of the trip, we missed good old bread, jam, and peanut butter!

So, next post, the Great Wall...