Friday, May 22, 2009

Yunnan & Guangxi Provinces, China

After landing in Yunnan, I had to take a bus into Lijiang, and was able to see several villages along the way



There was a welcomed sense of serenity here after having been in the city for months; note the religious monument just above the tree line



As soon as I arrived in Lijiang, I saw what an enchanting little city it is, with rivers flowing throughout



Another shot of the interior of the city just before dusk



At night, with red lanterns lit everywhere, the look was spectactular



Just outside of the city was the beautiful Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (behind this lake), which I later hiked (part way)



There was also a Tibetan temple that I was able to make it out to, which required leaving the city again, only to pass through beautiful fields



Some of the local people out farming mid-day



While going through some of the villages on the way out to the temple, one really gets to see just how drastically the income gap is growing between inner-rural China and the east coast port cities



There was quite a hike to get up top of this mountain where the temple sits; here I am taking a breather beneath Tibetan prayer flags



Finally made it up to the temple



Chillin' with a young monk



Here are some of the local women, from the Naxi tribe, wearing spectacular traditional clothing



Later on, went hiking up the Jade Dragon Snow mountain



Heading further up snow mountain with my oxygen tank; approximately 4506 meters above sea level here



Then headed out to Lugu Lake, a peaceful place that's about a six hour bus ride outside of Lijiang



Was able to get more shots of the local Naxi people, which is a matriarchal society, along the long bus ride



As you can probably tell, I was fascinated with the differences in cultural clothing



Also had the chance to see more rural villages along the way



Literally had a place to stay at the shore of the lake - here it is at dusk



After leaving Lijiang, I made my way out to Yangshuo in the Guangxi province



Yangshou is a very friendly little backpacker city - really enjoyed being here



At night, these tiny streets lit up with restaurants and quaint little merchant shops



Managed to jump on a boat sailing down the Li River, passing gorgeous lime stone hills, which reminded me a great deal of being in Halong Bay



I rented a bike and rode through muddy roads stacked with pot holes in the rain; the surrounding visuals were striking



The farming system here is based largely on rice paddies, which one could see as far as the eye could reach



Bikes lined up at one of the local villages I visited along the Li River



Spotted this cool mural while passing along some of the local street shops



Grabbed a glass of coffee in this rainy little town at the shore of the river



Yangshuo is really a stunning place to see

Thursday, February 05, 2009

More cool stuff from China

Went to the Beijing Zoo to hang out with the pandas, these guys are great



This one dude was a total ham. They're a lot of fun to watch



I've heard a lot of stories of people jumping into the enclosures, but you could get pretty close regardless



More fun watching the pandas



I've spent a great deal of time walking around the hutongs while I've been here. They're really cool



Unfortunately a lot of the hutongs are disappearing, as Beijing races to fill out its skylline. Hopefully they save a few of these



Shot of one of the many fruit markets along the hutongs



This is the entrance to the Lama temple, which is definitely worth a visit if you're in Beijing



The Lama temple has a cool surrounding, with lots of shops hawking prayer beads and incense



These buildings are laced throughout the city and have an amazing architecture - cool to stop and look at



I also made it out to Simatai, and got to see more of rural China



The Simatai section of the great wall is by far the best that I've seen yet



The wall is so impressive, especially on a clear day, when you really get to see just how far this thing stretches



You can tell the original glue on portions of the wall (certain sections have been restored many times) by the (very) faded white color of the substance



It's also wild to look over the north side of the wall and see former inner Mongolia sitting down below



It's a looooong climb up on this section of the wall



More cool buildings lining other sections of a hutong



There's also Hohai in Beijing, which is a beautiful lake with a number of great bars along the shore



The lake is actually frozen over now, so you can see hundreds of people skating on it during the weekends



Beihai park is another one of my favorite spots in Beijing - a very peaceful place to spend a Sunday afternoon



You can go anywhere in the park and quietly observe amazing scenery like this



Over the past couple of weeks, fireworks have been going off like clockwork for the lunar new year



It's hard to catch how many fireworks go off at once with a single shot, but this lasts all day and night - scaring away the spirits



It's also a little dangerous, especially when the wind starts to pick up



Things have finally started to come down now that the new year celebrations are over