Archive for July 2009

July 30th, 2009: China, part 3: Yangshuo

After Shanghai we made an impromptu trip to the city of Yangshuo, which is in south central China in the karst region, near Guilin. The scenery was absolutely stunning and it was nice to get out of the big cities a little bit. Even though the city had tons of tourists and all that that entails, it was still a very pleasant place to stay.

Yangshuo, near Guilin

Near our hostel, Yangshuo

Bus station, Yangshuo

Mysterious yellow grains spread out on the pavement, near Yangshuo

We took a two-hour boat ride up the Li River with some spectacular views. I finally feel like a person who deserves the title Traveler, because I have now ridden a beat-up old vehicle down a dirt road in the middle of a remote, lush region:

Near the Li River

Yvonne, at the scene on the 20RMB note

Our kind pilot, Li River, near Yangshuo

Li River karsts, near Yangshuo

Sudden downpour during lunch, Li River, near Yangshuo

And if that wasn't scenic enough, let's add ... fog!

Li River, near Yangshuo

The internet must know about this "European LOL massage"

Yvonne at the Yangshuo Cooking School

July 24th, 2009: China, part 2: Shanghai

We were in such a rush to get to Shanghai so that we could catch the total solar eclipse on the morning of July 22. Unfortunately, we failed to factor in the fact that the Shanghai area is often completely clouded in at that time of the year. It was, in fact, raining, but regardless it was still very impressive. We couldn't make out the sun, but it did suddenly get completely dark at around 9:30 AM. You could tell that people around the city were pretty excited. Here's the documentation:

We then spent a few days exploring Shanghai and the surrounding region.

Old Town, Shanghai

Tea house in a pond in the Old Town

One thing to note is the zig-zag bridge leading to the tea house in the picture above. Apparently Chinese ghosts can't travel over water and have poor cornering ability, so to protect yourself from them, you need to be on an island connected to land with a zig-zag bridge. We saw a few instances of this around the Shanghai area.

We stopped to have tea

Koi feeding frenzy! Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai

Yvonne in the rain, Yuyuan Gardens

Guardian lion, Yuyuan Gardens

More ghost-confounding zig-zag bridges, Yuyuan Gardens

Bizarre public exercise machines, Shanghai

Strolling though a "stone-gate house" neighborhood, French Concession

Stone carving, Baiyun Temple, Shanghai

Fancy modern woodwork, Baiyun Temple

I like the shirt on the right. Baiyun Temple

Note the crazy top to the skyscraper to the right. Baiyun Temple

Lotus pond, Renmin Park, Shanghai

Parrots, no doubt super-old, Shanghai Art Museum

Thousand-buddha obelisk, Shanghai Art Museum

We made a day trip to a "water village" near Shanghai. These are towns built on canal networks in the same fashion as Venice, though they're generally much smaller. Most of these places are now big and not-especially-authentic tourist stops, but it was still a fun trip to make.

Zhujiajiao water village, near Shanghai

A nice go board, Ke zhi yuan Garden, Zhujiajiao

Courtyard, Ke zhi yuan Garden, Zhujiajiao

Scary straw dummies, Ke zhi yuan Garden

Stone structure with tunnels, Ke zhi yuan Garden

A tubby buddha, Ke zhi yuan Garden

Veggies, Ke zhi yuan Garden

Another zig-zag bridge, Ke zhi yuan Garden

Bat woodwork, Ke zhi yuan Garden

Neat natural/built bridge, Ke zhi yuan Garden

Another angle

Riding a boat around the canals, Zhujiajiao

Shanghai has numerous crazy skyscrapers but I wasn't able to get pictures of many since I was short on space in my memory card and the best spot for taking pictures of them, the Bund area by the Huangpu River, was all off-limits due to construction for the World Expo 2010. I did get a picture of one skyscraper though, and it's a doozy. This is a functioning building in which people actually work:

The Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Shanghai

July 21st, 2009: China, part 1: Beijing

Yvonne, her undergraduate friends Neil and Aga, and I traveled through China for two weeks this summer. It was a lot of fun and really fascinating. This is the first of several batches of pictures that I'll upload.

I spent most of the trip working with an undersized memory card so I ended up taking a lot fewer pictures at the beginning than I might have. So our first stop, in Beijing, isn't very well documented. We also had to blow through Beijing in just a day and a half so we only scratched the surface of what the city was like.

We stayed at a small, excellent hostel called the Chinese Box Hostel. The owners were extremely friendly and helpful and did a lot to make our stay in Beijing more enjoyable.