China - Odds and Ends Pictures

Dear Family and Friends,

Today's pictures are some that I didn't include in posts but wanted to share with you.  I have them somewhat categorized.

KNOCK OFFS:

We all know that China has no respect for brand names.  They are famous for their imitation designer watches and purses. Here are some pictures I made of knock off stores.

7-11 and Starbucks side by side. Look closely.

Here's another, LFC instead of KFC. They even have an imitation colonel.

FUNNY TRANSLATIONS:

TRANSPORTATION:

What do you think about this kiddie seat attached to this scooter?

We saw many of these vehicles in southern China.  I guess you might call them a truck...or something.  It looks like they have been around for a long time, they must be dependable to have lasted so long.

This lady is balancing in back of a tuk tuk (a three wheeled scooter). Note the chair that is propped on the back.  Hope they made it to their destination all right.

This young lady is taking her two dogs with her. Good balancing act for the big dog.

This little boy is entertaining his little brother by pulling him along. I love this picture. I guess it counts as transportation.

STREET FOOD:

This guy was dancing while throwing noodles into the pot. He was quite good.

Pig snouts, pig ears, and no telling what other pig parts for your eating enjoyment.

These ladies are making sausages. I don't know what they are stuffed with.

I can't say for sure, but this looks like a dish of rats.

This could be a great picture to put on the refrigerator if you made a New Years resolution to lose weight.

WATER BUFFALO

I snapped this photo from the car window as we were passing him in the road. They are so plentiful in southern China. They play an important role in farming. I think he was returning home from work.

Here is another one eating rice stubble in the field. 

DRYING RICE:

We saw rice being dried in the field

and on the sidewalks.

FAVORITE PICTURE:

I met this old lady on the street. She was seated outside her door and as I walked by she wanted me to come sit beside her. She radiated love...you can see it in the picture. Her sweet soul blessed me so much.

She told me that she is 96 years old. She said that she can hardly see, hardly hear and has lost most of her hair. What a dear sweet lady. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to spend a few moments with her.

This raps up our China trip. Thanks for coming along through our pictures.

After China we flew to Singapore and boarded a cruise ship, I will tell you where we went in my next post if you care to continue with us on our journey.

Love,
Nancy

China - Detian Waterfalls

Dear Family and Friends,

One of the most beautiful sights in China is right on the border of Viet Nam. It is a waterfall that is half in Viet Nam and half in China. The picture below is of both parts of the waterfall. The right waterfall is in China.

Here is a view of the waterfall on the Chinese side.

And here is a view of the waterfall on the Viet Nam side.

We went down to the water, boarded a raft and went very close to the falls.

Everything is so green and lush. Absolutely beautiful. We then hiked up beside the falls to the top.  

At the top of the falls, I looked back and was astonished to see this boy standing right at the edge of where the water spills over the falls.

Here is Chuck checking out the surrounding area.

We hiked from the Chinese waterfall to the border of Viet Nam just so we could stick our toe across the line.

There were several cute ponies ready to carry you there if you were so inclined. 

We chose to hike over and here is Chuck posing at the border.

We were allowed to cross over into a small market.

These are a sample of what type of items were available. The big item to buy was Vietnamese coffee.

On our way back to China, we passed a pony doing his work.  Poor guy.

My next post will be about odds and ends, pictures from China that I want to share with you, but did not fit into the posts.

Love,
Nancy

China - Equan Spring

Dear Family and Friends,

Today we went to Equan Spring.  Again, a beautiful place to visit.

The water was absolutely clear and pristine.  

For me the beauty was in the wonderful ladies we met. This lady is selling small amounts of fish food so the tourists can feed the fish.

There were about four or five women together.  I looked at our guide and asked him to tell this lady that I thought she was beautiful.  I asked if I could take her picture.  She smiled and agreed.

And this lady too.

Then we all posed together for a very dear picture.

We could not speak one word to each other, but something happened between us and we were laughing, touching and truly passing love between each other.

This experience was one of the highlights of this trip for me.

Here is Chuck at the end of our visit.  The stubble on the ground across from him is harvested rice.  

In the next post we touch our foot into Viet Nam.

Love,
Nancy

China - Artist of Jiuzhou Old Street

Dear Family and Friends,

After buying some of the embroidered balls, we continued through the historic part of Jiuzhou.

We came upon a man sitting on the curb drawing.  I looked across the street and saw what he was seeing.  It is in the picture above. Do you see it?

I told him I liked what he was doing (through our tour guide, of course).  The tour guide told me his teacher was standing behind him.  I looked around and saw this delightful, smiling, friendly old man.

I told him how happy I was to meet him and he asked if we would like to come to his home.  We were delighted.

He spent a lot of time showing us his work.  

He said he has been painting for over 50 years.  He said that people ask him why he only paints, that he could make more money doing other things.  He said that he loves what he does.

He told us that during the cultural revolution that he was forced to go work in a factory.  He said he only lasted about two months.  He came back home. He said he would rather starve than to give up painting.

The painting below is of a lady embroidering a ball.  

He took us behind his house to his studio.  

He had several projects he was working on.

Most of his paintings were of the countryside scenes around his town.

This is a picture looking at the back of his house from the studio.  What an honor to actually be invited inside his home.  

I took a photo of his palate....beautiful colors.

I admired the picture below.

After we left his house, we walked to the end of the road and lo and behold there was the scene that I had admired right in front of us.  How awesome.