Category: China

Tuyu Valley

Dmitrii4 Comments

In the their own words:

“The Tuyu Valley Scenic Spot is located in Shanshan County, Xinjian, which is the confluence of various world-famous religion, history and culture, 43 kilometers from the west of Turpan and 46 kilometers from the eat of Shanshan. The Scenic Spot is composed of four parts: the Grand Canyon, the Mazar Village, the Thousand-Buddha Grottoes and the Huojiamu Mazar.
The Grand Canyon of Tuyu Valley is the most mythological and spectacular part of the Flaming Mountains, where Nvwa (the Goddess who created human being and patched the sky in Chinese myth and legends) “collected water from the South China Sea and smelted colorful stones to patch the sky”. The Mazar Village of Tuyu Valley is one of the China’s Famous Villages of Historical and Cultural Interest, where the residents are all Uygur nationality and their folk customs are in an excellent state of preservation. The Ancient Folk House, blending all the earth architectures, is a museum of buildings and commonly referred to as a “Living Fossil of Folklore”. The Thousand-Buddha Grottes, excavated in the Wei-Jin and Northenr-Southern Dynasties with about 17000 years’ history, is a Key Cultural Relics under State-level Protection. The Huojiamu Mazar which is commonly called the “Stage Tomb” is one of the seven holy lands of Islam.”

And in my own photo:

Tuyu Valley - Click on it to open in my Photo Gallery

It looks bright and sunny, he? It was, just about 120-130F, in fact.

Mao

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Summer time is very smoggy in Beijing China. This time around it was not exception. The day was very hot, humid and smoggy. Hence no blue skies and just hint of grey is everywhere.

Mao - Click to see it in my Photo Gallery

Red Star Chinese Obama

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This is how enterprising  Chinese making money. Walking streets of Beijing you can’t miss it but going to see foreign leaders on t-shirts and other merchandise. I’m not sure what the t-shirt says, we didn’t buy any. If anyone is in China and reads this blog, please go check it out and let me know what it says.

RedStarObama - Click to see it in my Photo Gallery

Say what now?

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“You don’t like the color of these tasty bugs and instead want an order of grilled snake? No problem.” That is probably not what he is saying, but it could go just like that.

This is happening every night at the open food market near WangFuJing street.

Tasty Things - Click to see it large in the Photo Gallery

Biking around Beijing

Dmitrii5 Comments

BeijingGarbageCollection - Click it to see larger image in the Photo Gallery

Bike is one of the primary transportation types in China. This is probably one of the primary reasons why you are not going to see many overweight folks there (of course the food is another reason, it is mostly freshly prepared with a lot of vegies and no processed crap most of the western world like to eat).

This post is devoted to show many pictures with 2 and 3 wheeled bikes and a little video with our own riding around the city. We rented our bikes for a full day at the Bike Beijing bike rental place. They were very friendly, did not require deposit – I guess I look very trustworthy or maybe my teenage daughter was the key to it. We paid only 300 yuan to rent three of them for a full day.

You can watch the video via this embedded window or you can go via the following link and see it full screen. (http://chert.smugmug.com/gallery/13419553_9QVps#976592126_CwmjM-A-LB)

http://chert.smugmug.com/gallery/13419553_9QVps#976592126_CwmjM-A-LB

In China bikes are used for any imaginable purpose, such as beer delivery-

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or shit and similar stuff delivery

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or just some crap

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and more crap with as you can notice “Hello Kitty” all around it

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street cleaning “trucks”

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McDonalds anyone? you can do some home delivery if you get hungry for western food

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or you can get a little motorbike and put your hot girlfriend in the back

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maybe not

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what ever stuff he got there

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deliver some flat goods

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or this one is an enterprising old fella with cage full of pigeons.. I wonder… food or other type of exotic pleasure

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are there any rules for safety?

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you have to park those things somewhere

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and, of course majority of the bike use is by individual bikers. It was kind of boring to photograph them, but if you want to get a bike, here is a little street shop to get one, along with some snacks

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Chinese man like to stay cool in the summer and here how they do it. Most of them. Not women, yeah, that is unfortunate.

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Bikes get parked everywhere, sidewalks…

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fences (smart choice as you can lock to it)

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specially designed bike stalls

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but don’t leave it unattended for too long… they might start loosing some parts

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so it is really smart to park your bike at the paid parking lot with an attendant, it only cost a few cents per day but ensures safety of your equipment

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and finally for this post, the motorbikes are getting really popular, you can see a lot of them these days as well

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