I know, I know. It’s just great.
Archive for the 'China' Category Page 2 of 11
Title says it all. This plant is used for fertilizer after it is picked. Taken somewhere between Lugu Lake and Lijiang.
View Large Panoramic Photo of Lugu Hu, Lugu Lake
The results are in for Lugu Lake. There is one thing that is stunning to see — the panoramic above. After you see that, and go on the 10 minute boat ride, there is absolutely nothing else to do there.
Another surprising factor is that it takes 14-16 hours to get there from Kunming. And not to mention that the road is dangerous! We saw five head-on collisions, and I counted 15 broken down cars on the total trip.
A four day trip, driving about 466 miles on a one-lane (but two-way) road with a series of sharp zigzags, and five head on collisions.
Here is a shot of what a one lane, two-way road looks like, with a huge dump truck lining the cliff, squeezing between a bunch of cars.
I can’t count the number of times the Chinese drivers would pass on a blind turn, at double the speed limit.
On to more happy things…
Boat Ride Photos
via China Travel Guide on the local ethnic minorities, the Mosuo people:
Mosuo people who live there form a matriarchal society. There is no marriage. Children are brought up by women. Women operate production and management, and hold the principal position in the society, forming a modern day ‘woman’s kingdom’.
See my panoramic shot of Lugu Hu, or Lugu Lake.
Lugu Lake, first impression. Wow I found wireless internet and a place to stay. The water is clear, the mountains are magnificent. Besides the free boat ride and a view of Sichuan, well. Ain’t much to do here.
Good place for photographers, though. But after 12 hours of driving from Chuxiong to Lijiang to Lugu Lake, I’m cool with walking up the side of any mountains.
Did I mention the drive? The one-lane road? The 18-wheeler trucks coming head on? The dilapidated roads, falling off the mountain side? Wow, was that stressful. Plus, you have to be aware of the “mountain people” who throw boards rigged with nails in the street, and after your tires pop, you get mobbed. (Happened to a friend of ours.) Let’s just say they have a little work to do here.
WATCH VIDEOChina is a spooky place. If you don’t believe me, see the Sanya beach photos below. Be careful!
BTW, the video is choppy for one reason and one reason only: I bought the value pack of TDK DVs from Costco in 2003. I didn’t know DVs went bad. But every tape I is pretty much corrupted. Well, it could be the Diet Coke spill all over my camera, I dunno. Time for an upgrade.
At one of the bars in the Sheraton, overlooking the South China Sea.
An unedited picture of one of their many pools, with the annual Sanya Jazz Festival being set up in the background. That’s what the water really looks like, so I guess it really is “China’s Hawaii.”
In other news, there was a small disaster in Oakland, CA about 24 hours ago (dubbed the “MacArther Maze Meltdown”, god), where a gas tanker exploded and collapsed a freeway overpass. Then Arnold announced free transportation for the day.
Well, they have free transportation in China, too. This was taken on the Kun-An Expressway (the only freeway in Kunming) on the way back to Chuxiong, at 50 mph.
It has been slow lately, so I went back and found another shot I took a few months ago in the mountains of Yunnan of an old family friend.
I’m now studying the Photoshop RAW mode in black and white. Perhaps if I knew anything about photography I could intelligently manipulate B/W photos, but as it stands, I’m just sliding knobs. We have lots of photos of Sanya, Hainan coming up soon.
I’m testing this in Contribute to see how nice it works.
E Jia.