Saturday, October 18, 2008

ODDS and ends of Day 1 In CHINA


This kind of rock is everywhere. This place is in Mr Tangs garden.

Ornate sidewalk.

No more bugles??? Actually we figured it is because EVERYONE honks horns. The driving is CRAZY chaos and people don't stay in their lane, so as they are driving, they just honk so you don't get in their way. Certain areas you are not supposed to honk, thus the silly sign!

Here is typical scene:stacks of people on a scooter. This one had TWO children on the front, one little girl who was falling asleep. No car seats or safety harnesses here! It is uncommon to see helmets, too. This yellow helmet is more like a hard hat. You can be sure she was honking her horn!

Here were some apartments right behind the nice walking mall.

Right outside our window, is a very large park. At night the people of the city come to the park to dance. I think it is every night, but Friday night it was an especially popular place to be. There were hundreds of people there, and they just come to gather and someone brings music and they all dance. They have certain choreographed line dances-kinda like the "Electric Slide" that they all start doing together. We couldn't believe how many people there were. Whole families were there, the kids were on the sidewalks around the common area playing games and rollerskating. There was a bounce house set up, and some vendors. Danny and I took a walk around and several of the pre-teen boys came up to us to say "Hello...Goodbye" wanting to practice their english on us. We were the ONLY foreigners there, so it was fun to talk to these kids and see which phrases they knew. "My name is... I live in China...How are you". Maybe we will get some better photos to give a better understanding of how many people were there.

6 comments:

OmaHeck said...

I love the scooter shot. We used to see that in Argentina as well. My favorite was the family of 5 on a scooter. Sometimes 2 kids standing, one in between the parents. Probably not many families of 5 in China... come to think, a family of 4 ought to be quite rare.

The stories you'll have!

-N&C

Chad said...

Wonderful! Wonderful! What an experience you are having! We will keep coming back and seeing what you have posted. We are looking forward to having the kids next week. They are always so delightful with us.

Staying Young in Vegas said...

Hi my Chinese family. All is well here. Isabelle misses you at times but we are staying busy with school field trips and the carnival after school. Let us know if there is a better way to communicae with you there. Enjoy..Stan in Vegas

Amy said...

Great photos! Did you get out there and learn the dances? I'd like to see some video of that.

So what is worse, the driving in Ecuador or the driving in China??

Megan said...

Looks amazing! can't wait to connect when you get back.

Anonymous said...

Isn't "line dancing" in China usually referred to as Tai Chi? I guess that could be "electric"... seems like the scooter families are a global thing, I saw that a lot in the DR, anyway, enjoy the rest of your trip

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