Okay, so I am far from weeding through the 1,000 photos from the yangtze and chengdu. But here is another look at Guangzhou - at night. They claim that the Pearl River Delta is as beautiful as the River Seine. Ahem. The lights were nice, but I dare say that well lit office buildings and apartment towers cannot compare to the Seine. Nevertheless, charming in its own right.
Cruising the Pearl River Delta, Guangzhou, China
After returning from the Yangtze River and Chengdu, we turned it around and took a 2 day trip to Guangzhou. Truth be told, J had business and I tagged along for a mini-break. Overall, two thumbs up for Guangzhou. The weather was great, the people were nice and we were able to take the subway everywhere we wanted to go. Not exactly a destination, but perfect for a little city getaway.
Guangzhou Backstreets
Another little video (30 seconds) from our time in Chengdu. We took in a spot of Sichuan Opera, famous for its “face changes.”
Advanced apologies for the slight shakiness, but J had a bit of a time following lady high kicks around the stage.
Chengdu Panda Research CenterOriginally uploaded by StracBlatt
Just a little video from a recent trip to Chengdu’s Panda Research Base. About one minute of bamboo munching from some of Panda-Land’s finest.
So they we were, as we often are, sitting at a Xinjiang restaurant having dinner. We’re finishing up a good meal, and then it happens. Something I really did not think actually happens. There are jokes, of course, but come on, in North China?
What went on, exactly? A waiter carried a cat into the restaurant and took it into the kitchen. I don’t make these things up, they just happen. To answer your question, I don’t know, we had the lamb.
Then we leave the restaurant, and this man is admiring jeff’s bike. He asks if it is new. No, not new, just obsessed. And speaking of cycling obsessions, he has launched a new project to chronicle all things flying pigeon, all things biking in china, check out the Flying Pigeon Project.
Turpan, land of grapes, land of the real Xinjiang experience
Or, There’s a Pigeon in the House.
It’s fairly well documented that a certain someone, who shall remain nameless, has a certain obsession with his self propelled vehicle of choice, that anachronistic, 50 pound behemoth known as The Flying Pigeon. It’s been tricked out with a dual bell system, more new tires than one girl can count, brake adjustments, new pins and bolts, etc, etc. But lately, there has been a lot of talk where in J makes a statement about his bike and I can only respond, “I don’t know half of those words.” I can only tell you that it involves drum brakes, a gear box and the complications of a 40 spoke wheel which all result in a recent expenditure that is valued at 2x the original cost of the bike. Ahem. And then there was this:
Homing Pigeon
Sure beats the time there was a motorcycle gas tank on the kitchen table.
Let it be known that my bicycle remains maintenance free. I have not drunk the Kool-aid water milk.
Six days into the olympics and we finally took in an event. Our ticket requirements were simple, the venue had to be within walking distance of our home. And since workers’ gymnasium is just that, boxing was one of our events. I have to say, as someone who enjoys that mixed martial arts fighting where the objective is to render the opponent unconscious, I thought Olympic Boxing might be a little tame. But it was great. We saw about 12 sets in both the light welter weight and welter weight classes, with each set containing 4, 2 minute rounds.
The Best Match - The best match goes hands-down to the Ireland vs. Domincan Republic Light Welter Weight match, Johnny Joyce vs. Felix Diaz. First, the Diaz came out not just wearing the Dominican flag, but the Chinese flag as well. This boy is going into politics after his career is over. But this match was great! They were well matched boxers, both were landing punches until the end and with each having landed 11 punches a piece by the end of the match, it came down to the judges. Victory went to the DR.
Russia vs. Mouritania - Russia Won
The Worst Match - Thailand vs. Japan, light welter weight. Lowest combined score of the evening. Thailand was the gold medalist at Athens, and Japan was a well decorated boxer as well, but these guys had no interest in boxing. And you could tell the Thai was cocky. Two thumbs down. And worse than US Virgin Islands vs. Korea. And Mr. USVI did not land a single punch.
Best Cheering Section - Goes to IRAN. I know, who would have thought. But they were all in one section, had a bunch of cheers and cheered through out the entire match that had the Iranian boxer. After his match, they promptly got up and left. Ireland made a good show, but despite the fact that we share a native tongue, I have no idea what they were saying - at all. Honorable Mention goes to the Moroccan kid who got a whole section involved.
Biggest Surprise - Kazakhstan. The kazaks can fight. We saw a couple, both who won their matches.
Workers’ Gymnasium - Location of the Boxing Events
In Other Olympic News:
- In a country of 1.3 billion people, there is not a little girl both cute enough and able to sing that they had to have one girl lip synch to another’s voice?
- Today, Friday, is the first truly blue sky day since before the Opening Ceremony.
Here in Beijing, the thing to do in summer is to go to Inner Mongolia. It gets you out of the heat of the city, and the scenery is supposed to be exceptional. I was on the fence, afterall, we have grass in our country. But J wanted to go, there was a convenient tour, and it’s something to see.
It always seems that when you travel within China there is something big that guidebooks and websites leave out. For example, in Datong, the Hanging Monastery is on the site of a hydro-electric damn. Also in Datong, the Yunguang Grottos is across the street from a coal mine. And the Grasslands of Inner Mongolia?
One big windmill farm. 
Tilting at Windmills
So you go to the grasslands, you breath the air, you watch some wrestling, you eat some lamb, ride a horse, sleep in a concrete yurt that is really not like sleeping a yurt at all, etc, etc. Tourist fodder to the max. Nevertheless, it was nice to get out of town, but unlike Pingyao, this is not a trip that I would recommend.
On a hike in the valley of yellow flowers.
We hiked both in and out; we did not opt for the chairlift out. Ironically, we were first out of the canyon, despite the lack of mechanization.
The main success from this trip was that we were able to get in touch with the right people, and I am proud to announce:
Jeff will be the next MONGLOGIAN LOVER!
A few more photos on flickr.
I realized that I never before watched an Olympic Opening Ceremony from beginning to end. I think I always lose interest somewhere in the parade of nations. Four hours later, I can say that I’ve done it once. But it is not without some back story.
While we could have stayed home and watched it on tv, that did not seem too festive. The olympics are in our town, after all. After some deliberation, we settled on going to a local park that had a large screen television set up. There are two televisions, one on the edge of the park and one inside of the park. We get to the one set-up inside of the park and they do not let us in. They tell me, “not everyone is allowed in.” Ouch. So then I lead the initiative to sneak in, which was going smoothly, until we were almost in and stopped by a guard. Operation failed. From there, we settle in to watch the games on the television at the park’s gate. I notice, it’s 8.10, why is this screen black? They tell me it’s broken. Broken?! We disperse with the rest of the crowd. So much for our Chinese Olympic experience.
We end up at a bar with some other americans, a group of brits and some aussies. During the parade of nations, when the camera panned to W, he was boo-ed. Poor Laura. Not even Sarkozy was booed. I also liked that Putin went. He’s still shamelessly running Russia. You know he said, “Medevev, not only are you not going to the olympics, but I am going to start a war with our neighbor while I am in BJ. Be sure to catch the coverage.” 
photo courtesy of the official olympic website
PS - It’s still smoggy. No luck with the smog removal, which is a shame.
