I don't know if it is my new camera or if the lighting was just perfect this day, or what, but I got some REALLY nice pictures this time. Some could be postcards...
I can not explain to you how dirty this water is. There wasn't that bad of a smell, but it is green and chunky, and just generally yucky. When we were growing up, we lived near the Red River (separates North Dakota from Minnesota). It is yucky looking, but mostly muddy. When we were little, our mom would tell us, "If you fall in that dirty water, don't bother coming home." Jason and I laughed about that and decided if we fell in this water we would probably dissolve so there would be no arguing about coming home or not. These ladies were washing whole chickens in the water (I guess to eat later). They were de-feathering them and then just dumping the feathers in the water. One lady (far left in brown jacket) was very busy washing the chicken intestines. I knew why she was doing this, because just a few days before Johna had explained to me how yummy chicken intestines are and that you can buy them from street vendors in the Philippines if you don't want to cook dinner. ummm, I think I'll pass on that one...
This lady was carving up a giant carp. I am assuming from that very same canal. I am guessing that these people have antibodies to things my body has never seen before...
If this doesn't make me appreciate Carrefour, I don't know what will (there will be more on my love/hate relationship with Carrefour) - [Carrefour is a French grocery store chain that we have here in Shanghai]
I loved these boats with their colorful tarps. Of course purple is my favorite color!
noodles hanging out to dry in someone's courtyard
Do you like this one? The only thing that would make this better is if that were a Cherry Tree in bloom.
This is another one of my favorites from this trip
Tian wondering why I made him come along since I didn't really use his translation skills after the first 50 meters outside the van. (can you see Doug, Beth, and Myrl shopping in the back?)
We all bought souvenirs from this man. He paints INSIDE of little glass bottles, etc. I can not believe how beautiful his things were. They sell things like this in Shanghai, but 4-10x as expensive.
more boats
A house decorated for Chinese New Year. Red and the loud sounds of firecrackers are used to keep a mythical monster that comes off a mountain each year from attacking your house.
Tian and Jason helping great grandpa Olson onto the boat for our ride
Jason and C-C
about to go under one of the bridges
Lanterns are also for New Year's
enjoying the view from the boat
going under
Our boat man sang for us a couple times
This lady was doing her laundry in the river. I was so impressed that she didn't fall in that I wasn't even grossed out at the thought of my clothes touching this water
postcard anyone?
more food washing in the river - this is why we brought PBandJs along with other snacks
another boat
You can see that it is warm enough here that some trees never lose their leaves.
The poles in the water are for catching shrimp. There is a net connected to them underwater.
A lady washing her bedding in the river. Why bother?
More birds being washed
sorry, lots of formatting problems. Will try to figure it out later
ReplyDelete