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BabyPineCones
From Rocky Mountain National Park, this is what pine cones start out as.
BambooTemple1
In Kunming, this temple was the home of a famous sculptor. This is the entrance. Inside, he sculpted over 100 full-size
unique images of artisans, monks, and warriors.
BambooTemple2
One of the scuptures near the entrance to the Bamboo Temple in Kunming.
BotanicalGardens
Botanical Gardens in Guangzhou.
Butterfly
Not my best butterfly shot, but surely the largest butterfly I've captured on an SD-card.
ChengduDragon
Dragons, of course, are everywhere in China. This one was in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and is surely the least-scary
dragon I have seen.
ChongqingModel
This is a scale model of the city-wide development plan for the future of Chongqing.
ChongqingNight
This is what you see when departing at 10PM from the river docks in Chongqing for a Three-Gorges Yangzi River Cruise.
(By the way, "Yangzi" is proper pinyin for the "YangTze" that was popularized by early attempts
to transliterate Mandarin.)
ChurchSF
If you look closely at what appears to be traditional middle-ages church design, you will see what is actually
earthquake reinforcements. This church is in San Francisco.
ColoradoDriftwood1
Probably not actually driftwood, but a tree that fell many decades ago.
ColoradoDriftwood2
This one, also, is probably not actually driftwood, but a very old fallen tree.
ColoradoFallColors
On my way to work one morning, in Colorado Springs, the morning sun hit these leaves just perfectly.
DouleCave
This dragon guards the entrance to Doule Cave, about 30 km outside of Liuzhou. In contrast to tours of American
caves, like Mammoth Cave, KY, and Carlsbad Caverns, NM, the tour of Doule Caves made no mention of the geology
of limestone, stalactites, or stalagmites. In China, you experience caves in terms of imagination and legend: here
you can imagine an elephant; there will remind you of the famous story of the Emperor's 4th Concubine, etc.
FiveRamsPark
A major public park in Guangzhou. One of the attractions is a sculpture of five goats -- this is the head of the
tallest goat in the group.
Flower2
I don't know what, exactly, this flower is, but it pops up in the mountains of Colorado frequently enough that
I've taken more than one shot of it over the years.
Flowers1
More flowers, from somewhere in Colorado.
FlowersHome
These are flowers on a tree around my townhouse in Colorado Springs. It reminded me of the classic Japanese cherry
blossom photos, but these aren't cherry trees.
PalmLeaf
The moment I took this photo, looking out the apartment window in Guangzhou, I figured it for a contest winner.
It is, however, as all my photos, purely accidental.
GuangzhouMarket
This was shot in the local farmers market in Guangzhou.
GuilinMarket1
This is typical of the food market sights in China: this one was taken in a Market in Guilin, the gateway city
to the Li River.
GuilinMarket2
Another shot in the food market in Guilin.
HardSleeperTrain
This is not a great, or even good, photo. But I was so impressed by "hard-sleeper train" travel in China
that I just had to include it. You might call it "dormatory style." But the trains run exactly on time,
the cost is lower than a US bus ticket, and you don't have the cost of a motel for that night. Such a deal!
Jiuzhaigou1
Jiuzhaigou is China's equivalent of Yellowstone National Park. At about 7,000 to 11,000 feet altitude, the park
shuttle bus takes you up, and you walk down along these wooden walkways.
Jiuzhaigou2
You don't need to be an Ansel Adams to take beautiful photos in this park: just point and shoot!
Jiuzhaigou3
This photo shows some of the "weeds" growing along the river/creek that runs through the entire valley.
Jiuzhaigou4
This waterfall is typical of many along the valley.
Jiuzhaigou5
The blue of this lake is not doctored by Photoshop; the park is famous for its incredible blue waters, helped by,
as I recall, heavy concentrations of carbonates in the water.
Jiuzhaigou6
These blue colors are true-to-life and accurate. This really is what it looks like!
Jiuzhaigou7
More of the incredible blue waters in Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area. This is located in Sichuan Province, about
100 miles north of the epicenter of the 2008 earthquake.
KunmingParkCarver
A large park overlooks a large lake adjacent to the city of Kunming. The park has many artisan/vendors, but very
few of them, in my humble opinion, acually create the wares that they are selling. I liked the authenticity of
this one.
Lesser3Gorges
As part of the Yangzi River / Three Gorges Dam cruise, we took a side trip down one of the smaller tributaries
to the Yangzi, involving two transfers to successively smaller boats. It was comforting to know that, hidden beneath
a charming patina of ancient wood, we were being propelled by a late model Suzuki outboard engine.
LincolnGulch1
My favorite camping/hiking location in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, this photo adjoins the Lincoln Gulch Campground,
about 10 miles East of Aspen.
LincolnGulch2
Another of the sights near Lincoln Gulch Campground, 10 miles East of Aspen.
LincolnGulch3
This was shot about 100 yards from the main campground area.
LiRiver
On my second trip to China, we took a day cruise along the Li River. The scenery is these unique karst (eroded
limestone) formations. You will see these in just about any movie that was "shot on location in China."
LiRiverPeddler
All along the Li River cruise, enterprising vendors pole/paddle out to the cruise boats to peddle their wares (often
native fruit), riding these five-bamboo-poles-wide raft-like vessels.
Motorbikes
Where once the dominant image of China would have been a "sea of bicycles," now it is a "sea of
motorbikes."
Nanning1
In Nanning, this dragon was guarding the entrance to some kind of Military Museum.
Nanning2
In Nanning, this montage-like sculpture commemorated scenes of the Communist Revolution.
PaintMines1
Normally, I'd think of "East of Colorado Springs" as "featureless prairie." But this unusual
scene is at Paint Mines Park, about 30 miles East, and is quite reminiscent of the Painted Desert in Arizona.
PaintMines2
Another shot featuring the variegated colors in Paint Mines Park.
PanLongXia1
Pan Long Xia -- loosely Winding Dragon Gorge -- is a 2-4 hour bus ride (depending on the bus driver) outside of
Guangzhou. The bus takes you to the top, then you walk down a descent of about 1000 feet, along a beautiful wooden-steps-and-railing
path that is built right into the gorge -- close enough that you are sprayed and misted by the many waterfalls.
PanLongXia2
Another shot of Pan Long Xia -- the wooden steps are so well integrated with the gorge, that you have a constant
feeling of "being a part of" rather than "walking apart from" the gorge.
PrimeWaterfront
Yes, God'll get me for this one, but, in truth, my thought as we drifted along the Li River was: "Prime Waterfront
Property -- Chinese style."
SevenFalls
Within the city limits of Colorado Springs is the "tourist attraction, Seven Falls." Once you get past
the inconvenience and indignity of paying an "admission fee," it is really quite pretty!
SevenFallsTrail
Above Seven Falls, proper, is a creek and trail that go back maybe 1-2 miles. This pile-up of fallen trees appeared
along this creek.
SheratonFood
While visiting Jiuzhaigou National Scenic Area in China, we splurged and stayed at the Sheraton Jiuzhaigou Resort
Hotel. This was typical of the beautifully presented and delicious food. Priceless!
SnowCoveredTree
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Colorado Springs, a night of freezing fog coated this tree with ice.
SnowLarch
I titled this photo, "The Snow Larch." This is a pop culture reference to "The Larch," one
of the inventions of the UK comedy team, "Monty Python's Flying Circus." Thus far, aside from the driving
inconvenience, the winters in Colorado Springs frequently bring surprises of visual beauty like this.
SpringFestival1
These are typical of the Spring Festival (Lunar New Year) decorations in the Five Rams Park in Guangzhou. These
are all made of colored silk over a wire frame, so they can be harmlessly rained on during their month-long display.
SpringFestival2
More of the Spring Festival decorations in Guangzhou. This one reminded me of the best of the Rose Bowl Parade
floats.
SpringHome
This interesting "spring thing" appeared on one of the trees in my neighborhood last Spring.
StoneForest1
This is the famous Stone Forest karst formation about one hour outside of Kunming.
StoneForest2
More of the Stone Forest, outside Kunming. This is at an altitude of about 7,000 feet.
TerraCottaArmy
And, of course, no trip to China would be complete without viewing the 2000-year-old Terra Cotta Army in Xi'an.
Even more amazing to realize that each terra cotta sculpture has a unique face. This is excavation Pit #1, about
the size of a football field.
ThreeGorgesLocks
This is near the end of the Three Gorges Dam river cruise. I had never been through locks before. Quite a change
from "natural wonder" to "man-made wonder." The reason that we're packed in like sardines,
three-abreast and five-deep, is that the complete passage time is about 5 hours.
ThreeGorgesLocksDoor
In this photo, we are passing the main door of the first stage of the locks. It will close to our right, and then
we go down, about 30 meters, suprisingly quickly, and then we will repeat the process until we have descended about
150 meters total.
WalkingDog
Alright, of course it is not a dog, it is an ox (or "water buffalo") -- equivalent to our everday farm
cow -- being taken for a little walk across the creek in a "primitive village" about one hour outside
of Guilin.
WaterBeetlesToEat
The neighboorhood hotel in Guangzhou is noted for its vast array of fresh seafood, including fish, shrimp, mussels,
eels, squid, turtles, aligators, and ... water beetles??? You saw it here first! No, I don't know what they taste
like, and I never will! I thought I had drawn the line at french-fried scorpions, but I had to draw the line wider
when I laid eyes on these babies.
XianCityGate
This is the South Gate to the City of Xi'an, home of the Terra Cotta Army.
XianMuseum
The museum in Xi'an has several fully restored specimens from the Terra Cotta Army excavation elsewhere in the
city. This guy looked like the kind of guy you'd just naturally say, "Yes, sir!" to.
YangziRiver1
This is typical of the banks along the upper Yangzi River (historically transliterated as "Yang Tze")
that are seen on a Three Gorges Dam river cruise.
YangziRiver2
As you might guess by now, I'm charmed by the contrast between natural and man-made wonder. These are segments
of a bridge being built over the Yangzi River, pre-fabbed and ready for hoisting into position. The haze in the
background is more like New Orleans Mississippi River fog than Los Angles smog.
YangziRiver3
This is typical of day-cruise ships in the area of the Three Gorges Dam. We are docked at the point where we will
transfer to a smaller boat to travel down one of the "Lesser Three Gorges."
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