Feng Huang-Days 3 & 4

Beautiful Feng Huang

A giant bull....which was anatomically correct, I might add.

A great view of the town from an ancient bridge.

We randomly happened upon a group of Chinese people gathering to do some Tai chi. It was very entertaining. All kinds of people came to participate in this relaxing activity in the middle of a bustling city.

Kylie & Spencer found this place where you could "create your own masterpiece" so we tried it out. Imagine tie-dye, but without the rubber bands and with an actual picture. The first step was to draw an image...here I am trying to do that.

Then you use this little tool to pour hot wax over the negative space--the space you want to stay white when you dip it in the dye. We are attempting to do this....

Chase's waxed product.

My waxed product.

Chase dipping it in the indigo dye.

Me doing the same.

Us with our finished products (and the cute Chinese artist who helped us.) Mine is a phoenix (the female counterpart to the dragon...it is Feng Huang...the name of the city we were in), Chase's is a landscape of Yangshuo, where we took our first trip, and Kylie & Spencer's is an adorable panda. This activity was SO fun and probably my favorite thing we did there. It only cost 60 Yuan (about $8.50) per person for a fun activity and GREAT souvenirs!

Feng Huang-Day 2

**Chase is making a special production, so I am only putting up a select few pictures so that his production will be more exciting when it arrives....keep watching!**

Us at the South Great Wall. It is 200 km long.

At the first set of waterfalls. Beautiful!

We are doing things the Chinese way...meditating and finding inner peace.

Our hike to the second set of waterfalls. These were also beautiful and very high. Beautiful landscapes, yes?

Afraid of heights?! Not us!

Our little homies. They are mountain children and really wanted our cans and bottles to recycle for money. They love imitating anything we said and were making us laugh the whole time.

When Chase asked for a high-five he got more than he bargained for....a high-six! (He had an extra thumb just a dangling there.)

Beautiful and romantic nightlife.

Feng Huang-Day 1

The Chinese have their National Day holiday where everyone in the country gets one week off. They are encouraged to travel, so since we are living like the Chinese we decided to travel like the Chinese! I already blogged about the beginning of our National Day holiday trip--when we went to Shaoshan. We got back from Shaoshan Tuesday afternoon and left for Feng Huang Wednesday night. We took an overnight train (9:30 p.m.-4:30 a.m.) and arrived in Feng Huang on Thursday morning. Here are our adventures from that day. We were so exhausted from not sleeping on the sleeper train (oxymoron) that we played it pretty low-key and just perused this beautiful, ancient city. Me with some Miao people--the ethnic minority people from this area. (Later in our trip the lady in the front would harass us for money after she asked to be in a picture with us. A little Chinese trickery...)

The bridge.....that is cool and probably really old.

These are all kinds of dried fish. It stunk so bad!

The beautiful, ancient city. This city is the epitome of what I imagined China to be like. Ancient buildings with pointy corners and beautiful landscapes.

Crossing an ancient (maybe?) walkway...cement blocks in the river. It was fun.

A souvenir we DID NOT buy.

Yes, people ate these....grubs. A lot of them were still moving (maybe that makes them more delicious) and we saw them everywhere. They seriously grossed me out. Just imagine GIANT MAGGOTS squirming around. EWWW!

This was some kind of local treat. They pull it like taffy (see the strapping Chinese man in the background?) and then let it cool and snap it into pieces. It smelled sweet and delicious and it kind of was, but it was also spicy. What is it with this place and putting spicy into everything...even their candy?!

I'm sure many people got drunk on brandy and....whisry? Hmmm....interesting.

A cool masked guy and me....don't mind the lazy eye. That's what happens when I'm tired. I do look a little crazy, don't I?

Beautiful night shots...good job Chase! Isn't it just beautiful? We just sat and enjoyed the romantic surroundings....along with thousands of others. =)

Such an artistic photo!

Shaoshan-Day 2

Day two in Shaoshan was really mellow.  We went to breakfast and then took a walk in the countryside.  The countryside here looks a lot like home, except with rice patties and a lot more humble circumstances.  It's beautiful.  Here's a little sampling...

We love to see these around...they're everywhere.  This one was especially fun.  People turn anything into some sort of contraption which can carry things.  We've seen cars, vans, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, you name it.  Fun and functional.

Shaoshan-Day 1

For China's National Day holiday, our boss, Colin, planned a trip to Shaoshan for all of us.  (The university planned AND paid for everthing.)  Shaoshan is the hometown of Mao Zedong, China's most famous leader.  He is quite popular here.  Shaoshan is only about an hour from Xiangtan so we really didn't have to travel far.  Here are some photos from our trip.

Chase & I in front of Mao Zedong's childhood home.

Us with some of the kids in our group in front of the huge statue of Chairman Mao.

A cool pagoda....very Chinese.

Chase drinking from the fountain of youth?  We dunno...but everyone was doing it so Chase jumped in.  Now that you mention it...he is looking quite handsome as of late...

An example of Chase's handsomness....

This is me with Mindia...another one of the foreign teachers.  He is eccentric.  Anyway, I only put it up so you could see the tiger's head.  This is what Chase and I are sitting on in the previous picture, but somehow it didn't make it into our photo.

Chase & I after we hiked a bajillion stairs up to Mao's grandparents' graves.  The graves were insignificant to us, but the views were beautiful.  Unfortunately they don't translate well into photos so you just get to see us...again.

We saw these signs around which pointed you to places you should see.  We think some things were lost in translation....or just made funnier.

Us at dinner with one of Colin's colleagues.  You can see some of what we eat.  Most of it is very delicious...even the whole fish sitting in broth. =)