On our way to lunch, I noticed renovations to something that looked like strip malls. Notice the second floor, middle addition. This is all brick with no framing inside and nothing else supporting the walls. I noticed this practice in different areas as we traveled throughout the country.
We passed numerous nurseries and fruit farms.
More empty apartment shells as we entered Zian.
We had our mid-day meal late, around 1:30 p.m..Somehow, I took no pictures of the food. My brain needed a new battery; the jets weren’t sparking.
Lunch:
- Drinks as usual (one: beer, water, OR soda)
- Tea (yellow)
- Rice
- Egg steamed in wheat flour sweet dough
- Green beans, garlic and fried onions (salty)
- Sliced potatoes, garlic and yellow onions
- Cauliflower, carrots and green onions
- Sweet and sour chicken
- Fried cabbage, carrots and green onions
- Garlic sprouts with carrots and fungus
- Fresh apple slices for dessert
Goodbye Lisa, Who will be our next guide?
We’d loaded our luggage on the tour bus when we left the hotel in the morning. Next stop: a high speed train to Xian. We’d been told it travels as fast as 250 km an hour. Nope, it did not. Our tickets had the gate, coach and seat numbers on them. When the doors opened, passengers had a two minute window to get in or out. I mention this because many passengers had luggage or packages in tow, which we had to stow ourselves. I spied an area aty the back of the coach where we’d entered. With Sue’s help, I made that bag jump onto the middle shelf. Why did it weigh so much? I hadn’t purchased anything. It turned out our seats were at the opposite end of the coach. Each time we stopped, I jumped up to watch the back exit, worried someone might take my suitcase.
Boarding time was 3:41 pm, arrival slightly before the specified time of 6:10. Our new tour guide, Steve, ( 30-ish and a comedian) waited for us at the depot.
We drove straight to The Tang Dynasty Dancing Show and Dumpling Banquet. I was too far away for a clear picture.
OR
Still shots of all the costumes and amazing-looking girls:
The show was stupendous; the girls were beyond knockouts! Dinner consisted of a dozen different dumplings and were delicious
The tables were arranged dinner theater style as you’ll see in the pictures below.
Appetizers:
- Tea
- Beer / water / pop
- Cucumber salad
- Fried fish (white and mild)
- Fungus
- Celery
- Bacon
- Beef slices
- Pot Stickers
The dumplings were artistically made to represent what filling was inside. For a better version than I could have taken with my iPad, click below:
Delivered to our table were various flavored dumplings:
- pork and shrimp
- celery and egg
- pork, chicken and shrimp
- celery, dried bean curd and egg
- pork, egg white
- pork and hair weeds
- pork winter bamboo shoots and chicken
- pork and duck
- pork and mushrooms
- pork, black fungus and
- vegetable
- Walnut and jam (dessert)
~ * ~
I had internet in our hotel room that night, but had to ask for a code at the registration desk. As well, the converter I’d used in Beijing to charge my laptop and iPad didn’t work. Contrary to the last time I’d used the converter, this hotel outlet preferred straight prongs.
Hotmail was no problem. With Google, I could only read mail, but not send. I had the same experience in Beijing.
At our first hotel, one women even Skyped from the lobby with family members somewhere in the U.S. Before you wonder, she was loud and kept walking around with her iPad for WiFi. Most distracting. Still, I’m amazed at the benefits of this new technology.
Next on September 12: Xian, Day 8, Part One – Xian: Old City Wall, Shaanxi History Museum, Terra Cotta Warrior Factory
For more related posts, click on China tab at the top of the page
September 5, 2014 at 4:39 pm
Love seeing these pictures and reading the commentary. A trip without leaving home!
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September 5, 2014 at 8:28 pm
My pleasure, Len. Glad you’re enjoying the tour. ❤
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September 5, 2014 at 4:51 pm
Tess – I continue to be amazed at the pace of your travels. Would you say your activities were in the 12 to 15 hour window. How much free time did you have on an average day. I recognize ‘average’ doesn’t exist on a planned tour – but am looking for a general idea. Did you take any of your pictures using your iPad? Your continuing ability to transport us to this ‘other mysterious world’ and to allow us into feeling we were there beside you is a testimony to your writing skills. You have a keen eye for detail and now I see why your flash fiction is absolutely always spot on. This detail is a way of life for you. Oh how I would like to have your talent.
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September 5, 2014 at 8:34 pm
Sheri, we had zero free time for a while until we went on a cruise. Thank goodness it arrived when it did because we had no idea how much we needed that breather. We left no later than 9:00 (sometimes 9:30 depending on schedule and didn’t get back to the hotel anywhere from 8:00 or so. One evening I recall as being 10:00
I took all my pictures with my iPad mini (new to me a couple of months before departure.
You are, as usual, extra generous with your comments. I guess the things that grabbed my attention is what’s ended on my page. True, I do like the little things because I find them interesting. Thank YOU, for following and spending time with me as I show you my take on our tour.
❤ ❤ ❤
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September 6, 2014 at 6:07 pm
Tess – And the fact that you faithfully answer my questions always brings me back for more. I love knowing all your pictures are from your iPad mini. I’ve fiddled around with mine so guess I should get busy and pay more attention.
I’m always interested in travel and how the industry has changed and how much has remained the same.
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September 7, 2014 at 5:00 pm
Met a couple through friends who went to China 17 years ago. Sounds they did the same tour but it was much, much more expensive and more restricting.
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September 7, 2014 at 11:03 pm
Not surprised. Remember when foreign travel was only for the wealthy.
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September 8, 2014 at 2:33 pm
Oh, yes, I sure do. I recall thinking how rich travelers must be. Thanks for the memories, Sheri.
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September 5, 2014 at 4:56 pm
The food sounds amazing! I loved the pictures! I remember skyping from Ireland. It helped when I missed the babies. 🙂
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September 5, 2014 at 8:36 pm
Technology today is amazing. I checked e-mail when WiFi worked. A friend I hadn’t seen for a while sent me an e-mail and I told her I was in China. She was over the moon to receive my response from China. 😀 😀
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September 6, 2014 at 4:29 pm
I know, AMAZING! I’ve often thought of those who left loved ones years ago knowing they would never ever see them again. Now….we can not only contact, but see and hear one another in a matter of seconds!
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September 7, 2014 at 4:57 pm
And for years now, students, families etc can keep in touch. I think it’s magic, but then I might be impressionable. 😀
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September 7, 2014 at 7:18 pm
Ah, me too Tess, me too. 🙂
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September 8, 2014 at 2:29 pm
❤
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September 5, 2014 at 5:31 pm
A Dumpling Banquet–I wouldn’t mind having a go at that. But I could do without the fungus appetizer. 😉
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September 5, 2014 at 8:50 pm
I can’t believe how I tried it. It’s just a mushroom and it WAS delicious. I can’t imagine the worn out hands after making thousands of those little dumpling. They were too lovely to eat.
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September 5, 2014 at 5:50 pm
Oh how cool is this?! The dance and dumpling banquet sounds wonderful. I would have to try them all. I’m always up for unusual foods, so yes, even the fungus. Still can’t get over the empty apartments. that just seems a bit dystopian already. A world perhaps ended before it began. My grandkids skyped with their dad when they went to NC with us and he had to stay home in FL. Amazing…things we dreamed about as kids have come true. I laugh every time I see a Dick Tracy comic.
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September 5, 2014 at 8:55 pm
Since I’ve returned from that vacation, I’ve found out there are TOWNS empty, never been lived in. Shopping mall, never opened and sitting for years. I wonder if that was just for employment? Stupid waste of money and letting builings, towns, shopping malls go to decay in how long?
I absolutely believe technology is wonderful to keep in touch with college and university kids, traveling spouses, old friends found, meeting relatives, vacations and on and on. 😀
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September 5, 2014 at 6:10 pm
Tess this seemed lie a very jam packed day. The dumplings sound scrumptious. Now i am terribly afraid I am one of those travel bloggers wandering about lobbies, streets, dark alleys, local squares in search of the elusive Wifi. I’ve even stood on a stool in a bar in Spain while holding my iPad over my head int he hopes of connection. ;(
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September 5, 2014 at 8:57 pm
All hotels supplied WiFi in the lobby. This was the first one with free connection on the room. Some you had to pay for personal room connection. Most free in lobby.
I can see you standing on a stool in Spain. Was this taken in stride by lookers-on?
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September 6, 2014 at 12:18 am
Well there were line dancing classes going on at the time so most were distracted. The instructor looked like he might consider calling security.
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September 7, 2014 at 4:39 pm
What? ??
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September 7, 2014 at 8:29 pm
I will have to do a post on that little incident perhaps. 🙂
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September 8, 2014 at 2:30 pm
Look forward to it! 😛
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September 5, 2014 at 7:07 pm
The menu sounds delicious. You’re seeing a lot of the country, all sorts of things. It’s been very interesting to follow.
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September 5, 2014 at 9:00 pm
Paulette, I am so glad I took this vacation. Talk about bang for your buck! Tiring and information overload but I wouldn’t tell anyone it wasn’t worth it. Long flight though but longer to Australia. ❤ Glad you're sticking around for the touch. Nice to have you along. Thank you for joining me.
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September 6, 2014 at 12:54 pm
❤
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September 7, 2014 at 4:53 pm
~(~_*)~~
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September 5, 2014 at 9:02 pm
Those brick walls amazed me. Maybe you’re far in from the juncture of tectonic plates–no earthquakes? I couldn’t quite figure where you were. The Eurasian and North American plate abut in China, but north of where you were (I think). Even without earthquakes, seems odd. Pygmies build very unstable homes, but they don’t care if they fall down!
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September 5, 2014 at 9:15 pm
Tess, I am enjoying your trip so much. I laugh at the lists of dishes for lunch and dinner. Onions celery are so popular. Pork is too. Glad you enjoyed the show. One surprise after another. I also wonder how those buildings stay up without support!
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September 6, 2014 at 2:56 am
Fascinating dumpling contents Tess! the dancing is awesome I’d love to try some of those costumes 🙂
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September 7, 2014 at 4:40 pm
They sure know how to put on a show. The girls and costumes were gorgeous and colorful. 🙂
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September 6, 2014 at 5:02 am
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Time to continue the travels in China with How the Cookie Crumbles. Thanks Tess – I have heard some tales about meals that have been served to visitors and it is comforting to see that the menus appear to include local ingredients but nothing too exotic!! Very interesting as always.
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September 6, 2014 at 8:28 am
Please explain pot stickers? Another interesting day had by all. The desolate buildings though, look so sad.
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September 7, 2014 at 4:47 pm
This is more than I can think of to explain:
https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1EODB_enCA562CA564&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=wikipedia%2C%20pot%20stickers
I agree, the empty building look like blind and lost souls. What a waste of money.
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September 6, 2014 at 9:42 am
oh yes, you certainly ate well!! I think that might be my favorite part of your posts: the food and their descriptions. Keep ’em coming!
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September 7, 2014 at 4:48 pm
I like to EAT! 😀
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September 7, 2014 at 5:04 pm
I do too as is shown by the gzillions of times I’ve been on Weight Watchers 😀
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September 7, 2014 at 5:31 pm
I want to lose 20 pounds by Christmas, which mean I have to get my butt out of chair and MOVE it. 🙂
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September 8, 2014 at 2:25 pm
😛 😛 I too, but now \I’m waaayy overdue.
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September 6, 2014 at 2:44 pm
Not a part of the world I’d be interested in actually visiting but I AM enjoying the cyber-tour. 😉 I like hearing about the varieties of exotic foods you tried in particular.
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September 7, 2014 at 4:55 pm
Thank YOU, Geraldine. Those are the things that interest me, food and people and how they do things. 🙂
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September 6, 2014 at 6:32 pm
The dumplings sound very tasty. I wonder if your Google troubles had something to with Google’s issues with the Chinese government.
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September 7, 2014 at 5:01 pm
You BET! I’ve read how Google is interested but China is not. I wasn’t the only one having trouble with it.
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September 7, 2014 at 12:56 am
Hoping you are having a Great weekend 🙂
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September 7, 2014 at 5:06 pm
Thank you. It”s busy. Hope yours is wonderful. 😮
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September 7, 2014 at 6:20 pm
Great,Going good, been nice ,and cool here the last 2 days…
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September 8, 2014 at 2:27 pm
Fallish weather here.
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September 8, 2014 at 3:06 pm
Oh man got humid, I got too hot last night running …ACK where is Autumn when we need it LOL
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September 8, 2014 at 4:09 pm
I’m sure it will arrive when you least expect it.
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September 8, 2014 at 4:58 pm
Yea I agree. I hope it is a cool one though.
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September 9, 2014 at 1:48 pm
~(*_~)~~
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September 7, 2014 at 2:53 am
I love dumplings 🙂 Thank you for sharing your travels with us Tess, I love reading about them 🙂
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September 7, 2014 at 5:08 pm
You are welcome. I’ve forgotten parts of this tour because we were so go-go-go. I’m getting a lovely refresher as well.
😛
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September 7, 2014 at 10:00 am
This was a fun evening, not sure of these short windows to board trains though. You are so right the dancers and costumes, beautiful. Dumplings! Loved this one.
Tess, I honor your fortitude. I think I would have been starkers with the pace of this tour.
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September 7, 2014 at 5:17 pm
A breather is coming and it hit me like a ton of bricks. From go-go-go to a slow-down of pace, it felt weird.
Ha ha. The short window of time was for lugging the suitcase in unfamiliar territory, jammed with people and only two minutes to make do.
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September 7, 2014 at 11:30 am
Skeletal apartments and dumpling banquets. What a day.
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September 7, 2014 at 5:18 pm
~(~_*)~~ Sigh.
It was a tough day but somebody had to do it. 🙂
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September 7, 2014 at 12:43 pm
Those empty, half-built apartment cities are amazing. Surprising that some enterprising American hasn’t come along to finish the job. Amazing video–did you film that? Great clarity.
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September 7, 2014 at 5:23 pm
Yeah. I don’t know how that works. I didn’t find out until AFTER my trip, there are cities…CITIES new but ghost towns.
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September 7, 2014 at 1:19 pm
Loved the video Tess. It sounds like a lovely evening – how were the loos?
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September 7, 2014 at 5:26 pm
Most restaurants had at least ONE pedestal toilet. I’m sure that was planned. 😮
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September 8, 2014 at 11:26 am
From my favourite singer Imogen
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September 8, 2014 at 2:41 pm
This is wonderful. Captures the essence of what I saw. Thank YOU, Willow.
I thought you were in France. When do you find the time to search the net and comment? It’s FRANCE!
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September 8, 2014 at 3:12 pm
I love Imogen Heap and I knew she had made this video. It is part of her new album. I thought you would like it.
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September 8, 2014 at 4:10 pm
I do. Gee, I sure do learn lots of new things here. Thank you for going to the trouble, Willow. I thought you’re in France? FRANCE.
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September 8, 2014 at 4:14 pm
I am in France France it is lovely
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September 8, 2014 at 4:19 pm
How can you be on a devise unless you’re taking pictures, touring vineyards, sitting in an arbor sipping French wine?
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September 8, 2014 at 4:37 pm
We are staying in a converted barn in a French village, It is fabulous here wine, food, sun and great company!!
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September 9, 2014 at 1:47 pm
I wouldn’t have time for commenting if I were in France. Bless you. ❤ Save us some wine.
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September 9, 2014 at 1:52 pm
Okay if I have to.xxx
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September 8, 2014 at 4:38 pm
wish you were here!! 😉 ❤
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September 9, 2014 at 1:48 pm
Me too. I know how to spell; my fingers do not. I meant DEvice. 😀
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September 9, 2014 at 1:54 pm
She knows you know. 🙂 xx
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September 9, 2014 at 2:17 pm
~(*_~)~~
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September 9, 2014 at 2:19 pm
(*÷*) xxx
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September 8, 2014 at 2:48 pm
Your fruit farm photo looks a lot like a vineyard – did you try any of the wine?
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September 8, 2014 at 4:09 pm
Sigh. True, it does look like a vineyard. I thought so at first too. There were a lot of nurseries with young peach and cherry trees as well. I may have mixed up the pictures. What we need is someone who can read the sign below this picture,.although I’m not sure it’s the same field, as it was on the opposite side of the road. 😮
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September 8, 2014 at 5:43 pm
Amazing the contrast between the starkness of the empty buildings and the wealth of colour and richness of the show. The dumplings sound delicious, I love them but have to go down to the south east coast where my boys live to find the best Chinese restaurants to experience them 😛 Better even to have them in their home country as you did….yum! The extent of all you covered each day on this tour amazes me Tess, talk about packed in! The show must have been stunning, those girls are gorgeous 😀 ❤
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September 9, 2014 at 1:52 pm
I loved all the color and the handsome people on stage. What a treat. The food WAS delicious. ❤ ❤
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September 11, 2014 at 4:23 pm
😉 ❤ x1,000
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September 11, 2014 at 7:11 pm
~(*_~)~~ ❤ ❤
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September 8, 2014 at 6:47 pm
Wonderful post and your comment section is additionally vibrant! I’m so impressed with the quality of comments and folks who engage with you Tess. It speaks to your skill as a writer and as a person.
No supports inside those buildings is fascinating. And then the empty high rise apartments perhaps showing a society growing too fast?
The food sounds amazing but I would have trouble with so little fluids. I drink something almost constantly.
The pace of your trip is exhaustive! I too was worried about your bag on the train. Can’t wait for the cruise. 😉
Sounds like you enjoyed your next guide, Steve. I look forward to hearing more!
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September 9, 2014 at 1:56 pm
Thank you, Pam for your in-depth comments. Later I will have a closer picture of brick additions. I thought I was talking through my hat when I noticed there was no framing inside the brick. I’m not an architect, nor engineer, nor am I involved in or know anything about construction, but this bothered me.
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September 9, 2014 at 11:05 am
Thanks for sharing. I love to travel via you!
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September 9, 2014 at 2:16 pm
I’m pleased you’re along for the ride. Thank YOU.
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September 11, 2014 at 5:07 am
It’s not that there is no support for the walls in those brick village houses. It’s because upon cement foundation, concrete poles were built in various places, normally in the center inside and one on each corner. Instead of the wooden frames that have all the studs all over the houses, concrete poles with rebars in the center are built from the foundation to support the roof, which is also built in rebars and concrete. Unlike wood studs, only several concrete poles are usually needed to establish support for a small village house, usually one on each corner and a couple in the middle in the interior. I know this because my father used to be a developer in Hong Kong and I had gone with him to the construction sites all the time when he was building houses in the country side. with a few concrete poles , concrete floor and ceiling, bricks are then piled up and sealed with cement to fill up the opening. Many studs need to be densely populated in a wooden house, but not for rebar and concrete houses. From the outside, it looks like there is no frame, but there is, or the roof won’t stand. See the post below to understand how the brick houses do have support and frames, only one that isn’t subject to termites…
http://www.dezeen.com/2012/07/04/house-for-all-seasons-by-john-lin/
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September 11, 2014 at 5:26 pm
Hello John Lin
I am immensely pleased to receive this information. I’m happy you have taken the time to write and explain about construction as I have no experience in that field. My eyes were all I had. I’ve forwarded this information to another couple in our tour group and my friend’s husband found this intriguing to read about. He thought this is a similar system to the way building are put up in Greece. Do you know anything about that?
How did you manage to trip over my blog? I’m glad you did. Thank you again. ~(*_~)~~
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September 11, 2014 at 9:08 am
What an experience this trip must have been! China has always seemed so mysterious to me. Thanks for posting the photos and sharing the menus and the shows. Next best thing to being there!
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September 11, 2014 at 5:37 pm
You are most welcome. I’m surprised I went to China myself. Must have been something in the stars hidden from me.
😀 😀
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September 12, 2014 at 3:31 pm
There’s something eerie about a lot of the photos, the empty shell buildings, the grey skies, I wonder if it felt like that there, or if it’s just how it looks?
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September 12, 2014 at 7:09 pm
AT first all the empty building gave me the creeps but there was so much to take in, I had to file those thoughts. 🙂
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September 24, 2014 at 1:53 pm
I too thought many of the young women astoundingly beautiful and the skin!
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September 24, 2014 at 5:10 pm
Such porcelain skin. To die for. ❤
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October 2, 2014 at 8:07 pm
I’m a little behind–can you tell school started? Love the color of the dancers’ costumes and the stages. I also found the dumpling images ridiculously creative!
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October 3, 2014 at 10:02 am
I know. It was a shame to eat up those little creations cue to the creative hands that formed them. I always thought the Chinese were precise.
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October 5, 2014 at 9:38 pm
Hunger always wins, lol. And just think: those that don’t get eaten eventually find their way to the trash (?) and that labor will have been lost. Just sayin’ 😉
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December 14, 2014 at 2:13 pm
Such a contrast between the bleak countryside / deserted housing projects and the glorious dance shows. I love how you present both sides of the story ❤
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December 14, 2014 at 3:34 pm
Thank you, K. I’ve tried to leave it up to the reader to glean what they can from what I present, but I never tried to take sides either and point any fingers. It hadn’t occurred to me.
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December 14, 2014 at 4:01 pm
Maybe that’s why I find your travelogue so interesting 🙂
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December 15, 2014 at 11:55 am
Thank YOU. You kind words please me no end. ❤ ❤ ❤
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April 11, 2015 at 9:03 pm
The show is spectacular! And I could live on dumplings like those – um, yummy! But the strange empty skyscrapers – maybe no worse than empty buildings anywhere. Still, you can see through them, as if they were never meant to be lived in, just scaffolding against the sky.
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April 12, 2015 at 12:07 pm
The empty buildings are all over China. They have whole towns and malls which have never had anyone but construction workers in them. We were told that more and more ‘country’ people are coming into the cities and ‘if you build it, they will come.” On the other hand, I wonder if the government isn’t just providing jobs and a paycheck.
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