Tag Archives: China

Zhenyuan, Guizhou, China

May 26, 2018 philpither

The town is well away from the usual foreigner’s path so you will need to use Mandarin or sign language, google translate etc.

This is a small place with the town divided by a river. The bridges create choke points with quite amazing raffic jams.

Getting around by foot or bus is best.

My recommendation is make sure you visit the old Town first before taking on the hike, boat trip on the river etc. The old town is easily the most interesting part of Zhenyuan.

They have, amongst the usual China retail outlets, impressive cake shops with white chef hats etc and many customers. They do beautiful birthday cakes, cakes in the shape of a Ferrari etc etc.

Hike near the town

Old Town

The old town is crumbling with a few buildings being cared for and many in state of collapse

Mao Zedong’s handwriting, Zhenyuan Old Town

China

Xijiang, Guizhou, China

May 26, 2018 philpither

Work

Play – whole village party & dressing up

Blind Date park – where village boy and village girl meet, hopefully.

Blind Date Fair – country boy meets girl

Streets, rooftops ….

Chengdu, China

Chengdu – Jinsha & Dufu Poet’s Thatched Cottage …

April 23, 2018 philpither 1 Comment

Chengdu has many attractions that even some locals are not aware of.

Here I look at 2:

Jinsha archaeological site and museum
Dufu Poet’s Thatched Cottage park

Both are within the city and accessible via Metro and/or bus.

Jinsha

Jinsha is understood to be where the Sinxangdui people moved after abandoning Sanxingdui. We can only speculate on the reasons for this move.

See

Sanxingdui, Sichuan, China

JInsha is a covered excavation site and museum combined.

5,000+ artefacts were uncovered at this site with some having been reburied, such as ivory, and others on display.

I cover a tiny portion of these artifacts below:

Jade Dagger with soil markings from a thousand plus years burial

Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage is a 24-acre park and museum in honour of the Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu.

I have not taken pictures of the cottage but rather just enjoyed the park built around the reconstructed cottage.

The cottage itself has been rebuilt at least once, possibly more times, so is somewhat like your grandfather’s axe. But worth seeing while enjoying the park.

China, Shanghai

1933 Slaughterhouse, Shanghai

September 3, 2017 philpither

If unusual architecture and photography appeal then this building likely has it all along with a touch of the macabre.

A concrete oddity with ramps and air bridges(27 bridges apparently – I didn’t count them) and bare concrete everywhere.

Seems to also be a very popular spot for young guys to take pictures of young women who in turn actually seem much more interested in their phones than posing but maybe that is as close to ‘posing’ or any sign of interest you will get these days.

If it all gets a bit much – especially if you think you can hear the ghostly lowing of doomed cattle – then head down stairs to the Starbucks(even here) and maybe check out the DJI store for a new drone.

China

Pingyao

November 9, 2014 philpither 1 Comment

Pingyao is a city that retains, for me at least, some of the feeling of China as it was 15+ years ago.

Tourism is being encouraged but the streetscape, inside the walls, gives impression that it is still fairly original. No superhighways, tall buildings or fast food joints.

Unbeknownst to us Pingyao also has a large annual photo exhibition – we arrived in the middle of it.

Pingyao is notable in part for the old draft banks and security companies that took care of rich peoples assets. The security companies provided fierce armed kung fu fighters to protect their client’s valuables during transport and bank/security company reception areas of varying opulence commensurate with the wealth of the client – similar to what you see today from retail banking through to private banking, family offices and so on.