China PIctures

[Zantar]

Some folks asked for some pictures of my China trip awhile back...so here you go. Enjoy.

Great Wall PIcs:
The great wall was a well great experience. Really difficult to climb though. As you can see from picture four its almost straight up a whole bloody mountain. And these were not regulated steps when they were made. So at one step it will be a foot tall, the next a few inchs tall. Can be quite annoying.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/004_1.jpg
at the top of the wall (this section atleast).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/009_6.jpg
Heading down the wall

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/007_4.jpg
heading up the wall.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/012_9.jpg

See that little dot above the far mountain? Looks like a tower. Well yah i had just walked from there. Its where i took the first picture.

Ok here is next set:

Tianneman Square (Sp?)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/006_3.jpg

View from the square looking back on the forbidden Palace.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/005_2.jpg

Me in front of the monument for the heroes of the revolution...atleast i THINK thats what it was.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/f68560cd.jpg

A picture looking towards maos tomb. Big building in the back. He is preserved there like lenin. Kinda freaky.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/9a157d01.jpg

Picture of a random chinese student who demanded a picture with me. Using my camera. The other guy was one of the people on the trip.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/499e12ab.jpg

Nice picture of Forbidden Palace

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/885ce8f1.jpg

HAIL MAO! This is outside of forbbiden palace. the square is behind me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/016_13A.jpg

Imperial Summer Resort at Chengde

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/017_14A.jpg

More of the same.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/019_16.jpg

Temple oF heaven in Beijing

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/5e5e7a40.jpg

Another pic of the temple of heaven, but me closer to the temple. There are three temples here. I dont recall which one i was in front of at this momment though.
Ive got more pics of Northern sites, but alas not the bandwith to keep them. So ill go to the southern cities in the next installment.

[AgentSun]

i've never been to china. nice to know everything still looks ancient. wouldn't want there to be a starbucks there.

[scaperbuddy]

absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

[BlackThorn]

Nice pics, but I need to ask . . . am I the only person who read "Chiana Pictures" from the title of this thread?

[AgentSun]

no you're not. but my mind corrected itself when i read "China" in the first post.

[Third EYe]

Great pics Zantar, wish I had gone.

[Zantar]

i've never been to china. nice to know everything still looks ancient. wouldn't want there to be a starbucks there.

yah...about that. There is alot of Starbucks and McDonalds around. Its really only ancient looking in certain areas. Beijing still had alot of ancient areas...Shanghai on the other hand was almost entirely westernized. Ive got a few pictures of Shanghai which are kinda scary in their resemblance to a US town. The most interesting dynamic of China is how it is such a mix of the old and the new. Ive got one picture of the Temple of Heaven where you can see this ancient preserved building in the foreground, and in the background several skyscrapers.

[AgentSun]

wow, that's interesting. did you see a lot of people peddling tacky souvenirs?

[Zantar]

Oh yes. They were the most persistent street vendors i have ever encountered. Whenever our bus parked anywhere they would swarm us like locusts yelling the one or two words they knew in english and trying to get people to notice them. The trick is to just keep walking and not even glance their way...its cruel but it works. Any sort of attention shown to them is like a kink in your armor that they exploit. Hard to get rid of really. There were a few beggars who i only gave money to when i had coins. Mostly because their coins are worth so little that i didnt really want to carry them around.

[AgentSun]

wow. another world, really. i've never been there and have never experienced something like that. what a mind trip, huh...i suppose that if i were there, they wouldn't do the same with me. not sure though, because i'd be armed with a camera, speaking english, and wearing things contrary to chinese fashion. me and my insane american clothing.

[Zantar]

wow. another world, really. i've never been there and have never experienced something like that. what a mind trip, huh...i suppose that if i were there, they wouldn't do the same with me. not sure though, because i'd be armed with a camera, speaking english, and wearing things contrary to chinese fashion. me and my insane american clothing.

Well there was a philipino women with us who had people speak Chinese to her a few times. They would probably be just as insistent with you because you would look like you have money. I on the other hand wear 4-5 year old clothing most of the time and dont exaclty keep up with the latest fashions. So when i shrugged them off they probably were more likely to believe i had no money. There was a few times where i was waiting somewhere and i couldnt ignore them taht i seriously considered paying them to leave me alone. Cant get to upset though...afterall honestly they need the money more than me.

[AgentSun]

yeah. they do it cause they have to. if i was traveling, i'd probably pack really generic clothing, things that were more durable. when i go on trips, i tend to get shirts that aren't really for looks, but are in generic colors and that look good on me, but are more for their use, not for their style. cause it's hard to wash something if the label says it's supposed to be washed in warm water, and all you have is cold. i'd rather spare a 5 dollar shirt from wal-mart than bring things that would do me absolutely no good. i can do that now, buy things specifically for a trip. if it was a few years ago, i'd more than likely bring clothes i already had lying around, and most of those have some kind of logo on them, cause i was younger at the time.

plus i guess now, you have to be careful in some places what labels and brands you wear...my friend went to europe, of all places, and was warned beforehand to not wear her american flag shirt, because it might attract unwanted attention, from pick pockets and such. she did it anyways, and promptly got pick pocketed. if you announce you're a tourist, people will treat you as one--often not very well.

[eta_carinae]

ok... the two pics I saw looked great. Is anybody else having trouble seeing them?

[AgentSun]

zantar is using photobucket and photobucket is having server issues right now, so you might have to be a bit patient as they work on that. though they come up fine for me. they must've fixed the problems just now.

[JadedLegend3]

Nice pics, but I need to ask . . . am I the only person who read "Chiana Pictures" from the title of this thread?


I read "Chiana," too.

Thanks for posting! Beautiful pictures, Zantar! :)

[BaseLine]

Great pics Zantar!

[Zantar]

yeah. they do it cause they have to. if i was traveling, i'd probably pack really generic clothing, things that were more durable. when i go on trips, i tend to get shirts that aren't really for looks, but are in generic colors and that look good on me, but are more for their use, not for their style. cause it's hard to wash something if the label says it's supposed to be washed in warm water, and all you have is cold. i'd rather spare a 5 dollar shirt from wal-mart than bring things that would do me absolutely no good. i can do that now, buy things specifically for a trip. if it was a few years ago, i'd more than likely bring clothes i already had lying around, and most of those have some kind of logo on them, cause i was younger at the time.

plus i guess now, you have to be careful in some places what labels and brands you wear...my friend went to europe, of all places, and was warned beforehand to not wear her american flag shirt, because it might attract unwanted attention, from pick pockets and such. she did it anyways, and promptly got pick pocketed. if you announce you're a tourist, people will treat you as one--often not very well.

Exactly, just have to be careful. I was raised to be careful, even a bit paranoid. Some think that it is useless for me to do all the little things i do to prevent pickpocketing or other such things but if it even works once i am happy. For example, when im walking in groups in a city i walk behind the people im with. This isnt to be rude. This is because i can now see everyone who bumps up against them, in a perspective that the pickpocketer may not be protecting themselves agaisnt. + i hover my hand over my pocket with my wallet in a crowd and never allow anyone to bump up agaisnt that section of my body.

Paranoid? Yes. But hey it works. Oh ill get to posting my southern china pics tommorow.

[faustus]

I'd love to go to china. maybe one day

[AgentSun]

eho knows? i'd like to go too, but let's see about that political unrest first. the most i've been out of the country is mexico.

[trinamick]

Great pics, Zantar! I've never been and probably won't ever go, so thanks for sharing!

[Zantar]

Ok i know i am a frelling lazy man. I have been dealing with a bit of a crisis in my areas (fires mentioned in other thread) and have neglected my proper image hosting duty. As punishment i will fake my death and move to a foreign country. Once i figure out how to fake my death that is...i was considering sending the police a note saying "im dead dont look for me" but that might just be a bit to cliche. Anyway on with the pictures of southern china.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/fc83e278.jpg
Ok this picture is of Shanghai. From what i understand Shanghai is what people mean when they say the "new" China. Personally i found the city to be way to crowded, way to westernized, and way to polluted. In short: didnt like it. Not to mention the hellish humidity of the place. Maybe im just to much of a country boy though...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/eff595bd.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/df0b9375.jpg
Now this is a little place they called Oriental Venice. Or if you want to be all "proper" its actually called Zhouzhang. I found this area to be really nice. It wasnt meant for american tourists i think. Most of the people i encountered there tended to be tourists from other asian countries. Coincentently this is also the place i was approached about buying several bladed weapons. Although the price was so good i would have done it in a new york second back home i was way to scared of Chinese customs to try and bring those back home with me. Still wish i would have bought em tbh.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/7b19a355.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/6a0f9526.jpg
These pictures are from Lingyin temple in Hangzhou. Hangzhou is a relatively small city of 3.5 million...kinda feels suburbany. This temple itself was truly amazing for me. The other temples i visited felt so unclean. IT was like a marketplace rather than a place of spirituality. Being a person interested in Buddhism this greatly disturbed me. Lingyin was like this in the lower levels...but it is also a very tall temple. If you go all the way to the top its almost completely isolated and up there i had a momment to just sit back and appreciate what i saw. Was a moving experience for me. Out of respect i did not take any pictures of the insides of the temples though...so sorry if you miss that.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/bfc7876c.jpg
This is a rock garden in Suzhou. Very beautiful. Actually one of the tour guides who took us through this garden was a trainee and the night before took me and a few other young adults off into the town of Hangzhou. Showed us a disco and a karoake place. the disco was a bit to much sensory override for me, and the karoake place was to expensive. Still she was quite nice and willing to help.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/c3e0eea3.jpg
Westlake in Hangzhou. Its basically a huge collection of lakes that are patterned off the imperial lakes in Chengde (i posted pictures of Chengde allready). Obviously quite beautiful. Though the day of the trip i was more concerned with the bloody humidity than the beauty of the place.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v376/dvandeko/f7970853.jpg
and my last pic is of course completley uninteresting. This is a tea factory. In fact here is a brand of tea made that is ranked the highest in all of China (and cost me quite me alot of money to buy). Still damn good green tea.

So that ends that. Sorry about the long delay with the pictures. If you want more pictures of a particular area i probably have it and will upload per request. Till then ill just stick with questions i guess:).

[AgentSun]

post more pics, post more pics! it's always interesting to see a place that i've never been to and to hear the stories behind them. i'm a photo freak. i love taking pictures.

[Zantar]

err what areas in particular? Ive got like 80 megs of pictures from china...

[faustus]

that's it I'm going in 10 to 20 years maybe

[trinamick]

Those are beautiful! My pics never turn out this well!

[VBKatLou]

Beautiful pics Zantar. I especially liked that resort. It's so picturesque. Did you stay there?

[AgentSun]

i have no idea what region...what region did you go to? :-P

[Zantar]

i have no idea what region...what region did you go to? :-P

In the north Beijing and Chengde. In the south Shanghai, river city, Suzhou, Hangzhou. What area are you most interested in?

[AgentSun]

i'm probably more interested in the southern regions. which regions were more interesting for you?

[Zantar]

Southern regions were nice...save the bloody humidity. I really did not like Shanghai though so im a bit more partial to Beijing over it. If you have an AIM i can just send you the whole folder.

[AgentSun]

look to my message, on the left under my avatar.