As many cities in China quickly leapfrog American cities into one technopolis after another, there are still many old, ancient places across the countryside. So, in an effort to find some of the more unique and classical Chinese places, I had to go pretty deep beyond the major cities.
This is an old place that maintains its classic charm. It's called Feng Huang, and the old buildings along the river are still up on stilts. They don't build right along the river, since they know every 50 years or so, a major flood clears everything away. In the meantime, locals go on about their business, going down to the river to wash clothes, prepare food, and the like.
The entire time I was here, I never saw another white person and did not meet anyone that spoke English. I also suffered a fairly significant injury one morning... will talk about that another time. I'm going to hit a hospital here in Beijing to see what exactly happened! But, most importantly, even though my cameras hit the ground pretty hard, they are all in perfect working condition. Sweet Nikon.
Read more here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Tags: stuck customs stuckincustoms stuckincustoms.com travel blog travelblog photography photoblog photographyblog hdr high dynamic range imaging digital processing software tutorial hdrtutorial trey ratcliff treyratcliff east asia china people’s republic of china republic prc hunan Húnán 湖南 province 省 shěng division 湘 Xiāng 湘西土家族苗族自治州 Xiāngxī Tǔjiāzú Miáozú Zìzhìzhōu Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Fenghuang County 凤凰县 Fènghuáng Xiàn Xiangxi ancient history historic historical culture harbor town village unesco water river boats boating shanty nikon d3x october 2010
Now, getting to this place was not easy!
I arrived about 1 AM at a tiny family-run inn by the river. I was meeting a local guide (see Jack's website) at 5 AM, so I didn't get a lot of what I would call "quality sleep". Anyway, I got up very early and went downstairs in pitch black. There seemed to be a big white cloth box I had to go around to find the front door. My guide was outside. The door was locked and we could not figure out how to get it open. Everyone at the little inn was sound asleep and I was totally confused. Then, from inside the big white box, a body flew out of it! There was a 60-year-old Chinese guy inside that was sleeping until I woke him up with all my lock-manipulations. His naked limbs in the white sheets scared the bejeezus out of me and woke me right up!
And then we were on the river about 5:15. It was still completely dark outside. And I mean COMPLETELY DARK. It was a thin bamboo raft with an outboard motor.
I turned around to ask my guide, "How the heck does the boat driver know where he is going?!?"
He calmly said, "Oh, no worry. The river is very wide."
I not-calmly said, "Well, that's great and everything, but I can't even see the edge to the river!"
He calmly said, "But it is so wide."
This line of questioning was not getting me anywhere, so I just decided to sit back and enjoy my possible last moments on Earth. Then the sun started to rise, and we moved the boat over to the best bank for the angle.
Want to hear something amazing about these fishermen? You won't believe it... but maybe others can confirm this! The fishermen use these two trained cormorant birds that have their throats tied. The birds dive into the water, eat a fish, but then can't swallow it because of the rope. The fisherman rudely pulls the fish from the bird's throat and drops it into that basket behind him. The bird then goes over to a tiny keyboard and sends out the tweet, "WTF".
Tags: stuck customs stuckincustoms stuckincustoms.com travel blog travelblog photography photoblog photographyblog hdr high dynamic range imaging digital processing software tutorial hdrtutorial trey ratcliff treyratcliff east asia china people’s republic of china republic prc guangxi 广西 Guangxi Zhuang Zhuang Bouчcueŋь ผู้จ้วง 壮族 壯族 Zhuàngzú Guilin 桂林 Gveilinz 漓江 Lí Jiāng Lijiang River sun rise sunrise boat raft fisherman fish mist morning early brilliant october 2010 nikon d3x SOETOP50-SpotsForDaydreamers
Getting to this place isn't easy, either. I wish I could tell you how tired my legs were and still are. I added about another 1/4 inch of calf muscle in the last week. Climbing these spires with all my equipment is not cake walk. I climbed to the top three times in my hikes, and my first day had about 10km of unforgettable pain. 10km is one thing. 10km that involves these kinds of verticals is another thing.
I also climbed one of these at night. Alone. That was exciting. I don't know if exciting is quite the right word for it, but it certainly was an experience (that word said with French accent). On the way down, I ran into a big snake that would have liked nothing more than to rock my face off. I'll have a full story on that in a later post from this area.
Read the rest here at stuckincustoms.com.
Tags: stuck customs stuckincustoms stuckincustoms.com travel blog travelblog photography photoblog photographyblog hdr high dynamic range imaging digital processing software tutorial hdrtutorial trey ratcliff treyratcliff east asia china people’s republic of china republic prc guangxi 广西 Guangxi Zhuang Zhuang Bouчcueŋь ผู้จ้วง 壮族 壯族 Zhuàngzú pandora avatar natural nature wild wilderness mist distance perspective rocks crags cliffs mountains vista scenic october 2010 nikon d3x
I was invited to go see a very special event here in Beijing. There is an old area that has the ancient Imperial Granaries that date back hundreds and hundreds of years. One of these has been converted to an intimate opera house. They bring in some of the best opera actors from all over China to perform here.
If you haven't seen a Chinese opera, you are in store for something totally original!
This particular performance was called The Peony Pavillion, which was written during the Ming dynasty and is a love story about all kinds of crazy mythical stuff that I don't want to spoil for you. But it's really a must-see if you are into unique forms of entertainment. And you do feel a bit like a time-traveller, watching a scene from hundreds of years ago.
Even more interesting, there is a trendy and delicious restaurant next door. Everyone eats together and has a wonderful leisurely meal before meandering over next door to enjoy the opera. It's a great experience!
Read the rest of this entry here at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Tags: stuck customs stuckincustoms stuckincustoms.com travel blog travelblog photography photoblog photographyblog hdr high dynamic range imaging digital processing software tutorial hdrtutorial trey ratcliff treyratcliff east asia china people’s republic of china republic prc Beijing peking Běijīng 北京 municipality city metropolis northern northern china peony pavilion 牡丹亭 mǔdāntíng 昆曲 崑曲 Kunqu Kūnqǔ kun opera imperial granary imperial granary jiang nan October 2010 Nikon d3x
And look - another amazing super-structure in Beijing!
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I've had a lot of family in town and been showing them all my unpublished stuff from Beijing, including this photo. They all remark on how impeccably modern and impressive the city has become. From what I understand, they have started bringing in more and more western architects to design innovative structures. I'm not sure who the architect here is... but it's very well done.
See that giant red velvet wall to the right? It's hiding a new display that's currently being built. I've never seen such an elaborate "under construction" wall!
from Trey Ratcliff at www.stuckincustoms.com
Tags: stuck customs stuckincustoms stuckincustoms.com travel blog travelblog photography photoblog photographyblog hdr high dynamic range imaging digital processing software tutorial hdrtutorial trey ratcliff treyratcliff east asia china people’s republic of china republic prc Beijing peking Běijīng 北京 municipality city metropolis northern northern china capital museum museum 首都博物馆 Fuxingmenwai Dajie art culture relic history historic xicheng 西城区 西城區 Xīchéng Qū aqua blue red crimson velvet display people modern postmodern architecture steel colorful October 2010 Nikon d3x