Skip to main content

Yancheng

 We're finally starting to get out on a few adventures.  Covid really put restrictions on us but now we're able to get out and it's so good.

The day after Christmas we went to a local tourist place called Yancheng.  The area is huge and it has a zoo (which we've been to), an amusement park, a museum and lots of little local shops and historical charm.  Things were closed that day because everyone was sick from Covid (we think), so it was just a walking tour.  I'm a huge fan of walking tours.  The girls, not so much. But we did it anyway.  

This is my favorite picture I took that day.  It has so many layers of Chinese culture.  In the foreground there is a brick fort that we are on, then you've got the older Chinese buildings, wires hanging below the bridge, waterways, a Ferris wheel, and high rises even farther in the distance.  

This post is mostly a landing ground for photos---for memories for the girls and my (bad?) habit of taking texture pictures.  So without further adieu, here is a photo dump:
This statue was carved between 618-900 AD.  Pretty old.
Close up of the statue.  One layer reminded me a bit of the sunstones.
My favorite fruit:  a pomelo.  I had never seen one on a tree, so it got its picture taken.
I'm fascinated with alleys.  This one has typical AC units attached, plus the ever conspicuous scooter.  Who lives here?  What are their lives like?  What do they need?  How do they make their living? Are they warm enough? What are their biggest concerns?  Are they happy?  For some reason alley ways get my questions churning every time.
Out of one of the windows on the fort that used to protect the city.
These kinds of scenes are so fascinating to me.  Look at how narrow that door is, and how high the step is.  There are wires running trying to modernize this old building.  Such charm.  And more questions churn.
One of the most common scenes here in China and I'm still stunned by it.
 It was fitting to find a holly bush right after Christmas!
Exit now if you don't like texture photos. 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

While We Are Waiting: Temples!

I love the temple.  When I first learned of the possibility of us moving to China in December 2019, one of my first questions was "How can I leave the temple?"  That question was answered in part during the closure of temples in 2020. However, when the joint venture was signed and Tom was officially offered the position in China in November 2020, I began fasting and praying that I would be able to attend the temple just once before we left.  Our original flights were for July 7, 2021 and just a few weeks before that, our temple opened up and miraculously we were able to get 2 appointments for baptisms and 4 other appointments for Tom and I before our departure date.  I can't express my deep gratitude for those 6 precious appointments.  Then when we didn't obtain a visa in time for those flights and access to nearby temples was given, I took up a new hobby.  Temple scheduling.  The girls teased me it was a bit of an obsessed hobby; but since we will go ...
2 comments
Read more

An Accomplishment!

 The process: Cut the recipe in half so that the bread will fit in your teensy tinsy oven. Convert everything to metric--- ingredient amounts and water temperature. Get your purified water to the right temperature. Measure ingredients out. Mix it up.  Humidity changes things.... Hope you did it right. Shape and let rise. Convert oven temperature to Celsius. My little oven heats up nicely, but you get to guess when it is preheated. Notice there are no smoke alarms in your kitchen. Hmm.   Decrease the cook time and cross your fingers that is right.  Add a cooking thermometer to the shopping list. Let it cool for a long time because you only have a small serrated knife for cutting it. Slice and eat.  It probably could have tasted pretty awful and we would have thought that bit of home tasted very delightful!  But it was quite good! Needs a little more salt, but that is an easy adjustment.   And it could have been crustier, but we're at a point o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Food

Food has been one of the hardest aspects of our quarantine.  Food is emotionally comforting, so we're missing out on that--especially the girls.  We're not used to the smells.  It is cafeteria type foods.  Much of the time we don't know what it is.  Always an adventure...not always a pleasant one!  That said, incoming meals are the most exciting time of the day.  Originally we were getting 4 meals a day.  But the only thing the girls were eating from them was the rice and there is way too much rice in that container for one person.  So we had it cut back to two. Breakfast is the hardest meal of the day.  I already knew I didn't love Chinese breakfasts.  Tom had told me that every breakfast he saw from watching quarantining videos had a boiled egg.  I knew I could eat that if I had some salt and pepper.  So I brought some.  We're doing okay on the salt--supply wise.  We're rationing on the pepper.  I'm so tha...
Post a Comment
Read more