"Cranes in Chengdu"  (left)

Ivan and I were in Chengdu (China) for September before returning
to Taiwan. I've seen a lot of things in my life, but nothing could prepare
me for what I experienced here. I've been to many large cities in the world
and only in Chengdu can I say I've seen The Machine.  

Outside of our apartment there were 40 (yes, four zero) cranes on one
horizon alone. They worked 24 hours a day. The buildings rose out of
the ground like monsters being born.


 

"A Green Orange" (right)

This is a delicious fruit. At first I thought these were unripe oranges;
though we soon discovered that they were sweet inside. They aren't
like any oranges in Canada however. I used to know the name of
these in Mandarin but that word has entirely disappeared from my
memory. I've noticed that with Mandarin...I learn a word and then it
just slides right off my brain. It's so different than other languages I've
studied. Nevertheless, I am determined to learn! I can understand
many of the commands in karate now and I had started to wonder
if that would ever happen!

This orange is from a market near where we lived in Chengdu.
 

"Bouquet from Carlo's Class" (left)

Ivan and I were asked to give a presentation about Canada for a class
that was studying our country and this is the bouquet that the students
gave us. 
We'd met the teacher in the cafeteria one day. I thought at first that
'Carlos' was his English name (often people in China and Taiwan will
give you their English name in order to save you from slaughtering their
name in Mandarin. But he told us that 'Carlos' was his real name because
his mother is Mexican and his father is Chinese.
His students gave us a presentation also. They had the star dancer in
the class give us a hip hop demonstration. He was good! They also
had party food for everyone..chips, dried fruit, and chicken feet (real
chicken feet..not candies in the shape of chicken feet). The principal
saw our blank faces as we looked at the boiled feet in festive packaging
and kindly whisked them away from us, explaining smoothly to the
students that those probably weren't something we would eat.
Righty-right-oh!
 

"Islands on the East Coast of Taiwan"                                        "Love Birds"
In January we took a three day bus tour along                              This is a photo of
the east coast of Taiwan. It was so gorgeous.                                  Ivan and me
(to be continued.......)                                                                    a few months
                                                                                                   before leaving 
                                                                                                      for China.

"Ocean and Sky in Hualien" (right)

I did this from the bus as we wound our
way along the edge of the ocean.
(to be continued....)

"Temple Along the River in Hualien" (left)

"Cliff Studies Along the River in Hualien" (right)

"Memorial for the Workers"  (left)

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