China June 18th to July 18th 2006

Please enjoy a few photos from Juanjuan & Phil's trip to China 2006.
The 1st two weeks we took a couple Boulder families back to the towns where they adopted their Chinese daughters. For Summer the 5 year old, it was her first time back to China since she left when she was 1. For Janis the 8 year old it was her second trip back. To view full size images click on thumbnail. To return click the large photo or hit your back button.

Denver-LA-Hong Kong is a very long flight. But the YWCA is clean & cheap, by Hong Kong standards. Just be careful when you pronounce the street names!	2006china010.jpg	L-to-R, Dawn, David, Juanjuan,. Helen, Summer, Marion & Janis. Phil behind the camera.
We then took a train to Shenzhen, China proper. From there we flew to Xiamen.	Janis' 1st meeting with Wang Lingling, her foster mom, or Aiyi, in two years. Aiyi came to meet us in Xiamen & traveled with us for 2 weeks, even though she had never been outside of Fujian province.	Xiamen, the former British Amoy, has over 1.2 million people & like many Chinese cities, the construction crane is the state bird.
Life imitates art.	Seeing Aiyi was the highlight of the trip for Janis. She actually remembered Aiyi when she was a baby in Changting, Fujian.	2006china088.jpg
Beware when dining in China!	We then spent a few days at Wang Lingling's house in Changting, a small town around Boulder's size. Her son Xiao Huang (Little Yellow) organized the time in Fujian.	2006china103.jpg
Changting has lots of Aiyi-s, all loving the fact that girls from America had returned to see where they came from.	Some of them were driven to tears when they saw the photo albums from America.	Despite all the prosperity on the coast the interior still lives very traditionally.
Another example of Phil being "arrested & tortured".	Wang Lingling's daughters, Fafa & Yingying, couldn't get enough of Janis. All these boys in China has created a longing for girls in the Chinese women's hearts.	2006china140.jpg
Cell phones & the Internet has not changed people's lives that much.	2006china151.jpg	2006china157.jpg
The next part of the trip was to Hunan Province where Summer, the 5 year old, was from.	Changsha is a medium sized city of "only" 6 million. Yueyang is near there on Dongting lake.	Aiyi's husband, Lao Huang (Old Yellow) came with us. They had never really traveled & he just had a ball!
2006china194.jpg	Stinky Tofu was a favorite of Mao Zedong.	2006china209.jpg
Beijing for a week of site seeing. Everywhere you look in Beijing they are getting ready for the 2008 Olympics	50 years of Communism couldn't destroy 5,000 years of capitalism. This photo cost 20Yuen = $2.40.	2006china224.jpg
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Tiananmen Square	The "Great Father" still watches over his flock, but he wouldn't recognize China today.	2008 is just around the corner.
2006china291.jpg	2006china318.jpg	The Temple of Heaven (Tian Tan) was built in 1420 A.D.
2006china333.jpg	We couldn't tell if this was serious, but we were afraid it was.	2006china342.jpg
Urumchi, Xin Jiang Province. The Boulder families went back & we took Juanjuan's brother & family to NW China. Downtown Urumchi	These knives were everywhere. They started out to slaughter sheep but selling them to tourists is a more lucrative endeavour.	2006china354.jpg
Xinjiang is the Muslim Central Asian area in China's in the NW corner.	Bin's daughter Meng Yu has the best smile. This was her 1st time out of Beijing	2006china376.jpg
2006china379.jpg	2006china381.jpg	The Turfan or Turpan Depression gets to -154 meters, -500 below sea level. Flaming Mountain here is still a bit above sea level but still way hot.
Gaochang, a 2,000 year old city on the Silk Road in the Turfan Depression. It was 107F when I took this shot.	2006china459.jpg	They have been irrigating this region for a long time & are experts at growing grapes & making raisins.
2006china464.jpg	2006china468.jpg	The Uygurs put on quite a show in a effort to get us to buy raisins, it was worth it.
2006china476.jpg	Juanjuan & her brother Bin in one of many grape arbors. Sometimes the only shade.	Now Denver sits at 5,000' & Mt. Evans is 14,000'. Urumchi is at 3,000' & Heavenly Mountain is at 17,000'+. Tomorrow we are headed up to sleep in a yurt.
After Hell-like temperatures in Eastern China, finally 6,000' & clean air.	Heavenly Mountain from the kitchen next to our yurt run by a Kazak family.	Mutton skewers at 12 cents each, delivered to our yurt, this was living.
2006china506.jpg	2006china508.jpg	Across the lake is a monastery, behind me is another Kazak yurt camp.
I want to climb this mountain, at 17,864 feet, 5445 meters.	2006china522.jpg	Scan from a tourist book, the route up is left, then up the left ridge. We found a guy who can guide us without the army arresting us for spying, for a fee.
This woman's husband, a Kazak, can take you to the snow line on a horse.	2006china538.jpg	2006china544.jpg
2006china549.jpg	The culmination of 5,000 years of art!	2006china566.jpg
"Star of the Traveling" Some poor soul is assigned to translate a Chinese travel brochure into English with these ubiquitous hand held translators. The next few lines are direct quotes from the brochure. They sometimes come out strangely beautiful.	The beautiful and rich Rainbow beach scenic spot warmly welcome Chinese and foreign honored guests' and friends' sightseeing with truth, good and beauty. Also warmly welcome photographic circles, art circles and literature workers to come to Rainbow beach to carry on the creation, academic research, incarnate the pure land in human word, experience this magical natural landscape and special, simple, unsophisticated, strong national custom!	Rainbow beach abuts "E Er Qi Si" river. It remotely shines with thither verdant river valley scenery. 'A river separates both banks, surpass the twofold skies", the nature here makes the entirely different two types of landforms skillfully fuse in together by supernatural strength, forming a good god-given view. Which is the unique river of China inpouring the Arctic Ocean from east to West.
Headed up to Kanas Nat'l Park.	2006china570.jpg	2006china571.jpg
2006china576.jpg	Ten years after I did a 1st descent in Southern China we do a 1 hour commercial raft trip & even got a commemorative photo!	2006china578.jpg
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Back in Urumchi, tomorrow to Beijing.	Back in Beijing. Huangxiao would like to meet a nice American guy, any takers? huangxiao123123@hotmail.com	Juanjuan's apartment behind. Home to Boulder tomorrow.