Packhili grove with the painted buddhas

This darling man with his snakeskin drum... Invited to me play his little guitar, I did.... snake skin and all. What a sweet weathered face.... He was delightful and of course a few RMB would be his reward... This is another buddist worship area. So many beautifully painted murals on the clay walls. Thankfully it is being preserved... Again photos are wisely prohibited....

Another Ancient site... By DONKEY CART

This was fun, a donkey cart ride to the ancient city fortress... This is so vast it is difficult to even try to show you the grandeur and the ingenuity of the ancient Chinese... and the pitiful like of the current donkey drivers..... This cute young man urged his donkey ever so fast so he could go back and earn another pittance by taking more tourist out to the sight... And it was a beautiful sight.... This ancient fortressed city was very secure with only one entrance it was like an ancient gated community.

Buddha caves on the SILK ROAD

This is an UNESCO site so it is protected from photographers like me who would have taken thousands of photos. It is so ancient I can't remember the dates but spanned several Chinese Dynasties.. Some of the buddha's were 3 stories tall and so gorgeous. I learned a few things about Buddha's.. The hands represent good luck or stability based on the position of the hands. The Buddha's are always male but have femine characteristics to represent the "nuturing and gentle side". The sitting one who has earned the passage and will become a Buddha on his death. A lying Buddha (dead) is a full fledged Buddha. A sitting Buddha is one who has achieved the "title" but instead of dying has chosen to remain and help all the rest to reach this wonderful state. In other words he is like a "fourth Nephite". The carve from the mountain and then plastered with mud and straw and painted it... OH MY

Sound Sand Mt. and Cresent Moon Lake

This is a beautiful sand dune and oasis.... We climbed a sand mountain to slide down on the intertube... It was a long hike up the hill and a long and fast ride down the slide.... Rick and I were the only ones to do this slide.... The people got a kick out of watching us crazy Americans.... In fact, I am getting used to be stared at and hardly notice any more....

Terra Cotta Warriors can you believe it?

I purchased a software program to help me load pic onto the blog.... I have spent more hours trying to figure it out than if I had loaded one picture at a time.... I am almost ready to give up.... If any of you know "Flickr" Please educate me on how to get it to work... Ok now that you all know I am computer challenged (great I picked it for my profession) then help me out.... in the meantime... Here are some teasers....

Silk Road sightseeing trip

This trip will be detailed backwards, since the Terra Cotta Soldiers were at the end of our trip and the first in this blog. This is the workshop where they make modern day soliders. They use the same clay as in ancient times, I don't know on the molds. However, they are a booming tourist trade. They are also fascinating and hand crafted still. The heads are molded separatly to allow for air flow. They are air dried for a period of time and then fired in giant kilns. Hand painted or left in it's natural color.

We live on the campus in a hotel, but

Everywhere I see babies with bare bottoms.... They start potty training very young and the hold them into a squat position and whistle to imitate the sound of peeing. This is very common to see little exposed bottoms front and back. Every time I see a child in a grocery cart I am afraid for the little boys.... Guess it works. I watched a little boy signal his momma and she pulled his pants down in front on us and he peed right on the courtyard in front of us... Cultural no one flinched but me.... Chinese food is NOTHING like American Chinese. This is steamed dumplings. We don't know but conjecture if it is a gambling pool I can read 3 words only. How about you? For Short legged dogs in China.... creative transportation of clean water 3 is a crowd? WHo needs a seatbelt, teh baby is between the gas tank and the daddy This is how they get noodles, not the lump on the table, he pulls an stretches until the noodles appears, fast as any pizza thrower... These are shots just outside the campus with the street vendors. Utterly crowded every minute and every space is used for bikes, then people, then street vendors.