LOCAL TRANSPORTATION--VARIOUS

From the mountain village that performed the "earth opera."

From one of the cities. This (bicycle) was the most common type of transportation in all areas.

Also one of the cities. Most things seemed to be moved with bike carts like this.

From a farming village we visited. They stopped and smiled when they saw I wanted a picture.

DOING TOURIST-TYPE THINGS IN BEIJING

We started in Beijing and did a lot of tourist things there.

This is a ride through one of the hutongs of Beijing.






This is the famed bird's nest stadium at the 2008 Olympic Park--with some of our group in the foreground.








Walking through a park, we saw many people doing various forms of exercise and "practice." This man is practicing writing Chinese characters--using a special brush and water, since water is cheap and will "go away" without leaving marks in the park.

OCTOBER TRIP TO CHINA

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It is now December and, having recovered from our travels, I am adding a few [of our many] photos to our blog.

Our China trip started in Beijing, China and ended in Shanghai. Note dotted lines are train travel; solid lines are plane travel and the heavy, solid line is boat travel on the Yangtze River cruise.

We spent the month of October with an Elderhostel tour group traveling by plane, train and some by private bus. It was a great trip and we saw many facets of Chinese life. About half the time in China was spent on regular tourist-type things and half visiting remote villages and various minority groups [an official category in China] plus lectures by university professors on Chinese history and culture. Lonnie and Dee at the Great Wall of China.