Ancient and Rural

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Finally had the opportunity to venture away from the city, went on a tour with 17 expats. It was truly a United Nations gathering with folks from United States, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Australia and India. We travelled to the adjacent province Fujian to view the Yongding Hakka Tulou. These are amazing world cultural heritage buildings made of rammed earth, some of them built more than 600 years ago. Many of the Hakku people still dwell in these ancient structures! We spent 3 days viewing assorted ancient places from the Thousand Buddhist Tower to the Chuxi tulou cluster. The Hakka people live a simple life many of them still using wells for their water. But in these same rustic villages you'll see satellite dishes. The locals were charming and welcoming to the camera crazy foreigners, the food was delicious as everything was grown within walking or biking distance of the restaurants, and I connected with some delightful expats who all had their fascinating stories about how they came to be living and working in China. Anna, the 6 yr. old daughter of the Russian couple, could speak Russian, English and Chinese fluently and knew some Korean. I eagerly anticipate the next journey away from the city.

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Photos

persimmon
from harvest to peeling, drying for sale

Linda
from Shenzhen Daily News, the only English newspaper in south PR China

turning the rice
which was laid on bamboo mats

Everyone has a job.
and this boy was no exception

you looking at me?
Grandma it's another foreigner taking pictures

Hakka kids and Grandma
inside their home

The Gupta Family
Mahika, the daughter, is such a mature, intelligent 14 yr. old.

Alka and Me
from New Delhi

Newman and Me
he's a photographer/reporter from Shenzhen Daily News. He came along to write an article for his paper.

Chuxi tulou
unfortunately we arrived very late and it was almost dark...and this was by far the best tulou

UN is here!
I'm with Weera, from Sri Lanka, Julie from China and multilingual Anna from Russia