Rich and Brent

kiwis2china

Rich and Brent

Two would be world adventures putting the office desk to rest for a few weeks, dusting off the backpacks and having an adventure in China

Rich - 41 year old photographer and mountain biker (although to be fair to Rich's mountain bike it aint been sending a lot of time out of the garage over the past 2 years). Unlike a lot of travellers who head overseas to trace their roots...

Brent - 41 year old photographer and corporate world escapee needing a little respite from the corporate world.

Photos are available to view at www.bkaptured.com



Asia May 5th 2009

It wasn't a difficult choice, so that means that there are no photographs of my afternoon. It had been suggested to me that I didn't take photographs around the Local Government buildings, or I might end up in jail. It wasn't a hypothesis that I was going to put to the test. It all started with a taxi ride to the Local Government building. The taxi wouldn't drop us off outside the main entrance, so we started walking towards there ourselves. Lihong stopped and told me to turn around - there were protesters outside the main entrance and the door had been locked. We head for the alternative way in, through a secure gate. We get stopped by men in uniforms. Apparently they are suspicious of the bald-headed white guy. They demand to see Lihong's proof ... read more

Asia May 5th 2009

One of the things that Lihong kept saying to me when I was still in NZ was that she would take me for a massage. Perhaps it was the look of shock on my face for her to expand a little to say that we would have one together ... the look of shock intensified ... Four nights in Putian and three massages - how good was that! My first experience was on the night of my arrival into Putian. Lihong, Quan and Qing took me to a massage franchise that they regularly attend. Watching carefully what the other three people did, I removed my shoes and socks, and rolled up my trousers to just above the knees. I reclined in the chair, placed my feet on the squab at the base of the chair, and ... read more
Synchronicity & white paper booties
Self portrait
Enjoying watching others work

Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an May 3rd 2009

Okay this may be a bit cruel but now that I am out of China it is probably appropriate to post this picture and let you all decide the title. I expect full retribution as Rich has a similar photo of me on his camera...although i am not sure I enjoyed the experience quite as much... read more

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu May 2nd 2009

We had the pleasure of spending four nights in Chengdu at Sims Cozy Guest House. For anyone who has travelled China and has been missing that sense of home, Sim has set out to recreate it in the middle of a city full of hustle and bustle. Chengdu would be my favourite city of our brief journey. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan province and boasts a population of around 3 million people who live within its urban area. Clearly the visual highlights of Chengdu are the opera and pandas that we have already blogged. The heart and soul of Chengdu lies within its many lane ways, markets and teahouses. Unfortunately Brent managed to trash one of his CF Cards on a computer at Sims and hence the lack of photos of Chengdu itself. The images ... read more
Hotpot anyone
Bicycles
Sparrows

Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an April 30th 2009

Xian is the capital of Shaanxi Provence and one of the ancient cities of China. We were drawn here by the history and the chance to see the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang and more importantly its guards... the Terracotta Army. Having survived our 15 hour train journey from Chengdu intact...actually it wasn't that bad (and at least we were off the roads for a little while), it was just a little surreal being cooped up in a box no more than 2 metres by 1.5 metres with two other inmates. Now I know Rich had been hoping for a couple of young, hot females, well as the photo shows…1 out of 3 is not bad. Actually our companions were lovely, not a lot of communication was going on but they were fascinated by our 500 ... read more
Train Companion
Xi'an Hotpot
Train to Xi'an

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu April 27th 2009

A very short blog about Pandas... We visited the Giant Panda breeding centre in Northern Chengdu today. Other than the Pandas the definite highlight was the Panda Museum which contained Panda bits in glass jars...sometimes you have just got to wonder why...and wonderful images of Panda bears running away from Dinosaurs...again you gotta wonder! We both passed on the opportunity to be photographed with a baby panda...it was only 1,000 rmb...but at least they make it special and make you pay for it. Would we recommend going...yes...would we go again...no probably not. ... read more
Close up
Okay where is the bamboo
Panda Heaven

Asia » China » Sichuan » Emei Shan April 26th 2009

New Chinese Proverb says…”Man who walk up mountain with large back packs very silly when he can walk down mountain in suit and dress shoes… and so was our experience on Mt Emei as we approached the Qingyin Pavilion. Two Kiwi’s walking up a couple of thousand steps carrying full backpacks for 2 hours and 5,000 Chinese coming downhill, having taken the Cable Car to the top. We arrived into Emei Shan, more particularly the Teddy Bear Hotel late on 23rd April. The accommodation was amazing for the price and standard (200rmb for a twin room). The staff are incredibly friendly and helpful. We had originally planned to only spend 1 night here and then a night on the mountain but due to Brent’s continuing chest infection we decided to spend an additional night calling ahead ... read more
Tibetan Macaques
The Golden Summit Buddha
Mt Emei

Asia » China » Sichuan » Leshan April 25th 2009

Communication and Coincidence. We left Chengdu for Leshan and the Giant Buddha on the morning of 22nd. We arrived at one of the many Chengdu Bus Stations by taxi and Richard booked us tickets. We were somewhat surprised to find ourselves on a 7 seater mini bus and not your usual Chinese coach for the 2 hour journey. It became clear very quickly to the other passengers that neither of us spoke Mandarin so we settled down to a peaceful morning. It didn’t take Richard long to work out that one of the guys spoke Japanese so for the next 2 hours we enjoyed conversations going from Mandarin to Japanese to English and back and forward again. After a little while the guy sitting in front of us explained to our now Japanese interpreter that he ... read more
Our Chinese Japanese Interpreter
This way
Eyes

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu April 22nd 2009

Rich and Brent find some culture... (some would argue it is wasted on us but we need to start somewhere) I think we can both honestly say that the furthest thing on our minds when we booked the China trip would be spending an evening at a Chinese Opera. So when the opportunity came up tonight and the guest house we are staying at runs a tour to the Opera...well how could we say no. So here we are in Chengdu, its day 2 and our blogs are out of order. Brent lost the last 2 days of photos this afternoon and given we are just back from the most amazing Opera we thought we should load up some images before we loose them. It has been an amazing couple of days in Chengdu and when ... read more
Make up
Make Up
Make Up

Asia » China » Shanghai April 20th 2009

By the end of today we were getting really tired of the street touts and the very caring individuals who wanted to take us to their shops or art exhibitions. There is currently a scam doing the streets of Shanghai where a 'student' introduces themselves and invites you to their universities art exhibition, only to end up in a dodgy building with some heavies demanding large sums of money for a coffee. So here we are sitting looking out at Pudong and along comes a 'friendly student'. Richard does his usual thing and remains silent looking straight ahead leaving me to do all the talking. Our friendly student does the usual banter and then asks who my friend is. I introduced him as a deaf mute explaining that she need not bother speaking to him as ... read more
Mirror Image
Shanghai street scenes
Shanghai Street scenes 2




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