Huang Long Xi

Today we had an excursion to the ancient city Huang Long Xi which was built on the banks of the Funan River. It is about a 40 minute drive south of Chengdu. The architecture of the older part of the city is from the Ming Dynasty and has been renovated when necessary without much remodelling. To be honest, the town is extremely tourist-y and reminiscent of Epcot Center. What was interesting is that there were few foreign tourists, most of the tourists were Chinese. I guess I just expect tourist traps to be for foreign tourists. If you ignored the billions of shops trying to sell trinkets at ridiculous prices (okay, let's be honest, ridiculous is still less than $5 US), then you might see something neat. Much of the architecture will remind you of stereotypical Chinese scenes (not to mention the entire Disney movie Mulan). This post has a lot of photos. I took over 250 photos (don't worry, I didn't post them all). Some of them are traditional "I'm a tourist taking a photo" photos. Others I took because I have an unusual aesthetic (which is a fancy way of saying "pretentious"). I hope you like them.

The photo below shows some of the iconic delicacies of this town, such as crispy fish, crispy shrimp, and fermented soy beans.

This bridge crosses the Funan River, connecting the tourist-trap Older city with the rural, agricultural area of the town. I crossed this bridge later in the afternoon and have pictures from the other side further down the post.

I was taking a picture of a spider in the fern behind my left shoulder when this little girl ran up to me and asked to take a picture with me. I thought she was adorable, so of course I agreed. She was all smiles and giggles when she asked, so I don't know why she isn't smiling in the picture. She was really pleased that after her mom took the photo with their camera that asked to have a picture too. Later in the day, a man (I'm guessing about 40? Maybe?) also asked to take a picture with me. He was with his wife, so I wasn't completely weirded out. At first I was worried that this was and excuse to grab my butt, but he behaved himself.

This is the spider I was photographing when the girl approached me. If you are wondering why I would take the time to photograph a spider, let me remind you that I'm an Olson. If you are still wondering, then obviously you need to get to know the Olsons better.

Normally these stepping stones would be surrounded by spill-off water from the nearby, creek fed pond, and then the water would flow from here into the Funan River. Things were a little dry, although all that will change in July when the rains come. There were several signs along the water front warning about floods, and the river banks were flanked by 20 foot tall retaining walls.

This is the local Buddhist monastery.

It wasn't until after I had taken a lot of photos that I found out the monks and nuns don't like to have their picture taken. Oops, too late.

Don't be fooled by the swastika on his chest, Buddha was no Nazi. It is actually a very positive Buddhist symbol.

This little girl and her father were looking at the temple at the same time I was. Her outfit is not typical wear for children, she obviously just bought it at a gift shop. She was just walking around like any other kid, then her dad asked her to stand next to the bell for a picture. I cracked up when she struck this sassy pose and couldn't help taking a picture. I wish her father good luck during her teenage years.

I'm not exactly sure who this fellow is, but I am determined to find out why his shrine was in a Buddhist temple, and also why there is a mouse in his right hand.

Between some of the shops, the doors to people's actual homes would be open. I was more interested in what their houses looked like than what was in their stall. I took a lot of pictures from open front doors.

Okay, so I succumbed to a tourist trap. The bows were weak and poorly made, the arrows even worse, and I'm absolutely sure they in no way resemble the actually archery equipment of the Ming Dynasty, but man was it fun. Apparently you could win a prize. I didn't even ask the guy if I had won anything because I wasn't trying to get a prize, I just wanted to shoot the bow.

This was in the back of a clothing shop. I asked if I could try something on and the lady led me back to her water pump. I thought this boarded over window looked neat, so I took this picture.

I like taking pictures of people when they don't know I am. Often I would pretend to be fixing my camera, but really be taking pictures.

This is the Eastern Gate (that's what the characters say). It opens up onto a small wharf.

If you can't tell, this man is playing with a small, fluff-dog. After I took the picture, the dog (followed by owner) waddled past me. And I do mean waddled, it was bow-legged.

I'm not exactly sure what this is, it looks like some kind of wheel-barrow style wheel chair. Some of my pictures turned out blurred because it was too bright for me to get a good look at the screen on my digital camera. This one is only a little blurred, but still I'd rather it weren't at all.

At first I was mad that this was blurred, but now I think it's kind of cool.

I'm still mad that this one was blurred. That little by was so cute. I didn't ha ve time to take more than one picture because I could hear his dad just on the other side of the wall and I didn't want him to find me taking pictures of his house.

I found the billiards hall.

These kids just loved playing with that rope.

Something about this says Do Not Enter.

Lunch time!

This woman is selling rabbits for 5 yuan each.

This was taken from atop the suspension bridge.

Non-tourist town.

This character means wine. I have a feeling thes vats are similar to a moonshine jug.

This man reminds me of my dad. Not only is he fishing, he's un-self consciously wears construction orange.

I don't know what this is.

Just on this side of the suspension bridge was a little carnival area. Think the worst travelling carnival ever. Like that. I thought the juxtaposition of the rice fields and the dirty carnie-town was interesting.

The road back to the bridge.

The cleanest looking carnie ride.

This is the Western Gate, though not facing the side that actually says "Western Gate."

Long day. Lots of sun. Very tired.