Kathmandu, Nepal: Swayambhu Temple

Welcome to Kathmandu! It is a crazy warren of unplanned poverty, spotted with touristy alleyways. Only a couple places are worth visiting - I wouldn't spend more than a full day in Kathmandu. Even after traveling to India and other hard-core Asian poverty zones, Kathmandu was a bit of a shock to us in its chaotic poverty, with some of the most poor of India living in Nepal. However, some temples are pretty magical. Locals flocked to this statue, trying to throw a coin into the vase in the center. No one got a coin in, when we were there.

Until Griffin got a coin in!!! It was an amazing moment for us, until we looked up and saw that the locals were none too pleased, after their having lost many coins in their failed attempts.

Holy monkeys get their own pool in Nepal

These women seemed so beaten down by the hard, barely-paid work carrying bricks. The men seemed to practically loll about on the job compared to these women.

The famous Swayambhu Nepalese Buddha eyes. Buddha takes on a different image, depending on the Asian culture depicting him. We make God over in our own image, I guess.

Holy prayer wheels. Truly meditative to walk and turn.

Click HERE for a video of Alice in action.

July 2, 2011

Kunming, China: Ethnic Minorities ride the rollercoaster

The area around Kunming is filled with ethnic minorities who come into town, every so often. They were in AWE of the newfangled rollercoaster rides.

Three generations of ethnic minorities came to the amusement park, and you can see the modernization of each generation, losing their ethnic flavor.

Two generations of ethnic minority men

Generations of ethnic women

Awestruck by the amusement park rides

More awe

Ethnic minority jet captains

My favorite minority outfits, with their knit caps

I liked this woman's personality, captured on film

Over the Bridge soup is famous in Yunnan

Ethnic minorities eating the Over the Bridge soup at the restaurant next to the amusement park

Toppings for the soup, including an egg you drop in to cook in the boiling hot soup

Ken was crazy for the soup

Alice licked the bowl clean

Gotta say the restaurant was far from clean, with egg shells and more on the ground. They also were uninterested in seating or serving us until we battled for the servers' attention. Then they served all locals before us. You can tell a real difference in service, without a guide advocating for you.

Eggs you put in the soup

Beans in the soup

Fish you cook yourself in the soup

More famous food of Yunnan

Sticky buns. They love their buns in China.    This was the end of our time in China. We were fried on China, it really beat us down. But, I did get in a last couple videos worth watching. Click HERE for one of early morning tennis racket and ball group exercise in our local Daguan park. Click HERE for a video of fan and sword exercise in our local park too.     June 25, 2011