National holiday, we think, is like mix between 4th of July and Spring/Fall break. It’s nice weather all over the country, so people get a week off to travel/vacation. We spent the first half of the week around our city… hiking a mountain nearby, and exploring other parts of the city.
Chinese chipmunk! Kristen’s favorite.
panorama of our city from the top of West Mountain (Xi Shan)
Danny at the top. The little pieces of paper are from the Tibetan prayer area.
Tibetan prayer flags. The idea is to attach prayers to a pole at the top of the mountain, so that the wind carries them to the heavens.
Post hike latte at a REAL coffee shop… diamond in the rough.
We also got the chance to go with some friends to a different province, to a city about 8 hours NE of us (by car). It was fun to see some of the country side, and to experience a slightly different climate/culture.
Most of what we drove through was farm land, or undeveloped land.
Mountain side monestary
PBR in the middle of nowhere China??
A Daoist temple. Somebody donated the gold used to cover the statue.
Basketball continues to be a universal language.
Our trip coincided with the Muslim holiday Eid Al Adha (or in China, Corban). They remember the faith of Abraham, who was willing to sacrifice his son when God asked him to. The tradition is to slaughter a cow, goat, chicken… whatever they can afford. There was a mosque across the street from where we were staying, so we walked over to see what there was to see.
A symbol of the ram God provided as a sacrifice, in place of Abraham’s son.
Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Danny is approached by a group of men…
Per usual, Danny somehow ends up making friends, shaking hands, and kissing babies 🙂
nomadic texan 