Making the Long Walk Shorter

Whenever I am in Hong Kong I use its world-class public transportation system to get around... and I get to do a lot of walking. So whether it's sunny or it's rainy, as on this day, I am grateful for the extensive network of covered pedestrian overpasses throughout the financial district called Central. They are so very much easier and faster to walk than on street level.

Hong Kong, SAR, 2010

Posted for Louis la Vache's Sunday Bridges. Click the link for many more links to fascinating bridges around the world.

Fun on The Great Wall

Yesterday I posted the "postcard" versions of my last visit to The Great Wall of China.  Today I share with you a lighter side of our climb. 

Now get this, to get up ON to the wall, we had to take a closed cable car. So I really wonder HOW this donkey got up here... and WHY?

Beijing, 2007

I suppose this foursome needed a break from the sweltering heat... you can see their t-shirts are wet... A game or two of cards in the relative coolness of one of the watch towers may have been clever. Have cards, will travel?

People who know me know I'm not very good about carrying my cell phone, so I was amused when a call came in... Imagine having to tell a business associate, "Uh... I can't check my files right now; I'm on The Great Wall." Perhaps that is what these men were texting to their friends.

After a few hours of walking the wall, super steep in parts, we were ready for a cold drink, so we were happy to see this entrepreneurial vendor (probably not licensed) with a cooler of drinks - but climbing the extra steps, down AND back up, was not so welcome.

And going down OFF the wall was an adventure. We could have opted for another easy lift down, but instead we chose the toboggan ride.  What a howl! A security person had a veritable fit when I took out my camera on the way down to take this shot of the back of my friend Gloria ahead of me.

And this shot, today, is my contribution to Weekend Reflections hosted by James. Go ahead and click on the link for many more interesting takes on the theme.

You can see larger images by clicking on the photo.

[SkyWatch] Smog on The Great Wall

There are better, much, much better days to climb Wanli Chángchéng - The Great Wall of China - the longest structure ever built by man, than on a blistering hot summer day, especially when it is shrouded in a miserable smog. But that is what my friend Gloria and I got when we visited the Mutianyu section of the wall, some 45 kms / 28 miles out of Beijing. 

It was Gloria's first time to this UNESCO World Heritage Site and since we had arrived rather early in the morning, she was initially hopeful that the smog would burn off. 

Beijing, 2007

We started our long walk through the heavy hot air  with visibility I suspected to be below publicly acceptable levels.  Where many others have photographed a gorgeous wall snaking across an impressive landscape, I captured scenes I thought I'd  never share with anyone.

We could barely make out the next watch tower.

Viewing places with no views; just smog. Oh, and the wild flowers.

The smog, by the way, is caused by a number of factors - emissions from industries without proper environmental safeguards, heavy trucks, coal production and use in cooking, as well as sand particles from the Gobi Desert just 160 kms / 100 miles north of the capital. The situation is exacerbated when it's hot and humid with no wind to disperse it, as it was on this day.  Yet the powers that be in China are keenly aware of all this and have, since that day, made great strides towards the greening of the nation.

Here's one final shot for you through the doorway of a watch tower.

And yet, for SkyWatch Friday I thought these would serve as an unusual post. What do you think? 

To be continued...

Do click on the link for links to much more beautiful skies around the globe.

Browns in a Buddhist Temple

Earlier this year my friend Deepak in Kathmandu took us to this tiny temple full of little treasures. I was peacefully taking it all in when a group of pilgrims from Tibet arrived to do the rounds of the prayer wheels, a ritual to spread spiritual blessings and invoke good karma in their next life. They seemed not to mind me at all as I continued to photograph as inconspicuously as I could.

Kathmandu, 2010

I don't know what this fearsome looking bronze creature represents, but from its well worn paws I surmise that touching them brings earthly luck.

This Buddhist woman is using her prayer beads to count her mantras, much like a Catholic counts prayers on a rosary.

This post will have too many photos, but I couldn't resist sharing this baby. Here on the motionless prayer wheel you can also see the markings of the most important mantra in Tibetan script, Om mani padme hum:

Each prayer wheel contains a roll of paper inscribed with multiples of this mantra. Spinning the wheels, always clockwise, is believed to have the same effect as saying or thinking the mantra, the aim being to develop compassion and wisdom and to get closer to reaching enlightenment.

Before leaving the temple, each pilgrim rang the bell:

This handsome man was in the temple when I arrived and when I left, perhaps the caretaker. His cap makes me think he is Muslim, and that would not be unusual, as in Nepal, according to Deepak, the two main religions co-exist peacefully and inter-marriage is not rare.

These beautiful browns in a temple join the meme Theme Thursday where today's theme is, you guessed it, BROWN. Click on the link to find links to more beautiful browns. And clicking any photo will enlarge it in a different tab in your browser.

Wednesday. Water. Wordless. And Plenty of Blues.

Mindoro, Philippines, 2009

For more water images, go to Watery Wednesday.

For more wordless images, go to Wordless Wednesday.

For more interpretations of blue this week, go to Midweek Blues.

And you can see even more blue if you click on the photo, and then click again for even more.

Dancers in Red

Guangxi, 2006

These dancers in red I captured at a cultural show in China a few years ago are presented for Mary's Ruby Tuesday. The link will take you to many more interesting takes on the color RED.

You get a  larger view of the dancers if you click on the photo.

Crawling among the Mushrooms

I'd gotten it into to my head to join Mary's Mosaic Monday combined with Lisa's Macro Monday, yet as I stepped out of our front door with my camera yesterday, I had something quite different in mind. I was in for a little surprise.

As soon as I opened our white iron gate, there on our coconut tree stump I spotted a cluster of lovely little mushrooms left by the recent rains. And that wasn't all. I knelt down and started to compose and click to capture the mushrooms when I noticed one... two... three... oh my, many minute creatures crawling in and around the fungi. Peering at the black bodies with two yellow stripes more closely, I recognized them as caterpillars, but even a later search on the internet did not reveal to me what kind they are.  I could guess that they transform into the small yellow butterflies that fly around in our area, but I wouldn't bank on that. Whatever they are called, they certainly became part of my photo story and mosaic today. 

Having completed my mosaic of macros, I could only wish that I had a better lens for the job. I am inspired to get a macro lens and have some more fun.

Manila, 2010

PS. Today our conscientious gardener promptly swept all the mushrooms away. So glad I beat him to them!

Click on the links for many many more macros and mosaics. For a closer view of my little creepers, click on the image.