The following pictures are from our little excursion to the Taiwan Folk Village during our May Holiday. I apologize in advance if they suck. Five minutes after we arrived, my camera decided to collect all the moisture that Xiamen has to offer(which is a a lot) in the very center of my lens. Luckily, Phil had his camera, but then his battery decided to die half way through the day. I don’t think God wanted us taking pictures or something, but somehow, we ended up with a few decent photos. Take a gander and enjoy.

Religious figurines chilling on a hill.

This little moth attacked Phil’s foot before we headed into the village and wouldn’t get off. Phil shook his foot real hard too. So, I coaxed him on to my finger and lead him to safety. Hopefully, he liked the bush I chose for him.

This little guy just doesn’t know how to play fetch.

There were countless statues all over the place.

Lantana. It’s every where I look in Xiamen. A very pretty flower.

More religious offerings. This would make a super cool bird bath.

Buddha. Enough said.

I’ve never stood so close to a Tiger before. If you can see through the ring cloud, you should be able to notice the cataract in his left eye. Poor thing. I thought at first that they were just letting him sit there without any chains and that made me super nervous as I took the picture. However, I saw later that there was a very short, older than sin chain that attached his neck to the table – which somehow didn’t make me feel any better. I have a feeling he could have easily dragged the table with him as he made the crowd of on-lookers his dinner.

Once again, if you can see through the fog that is my lens, you might be able to tell that this is no ordinary leaf. It’s actually a butterfly. We found him in a building called butterfly world. It is the best place to go to get photos of butterflies – if your camera is willing to cooperate. I thought it was pretty cool looking.

If I had been on the other side of the road, this picture would have turned out better. All things considered though, it didn’t turn out to shabby.

Lantana over-taking the beast.

Popcorn clouds. We never had this many blue skies in Fuyang. Never.

Most everything in the village was man-made, but it was still impressive.

Everyone thought it was normal for the local Chinese to get a picture with the gigantic Taiwanese statue, but when the laowai decided to do it – everyone had to stop and stare as if I were doing something wrong or exotic.

One of the best pictures to come out of day. No matter where we go in China – there always seems to be stairs in the way of my destination. You would think that I had gotten used to them by now, but no, I still hate them as equally if not more than before I got to China.

Here is that moth chilling on Phil’s shoe. I think Phil could have walked all throughout the village and he never would have budged.

Probably the cause of the moisture attacking my lens.

Pretty mountain side.

Actually, I take that back, I’m pretty sure this was the shot that destroyed my camera for the day. If you forgive my finger intruding on the left over there – the picture didn’t turn out half bad.

That’s the Beach Road and the ocean relaxing in the background.

Here is my last video from my trip a few weeks ago.  On one of the three days that we were there, we hopped in van and were driven to another city, Yi Xing, which is about an hour away from Chang Xing.  Yi Xing is located in the Jiangsu province.

When we got there, I expected us to go to the ticket counter to buy tickets, but instead we just walked right in.  I am not sure if they already had tickets or it was because they weree retired.  People who are retired or a certain age can enter for free.  When we got to the gates, there was some exchange between my friends and the woman standing guard.  I could tell the woman was talking about me, but I don’t know exactly what she was saying and I didn’t ask.   Since I am not retired and I have not even passed the 30 mark(it is just around the corner, though – eek!), I am pretty sure the woman was saying that I needed a ticket.  The woman and my friends yelled back and forth for a minute and then we walked in.  I guess she was satisfied that I didn’t need a ticket.  Maybe she was told I was helping them out by teaching them English and that I should be allowed to come in for free.  I guess I will never know.

We were met by a guide and she walked us around, explaining what things were – in Chinese of course.  The importance of everything was lost on me.  She walked us around pretty quickly, so I had to move fast with my picture taking.  Yue Hua kept wondering off to take pictures of pretty things, and while everyone walked on without her, I stayed behind so she wouldn’t lose us.  There were a lot of people there that day, so because I stayed back, we both nearly lost our group.

The guide then walked us over to a cave entrance, and I had to be sure to hold on to Yue Hua’s arm.  The steps were mighty slippery.  I could just imagine her or one of the other people in my group tumbling to the bottom of the stairs.  I love going to caves in the summer time because they are so much cooler.  Yeah, they smell a little funny, but the cool, damp air is refreshing!  Walking through, someone told me that the cave was natural and had been around for a long, long time.  I was also told that the cave had been used in over 20 Chinese movies.  It wasn’t Carlsbad Caverns or anything, but it was nice.

The guide took us down another level where there were seats on either side of an open area.  It looked to me like they put on performances here.  I thought we were about to leave until I heard some music start to play.  I am not sure if our timing was just right or if there were finally enough people in the cave to put on the show.  My friends grabbed my arm and pushed me in front of some other Chinese people.  They wanted to make sure that I was able to see alright.  I wanted to tell them that I was taller than almost everyone there and that seeing wouldn’t be a problem, but I just kept my mouth shut – front row seats can be awesome.  Or they can lead to very strange experiences – I’ll link you to a video at the bottom to show you what I mean.  It has nothing to do with this day, though.

A few moments later, the action began. Two men came out, both dressed rather amusingly, and starting lip singing to a Chinese song I’ve never heard before.  You should at least watch the video until one of the guys pulls out a gun.  It’s pretty funny.  And remember, neither one of the guys are actually singing.  When I was watching them, I was impressed that they really looked like they were and a lot of their motions were dead on with the music.  I’m just guessing, but I don’t think it was their first time.  🙂

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EnmGH2CL-8[/youtube]

I posted about Phil’s experience at the Taiwanese Folk Village in Xiamen way back in July of 2008, but I figured I would post it here again.  I doubt I have the same reader base as I did back then.  So, just in case I have some newbies on board, it’s for you!  You can read the post about it here.

Phil was right about getting called up on stage, but had we sat in the back, I would have never gotten this video.  The quality sucks because Xiamen’s humid air crept into my camera and destroyed it.  You have no idea how happy I am that they didn’t drag me up there with him.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTMauhqVaZ0[/youtube]

During our May Week vacation in Xiamen, China, Phil and I went to the Taiwanese Folk Village. If you missed the original post about it – you can go here . There are several pictures of the place, but much like the video I am about to show you, many of them have that wretched cloud in the center. Somehow moisture got into my camera. I did everything to dry it out, but Xiamen’s humidity won.

We really had no idea what the show was about, but since the admission to see it was included in our ticket price, we decided to watch it even though we probably wouldn’t understand anything they said. Phil told me that we shouldn’t sit on the front row because we’d be easy targets and probably get asked to participate in something. I wanted a good view, so we sat on the front row anyway.

A few minutes into the show, a man came over to Phil and asked him to participate – in Chinese of course. They tried to get me to go too, but I wanted to stay behind so that I could record it. I laughed so hard that I had I tears streaming down my face.

I really have no idea what important story they were acting out , or why they had Phil drink three shots of liquor.  Phil later said that it reminded him of Everclear. I just thought it was funny, and that you might enjoy watching it. You gotta love China. They think of the craziest ways to amuse people. They really do.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTMauhqVaZ0[/youtube]