XiaoLangDi Dam

Nimon Hao!
     For those of you who have been following along, you've seen some pictures of XiaoLangDi (小浪底) Dam, from the middle of an epically long bike ride.  Every year, for ten day the government opens up the flood gates to simulate the annual flooding of the Yellow River.  Han and I took a drive to see this once a year occurrence.

Here's the overview of the dam

With some pretty good advice

The flood gates from afar

The dam is definitely in the middle of the countryside

The mix of a drought and open gates, the reservoir is well below the normal level

Here's an access tunnel to the Hydroelectric plant in the dam

XiaoLangDi from below

Some of the pools in the "After Dam Ecological Park"

The path through the bamboo

Unoccupied path

not all of the park was ready for the increase in the down river water level, this sidewalk washed out

The weeping willows of XaioLangDi

At the flood gates

Me, at the flood gates

 Here's the view

The collection of statue tributes to the various companies that helped with construction

the cable bridge

The crossing of the cable bridge... very shaky

Han on the bridge

A view of the flood gates from down river

From the middle of the river

From the opposite bank of the Yellow River

You can see the statues form this side of the river

The center piece of the statues

The cliff side of XaioLangDi

Me, driving a huge earth mover...

And now I leave you with Chinese cocktail wieners ... 好吃

Zaijian

The Rans of Nanjing

Nimon Hao!

So I spend 5 days in Nanjing and Shanghai this past week, and I seemed to bring the rain with me.  This made sight seeing way more complicated than it needed to be.

A reconstructed city gate in Nanjing, Pretty awesome park and lake on the other side.

China has a reputation for paving and developing, but their city parks rival any I've seen in the States.

Here's the skyscraper in Nanjing... there are more, but this is the one that the Chinese recognize.

Here's the third largest Library in China, shocking that I found it.  I know, shocking that I managed to find it.

Super rainy in Shanghai... but David still managed to lead Rex and I into some random alleys.

Back in Nanjing... Here's the statue for the famous crossing of the Yangtze

So I've now crossed the two major rivers of China, no mean feat.

Luoyang is applying for some sort of status increase, here I am drinking with a member of the Chinese Parliament

 Back in Luoyang: Here are a few shots of Old, Town, the area I live near in Luoyang.

This area is full of craftsmen from framers, to sign makers, to traditional costume designers.

At night this area is a huge Snack street, I'm pretty sure I shown pictures of this before.

Here is the artisan street, where we buy paper cuttings, scrolls, and antiques of various provenance.

Approaching the West Gate, and some traditional Luoyang restaurants.

The West Gate

West Gate, a bit closer

The walk back to the East Gate and Erwai

This "Old Town", unlike those of Beijing or Shanghai, is actually home to many locals, adding to it's authenticity.

Like much of China, this area is in constant reconstruction.

Here is the East Gate, less grand, but more traditional.

Leaving Old Town

The old gate house, now just a house house

The edges of Old Town have an intriguing mix of Ancient and Modern.

Here's one way to keep people from passing through your property.

Liulin Lu, one half of the my school street

One of the rare three story homes in the older style

Here is the 700 year old pagoda, often ignored by the locals, but a integral landmark for us foreigners.

So I've got a month left, and at least 1 big trip, not sure where I'll go, but I'm sure I'll let all of you know.  See all of you soon.

Zaijian