Locations

Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Places around Rizhao - Lianyungang

Mid-Autumn festival has been traditionally important holiday in China, its exact time is determined by lunar calendar. Usually it is somewhere around beginning of October, often the birthday of Communist China (October 1st) and mid-autumn festival overlap and extend the holiday time up to 1.5weeks long.
2011 is the sad year when mid-autumn festival was already on September 12 - way too early to have it combined with PRC birthday celebrations - and giving for the working forces only 1 day off.

For me Mid-Autumn festival gave an opportunity to take a bus 2 hours South from Rizhao to a city called Lianyungang. To see and feel the place in 1.5 days.

Lianyungang (population ~4 million) is a typical fast developing city with hundreds of high-rises being constructed, many blocks of newly completed high-rises standing there with all windows dark, wide straight lined streets connecting these blocks of buildings. In other words a typical new Chinese city looking exactly the same as hundred others.

The city has a small island that is connected nowadays with 8km long causeway. The island is being developed as a top tourist trap (rated: AAAA), but on one corner of it there is still an old fishermen village with all the boats and colourful life.


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Restaurant offering fresh poultry for 38, 28 or 20 RMB. Knock off the head yourself.






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Harbor, dust created by unloading and the city behind it.






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Being alone with all the big reds






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Water park never being opened. The sliding tubes are ending against the concrete wall (the blue wall loosing paint), making it impossible to be used for sliding down.






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The island is a popular place for wedding shoots






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Architecture for European taste, from distance these buildings looked very interesting, beautifully placed on hill side, nice green lush around and at the background higher rocky hill top. Windows pointing towards the harbour & city at the other side of the water. Sadly all of the houses were empty, and by the way paint was pealing off, they had been empty already for few years.







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Small fishermen village hidden at one edge of the island.






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These big pots are used to boil small shrimp into mass. All the harbour was totted with these kind of coal and wood heated boiling pots.






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Unloading






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Here we go again... not with this suitcase.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Places in Estonia

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Inside lighthouse (Tallinn Upper Lighthouse)





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Lighthouse (Tallinn Upper Lighthouse)





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Fountain for the shadows from the other side in the park built in old graveyard. Place where the idea fits with the location 100% (Kopli, Tallinn)





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New that looks just fine (Rotermanni, Tallinn)





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Old getting new life (Rotermanni, Tallinn)





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Farms and dinners with boiled potatoes (Muti, Pärnumaa)





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flowers on beach, weed (Topu, near Haapsalu)





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Touch of tourists (Tallinn)





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Interiors new, old everything (Solaris, Tallinn)





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Restaurant with touch (Pärnu)

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Faces of Estonia

Some of the beautiful faces from 2011 2.5 week trip to Estonia




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Face Liina and her wedding shoot spot (Tallinn)






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Face of flowers (Muti)






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Old lady (Haapsalu)






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Face Robin under the candy tree (Kaberneeme)






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Face Kristjan pumping (near Pärnu)






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Face Margus&Jane around the kitchen table(Tallinn)





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Face Martin sweat and pain (near Matsalu)






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Face Martin and sauna towel (Varbla)





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Face bikers in cherry garden (near Matsalu)





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Face from an old drawing I had made 2001(drawing Tallinn)





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Face Liina, Kristjan, Jane (Tallinn)





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Face Jüri and Põltsamaa Kuldne (Tallinn)






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Face Dag (somewhere in Estonia)

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Back on wheels

Last year in Shanghai there were moments I really missed bicycling, whenever finishing up in any shop selling bicycles I went for a little test ride on the shop floor. Didn't take the bike out from the shop. Rizhao is a different place - just perfect for getting to the beach on 2 wheels or to work in 20 minutes.


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JinShi 747196, around 12 or 20 years old (didn't capture every single detail of the long history, as the previous owner had a rather heavy local dialect)


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Actually all the Rizhao streets are not that traditional, it was just a planned act to have photoshoot in the old alleys.


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747196 and Tarvi

Friday, April 22, 2011

Beijing - Great Wall from one more angle

April 1st trip to Beijing to welcome my brother in China. Besides catching up with my brother after 7 months, Beijing offered once again many ways of getting lost (though after each time there are more and more stable points where I can 'put myself back on the map'). Bicycling in Beijing is still the best thing to do, especially if finding the narrowest Hutong streets. And of course going to the next wild hike on the Great Wall. Discovered this thrilling way of hiking last year November, post about it here.
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Eager passenger taking his last cigarette before bus is headsing off. Smoking in public places is getting under control, if lucky it is possible even to take a long distance bus trip without smelling smoke not a single time. Still very common to have little cigarette moments in sports halls between sets of badminton, sometimes have to go to happy smokers and point on the non-smoking sign and smile encouragingly into their big confused eyes.






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Hiking on the Great Wall. Previous night rain in Beijing had fallen off in mountains (around 1000m high) as a thin layer of snow. 2nd time to touch snow this winter!






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Man made landscape, even the highest peaks are carved into tiny terraces, no high plantation. Fresh snow brought out the zebra views.








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On the way to the wall, it took some 1.5h walking to actually reach it.








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Lonely tree







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Sections of wall can be very different, in this place there were only 2-3 wall towers that hadn't survived over the time, the top of the wall was opened to the winds without the classical teeth zig-zag. This wall was built as an exemplary defence section, so called model wall :)







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Lunch break







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Starbucks on the wall, US-China close cooperation







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Beijing TV tower







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Part of the TV tower complex







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New Beijing






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Old Beijing