Now, back to the photos from the 21st century Beijing. Enjoy!

• Nice view of the lake
• Good food
• Live Music (in my experience mostly on the weekends and Friday nights)
• Eclectic sculptures around the property — every time we go there seems to be more of them

This time we also saw a funny map of the USA.  I could not resist and snapped a photo of it… What do you think the rest of the US thinks of it? I mean what would the folks from Maine or New York, or the Carolinas think of it?  Probably, not much !

A Texan's view of the US Map

Comments?

According to China Daily, there are 5.017 million cars registered in Beijing as of February 15th 2012 — a mind boggling number !!!

But then anyone who has spent time commuting in Beijing on any of the ring roads will tell you — really?!?! Only 5 million?  It feels like 6…. !  Yes, there are way too many cars in Beijing and as you probably know already, for the last 3 years, coming on 4, the Beijing drivers have had to endure the regulations of driving only on given day per the number on their license plate…..

So now, back to the Biking!   My new blog is Bikes, Biking Resources, Biking Fun

Check it out!

Cinnabar, also known as Chinese Lacquer, is a famous Chinese handicraft. Traditionally, cinnabar items were created by painting multiple layers of lacquer onto an item, letting the item dry between each coat, and then carving the resulting layers of lacquer into beautiful patterns. Cinnabar gets its name from the toxic red mineral cinnabar (mercury sulfide) that was once used to give the distinctive red color to the lacquer used in the process. Today, cinnabar jewelry is formed from a dyed red resin that contains no harmful cinnabar mineral. However, the look is largely the same. In fact, not all cinnabar is even red! Pure red cinnabar items are very popular, as are items which have both red and black cinnabar. However, the less common all black cinnabar is also available and is quite stunning.

Here are some examples 

If any of these catch your imagination and/or if you would like to see more examples or even think of purchasing some of the crafts shown, please follow the link to the page covering quite a number of examples / different types of costume jewelry...Keep in mind, cinnabar is used also for small ornamental boxes and even for vases and various other objects found around the home….

Any questions — please do let us know.

But then pictures speak best for themselves.  Here is a slideshow from Fairhope's ocrean views:

Funny how journalists write…. reading the headline you say "Oh, I must consider this a good time to buy….." then the article ends with a proclamation "property prices would remain around current levels, possibly with a slight decline"    Go figure     I can make such predictions as well and do not have to be an analyst for that!

Since then I decided to spend a few more minutes on the trip and add a short commentary about the Big Bend Parks.  So here it is:

After driving West on I-10 for several hours and passing Fort Stockton we finally saw an exit for Alpine - a town on our way to LaJita which itself is located between both parks (the State and National).   We passed through Alpine and noted that if isolation was our objective at a later time in our lives this was certainly one of the places we could count on for that purpose :-)  And of course here is the Web site of the town — so if you so desire you could check it out for additional info…

Fun and poking jokes aside - Alpine could be a place for a hotel stay at reasonable prices (just keep in mind you are still a good couple of hours from the parks).  Here are the addresses / Web pages for several potential hotels in the town:

After passing through Alpine we eventually hit Terlingua and Lajitas where we were going to stay in a hotel.

In the afternoon on the day we arrived and checked in into our hotel, we decided to drive into the State Park and leave the national park for the next day.  The drive through the state park was beautiful and we took a number of pretty cool photos.   Eventually though our objective was to have a nice dinner in Presidio (on the US side of the border) – as earlier in the day one of the locals had recommended.    Well we did not fare well in Presidio.  The town had a very dangerous look about it.  We entered a couple of restaurants and in both cases did not feel comfortable sitting for a meal… Why ?   Well, we got all sort of weird looks from the patrons of both eateries.  I think the looks said "Who are you?  You are not from around here!   Get lost…."

So after long, long 30-second deliberation, we decided that life is short and we should leave, and seek other places back close to our hotel.   We finally ended up having a buffet dinner — essentially, fajitas – in the hotel restaurant, which was located in this restored old West town with what looked (at least to us) Old West flare….

On the second day we spent quite a bit more time finding and exploring the Texas National Park.   There were truly too many sites to describe…….so best will be to watch the slide show (please see the link at the beginning of this posting)

Then later that afternoon we decided that hiking and exploration on foot will hapen during our next visit and headed North towards civilization…..passed through the town of Marathon and then eventually at Fort Stockton got on I-10…

Based on what we heard from the park rangers, Big Bend is one of the least visited parks in the US given its remote location but it is also then the one with least impact from the modern life – therefore providing many opportunities to explore and see.   So we will definitely be BACK!

While in Bulgaria I managed to snap a bunch of photos during the time I dared to venture outside with a car…..Yes, there were days when I had to do it.   Believe me – it is pretty rough out there in the winter weather… And of course driving in the snow and ice took some getting used to, but what can you do, there was a need for it so had to do it….

Here is my photo album — some winter scapes:

When I read that, it struck me — "Of course!"  — China, the land of superstition

• Plenty of hotels lack the 4-th floor assignment — as 4 is such an unlucky number (the pronunciation for the number 4 is too close to that of "death")
• Kids are often conceived in auspicious years –> with the objective of securing special advantages for that child….
• Plenty of other numbers are considered lucky or unlucky:
  • 3 – considered lucky as it is close to the character for birth (生) in sound
  • 5 – yes, ALSO a good number as it is associated with the five elements (Water, Fire, Earth, Wood, and Metal), which in turn are associated with THE EMPEROR
  • 7 – is the lucky number for relationships…. (Go figure!)
  • 8 — a REALLY LUCKY number in China — Why?  Because it is close in sound to the character for prosperity (發 – short for "發財)
  • …and the stories go…

As you can tell — plenty of superstitions.   Then add this year also the terribly good fortune of it being the year of the Dragon, and yes, China may fix its languishing birth rate problem.

Here is where the birth rate is (per the National Bureau of Statistics in China):

Where are those kids gone....?

So the expectation is that 2013 will be a record year in birth rates in China!   Mark my words!