I'm loving the long spring and all the blossoms.

We finally had a little rain which helped clear the skies and today on my way home from class I took some pictures on campus of all the cherry, pear, and apple blossoms.  We are also seeing more lilacs and the tulips and peonies are starting to bloom.  I try to get in a walk every day because something new is always blooming.

Last week end I went with our department chair and friends of her's to visit a historical site a short distance from Xi'an.  Chang Kai Shek's Cave at Fragrant Springs Park was interesting and the blooms were colorful.  Chang Kai Shek was a southern warlord who came to Xi'an in 1936 for a conference with the northern warlords. The conference ended badly and he had to flee and hide in a cave.  This even is called the "Xi'an Incident."  He was later captured but then freed after agreeing to certain terms. The cave is scooped out of the side of a high plateau with several tunnels and rooms.  The cave was interesting but also a little creepy because it was so dark ... I had to use the light on my phone to see where we were going.  When the communists came to power in China, Chang Kai Shek and the Kuomintang regime were forced to flee to Taiwan. 

In addition to the blossoms on campus, the park continues to be beautiful and many people are out enjoying the nice weather and beautiful color.  I love how the Chinese often pose for pictures.

Today I went with Li Yali again to explore Xi'an and we visited the Beilin Museum with a Confucian Temple, Forest of Stone Tablets dating back to 500 AD and the Mausoleum Stone Sculptures.  Her friend is very knowledgable and was able to give us a great tour and point out some of the most historical and valuable pieces.  He also has pieces that he has contributed to the museum because he collects and sells ancient artifacts. 

Entrance to Forest of Stone Tablets

Making a paper rubbing of ancient stone caligraphy

Ancient hitching posts ...  horses could not enter the Confusion Temple

The turtle is a symbol on longevity and this is a replica of the tomb a young prince was buried in

Door to the tomb

A few more photos from campus taken on Saturday with Chinese friends

posing beside the Ancient Xi'an Jiaotong Bell

The Xi'an Jiaotong University spoon ... no cherry on top like in Minneapolis but ...
4 animals surround it indicating  North, South, East and West

The symbol in the circle is used to represent the university and is on stationary and brochures 

 Last night we had a bridal shower for a young gal from church at a new pizza restaurant close to my university that was recently opened by 3 Canadians.  Her mother and several relatives and friends in the US had sent me letters to read so it was almost like having her family with us.  Tomorrow is Easter and our church group will meet together for an Easter dinner.  I'm on my way shortly to pick up a couple of key lime pies that we all love ... I ordered them from a Mexican restaurant we like to eat at.  :-)

Chen Lu Pottery Village and Pictures from Cambodia

It's been another great week here in Xi'an including a visit with friends from Minnesota. They were in Xi'an for just a couple of days but it was fun getting together and catching up on life in Plymouth.  I got in a few afternoon walks in the park which was fun and yesterday I took the bus to a mall / park on the West side of Xi'an and then walked home.  I hadn't planned on it but since it was a nice day I just kept walking.  It was a 9 mile hike so I was tired by the time I got home.  Spring continues to bring out the color and the "colorful!"   Check out the instruments of this new spring arrival to our street corner!

Colorful baby chicks ... kindergarten teachers need to try and hatch colored chicks!

The parks are full of people taking pictures

Chen Lu Village has a 1.400 year history of ceramics and is called the "Oriental living fossil of Pottery Production."  The city walls are made of ceramic urns rather than bricks and sidewalks have inlaid ceramic designs.  The city is also unique in that it is terraced against the mountain so every block is either up or down.  To buy pottery, you need to visit the individual "factories."  Quite a unique place.

My trip to Cambodia was during the semester break and it was very interesting.  I was surprised by the level of poverty I saw ... much more than in Vietnam and much less developed.  We spent most of our time touring temples in the Siem Reap Area and they were pretty amazing.  The jungle is very thick so it's easy to see how they "disappeared" for hundreds of years.  With some of the temples now being excavated they are trying to leave many of the trees as part of their history.  It was over 100 every day so we had to drink a lot of water and again wear the straw hats to try to keep the sun off of us.  The other very interesting area was the "Great Lake" floating villages.  The water was so muddy it stunk but the lake is huge and many people living on it ... supposedly they are mostly refugees from other surrounding countries.  In the evening, we enjoyed getting foot and back massages in the markets.  One night we had a full row of Americans so we created quite the stir.

We visited the floating village of the Chong Khneas, south of Siem Reap and took a traditional wooden boat ride on the Tonle Sap, the "Great Lake" of Cambodia and the largest in Asia. These two brothers were "working" on the boat offering little shoulder massages for tips.  They were very cute.  We had several smaller boats come up to the side of our boat with children jumping on board and trying to sell fruit, drinks, or the worst were children with pythons wrapped around their neck and they wanted you to pay them for a picture with the python.  I did not have my picture taken but I did tip the boys for a little shoulder massage.