Emptyknitster

Today, May 25th, was yet another election day for Montana.  Earlier this year trump selected Montana Rep. Zinke Secretary of the Interior creating an open seat and making a special election necessary. The candidates were questionable from the start, a reported billionaire with a recent failed run for governor and a Montana good old boy, country singer. Neither candidate has any political experience but then this seems to be the trend. The National Democrats appeared slow to realize a win would gain a seat in a Republican dominated arena but our Republican billionaire  “wanna be” quickly poured over a million dollars of his pocket change into the race.  The race went on sadly, with “He said, He did, He didn’t” political ads being continually run on media. With no political records to grasp at, commercials were about health issues, unpaid bills, lawsuits, and how long it takes to become a “true” Montanan. Must you be born in Montana or is twenty years enough to claim Mo...

The next day we were off to Guilin via a high speed train. The landscape was beautiful as we sped by at 150 miles per hour! Upon our arrival to Guanzhou we drove south by the Guangzhou Circle, one of the most interesting buildings I have ever seen. We continued on to the Chen Family temple for a tour. It had beautiful handcarved artwork everywhere. To maintain the beauty of the carvings everything at the temple is painted every five years on a rotating basis. The next morning we went to Macau for a tour of the city. I must say we at this point in our trip we were getting tired, our brains were on overload. Macau is a mini Las Vegas. The casinos are the same buildings as those in Los Vegas but just smaller in scale. Really no photos were taken. Hong Kong was built between water and steep hills and so the only place to go is UP.  The view out our hotel window.   After a rainy day in Hong Kong our tour of China came to an end. The next morning we cau...

Shanghai  Down this alley was a shop which sold knock-off Gucci and Burberry scarves. We visited a silk factory while in Shanghai. From Shanghai we flew to Guilin, a beautiful vacation area. Guilin runs along a narrow valley surrounded by high rounded mountains   In Guilin we visited a tea plantation and participated in high tea.   Through the tunnel we were on our way to the small village of Yangshuo and a ride on the River Li . School was just beginning as we walked by. You could hear the students in all the rooms singing. I loved that there were student greeters, three girls on the left and three on the right.

Chongqing Our ship wasn't going to begin boarding until afternoon so our tour guide took us to Porcelain town for some shopping. There were long narrow streets filled with vendors. This area is known for it's noodle making and mud roasted chicken. The chicken is the Chinese equivalent of fast food, it is encased in mud and then baked. The mud becomes hard and the chicken steams inside. It is a popular food picked up after a day's work and taken home for dinner. Once home the chicken is are cracked open, moist, hot and ready to eat. An old Chinese saying : Eat like a emperor for breakfast,  A rich man for lunch, And a pauper for dinner. It was evening before we left Chongqing and began our cruise up the Yangtze River. It was a lovely evening to sit on our private balcony and enjoy the city lights.  The Yangtze River is the third longest river in the world and the longest river in Asia. Yangtze is really the modern name for the Chang Jiang River or "Lon...