The weather is beautiful here in Dongchuan, but unfortunately that doesn't make for the best pictures. Whereas the rice terraces of Laohuzui were constantly changing and sun was hard to find, here things are static and each morning the sun consistently unfolds in a straight line across everything the eye can see.

Time to say goodbye to the rice paddies and move on to new adventures. We broke up the seven hour bus ride with a stay in Jianshui, a city famouse for hits purple clay pots.

A few more photos to show a bit more variety of village life here. We hitched a ride to the local market this morning. Since there is only one road, the taxi system is any car going in the direction you want. Kids are now fully aware of the rest of the lifecycle of farm animals now. We bought a live chicken for dinner, some broccoli and other cravings.

The journey from Kunming to Laohuzui was rough. Our unfortunate luck for stepping onto a bus whose driver had an undefinable and indefensible sense of duty and zero communication. We had a bathroom break about two hours in, but little did we know that would be our last. Five hours later with no stop permitted, we neared our destination after sundown but ended up in a traffic jam…

We have left Beijing and extended family behind and made our way to Kunming, Yunan province. Following good weather, we are still in the 60’s entering November. Yesterday was a modest stroll through the local zoo which was only a couple blocks from our apartment.
Today we made a trek to see China’s largest flower market on the outskirts of Kunming city. Endless rows of vendors across blocks and blocks of city area. The operations are 24×7 and an electronic trading center runs nearby.

It's been a long while since I've posted. This is mostly due to laziness, but a certain deliberate laziness at least. Our first month in Asia was spent in Beijing visiting with all of Lily's extended family and friends. There are a lot of them, they are all in Beijing and they all like to eat and drink. And while I left the camera in the bag for this portion of the trip, our time was not without a few excursions.

It’s impossible to properly describe the degree to which things revolve around food in China. Continuing from my last post, the following are pictures of just a few more of the dishes I’ve shared with family in Beijing over the last two weeks.

I thought it would be appropriate to make my first post from China about food. Here is a view of our first family lunch (six adults). Let's just say the Chinese know how to eat.

We toured the rose test garden in Portland today.  A tremendous variety of roses on display.