Blog Marco

According to Yahoo!...

China launched a Web site, www.linese.com, on Saturday offering free Chinese lessons and materials to promote the study and use of the language abroad.

China can make rain.

When he's not tending cherry orchards outside Beijing, Yu Yonggang can be found behind the twin barrels of a 37mm anti-aircraft gun, blasting shells at passing clouds.

Yu is one of 37,000 peasants enlisted by the Chinese government to help produce rain in parched areas. The 45-year-old farmer works with China's other trigger-happy rain men to water the crops, break up damaging hailstorms and put out forest fires. After a sandstorm blew through the capital in May, he lobbed shells and rockets skyward to coax rains that washed sand and grit from city streets.

Now Yu and the other rainmakers face their toughest challenge: making sure it stays dry for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The idea is for the peasant gunners to work with meteorologists watching radar in the capital. Together, they will hunt pregnant rain clouds and pound them with rockets containing silver iodide. The hope is that any moisture will fall before the clouds can threaten the parade of athletes and lighting of the Olympic flame at the new National Stadium.

Synchronised Cycling to perfection!

Photo Description: These five cyclists are part of the Acrobatics troupe that display their skills to tourists in a dedicated theatre. These five cyclists are simultaneously cycling freehanded and steering to their left with one hand on their hip and the other hand on the hip of the person next to them.

Let's see how many we can fit...

But wait there's more! See Fourteen women on a unicycle...

A photo of McDonalds, Nanjing Road Branch, Shanghai China.

Lens 50mm f1.4 Nikon D70 Body.

Read as the author of this article is stalked by the Chinese Police. I guess if you are simply a tourist in China, with no intentions to "change or influence their culture" or are part of "Fa lun dafa" you should be fine. As for me, I was just there to experience their culture. So if you're there even with the slightest connection to the aforementioned group or if you're a known activist - WATCH OUT! You're under China's watchful eye.

A fish I managed to take a photo of while I was at the Shanghai Aquarium.

Currently my desktop photo.

Lens 50mm f1.4 Nikon D70 Body.

This photo was taken on the grounds of the Temple of Heaven. The greenery, the whole greenish hue of the image reminds me of that movie - Crouching tiger, hidden dragon?

I only had a sec to compose and take the photo - one of the major downfalls of loving to take photos and being part of a tour group.

Taken with a D70 with (18-70mm f3.5-4.5) kit lens.

A portrait oriented shot of the Great Wall of China. Check out the sheer drop on both sides of the wall... This view just makes one wonder how did the Chinese ever build this structure? I guess that's why it's one of the Worlds Wonders...

The size of the structure - and the length is breathtaking; if you look to the distance, on the top of the opposite mountain, you will see the continuation of the Wall - look closely enough you will see the battlements and turrets on that mountain... In this section of the Wall, the Wall wraps around the mountains surrounding the valley.

Taken with a D70 with kit lens (18-70mm f3.5-4.5) arrangement.

The view from the first of many turrets on the Great Wall of China.

Keep in mind that it was raining cats and dogs outside. The fact that it was raining and the dark green foliage of the trees in this part of China probably contributed to the blue-greenish hue of the photo.

Taken with a D70 with kit lens (18-70mm f3.5-4.5) arrangement.

The view from the first of many turrets on the Great Wall of China.

Taken with a D70 with kit lens (18-70mm f3.5-4.5) arrangement.

The Chinese use bikes for getting from A to B. A woman rides a bike to who-knows-where in her Sundays' Best.

I guess those extended sleeves protect her from all the crud that can fly from the road or maybe just to protect her fair complexion?

Taken with a D70 with a Tamron 28-300mm arrangement.

The Chinese use bikes for getting from A to B.

Taken with a D70 with a Tamron 28-300mm arrangement.

The view from the first of many turrets on the Great Wall of China.

Keep in mind that it was raining cats and dogs outside. The fact that it was raining and the dark green foliage of the trees in this part of China probably contributed to the blue-greenish hue of the photo.

Taken with a D70 with kit lens (18-70mm f3.5-4.5) arrangement.

A photo with a waitress at the restaurant where we ate the infamous 'Beijing Duck'.

What do you think (of her)?

Yet another photo taken with my K750i.

Having brought only one pair of shoes to China with the premise of 'travelling light' left me to find alternative footwear for the trip to the shops to buy shoes for the trip home (as well as dinner, as we were part of a tour group and you can't just go doing your own thing).

Armed with two shower caps and the hotel slippers I wore this to dinner as well as a shopping precinct in Beijing. It was an amusing affair...

This photo was taken with my K750i.