Paul

I am traveling with five watercolorists today, but none speak English much, so it is an interesting ride. After the flight landed in Nanchang we procured a minivan and are driving two hours to Jiujang, then up to Lu Mountain. The minivan has been alive with conversation the whole way, but none of it in…

Never knew how much that meant. Apparently it is a lot! There are tea markets everywhere and much of life here revolves around it. It is served in shot glass sized cups, and they keep coming until you are ready to burst! It is difficult not to be over-caffeinated all the time, and very difficult…

Four days wasn't enough time to see everything in Shanghai, but I gave it my best shot. I will definitely have to return someday soon. I would imagine that within a year the skyline will be significantly different. There is so much new construction going on and new skyscrapers are everywhere. The chaos of the…

Kids are curious about the only paleface on the train and generally stare until I acknowledge them with a smile or a quick shot with my camera. Many of them are studying English but never met anyone who spoke it! It's a lot easier to make a breakthrough with them than most adults. This cute…

Once I made it past the throngs of hucksters, vendors and tour guides, I found this place to be remarkably serene. There were hundreds of paintable places in this park. Waterfalls, neat bridges, bamboo forests, fragrant tea bushes, and beautifully designed bonsai trees were everywhere. The climb up to the tower is a workout, but…

Hopped a train for Suzhou this morning to check out the why they call it the "Venice of Asia". Venice it isn't. There are a bunch of canals, but that is the only common thread. They did have a leaning tower, but that would actually compare to Pisa, not Venice. I visited the North Tower,…

First contact with the wonderful folks from the Shanghai Watercolor Society. Tonight I had dinner with Professor Ping Long, vice president of the Shanghai Watercolor Society, and three charming interpreters. From the left is LunLun, mr Pauljackson, Sissi Zhou, professor Ping Long and LunLun's mother. Obviously communication is tricky, but we are all handling it…

Shanghai now tops my list of cities with scents. There is an amazing variety of smells eminating from the streets, from the sickly sweet smell of deisel to the most aromatic cuisine.. For those with a heightened olfactory palate, walking around Shanghai can be overwhelming, but is an adventure that will grow on you. There…

Exotic animals are everywhere in Shanghai. Lots of little street corner vendors sell birds, turtles and singing crickets. I've seen a few dogs and cats too, just not by the bucketful. The singing crickets are cute/noisy, but they hardly compare to the cicadas, whose sound drown out the traffic noise and make the city sound/feel…

Wow! The army of lighted drums was cool! I want one of those! I expected the fireworks to be spectacular and was not disappointed. Made my hair stand straight up. The whole city was lit up. I didn't understand a whole lot because almost all of it was in Chinese, but the visuals were spectacular.…