Our daughter was born in Gansu Province, in the city of Wu Wei, but, we picked her up in Lanzhou. However, our guide told us that by her appearance, she was not "local." Meaning she was from a different area in China. He said her mother muct have orginally been from Sichuan, an area that is famous for beautiful women. I guess most Chinese models come from this area, and have a distinctive look, and our little Adalynn has that look, with her big eyes, and delicate features.
While Lanzhou was a big city, it was more remote than the other cities we experienced in China. I am pretty sure that they don't see Americans very often and very little English is spoken. The hotel here was also a little "rougher" than what we had elsewhere. I think they omitted the mattress in our room, as what we were sleeping on must have been just the box spring. It was literally hard as a rock. And the smoking! It was terrible, in China most all of the men smoke. We learned later that a "non smoking" floor in a hotel, means that smoking is optional...making for a pretty unpleasant experience. Also, Lanzhou, is ranked as the most polluted city im China, and China as a whole is very polluted. That is one of the reasons factories want to move there, because there are virtually no regulations. You will see lots of people in the photos wearing face masks.
We were so blessed to be with other adventurous travelers, Dan and Terri, and the 4 of us with our babies dragged sweet Shari and her daughter Hannah with us everywhere too. I hope that she enjoyed it as much as we did. We also had the opportunity to share many of our experiences in Gansu with Amber and Jesse, and their crew. (When we were with Amber and Jesse, we didn't get into any trouble, as they are experienced in Chinese Culture.)
We would go out and and walk and walk and walk some more. We ate where the locals ate, we shopped where the people shopped. And we got in lots of trouble, with our Mandarin or lack there of:) One night we went to what must have been a fancy restuarant and we made a complete mess out of it! Again they put us in a little room, and closed the door. It was hillarious as we pointed to the pictures on the menu and tried to order. We were laughing, the Chinese servers were laughing. The lack of ability to communicate was just hillarious. When they brought our food, it was cold...cold meat, and I use the term "meat" lightly, I know some of it was pigeon and I am sure there were worse things than that. In another country it is safe to eat about any kind of meat..as long as it is cooked and hot. We ate a lot of weird things, but, this just wasn't going to work. So the guys get out the handy dandy phrase book and asked for the food to be "hot." Well, they didn't understand because the food was "spicy." We tried charades, which never did get us very far, just try to show someone you want your food hot with hand motions. Finally, after scouring the Mandarin book, Dan came up with the word "microwave." We probably insulted them, but, they took our food away and it come back hot.
My favorite part of going to a new place is to see how the people live, really live. I don't want the tourist version. I want to take the dirt roads. I want to go to the real market. I want to ask people what they dream about. We have been a lot of places, and I have asked this question many times, whether it is a guide in Ethiopia, a Jamaican man taking us on a river raft tour, or farmer in the countryside or a college student in Beijing. We all have dreams. I have never heard anyone in a third world country say they dreamed of a big house, a fancy car or winning the lottery. I hear that they want to provide for their family, that they dream of having a job. Most often I have heard that they dream about coming to America. While we take traveling for granted..it is really hard for people in other countries to get a Visa for travel, in addition to the fact that it is way more money than they could afford. Almost everytime, when I ask them where they want to go in America, it is New York City or LA. It occurs to me that this is all they know of America, and they judge our whole country on these 2 big cities...2 cities that I have never even been to.
Though on this trip, we did not get to see the countryside like I had hoped, I think we still got a taste of the "Real China." On our last day in Lanzhou our guide, Steed, took us to a farm town. We saw the markets, and were invited into the simple home of a farmer. That was a highlight for us, as they showed us around their modest home with great pride. It was humbling and a true honor to be there.
The front enry of a home in the countryside.
Walking up to the home we were invited into.
This is the family who were so gracious to welcome us into their home. They were proud of their home, and we were blessed to spend a short amount of time with them.I don't think they ever have American visitors.
They were working on a project..not sure what.
This was used the day before to roast a while hog.
No matter where we are, people enjoy pretty things. Design is not just for us spoiled Americans, here is a handpainted tile wall.
The kitchen, inside the home. Yes, that is all of it. In China homes do not have ovens.
The master bedroom, and living room. Bed at night sofa during the day.
The back yard.
Roadside market.
As in all third world countries, a dump, right in the city.
Beautiful view of the Himalaya Mountains as we left Lanzhou..Of course, Matt was interested in the bridge too. And no, the picture isn't fuzzy it's the smog and pollution.
