My photography buddy Bill called me up and asked if I wanted to go take photos of water lilies. Not really my thing, but I said yes and off we went on his motorbike (with no helmet or special clothing, of course). Well, we were a bit too early for the water lilies so we went to get some beer instead. A good trade I think. Anyway, while drinking we noticed the sun was setting quite beautifully, so we downed our beers and went off again on his motorbike in search of a good place to shoot from. It was actually my first time on the back of a motorbike, at earlier in the day I thought he’d been driving very sedately, apparently the beer cured this, and 60mph on the back of that thing was more scary than 150mph in a road car. Not that I’ve ever been 150mph on public roads, officer.
Various snaps as we travelled around.
These scenes are just 5minutes from the very city center by motorbike. In China, there seems to be no suburbia. You go from 20-storey-building downtown, to…well, what you see above.
One of a few water lilies that had come out.
Our steed for the day. Not the most beasty thing ever, but, it felt rapid when there’s nothing between you and the air.
A HDR photo of the new Weinan North Train station. I’ll be doing a full blog post on this soon. It’s part of the high speed train link between Xi’an and Zhengzhou. Which, also includes the longest bridge in the world. Part of it you see here. The train station is 2-storey, as the train line is in the air.
The stop for beer.
It was a refreshing break.
This guy was enjoying it.
Left: Loved the hat / shirt combo. Right: One of the BBQ chefs looking out of steam.
Then we headed out to the bridge. Its over looking the Wei river and we were witness to a very pretty sunset…
…Bill capturing the moment…
…this guy living in the moment…
…and this guy enjoying it in his own way.
Sunset photo.
and I’ll leave you with this trio of shots.
I’m off to Xi’an for a 3-day training thing tomorrow, so expect radio silence. Lots more blogs to come, just need to find the time. It’s a busy time here with a changing of the guard – old teachers leaving, and new ones arriving, combined with my change of duties to a more management-orientated position out here. Maybe more on that another day…
…take care all!
Joe, you really do take incredible pictures! I’m like, “Wow, Weinan has gotten prettier since I last remember.” I liked the last post with all the kid pictures too. Lots of personality!
Ruth; Thanks! 🙂 I hope I get to take ‘incredible pictures’ of your little wonder when you come back to Weinan! Thanks for reading, your blog always keeps me entertained too! You’re definitely more of a word-smith than myself.