Renovation

This is old Kunming and I hope they are restoring the old places and not razing them. Outside this old part, the frenetic pace of new building takes on new proportions. I'm glad they are saving every piece of the old brick and tiles. I read somewhere that the USA does not need any more new houses or new malls for a long time. We've overbuilt during the boom years and now there is a glut. I live in an old neighborhood and the size of houses are small, around 1100 square feet and that was the size of a standard home for a family. These days the size of a standard home has more than doubled, to 2400 square feet. Where do you find the space to build such houses? In the 'burbs and then you need a few cars to drive to work, or to shop at those boxy malls. Maybe that's why when I travel to unwind, I long for the good old days, I long for old world charm, anywhere in the world, in Europe, China or wherever else I find myself.
You might have noticed, the wide boulevards with the plane trees lining them, here in old Kunming. How French! You are right, the French were here, back in the days when they still rule over Indochina which is just at the border with Kunming. They built a railway between Kunming and the Indochinese border which is non existent now. They use Kunming to access the outer reaches of the Indochinese area.

Kunming, China

Time flies. If you want to do anything, go anywhere, start now. If you don't start you wouldn't arrive. It was a little over a year ago that I was in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in Southern China. Alas, I haven't found time to return to see more of China. China is a country of huge contrast, we read of Chinese spies, stealing military and business secrets and then we see regular Chinese living a parallel life, oblivious to what their government is doing. We see shining new high rises and tucked in some corner, the old China, hanging on, precariously, like a loose tooth. I was amazed at the progress of Kunming but this was not the China I came to see. I wanted to see the old world China. It can still be found in a lot of areas of China, where progress hasn't reached them and hopefully wouldn't, or at least, not for a long time. I was happy to have seen some old China. Tucked in a very small area behind the new tall buildings, there was this little space where old China thrives, still, for how long, your guess is as good as mine. There were regular folks here, children playing, people watching TV, drying fish outside, washing their hair in wash basins, handing out fliers, old woman using a cell phone....... life goes on, even as modern China hums outside.

Playing house 2

I've always wanted to make a puff pancake. It's so easy. Make your regular pancake batter, instead of making pancakes, pour it into a greased metal pan, stick it into a 400 deg oven for 15 minutes and it becomes like this. You can stew some fruit like apples or pears and add to the batter. Try it, you'll feel really proud of yourself at the outcome.

A year ago

Times flies, whether or not you're having fun! It's hard to imagine that this picture was taken a year ago in Szentendre, a little pretty and picturesque village outside of Budapest. We wanted to be like her, young, carefree, running errands on a Saturday morning. Unfortunately life is full of cares for us. We look forward to our little escapes to Europe or other parts of the world. Life should be easy in the summer time, but not for me. Summer is not really over yet but I'm preparing for the winter, for the cough and cold season. I've been giving flu shots, sticking needles into people's arms. It's kind of fun and I'm getting to be really good at it.

Parfait colors- Annecy, France

The whole idea of travel is to experience sights, sounds and tastes that are different. Here in Annecy, France, the buildings are painted in the colors of the macarons or the macarons were made in the colors of the buildings. This town is so sweet and there is water flowing all around the buildings like a little Venice. The water is sparkling and clean and it came from Lake Annecy which is purported to be the cleanest lake in France. It is amazing how one can still keep a lake so clean. I guess if there is a will, there will be a way. We spent a few hours just soaking up the atmosphere of this pretty place. Traveling is time consuming and expensive but I love it. today we've become very visual people because of the Internet, no one will read anything unless a picture is also posted, an appealing picture is possible. I must admit I'm guilty, I'm more likely to stay on a site if there are pretty pictures and for this reason I try to post pretty and appealing pictures on my site. These are very pretty pictures, if it were someone else's site, I would stay a while.