New Mexico -- Go Home

July 9th, 2005

Today is the last day in New Mexico. We're going to head back to San Jose in the afternoon.

BL got up very early in the morning and took the car to next door for window repair. I went to hotel lobby to check email. Then I suddenly found out that instead of Alamo, I actually booked the car from enterprise-rent-a-car. That's why Alamo can't find our record from their database, what a joke!

After a couple of hours, BL took the car back. Except for the tape around the windshield, it looked exactly like before.

Since we still have the whole morning, we drove around Santa Fe and went to visit Santa Fe art museum. After lunch, we were on the way back to Albuquerque airport. We stopped by gas station right before the airport, filling in the gas and peeling off the tape from the windshield. Then we drove to the car rental place, the guy came to check the mileage and he looked around the car. We were so nervous, but he didn't find out anything, Phew! :P Then we happily walked away and took the shuttle to the airport, by then we had enough time to get on the plane. When we got to the airport, ready to check in, I suddenly found out that we lost one bag, which has the e-tickets information and the books BL borrowed from library. BL hurried back to the car rental place, in the mean time, I called the car rental company and asked them whether they found the bag. Luckily, the bag was found and returned to the front desk already. Then I called BL again, telling him to go to the front desk directly to get the bag. Then he called me back from there to tell me the e-tickets confirmation number. I checked in for both of us at the airport. He came back; we barely have enough time to get on to the plane.

After transferring, some delay, we finally got back to San Jose sound and safely. J and W picked us up, and we went directly to P's party. Yeah, Saturday, party night, back to normal life!

Thinking of the whole journey, there are so many things happened:
1. I left tripod and jacket in Vegas; luckily, J took them back for me.
2. We rent the wrong car. :P
3. Crackle on windshield, we had to fix it before we returned the car.
4. I lost my new bracelet.
5. We forgot the bag, and had to go back to the car rental place to pick up, almost missed the plane.
6. I lost my best collection of CDs in Vegas. I left in the rental car, and my friends forgot to pick it up for me. All my most favorite original CDs!!! :((

But still, I really enjoy the trip! I took many beautiful pictures! If I have a chance, I still want to go back to New Mexico again!


Santa Fe


>>home

New Mexico -- Taos (3)

July 8th, 2005

In front of St. Jerome Chapel


The present San Geronimo, or St. Jerome, Chapel was completed in 1850 to replace the original church which was destroyed in the War with Mexico by the U.S. Army in 1847. That church, the ruins still evident on the west side of the village, was first built in 1619. It was then destroyed in the Spanish Revolt of 1680 but soon rebuilt on the same site. St. Jerome is the patron saint of Taos Pueblo.

Ruins from the original church


During the war, the army locked hundreds of local Indians in the church and burned the church. All the people who died in the fire were buried next to the church. The church ruin then became the grave yard for local Indians.

Graveyard


The grave yard is still used today. If a local Indian dies, he/she will still be buried here with his/her ancestors. But the grave yard size is limited, so locals will take out some crosses and bury the new body in the same spot. You can see the crosses piling up by the corner of the wall in the "Ruins from the original church" picture, those are all the crosses which are taken out from the grave yard.

Waiting ...


How can people treat life like dirt? How can they just burn so many people to death? People's lives are precious. We should always cherish our lives. But some people seem not to care about a life at all. I read some news online about current college students in China. Some students just suicide because they cannot get used to the college life, because they have never lived on their own before. I feel like our education system is a big failure. They teach students how to get a high score to go to college, but don't teach any student how to be a successful human being, how to live a real life. Life doesn't just belong to ourselves, we also carry responsibilities. Life doesn't just compose of studying either, there are so many things we need to do. We need to be responsible to the people who give our lives, to the people who love and care about us. Things are always easy for the dead people, but hard for the people who need to deal with it. How can a person just be so selfish, discarding all the responsibility he/she carries on and leaving the world, leaving the people who care about him/her?

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New Mexico -- Taos (2)

July 8th, 2005

Taos Indian Pueblo

I was very excited to see Indian Pueblo. I saw so many nice pictures about it from the tourist book, finally I can take my own pictures.

Indian Pueblo (I)


The Pueblo is made entirely of adobe -- earth mixed with water and straw, then either poured into forms or made into sun-dried bricks. The walls are frequently several feet thick. The roofs of each of the five stories are supported by large timbers -- vigas -- hauled down from the mountain forests. Smaller pieces of wood -- pine or aspen latillas -- are placed side-by-side on top of the vigas; the whole roof is covered with packed dirt. The outside surfaces of the Pueblo are continuously maintained by replastering with think layers of mud. Interior walls are carefully coated with thin washes of white earth to keep them clean and bright. The Pueblo is actually many individual homes, built side-by-side and in layers, with common walls but no connecting doorways.

Indian Pueblo (II)


In the earlier days, there were no doors or windows and entry was gained only from the top. And for defense purpose, the Indians use ladders to get to the second level, then get into the adobe.

Indian Pueblo (III)


The pueblo doesn't have electricity and sewer system. So right now, only about 4 or 5 families still live inside pueblo. Most of the local Indians are not living in the pueblo any more; they live outside the pueblo in more modernized area, and come back from time to time to check out the house and their business -- mostly hand crafts store.

Indian Pueblo (IV)


This is local's cooking utility. They light fire inside to bake the Indian bread.

Door, Ladder, Chili ring


Indians always have very bright color, which are reflected in their clothes, crafts, even in the pueblo. Brown, blue and red, locals just left the stuff without any intention, but to me, it's the best scene.

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New Mexico -- Taos (1)

July 8th, 2005

Before the trip, BL borrowed several books about New Mexico from the library. Based on what we read or more exactly, the pictures we saw from the books, we set the places we are going to visit and planed our trip. One place we both are really interested to go is Taos.

Taos is about one hour drive north from Santa Fe. We got up pretty late that day, (well, like all the rest days), and drove to Taos around noon. Since the crack on the windshield is still growing, we drove very slowly and carefully avoided all the big trucks along the way.

First thing we did in Taos is to find a restaurant for lunch! Even today, BL still mentions that this vacation is the most relaxing vacation he ever has so far. Yeah, it is a pretty relaxing vacation. Even though all the hotels we stayed provide continental breakfast, we only had once in the hotel. The rest days, we just slept as long as we wanted and got up before noon. Then we just drove around and looked for a nice restaurant with happy music, sat in, and enjoyed our lunch!

It's no exception today! We saw this neat Indian pueblo style Mexican restaurant and went in. It has a pretty big front yard; we chose a table outside under a tree. After ordering some food, we chatted a little bit and just sat there enjoying the environment. Sun is very warm, but we were sitting in the shade, and the wind cooled us down. The air is filled with happy Mexican music, with a little episode added in by the bees. We almost forgot the time, just stayed there enjoying the food and savoring the quiet moment.

San Francisco Church (I)


We really took our time and enjoyed the food. After lunch, we went to San Francisco Church next to the restaurant.

San Francisco Church (II)


I really like the adobe structure of the church, simple, practical, and artistic. It's a really nice place to take pictures.

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New Mexico -- Albuquerque & Santa Fe

July 7th, 2005

Albuquerque is the capital of New Mexico. But there is really not much to visit. We had a long drive the day before, both of us got pretty tired. So we just rested in the hotel until noon. Then we went to Albuquerque old town for lunch, and found a very decent Mexican restaurant. We sat down, ordered some food, listened to the music, and had some margarita, very casual and relaxing.

Around the old town plaza, many people are selling crafts. I bought a set of necklace, bracelet and ankle-let for myself. They are made of turquoise, which looks very nice. Those people who sell the crafts are so hard to bargain with, or I'm too bad at bargaining. Anyway, I didn't even get one cent off from the original price. :(

Albuquerque Old Town Plaza


BL found another way to drive to Santa Fe from Albuquerque -- turquoise drive, which was part of the famous Route 66. It's said in the tourist guide that there is amazingly beautiful view along the road. So we just headed our way to Santa Fe after lunch. As long as we got onto highway, there was this big truck in front us, and suddenly I heard a sharp noise coming from our car windshield -- a rock hit on the windshield. I looked at the window, I didn't see anything. Then we kept driving. Suddenly Bill screamed, "S***, look at the crackle!" I was frozen on my seat; shoot, there was this index finger long crackle on the windshield. It must be from that rock. And we didn't buy any car insurance this time. :( I felt so unfair, I buy car insurance every time except for this ONE time. And there was nothing ever happened for all those times! Soooo unlucky this time! :(

We kept driving, and the crackle went from finger long to palm long, then to forearm long by the time we got to Santa Fe. And our topic on the car went from what we should visit in Santa Fe to how we are going to deal with the crackle. Since I was the one who rented the car, BL said that I should contact my credit card company to see whether they would cover this kind of situation. If they don't, we'll have to go with plan B -- fix it before we returned the car.

(I really wanted to write something about the beautiful scenery along the drive, but I can't remember how the scenery is like at all. Either the scenery is not that impressive or I spend most of the time staring at the crackle.)

Unfortunately my credit card company doesn't cover this kind of situation. So BL called several car windshield companies for quotes. Luckily, there is a window company right next to our hotel. So we decided to check it out early next morning.

Even though we were pretty upset, we still didn't want to waste our vacation. So I took a shower, changed into some nice clothes, and put on the necklace, bracelet and ankle-let which I bought from Albuquerque. Then we went to Santa Fe plaza. It’s funny that every city we’ve been to has a plaza – Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Santa Fe. And the plaza is getting better and better. Santa Fe plaza is very nice. We got there around sunset time. St Francis Cathedral stands at the end of the plaza, covered in a golden coat. It looks so beautiful and stately. I left BL rest on the bench, and walked around by myself to take pictures before sun fully set down. The buildings in Santa Fe are Adobe-style, which looks simple, but very artistic. I really like it, especially the color. Usually it has the golden wall with blue window frame or door, with red flowers by the window and door, bright and colorful, very vivid. Lots of artists move to Santa Fe to live there so that they can paint or take pictures. There are many galleries and museums around Santa Fe plaza, as well as restaurants, bars, and all kinds of shops. I was wandering around and enjoying the Adobe structure, art craft ..., and suddenly I found my new bracelet was lost! :( I have only worn it for like 30 minutes. What a day!


Santa Fe Plaza -- St Francis Cathedral


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New Mexico -- Las Cruces & Gila Cliff Dwellings

July 5, 2004 -- July 6, 2004

We got to Las Cruces pretty late. And we didn't know where our hotel is. We had this one paper which has our schedule printed out, such as where to visit, where to stay, etc. But we forgot to print out the hotel name in Las Cruces. We only had an address, but we didn't have a Las Cruces city map. (Yeah, AAA doesn't have Las Cruces map). BL took a look at the map when we were in White Sands National Monument, so we tried to get to the hotel based on his memory. Of course, we lost! So we had to call our friend W in California to ask for direction. After we spent so many on roaming charges, we finally found our hotel! The good thing is that there is free wireless internet in the room, hooooolaaaaa!

It felt weird that I hadn't used internet for about 5 days. Unbelievable! As soon as I got into the room, I turned on my laptop and got online. I checked my emails, chatted with my friends, browsed all the sites I usually go to, edited some of my pictures and posted them online. It feels good, like I'm back to a modern society. :P I got into the hotel room probably around 11 pm, the next time when I looked at the clock, it's over 2 am. Geeeze, I should take a shower and go to sleep then. It seems that the virtual time goes much faster than the real time. :P

There is not much to visit in Las Cruces. So we just went to its old town plaza early in the morning. It's a small square with many souvenir shops around it. We went in to look for some gifts. I bought some for my friends, BL bought some for D.

Since it's still early, so we decided to visit Gila Cliff Dwellings. From the map, we figured out that Gila cliff dwelling is just about one and half hours away from Las Cruces. So we left Las Cruses around noon, thinking we'll have plenty of time to visit there. Since we are going to stay in Albuquerque for the night, we probably still have time to stop by Truth and Consequences on the way.

After one hour's drive on highway, we started to get into the mountain. I thought we are pretty close to our destination. Then there is a big sign standing by the road, saying curvy road ahead -- prepare to take a 2 hours' drive to Gila!!! //faint But since we already drove for one hour to get this close, we think we should keep going.

We missed the tour, so we just watched the video of the introduction of Gila Cliff Dwelling and climbed up ourselves to visit. There are several rooms in the cave. But I was kind of disappointed, I thought there would have more stuffs in the cave. I was thinking something made of stone so that Indians can sleep on or sit around it, but there are only pure raw rocks, and some dried tree branches in the dwelling. There is park volunteer resting in the cave. So I asked him where I can see the pictograph the Indians left. He is very nice, and showed me around, pointing out to me all the pictographs he knows in the cave and their meanings. From the chat with him, we found out that he is actually an artist, he does oil painting. He said if we come early in the morning, when the sun rises, and the first sun ray casts into the cave, the dwelling looks amazingly beautiful. I can imagine all the scenes in my head. But unfortunately, I don't have time for that! BL asked him how far away to get back to the high way to Albuquerque. And the answer is at least 3 hours!!! We never thought the decision we made to visit here ends up with a 5 hours' mountain driving journey!!!

To save time, BL drove pretty aggressively. I was holding the safety handler all the way. Later on that night, I found out my arm felt so sore because of that. Since I cannot drive on the curvy road, (I'm really scared of that,) BL had to drive all the way out. The scenery is beautiful along the road. But no matter how good it is, you will still get bored if you look at it for 5 hours. And I started to get car sick. Finally we were out of the mountain. BL was so tired. My turn to drive, but I still had car sick, so we stopped by some gas station, he had to wait for me to finish a big ice-cream, then we hit back on the road again with me in the driver seat and him sleeping in the passenger seat.

I enjoyed the drive. While BL is sleeping, I put on some happy Mexican music and enjoyed the scenery. Sun was setting, the clouds looked like fire, and the mountains along the road were cover in a shiny red coat. I was so moved by the beautiful scene. I kept asking myself whether I should stop the car, and capture all these beautiful scenes into my camera. But I didn't want to wake BL up and the scène seemed to me too beautiful to capture. So I just kept driving and let my thoughts fly. Am I driving too fast? Am I too eager to get to the destination so that I didn't spend enough time to enjoy the scene along the way? Are all those seemingly beautiful sceneries worth to stop and take time to enjoy? How would I know it's not a waste of time?

I always feel like that life is a journey. There are many stops along the way, people have to figure out the major stops to jump out the train and spend time to enjoy their life there. Some people make mistakes to stop at those small stops, they spend much time trying to look for scenes worth of visiting, but it finally turns out there is not much there. They just waste their time. Some people see the major stop, but they think there is nothing to visit there, so they miss the most beautiful scene they can see in their life. But how will I know where to stop? How will I know when to stop?


Pray

The picture was taken at Las Cruses old town plaza. I don't know why, when I took the picture, I strongly felt like it should be black and white. To me, the halo around the head of the statue is like a thorn crown. I can feel she is suffering, I feel it with a heavy heart. I feel like I'm praying with her, praying for the end the suffering.

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New Mexico -- White Sand National Monument

July 5th, 2005

Since it was so hot in New Mexico, we figured out that in order to avoid becoming a human jerky, we'd better not go to white sand national monument during the day. So we planed to get there right before sunset, so that I can take some good pictures.

White Sand National Monument is the world's largest gypsum dune field, about 275 square miles. Because of its white color, it reflects the heat, so even we walk on it during the day, it's not that hot at all. I carried a big responsibility to go to the white sand national park. My director is a big hiking fan, his plan is to go to all the national parks. So he asked me to get him a topographic map from the park. I was looking and looking in the tourist center, but I couldn't find one. So I asked for help, and was told there is no such map, because the sand dunes move about 30 feet every year by the strong and steady wind in that area.

The weather was not very good for pictures because of the heavy haze. We took the 7 PM tour, and the guide said the haze may come from the big fire nearby. BL was following the tour, I was wandering around to take pictures. But suddenly something that the tour guide said got my attention -- how do plants survive in the moving sands?

The big problem plants have in the dune field is being buried by moving sand dunes. Plants can't walk away from a dune that is starting to bury them. Most of the time the plants simply die because they can no longer get the oxygen they need once the sand has covered them. The tour guide pointed us to some small lovely pink flowers and told us that they're going to die soon. :( To Live on top of the dunes requires very special adaptations. Only a few plants are able to live very well on the sand dunes by growing faster than the dune can move, or/and holding on to the sand by building hard pedestals.

Soaptree Yucca

Yucca is one of the plants who grow faster than the sand dune moves. When it begins to get buried, the stem of the yucca starts to grow very rapidly and pushes the green leafy part above the surface of the sand. The stem can grow as much as 12" a year, and may get to be 30' tall. When you see a yucca plant on top of a sand dune, you can be sure that beneath it is a long stem that stretches all the way down through the sand.

I really admire Yucca's vitality. It must go through hundreds of generation's death and find a way of living, what a strong desire to survive! It never gives up the passion of living! Even a plant can do this, why human being always give up their passion for life and love so easily. When some people get hurt in love, they become so afraid of being hurt again, so they loose their passion for finding real love. They just lock their heart in a safety case, and throw the key in the ocean. Then they just wander around the world with an empty body and a big cold safety case. They can never open the safety case and show their heart to other people any more. Why can't we be like a yucca -- always holding the passion for life? Even though we fail, we should still beleive in that eventually everyone will find a way to grow out. Eventually everyone will have the most beautiful flowers over the white sand dune.

Yucca under sunset


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New Mexico -- Roswell

July 4th, 2005

We got back to hotel a little over 4 am. Since my flight is 6:40 am, I didn't have any time to sleep . I just took a quick shower to get rid of the smoke smell on my hair and body. The girls were sleeping after I came out from the shower, I didn't want to wake them up, so I had to pack in the dark. BBY kindly offered to take me and BL to airport, I did't want to keep him waiting, so I packed in a hurry and left the hotel.

We slept all the way on tha airplane, and got to Albuquerque early in the morning. We went directly to Alamo car rental place and asked about our reservation. Since I cannot access to my Yahoo account before I left for the trip, I couldnot print the reservation information with me. The guy checked in his computer and cannot find our record. So we had to rent another car on the spot. Not a good start for the trip!

We got the car. BL started to drive. I was so sleepy, but I had to keep myself awake and kept talking to him to keep him awake too -- I didn't want us to get into any accident. It's about 200 miles from Albuquerque to Roswell. And I felt this is the longest drive I had ever taken.

The original plan for visiting Roswell was to get there in time so that we can catch the last day's UFO festival and watch Independence Day's firework at night. We got to the hotel in Roswell around 1 pm, but the hotel receptionist told us that we cannot check in until 3 pm. It was extremely hot outside, just like in Vegas, and we both were extremely sleepy too. So we decided to skip the whole festival thing, and rested on the hotel lobby couch. I felt the couch is the most comfortable couch in the world, because right after I sat down and found a way to support my head comfortably, I fell into sleep. I felt I only slept for 5 minutes before the receptionist woke us up and told us that we can check in now. We just went directly to the room without even taking the luggage. I threw myself into my bed and slept. I was soooo sleepy. ZZZZZZ

I woke up around 7 pm and got up to take a shower, which made me feel much better. We didn't eat anything the whole day, so we decided to drive around, getting something to eat, and getting ready for the July 4th firework.

Roswell looks like a very old and small town, only one main street. It got famous because the 1947 UFO incidence. It was saying that there was a flying saucer crashed in Roswell. But later on goverment claimed that it was just a weather hot balloon. No one really knows which story is real. I prefer the UFO one. Think about this -- universe is so big, there is living creature on earth, why not on other planets? And human being is so curious, we send rockets and spaceships to other planets, why can't the creatures from other planets come to visit us?

This small town looks very shabby, BL kept saying it's even worse than those small towns in Mississippi. I've never been to Mississippi, but this probably is the most shabby town I've ever seen in US. And not like in california, I didn't see even one Chinese there. We went to the stadium where people gathered around waiting for fireworks. There was a mexican band singing on the stage. It seemed to me that the whole town were gathering in the stadium. But there was not even a single black hair, yellow skin person in the crowds except for us. People stared at us when we passed by. I felt like I were an alien there. We walked around, but there was nothing really interesting, since we still had about an hour before the firewrok started, we went out of the stadium to grab some dinner.

We came back and got a very good parking spot, facing the firework directly. So we can just put the seat back down and lied in the car to watch the firework. Before, when I watched firework, I was always swamped in big crowds, surrounded by people's head, but not this time. It was so relaxing and comfortable to sit in the car and see all the fireworks through the windshield. My favorite one is the golden colored firework, when it dropped from the sky, it looked like a golden willow tree, spectacular! Whenever that fireworks came out, I could feel there is something jumping really hard in my heart. Wish I could share the view with someone.

Is emotion or love just like fireworks? So spectacular and moving in the beginning, during that short period, it releases its best images. Then it dies quickly, only leaves the smoke and the smell in the air. How can we keep it longer?

New Mexico -- Adobe window

The picture was actually taken in Taos. Since I left Vegas in such a hurry, I left my tripod there, so there is no fireworks picture for me this time.

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Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas -- Zumanity & Strip Club

We chose Zumanity because J really wants to watch a topless show since she has never seen one. I have no interest in any topless show, because I've watched a couple and I remembered that I almost fell into sleep last time when I watched Jubilee. Nothing exciting at all. But Zumanity is different. It's very erotic, and different from the other show which I have seen from Cirque Du Soleil. The whole show is about sex -- man and woman, man and man, woman and woman, S&M, orgy ... Erotic, funny but not dirty. I really like the part that two acrobatic girls swim in a big transparent fish bowl, very sexy.

We had decent seats for the show, the 3rd row on the left side. When the show started, there was a very good shaped half naked guy holding a bouquet of roses walking around the stage. The audience started to scream. Of course I screamed too, I probably screamed pretty loud and got his attention, so he threw a rose to me. :) Then I found out that K screamed even louder, and he got a rose from the half naked guy too. (/faint) It's a fun experience to watch the show, with lots of laughing and screaming.

When we came out of the show, it's almost 1 am. J was so excited, and she really wanted to go to a gentleman's club. I have never been to a strip club either. But I have an early flight to New Mexico at 6:40 am. And what's so fun to watch female stripping? I'm not a guy! I'll have more interest if it's a male strip club! :P So I was very reluctant to go, but everyone else is going, and J dragged me along with them. BL picked the place, so all 8 of us went there.

The cover charge is pretty expensive there, $20 each, even girls need to pay for it. I was so disappointed when I went into it. I looked around, the place is not very good, not crowded at all -- only half of the tables were open. The light was very dim inside. Some half naked girls were dancing on the table, they are not very pretty. Music was not that exciting either, a big difference from the scenes which I saw from the movies. But since I came in already, why not have some fun and enjoy it? So I got some 1 dollar bill changes and sat down around a table with my friends. We ordered drinks and waited, waited. But no girl came to our table, then we were told the table was not open yet. We had to switch table, but the girl on next table was just, huh, not appealing at all. So we decided to buy W a private dance, since it's his first time to be in a strip club too, and he has to walk with a ski pole. :P K saw this pretty Thai girl and asked her to dance for W. The girl came up to W and sat on his lap. We thought it would be more fun to watch W's expression than to watch the girl dancing. So we all sat around W just to watch him. :P When the girl started to dance, my eyes were popping out, because W's hands were all over her body. I was wondering, wow, that's why they need 20 bucks cover charge, it's an all-you-can-touch place. And the funny thing is that W touched all over her, but I noticed that when she tried to touch W, he moved her hand away. I was laughing and laughing, what kind of club is like that. After the dance, we all made jokes about W's behavior, he just kept saying that it was not him, it was the girl who put his hands on her body. Yeah, right! :P

Then I found out that there is a girl dancing on the table where we sat around before. She is not that bad. So we decided to move back. BBY suddenly found out that his money got stolen and he got pretty upset about it. So I put some changes in front of him, the girl came to him and played with him. Then I put some changes in front of J. But when the girl came up to her, J became so shy and refused her. I was very surprised, because it's her who really wanted to come to a strip club and tried so hard to persuade everyone to come with her. Well, anyway, since I was there already, I decided to have a little fun. So I put the change on my chest and another on my lap, the girl was laughing and came down to take the changes away with her mouth. I got a close look at her. It's fake. So many fakes there. BBY was still upset, so we bought him a private dance too. He likes those plump white chicks. So K found a very good looking dancer, she seemed to have a perfect shaped body until she took off her bra. Hmmm, what should I say? It's a very unsuccessful surgery, a big turn off. :P

There was another girl dancing on the couch behind ours. She is gorgeous, with beautiful face, and perfect body. And they're real! I think she is the best looking girl I saw in the club that night. She was dancing for a couple, dancing on both their laps. I was staring at her for a while, and all my friends think she is pretty. K came to me, asking whether I wanted a private dance from her, I refused. Then he said either I should kiss him on the cheek, or he'll buy me a private dance. Hmmm, private dance for free? What's to think about? Of course no kiss on the cheek! :P So I got a private dance. The girl came to me, making me sit comfortably on the couch, asking me to spread my legs open, and started to dance between my legs. She put some weights on me, I felt a little uncomfortable, I'm not a guy, and she is bigger than I am -- a little bit too heavy for me. :P She is very young, I would say she's only 20. And she is very beautiful, I was wondering the whole time why she wanted to do this job? For living? Saving for her big dream to become a famous show girl, then go to Hollywood? But I didn't ask her. Then she turned around and spanked her butt, so I decided to play a little. I asked her whether I can do that for her, she said yes, but she only allowed girls to do that though. Lucky me! I did that, then I heard that the guy from couple on the couch behind ours was asking his partner "How come you didn't so that!" Haha!

Well, the whole thing is a new experience to me, I had fun there! But no matter how pretty the girl is, no matter how sexy she dances, I can never get excited. No chance to be a lesbian then! :P

It was 4 am after we came out from the club. Need to get ready for my trip to New Mexico! Vegas is a crazy city -- what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

Latterns from Bellagio




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Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas -- Blue Man & Ugly Coyote

It was extremely hot, over 100F, when we got to Vegas. The air was hot, the wind was hot, and you can feel the steam coming up from the ground. It was like a big sauna room, my skin cannot even breathe when we walked on the strip during the day.

Since it was supposed to be a fun vacation, my friends and I decided not to torture ourselves under the baking sun. So we gave up watching all the free shows and spent most time in hotel instead -- eating, watching shows, clubbing, sleeping and doing crazy stuff in the hotel room. And yeah, I didn't gamble at all. I know, I'm in Vegas, where the best casinos are, but I didn't spend even 1 cent in gambling.

I watched 2 shows there, the blue man group and Zumanti from Cirque Du Soleil.

We watched the blue man group on the first night. My friends didn't want to watch the blue man group initially. I insisted on watching it. I have seen their DVD already and really like their performance. It's different from other Vegas shows, very creative and humorous, and it's rated G -- all aged group can watch it. They communicate with the audience very well, making the whole atmosphere very friendly and easy-going. After the show, we came out of the theatre; the blue man was standing outside the theatre to let audience take pictures with them. I was wearing a nice dress that day, and brought my little purse with me, so I couldn't bring my camera with me. But hey, we have cell phone, so I went up to the blue man, asked him to kiss me on my cheek, and use cell phone to take a picture with the blue kiss on my cheek. :) On the way back, everyone was looking at my face, I'm not embarrassed at all, I just want to keep it until I get my camera and take another picture again. But we decided to go clubbing after, even W went with us. W is a friend who broke his leg during a ski trip. He hasn't fully recovered yet, still using a ski pole to assist himself to walk in Vegas. It was so cool to see him dancing with the ski pole. We went to a club called ugly coyote in NY NY. It's a so so club, we went there because the club doesn't have dress code and the guys didn't prepare for clubbing in Vegas at all (except for strip club :P). The girls were pretty shocked to hear that the guys didn't prepare for clubbing. Come on, it's Vegas, how can you not prepare for clubbing here? So we have to go to this Ugly coyote; even though it's so ugly, it's still packed and had a long line outside the door. It's very hot inside the club. After we got in, we started to drink. I was so thirsty, so I drank beer like water. I was a little buzzed and a little high, but at the same time, some thoughts came across my mind, I felt a little sad and depressed. So I drank more and kept dancing and dancing, moving every part of my body. They bought me some gello shots, I drank and danced more. I thought I could feel better if I kept doing this, but the emptiness in my heart cannot be filled by drinking and dancing... J helped me walking back to our hotel room, my blue kiss on the cheek was gone, it ended up on BBY's shirt. I didn't even get a chance to take a clear picture of it. :(

Las Vegas


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Vegas & New Mexico trip

I just came back from a trip to Las Vegas and New Mexico. It's exciting in Vegas, but relaxing in New Mexico. I took many pictures when I was in New Mexico. And I have been carefully selecting and editing pictures the whole night. Hopefully I'll have some free time this week so that I can start to write my travel journal before I forgot all the interesting things happened during the trip.

The serious photographer


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Li Jiang(丽江) -- Lashi Sea (拉市海)

Lashi sea is actually just a lake. Since Lijiang is in inland china, locals don't have many chances to see what sea looks like. So for somewhat big lake, they call it "sea". It was at sunset time when I went to Lashi sea -- fishman fishing on the lake, birds flying across the sky, everything was wearing a warm golden color under the sunset, I felt like I was in heaven.

拉市海实际只是一个湖，因为丽江在中国内陆高原，当地人没有怎么见过海，因此稍微较大一点的湖，他们就称为海。我去拉市海的时候正值太阳下山的时候，有渔人在湖上捕鱼，天上有飞鸟掠过，真是此景只应天上有啊！

Fishing under sunset


Every winter, a lot of birds fly to Lashi Sea to spend the winter. I went there in the beginning of November, I didn't see many birds. I was told that the best time to watch bird is from December to January. You can see thousands of birds, and all kinds of precious species.

每年冬天，成群的候鸟们会到拉市海来过冬。我去的时候是11月初，只看到很少几群鸟，大都是野鸭和大雁。船夫告诉我说，看鸟的季节最好是12月到一月，到时候能看到成千上万以及各种珍奇的鸟儿。

Lashi Sea


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Li Jiang(丽江) -- Yulong mountain (玉龙雪山)

Yulong (jade dragon) mountain has snow all year around. More than ten peaks covered in snow connect together, like a jade dragon.

Yulong (jade dragon) mountain

玉龙雪山终年积雪，十多座山峰白雪连绵，像一条雪白的长龙，故称作为玉龙雪山。丽江城内，到处可见溪水从脚下流过，其实都是玉龙山上流下的雪水。雪水非常的冰凉清澈，当地的酒吧有用篮子装着啤酒吊在溪水里作冰镇啤酒。

Cold Beer

Locals put beer in a basket, and put the basket in the creek. The water in the creek is from the melted snow from Yulong mountain.

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Li Jiang (丽江) -- ancient Naxi music

If you go to Lijiang, don’t forget to listen to the ancient Lijiang music. It’s a local classical music, filled with lyrics from the Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties. It's very unique. The first time I listened to Naxi music, it reminded me of the 7 fairies singing in the animated movie “Monkey King” when I was a little kid. Specifically, I went to the Xuan Ke’s Naxi musical concert. Xuan Ke is a very egotistical person. Instead of a normal concert, his is more like a half talk show and half concert. Xuan Ke has mastered both the Naxi language and Mandarin; he is also very fluent in English. Listening to his introduction of the Naxi music is more like listening to an introduction about himself. His speech is much more open than the normal Chinese’s -- maybe because he was in jail for over 20 years and he is so famous now. He got his band world recognition. The band was initially composed only of men over 60 years old. The band performs around the world. Since the average age in the band is high, every time before going abroad, all the members need to sign a release liability with the band leader – Xuan Ke. They can only go if they can prove to be healthy enough. But still, some old men pass away every year. Nowadays, you can see younger faces in the band, they come to learn and to make sure that Naxi music continues into the next generation.

Ancient Naxi music performers

到丽江，不可不听纳西古乐。纳西古乐是广泛流传于纳西族民间的古典音乐，配有，唐，宋，元朝的词，十分独特。我听纳西古乐的第一感觉就是又回到小时候，看“大闹天宫” 中七仙女飞往蟠桃园时，边飞边唱的情形。我在丽江专门去听了宣科的纳西古乐。宣科是一个非常自我的人。他主持的纳西古乐已经不完全是音乐会的形式了，而是一半脱口秀，一半音乐会。宣科精通纳西语和普通话，英文也很流利。说他介绍纳西音乐，我觉得他更像是在推销自己。也许是因为他作过20多年的牢，受过很多苦，加上现在名声又很大，因此他说话较一般中国人要放肆很多。不过也是多亏了宣科，才使纳西古乐在世界有了名气。乐队在刚成立时由60岁以上的老先生们组成，在宣科的带领下，乐队不仅在丽江本土演奏，还经常出国演出。由于成员年纪较大，在出国演出前，每人都会和队长宣科签生死书，只有确认身体可以承受旅程的人才可出国演奏。尽管是这样，每年还是会有老先生去世。因此，现在的乐队有新人出现，老先生们边演出边带徒弟，也使纳西古乐不至于后继无人。

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Li Jiang (丽江) -- people & culture

农家乐

I arrived in Lijiang right after the corn harvest. Before the arrival of the tourism business here, the locals made a living by farming. In this picture, the local people dried corn and hung them with red lanterns under the eaves. Red and yellow in front of a blue sky -- they are very nice colors in the daylight!


Naxi is a minority tribe in China, mainly located in the Lijiang area. The Naxi people have their own language and they have a different writing system using the Dongba characters. It is a kind of pictograph and it is in the list of World's Relics by the World Cultural Heritage Commission of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). Dongba, in the Naxi language, means intellectual people. They have a very high social status in the Naxi tribe. The position of Dongba is inherited from the previous generations and only prosperous males can inherit it. Currently, there are less than 20 Dongbas left and they are the only people who can still read and write Dongba characters. Nowadays, the Naxi people are deeply influenced by the greater Chinese culture. In fact, many Naxi kids can only speak Mandarin and the Naxi language is quickly disappearing. It's interesting that the Naxi language doesn’t sound like Chinese at all, it sounds more like Japanese. I learned a few words there, but unfortunately, I don’t remember much now except for one dirty word, which sounds quite like “Thank You” in Japanese. It’s funny that no matter if you are a girl or a boy, you can always learn dirty words faster.

In the Naxi language, a young lady is called “Fat Sister Gold”. This is because Lijiang is on a plateau where the air is thin and the women use lots of energy to do their labor in the fields, so they tend to be very slim. Young Naxi girls consider plumpness as beauty, so they feel happy if people tell them that they are fat. When I first arrived in Lijiang, I knew nothing about the Naxi culture, so I always called the local waitress “Miss, Miss”. Later, I was told not to call the young lady by that name -- it has a bad meaning there. But I often got laughed at when I call them “Fat Sister Gold”, probably because I didn’t get the accent right. Interestingly enough, I found out that I got much better service when I called them “Fat Sister Gold” instead of “Miss”.

The center area in old town is called Square Street where people get together and socialize. On weekends or holiday nights, people will light a fire in the middle of the square and dance around it. The fire party also serves another purpose: it allows young people to meet each other. The Naxi women’s traditional clothing is pretty, but practical. It has a very romantic name – “Pi Xing Dai Yue”, which means wearing stars and moon. Their outfit includes a thick scarf and a hat. There are some patterns on the scarf that looks like the feather of the peacock, which symbolizes the stars. The hat symbolizes the Moon. Even the name of their clothing has a practical meaning. Since Naxi is a traditional Chinese tribe, before liberation, the women had to do all the labor while men studied painting, music or hunting. The women had to go to the field and farm before sunrise and then return home after sunset. They needed to lower their head and watch the ground while working in the field, so they were not able to see the sun during the day. All they could see were the stars and moon on the way to and from work. Also, the temperature changes dramatically from morning to night, so the scarves kept them warm and protected their backs when carrying heavy baskets. I’d say that the liberation movement did a very good job of freeing Naxi women from heavy labor.

Dancing -- Naxi women dancing on Square Street


丽江是少数民族地区，主要的民族是纳西族。纳西族有着自己传统的文字--东巴文，也是遗留下来为数不多的象形文字之一，被列为世界保留遗产。东巴在纳西语中得意思是知识分子，由于他们知书答理，在纳西族的地位很高。东巴是世袭相传的，而且传男不传女，目前整个纳西族只有不到20个东巴了，而他们也是唯一现有还会写东巴文的人。现今的纳西人汉化十分厉害，很多纳西小孩已经只会说普通话，纳西族语也逐渐在遗失。说起纳西语，有趣的是它听上去一点儿也不像中文，倒是十分像日文。我倒是兴冲冲学了几句，可惜都不记得了，唯一还有印象的是一句骂人话，讲起来很像日语中的谢谢。想来可笑，不分男女，脏话总是给人更深印象。纳西人管年轻女子称作“胖金妹” ，谐音为“潘金妹” ，这可和“潘金莲” 毫无关系。因为丽江地处高原，氧气不够充分，日常劳作相对耗体力大许多，所以女孩子的体型都偏瘦，而旧时纳西女子以胖为美，所以喜欢别人叫她们胖，这也是“胖金妹” 的由来。刚到丽江时，不知道他们的习俗，去饭馆还是“小姐，小姐” 的乱叫。后来被在当地雇的纳西族司机骂，不可以随便叫纳西姑娘“小姐” 。好在旅游景点汉化厉害，叫了也没有什么大害。倒是在叫“胖金妹” 时常发觉被偷笑，估计是口音不正的关系，不过得到的服务态度都较叫“小姐”时要亲切许多。

古城的中心地段叫四方街，是古时群众聚会的场所。逢周末或节假日的晚上有沟火晚会，是当地男女青年社交的地方。纳西妇女的传统服装漂亮又实用，而且有一个很特别的名字--“披星戴月” 。星指的是她们的披肩，上面袖着类似孔雀羽翎的图案，象征着星；而月则指她们头上带着的帽子。除了服装的样式，“披星戴月” 还有另一层含义。纳西是一个十分传统的民族，因此妇女们需要干很繁重的农活，而男子则以琴棋书画以及养鹰打猎为乐。妇女们每日天不亮就要下地干活，只到天黑回家，这也是披星戴月” 的另一层含义了。因为丽江早晚温差很大，披肩起到保暖的作用，而妇女们在干农活是，会将背篓背在身后，披肩也起了保护作用。虽然很是佩服纳西妇女的吃苦耐劳，但想想还是觉得新社会好啊，男女半边天。

A Naxi (纳西 -- pronounced "nah chi") old lady selling her hand-made belts and socks.


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Li Jiang (丽江) -- old town

Today, Lijiang is divided into two parts: the old town and the new town. The old town has well preserved buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Because of the blooming tourism business, most locals live in the new town and rent their old-town houses to outsider businesses. Along the major streets in the old town, most houses have been reconstructed as shops. These sell special local products such as wood-carvings, crafts with the Dongba character, tea leaves and so on. Some of these building are remodeled into restaurants or bars, which mainly serves tourists since their prices are too high for a local's income. The night view in old town is terrific, red lanterns hang under the eaves along both sides of the main streets, making the buildings look elegant and mysterious. There are also many unique taverns inside the old town; when compared to the star hotel outside the old town, their prices are much cheaper, about RMB 20-over 100 Yuan per night per person. Because I booked my air ticket and hotel together online, I stayed in a hotel outside the old town. It was such a pity that I didn’t get to enjoy the uniqueness of the taverns. However, I was still able to visit a couple of the taverns -- both were remodeled from houses where the locals lived before. The room is very simple, just 2 single beds and public bathroom. Some taverns have a side businesses such as a restaurant or a bar. At night, all the tavern guests patronize the tavern's bar. They drink and chat about each other’s travel experience -- a very happy scene indeed.



丽江现分为古城和新城，古城的建筑还很好保存了明请时的风格。只是因为旅游业的发达，很多原住民都将自己在古城的房子租给了外来作生意的商人，而他们自己则搬去新城住新房了。古城的主要街道两旁的房子已很少是住户，如今都已改为商铺，销售当地的特产，诸如木雕，印有东巴文的手工艺品，茶叶等等。还有部分房子改为饭店或酒吧，因为消费水平不菲，主要对象还是游客。古城的夜景十分漂亮，沿街的屋檐下都挂满了红灯笼，初到古城时真给我有“大红灯笼高高挂” 的感觉。古城内还有许多各具特色的小旅店，价格也相对较古城外的星级便宜许多，大约在每人每天20-100元多不等。因为我是机票加旅店一起在网上订的，所以住在了古城外的HOTEL，没有能感受到古城小客栈的味道，甚为遗憾。不过我还是抽空特地去看了两家小客栈，都是由当地人将家里庭院改建的。设施相对较为简单，基本上是一件房间两张床而已，有些向我小时随父母住过的招待所。厕所是公用的，不过到也干净。有的客栈还自带饭店或酒吧，晚上客栈的游客聚在一起，谈天说地吹牛皮，也别有一番情趣。

Overview of the old town


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Li Jiang (丽江)

I took a short trip to Lijiang at the end of October, 2004. Before I went there, I only have a vague idea about what the place is -- a small old town located in Yunnan (云南), with many ancient building well preserved from Ming or Qing Dynasty.

Thanks for the trip, I learned a lot about the small town. Their people, culture and music fascinate me. My 4 day trip seems so short, I will have to go back there again!

2004年10月底，乘着假期回国探亲，我也顺便去了一次丽江。去之前我并没有作很多准备工作，丽江对我来说也就是云南的一个小城，有很多保存完善的古建筑。多亏了这次旅行，使我对丽江的历史，文化，音乐以及丽江的百姓有了一定的了解。我四天的旅程显得那么的短，若有机会，我一定会再回丽江。

Lijiang located in Yunnan province, southwest of China. It was a small, very well reserved, peaceful town. The only transportation utility before 1996 was bus. And it took days for people to get to Kunming (the capital of Yunan province).

In 1996, a 7.0 Earthquake stroke Lijiang, hundreds of people died and thousands of people injured. IRC came to Lijiang for rescue, that’s how this ancient town got revealed to the world.

丽江位于中国西南的云南省，曾是一个十分安静，保守的小镇，交通十分不便，唯一可以用的公共交通工具是汽车，但因为是山路，光从丽江到昆明就需要花上几天到一个礼拜的时间。1996年初，一场7级大地震袭击了丽江，数百人丧身，数千人受伤。国际救援组织赶来营救，这也使丽江显现于世界的面前。今天的丽江旅游业发达，人民的主要收入来自旅游 -- 餐饮，旅店，出租。现在可以称作飞机出入丽江，而且有直飞香港的班机，据说火车也马上就要通了。真是塞翁失马，焉之非福啊！

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