China, the Zhujiajiao Post

[przed]

Well, here I am, at the last China post. On our last day in China, we visited Zhujiajiao, one of the canal cities found outside of Shanghai. The weather had cleared up, and we had a glorious sunny day in the town.

Here are all three of us on the bridge that takes you into the main, touristy part of the town. It's very touristy, lots of restaurants and stalls selling souvenirs, but a very cool place anyway. I got a nifty sandalwood carving of bats for our entryway. (Bat is a homophone for prosperity in Chinese, so bats frequently show up in Chinese art.)


One of the smaller canals in the inner part of the city. You can see cherry blossoms on the left, and the small boats that you could take small tours on.


Another view of a canal from one of the many bridges.


The Sweetie and Ros in front of a magnolia tree in the Kezhi Garden, a sprawling garden that wasn't as impressively designed as the Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai, but was lovely nonetheless.


A water feature in the garden.


Ros in front of a water buffalo sculpture. We saw plenty of water buffalo on the trip, but generally from a distance.


Ros and the Sweetie engage in ritual arm wrestling combat again.


We took a short tour on one of small boats. This was the view from the canal.


Another shot from the canal.


Me and Ros on yet another bridge. You can see the panda purse she got in Chengdu that she then proceeded to take everywhere.


From Zhujiajiao, we drove straight to the airport and then it was home to Toronto.

Comments

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

I'm going to miss these posts! What a beautiful place to end your travels. Thanks for letting us enjoy this trip with you!

I can't help but mention this: how amazing is Mark's artwork and the fact that there will definitely be new music very soon?!!! I'm already freaking out a bit :p

[przed.livejournal.com]

It was a great final day to the trip. So glad you could enjoy it with me!

Mark's artwork *is* amazing, isn't it? Very, very him. And I'm freaking out a bit about the new music too! Friday! Can't wait! (I need to do a Markie post this week, clearly.)

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

It truly is! Definitely very him, so quirky and clever! In my initial excitement I didn't even realise he was literally staring at "nothing". To come up with that. *g* Music and Markie in his spacesuit! We're allowed to freak out a bit I think :p A Markie post, yes please! ;)

[przed.livejournal.com]

Very clever. And I love the pic of him taking the bow. You just know that's him, even without seeing his face.

Right, shall get to work on a Markie post. And also, Yay for scruffy!Mark icon! I need one of those. (I adore scruffy!Mark!)

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

Love it too, reminds me of his entrance pose at the beginning of Hold Up A Light (Circus Live). No doubt it's him ;)

Looking forward to that post. Scruffy!Mark is gorgeous! (Well, every kind of Mark is, but the scruffy kind in particular ;))

[przed.livejournal.com]

It totally reminded me of the Hold Up a Light entrance too! (I keep seeing the sparkly catsuit in my mind. Never a bad thing. *g*)

I'm chuffed you share my taste for scruffy!Mark. \o/

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

I was afraid that was my own imagination going wild again, so I'm relieved it reminded you of the same thing ;). And thanks for filling my mind with lovely sparkly cat suit for the day. *g*

I see you've watched the teaser-vid! I still have to get used to the fact we're actually getting new stuff!! And it looks (and sounds!) beyond promising! (As long as he goes easy on the hats and doesn't hide his perfect hair all the time :p)

[przed.livejournal.com]

I have watched the teaser vid! We're really getting new material! It's fabulous! (I was spoiled when I first got into TT because I had twenty years of material to catch up on. Now it's a matter of waiting for the new stuff.)

I'm fond of Mark's hats, but yeah, he needs to reveal that perfect hair as well!

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

And again something new (on twitter)! He looks like a sad astronaut in that pic though. The anticipation is driving me slightly insane, I'm glad it's almost Friday, aaah! (Same here, I spent months constantly watching everything I could find before I felt like I had somewhat caught up on those twenty years. What a beautiful time of abundance that was ;))

Ah well, with hat is amazing too. He's spoiled for options!

Btw, I totally love Howard's jealous tweet about Mark's account and then to pretend like he doesn't care (he obviously does care, poor Dougie :p). And for Mark (if it's him personally) to pick just that tweet to reply to. *g* I'd really like some more friendly bickering on there ;)

[przed.livejournal.com]

Awww, he does look like a sad astronaut. Poor lad. (Can. Not. Wait. For. Friday!!)

It's nice to know I wasn't the only one playing catch up on their stuff. There's definitely an abundance of it, and I'm sure there are still things left to take in. (I would kill for the '90s concerts on DVD!)

Oh, poor Howard. It would be nice to see a bit of Mark and How back and forth on twitter. (I'm betting it's mostly Mark's PR people for now, which is probably not a bad thing. I can see him being eaten alive on Twitter. Howard can totally hold his own.)

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

It's a bit frustrating knowing there must still be tons of hidden material. Would be fantastic if they'd release their '90s concerts on DVD! And a DVD with every single interview they ever did. And.. Yeah ;)

In Mark's case I prefer PR people because of all the extremely embarrassing/upsetting things some people tweet. Exactly, Gary and Howard won't let that get to them and maybe Mark wouldn't either, but I want him spared from all that lunacy. Haha and if he would start replying with 'hi' and 'thank you', that's all he'd do for the rest of his life. Not to mention he's not the man for a 140-character limitation ;)

[przed.livejournal.com]

There's that moment in the FTR extras where Robbie says he's been watching a bunch of backstage footage they've sent him, and it always makes me wonder what I'd have to do to get my hands on that footage. But yeah, I'd settle for the '90s concerts.

And yeah, best that Mark's protected from the worst of the internet insanity. Howard has no compunction about telling the crazy people to fuck off. Mark would never do it. And he'd be spending all his time sending out hellos and birthday tweets. Better he saves his energy for the actual music. And, fingers crossed, maybe a tour!

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

Rob's mention of backstage footage always makes me incredibly greedy too! The material's there, just make the fans happy ;) (I'd especially love to see their home video's, but I fear they'll keep them safely locked up forever.)

Howard can totally get away with it too. *g* Haha, God yeah, I forgot about the birthdays! Music, that's better, yes! The rumours about the album coming out in (early) June are getting stronger and I'm keeping everything crossed there'll be a tour announcement around then!! (Still holding off on booking my (now US) trip. I just don't want to risk missing out on that possible tour!). So many exclamation marks today.. :p

[przed.livejournal.com]

Their home movies would no doubt be too much to ask for, but very very cool. ::sigh::

Here's hoping for a tour announcement in June. One that doesn't conflict with our camping weekend, or the weekend I've booked to go to Stratford for theatre with friends would be nice. Or your trip either! (It's an exclamation point kind of day! Friday, however, is going to call for ALL CAPS! *g*)

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

TIME FOR ALL CAPS!!! THERE WILL BE A TOUR!!! (Even though it's small and short notice and I'm already dreading the ticket mania.) Can imagine it will be very difficult and expensive for you on such short notice though... Really hope you still get to go! And all that new stuff on his website and a definite release date and it's almost Stars time. This is a bit much ;). But anyway, THERE WILL BE A TOUR!!!!

[przed.livejournal.com]

Just saw the dates. AIIIEEEEEE!!!

Already trying to figure out when I can manage to get over. Assuming I can even get tickets. I'm hyperventilating over that a bit. (And really wishing there were some Friday or Saturday dates. It's going to make it difficult to go over and not use up all of my few remaining vacation days.)

Are you going? And if so, when are you thinking?

[rangerke.livejournal.com]

Yeah the dates are definitely a bit difficult, a Saturday would've made things a lot easier. Don't you get extra, special Mark Owen vacation days? They should give them to you! ;) The tickets.. Ai.. I'm with you on the hyperventilating unfortunately..

If I manage to get tickets, I'll definitely go! Looking at the dates, I should be able to get to Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow or Manchester.