... and stepping in sewage. These may look like honest feet on a bed of coarse sand, but don't let looks fool ya. The right one is perfectly clean. I would eat my dinner off of it. The left....it found its way into a putrid pool of raw sewage that was dripping from a pipe on shore. Dont let that paint a picture of a sewage-filled vista, this was an anomaly. And my left foot found it.
Men taking their firewood from the beach to their homes. See picture below of the beach scape with the typhoon deposited firewood.
It was the full moon of the Chinese calendar month, and that meant that it was time to burn shit. Manufactured paper, to be specific. The idea is to burn away the ghosts and to keep bad omens away by burning this paper. You can buy it at the temples and (see below pictures of fires) and turn them into massive fires in the middle of the street. The police will even block traffic so you can burn away your fearsome ghosts.
Looking upward at a Daoist Temple.
Beach Awareness 100.
Hot Pot dinner; usually a vegetarian serving will be 80% tofu, 10% mushrooms and 10% veggies when you go to a Hot Pot Restaurant with a set menu. When you find yourself a buffet Hot Pot, you can go crazy with the good stuff.
Crystal, on the beach.
Trevor walking along the massive deposit of driftwood from the latest typhoon. This is the bounty that then becomes firewood for myriad homes in the area. Men will come to the beach with a truck, scooter, wheelbarrow - anything - and a chainsaw, hand saw, axe - anything - to collect the good stuff for free.
Although we didn't order pizza, it still is a neat picture.
Night market in the city centre.
ABOVE and BELOW: Fires burning to keep away nasty spirits. Im not too sure they work, as they are just burning yellow paper, and spirits are mythical creatures. So, then, perhaps they do work. They make sure fake things dont hurt them. Sounds religious.
Some people even have little home versions and will periodically (to us, i am sure to them it is a rigorous schedule that they keep to ward off whatever haunts them).
Rice. With a view. This is across the road form our house in Song-Pu....this trip turned out to be more of a shopping odyssey than a mountain hiking/beach combing one. We realized that we were short on some very primal necessities and, living in a place where even the most basic necessities are a long trek away, we decided to load up. Foodstuffs, a few clothes, soap, etc. We spent a whole day trekking around the city and a good portion walking along the deserted beach, but then retired to the city to "get to work". We actually found "Canadian Pure Maple Syrup". Who would have thought.
