A strangler's invitation

Bedside warning, conference resort outside of Kunming, Yunnan ©IBM

"Please don't accept strangler's invitation, so as not to be cheated". 

Cheated out of what, your strangulation?

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Stone Forest (Shilin), Yunnan ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Tired and cold

Soaking up the heat from  a pan of burning coals, Prague Café, Lijiang, Yunnan ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

The other day I was so tired and so cold that I sat on a stool under a hot shower and ate my breakfast of cornflakes, taking care not to dilute the cereal with water, only milk. I munched away with the bowl held slightly away from me, slowly crunching, crunching, staving off the sogginess by chewing purposefully and methodically. Steaming hot water pounded my head and eased the tension in my muscles and I floated dreamily away. I could have stayed there forever but when there was nothing left to eat I had to reconcile myself with returning to the cold world outside...Today started with a promise of warmth and sunshine. Here on the 13th floor the morning rays reached far into the apartment, only to be slowly pulled back into the shadows, little by little, inexorably greying my world and yet again laying that heavy blanket of depression with its many clever tricks and sneaky moves on my sanity. Please winter, go away.

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Lijiang, Yunnan 2005 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Completely exhausted for the moment, a little behind with blogging, but will start posting about Lijiang and Yunnan tomorrow!

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Eastern end of Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiaoxia), Yunnan. The gorge has ended here, at the point where it curves north and skirts the Daju Plain. In the far distance there is a ferry crossing which will take you over a relatively safe section of the Yangtse River, where you can then climb up to the escarpment and continue on to Daju and Lijiang or other destinations. 

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The Haba Mountain Range and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Range, Yunnan, China, seen from pass leading into Zhongdian - Shangri-La. In between these two mountains runs the mighty Yangtse River, creating Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the most incredible trekking areas of China.  ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

Presidents, Princes, Divas and Murderers

When I was a teenager my family moved to Florida. The first week in our new hometown a young black man was taken into the swamps by the local Ku Klux Clan, chained to a tree and beaten to death. This was 1976. Today Barack Obama was elected President of the United States of America. It made me cry. For the past eight years I have been so ashamed to call myself an American that I have cowardly hidden behind my Swedish passport. Today I feel extremely proud to be an American  and proud of the American people that voted for Obama. We are no longer the people of 1976. Let us hope that Mr Obama will keep us proud both of him and ourselves.

©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

The past few weeks have seen various personages pass through Chengdu. Yesterday Prince Andrew, Duke of York, turned up at The Bookworm. He was either very tired (or slightly tipsy from a working lunch) because he fell asleep in front of our very eyes. Luckily this didn't last for more than a few seconds and he went on to lend his support and suggestions to the ex-pat efforts in the local earthquake relief work. 

We opened our front door the other day to discover Yang Erche Namu on our doorstep. She was inspecting the vacant apartment across from ours, possibly thinking of renting it. (Our Korean missionary neighbors have shifted abode). Namu is well-known in Sweden and other European countries as the author (together with Christine Mathieu) of Leaving Mother Lake (Döttrarnas Rike, Bra Böcker Bokförlag), an account of her childhood on the shores of Lugu Lake on the border of Yunnan and Sichuan Province. She belongs to the Mosuo minority and at a young age left her small village to become a mega singing star in China. Her life was featured in National Geographic Magazine and she has since both written books, been a model and starred in movies. Let's hope she's not too hot to handle if she becomes our neighbor. Are Mosuos in the habit of borrowing sugar?

Temple door, Kongpo, Tibet ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn

On the darker side of things an upsetting thing happened the other day on our street. On my way in a taxi to pick up my children I suddenly saw two Tibetans stabbing each other with long knives. The taxi driver jammed on his brakes and for a few horrifying seconds we say them lunge fiercely at each other in a grim dance of death, both wanting to get the best of the other. The driver quickly decided the best thing to do was to flee the scene and we sped off in a hurry, both of us shaken by what we had seen. "Did you see that?" I asked him. "I saw it." he answered. I wish I hadn't.

Photos for sale at CIWC Christmas Bazaar

Ballet class, Shanghai

Corn harvest, Lijiang, Yunnan

Moon Gate, West Slender Lake, Yanghzou, Jiangsu

Red Corridor, Wuhou Temple, Chengdu

Black Dragon Pool, Lijiang, Yunnan

Thailand

Lotus Pond

Tagong, West Sichuan

Women's Feast, Dali, Yunnan

Bamboo, Wuhou Temple, Chengdu

Autumn, Jiuzhaigou, Sichuan

Three Pagodas, Dali, Yunnan

Cormorant fishermen, Li River, Guangxi

Chopsticks

10,000 Buddha Peak, Emei Mountain, Sichuan

Tashilhunpo Monastery, Tibet

Lijiang, Yunnan Province

Lotus seed pod

Tibetan nun, Lhasa

Tibetan monk, Sumtsenling Monastery, Zhongdian

All of the pictures you see here are going to be on sale as prints at the 3rd Annual CIWC Christmas Bazaar at QSI International School (Meizhou Huayuan) on December 6, 2008. All proceeds from the sales of these images will go to two charities that work with earthquake relief projects in the Sichuan area that was devastated by the May 12th, 2008 earthquake : Ecologia and Sichuan Quake Relief. 

Ecologia needs 70,000 RMB to help a village rebuild homes and help families begin a cottage industry where they can earn a living. The remaining money earned will go to Sichuan Quake Relief – working on many projects in the quake area to help relieve the suffering of those living in the area.

More about the charities:
Ecologia http://www.ecologia.org/ 

Sichuan Quake Relief http://sichuan-quake-relief.org/ 

Each print will come mounted with a matt (passpartout) and cost 250 rmb. There will be 20 prints on sale.  If there is a special picture that you like please make a comment here below or send me an email: ingridmorejohn@gmail.com. Additional prints can be ordered and delivered before Christmas. The goal this year for the entire bazaar is to raise 100,000 RMB for charity. Please come and help make this possible!

NOTE! ALL IMAGES ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn