Vikingsberg Park, Helsingborg, Sweden ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Monday, August 10, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Cornflowers
Chengdu April 24, 2009 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Today's flower purchase, five bunches of cornflowers for 20 yuan (22 SEK) from a farmer lady walking the streets with a basket backpack. The color combination is incredibly beautiful with different shades of blue, pink, purple and vermillion. They are just too beautiful!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Flower delivery and Chengdu of the past
1980s Chengdu, mobile bicycle florist ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Flower delivery by motorcycle and on foot. April 14, 2009 Wuhou Dajie ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
When I first visited Chengdu in 1985 I was impressed by the amount of flowers being sold in the city. At that time Qingshiqiao Flower market was a wonderful, crazy mix of old wattle and daub houses, lively street life and vibrant flowers. More unique though was that in Chengdu flowers were sold from the backs of bicycles, the flowers gathered in bouquets and stuck into bamboo "vases". Intrepid salespeople bicycled all over the city on their "Flying Pigeons" and "Forever" brand bikes in search of customers, calling out their products just loud enough as a free-market economy like this was still in its nascent years in China and people were a bit leery of anything so unorganized and freewheeling as this. The colour that these flowers brought into everyday life had a great impact on my psyche, as China at this time was one of the drabbest, greyest, most visually depressing countries I had ever been in. I hadn't yet made it down to Yunnan Province (or other minority dense areas) where colour was a given everyday of the year.
Red mums and purple flowers (eterneller in Swedish, "everlasting") that you could later dry were one of the most common flowers sold at this time and I always regretted that my dormitory bed and room at the infamous Black Coffee Hotel on Binjiang Lu (dungeon is a more appropriate word as it was actually a converted bomb shelter, it was located just about where the five star Sofitel is now) didn't lend itself to floral decoration. Anyway, plastic flowers were more the Black Coffee's style. No matter that I never for one day ever experienced a clear blue sky in Chengdu I immediately fell in love with the city and returned over and over again in the following years. There was just something unique about Chengdu and the Sichuanese.
During my 1980s seven month backpack around the country I only found flowers commonly being sold in Yunnan province and in Guangzhou near Hong Kong. China was still too conservative about bourgeois self-indulgent things like colourful flowers for the rest of the nation to dare have them in their homes, potted or cut. It was of course also a question of money, the country was still extremely poor and few could afford extravagant luxuries - ration coupons for food staples were actively in use and 1,2 and 5 fen notes were still considered important (they were phased out eventually in 2006 the first year we moved permanently to China).
Little by little, China, the Chinese economy and the Chinese consciousness opened wider and wider and today few foreigners (or for that matter young Chinese) anywhere in China can imagine a day without a riot of flowers and colour. Florists in Chengdu are now chockablock and wonderful flower markets like Sanshenghuaxiang can be found all over the country, selling the most incredible flowers for - in our foreign minds - ridiculously low prices. Qinshiqiao, like almost all other street markets that undergo renovation/reconstruction (I call it "market economy reschooling") by the government has unfortunately lost most of its former charm. Almost everyday I remind myself that China in a thousand ways has become a much more pleasant country to live and work in - especially for the Chinese themselves, who had to live through every depressing, constricting blue-grey second of the past and who today surely find it a better place to be.
Thankfully, bicycle sellers still exist in Chengdu, cycling around town with their lovely flowers fresh in from the countryside. Soon enough though I will have to let go of this colourful feature of everyday life and let it fade into the past, as today it is only the poorest of the poor who do these jobs and I would prefer that they too could take a step into the bright, colourful world of a better economy and everyday life.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
# 47 Today's picture 090317
San Sheng Hua Xiang, Chengdu, Sichuan 090318 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
You see the most unexpected things in China...
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Spring flowers, kites and heavenly trees
Friday afternoon the light was lovely and we spent a little time in the park that runs along Shenxianshu Nanlu, opposite Qinghua Fang. The magnolias inside Qinghua Fang were perfection this day and in the park peach blossoms of many different colors and hues were a welcome sight beside the row of weeping willows that line the canal skirting the park.
The name of this important thoroughfare that runs through a section of Chengdu has special significance. Shenxianshu means something like "Tree of the Heavenly Beings" (nanlu just means "South Road") and such a tree was thought to exist in the world of superstition and old tradition. The tree was a kind of "money tree" (qianshu) that have been found in Chinese graves for a few thousand years, but it had less to do with riches than acting as a pathfinder or bearer of the spirit or soul back to the Land of the Dead. I don't know why this particular road has this quite profound name, perhaps there was once a temple or graveyard located here?
The park itself is a favorite with kite flyers so we bought a simple one for 8 yuan and gave it a go. Most of the time we spent cursing each other and yelling instructions. We only succeeded in getting the kite in the air as long as we were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The pros were of course the older gentlemen with fancy reels of robust string and decades of know-how. We did however succeed with one thing - not getting our kite stuck in a big, old tree that dominates the main square. This tree is a veritable graveyard for dead kites and perhaps in its own way a shenxianshu, carrying our happy memories of good times spent here back to the heavens above where our kites should be but never succeeded in reaching.
The park itself is a favorite with kite flyers so we bought a simple one for 8 yuan and gave it a go. Most of the time we spent cursing each other and yelling instructions. We only succeeded in getting the kite in the air as long as we were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. The pros were of course the older gentlemen with fancy reels of robust string and decades of know-how. We did however succeed with one thing - not getting our kite stuck in a big, old tree that dominates the main square. This tree is a veritable graveyard for dead kites and perhaps in its own way a shenxianshu, carrying our happy memories of good times spent here back to the heavens above where our kites should be but never succeeded in reaching.
©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
What to do on a rainy day
Lotus pods 090221 ©IBM
All was not lost when we visited the Art Museum on Saturday. On the ground floor is a cheap and quite large (albeit very musty-dusty) selection of artist materials in a lobby shop, so we bought some watercolor paper etc and spent the rest of the day painting to loud music. Lot's of fun and a great way to spend a rainy day.
To the right of the entrance to the Art Museum is another much better, not at all decrepit, art material shop that was buzzing with activity and bohemian looking artist types with long beards and berets. This is a great place to shop for equipment and supplies, very affordable. Let those creative juices flow!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Western Sichuan 3 Danba: Travel routes and general info
All photos July 2007 ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn
Click on images to enlarge!
This is a continuation of several postings about Western Sichuan and the Danba area.
Travel routes to get to Danba:
We took the Chengdu - Dujiangyan - Wolong - Siguniangshan - Xiaojin - Danba route, about 390 km, one day of hard travel. Public transportation from Chengdu Chadianzi Bus Station or hired vehicle.
Danba can also be reached the "other way around" via Kangding, ca 520 km, takes two days with recommended overnight in Kangding to adjust to altitude. Public buses leave from Xinnanmen Bus Station or from in front of Kangding Hotel on Wuhou Hengjie everyday. You will have to change buses in Kangding: Chengdu - Ya'an - Kangding - Xinduqiao - Tagong - Bamei - Danba
My suggestion is to make a loop from Chengdu via Wolong to Danba through Hongshi/Bamei and Balangshan to Tagong and then down through Kangding, visiting villages and staying at homestays or hostels along the way and never needing to backtrack.
We took the Chengdu - Dujiangyan - Wolong - Siguniangshan - Xiaojin - Danba route, about 390 km, one day of hard travel. Public transportation from Chengdu Chadianzi Bus Station or hired vehicle.
Danba can also be reached the "other way around" via Kangding, ca 520 km, takes two days with recommended overnight in Kangding to adjust to altitude. Public buses leave from Xinnanmen Bus Station or from in front of Kangding Hotel on Wuhou Hengjie everyday. You will have to change buses in Kangding: Chengdu - Ya'an - Kangding - Xinduqiao - Tagong - Bamei - Danba
My suggestion is to make a loop from Chengdu via Wolong to Danba through Hongshi/Bamei and Balangshan to Tagong and then down through Kangding, visiting villages and staying at homestays or hostels along the way and never needing to backtrack.
Accomodation:
Very easy to get in numerous homestays or with Tibetan or Qiang families in the more remote villages. Towns like Danba, Kangding, Tagong have numerous hotels, small guesthouses and hostels, varying in quality and price. The entire Danba - Kangding - Tagong area is very affordable. If you'd like to stay at Baosheng's Homestay in Jiaju contact him at this number (Chinese/Gyarong Tibetan speakers only): +86-13684498350.
Climate and time of year to travel:
When the sun shines the whole world smiles! Don't expect the sun to shine every day but the Danba area exists in a kind of subtropical microclimate, blessed with huge amounts of sunlight all year round, thus making it a place you can visit any time of the year. What must be taken into account though is the weather and road conditions getting to and from Danba. It is important that you check this out before leaving and understand that you will be climbing over passes 4500 meters in height, with very changeable weather conditions. Otherwise one of the most wonderful things about Danba is that you are in a totally Tibetan world but without the problems of high altitude. Danba itself is only around 1700 meters and is an excellent place to acclaimatize for higher destinations.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Monday, November 3, 2008
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
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.
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/
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
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