We Interupt our China post for - A Little Korea!!

Darryl and I had a little problem with our visas so we had to take a little side trip to KOREA!!!!

It has almost been like a dream. I see beautiful people everywhere I turn, all looking like they just stepped out of a K-Drama! 

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the fun Darryl and I are having! 

We tried out the street food!

Found old City Gates..

New City Shopping Malls......

Food Markets...

Seen some lovely gardens..

And Real life Flower Boys...

and a reenactment of a traditional marriage ceremony

We've had our food cooked on our table...

"I swear this guy was in Playful Kiss" or it's his look alike.

Unknowingly I booked a hotel in the middle of the Arts/Tourist district...

We went to the Temple Saturday Morning...

Found a Traditional Band...

 More Shopping...

Hmmm... this one's a little out of order, but the temple is beautiful.

 And an old gentleman hand painting fans..

I will post more tomorrow!!
I have wanted to come to Korea for 3 years now, it's almost a dream come true! 

A Sunday Walk - June 8th.

A couple of Sundays ago Darryl and I went for a very pleasant walk around the city of Ordos. We found a beautiful frieze beside the road near the government building celebrating the traditional Mongolian lifestyle.
^^^^^^^^^^
(Please click on the pictures so they will enlarge and you can see the detail in the carvings and art work)

This was the day we visited the "Vision Park" that I wrote about in my last post. After the park we wandered on over to the Ordos Museum. I think I mentioned before that the building was designed to look like a rock, but I wasn't prepared for the way it looked on the inside. Amazing! Six stories tall and all but one exhibit was dedicated to the history of the area and the Mongolia Culture. Darryl and I were fascinated!

The frieze below shows 20 cattle pulling a huge yurt.

Traditional formal and wedding dress.

The young girl on my right spoke very good English and asked if she could have a photo with me. When her mother saw what was happening she came running over with her son to get in the picture. Believe it or not this happens quite frequently. Sometimes they follow us and try to sneak photos with their cell phones because Darryl and I are that unique in this part of the world. (Funny huh?) In the nearly 3 weeks we have been here we have seen only one other white person and he didn't speak English.

This mural depicts Genghis Khan meeting with his advisers inside his yurt.

**Note:
I do not have any photos of the exhibit up on the 6th floor. It was dedicated to Mao and Communism. One sections was dedicated to communist leaders of the last 150 years. Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Pol Pot, Kim Il Sung, Ho Chi Min, and Others. Darryl called it the wall of Shame that seemed to celebrate some of these men who were mass murderers.
**
 I think Darryl's favorite part of the museum was the carved Jade figures and fish bowls. The two fishbowls below are about 3 ft. across. The beautiful sculpture at the end is about 5 ft. tall.

I have many more photos to put up. I hope I am not boring you with all these photos and you're enjoying your little mini tour of this part of China. 

Ordos China's Central Plaza & Parks

Friday the 6th Darryl and I decided to walk the Central Plaza of Ordos to the river park. It was awe inspiring the amount and size of the Bronze Sculptures, hand carved marble works, etc. There are way too many photos to comment on each one but the first plaza, by the Government Building, is in homage to Ginghis Kahn, Then we have the different parks dedicated to the culture and the art of China and Mongolia. There are 5 or six plazas. One has a brand new, never opened shopping mall underneath it. The amount of Construction work in all of this is incredible. Enjoy the pictures! 

#####

(Please leave a short comment at the end of this post, even if it's just a smiley face. Thank you.)

The most famous of the bronze statues is the battling stallions. Can you see Darryl in the picture? 

They are massive!

Below, in order are the Performing arts center, The Museum of Ordos (It's supposed to look like a rock) and the Libary in the shape of leaning books.

Another view of the museum.

A new plaza looking toward the Wulan Mulun River.

The have literally dozens of friezes throughout this town depicting the historical Mongolian way of life.

The fourth Plaza was huge and underneath this plaza.....

....and the golden statues....

....and the silver statues...

... the raised platform...

..and the skylights...

is a huge empty mall. This is the entrance complete with hand carved marble balustrade on the right. 

The last plaza was traditional Chinese art.

When we reached the river we found nearly 100 bronze horses running wild. 

 Looking back 2 miles from where we started. The whole walk was full of surprises! 

That's it until Sunday's post. Enjoy your day!