From Yulin

[tsap seui]

Some more from Guigang

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/gallery/album/672-guigang-nan-shan/

 

 

 

Randy, those monoliths look a lot like the Glasshouse Mountains (as Captain Cook named them when he sailed along the eastern shore of what is now Queensland, Australia, had no clue what he was looking at and because they looked like where they made glass in England he gave them that name). There are 10 monoliths which make up the Glasshouse Mountains. They are a spiritual area for the Aboriginals and have a mythical story to them, with each one having a name, and the tale of what roll they played in day they went as a family to visit the ocean.

 

The Glasshouse Mountains are what is left of the pumice caps of 300 to 400 million year old volcanoes. Do you know if that is what these scenic monoliths are...how they were formed? My guess is that they are the same. Ancient pumice caps of long extinct volcanoes that have eroded into what we see today.

 

My ex and I almost became owners of a home that sat on the edge of the Blackhall Range in Maleny, QUeensland...had a sharp solicitor who had gotten 8 other foreigners threw when by legality they shouldn't have, had the price negotiated with the owners down in Sydney....but....some damn guy in Cambria turned us down three times. And the bastard's last name who kept picking up our paperwork and turning us down was NIxon. LOL The three tallest Glasshouse Mountains range from 1,200 feet to 950 feet to my favorite Coonawrin at 750 feet. Coonawrin has a base it sits on and is shaped like a bent steam ship's exhaust stack. They all stand out in a wide flat valley all by themselves....only a 15 minute drive from any of them to the coastal beaches. An incredible sight.

 

 

 

ANyhow, love the monoliths.

Edited September 29, 2013 by tsap seui (see edit history)

[Randy W]

No - they are all limestone (karst). The karst peaks are common throughout this area of China

http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/geophoto/grndh20/Guilin1.jpg
 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Driving scenes on the way to Detian. This is why I wanted to drive along the border - beautiful karst scenery

 

 

 

[Randy W]

 

[Mick]

Just spectacular scenery, Randy. Yes, I can easily see why you wanted to drive along the border if that is any indication of the countryside. That road looks like it would be fun to drive, as long as there was no traffic jam. Let me get this straight, are you driving? I wasn't aware you guys had a car over there. In all my years living in China, I never drove, except for a few times on a motor scooter. And it was all urban driving and dangerous to the max....

[Randy W]

Yes- I had posted a few pictures of the wife directing traffic to our ancestral graveyard, with the brother-in-law driving (so she could yell at him more easily) - http://candleforlove.com/forums/gallery/album/653-2013-qingming/

 

The worst traffic we see around here is in Nanning with the subway construction and new overpasses that don't show on the maps.

 

I learned how to drive in China just by sitting in the front right seat on the city bus - the drivers always know how to make slow and steady progress no matter what the conditions.

[tsap seui]

Yep, I like those photos of the limestone along the border too. I noticed many years ago that some of the most beautiful photos in National Geographic, etc were taken in China.

 

Flying in Vietnam and Cambodia we got to see many beautiful sights also....a 3,500 foot rock that literally sat by it's lonesome for miles around surrounded by....rice paddies. We could see that rock (Nhui Ba Dinh or Black Virgin Mountain as an easy navigational aid, or used the light on top of it where a radio relay team lived as a beacon when we had taken off 60 miles away before dawn to guide us. We saw mountains like Randy's photos, with brilliant waterfalls, we landed in the valley's or on the sides, and from time to time saw tigers and elephants in the wild that Charlie hadn't eaten...lol Add those sights in with all the gorgeous rain forest, sun glittered rice paddies and B-52 water filled bomb craters everywhere and Vietnam and Cambodia had themselves some real spectacles to fly over.

 

Glad no one is taking shots at you as you drive around seeing the sights Randy. Got to be nice to be a tourist without the need to wear a flack vest or chicken plate...lol

 

tsap seui

[Mike and Yan]

Those mountain stalagmites are made of limestone?

 

I always wonder what causes the limstone to form in those "pillar" shapes. No ridges, no sign of uplift; nothing tectonic. No river to carve them. No ancient ice flow. No volcano.

 

Did they pop up? Were they erroded down?

[Randy W]

Those mountain stalagmites are made of limestone?

 

I always wonder what causes the limstone to form in those "pillar" shapes. No ridges, no sign of uplift; nothing tectonic. No river to carve them. No ancient ice flow. No volcano.

 

Did they pop up? Were they erroded down?

 

Limestone dissolves in the water (rain or spring water). As it drips from the ceiling of a cave, some is deposited on the ceiling, eventually forming a stalactite. What is left over is deposited on the floor, forming a stalagmite.

 

All natural.

[amberjack1234]

Yep, I like those photos of the limestone along the border too. I noticed many years ago that some of the most beautiful photos in National Geographic, etc were taken in China.

 

Flying in Vietnam and Cambodia we got to see many beautiful sights also....a 3,500 foot rock that literally sat by it's lonesome for miles around surrounded by....rice paddies. We could see that rock (Nhui Ba Dinh or Black Virgin Mountain as an easy navigational aid, or used the light on top of it where a radio relay team lived as a beacon when we had taken off 60 miles away before dawn to guide us. We saw mountains like Randy's photos, with brilliant waterfalls, we landed in the valley's or on the sides, and from time to time saw tigers and elephants in the wild that Charlie hadn't eaten...lol Add those sights in with all the gorgeous rain forest, sun glittered rice paddies and B-52 water filled bomb craters everywhere and Vietnam and Cambodia had themselves some real spectacles to fly over.

 

Glad no one is taking shots at you as you drive around seeing the sights Randy. Got to be nice to be a tourist without the need to wear a flack vest or chicken plate...lol

 

tsap seui

Ronny them be B-52 fish ponds that the US Air Force started for the locals.

 

Larry

[tsap seui]

Why yes they are Lawrence. In their kindness the Air Force "built" at least 50 large swimming pools and fishing holes for each and every citizen, yes that figure is 50 per citizen....er ah....surviving South Vietnamese citizen. The construction of these pools was a tad bit loud and earth shaking, but they were free, courtesy of our beloved Uncle.

 

Lately, I've been ah thinkin'....as bad a shape as our country is in, maybe we should blow ourselves to hell and back....and get Uncle Sam to rebuild us.

 

tsap seui

[Randy W]

The wine-making haul for this year. The wife tells me I'm supposed to drink one glass every day

 

[amberjack1234]

The wine-making haul for this year. The wife tells me I'm supposed to drink one glass every day

 

Randy as I have told you before. For the life of me I can't figger out this wine making deal as I see it pictured here and before. Now it just goes against everything that I have learned about wine making. I been doing it for about 50 year now.

 

Where does the gas from the fermenting process go and how does she keep the outside air from getting into the jars which would cause it to sour and turn into vinegar but obviously it works you guys keep making it. Keep on keeping on if a thing works it works.

 

Larry

[Randy W]

 

The wine-making haul for this year. The wife tells me I'm supposed to drink one glass every day

 

Randy as I have told you before. For the life of me I can't figger out this wine making deal as I see it pictured here and before. Now it just goes against everything that I have learned about wine making. I been doing it for about 50 year now.

 

Where does the gas from the fermenting process go and how does she keep the outside air from getting into the jars which would cause it to sour and turn into vinegar but obviously it works you guys keep making it. Keep on keeping on if a thing works it works.

 

Larry

 

 

 

I think it just relies on a positive pressure gradient and a loose fitting cap making a very simple check valve. The new ones at the end have a red, screw-on plastic top, which I see she has also left loose.

[amberjack1234]

 

 

The wine-making haul for this year. The wife tells me I'm supposed to drink one glass every day

 

Randy as I have told you before. For the life of me I can't figger out this wine making deal as I see it pictured here and before. Now it just goes against everything that I have learned about wine making. I been doing it for about 50 year now.

 

Where does the gas from the fermenting process go and how does she keep the outside air from getting into the jars which would cause it to sour and turn into vinegar but obviously it works you guys keep making it. Keep on keeping on if a thing works it works.

 

Larry

 

 

 

I think it just relies on a positive pressure gradient and a loose fitting cap making a very simple check valve. The new ones at the end have a red, screw-on plastic top, which I see she has also left loose.

 

I think I understand that though it seems a bit of a hit or miss thing at least to me. If these things get stopped up when ventilating they will blow the top off. I've had that to happen when grapes raise up while fermenting and stopping the lock up. But leaving the lids some what loose might work, obviously it does, as the escaping gasses could prevent outside pathogens coming in and spoiling the whole thing. I think that you would have to know exactly what you are doing with this technique. Obviously you wife is very clever.

 

When I first started making wine when I was but 15 years old, tough by my old great uncle George, I would make a stopper out of a corncob, take a length of copper tubing 1/4 inch and push it through the soft center, bend the tubing so that it would curve downward and the other end would be in a glass of water and the glass was kept full of water from evaporation, then the corn cob was sealed in the jug, usually about 5 gal., by mixing a paste of flour and water and smearing it onto the corn cob to seal the corn cob as they are very porous. But the first thing was the jug had to be sterilized of harmful bacteria, in order to keep it from turning into vinegar, before adding the contents, grape, sugar and water. This was the old way of doing it. Now other thing are added to stabilize it, to clarify and preserve it. Of course other things can be mixed in as well to obtain the taste that you desire. Things like corn meal can be added to make the alcohol content higher. It can get as complicate as you would like for it to but I have, over the years, reverted back to the old adage of KISS, keep it simple stupid. Your wife's way is certainly about as simple as you can get, that's for sure. I don't think that I could reproduce that. I guess I am indeed stoopid da man as Charles says.

 

Enjoy

 

Larry

 

By the way that is some nice looking furniture and floors.

Edited October 1, 2013 by amberjack1234 (see edit history)