From Yulin

[Randy W]

Hmm-mm. I don't think I'll click on this one (SMS message)

 

人奶竟成时尚营养品？网曝富豪喝人奶秘闻，奶妈甄选严格过程大揭秘(图)，点击查看

Human milk nutrition into fashion?
NET exposes rich drinking human milk secrets, secret nanny selection process strictly (photo), click to see

 

[Randy W]

We usually get a visitor at the BBQ joint - we usually buy him a drumstick, and I let him play games (e.g., Disney Temple Run) on my phone. So far, he's kept it under ¥10

 

 

 

One of our local karaoke joints - I've only been to 2. This was when some relatives were visiting from out of town

 

[Randy W]

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a new hot pot/UB Cooks-type restaurant which opened in our building

 

 

 

stir-fry beef on the rocks (yes, served on a bed of rocks - you can see some in the upper right)

[Randy W]

A little fruitstand, consisting of about 8 of the 3 wheeled carts. They get parked on the road in various configurations during the day, and are shuffled often to take advantage of the shade, allow or block off traffic, give more room to customers, or less to motor scooters to scoot through, etc. They're located halfway between the two supermarkets and seem to get a pretty good business, although it would be very easy to pack up and move if they need to.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

A short trip to Beiliu and a new city park that opens in October

 

 

[Randy W]

A stalagmite in the works

 

 

 

[Randy W]

 

 

. . . and the rest of the pictures - http://candleforlove.com/forums/gallery/album/666-a-new-city-park-in-beiliu/

[Randy W]

Money money come to me! (and 'Money' decals on each of the door handles - but only one '8' in the license #)

 

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

[Randy W]

Took a short day trip yesterday to Lufeng Shan - about 3 hours west of here

 

This is a fairly active (lots of water dipping and running through), but otherwise nondescript cave. The highways were some of the most potholed highways I've been on, as were the nearby villages. The villages were partly abandoned - lots of vacant 90's-era construction, but some new construction also

 

 

 

[Mick]

Randy, what are the causes for the village being partially abandoned? Have people left and moved to the city? I have often wondered how, in rural areas in some of the lesser developed Provinces, people support themselves other than agriculture. Also, if the village is partially abandoned, why are they undertaking new construction? Sorry for asking so many questions, but these kind of things interest me.

[Randy W]

Randy, what are the causes for the village being partially abandoned? Have people left and moved to the city? I have often wondered how, in rural areas in some of the lesser developed Provinces, people support themselves other than agriculture. Also, if the village is partially abandoned, why are they undertaking new construction? Sorry for asking so many questions, but these kind of things interest me.

 

Yes, that's what I was wondering also. You can see in the picture where the closer houses are all but abandoned - each of the dark windows is a home that is just an abandoned shell. Whereas the buildings in the background seem to be pretty well utilized. The town seems pretty active, doing who knows what. Not much room for agriculture up there, and not much in the way of terracing. Another nearby town was mostly abandoned, but still fairly active.

 

So yes, I figure a lot of people have left for the big city (maybe Yulin), while others have stayed behind and either re-decorated or in some cases, put up new homes. Most of the more modern looking homes may simply be re-decorated, but we did see a little new construction. It may have a lot to do with the economics of putting up a new building vs. renovating an old vs. moving to the big city vs. a weekly commute one way or the other.

 

One family on our floor is from Luchuan, a small but active town to the south of here. They live and work in Luchuan, but like to spend week-ends here in Yulin. Most of the abandoned homes that I've seen are in that area we went to yesterday, which is in the mountains to the west of Yulin.

[Steve in USA]

Beautiful photos and interesting dialog. The insights into rural Chinese life are quite enlightening.

[Randy W]

"Lay 'em right here" eggs for sale - How long would it take for THREE dozen?

 

 

 

Not too shabby of a dinner for Saturday night

 

[Randy W]

Another hurricane/tropical storm day here - I think we've had three in the last 2 weeks. We must be pretty well protected by the mountains (at only around 1000 ft.), because we hardly see any effect from them. This one is barely even umbrella weather, but has lasted for 24 hours so far. With the temp in the low 80's, it was a good day to leave the windows open and catch some of the breeze.

 

The supermarket put in three new cash registers in the far reaches of the store - up on the second floor. After you check out, you take a long stairway down which takes you outside to a different street, around the corner and across the bank from the front supermarket entrance

 

[Randy W]

My favorite clothing label (AFS Jeep) - the only one with consistent sizing large enough for me. The XXXL is equivalent to U.S. size XL, and size 38 jeans are the same as U.S. size 38. At other stores, seems like I'm always one size too large for anything in the store.

 

The price is usually around ¥100-130 - about $15-20USD.

 

Edited September 4, 2013 by Randy W (see edit history)