China
I just returned home from my recently concluded Fujian China trip. Fujian is a coastal province with a long seafaring history. I have always wanted to go to China but never made the time. The tour was nothing like I had expected or even imagined China to be like. For some reason I pictured armed guards and huge crowds that moved like a flowing river. When I first landed it was the usual hustle and bustle that you find at most airports. Customs was a breeze and not one of my bags was ever checked or opened.
I had another wonderful group of photographers on this trip, most of them have traveled with me before and everyone got along really well. Our two bi-lingual guides more than met my expectations. They were attentive, thoughtful and extremely talented; they really went out of their way to make sure that all of our needs were met.
The one thing that stood out to me as odd was that no one spoke English-anywhere! And yes, the Chinese love their tea-not coffee. It is so hard to find good coffee-wait any coffee in the small towns. The big cities all have Starbucks, etc.. but small villages only have tea. We did locate a new fave of mine, a coffee/bakery shop named 85 degrees.
I loved all the fishing villages with the infinite amounts of nets and poles in the water (shown below). I could have spent the entire time photographing just the repeating lines. At each and every stop we had lots of chances to photograph models in different costumes and outfits as shown in some of the images above. Our guides worked tirelessly to ensure that we got the photos we wanted.
On one of our days we visited an incense factory. We were allowed inside to photograph the workers, as they applied the die to the incense sticks (they were actual workers--not paid models). It was fascinating to watch and photograph the tossing of the die. We had so much freedom to walk around. I couldn’t help but think about how lucky I am. It is such hard work and it can’t be good to breathe that incense dust in on a daily basis, year after year. My favorite (processed) images from those two shoots.
Tianluokeng Tulou Cluster
On one of our last days, we visited this UNESCO World Heritage Site-shown on the left at sundown. The Fujian landmark is comprised of 5 clay buildings, with a square Tulou at the center which is surrounded by 4 circular Tulous.
All of our hotel accommodations were very nice, some even exceptional. But the one I liked best was a family owned B&B style hotel, located inside of a small village. It was very clean and comfortable. The food was great and the people were friendly. It felt like we stepped back in time. After breakfast on our last morning we walked the quaint village-it was a perfect ending to a fabulous trip. I will miss my time in China and I am already putting together a return visit in April-May of 2021, I’ll post the exact dates and itinerary as soon as I get them.