My Sunday, May 30th 2010<\/p>\n
I decided to take a local bus to see what there was to see at its terminus.\u00a0\u00a0 Also, I wanted to get out and explore the river over which the route crossed.\u00a0 If I had time I planned to visit an open air veggie market I\u2019d seen beside a canal in the city area.\u00a0 I never did go to that market.<\/p>\n
The first photo is of a map of Xingtai on which I have drawn my route from\u00a0 near the top left hand corner to the bottom right hand corner; or from north west to south east and return via an interlude in the middle.\u00a0 You might need to view it in full screen to see it properly<\/p>\n
My bus trip to the city centre was uneventful and especially pleasant as the bus was practically empty.\u00a0 A far cry from the one I returned on where it became so full that it progressed from normal front entry to back entry to eventually refusal of entry.\u00a0 I just made it on.<\/p>\n
The first 4 photos were taken as I walked from one bus stop to another.\u00a0\u00a0 One is inside a department store which I visited for a quick sticky beak.\u00a0 It looks like the best one in the city.\u00a0 The woman on the escalator is wearing a visor which many motorbike\/electric bike riders wear in the summer.\u00a0\u00a0 The building standing amidst rubble is one of several remaining after the wreckers have been through a block.\u00a0 The trees in the back of the photo are those shading a market I later visited.<\/p>\n
The number 29 bus trundled through large streets and then turned down a narrow street faced with buildings and farm plots. (Photos)\u00a0 It then crossed a major road still under construction (photo) and continued along narrow roads through mixed rural and village scenarios. (Photos)\u00a0 Many buildings have 2 sheets of red paper containing rhyming poems, known as couplets, pasted on each side of the entry.\u00a0 These are renewed at New Year.\u00a0\u00a0 They used to be hand written in the olden days.\u00a0 The ones on the flats downstairs have the name of a bank on them.\u00a0 The wheat fields don\u2019t look very tall but the mechanical harvesters (photo) are out on the roads.\u00a0 I\u2019ve read these are contracted out.\u00a0\u00a0 Last June, while waiting for an early morning bus at the start of my holiday, I saw a parade of harvesters drive down the road.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One even had a passenger sleeping on the floor.<\/p>\n
The bus reached a point just before an entry to a toll way.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The driver turned around and let the 2nd last person off.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Given it was the back end of nowhere I was staying put.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One young woman got on and the driver made moves to continue meanwhile turning to me and grumbling.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I considered that my cue to produce another 1 Yuan note and put it in the collection slot at which point he stopped grumbling and continued the journey.<\/p>\n
A bee keeper had set up\u00a0 his tent and hives amidst a grove of trees.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (photo)\u00a0\u00a0 A shepherd followed her flock (photo)\u00a0 and we passed what must be the glass bottle capital of the world.\u00a0\u00a0 (photo)\u00a0\u00a0 All arranged by size and colour.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A man wearing his shirt at the customary half mast position shoveled sand into a mixer (Photo)\u00a0 and another drove\u00a0 a tractor pulling bricks through a village street.\u00a0 When he passed me I noticed only one of his lenses was present.\u00a0\u00a0 There was no need to get out for the river because there was no river to be seen.\u00a0 No bridge, just a built up area for traffic.\u00a0 The river bed was full of rubble and farm plots. (Photo)<\/p>\n
The young guy in the seat in front of me was busy telling someone on his phone about the laoshi on the number 29 bus.\u00a0\u00a0 He got off after me still talking and we both headed to the same place.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m not convinced he didn\u2019t have plans to strike up a conversation, but I did loiter a lot and he was shy.\u00a0 I was happy to be left to my own devices.<\/p>\n
I investigated Fuqian St opposite the bus stop.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is the original old world street in the city.\u00a0 (Photos)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s looked rather tacky with quite a bit of neon and numerous modern advertisements and didn\u2019t have the fresh appearance of the renovated and newly minted Ancient Culture streets of some other cities.\u00a0 However, its time has come and it was in the throes of renovation and major paint works.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Amazing what removing the grime and applying fresh paint and the presence of blue sky can do.\u00a0\u00a0 (Photos)\u00a0\u00a0 Mature trees had been planted and seating was under construction.\u00a0\u00a0 (Photo)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not sure how they expected the stone to stay on the bricks with almost dry concrete, but that\u2019s how it was being done.\u00a0 (Photos)\u00a0 The imposing building at the end of the street is called Qingfeng\u00a0 Building.\u00a0 (Photo)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I didn\u2019t go that far this time.\u00a0 Last time it had many elderly chatterers around it.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now it has rubble & the workmen\u2019s tent.<\/p>\n
One of the local shopkeepers was outside using a brush and water to write in on the concrete step.\u00a0 He gave me a wave.\u00a0\u00a0 (Photo)\u00a0\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t look like an ordinary Chinese, maybe because he is an \u201carty type.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My vast exposure to Chinese culture has indicated that the ones involved in the arts have a more distinctive style to their appearance.\u00a0 He sells paper, ink, some small antiques\/bric a brac, embroideries and art works.\u00a0\u00a0 (photo)\u00a0\u00a0 Fortune tellers and sellers of funerary offerings also inhabit\u00a0\u00a0 the area. (Photos)\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the fortune tellers wanted to talk with me but we didn\u2019t get far, but I did get to sit down for a while.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is a temple behind the street too and it had scaffolding around parts of it.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t return there.<\/p>\n