Central Park and other sites around Baoding

Today was a beautiful day in Baoding. The sky was very clear and the temperature was perfect. We took a bike ride to some new places around town. Here's what we found.

These two mules were hauling some pipes to a construction site. They were taking a break while their owner did some business.

No, this guy is not dead. In China, they have 'nap time' after lunch. A lot of people just stop what they are doing, and take a nap wherever they are. Not a bad idea, but this guy cannot be comfortable.

 We came across this beautiful park. it reminded us of Central Park in NYC so that's what we call it. We have our own names for many places around town. We spent a lot of time here watching all the things going on. Some toddlers came up to Marianne to check her out. Kids are the same everywhere. Here's what we saw...

Here is a group of people doing Tai Chi with swords. They were very graceful and lovely to watch.

This man is using a whip attached to a long broom handle to spin a very heavy metal top. There were a dozen or so men whipping these tops and they made a whirling sound like a swarm of bees. It was very soothing to hear. It looked like great exercise, except this guy was smoking while he was doing it. The whip makes a loud crack when it strikes the spinning top. It was cool to watch.

The Kite Man

There were many people flying kites. It was a perfect day for it. A little breeze and clear skies. There were the usual kind of kites you would see at the beach, and then there was the Kite Man. He was the Zen Master of them all.

After watching him do his ballet with his 100+ kites, he called me over to take over for a while. All these other people were there watching also, so I was a little embarrassed but it was very cool. He called Marianne over too, and she had a turn at the helm. We didn't crash them, thank God. He was very gracious to us, and it was a great way to end a nice afternoon.

These clear days are precious here in Baoding. Most days the dust and pollution can be very bad. So when we get a day like today, you just want to get out of the apartment and enjoy the day. To Rosalina Rodriguez and her colleagues at the EPA...Keep doing what you guys do to keep the environment as clean as possible. You all take a lot of flack for being strict on polluters, but you don't get enough credit for setting the standards for clean air and water so we all have a better quality of life.