Out and About in Jinan

We've been here a little over a month now. We're settled in, and we've even had some time to visit some fabulous places in and around Jinan.  My sister-in-law says I need to post more pictures, and I think she's right.  So...here are a few pictures of our adventures...

Baotu Springs...Jinan is famous for its natural artesian springs -- they have 72 of them around the city -- and so we spent a Saturday afternoon visiting one of the more popular places -- Baotu Springs.  Here are a few pics:

It was a lovely Saturday, and there were SO MANY families there.  One of the things I have enjoyed about China is that more often than not at places like this, you see multi-generational families -- grandparents, married children and grandchildren all together, enjoying one another as well as the scenery.

A week ago, Bonita and I ventured to Thousand Buddha Mountain, a mountain about 1.5 miles from our hotel, where there are over 1,000 statues of Buddha.  Some are very small (6 inches) and some are very large (20 meters+).  Here are a few photos:

Yesterday we began a five-day tour of western China with about 30 other China Teacher Program teachers.  We arrived in Urumqi, one of the first stops on the famous Silk road, in northwestern China and found a town heavy in Muslim influence. We spent a couple hours in a market place / bazaar.  Here is a fairly representative picture of parts of the bazaar:

Some of my favorite shots in China are of little children.  Here are  several from yesterday's trip to the bazaar:

And finally -- Bonita and I were walking back to campus late one evening earlier this week.  It was quite dark (they don't do street lights on campus like you would think they would).  Simultaneously, both Bonita and I saw a young woman, focused on something on her cell phone, and her face was lit by the phone and framed by her dark hair.  She looked absolutely gorgeous, almost breathtaking!  I was thinking, I wonder if I can capture how beautiful she looks with my phone," and started reaching for it, when Bonita whispered, "Oh, look how beautiful she is. You should take a picture.  So I did.

Initially I was disappointed at the poor quality of the photos...but after thinking about it, I kind of like the impressionistic feel it gives.

And PS -- I am tinkering around with different backgrounds to get something that will make future posts easier to read.  This background is a picture of the Terracotta warriors in Xi'an, China, which I took on our 2016 trip to China.  Enjoy!