San Liu Jie Light and Water Show

The director of this show, Zhang Yi Mou, is the same man who directed the introduction of the Chinese Olympics. Its worth going all the way to China just to see this. The stage is the Li jiang river, the backdrop is the mountains. We sat in the 'Assistant Directors' seats (second best seats, the best ones are the 'Directors seats') waiting for the last of the light to drop out of the sky so the show could commence. I focused on the actors and exposed for the lights, and then locked focus and exposure so it would not change during my short videos. All pictures were taken with my Panasonic GH2 camera and my 20mm lens. I was fortunate to have a barrier in front of my chair, I was able to rest my camera on it to keep it stable. The story is, of course, a love story, but its almost irrelevant that its impossible to understand a word.

The important thing here is the spectacle.

Waiting for the light to drop out of the sky

The mountains are lit by spotlights. We spotted them the next day while walking in the local countryside.

 


 

 

 

Chinglish

One of the idiosyncrasies of China  is the complete inability to find translators who have an understanding of English grammar.  We were mostly forbidden to partake in activities, but fortunately we were not forbidden to take photographs of the offending notices! Our favourite one was the friendly advice to fall into the water carefully! It became our motto for the rest of the holiday.

Our china

China was the trip of a life time. We had anticipated it for years and planned it for months. I bought new suitcases, a new camera (Panasonic GH2) and new everything else I could think of. All the hotels, trains and tours were prebooked - all we had to do was pay up and turn up.

We were moving almost every day so had to keep our luggage to a minimum. Miniature toiletries, and travel wash were essentials. We washed and wore and rewore. It was a good decision - carrying luggage through railway waiting rooms and down long flights of stairs was not for the fainthearted (or for anyone with large heavy suitcases). This was my total luggage for China - hand luggage only.