On Wednesday, Michael had meetings to attend so after breakfast I headed out to get lost in Green Lake Park.
Since I mentioned breakfast, I will tell you that we have found the most wonderful pastry to eat. They are, amazingly enough, called “Breakfast Cookies” and remind me of Arrowroot Biscuits (cookies) from Australia. They have a very mild flavor and are tasty consumed with coffee or tea. I even added a juicy orange one morning.
OK….back to the trip to Green Lake…….
When I am sight-seeing by myself I enjoy strolling slowly along the streets and observing everything that I can find, and this morning I was not disappointed.
The first thing that caught my eye was a delivery bicycle moving rapidly UP the hill even though the rider was not pedaling. As it passed I realized the reason for his velocity……another man riding a motor scooter had his foot propped up on the back of the cycle and was giving him a friendly push up the hill.
So, I crossed the street and this is what I encountered…..
This loader was being moved to another site and it was rolling on tires to protect the pavement. As the machine would clear the tires, the ones at the back would roll the tires to the front where they would be placed in front of the tracks. This event seemed to be a highlight for many passers as there was quite a crowd of people watching, laughing and taking photos.
As I successfully found and entered Green Lake Park my first sight was a playground….not filled with kids but with adults…..
Then, around another corner came…..
There were about 40+ women participating in an outdoor dance class, lead by the gentleman in yellow. In this photo they were learning a new section of the dance and he had them practice it MANY times. He appeared to be a fairly good instructor as he repeated the instruction in each little pocket of women until they had all had a chance to learn it.
I did a video of the entire dance and, since I have really good internet at the moment, I decided to go ahead and download it……enjoy…….
Here are some of my favorite images from the “parasol” dance…..
Then out came the fans. Apparently they knew this routine very well since they only did it once…..
The next group of exercisers were doing MY kind of work –out. First there was ear lobe pulling followed by moving the tongue around their mouth in a circular motion. I believe that I will teach a class in this when I get home!!
As I walked down the path I could have learned to knit, gotten a massage, found a marriage partner or gotten my toenails cleaned……all of the morning ablutions in one fresh-air place!!!!
Speaking of marriage partners…..do you remember the photo that I posted of the long lines of printed papers with lots of people crowding to read them….it appears that those pages contain information about potential husbands or wives. Jialin told a story where one of her friend’s Mothers came to town and posted her information there. She was bombarded with phone calls for weeks afterwards!!!!
I also discovered that if you have a boom-box then you have a dance floor. There were many, many groups of dancers….sometimes a large number or sometimes just a lone couple…..
I heard music coming from across the lake so I took a bridge and found a group of women singing (and one lone man playing the accordion). I could hear them for a long time as I continued to explore the lake area.
I continued walking and ran into this….
I loved the look of these picked vegetables…..
….and especially this gentleman exercising in front of the Lotus Pond…..
The lake is covered in Lotus plants which were just beginning to bloom in all sorts of colors. It was hard to get a good photo, but here is one that was close to the path…..
All of the green areas are covered with tall trees so it is impossible to see the buildings that are your landmarks….
The ONLY way out is to find the ring road around the park and start walking until you recognize something on the street that tells you exactly where you are!!!!
I ended the trip by purchasing a few “ bits and bobs” and then sitting on the side of a bridge and watching people go by. It was fun smiling and having them return the smile. One older lady was knitting as she walked and she came up and grabbed my hand. I pointed to her knitting and smiled and she pointed to her feet to indicate that she was knitting socks.
It has been interesting to note the different ways that women carry their kids here. The child is almost always carried on the back, sometimes with a carrier…..
…..or simply with their hands…..
To end this day, here is a fun picture that I took of three girls out for a day in the park. I was actually trying to offer to use their cameras and take a photo of all three of them, but they thought that I wanted a photo for myself, so here goes…..
