Photograph, Work, Rest, Repeat….

Since the last two posts were a bit “angst inducing”, I will now back and finish the photography around XTBG…..

Both Wednesday and Thursday were very similar in schedule and content so both are included in this post.

Each morning started out with a walk around the garden….before all of the tourists hit!!

I am very much enamored with this Giant Lily pond…..

The big lily pads are mesmerizing to watch as they slowly drift from place to place.  Many of them don’t seem to move at all, but one was  moving around a lot….maybe it has a submerged motor on it….or a fish nibbling on the stem???

The pads are strong enough to hold a human being, as evidenced by the brisk trade that the “lily pad operators” are doing each day…..

You can pay to have your child sit/stand in a lily pad while you snap photos!!  They put a green plastic disk inside the pad which I assume protects it and keeps the child’s feet from going thru it.

Once the child is properly stationed, the posing begins…..

I sat and watched for about 30 minutes one day and it was fascinating to see the required poses…..they HAD to be required because EVERY one did the same thing!!

It was interesting to see the underside of one of the Lily pads that had been damaged and removed from the pond…..

I came back and asked Michael about these plants and he reminded me that the pads are the leaves for the plant and the blossoms and seeds form in the normal way…..

The really nice thing about going out earlier is that you are not accosted by huge crowds of people.    One of the mornings I was able to get to the Distinctive Plant Garden before ANYONE else…..

It was quiet and peaceful and oh so wonderful!!!   I was even able to take a photo of this special tree…..

I had tried the day before and there were so many people in front of it that you couldn’t really see it.  It reminded me of the Mona Lisa or the Venus De Milo in Paris…..completely surrounded!!

I did have one laugh while I was in this area….. a couple (I assume husband and wife) both walked up to exactly the same spot, aimed their phones at exactly the same scene and both started snapping away.   I could hear the shutters clicking in unison.

On normal (ie…not early) mornings, the buses lined up at the Distinctive Plant Garden were my signal to keep on walking…..

As the loaded buses would pass me on the road, this was my normal view….

These were some of my favorite flower photos for the day….

As I am walking around, I try to be sure that there is a smile on my face, especially as some people tend to stare at me, and I eventually get tired of smiling and my face starts to seize up.   I am continually afraid that I end up looking like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory….

In one of my wanderings I ended up in a deserted forest area and had fun taking more photos…..

I had numerous interactions with young people but one young boy said “hello, what is your name?”  I told him and asked his name.  He told me and I shook hand and said “nice to meet you”.   HUGE grins followed.

i loved the colors in these gorgeous leaves….

….and have always loved these really funky flowers…..

This white plant was gorgeous.  Be sure to look for the anther tips in the second photo…..

These last two photos were taken in a garden very close to the hotel…..

The  garden caretakers were out in force on one morning…..

 

Each of our evenings ended in a banquet of some sort.   Some were more formal…..

….and some leaned more toward the fun side…..

The heart in the center was made out of different types of Sticky Rice and was an excellent addition to the meal.

Speaking of food, I had bought a jar of Crunchy peanut butter when we first arrived in Kunming and I would have it with crackers on the days that Michael was working during the lunch hour.   I had run out of crackers so I bought another package of them at the hotel store in the Botanic garden.   When I first opened them I noticed little black seeds in the crackers and was wondering exactly what they were.   My  questioning was answered with the first bite….they were Anise seeds!!!   As long as I put the Peanut Butter on one cracker (as opposed to making a sandwich with two crackers), the peanut butter to Anise ratio was palatable and I enjoyed every bite!!

One more day from Xishuangbana to come…..