Pictures

I've been slow to blog lately so I thought I would just put up some fun pictures. First, parents don't worry! The first is me in the Chinese wax museum. I have been to wax museums in Europe and America and recognized over 95% of the figures. At the Beijing museum, I recognized no one until they got to Yao Ming. It was really quite funny; most countries put internationally recognized people in wax museums. In China, it stops at China. My favorites were wax statues of emperors 2000 years dead; they just gave them fun clothes and made up their faces!

The second picture is Carmen kissing Mao in Tiananmen Square. I was jealous, but I got over it.

Third, two cute hill tribe girls in Vietnam. North Vietnam is full of minority people who are often pushed to the fringes of society. It was very eye opening to visit an un-touristy village (few are left). I was impressed with the satellite TV they had streaming into their thatch homes. They do have to turn up the volume to hear the box over the competition of the pigs and roosters though.

Four, a cute Vietnamese grandmother. Her son gave us a tour of their village--for a price of course. But I was impressed that the son had realized he could capitalize on westerners' desire to see the 'real' life of Vietnam. Mr. Phong, the entrepreneur, took us to his home where his wife cooked a wonderful meal and should us the typical village life--complete with beetle nut chewing and tobacco leaf rolling.