Received official word last week that one of my entries in the contest won runner-up...which means not good enough for 1st Prize but we'll give you an award anyway. Nevertheless, here is Miss Runner-up, a lovely young Dong women in local wear.:

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuartto...25260086950274

The full album of Guilin and vicinity pix is also included here...you'll meet some of her sisters with the long-flowing black hair. Most of these were taken either in Guilin city, Yanghuo or at the Devil's Backbone rice terraces in the Longshen-Longji district, about 100 miles northwest of Guilin.

Since I was in the area 26 years ago, here also are some pics of the old Yangshuo boat dock at the time and some general scenes of a different China of 1984. We had to get in with an organized group in those days, but we travelled independently with occasional local guide/drivers on this second visit three years ago (Beijing, Xian, Guilin and Shanghai).

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuartto...inAndVicinity#

http://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/ChinaPix1984#

Stu Tower

sorry..that should read <b>Dragon's Backbone!</b>

you can't fool me, that's roz for sure...

Right, Bob....how come you get 197 responses to yor TR, and I have to struggle with one for my pix...my popularity decreases with age.

By the way, the runner-up prize is a Fodor's Gold Guide for Need-um, endorsed by "The Cambridge Pand-erer"...enjoy whatever is left of your fabulous trip..hi Karen! Has he been behaving?
stu

Tower - Congratulations on being runner up. Look for your picture in next year's China edition. We submitted a picture in the Turkey contest several years ago and were so surprised to hear from Fodors that they included it in their book.

thank you, dgunbug...

Good work, Stu!

I would have been the clear and uncontested winner if I had submitted the pics of you and Roz from our Shanghai dinner!

<i>the pics of you and Roz from our Shanghai dinner!</i>

Thanks EK..if you notice, that's the pic I use with my profile and I give you credit for it. A most memorable evening.
stu

Me too me too! I'm a runner up too. (Only I'm no good at taking pics of people: they chose one of my landscapes LOL.) Coincidentally, my trip to China was also in 2007...

Lovely photos stu. I'm so lazy about getting mine up online - I'd rather spend my time looking at what others have done!

gg...hey, congrats..ain't we special? Love to see your landscape. Where was it taken? I try to get a mix of people and aurroundings. That was my second visit to China and to Guilin area..the changes were nothing short of dramatic...if you look at my old 1984 pre-digital pics I posted, you'll see some of the major changes. Best wishes, gg.
stu

stu, we sure are!

And apologies, I had meant to provide a link! The picture is from the Huanglong National Park in the mountains of Sichuan Province:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10019873@N07/5164396592/

Somehow I always gravitate to inanimate objects in my photos; I have to consciously remind myself to include fauna and people to enliven them!

The trip was my first visit to China -- 3 weeks in a class in Beijing followed by a week in Chengdu/Huanglong/Jiuzhaigou with a Taiwanese friend and a friend of hers. I don't have to tell you, it was great being able to travel with native speakers!

I love your 1984 photos. My sister did a China tour as a teen with the Massachusetts Wind Ensemble in 1989 and my best friend taught English there a year later. I remember their stories and images, and both were astounded at mine!

P.S. "gg" is what my grandfather always called me; he was a "gg" too.

gg...absolutely breathtakingly beautiful...great framing...excellent...proud to be a fellow runner-up with thee!!!
stu

GG

P.S. Masachusetts Wind Ensemble. Where in Mass.? Quincy is my hometown.
stu

gg.. my grandson taught Business English at Auburn University's China campus near Jianjang (sp)., after graduating Univ. of Oregon in 2002.

Thanks, stu, the feeling is mutual!!!

The tiny town of Lincoln is my hometown, NW of Boston, though we were in Brookline 'til I was seven. MAWE is affiliated with... jeez now I don't remember, but one of the orchestras or conservatories in Boston.

My friend (actually two of my undergrad classmates) taught (Business?) English at University of Petroleum in Dongying back in 1990. They were sent there through our alma mater, Skidmore College, but at the time there was no established partnership. From what I understand, my friends were pioneers in what turned out to be a long relationship between the two institutions! And to think, merely a decade later and US universities such as Auburn had a China campus!!

For me, it was fascinating taking a class at Tsinghua University. The campus is gorgeous, the students the top of the top... and again, only a decade or so ago, it was considered in poor form to go to university in China... I think that's what struck me the most during my visit - how quickly the country had changed itself.

We have family friends in Quincy. I couldn't tell you where though - I just know how to get there from the SE Expressway!

Congrats, Tower, you really deserved it!

Shanghainese..so good to hear fom you. Hope all is well. We just don't get to Berkeley these days..they come down here.
stu

Ggreen (GG)...this is the Fodor's newsletter announcing the contest winners...in my amateur opinion, your photo should have taken first prize..breathtaking!
stu

http://www.fodors.com/contest/china/

Thanks, tower, I hadn't seen that yet. And thanks so much for your praise! In seeing all the winners, I happen to prefer the portraits like yours - they're lively, and show the real "face" of China... Interesting choice for first prize.