Organizing photos and uploading them still takes more time than you would want. Finally I got the photos from last couple months onto Picasa.

Sometime in the summer we visited Hammond Castle in Gloucester, MA, the home of inventor John Hammond. Some more photos birds in our bird bath, Green Animals Topiary near Newport, RI and Walden pond.

In late October, I visited my mother in LA, driving up to Santa Barbara and down to Crystal Cathedral.

In December, I flew to Thailand to present at the Seventh International Symposium on Natural Language Processing. I stayed less than a week in Thailand, so I didn't really see all the beauty this country has to offer. The symposium was held in a resort near Pattaya. I visited Elephant Village, getting acquainted with resident "wildlife". I also went to tiger zoo, where I had opportunity to take care of more pets. Another interesting place was Sanctuary of Truth - a modern temple being built for the last 20 years using wood and based on ancient temple art and incorporating wide variety of Hindu, Buddhist and other beliefs. But how can the temple not have some resident deities?

As I was riding on the back of an elephant in Thailand and trying to survive each step that hit my butt like a sledgehammer, I realized that virtuality has a lot to offer. In virtuality, you don't need to go for 17 hours on a plane and 2 hours on a car with smelly co-passangers to ride an elephant. Even more, you don't need to feel like being hit with a baseball bat all over, after your ride an elephant. And virtuality now can provide almost everything that reality gives: Nature viewing? You can get much more breathtaking photos of animals on the web than what you will see in most of nature encounters. You can even get immersive views in virtual worlds. And you won't suffer mosquitos, ticks, snakes and other inconveniences of deep forest exploration. Sure, you still cannot get the divine panoramic views that you can see from Mauna Kea, but IMAX and IMAX Dome come close. Architecture? Check, both in photos and in 3D walkthroughs. Most virtual architecture is much better than the real one anyway. Songs? Check. Concerts? Check, most concert videos are much better than sitting in the bleachers and seeing matchstick sized performers. Same for sports events. Even if you want company, you can be in a concert in a Second Life with your buddies, cheering the artist whenever you want and having a private conversation at the same time.

You can even do things in virtuality that you cannot do in the real life. Wanna kill people? There are tons of video games. You can even kill real people in Player-vs-Player games. Wanna drive Formula One? Sure. Wanna fly a plane and crash it into buildings? Sure. Wanna take a space walk? No problem.

So what's lacking? Taste for one. You can't eat and drink in virtuality yet. You can't smell either, but this may be less important. Psychotropic sensations is another one: drugs (including alcohol ;)) are not available in virtuality yet. Finally, sex. None of that in virtuality unless you count plastic dolls to be virtual (gratuitous reference to Austin Powers here :))).

So there are some important things that virtuality does not offer. Yet. But as soon as it does, Virtuality Here We Come! :) Like someone said, "Reality is for people who cannot handle drugs". :)

I got a paper accepted at MIRW 2007 workshop collocated with MobileHCI conference, happening in Singapore, so we decided to use this opportunity not only to see Singapore, but also to visit Cambodia. Since, like Murray Head said "One town's very like another", we decided not to stay in the city-state of Singapore for long, just for the conference duration. As described in tourist guides, Singapore is clean and very green city. It is quite amazing what the city-state has built in short 42 years. On the other hand, considering Singapore is one of the biggest ports in a strategic location, it is a little bit less unexpected though still amazing. The state pushes high technology agenda and smart market-state-motivation based economy. If you are poor in Singapore, you still can get everything needed to sustain you (80% of Singaporeans live in state-subsidized housing!) and to learn including computers. But you also have to put in your share of money or effort (you can get subsidized computer for about US$200 or do community service and get it for free). The positive side of TANSTAAFL at work.

The nice points of Singapore was the food - really, really great Japanese Sun restaurant, fast-food Indian and classy Chinese Lei Garden restaurant at Chijmes. And the Night Safari where you see Zoo animals foraging after dark. Some other nice sights included Little India, Orchard Road shopping area, Raffles colonial hotel and just the nice city streets.

Moving to Cambodia we found the land of contrasts. Siem Reap - the tourist town near the world-known temples of Angkor - is growing by leaps and bounds, enriching the people in the area. Still you can see the pigs on motorbikes, cattle by the temples and wooden shacks serving as houses. Economic conditions are even worse once you travel away from Siem Reap and Angkor, though there is a sense of rebuilding of the country everywhere. Even though less than 30% of population have electricity, a lot have TVs ... powered by car-strength batteries that are weekly recharged by small time entrepeneurs.

Angkor temples were great, with our favorites being Ta Prohm, where "Tomb Raider" was filmed, and the recently de-mined ruins of Beng Mealea. Before leaving for the rest of the country, we also saw the floating villages and the reclining Buddha of Phnom Kulen.

Siem Reap was also great in touristy conveniences including great hotel, Khmer massage, and fantastic and cheap Khmer food in various restaurants. Once we left it, the service levels deteriorated. It is not surprising, since most of the tourists only see Angkor and Siem Reap. The rest of the country is not as attractive although still visited by hard-core travellers. Kratie is really attractive for its Irrawady fresh water dolphins. In the evening, one has to go to the Red Sun Falling cafe to catch the feeling of a god-forgotten expat bar at the end of the world. Food is delicious though :) (actually we bought those cooked spiders on the road to Phnom Penh).

We ended our travels in Phnom Penh. Though it is the capital and largest city of Cambodia, it feels less developed than Siem Reap. Even King's palace would need a bit of restoration. A place to visit for lunch or dinner is Foreign Corespondents' Club that makes you feel close to Rick's Cafe in Casablanca.

Last day we went to Toul Sleng Genocide museum - former Khmer Rouge prison - and Choeung Ek killing fields. Over 2 million Cambodian's were killed by Khmer Rouge, starting from intelligentsia and monks, finishing with random peasants, their own soldiers and the "traitorous" comrades. Nice learning from other Communist regimes... 

Finally we made our offerings to Buddha at Wat Phnom, fed the resident elephant and released some birds. Will all the good karma, the travel home was easy. :)

P.S. 24 hour flights forward and back meant a lot of movies. Most of them were hohum (Shrek the Third 4/10, Ocean's Thirteen 6/10, The Hoax 5/10, Georgia Rule 6/10), but Blades of Glory are smashing (slashing? ;) 7/10, and Away from Her 8/10 is touching and creepy at the same time. Fracture was disturbing, but somewhat simplistic 7/10.

P.P.S. Picasa web for the win, Flickr to die. Free 1Gb+ storage. And they know how to reorder photos, which was driving me crazy with Flickr. What's so hard about drag and drop?

It seems that I visit Lithuania every June now, since it coincides with my business trip to Finland. This year we had the 20 year graduation party for our secondary school class. And of course a lot of visits with family, friends and other animals making a lot of modern art in the meantime.

P.S. Flickr uploader photo ordering officially sucks. What is so difficult about sending the photos ordered exactly by their file names? What is so difficult in providing at least some way to reorder photos when they are on Flickr? The "time stream" idea is a total disaster IMHO and I am going to shift back to my own site for photos or look for some alternative. Say NO to Flickr.

Continuing my photo organization and uploading efforts, I posted the photos from a trip to California and Karel's wedding, don't miss the one with the best man trying to carry the groom ;) Long happy years to Karel and Cynthia! :)

Some photos from our house in early and middle spring.

We went to Chicago last weekend and spent a lot of fun time in botanical garden, Millenium park, Magnificent Mile, and of course Zoo that has a baby polar bear and baby giraffe.

Finally got to arrange and edit some photos from last fall. A visit to America's Stonehenge. Harvard and Boston in the fall. And New Year's celebration - hmm, wasn't that so like half a year ago? :P

Decided to try out Flickr and see how it compares to hosting photos on my own site. The order of photos in the uploader is rather weird, so the final order of photos is also messed up. Did not yet find a way to order photos in the set, which is IMO a big drawback. Perhaps you need Pro account for that. :( Other than that, it seems simpler than hosting on my site, though I still need to run pre-processor to cut files to web size before uploading, otherwise I would have hit the free account upload limit yesterday already. This is not a big issue though, since uploading photos without pre-processing would take ages anyway.

Busiu nuo sestos iki sesioliktos. Gaila, kad 6/6/6 jau praejo, butu idomiau. :P 

Kas nors zinote idomiu (ne vien tik bulviniai blynai + varskeciai) restoranu su skaniais vegetariskais patiekalais?

Kur galima gauti geros tikros giros?

This time we got photos from everywhere. In the beginning of June I had a job meeting in Helsinki. The photos are not from job.

After Helsinki I flew to Sicily, since I got a proposal I could not refuse :P in Palermo. As it can be seen from the first photos, I came late to the party: mafia has already done its job. :) Actually photos are from the catacombs of Capuccin monastery, where in XVI-XIX centuries were burried not only monks, but the whole families, children, doctors, lawyers, nobles and so on - about 8000 mummies in total. Palermo is rather beautiful city, even though most of its churches were destroyed during the bombing of the Second World War. European Union money given for restauration unfortunately finds its way not only to the rebuilding of the city, but also to the pockets of Mafia. Palermo has a beautiful cathedral, nice "new" opera house.

In the cave of the mount Pellegrino near the city is the sanctuary of St. Rosalia. Rosalia was a girl from noble family, who lived in the XII century and decided to leave her life of privilege to live and meditate in a cave of the mountain. There are beautiful views of Palermo, the sea and the "village" of Mondello from the mountain. I stayed in Mondello.

I've got love/hate relationship with Italy and italians. On one hand, Italy is a beautiful country and italians are great people. On the other hand, it's impossible to expect organization and business attitude from them. My hotel advertised a tour to Erice to be held on Saturday afternoon. On Wednesday they told me that there might be to few people for the tour to be held, so they did not want to sell a ticket to me. On Friday the agency did not answer the phone, even though it was business hours. On Saturday they told me that the tour is full, sorry. What can you say about that? :)

Since I did not rent a car - wise choice in Palermo streets, not so wise if you want to see more of the island - I had to sacrifice some money to get a taxi from Mondello to Segesta. Segesta is known for a wonderful unfinished greek temple and amphitheater.

Most of the photos show churches in Palermo.

After the trip to Sicily, we met with Diana in Lithuania. Photos show Vilnius and Kaunas.

After returning home from Europe, we went for a trip and a conference to Maine. We stayed for a couple days in Bar Harbor and drove around Acadia National Park in the Northeast of Maine. After that we returned to Portland. You may notice Raimondas' motor boats and castles in some of the pictures. :) The last photos are from cruise in Boston harbor.

Si karta nuotrauku susikaupe is visur. Birzelio pradzioje darbo reikalais sveciavausi Helsinkyje. Panasu, kad nuotraukose atsispindi ne darbas.

Po to nuskridau i Sicilija, greiciausiai tvarkyti mafijos reikalu Palermo. ;) Kaip matosi pirmose nuotraukose, ten jau iki manes gerokai pasitvarke… :( Nuotraukos is kapucinu vienuolyno katakombu, kur iki XVI-XIX a. buvo laidojami ne tik vienuoliai, bet ir visos seimos, vaikai, gydytojai, advokatai ir kilmingieji - apie 8000 mumiju. Palermo grazus miestas, nepaisant to, kad didziaja dali baznyciu nugriove antro pasaulinio karo bombos. O ir restauracijai skirti Europos Sajungos pinigai dazniausiai nuseda mafijoziu kisenese, bet kai kas sugebeta restauruoti. Grazi katedra, gana "naujas" operos teatras. Prie miesto esanciame Pelegrino kalne (Monte Pellegrino) yra sventosios Rosalijos sventykla. Rosalija buvo XII a. gyvenusi kilminga mergina, nusprendusi, kad nenori isteketi ir pabegusi gyventi ir medituoti i kalno ola. Nuo kalno matosi juros ilanka ir "kaimelis" Mondello, kur prie pat juros kranto buvau apsistojes viesbutyje.

Dazniausiai Italai ir Italija man labai patinka, bet kartais sukelia ir pasibaisejima. Is vienos puses, Italija puiki ir italai fantastiski zmones. Is kitos puses, tiketis organizuotumo ar bent jau dalykinio poziurio is ju neimanoma. Bandziau patekti i organizuojama ekskursija i Erice. Treciadieni man pasake, kad galbut nesusirinks pakankamai zmoniu, todel manes i sarasa neirasys. Penktadieni agenturoje niekas neatsiliepe, nors buvo darbo metas. Sestadienio ryte pasirode, kad visos vietos ekskursijoje uzimtos. Na ir ka besakyti. :)

Kadangi neturejau isnuomotos masinos - o tai ir nerekomenduotina Sicilijos miestu gatvese - teko paaukoti siek tiek santaupu ir paimti taksi is Mondello i Segesta (~72 km.). Segestoje stovi ispudinga neuzbaigta graiku sventykla bei amfiteatras.

Daugumoje nuotrauku - Palermo baznyciu isore ir vidus.

Po Sicilijos, su Diana susitikome Lietuvoje. Nuotraukose Vilnius ir Kaunas.

Neilgai pabuve namuose po keliones i Europa, nuvaziavome i Meina. Apsilankeme Bar Harbor'e ir Acadia Nacionaliniame Parke, Meino siaures rytuose, bei Portlande. Keliose nuotraukose Raimondo motorlaiviai ir pilaites. ;) Paskutines nuotraukos is kruizo po Bostono uosta.

English version:

This year the International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2006) was organized in Shanghai, China. So we with Diana decided to travel around this country. For a lot of people this is one of the exotic countries, the pearl of the East. How is it in reality?

After the long 12 hour non-stop flight, we touched down at Beijing airport. We had booked a tour with a tourist company, so we were met by a guide with a driver and a car - one of the advantages of still rather cheap China. Already while driving to the city we noticed that the stories about fast modernization of China were true. The airport and the town are connected with a new modern highway. Still people are driving on it in a typical chinese fashion: with no turn signs, passing cars on the right breakdown lane and so on. Well, before the end of the trip we saw many more driving tricks. Chinese successfully negotiate the street crossings from all four sides without stopping, while the bicycles and pedestrians try to do the same. In short, it all very much resembles Indian traffic.

The suburbs of Beijing are growing as fast as the highways. Skyscrapers are going up everywhere. One of the advantages of the command-control society is that nobody looks at the private property or history: the old city blocks are destroyed and new houses are built. The advantage of it is that differently from Tokyo there is no feeling of claustrophobia, no packed together old and new houses, narrow streets. The city feels very open. The drawback is that the city loses a lot of its spirit and uniqueness. All parts of the town seem new and without character. Let's put it that way: imagine new and beautiful suburbs of Moscow and they won't be very distinguishable from Beijing.

After resting a night, next morning we went to the Tiananmen square - the center of Beijing. Here too, as I mentioned before, everything is new: there was no such square in the old Beijing. It was created by destroying a lot of old imperial ministries. Afterwards it was expanded even more and now is the largest city square in the world. From one side it is bordered by the communist parliament, from another - the museum of revolution, from the third - the mausoleum of Mao that took some of the square's space. On the fourth side are Tiananmen gates to the Forbidden city. With a portrait of Mao on top of them. :) It is said that the square is full of secret police, alert for any demonstrations. However, these are unlikely for now, while China is growing economically. With full stomach few people demonstrate.

We took the Tiananmen gate to the Forbidden City, where Chinese emperors lived. Yes, it was a forbidden city to the ordinary chinese. The Forbidden City has a traditional chinese layout: all gates and buildings stand on the north-south axis. If China is the center of the World and Beijing is the center of China, then the Forbidden City is the center of Beijing and the World. :) After entering one gate, you see a building with the entrance in front of the gate. After going around the building, you see another gate straight behind it on the same axis with another building behind the gate and so on. Everything is rather grand and impressive.

After the Forbidden City we made a short excursion to the old Beijing quarter "hutong" - a quarter with still undestroyed old houses, narrow streets and somewhat surviving XVIII century houses. A bicycle ricksaw drove us around the quarter; the guide also took us to see the original old house with an inner courtyard, surrounded from all sides by the rooms. That's the traditional layout of the chinese house.

After lunch we went to the Temple of Heaven. This temple was also inaccessible for the pure mortals. It was only visited once a year by the emperor, who talked there with the master of Heaven, learning the future and deciding important issues. The emperor had to fast couple days before the pilgrimage. The temple stand in the middle of a huge park and looks, as a lot of other things in Beijing, rather grandiose.

In the evening we watched a tourist-adapted Beijing Opera. We enjoyed the colorful costumes and very expressive acting. We did not understand everything, since a lot of things are told through costume details and specific gestures. For example, running around the scene means a long travel. 8)

Next day we drove to the Great Wall. Few fragments remain from the wall and we saw the part rebuilt practically for the tourists. However that does not detract from the view: the wall is really huge, extending through the mountains and the valleys. It is built to the north of Beijing and was supposed to protect China from the mongolian invasion. However, in spite of its name, it did not deter the mongols. The enemies simply bribed the guards instead of attacking it. :)

On the great wall, as in other tourist places a lot of insistant chinese merchants offer souvenirs and fake watches. That's the most memorable impression from China, the cries: "Look, look, just look!", "Rolex" ir "Cheap, cheap". :) It's interesting that it seems that there's little crime: the tourists are usually not mobbed but rather robbed by selling them things at wildly inflated prices. Howeve, it's possible to bargain as in other eastern countries and to drop the price to 1/3 or even lower. :) The low crime rate may be also explained by rather strong punishment, especially for crimes against foreigners.

After visiting the Great Wall, we returned to Beijing. We had a totally incredible lunch. Overall the chinese food in China is much better than it is outside of China. The vegetables taste great, while usually abroad they don't taste at all or taste rather bad. After lunch we visited Ming tombs. As other imperial places, the tombs cover a huge territory. Only one tomb is excavated so far, others are only seen as small hills with a pavillion on top. Near the mausoleums is a walk with sculptures of various animal sculptures.

During the last day in Beijing we went to the Summer Palace. Again this is huge territory with a lake and lots of buildings, this time not placed in one axis. There is also a marble boat built for the money that was destined to chinese navy - rather ironic. :)

After lunch we flew to Xian - the old capital of China. Xian is surrounded by the city wall, which we visited on the first day. After that we watched the Tang dynasty show. On the next day we went to look at the Teracotta army, buried by the Qin dynasty emperor's tomb. Teracotta army is really impressive. So far only 3 places have been excavated. In the first place is the biggest main army. In the second one - the officers. In the third are the chariots, archers and so on. Some teracotta acrobats and other entertainers were found too. They had to entertain the dead emperor. A lot can be said about the First Emperor, the founder of Qin dynasty, who unified China, started to build the Great Wall, standartized measurements and money. I will just refer to Internet for more info.

After lunch we visited Xian buddhist temple and the Xian historical museum (a lot of photos are from the museum).

Next morning we went to Xian mosque. Chinese mosques are completely different from eastern mosques. They are much more like other chinese temples. Muslim minority lives in a separate quarter though the quarter is not much different from the rest of the city either.

Our next flight was to Guilin. Guilin compared to Beijing or Xian is rather small city - the size of Vilnius or so (700000 inhabitants). :) There are less historical/cultural sites in it, but the city is surrounded by a beautiful scenery: a winding river and karst hills. It is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in China and the world and we totally agree with this evaluation. In the evening we went to the park with a small zoo. We saw one giant panda, sleeping in its enclosure. We also saw small red pandas, that look like small funny dwarves (or lurikeens for DAOC players). Diana got lucky - she got into the tiger's cage for a photo. What won't chinese do for the tourists. :) Poor tiger was bored and docile as a lamb.

We also saw an etnographical show, which unfortunately mostly consisted from modern acrobatics and dances. It was interesting though definitely not very traditional or ancient.

The next day we took a cruise on the Li river. The shores of river Li between Guilin and Yangshou are considered the most beautiful scenery in China. Therefore the river is simply packed with tourist ships almost strung together in a line. We saw some water buffalo on the shores and in the river.

Having arrived to Yangshou, we went on an electric car to see how the villagers live. Since Yangshou is a very popular tourist vilage, most local villagers earn more money from tourist trade than from agriculture. So they are rather wealthy and are building housese like crazy. However, there are still rice fields around Yangshou. We visited an old house. In all the rooms there is a Mao portrait. After the visit, we rented a bamboo raft for a short excursion on the river.

We had one free day in Yangshou. On that day we rented an electric car with drivers and went to the old Banyan tree that covers at least an acre. :) After that we went to the Moon hill so called because of the half-moon hole in it. With an encouragement of local souvenir-selling guides, we climbed the hill even though it was rather difficult.

After returning to Guilin, we walked through the Elephant Hill park. The hill looks like an elephant drinking from the river. We also went into the Reed Flute cave, even though we did not see the flute in the cave. :( The cave in China is lighted much better and and more exciting than american caves, probably since chinese don't care about disturbing the cave's wildlife. :/

The last city of our travel was Shanghai, where ICSE was held. I expected that Shanghai will be much more packed than Beijing. It appears that I was mistaken. We stayed at a hotel in the new economic zone of Pudong - technically not in Shanghai, though only just across the river. There stand the famous TV tower and the highest scyscrapers in town, though there are lot of them in the "old" Shnaghai too. Across the river from Pudong: Bund - the european quarter from the beginning of XX century. Even though we went on a boat trip on the river and saw rather impressive city view, we enjoyed Ming dinasty gardens much more. Finding them was an adventure though. Though they are one of the top tourist attractions of Shanghai, there are almost no pointers to it. And the entrance is unbelievably burried in the middle of a market street labyrinth, which we did not even try to explore until there was nowhere else to go. The gardens are fantastic: a lot of pavilions, houses, ponds, trees, rocks and other architectural elements. After the gardens we walked to Confucian temple.

On the last day in China, we took a bus to Zhouzhang. That's chinese "Venice", since the old city has cannals instead of streets. In spite of tourist throngs, it was very nice to see the ancient - mostly Ming dynasty - houses, buddhist temple, bridges across cannals.

We left to Shanghai airport on the supermodern Maglev (magnetic levitation) train that is the fastest train on the earth running at the top speed of 430 km/h (267 mph). Not that it feels. :) Cool end of the trip.

Photos at: http://www.mmlab.ktu.lt/~raimis/China2006/

(English version coming soon)

Siais metais programu inzinerijos tarptautine konferencija (International Conference on Software Engineering, ICSE 2006) vyko Shanghajuje, Kinijoje. Ta proga su Diana issiruoseme pakeliauti po sia sali. Daugeliui mintyse ir svajonese - tai viena is egzotiskiausiu pasaulio saliu, rytu perlas. O kaip yra is tikruju?

Po ilgo 12 valandu skrydzio nusileidome i Pekino aerouosta. Buvome is anksto uzsisake privacia turistine kelione, tad mus pasitiko gide su vairuotoju ir automobiliu - vienas is vis dar gana pigios Kinijos privalumu. Jau vaziuojant i miesta paaiskejo, kad kalbos apie greita Kinijos modernejima visiskai teisingos. Is aerouosto i miesta eina platus naujas plentas. Tiesa vaziuojama juo vis dar kiniskai: nerodant posukiu, lenkiant masinas desiniu kelio kelkrasciu ir pan. Na, iki keliones pabaigos prisiziurejome ne tik tokiu vairavimo stebuklu. Kinai visai sekmingai vaziuoja is visu keturiu pusiu nesustodami per sankryzas, per kurias dar tuo pat metu bando
pravaziuoti ir dviraciai ir pereiti pestieji. Trumpai sakant, bardakas toks pats kaip Indijoje.

Pekino priemiesciai taip pat sparciai auga kaip ir plentai. Visur statomi nauji daugiaauksciai. Vienas is komandines valstybes privalumu: neatsizvelgiant i turto nuosavybe ir istorija, sekmingai verciami seni kvartalai ir vietoj ju statomi visiskai nauji dangoraiziai. Pliusas: skirtingai nuo Tokijo, nera sugrustu senu ir nauju namu, siauruciu gatveliu. Visur pilna erdves. Minusas: miestas praranda didele dali dvasios ir unikalumo. Visi rajonai atrodo nauji ir su nedaug charakterio. Sakykime taip: isivaizduokite naujus ir grazius Maskvos rajonus - taip atrodo Pekinas.

Pasiilseje per nakti, kita ryta nuvaziavome i Tiananmenio aikste, Pekino centra. Cia irgi, kaip rasiau, viskas nauja: senajame Pekine tokios aikstes nebuvo, ji atsirado isgriovus daugeli Imperijos ministeriju. Po to dar buvo padidinta ir dabar yra didziausia aikste pasaulyje. Is vienos puses ja riboja komunistinis parlamentas, is kitos - revoliucijos muziejus, trecioje issisoves Mao mauzoliejus, ketvirtoje - Tiananmenio vartai i Uzdraustaji miesta. Ir Mao portretas virs ju. Sakoma, kad aiksteje visada pilna slaptos policijos, stebincios, kad vel neprasidetu demonstracijos. Nors tokios rizikos kol kas turbut nera, nes Kinija isgyvena ekonomini pakilima. O kai pilvai pilni...

Is Tiananmenio patraukeme i Uzdraustaji Miesta, kur gyveno Kinijos imperatoriai. Taip, jis is tikro buvo uzdraustas paprastiems kinams. Miesto isplanavimas tradicinis kiniskas: visi vartai ir pastatai stovi pagal siaures-pietu asi. Jei Kinija yra pasaulio centras, o Pekinas - Kinijos centras, tai Uzdraustasis Miestas yra Pekino ir Pasaulio centras. :) Iejus pro vienus vartus, pasirodo pastatas su durimis tiesiai pries vartus. Apejus ji, pasirodo kiti vartai ant tos pacios asies, uz ju kitas pastatas ir t.t. Viskas gana didinga.

Po Uzdraustojo Miesto padareme trumpa ekskursijele po sena Pekino kvartala "Hutong'a" - toki dar neisgriauta, su siauromis gatvelemis ir siek tiek islikusiais XVIII a. namais. Po gatveles mus paveziojo su riksa, nuvede paziureti originalaus senovinio namo, su vidiniu kiemeliu, kuri is visu pusiu supa kambariai. Tai tradicinis Kinijos namo planas, nors dabar tokiu namu turbut nebestato. Nebent kaimuose.

Po priespieciu nuvaziavome i Dangaus Sventykla. Si sventykla irgi buvo nepasiekiama paprastiems mirtingiesiems. I ja karta per metus eidavo tik pats imperatorius kalbetis su Dangaus valdovu, suzinoti ateiti ir nuspresti svarbiu reikalu. Imperatorius turedavo pries tai pora dienu pasninkauti. Sventove ikurta didziuliame parke ir atrodo, kaip daug kas Pekine, grandioziskai.

Vakare pamateme sukomercinta Pekino Opera. Patiko puosnus drabuziai ir israiskinga vaidyba, nors nemazai ko ir nesupratom, nes daug kas pasakoma kostiumu detalemis ir specifiniais zestais. Pvz. begimas aplink scena kelis kartus reiskia ilga kelione. 8)

Kita diena isvaziavome prie Didziosios Kinu Sienos. Is sienos tera belike keli fragmentai, tas kuri mateme praktiskai atstatytas nuo beveik nulio specialiai turistams. Bet tai nesumazina ispudzio: siena is tikro didele ir besitesianti per kalnus ir lygumas. Ji stovi i siaure nuo Pekino ir buvo skirta sustabdyti mongolu ispuolius, bet nepaisant garsaus pavadinimo, savo uzduoties neatliko. Mongolai tiesiog jos nepuole ir vietoj to papirko igulas, kad juos praleistu. :)

Ant didziosios kinu sienos, kaip ir kitose turistinese vietose, daugybe ikyriu kinu prekeiviu, siulanciu suvenyrus ir padirbtus laikrodzius. Labiausiai isireze Kinijos atsiminimai - tai suksniai: "Look, look, just look!", "Rolex" ir "Cheap, cheap". :) Idomu tai, kad atrodo, jog labai mazas nusikalstamumas: turistu nebandoma apiplesti, jiems bandoma parduoti ivairius dalykus uzkeltomis kainomis. Nors galima deretis, kaip kitose rytu salyse ir numusti kaina iki trecdalio ar dar maziau. :) (Dalinai mazas
nusikalstamumas galbut paaiskinamas ir tuo, kad bausmes ganetinai grieztos, ypac uz nusikaltimus pries uzsieniecius.)

Po Didziosios Kinu sienos sugrizome i Pekina, kur nuvaziavome i Ming dinastijos imperatoriu mauzoliejus. Kaip ir kitos imperines vietos, mauzoliejai uzima didziuli plota. Tik vienas mauzoliejus yra atkastas, kiti tera kalveles su nedideliu paviljonu virs zemes. Prie situ mauzolieju yra aleja su ivairiu gyvunu skulpturomis.

Paskutine diena Pekine nuvaziavome i Vasaros Rumus. Tai vel didziule teritorija su ezeru ir daugybe pastatu, tik si karta neisdestytu vienoje asyje. Jose gyveno paskutine imperatoriene Cixi.

Po pietu nuskridome i Xian'a - senaja Kinijos sostine. Xian'as yra apsuptas sena miesto siena, kuria ir aplankeme pirma diena. Po to paziurejome Tang dinastijos sou. Kita diena nuvaziavome paziureti terakotines armijos, palaidotos prie Qin dinastijos imperatoriaus kapo. Terakotine armija tikrai ispudinga. Kol kas atkastos trys vietos. Vienoje - didziausioje - yra pagrindine armija. Kitoje - armijos karininkai. Trecioje siek tiek daugiau vezimu, lankininku ir pan. Buvo atrasta ir terakotiniu akrobatu bei kitu artistu, turejusiu linksminti imperatoriu. Apie pirmaji Kinijos imperatoriu, Qin dinastijos pradininka, suvienijusi Kinija, pradejusi statyti didziaja Kinu siena, sustandartizavusi matmenis ir pinigus, galima rasyti daug, bet tiesiog nukreipsiu susidomejusius i enciklopedijas.

Po pietu aplankeme Xian'o budistine sventykla ir Xian'o muzieju, is kurio ir yra nemaza nuotrauku.

Kita ryta nuejome i Xian'o mecete. Kinijos mecetes yra visiskai nepanasios i artimuju rytu mecetes, o daug daugiau panasios i kitas kiniskas sventyklas. Musulmonu mazuma gyvena atskiruose kvartaluose, bet siaip ne daug skiriasi nuo kitu kinu.

Po pietu isskridome i Guilin'a. Guilinas palyginus su Pekinu ir Xian'u nedidelis miestas - Vilniaus dydzio. :) Jame siek tiek maziau istoriniu/kulturiniu paminklu, bet uztat miestas apsuptas puikaus peizazo: tekancios upes ir karstiniu kalvu. Vakare nuejome i parka, kur buvo ir mazas zoo sodas. Jame buvo viena didzioji panda, mieganti vidury savo namelio. Mateme ir mazasias rudasias pandas, kurios atrodo kaip mazi juokingi nykstukai. Dianai pasiseke - ja ileido i nusifotografuoti i tigro narva. Ir ko gi kinai nepadaro del turistu.

Guiline dar mateme "etnografini" sou, kuris, deja, daugiau susidejo is modernios akrobatikos ir sokiu. Buvo idomu, nors ir ne senoviska.

Sekancia diena plaukeme turistiniu laivu Li upe. Li upes krantai tarp Guilin ir Yangshou skaitomi graziausiu peisazu Kinijoje. Uztat turistiniu laivu upeje netruksta, jie plaukia virtele viens paskui kita. Pakrantese ir upeje mateme vandens buivolu.

Nuplauke i Yangshou, su elektriniu masiniuku nuvaziavome paziureti kaip gyvena kaimo zmones. Siaip jau Yangshou yra turistinis kaimelis ir daugelis valstieciu uzsidirba daug daugiau pardavinedami visokius niekniekius turistams, nei is zemes ukio. Todel namai dygsta kaip grybai. Bet ir ryziu pasodintu ploteliu yra. Mes apsilankeme sename name. Jame kiekviename kambaryje kabo Mao portretai. :) Po apsilankymo pas "valstiecius", siek tiek paplaukiojam ant bambukinio plausto.

Kita diena Yangshou turejome laisva. Issinuomavome elektrine masinele su vairuotojom ir nuvaziavome prie didziojo Banyan medzio, dengiancio turbut pora aru. :) Po to nuvaziavome prie Menulio kalvos, taip vadinamos todel, kad joje yra pusmenulio formos kiauryme. I kalva uzlipome, nors ir buvo gana sunkoka.

Is Yangshou grize i Guilin'a uzsukome i Dramblio Kalvos parka (kalva panasi i drambli, gerianti is upes) ir Nendrines Fleitos Ola - tiesa fleitos oloje taip ir nemateme. Beje, ola Kinijoje apsviesta daug geriau ir idomiau nei JAV olos, bet tai turbut todel, kad kinai nepergyvena del oloje gyvenancios faunos ramybes. :/

Galutinis musu keliones miestas buvo Shanghajus, kur vyko ICSE konferencija. Tikejausi, kad Shanghajus bus labiau sugrustas miestas nei Pekinas. Pasirode, kad praktiskai ne. Mes buvome apsistoje naujojoje ekonomineje zonoje Pudonge - techniskai ne Shanghajuje, nors tik kitame upes krante. Ten stovi izymusis Shanghajaus televizijos bokstas ir kiti auksciausieji dangoraiziai, nors yra ju ir "senajame" Shanghajuje. Kitoje upes puseje: Bundas - europieciu XX a. pradzios kvartalas. Nors siek tiek paplaukiojome po upe ir mateme ispudinga panorama, daug labiau mums patiko Ming dinastijos sodai. Tiesa, juos rasti buvo nelengva. Nors tai viena is Shanghajaus turistiniu "viniu", bet nuorodu praktiskai jokiu. O iejimas - nepatikesite - vidury prekybines / turgelines gatves, i kuria ir uzsukti nesugalvojome, kol
pagaliau tiesiog nebuvo kur eiti. Sodai yra fantastiski: daugybe pastatu, prudu, medziu, akmenu ir kitu architekturiniu elementu. Po sodu dar uzsukome i Konfucijaus sventykla.

Paskutine diena Kinijoje nuvaziavome i Zhouzhang miesteli. Tai Kinijos "Venecija", nes vietoj gatveliu senajame mieste - kanalai. Nepaisant turistu miniu, buvo idomu pamatyti senoviskus - daugiausiai Ming dinastijos - namus, budistine sventykla, tiltelius per upe.

Isskridome is Shanghajaus aerouosto, pirma i ji nuvaziave traukiniu levituojanciu ant magnetines pagalves. Tai greiciausias pasaulyje traukinys, isvystantis 430 Km/h greiti. Puiki keliones pabaiga.

Nuotraukos: http://www.mmlab.ktu.lt/~raimis/China2006/