Santas

Santas
Originally uploaded by Other Lisa.

I realize this is a little out of season, but I've just learned to publish photos and had this one handy. This is from Dec. 2000, at a place a few hours outside of Beijing called Longqingxia, where they hold an Ice Festival similar though smaller to the famous one in Harbin. Longqingxia is kind of a neat place, though it features some of the most fractured English signage I've ever seen in China. Here's an example:

"BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE LONGQINGXIA SLIDEWAY"

Double slideways seem like a dragon flying in the sky. The graceful Longxingxia tourism area has another novelty sight. Two slideways go across the Baihua cavity mountainside of Hailuo, dragon ladder and the great gorges, with the grandiose momentum just like the great dragon paddling in the water, and also like the colorful silk-belt surrounding the mountain. You can enjoy the new feeling of flying in the sky better than the fairy when taking the slideway.

Beijing Longqingxia double stainless slideways integrate the body exercise, fallow, entertainment and taking instead of walk together, which is the first double stainless slideways with the type of viaduct designed by the computer in domestic, designed and manufactured by Qingdao slideway company. The slideways started from the exit of the Baihua cavity, going down to the Green Island in the center of the lake, with the total length of 450 meters, in parallel, the comparative fall of 38 meters, and 600 passengers per hour. The double arch bridges with the span of 60 meters connect the South and the North like two rain bows, and the tilted pulling bridge is guarding at the scenic spot like the oriental Titan. The serpentine structure of the steel bridge is like the dragon swimming in the sky and also like the belt waving in the mountain.

The slideway will assist you to reach the goal of traveling entertainment and relaxation with its characteristics of not only adventurous and exciting but also safe and comfortable; therefore, it will bring forth the unprecedented feeling for you.

Longqingxia Management Department, July 18, 1998

More tomorrow...my grand posting plans tonight were disrupted by the need to master this new technology, among other things...