The Windmark

Check out that sweet box I was able to strap on the back. Carried groceries all the time with that thing. Here it's full of a few of my students writing notebooks.






Peach blossoms a week before they bloomed


The Fen River (汾河) south of Linfen (临汾)…waterless.











My beloved Giant Windmark that I had to leave behind in China. This little 8-speeder with down tube shifters cost me about $250, and I put somewhere in the vicinity of 1,000 miles on this baby. I was able to see a good portion of the surrounding areas because of this bike. I took this thing on dirt roads, gravel roads, off road. I also used it to commute to campus 2 twice a week in the spring, and I didn't get a single flat tire. I ended up selling it for a little more than half what I paid for it; the student I sold it to said he was going to ride it to his hometown of Taiyuan (太原).

Biking XiangFen (襄汾县)

The the Fen River (汾河)…








Fencheng town's (汾城镇) Chenghuang Temple (城隍庙). I've seen Chenghuang translated as "town god". The sign out front says the place was established by the Ming emperor HongWu (明洪武) in 1369.


















"谴责美国" - "Condemn America"
This newspaper from 1973 was stuck to wall inside one of the buildings.









These last two are from Wei Village (尉村). It was super dusty and I wasn't feeling well so I didn't take too many pictures.


This is a statue of Guan Yunchang (关云长) also known as Guan Yu (关羽) or Guan Gong (关公). He was a general and sworn brother to the war lord Liu Bei (刘备) from the Three Kingdoms period of China (三国时代).


A biking trip through Xiangfen County (襄汾县), still part of greater Linfen (临汾).

More Rural Linfen

Chinese Wheat (小麦)


Another Cave Home (窑洞)












Wild Fire




Another bike trip out of town. Went to see peach blossoms, but they hadn't opened yet.

Biking to Shangzhai Village (上寨村)

The gate to Shangzhai Village.










A cave house (窑洞). They're really common around here.

















From a bike trip to Shangzhai Village (上寨村) about a week ago. I had so many pictures so I split the post into two. These are the to and from pictures and the the ones in village will come soon. This village was about 50km (30ish miles) out from Linfen due north then maybe eastish. I'm pretty sure it's part of Hongtong county (洪洞县), but don't quote me on that one.