Motivator Creator?

[Sunhawk]

A few I did.

[Sunhawk]

A few more.

[Sunhawk]

And one just for a very special person... :-p

[Edward]

Here's a couple more.

[Ragnar]

A few of mine.

[KLSymph]

Recently, I went to China to visit relatives and such. While there, I took pictures. Due to various technical difficulties (mostly of the "my mini-drive stopped working" variety), I'm missing a few, but please enjoy this little collection of motivations, displayed more or less in chronological order.

HONG KONG



The train ride from Shanghai to Hong Kong is twenty-five hours long. The toilet empties directly onto the track, and for sanitary reasons the restrooms are locked while the train is idling or travelling through urban areas (I considered taking a picture of this, but you don't need to see that). To this, I respond: hey, when nature calls, you know....



This is a picture of Hong Kong's skyline at night, from the trolley that goes up Victoria Peak. My camera is, obviously, not so good at focusing with background motion and darkness.



This street is called Lan Kwai Fong. Very popular and well known, I'm told. Completely covered with places to eat, drink, and party. Absolutely wasted on me (especially since I had dinner right before going there).

Wudang Mountain



First of three. In case you don't know, Wudang is to Taoists what Shaolin is to Buddhists, in terms of both fame and martial arts.



Wudang involves much climbing, but at least now there are roads and buses, unlike in years past, when pilgrimages involved trekking up the entire mountain(s). Nowadays, there are much more challenging climbs.



Second of three. You thought I was kidding when I said that the other one was the best, didn't you?  Jingding is a temple at the top of a mountain which has a roof (and structure) inlaid with gold; hence the name, "Golden Summit". It also had a whole lot of butterflies flying around it for some reason.



Climbing up to Jingding prior to 10 o'clock in the morning means the mist hasn't cleared yet.  Feh.



Unfortunately, climbing prior to 10 o'clock doesn't mean it's not really, really hot out. And the funny thing is the sun's not showing. Bring lots of water.

Three Gorges Dam



Just recently, China finished the structure of this dam, a thirteen-year project. Much like every other dam I've been to... who came up the idea that dams should be tourist spots?



On the way back, our tour bus blew the tire in the picture. Apparently, the driver (the guy underneath the bus) can't unscrew the things holding the tire in place. I'm not certain what going under the bus was supposed to accomplish, but I think he was taking some long metal bars out from underneath to use as levers in combination with that doohickey near the other guy's head in the picture, since the bars he got and used later weren't from inside the bus.  Whatever he was doing, it didn't work. Standing inside the middle of a kilometer-long mountain tunnel was about as exciting as it sounds.

Wuhan



Imagine: walking around your hometown, visiting a neighborhood from your youth, turning a corner, seeing this.



I kid you not, the aftertaste's resemblance to the odor of an uncleaned (or very unsuccessfully cleaned) public bathroom in rural China is just amazing (if that's the right word). Buyer beware, and all that. Unfortunately, we returned the basket before I remembered to take a picture. This one was spat out by another person in the party, and luckily not thrown away yet.



No matter if it's Japan, China, or copies of Mahou Sensei Negima in America, individually wrapped or bundled manga will always, always suck.



Third of three.  In related news, Chinese rap music is, as far as I can tell, still hilarious.

And finally:



Sorry the picture's so blurry. Should've leaned in stead of zooming, since zooming also messes up the autofocus. I would've retaken the picture if I knew how bad it was, but the LCD screen wasn't detailed enough. Yes, that's a Fate/stay night box underneath.

The day after I took my plane back to the States, a very heavy storm hit the Wuhan area. I have been told that the rain was so strong, it struck birds dead from the sky. In response to this, some enterprising people in the area have apparently set up shops cooking and selling those birds.  I'm not sure whether this is a sign that Chinese people are very strange, or that my relatives are full of horrible, horrible lies.

Hope you enjoyed it.

[Ranma_007]

All of these are really quite good.

[Dracos]

Indeed Indeed. =)

Dracos

[Liddo-kun]

[KLSymph]

"Some have said there is no subtlety to destruction. You know what? They're dead." — Jaya Ballard, task mage

[Dracos]

Dude, I thought no one survived that thread to take pictures and those of us that did  swore to never talk of it again! =p

Dracos

[KLSymph]

Dude, I thought no one survived that thread to take pictures and those of us that did swore to never talk of it again! =p

FUTURE GENERATIONS MUST BE WARNED!!!

[SabreMau]

[Zenthor]

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Why is that so funny?  I don't have a clue.

[Dracos]

And he'll dance dance dance
and he'll dance dance dance