Virtual Home of
Russell Eagling

www.russelleagling.com

The second semester work has now been handed in and I am currently selecting the 'website winners' for 2004.

In the meantime you can still read over-all winner of 2003 below from Sophia Brandy of class 02 01 describing her trip to Pheonix City last year.

About the journey - Sunday 19th October

I think it's a wonderful feeling to walk on the street, especially on the early mist morning in autumn. At about six o'clock in the morning, I had been in the street to find some food for breakfast, but most of the snack stall had not been open, then I walked along the stone-paved road to enjoy the clean and fresh air which is very difficult to get for the city dwellers. We could hear the sound made by the cocks and see several people walking on the street. Most of them were very busy except us, because they were taking photographs with their valuable cameras.

It is the best time for them to do their work, cause it's also the proper time to catch all the wonderful sceneries, especially the architecture and the street itself. I was occupied by the wonderful world.

After breakfast, we got to the river which you can see in the pictures and we felt a little colder on the bank. Many women were doing some cleaning along the water. The water here looked very clean and green against the beautiful mountains. I had never seen that before, so I felt a little excited. The bridge above the river made me hesitate, when my friend asked me to walk across it. It was too narrow for the travelers to walk on. However, the local people walked on it as freely as on the ground. At last, I braved up myself to have a try. Though I crossed it successfully still felt frightened when I reached the other side. You can find that the bridge there is quite different from the ones we see in the city.

There was another kind of bridge, which can be find in the mountainous areas. It looked like a hammock between the mountains highly above the water. When you walked on it, you may feel yourself in the air and it is very difficult for you to keep balance. What a pity,I had no chance to walk on it, but just watched it from the windows of the bus. If possible ,I will have a try next time.

As for the architecture, you will find that all the buildings looked very quaint and simple. I like the styles very much. From the appearance, you may feel a little disappointed of the living conditions, but when you entered into it, you would feel surprised about the decorations. One of the pictures, I stood at the door of a coffee bar called "Tales of a small city" (translated by myself, maybe not accurate). I thought the name was wonderful, it can make you feel a kind of culture, I found it beyond my words. When I encountered with the boss of the coffee bar, I found that the boss was not a local person. He traveled to the city, loved it and made up his mind to live there to feel the life and culture there. At first, he tried to do other businesses, he failed ,but he never gave-up, at last he succeeded. He realized his dreams. Up to that time, many of the DJs or VJs had paid much visits to his coffee bar when they traveled there. It was difficult to say why they liked to go there, maybe the culture atmosphere attracted them or the quiet life there made it hard to forget. If I had chance, I'd like to live longer there.

About Feelings - Sunday 19th October

Now I want to tell you the food there is very delicious except too hot, also very cheap. you can find that every people there like chilly food very much. Maybe they couldn't live without pepper. When the dawn came to the world, many of the snack stalls appeared all of a sudden, this period may be the best time to enjoy the life there. you would find it difficult to decide eat what, and after a while, you would also find it hard for you to digest all the food you eat. All kinds of food were served there, no matter roasted or boiled, you could enjoy it as you wanted.

There was a very interesting story I want to share with you. You see, I took photos in the Miao minority costume. When I wore the special clothes walking in the street, someone took me as the local Miao minority and they asked me to take photos with themselves, I accepted but after they finished the photographs they were surprised to find that I was not a Miao minority girl. They were confused by my appearance. Maybe that is due to my dark skin looking similar to theirs.

There were lots of handicrafts there and I spent most of my money on them. At last, lack of money forced me to scrap my plans to stay longer. I couldn't afford my train tickets either. My friend helped me to leave there.