The daughter of an artisan in his workshop in Sixi, one of many traditional villages of rural China. La fille d’un artisan dans son atelier à Sixi, un des nombreux villages de la Chine rurale.
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Vladivostok, Russia, Siberia, November 2008. At the WWII memorial where newly wed couples go for photo ops, or simply families.
You want to study the people and regions you go through, and not just talk about the bus you missed, it is a good way to learn by doing research… or talking to people, William of Rubruck, the Friar who went to visit Genghis Khan’s sons in Karakorum, wrote Itinerarium fratris Willielmi de Rubruquis de ordine fratrum Minorum, Galli, Anno gratia 1253 ad partes Orientales, a “great masterpiece of medieval geographical literature, comparable to that of Marco Polo, although they are very different. William was a good observer, and an excellent writer. He asked many questions along the way and did not take folk tale and fable as truth” [Wikipedia]
“William of Rubruck’s was the fourth European mission to the Mongols. Before William of Rubruck went Giovanni da Pian del Carpine and Ascelin of Lombardia in 1245 and André de Longjumeau in 1249”, but these others didn’t write, nor was Marco Polo the first traveler to those faraway regions from the European perspective, but he was the first to publish, so, most people know only him, les paroles s’envolent, les écrits restent…
Writing is a way to record and pass on knowledge.
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Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, December 2008.
The onsens, hot springs, are another great feature of Japan, here on the Otaru-Sapporo road, with Mako waving at us.