The Gondoliers of Tongli

Gondoliering in Tongli

Our China Spree tour guide, the intrepid and courageous Mao “Jim” Chen, led us along the banks of the canals for our appointment with our gondoliers.  Along the way we noted the lanterns that ran along the banks in preparation of the upcoming Lantern Festival, which I will treat you to in a future blog.

Canals of Tongli

Color ran riot along the entire way.  Buildings were festooned with lanterns and banners of bright red and intense yellow.

Canals of Tongli

Alas, the sun did not grace our visit this day.  But that’s what white balance control is all about, isn’t it?

Canals of Tongli

After a relatively short hike we could see our awaiting gondolas in the distance.

Gondolas Await

As we approached our gondolas I was taken by the magnificent and beautiful wood construction.

Tongli Gondolas

Take a look at this closeup shot to see what I mean:

Gondola Closeup

Our group was large and much more than could be accommodated by just one or two gondolas.  So, we split up for individual assignments.

Tongli Gondolas

We broke into smallish, individual parties and carefully climbed aboard these skittish craft.

Gondoliering Along the Canals

Our own gondolier is shown below hard at work:

Gondolier Hard at Work

Fun Photo Friday both this week and next will display some of my favorite shots of Tongli, and next Monday and Wednesday we’ll continue our tour.  Until then here’s a closeup of our gondolier:

Gondolier Portrait