YANGSHUO!!!

The next day I caught a bus to Yangshuo, about an hour to two hours south of Guilin. By the time i got to Yangshuo it was pretty late into the afternoon. I was starving but I decided to go shoot some photos instead because the light was awesome. My first impression of Yangshou was "WOW!" This place was exactly what I was looking for. It had a slower pace, plenty of nature related activities, cheap food and lots of nice hostels (something Guilin seemed to lack).

After getting dinner I headed back to the hostel I was staying at. I played some pool, made some friends and then called it an early night. The one main reason I came to Yangshuo was to ride bikes. I decided I'd get up early the next day and log some serious miles on a bike.

This is the main spot downtown on the river. So beautiful!

This photo is actually from the last day I was in Yangshuo. Two girls I met (Lemon and Carmel, yes that were their names!) were nice enough to show me a scenic point in the city know as TV Tower (due to it having a TV tower ontop). I thought it was going to be a tourist spot, but as we climbed to the top I quickly realized it was not. The only other people we saw on the hike were workers climbing to the top to make a repair. Unfortunately it was super hazy, but this gives a good idea of what the surrounding area looked like!

This was a smaller village about a 20 minute walk outside Yangshuo.

On the walk to the village.

Rice patties a few minutes outside Yangshuo.

About 5 minutes after this photo, Crane and I (one of the girls who worked at the hostel I was staying at and who was nice enough to show me around) came across a house with a recently deceased woman. In the smaller villages they keep the bodies in the home for several days before burning them.

This was the main street right outside my hostel.

In china, the girls do not like to get tan. One thing they do to avoid this is attaching umbrellas to their bicycles. I saw it everywhere I went, but just couldn't get over it!

Nice light in Yangshuo.

GUILIN!!!

After spending the first 2 + weeks in major cities, I decided I wanted to see something more nature based. A good friend of mine (Hey Kristen thanks for the advice!!!) traveled through China and recommended checking out Guilin and Yangshuo, which are famous for their limestone peaks (the back of the 20 yuan note). Although I would have loved to have taken a train from Shanghai to Guilin, I ended up flying. (It was about the same price and the flight was about an hour, the train would have been about 20 hours). Kristen mentioned that Guilin was alright but the real spot to check out was Yangshuo. So I flew into Guilin and stayed for the night and the next morning I took off to Yangshuo (next blog post).

Guilin was pretty and there were some good restaurants there, but overall it was pretty touristy and not in a good way. In the long run I'm really glad I only stay for a night. If you are heading this way you'll most likely have to pass through Guilin, since Yangshuo does not have an airport or train station, but I would recommend not spending much time in Guilin. Here are a few photos:

SHANGHAI!!!

After we wrapped up production, I decided i was going to stay in China for an extra 12 days. I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go but by the end of the shoot I figured out a game plan. Although I already saw a lot of big cities, I decided to head to Shanghai since it was only a few hours away by train. After a difficult time buying a train ticket, I was on my way!!! (As a side note, China is a somewhat difficult country to travel in due to not only the language barrier but also the fact they use a whole different written language!!! Make sure to get key phases, locations, etc written in characters before trying to buy a train ticket. I had this all written down and still had a hard time)

I love traveling by train and unfortunately this was one of the only train trips I got to take. The train i was on was very clean and pretty fast. After 3 hours I was in Shanghai.

I only stayed in Shanghai for 2 days and both days were pretty overcast but I really liked the city. Honestly its probably because it is much more western then Beijing and felt a lot more manageable then Beijing. I spent my time in Shanghai just wondering around and found some pretty cool markets off the beaten path.

The only downer to Shanghai was all the construction, even worst then other cities. The 2010 World Expo is being held in Shanghai, so there is a massive amount of construction currently going on. The famous "Burd" was all torn up, which was disappointing. Oh well, I'm sure I'll pass through Shanghai again at some point in my life!

Looking towards the Burd

Most of Shanghai's water front looked like this due to all the construction.

Back alleyways in the "old town" section of Shanghai

Shanghai alleyways

The closest thing i saw to "street art."

About 5 minutes away from here are the all the tourist markets... glad i found these first.

There are still a lot of bikes in Shanghai. I'm sure not as many as 10 years ago, but there are still a lot.

and then in total contrast is the worlds fastest train. This thing was pretty remarkable to ride.

NANJING / END OF PRODUCTION

Nanjing was the last production stop on the shoot for "Play Money." Unfortunately I do not have any still photos from Nanjing. If you happen to watch my China 5d montage, you'll see some beautiful tree lined streets (which is Nanjing). I will say that Nanjing was one of the pretties cities I visited while in China! Nanjing is only about 3 hours away from Shanghai by fast train. Its also on the rail line between Beijing and Shanghai, making it pretty easy to get too. If you are planning a trip to China and are only going between Beijing and Shanghai, consider a quick stop over in Nanjing. I would say its worth it!

Like I said Nanjing was the last stop on the shoot. After about 14 days straight of shooting, it was a great feeling to wrap up the China production portion of the film. Since I do not have any photos from Nanjing, I'll post some "behind the scene" photos.

Anthony Gilmore, Director / Producer of Play Money. (Changsha)

Anthony and Jared, one of our main subjects. Jared is American but currently works in the RMT industry in china. He also speaks fluent meridian. (Changsha)

That would be myself trying to blend in... isn't working, is it? (Changsha)

This was our production Jeep in Beijing. We got a lot of looks in this thing. The guy who owns this is an American photographer living in Beijing named Mitch Pe Masilun, Check out his photo site.(Beijing)

Chairman Mao, enough said! haha. (Beijing)

HVX200a, Letus, Canon Lenses, Zacuto Support, Marshall Monitor, Kino Flow Diva, Boom, Lav, Sachtler Sticks... this is what our interview set up looked like (Rural Beijing). This was our camera "A" set up....

...and our B-camera was a Canon 5d mkII, which was suppose to keep us low profile, but I guess people in Changsha don't often see red headed foreigners shooting video with a still camera (photo via Anthony's iphone, Thanks Anthony!).