It was a little cloudy, which obscured the view of the actual act. This might be equally as interesting though.

These pictures were fairly easy to edit. I liked the light. Only some of the buildings had lights turned on; and there was more river traffic than a normal evening. More to come.

These little paper glasses were available all over the place, usually street vendors that set up at curbs for several days prior to the eclipse.

continue reading

She looks so happy.

This is how Mongolians nearly conquered the world. They barbecue lamb meat. Shirtless. And smoke two cigarettes.

Don’t recall if I’ve posted pictures of either of these ubiquitous phenomenon: bottle hunting and illegal documents hawking. Many homeless / retired people will spend their afternoons hunting for plastic bottles (normally involving sifting through trash cans), to take to a place like this, which gives them some money (1毛 for 1L bottles, 5毛 for 2.5L bottles). Presumably, the these people then take it to a larger recycling facility, and obtain some amount of profit simply on volume. Here’s a wider shot, showing the loaded truck.

There are also numerous ‘illegal document’ hawkers. They pass out contact information for people who can get you fake receipts (primarily used to charge more on expense accounts from work – many government jobs have such policies), and fake certificates. One thing that’s unclear is why the hawkers are (99% of the time) middle aged women, often with kids. As near as I can tell, it’s because it’s a fairly simple thing to stand outside, shout, and pass out business cards. At least you don’t need to hire someone to care for the child.