Guilin and Angkor Wat
Jun. 30th, 2007 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khiemtranI went to visit some friends today, and ended up poring over (virtual) albums of photos from two places I've never been. (This being 2008, the albums were on a laptop on the dining table.)
Both places are ones that I find particularly fascinating. Angkor Wat, I could spend hours looking at, but it's especially interesting to see things from a tourist's eye view instead of a text book. Somehow putting everything at a human scale and having mundane touches like other tourists walking around in th background makes it feel more like I've actually been there.
Guilin is interesting from a writing and world-building point of view, because it shows what else can be with similar terrain to the setting of The Silver Bowl. Look at those tree-lined hills - why aren't there terraces? Look at those rafts, how do they get the bamboo curved like that? What does a fishing comorant feel like on your arm? Heavy? Light? And what names did the locals have for each of those karst peaks? Actually, Guilin is also a place I'd really like to visit, for the people as well as the scenery. One of the fascinating things about China is how many different peoples there are, each with their local dialects and customs.
Both places are ones that I find particularly fascinating. Angkor Wat, I could spend hours looking at, but it's especially interesting to see things from a tourist's eye view instead of a text book. Somehow putting everything at a human scale and having mundane touches like other tourists walking around in th background makes it feel more like I've actually been there.
Guilin is interesting from a writing and world-building point of view, because it shows what else can be with similar terrain to the setting of The Silver Bowl. Look at those tree-lined hills - why aren't there terraces? Look at those rafts, how do they get the bamboo curved like that? What does a fishing comorant feel like on your arm? Heavy? Light? And what names did the locals have for each of those karst peaks? Actually, Guilin is also a place I'd really like to visit, for the people as well as the scenery. One of the fascinating things about China is how many different peoples there are, each with their local dialects and customs.
