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Crossing the Changjiang River. We know this river as the Yangzi. Hundreds of years ago, a foreign trader became confused and told the world about the long Yangzi river, and the name stuck.
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Fuling is just on the other side of this cool-looking bridge. Like Chongqing, Fuling was built at the junction of the Yangzi and Wu rivers.
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Picture of the Yangzi river. Note the tiny white squares on the opposite shore (hard to see - about one cm from the river). This is where the water level will be once the Three Gorges Dam is full. While this will not flood the orphanage, 68590 people in this city alone will be relocated.
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| Toll booth for the bridge. Unlike the San Francisco bay bridges, one must pay the toll going both ways. Still, it costs much less than the U.S. bridge tolls. After this toll booth, we have entered into Fuling.
Fuling city used to be called Zhixian, Fuling prefecture, Fuxhou and Fuling county. It covers a total area of 2,842 square kilometres with a population of 1.04 million. Fuling is famous for preserved vegetables and the birth place of Renée.
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On the upper-part of this valley is the future home for the Fuling orphanage. Though not state-of-the-art, it looks like it will be very nice facility. Definitely, there will be more space for the babies. Interesting side note, China seems to promote foster care over orphanages, since the child has more one-on-one time with a parent-figure. Will see if this impacts the orphanages at all. Chinese are more likely to be foster parents to child, but very few Chinese adopt their own. In some orphanages in more musilm areas do not allow their children to be adopted.
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In Fuling city, this is an interesting picture with a brand new apartment build next to an old farm. With all the building going on, it will not be long before all the farms are outside the city limit - kinda like the orange orchards in Phoenix.
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Fuling police car. We have heard that there is not a lot of crime in Fuling. So they are probably off to get an egg role, or their donut equivalant.
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Building in Fuling.
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The only building in Fuling which is based on European architecture.
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Corner vegetable stand just one block from the orphanage.
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Fruit stand in Fuling. The orphanage is just around the bend on the right.
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Fuling Stadium. Though it has the Olympic rings, it has absolutely nothing to do with the Olympics. Still, it seems to be a nice facility.
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Another building by the Fuling Stadium.
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Stores in Fuling.
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Another building in Fuling.
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A man pushing his belongings up hill. In Fuling and Chongqing, we saw both men and women pushing their carts everywhere.
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Our tour guide asked "What is the national bird of China?"
The Crane ;-)
There are cranes everywhere. Here is a view of the new apartments in Fuling. These obviously will not be flooded by Three Gorges dam.
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A gas station in Fuling which we visited. Each gas station has a star-rating system. This one was a 3-star station, whatever that means. In the Chongqing area, they use natural gas (not petrolium) to power their cars and buses. They says it results in less air-borne polution.
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