Colin's Camera #1 (Post by Colin, typed by Mom)

Hello, I’m Colin.  I want to explain to you how this first started up.  It all started when I took a lot of pictures on my camera that I got for Christmas.  Now, I’m taking lots of pictures on our awesome all around the world trip.  I’d like to share with you some of my great pictures, along with my family’s that you can find in other places on this blog.  I will also be writing about my pictures and telling you stuff that has happened.

I hope you enjoy my pictures!

Colin

These pictures were taken in Mongolia.  It was super fun there because we got to go into the desert and we got to ride horses four times.  And we got to ride two-humper camels one time.

At first I thought it was a gazelle, but later I found out that it is called an ibex.  It is really hard to find them because they do not like humans to be close to them.  Very territorial.  We just spotted two young ones running away.  They kept trying to climb a tall rock but failed.

I never knew that meercats and pikas lived anywhere.  I only learned about them on this trip.  It was fun trying to find them when some of the little ones were just whizzing past and ducking behind grass and going into their holes.

In another part of Mongolia, we were hiking up a small hill to get to a monastery.  There were signs along the path that said everything about life and stuff.  From down below, the monastery was supposed to look like an elephant.  I did not think it looked like an elephant, though I could see how the stairs could look like a trunk.  I really do think they could have done a better job constructing that, but it doesn’t really matter to me anyways.

Later we visited the Hall of Clocks at the Forbidden City.  It had a bunch of clocks.  They were all made of gold and all sorts of jewels.  They were also very pretty.  One of the amazing ones was an elephant pulling a cart that had soldiers in it.  At the top of each hour, the trunk would swing, the soldiers would move, and so would the cart.

The Great Wall of China was very interesting, but it was also very tiring to climb because it is all steps.  I found it a little hard going to the far end and then back to the other far end, but I managed to make it.  If you ever go there, be sure to bring a lot of food and water because you stop every once in a while when you get tired.

The Terracotta Soldiers were so amazing.  I don’t see how they could construct thousands of stone shaped sculptures that looked exactly like battle people in just one person’s lifetime.  They used to have swords and spears and any kinds of weapons with them, but a new dynasty rose and they were all taken away.

The cruise was very fun.  I was amazed that on the cruise they not only had a multi-function hall, karaoke, police station, and swimming pool, but that it had a children’s park.  We went on a small little boat and then a super small boat the size of a canoe down a river.  It was very interesting but when we were in the canoe we saw something that scared us very much.  It was a gigantic black bug that looked like a butterfly, only it was probably like something maybe 5 inches big.  We don’t know what it is, and it is still a mystery to us.  I hope that we can later find out what it is.

The pandas were nothing like I ever saw.  At one time, we got very lucky as the woman working there brought out two 3 month old pandas.  They were super adorable, and we probably sat there for a good 30 minutes watching them squirm around helplessly. 

Our first panda that we watched looked right at me just as I snapped the picture. 

At one point we passed a group of seven pandas.  They looked like they might be sub-adults.  

Later we saw pandas that probably just got their eyes, because pandas don’t get their eyes until they’re 6 weeks old!  But they were also very cute, just like the first ones.  Probably cuter, and I can’t imagine a little thing that’s pink, the size of a mouse, turning into something that’s about the size of a bear.  I was amazed by the sight of this.

We went to one enclosure where 2 pandas about a year old were wrestling.  They kept shoving the other into a pit and the mother just watched them.  At one point, she got up and started scratching her bottom on one of the sticks.  I was so lucky to get a video of this, and I think it is hilarious.  I think you will, too.  Then, once it looked like the mother panda had had enough of her wrestling children, she walked over and sat on one of her children’s faces.  The other panda backed off like he was scared.  I can tell why he would be scared.  The panda under the bottom then rolled out of there and fell into the pit.  Then they started to playfully bite each other and the mom.

I took a video of another person bringing out 2 month old pandas.  One was bigger than the others and got a back rub by the lady who worked there.  If you want to know what a panda noise is, just watch the video.  And you’ve already heard that different countries think animals make different noises…well, this one is the TRUE panda noise.

At another point, we were walking and looking at the red pandas high in the tree.  

Then, all of a sudden, we had an aggressive, territorial red panda walking on the path that was fenced off.  Everyone kept their distance and thankfully he was walking straight.  A lot of people followed him and we never heard from them again.