Weekly Photo Challenge: Solitary
I am just lucky I suppose. Being given solitary experience is a huge opportunity. There is so much to discover and then share. OK OK this is a photo challenge: Here goes
So, who is solitary?
The woman in silhouette?
The runner in white sweatshirt?
Not all those tower blocks with hundreds thousands millions of people?
None of them
the solitary is me behind the camera
this picture of the recreation grounds in the Huangpu district of Guangzhou was a shortcut from where my chinese in-laws lived to the nearest Starbucks, for my coffee. I took photos.
You would not believe, but I really had not taken it in,
the recreation ground belonged to the local Chinese Army Barracks
White western woman taking photos…maybe I shouldn’t be publishing here…
On my next attempt to walk through the rec, I was banned. Very polite, very young, very unshakeable chinese guards told me I could not enter.
No different from anywhere. Probably nicer than most places. I had to walk all the way round (about 3 miles of street) if I wanted that coffee.
The solitary different person does not take photos of army territory, even of innocuous running track.
I may not have been the only western person in HuangPu, though until my son arrived I might have been, Guangzhou is a huge city with many westerners, but this is not one of the areas where they usually live. I do think I was probably the only western white-haired elderly woman in the whole of the area. What on earth did I think I was doing?
‘Solitary’ seems personal, it says “I am the only one, I’m by myself”.
An opportunity…
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My World, Your World, One World 
Interesting back story. I want to read more.
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nice article 🙂 and thanks so much for the pingback! Lived in China too, Chengdu. Really miss it even though sometimes it’s tough to be ‘the foreigner’ all the time.
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I loved Chengdu when I was there – the river seemed to be all around. Chengdu was where I discovered I could walk about anywhere in the evening and still feel safe, however different I was. Not like my own home!
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The woman in black, is to me the solitary figure. She looks quite out of place there.
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All sorts of people used the place as a short-cut as well as for recreation, not surprising I didn’t really realise it was army territory.
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As there hasn’t been a new WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge so far this week, perhaps you’d like to join in the Weekly Travel Theme http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/09/28/travel-theme-foliage/ xxx Ailsa
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what a good thought -I’ll look it up, thanks
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