Lijiang Prefecture

Yunnan Province

China

June 5, 2014

Hello,

Does anyone remember the insufferable strains of The Blue Danube Waltz from a movie released in 1969?

In his epic movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, the director Stanley Kubrickused that Johann Strauss tune as a backdrop to the flight of the space ship Discovery as it hurtled towards Jupiter.

That shot of the Discovery out in dark space lingered on the screen for what seemed like an endless light year.  Why use such a technique?  Would it alienate the moviegoer?  Didn’t we all squirm in our seats and feel impatient and uncomfortable?  

I suppose Kubrick hoped, that by keeping the spacecraft on the screen for an usually long time, his audience would get a sense of the immensity of space and the incalculable time needed to travel to the deep reaches of the Solar System.

Now I’m no cinematographer.  And I haven’t yet been drafted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  For the first three days of my road trip in Yunnan, I have merely sat passively in an automobile while my guide and driver have accompanied me through the splendid scenery of Lijiang Prefecture along the Jinsha River and the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. 

Yes, I can post a few photos.  But at the risk of your impatience and discomfort, I am requesting your sufferance, hoping that by sharing a large number of images, you will sense the grandeur and enormity of seemingly endless chains of mountains. 

HAL