Last Sunday, after a pleasant walk in the mountains with my dog, I passed by the organic food place in my neighborhood and went to buy some buckwheat noodles. The usually sleepy venue was packed with people, most of them, it turned out, avid environmentalists. In the picture is Mrs. Hu, the store owner (and quickly becoming my personal hero), showing off her trash cans made from trash. She plans to sell them and donate the proceeds to environmental cleanup efforts.

I got into a conversation about trash cleanup. Lots of Chinese throw trash on the ground without a thought. One lady was talking up organizing a group to pick up trash somewhere in Hangzhou. She also runs a big brother big sister like program, and suggested she could bring some of the kids along. Another lady said she had some media contacts and perhaps could make a story out of it.

Mrs. Hu was telling me a story the other day about a foreigner in Western China that started picking up trash himself on the weekends and ended up inspiring more than a thousand people to join him in the process every weekend. Very inspiring to be amidst all the passion.

Here is a ridiculous video I came across. A toddler in Western China smokes an entire cigarette. No good, no good at all.

Ain't our puppy 锤锤 （hammer hammer) a cutie? For more photos check out my friend Iverson's blog.

Yup, the girl in the photo is wearing heels. On my hike up the mountain next to my house this afternoon i saw a handful of ladies doing the same. Style comes first for some I guess. hehe, from their expressions it looked liked they were paying the price. I also saw a few monks walking really slow; very relaxing to watch. As it's Saturday, the path was fairly packed with people.
Orange peels and chewed up sugar cane lined the way, along with a bunch of trash unfortunately. Nearly everyone commented on my dog, who also came along. She's turning into a great friend maker and quite the hiker. The mountain next to my house is called the north peak, but two mountains right next to it are taller so I'm not really sure why it has the name. hehe.