Friday, July 30, 2010
Shanghai World Expo
Thanks to Sharon for this series of photos of Heidi playing in the fountain on the top of the Denmark pavillion!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Post Mess-Up
OK, just checking out the blog for the first time and realizing that the last few pics are screwed up.... not sure what happened, but SORRY!!! :( Will fix this evening, if I get a chance.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Great Wall XIII - Restaurant by the River
Our restaurant from the outside... well, the not-inside... the not-under.... er, well, from the bridge across the river. :D
Great Wall XII -- Lunch!!
Back down where we started our Wall hike, we went to an open-air restaurant and had a FABULOUS lunch! The dishes kept coming and coming and coming, each one better than the last -- we all thought we'd burst! From the left: Anja (from Poland), Petra (from Holland), Sharon (from my friend from work), Solen (from France -- and I'm sure I spelled her name completely wrong...), me (you know where I'm from), and Heidi (and you know she's from the same place as me, right?). Michael took the photo (and you know where he's from too, and yes, he was the only boy!).
Great Wall XI -- The End of the Wall
Think I may have uploaded the wrong picture with the last post (hard to tell, since blogger is so inconveniently blocked in China :P), so here is the *right* picture (I hope...)
Our tour ended here, because this part of the Wall is not in good enough condition to walk on it. You can see a road in the bottom of the valley leading into a tunnel through the Wall. Beyond the tunnel, there are trees and bushes growing on the top of the Wall and it's obvious Mother Nature is well on her way to reclaiming it.
Our tour ended here, because this part of the Wall is not in good enough condition to walk on it. You can see a road in the bottom of the valley leading into a tunnel through the Wall. Beyond the tunnel, there are trees and bushes growing on the top of the Wall and it's obvious Mother Nature is well on her way to reclaiming it.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Great Wall XII - Raven (Crow?) on the Edge
Looking down over the edge where Petra was standing, where only the birds dare go...
Great Wall XI - Petra
One of the members of our tour group, Petra, who is from Holland, standing on the edge of the traverseable part of Wall we were on. This is as far as one could go without risking one's neck!
Great Wall II
The Wall across the river from the part that we climbed. Our guide said that the Wall used to run across the road and there was a gate there, but the Japanese blew it up during World War II.
Rebar Transport
Michael was amused by how rebar was delivered to a construction site -- by handcart!!
Forbidden City -- Don't Touch Means....
just go ahead and touch whatever you want! The Chinese have "rules", which are more *suggestions* than rules. Like where we went for our hike on the Great Wall... but more about that later....
Forbidden City -- Elephant!
For Sarah! :) Sorry, but we couldn't bring this one home -- he was too heavy!
Forbidden City -- Buildings III
The Emperor's Throne (I think.... there were so many people in front of the sign, I couldn't read it, so this might be something else entirely....).
Forbidden City -- Buildings
The buildings that have been restored are magnificent, but many have not been touched and look quite run down.
Forbidden City -- It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a ... a.... a... hmmmm...
Either a turtle with fangs, a dragon with a shell, or a.... dragon-turtle! :D
Forbidden City -- Imperial Dragons
Imperial dragons have FIVE toes (go ahead -- count them!), not four, not three -- FIVE!
Forbidden City --
Sharon (open your eyes!), Bethanie & Michael! We're outside the main entrance across the street from Tiananmen Square (Mao's picture is right over my head...).
Forbidden City -- Lions at the Gates
These were pretty cool -- there was one on each side of the gate.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Forbidden City -- Hoards of Tourists!!!
It was packed. And I mean PACKED. To see what amounts to a government administration complex. Not all that great, actually.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
In Xi'an
Just a quick post to say we made it on the train to Xi'an and had a great birthday afternoon walking around the Muslim Quarter, seeing the very Chinese Great Mosque, and eating long noodles! We'll go see the Terracotta Army today and then catch the train to Beijing this evening and pick up Michael tomorrow night at the airport! Yaay!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Shanghai Expo - Mongolian Pavillion
We generally stuck to the smaller, less impressive pavillions at the Expo, because the lines for the big ones like Japan and Korea were just RIDICULOUS (like 5-hours-long ridiculous), and there was really a lot of very cool stuff. The Mongolian pavillion was one of my favorites for the sheer variety -- everything from dinosaur fossils to this wagon, which is put together without a single nail or peg -- it's all put together with "puzzle work".
Jing'an Park - Dragonfly
This dragonfly (at least, that's what we think it is....) was THE most amazing shade of bright pink!
Jing'an Park
After we were done sightseeing in the temple, we crossed the street (a whole adventure in itself....) to walk around this park. We had lunch in the restaurant that you can just barely see on the left.
Jing'an Temple - View of Main Temple
This is a view of the main temple and the courtyard in front of it from the walkway a story or so above. People throw coins to generate good fortune into the big, teapot looking thing in the center. (We threw some too!)
Jing'an Temple - Creatures X
And my favorite: Dragons on the Roof! This is the roof of the main temple with the 30-foot (or so) silver seated Buddha inside. Love the way it frames the roof of the modern building in the background.
Jing'an Temple - Creatures V
Lions (in the background) and me (raaar! = i am a creature too... :D ).
Jing'an Temple - Creatures II
The rooves of the temple buildings were decorated with all sorts of guilded animals, including this lovely elephant.
Jing'an Temple - Creatures!
The lion guarding the gate to the Jing'an Temple, which is a huge, ornate Buddhist temple in the heart of a major shopping district in the middle of downtown Shanghai. It's quite impressive, especially considering how it is surrounded by modern skyscrapers.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
French Concession - Tree lined street
Our second day here, we took a walk through the old French Concession -- the area of the city that the French "settled" during the colonial days. Very pretty tree-lined streets were all over the place.
Yu Yuan Gardens - Creatures !! !!!
Lion! I think... I'm pretty sure. Chinese lions look different... :D
Yu Yuan Gardens - Creatures !!!!
Deer in a window! Not sure what the technical name for such a sculpture is, but it was really neat (if a bit dusty).
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