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To Grandmother's house we go. . .
I think they look alike here, don't you? Pam's chocoate chip cookies- we gave her the recipe, but she truly perfected them! After our visit in Phoenix, we headed to Tucson to spend the rest of the week with Tom's parents. We had a wonderful time. Stan got to meet Anders for the first time,…
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Tibetan children- I want one!
By the time we were in Tibet I was missing Scotland like crazy. I had this overwhelming desire to run up and grab every child I saw so I could just give them a big hug and kiss. Considering, how awkward that would have been for the child and family, I resorted to taking pictures:…
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Traveler's note
Here's a note from my journal: Eating a “bucket of noodles,” the Chinese equivalent of the $1 burger, at the airport. We ate several of these over the course of our trip. They're available everywhere and at 75cents-$1 you can't beat the price. The airports all provide boiling water. Yesterday was a travel day. We…
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Three Gorges Dam
Locks The final morning of the cruise was spent touring the Three Gorges Dam. It's a massive site, and (surprise, surprise) the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. We went through the locks the night before, which were particularly impressive, having seen Panama's a few years ago. Four- six cruise boat size boats can…
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Fengdu
Our first shore excursion was to Fengdu, the Ghost city. It's a very odd place, believed to be, essentially, hell. Beautiful pagoda at the top of the hill. The Chinese believed that pagodas helped contain floods, so they lined the hills along the Yangtze with them. These were some of the devils in the oldest…
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Yangtze River Cruise
Our boat, the Victoria Katarina Pam's main request for our trip to China was to take a cruise on the Yangtze, we were all glad she suggested it. After several intense days of travel and site seeing, it was the rest and respite we needed before our next adventure. There's something so soothing about being…
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Chongqing
From Xi'an we flew to Chongqing where we were to board the boat for our Yangtze River cruise. We arrived hours before we could get on the boat so our driver took us to this beautiful park. Chongqing was once called “ChongKong” by foreigners because it was such a huge financial hub. It continues to…
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Xi'an II
My favorite part of Xi'an was the Muslim Quarter and Great Mosque. I'd read rave reviews about this part of town on tripadvisor and other blogs and so I wanted to check it out. It lived up to its reputation. The streets are lined with amazing market stalls, small alleyways separate the buildings leading…
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Xi'an I
Terra Cotta Warriors Pit 1 One thing I didn't realize before, but that you can see is that the bodies were made separate from the heads. Notice the headless body in the bottom center of the photo. The hole you see in the center of the photo is from a modern well. Amazing that this…
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Beijing III
I continue to be shocked at how populated, build up, and advanced it is here. I knew that Beijing and Shanghai would be modern, developed cities, but I expected the others to be more like large villages. My ignorance has been blaring. Even “small cities” in China number in the millions of occupants. With Chongqing…