Tibet

Johkang Temple, one of the holiest sites in Tibet, draws pilgrims from all corners of the country.

These monks were preparing for a festival the following day.  They, like Bruce, were drinking coke zero.

Potala Palace, now open to the public, was previously the home of the Dalai Lama and his administration.  It's repainted annually with white pigment, yak milk and sugar.

The three colors of the palace signify the function of each structure: red=religious, white=administrative, yellow= living quarters

These ladies were among the thousands who visit the palace daily.  The locals were very quick to smile and loved Kida's blond hair.  Their own hair was usually waist length braids (men and women)  interwoven with colorful pieces of cloth.  These aprons with the horizontal lines indicate that they're married.

The practice of prostrating yourself on your way to the temple is pretty common.  Some villagers take 2-3 years to arrive in Lhasa in this manner, pushing a pebble in front of them the whole way…. and I thought P90x was hard.

Jex is now 6'4" and the Tibetans always grinned when they mimed how tall he was.

Time's up

Time's up… we're on our way home to California

Yangshuo

Yangshuo is the poster child for China, picturesque, friendly and bike friendly.  The smoke in the background is from fireworks for a wedding party.

It flooded the first couple of days we were there.  The stone causeway to our lodge was 4' under water.  Fortunately there was an alternate route.

Friends from Canada joined us and we biked along the rivers and through the ancient towns.

This area supports two rice crops annually.  The rice straw hats that always seemed so comical to me now made a lot of sense in the sweltering heat.

Shanghai- Round town

Noodle pulling is an art at the 'Henan Lamian' shop close to our house.  Noodles are made fresh and 'with attitude' for each order

'A Niang Noodles'  dishes up 'croakers' (yellow fish) in a broth that is so tasty there are line ups every day at lunchtime.

This tiny animal market a block from our house sells 'lucky' crickets in bamboo baskets (at right)  as well as birds, turtles, chickens, cats, ducks, chipmunks….  One of the bird shops has a resident cat…go figure?!

On a 'gangster tour' of Xintiandi we learned about the opium dealers and how the drugs were safely delivered in police cars.  We also got to try our hand at pickpocketing and cheating at cards.  Yes, our year of homeschooling is going very well! 

Shanghai has copious examples of art deco as the 'Bund' (financial district) and many of the expat neighborhoods were built in the early 1900's.  Monika and Daniela (visiting from Canada) were kind enough to believe that we knew what we were talking about.

Xi'an

Xi'an (no idea why the ') is the location of the Terra Cotta Warriors.  Pretty impressive array of clay soldiers and horses, all with individual features.

This is the 'hospital area'  where the freshly unearthed warriors are repaired prior to being put on display.  They still have years worth of warriors to fix and likely many more sites to unearth.  Xi'an was the center of power in China for hundreds of years.

All of the warriors were originally painted but within hours of being exposed to the air the colors fade to beige. 

The cave on the top left is the home of cliff dwellers that live close to Xi'an; naturally cool in the summer and warm in winter.  Not so brilliant at venting smoke, though.

This woman lives in a residence attached to a cave.  Her husband is a cook in another town and her kids are working in the city.  She tends to her vegetable garden and her walnut orchards on her own….which she seems to prefer.  She was really quick and funny and bragged about how she beat all the men at Mahjong.

We were thrilled with she pulled out her tiles and offered to teach us how to play.  

Within short order other women from the village joined the game and at one point four of them were ensuring that Bruce didn't make any wrong moves.

Xi'an (the city, not the warrior site) is surrounded by a 13km long defensive wall that you can bike on top of…very cool views down into the city.

Shikumen

Shikumen (shanghai row houses) opposite our apartment

In the late 18 and early 1900's 80% of Shanghai's population lived in Shikumen.   

They combined European and Asian design elements.  Large stone gates provided access to narrow lanes called Longtangs and the entrances to the residences.  There is a Longtang entry in the photo above just to the right of the green and orange sign. 

Small businesses, like this motorcycle repair shop, are located on the street level below the residences.

This may not seem clean to a western eye but it is well swept, orderly and the residents take pride in their living areas.

The chalkboards above the bike parking in this Longtang advocate respect for others, cleanliness and civic pride.

Today, most of the Shikumen have been replaced by apartment buildings.  Some of the remaining buildings have been gentrified and become high end shopping districts.  Others, like the noodle shops above, are eking out their last hours.  

It's ironic that the clients above are mostly construction workers who are tearing down the adjacent Shikumen.

 

Beijing

The Forbidden City in Beijing was only opened to the public in 1965.  It was built for Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties (24 of them)…. all 180 acres of it!

The details on the building roofs indicate the importance of the building.. per our professional guides: Jex and Kida

These dragons were ornate coverings for water drainage spouts from higher level decks.

Copper embossed trimwork below windows on Throne room

May locals asked to take photos with us and one young man gave Kida a national flag as a thank-you

Our kids are becoming professional posers… Didn't expect that as part of our international curriculum. 

We hiked along a remote section of the China wall and didn't see a single tourist for 3 hours.

The wind was howling in from Mongolia and crossing the dam (on the left) to get onto the wall was a wet affair.

A ladder is required to access the 'outside' of the wall (Mongolian) but the interior side has regular access points every li (1/2 kilometer).  Mom came from Canada to hike in Beijing!

Some parts of the wall were completely eroded and quite steep.

Other parts were smoothly repaved with tall protective walls on both sides.  We appreciated the wind protection in these areas.

First week in Shanghai

The 'great china fire wall' prevents blogging from our apartment.  We have snuck around the wall to publish from Bruce's office.

We've arrived in crazy Shanghai.  This iconic view from the Bund is only topped by one from a bar inside one of these high-rises…martini in hand...

The streets are not quite as chaotic as Mumbai but just as dirty and you always need to watch that you're not run over by a stack of cardboard on wheels.

Many small groups of men meet in parks to play games (cards here)

Barracuda for sale in the wet market 3 blocks from our apartment…not sure I'm brave enough to attempt cooking them.. and also a bit nervous about the heavy metals in the locally caught fish.