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Today, most of the Shikumen have been replaced by apartment buildings.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.

Final few photos from Japan

It's cherry blossom season and the country has gone mad...

… there are tourists everywhere and even Olivia and Julia from the Bay

Early morning Keiko (sumo training) with some trainees that obviously need to eat lots more rice.

The shinto monks at Meiji Jingu performing morning rituals

Daily tuna auction at Tsukijii….at 5am…yawn

'Snow Monkeys' in Jigokudani Park (close to Nagano)… they were all distracted by a young male being 'put in his place' by a dominant male

A day of spring skiing in Hakuba (close to Nagano) with Ralf.  A few locals joined in our impromptu baseball game and had a good laugh

Ghibli: our favorite museum in Tokyo.  Obviously we're not the only ones as the waiting list to get into the museum is about a month long...

Goodbye, Japan… I miss the formal bows already...

Kyoto

The 'Golden' or Kinkakuji temple is the best known temple in Japan, with meticulously upkept gardens.  The army of gardeners in Kyoto never stops working.

The Nijojo fort has rooms with creaky (nightingale) floors to prevent assassins from sneaking up on the emperor.

However, the decorative details...

…and mossy forests were my favorites

We were fortunate to see this friendly couple on their way to be married in one of the temple gardens.  These rickshaws are popular modes of tourist transport in Kyoto… but typically they wear t-shirts

Jex and Bruce reviewing plum and cherry blossom photos..

Origami Kaiken

This small store/museum has amazing pieces of wet folded as well as traditional and unit origami on display.

The fabric on these pieces is hard to tell apart from the real thing.  Even the tree in the background is made of paper

We took a class with Mr. Fukui (author of one of the books) and learned a bit about the wet folding technique  (frilled lizard on left).  Jex also bought a couple of books and we now have dozens of creatures and unit origami pieces all over the apartment.