Time for Some Sites!

Starting at the flight over... the mountains of Siberia from the airplane window! Shanghai from the Shanghai TV Tower...Once in Shanghai... outside the police station, the officers park their bikes... see the red light!

A cool shot that kinda shows what this whole trip is about! Technology at the speed of light!A view of Tiannamen Square in Beijing, China...

The smog was a little thick the day we visited the Bird's Nest of the 2008 Olympics fame!

A few views of the Great Wall of China...

Men gather in parks to play cards and dominoes and more. Look into the tree... see the birdcages? The people don't have dogs (too expensive, really!) so they take their birds out for their social gatherings to give them some air!
A view of the Emporer's Summer Palace in Beijing.

Yes, these are seahorses on a stick at the Bizaar Foods Market... that's nothing compared to some of the stuff there!!Our "pedi-cab" driver... like a rickshaw but using a bike for power!Ah, yes! A cup of coffee never tasted so good!! It is a Starbuck's!

Nagoya Castle in Nagoya, Japan... A detail of the rooftop of the Castle...

What it looks like when East meets West... or modern meets history! A lion guardian outside of a Shinto shrine...In Nara, we visited many a Buddhist Temple and Shinto Shrine... enjoy the next few slides of the sites...
Nara, Japan at night... we had to dress in kimono for dinner... we all ventured out to see the lights of the pagoda. The pagoda was wonderful, the people on our trip were more the spectacle!!

By the lake early in the day... A Buddhist shrine in Kyoto, Japan... rain visited us today, but it didn't dampen the wonder!

These Faces Fascinate Me

The people of Asia have been some of the most sincere people that I have met... they don't know me or our group from a hole in the wall, but that doesn't matter to them - they smile with abandon, they laugh and offer help without a hesitation, they are gentle souls.

More to Love

The More Faces of Asia

These sweet little people were in the Forbidden City while we were touring... it is so interesting, everywhere that there is a tour group, you will find them in hats... it could be red, like these folks or an entire group adorned in Burberry!!

The Beijing Opera was a few nights ago, but these photos were too good to not post!!

In the Meiji Architectural Museum, we stumbled upon a display of traditional Japanese dancers!

Photo Issues!!

There seems to be a problem here in Japan with the ability to post pictures. Unfortuntely, I can't upload any at the moment while we are in Nagoya... so I guess you will have to settle for words!!

We have wrapped up our stay in Beijing with the trip to the Bell Tower and the traditional Chinese neighborhood called a hudong. These are the types of "old" neighborhoods that you will find the courtyard type of houses and the people all living close depending on each other for support and social time... you don't find too many young folks living in these neighborhoods because they have all moved to the city for the apartments and condo living. The older folks that stay behind can't imagine ever leaving the hudong. This is their way of life and they would be lost if they ever had to leave. The day for an older Chinese person is exercise in the morning (think Tai Chi), grocery shopping, cooking and socializing with their friends - why would they ever want to leave their home?
Saturday evening, we flew to Japan landing in Nagoya (4th largest city). Sunday morning, we traveled to the Nagoya Castle in the morning and then to the Meiji Architectural Museum for lunch and the afternoon. Made it back to the hotel for a short rest and then the shopping commenced! You talk about some fashions here!! Short shorts are the style and hats are everywhere. But not just any hats... wool hats, fur hats, happy face hats, you name it, you got it!! No, I did not buy any hats!!
Today, we visited two schools here in Nagoya - the junior high school (junior consists of 7th, 8th, and 9th) and the upper high school (10th, 11th and 12th). The kids are simply wonderful! They are friendly, happy and so very sweet and thoughtful! We had a traditional Tea served to us by the Tea Club where the kids learn the tea ceremony ways of old. Gift giving is very big here in Japan and their faces lit up when we exchanged our gifts to thank our hosts for their incredible hospitality. Then we traveled back to the city and our hotel for a dinner and continued discussion about the possibilties for information exchange (I would really love to see face to face exchanges!!)... who's up for that?? I have tons of photos for all of this, I only wish that I could access them to show you!!
Please be patient about picture posting and maybe in the next couple of days (once we are in Kyoto) I can really put some photos out here for you to see!!

Photo Overload

The Yu Garden Market is the first taste of real bargain shopping going on... there is a culturally and historically important site here... but to get to it, you have the opportunity to buy genuine Chinese artifacts... squishy dolls, packs of ten chopsticks and multitudes of Chinese Hangy things! The Gardens are 400 years old and are quite beautiful! Next onto the watertown of Tonghli - it felt like you stepped back in time to visit an ancient chinese village. The gardens were beautiful and the waterfalls made the most wonderful sound! After visiting the garden. there appears this man collecting empty bottles of water... I chugged it down and gave it to him and he became a friend for life! The boat ride later on a canal was so wonderful.

We flew to Beijing later that afternoon and stayed in the North Garden Inn right in the busiest district of Beijing. Never in a million years would I have thought that I would end up in Tianneman Square or the Temple of Heaven or the Summer Palace of the "Dragon Queen" - Empress Cixi. And at night the trips to the Food Market presented some very interesting sights. Seahorses, scorpions, silk worm cocoons, and come kinds of bugs were all there for the fryinf and the eating... no I did not try it, but my friend and fellow teacher John Stephany of The Hutchinson School in Memphis rose to the occasion. Let's say that it didn't stay with him long!Enjoy the pictures, they can speak far more than I can!!