more trip pictures!

I just wanted to post out the new little slideshow gadget on my site--right there on the top left side. Pretty cool, eh? You can see all the pictures I haven't posted on my blog, as well as the ones I have.

The only downside is that I can include only one album of pictures at a time on the slideshow. Since I've divided my photos into albums based on which city they were taken in, I actually have several albums worth of photos, so I can't make them all visible in the slideshow at once. That's actually probably a good thing. If you sat through all the photos I took in the last four weeks, you'd be sitting there for quite a while.

If you're interested in seeing more pictures from our entire trip, you can see them here, in my picasa.com account. I'm in the process of adding more (I took a TON of photos, so it's a long process), so please, check in later to see even more shots.

trip in review: Guilin

I can't speak for everyone, but my favorite city among the cities we visited was by far Guilin. We were there from January 28 to February 1. I already wrote a little bit about it here, but I'll just reiterate: Guilin was beautiful.

Besides climbing dozens of mountains and exploring their weird, rock-star light-show caves, we also got the opportunity to ride on a bamboo raft down the Li River. The weather was warm and springlike every day that we were there (except for the very first foggy day). It was amazing.

It's hard to describe just how nice it was there, so I'll let some pictures speak for themselves.





Kung-Fu Erin! Hi-YA!




View from bamboo raft




Me in front of Elephant Nose hill



Inside one of Guilin's caves

mmm...breakfast!

New Year's lanterns at Fubo mountain

On top of Fubo Mountain

Misty mountains behind Ben

In the underwater tunnel between Sun and Moon pagodas

Sun and Moon pagodas

trip in review: Wuzhen

So, I was looking back at the entries I've already posted about our trip, and I thought the best way to fill in the gaps would be to post an entry about each of the places we visited, along with some pictures. I already put up some pictures from Shanghai and Hangzhou, our first and second destinations (from 1/20-1/27). I'll just pick up from there.

Wuzhen wasn't really a destination of it's own, but still cool enough to warrant a blog entry. We took a day trip from Hangzhou to visit this little town. It's kind of hard to describe. Basically, it's built on a series of waterways, and has been restored to resemble a Qing-era village. But people just go on living and working right in the areas of the town that have been restored, so when you go to visit it, it's not like you're walking through a dead museum house of the Qing. Instead, you're walking right through the place where people live today, surrounded by artifacts and elements of a previous era.

Kind of strange.

But fascinating all the same. Also, there are demonstrations put on by the townspeople of a number of crafts, such as weaving, winemaking, and dyeing the blue and white cloth they have been making for centuries.

Ben in a Wuzhen alleyway

Wuzhen market




Play in the public square





River ferry




Ben and Wuzhen dyed fabric

We loved Wuzhen. And then we almost got stuck there. The day we went there was the first day of the Chinese New Year, and so some of the later buses were cancelled that day (I'm still not entirely sure why). We didn't know that the buses were cancelled in advance, so when we showed up to take the last bus back to Hangzhou (where all our stuff was, and where we needed to be in order to take a train away from there the next morning), we were told there was no bus for us.


Oh, man.


A moment of panic followed. And then two really nice girls from Guangzhou, who were planning to take the same bus, showed up like knights on gleaming white horses. Hearing that we, too, needed to get back to Hangzhou, they simply said to us, "Let's go to Hangzhou," and even though we had no idea how they intended to accomplish that, we followed them like puppies. They knew what they were doing. They instantly starting negotiating with a line of taxi drivers lined up outside the station. We all ended up hiring a guy in a van to drive us all the way back to Hangzhou for 300 kuai (about $40 USD). We were all a bit stunned when we realized we had actually made it back.

we're home!

We made it! We are back in Tianjin. We walked into our neglected (and incredibly dusty) apartment about 45 minutes ago. First task: change into some clothes that aren't one of the three outfits I've been wearing for the past four weeks. Second task: order pizza. Third task: get online and let you all know we've made it back.

Fourth task is going to be kind of a multi-step process: 1.) eat the pizza we ordered, 2.) watch a DVD, and 3.) completely veg out on the couch before falling into an exhausted sleep in our very own bed. Woo-hoo!

The plan is to post some trip photos and stories and stuff tomorrow (probably while doing laundry), so tune in for more fun and excitement really soon!

still alive in Xi'an

Just wanted to let you, my faithful readers, know that we are still alive and still making our way through China. Still. We are in Xi'an, home of the terra-cotta warriors, right now. Thankfully, this is our last stop before heading home the day after tomorrow. I have to say I am really ready to get home and stay put for a little while. All this traveling has worn me out!

I've pretty much given up on really posting photos and things from our trip until we get home. It's not that it's impossible, but just difficult and time-consuming while on the road. But don't worry--I've got plans for tons of posts (with tons of pictures) to catch you up on our great adventures once we get back home again. We went to see the terra-cotta warrior museum today (all day. . . seriously . . . all day), and got some great pictures of the archaeological digs I can't wait to post.

More on that, and all our adventures, very, very soon.

Ben fits in with the locals (and I helped)

it's picture time: Hangzhou

I think I'm actually going to be able to post some pictures, thanks to the wonders of Starbucks and its amazing free wi-fi. You never know how much you should appreciate Starbucks until you've been wandering through China for two weeks with terrible internet quality the whole time.

Just to fill in you moms out there (you know who you are): we're in Chongqing, a big city on the Yangzi river. This is our last day in town--we leave for Chengdu tomorrow afternoon--just a short 5 hour train ride away. I've been under the weather since before we left Guilin, so Ben convinced me to take it easy today, sleep in, rest, chill out at Starbucks for a day. I have to say, it's been a wonderful respite.

Here is a handful or two of shots from Hangzhou. I'll post some from Guilin and Chongqing in separate posts.


View across West Lake, Hangzhou


Goldfish pond near West Lake


Me at the top of Leifeng Pagoda


Ben rides the escalator to enlightenment


Candles in a Buddhist temple


Red lanterns at the Buddhist temple


Happy New Year! (now can I go inside, please?)