Bon Voyage!

Well, believe it or not, it's time for us to take off for another vacation! Living in China truly does have its benefits. This time we're off to the Philippines and Thailand. Here's the highlights of our coming month...

After arriving in Manila, we'll take a pleasant 10 hour bus ride to Banaue, where we'll spend 3 days hiking the rice terraces.

Then it is off to Puerto Princesa for a few days before leaving for a scuba liveaboard to Tubbataha.

24 hours in South Korea

After our January jaunt in Beijing we once again had to leave the country for our visas....so it was off to South Korea to visit friends for 24 hours! We flew in to Busan then headed south to Geoje Island, which was absolutely beautiful even in January. We drove around a good portion of the island, stopping of course to see the shipyard that makes Jiangyin's look oh-so-tiny, ate good Korean food--including fermented baby octopus (surprisingly good!), drank a good amount of Soju and Scotch (separately), and even squeezed in a near fatal trip to Costco before jumping back on the plane.

I can't believe I'm posting this atrocious photo of me....but it's good of Dougie, Bri and Ji-Young.

In the summer this is Busan's see-and-be-seen beach...

It was a whirlwind trip, but great to sleep in a comfortable bed and see Dougie & Ji-Young's town, even if the trip ended with food poisoning from Costco. At least the food poisoning gods were slightly kind, in that it didn't kick in until after our flight. Oy.

Too many photos!

Well, I finally made it thru the 800 photos we (I) took in 3 days. Considering the fact that 2 years later, I still haven't waded thru all of our wedding photos to tell our photographer which to put in our album, I consider this nothing short of a miracle. In no particular order, here are the best of the rest of our time in Beijing.

Cute hutong inn where we stayed

hutong entrance

Friendly Lunar New Year reminders all over town....

In front of the new performing arts center...surrounded by a moat, you enter thru a tunnel!

Shockingly empty roads....Forbidden city on the left, Tiananmen on the right

Tiananmen

Me 'n Mao at the Forbidden City (which was closed the first day we went)

We weren't the only ones who thought it was brutally cold!

Forbidden City

Jingshan Park

Fantastic View from top of Jingshan park...the 980 buildings that make up the forbidden city

Houhai...surrounded by cute restaurants and shops that were mostly closed

2nd trip to the Forbidden City we find....an astroturf basketball court for the guards

The Forbidden City is huge--1km x 0.75km. This is the 2nd courtyard before actually entering

Demons to scare away evil spirits--The more demons, the more important the building

The end-all-be-all peking duck meal at Made in China. Ah-maz-ing.

The Great Wall

With just about 4 hours of sleep (thanks to some amazing fireworks) we were up before the sun and off to the Great Wall. We'd met another couple at the hutong inn where we were staying and teamed up with them for the trip. In order to avoid the crowds at the more touristed sections of the Wall, we headed to the more remote Jinshanling section. Thanks to our indecent departure hour, the holiday, and the frigid weather, we were the first and ONLY people there. I can't imagine when I'll ever be able to say that again in China.

The Wall was truly a sight to behold, winding further than the eye can see, disappearing in to the mountains in each direction. I think Brian would still be there exploring today if I hadn't made him come back with me! He was like a kid who just discovered the ultimate fort. Jinshanling is the starting point of a 10km walk on the wall; the further you go, the more the condition of the wall deteriorates. I have a sneaky feeling we'll be back.

The advantage of group travel--photos of us--together!

Brian the mountain goat in 7th heaven, exploring the greatest fort EVER.

Trailing off in to the distance

Historically correct reenactment of a Mongol invasion

Unexpected little details..