China!

At long last, a trip to see the land on the other side of our world (in more ways than one).  Despite my normal mistrust of organized tours, this vacation turned out better than I ever could have expected...  I'm sure those of you who were with me felt the same.  The pictures I put up here are only at half or quarter resolution, so if you want an original high-rez copy of any of these pictures, just email me and ask me to send you a copy.  

I also wrote a fairly hefty travelogue/journal during the trip.  I know only the most avid readers (or bored readers, as the case may be) will read this, but if want to hear a bit more about the trip click here to read it, or click here to see it in MS-Word format.  Onwards!

(By the way... CLICK on the pictures to see a bigger version,
 then click the *back* button on your browser to get back to this page)

  As I mentioned in my travelogue...  there are cyclists EVERYWHERE!  This picture was taken from our bus in Beijing.

  A man practices his calligraphy on the hot concrete.

  My parents standing at the gates to the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

  An old man plays the... ermm... well, I don't really know what it is.  Some instrument thingie.

  Overlooking a board game.

  Lakeside view of the Summer Palace in Beijing.

  My brother getting eaten by the Dragon Boat we rode on.

  Little girl playing at the Summer Palace.  Little kids were so cute... I have several shots of the buggers.

  Mao overlooking Tianamen Square.

  Chinese Storm-Troopers exiting the Forbidden City.

  The Forbidden City... looking really... forbidding.

  Another shot of the Forbidden City...  where the Last Emperor was filmed (and where the real one lived, duh!)

  Me chillin out near the Concubines Quarters... woo woo!

  Beijing acrobat...  this girl ended up doing a trick where she flipped 4 bowls, lined up in a row upon her leg, into the air and onto her head in a neat stack.

  Another Beijing acrobat...  flexible doesn't even begin to cover this one.

  Man at work at the jade factory.

  Chapter 4 in my pictoral...  "Steven's Tan's Bathrooms Around the World."  Gotta love the squatters.  Bring your own TP.

  Eddie our national tour guide, and Kent, our mild-mannered Beijing tour guide.  No, Eddie doesn't use a wheelchair, he's just being... Eddie.

  First installation in my collection of "Funky Chinese Signs".  This one reads "Luxuriant Grasslands, Please Don't Trample"  (note the very luxurious grass)

  The Great Wall of China.

  Another picture taken from within the Great Wall.

  Here we are taking a Great Rest from climbing the Great Wall.

  My parents, happy as clams to be sitting on top of the Sorta Big Wall.

  My bro and Tracey, saying CHEEZE from within the Really Rather Long Wall.

  The Great Ant of China.  May be hard to tell, but that's my brother's fat thumb used for comparison.

  Old terraces near the Great Wall area where farmers had to farm... heh, funny to hear about the hard work of American farmers.   =)

  Tracey and Darrel...  the wonder twin siblings.

  Picture of one of our maniacal bus drivers.  Just close your eyes and hit the horn!

  We had dinner at this spot in Xian.

  Lovely lamp thingie hanging overhead during dinner.

  Part 2 of "Funky Chinese Signs" - Irregular Flight Service?  Oooh, lemme get in line for that one!

  Another cute lil' girl, standing in front of a big Pagoda thingie.

  Lighting prayer candles at the Pagoda.

  Tang Dynasty show.

  The graceful dancers of the show....

  Kinda looks like a Broadway musical from here doesn't it?

  Standing atop Xian's city walls.

  My bro and Henry upon the wall...  this may give you some idea of how thick it was.

  The killing fields and gatehouse of the city wall.

  My brother playing around with some ancient pre-canon canon-ball... they used to roll these puppies down at enemies below.  Ouch.

  A Really Big Vase.

  Wonder twins playing with another Really Big Vase.

  Two women working laboriously at a rug pattern...  upon a most ergonomically incorrect bench.

  My dad takes over as tour guide.

  Wall-carving of the Emperor and his 81 concubines.  It's lonely at the top.

  Sitting at the Winter Palace in Xian.

  Standing at the Winter Palace in Xian.

  Being a dork at the Winter Palace in Xian.

  Yet another sign....  "Pay attention to be careful falling into the lake!"

  Cook making some noodles, the hard way.

  The Terracotta Warriors.  For those who don't know...  8000 of these were buried along with an emperor so that he could have an army guarding him in the afterlife.  I guess they thought carving a whole army of life-sized statues might be more reasonable than burying a real army.  *shrugs*

  Standing at the excavation site of the Terracotta Warriors.

  Group photo.

  Tracey, Kurt, my bro, me, and Darryl at dinner.  Being dorks.  =)

  My brother sings at a Kareoke bar in front of a couple Filipina singers.  The Wonder Twins are razzing him.

  The limestone caves of Guilin..

  Yes, the caves really did look like that.  Amazing what a couple of bulbs can do eh?

  Yet another photo of the brightly colored caves.

  Odd place.

  Underwater lake inside the caves.

  Dinner show in Guilin.

  My brother as guest Emperor during the dinner show.

  My brother and his mock-bride... woo woo!

  A fishing boat near Guilin.

  Upon the Li river in Guilin.

  Family photo.

  Yes, the hills really *do* look like that.

  Some nasty snake-wine I drank while on the riverboat... don't ask me why... I must have been delirious from the heat and humidity.

  Cruising down the river...

  The trees looked almost as wierd as the hills and mountains.  At least now I know what life was like during the Jurassic Era. 

  My brother poking at some fisherman's cormorants.

  Tracey and a big dragonfly.

  Photo of my pop overlooking one of many towns that will be flooded by the Three Gorges Dam project.  That's right, all that below him is going to be one big lake.  Wowzers.

  Tracey slappin some bootie.  This was taken in the "ghost city" by the Yangtzee River.

  Gettin fresh with the ghosts.  Kathy made me do this.  Really.

  Having fun with the ghosties.

  Skip this picture.  It's just disturbing.  This is what happens to the bad ghosts.

  Another "Maniac Shot" of the view near the bus driver.

  Sitting at the bow of the Lesser Three Gorges riverboat.

  Some of the locals in a canoe-thingie.

  One of the Lesser Three Gorges...  not gonna be much of a gorge once that dam is built (and the water is 175 meters higher).

  Pretty (soon-to-be-submerged) waterfall.

  Interesting story behind this one.  We stopped at this isolated beach for a picnic.  Out of nowhere, a bunch of locals pop up and try selling us stuff.  After a while, a policeman comes ashore on a boat and runs after the peddlers.  You can see the last of them clambering up that rather steep cliffside on the left.  That boy the policeman is holding is the only one who didn't get away... probably because we loaded him down with apples from our picnic. 

  This is the sort of ship we were on during our cruise down the Yangtzee River.

  Eddie showing us his Neeto Balancing Trick.

  Eddie also showed us how to play Mahjong.

  Stuffed Yangtzee River sturgeon anyone?

  The half-built locks of the Three Gorges Dam.

  This poor wobbly-kneed sod was working at the dam...  haven't these guys heard of wheelbarrows??

  Eddie, jealous of Tracey's tattoo, draws one on himself.

  He said he'd do my hand too but ummm...  drew some other stuff instead.

  Flying kites under a full moon while floating down the Yangtzee.  *sighs*

  She told me I had a nice smile so I took her picture.

  No I didn't buy anything from them, leave me alone.

  Bunch of folks watching a really huge TV set in Wuhan.

  Playing replicas of some ancient bells in Wuhan.

  Old man with his stylin' BITCH backpack...  *laughs*

  Trying to see how much luggage Henry could carry.

  Funkoid looking head at the Shanghai museum.

  Shanghai's futuristic skyline.

  Cute lil' kid at the Bund in Shanghai.

  The Wholesale Retail Sell Retail Firm Sell Market.

  Me and Tracey trying to out-funk each other's hairdos.

  Our last night together in Shanghai... so sad.  *sniffs*  Eddie sings for us here.

  Our last night out together...  we got a bit plastered at the bar.  The guy looking like a tomato is Eddie.

  Outside the Real Love Disco Bar.

  Post dancing/drinking picture.

  Another.  That was sooooo fun.

  Picture of the boat people of Hong Kong's Aberdeen fishing village.

  Nighttime in Kowloon.

  My money-shot of the Hong Kong skyline.

  Stitched-together-photo of Hong Kong viewed from Victoria's Peak.

  Dim-sum at some CRAZY restaurant in Hong Kong...  there are some fairly unspeakable things in those little dim-sum carts I tell ya.

  One of Hong Kong's many crowded side-street markets.

Hope you liked the pictures.  Do drop by my message board and say hello!  There's even a special forum there for the china vacation alumni!

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