Tianamen Square - Beijing

It was certainly an interesting experience visiting this massive square, which is quite the pride of the Chinese People. Supposedly, this is the largest square in the world, which I could believe seeing as how long it took us to walk around it. Most of the children in the square were running around waving the Chinese flag as they frollicked.

Peking Duck Dinner in Wangfujing Area - Beijing

How can visit Beijing and not indulge in this amazing delicacy that it's known for. For $11 we got a full duck with all the extras. Sooooo amazingly delicious!

Forbidden City - Beijing

A Sunday afternoon is not the best time to hit up a site like this, since there were whords of people. We really enjoyed the enormity of and grandeur of the palace, however the audio tour that we decided to do was terrible, giving way too many uninteresting facts. We would certainly not do that tour again!

Jingshan Park - Beijing

Climbing this only hill in Beijing was totally worth the amazing view of the Forbidden City, as well a 360 degree view of the rest of the town. It also happened to be a beautiful day!

Summer Palace - Beijing

Although it was a 30 minute trek by taxi to get to this outlying area, this palace was spectacular. We enjoyed walking around, and then taking a boat back to the entrance area.

Dinner at Wangfujing Food Market

Jason thought he could stomach eating some of this tasty little critters, but ended up backing out at the last minute.

Hiking the Great Wall of China

This is one of the most breath-taking things we have every done in our lives. We opted for a less touristy area on the wall and had a driver take us there. Here, we could actually hike a good 7 miles from Jingshaling to Samatai - this proved to be life altering for us both. The intensity of the walk was literally exhausting, however the magnitude of the beauty helped to revive us along the way. We also met some great folks along the way (Jake and Kath), who we shared much of the hike with, including the fox fly at the end of the wall.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda - Xian

As the symbol of the old-line Xian, Big Wild Goose Pagoda is a well-preserved ancient building and a holy place for Buddhists. It is located in the southern suburb of Xian City, about 4 kilometers (2.49 miles) from the downtown of the city. Standing in the Da Ci'en Temple complex, it attracts numerous visitors for its fame in the Buddhist religion, its simple but appealing style of construction, and its new square in front of the temple. This was the first stop of our "Terracotta Warrior Tour". http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/bigwildgoose.htm

Terracotta Warriors - Xian

Of course the discovery of these warriors in the 1970's is what put Xian on the map. I was intrigued by the warriors themselves, however the build up just trying to get to them was quite a pain in the butt! It's something to do once, but certainly no reason ever to see them again.

Biking on the Old City Walls of Xian

This was so much fun, to ride the 14 kilometers around the old city walls. There were very few people around (which is always unusual in China), and the views from atop were wonderful!! It was pretty amazing that the walls had been maintained and in as good as shape as they were.

Climb up Solitary Beauty Peak - Guilin

Some how we got dropped off here by our "tour agent", since he gets a commission on the number of people he brings into the park. We figured we'd help him reach his quota for the month, so climbed to the top of this peak. It had a fantastic view of Guilin city from up there. It probably isn't something we would have done unless it had been "finessed" by our tour agent.

Li River Boat Ride - Guilin to Yangshuo

This is an absolute "must do" while in China. Being amidst the serenity and peacefulness of this area helped us to appreciate China more, since what we had experienced prior had been much of a turn off. This scenery is truly unique and breath-taking. Hiring a private boat for just a little more money is so worth it, since the huge barges filled with people just didn't look like so much fun!

Yangshuo Cooking Class - Yanghsuo

All I can say is thank you China for getting Jason in a kitchen and cooking. This was soooo much fun. Preparing some authentic Chinese dishes, after have shopped for the fresh ingredients at the local farmers market is a must do here. Lets just say the Chinese idea of a farmer's market is VERY different then ours back home. I felt like I needed to completely disinfect my entire body after stepping out of the meat section of the market. At the end of the day we had prepared braised eggplant, meat dumplings (aka dim sum) and kung pao chicken. Cooking in the open air kitchen looking out onto the mountains of Yanshuo was an experience we'll never forget! We cooked at Cloud 9 Restaurant. http://www.yangers.com/Yangshuo_Cooking_School.htm

Hotel of Modern Art - Yanghsuo

This is listed under what we did, b/c this 1300 acre retreat is more of an experience then just a hotel. The area houses over 200 modern sculptures amongst the setting of the beautiful mountains. It is quite a surreal experience walking around and seeing all the different installations in the middle of nowhere. It feels kind of like being Alice in Winderland being here - check out the website of the place to get a sense of it all! www.yuzile.com

Bike Ride Around HOMA Retreat

This was a lovely day of riding around the 1300 acre property and playing on some of the sculptures.  A definite surreal experience being there.

Walk Around Nanjing Road in Shanghai

Unfortunately, it was pouring rain this day, so we braved the streets with our parkas to explore this shopping district close to our hotel.  We were a bit disappointed to see the shopping wasn't all that great, especially compared to Japan.  PLUS, we were complete targets for people trying to get us to go into their stores, which was quite annoying.  Our second day in Shanghai I was in bed trying to recover from a stomach illness!

Leifeng Pagoda Located on West Lake, Hangzhou

Located on the shores of the southeast side of the lake and originally built in the year 977, all that remains of the original pagoda is the crumbling foundation, viewable from outside the glass case that it is housed in (Pagoda Remains Memorial Museum at the bottom floor of the pagoda). With escalators, elevators, and a totally new pagoda places on top of the foundation, there is not much to see within the pagoda itself; it was most recently rebuilt in 2000. However, the view of the city skyline is one of the best from here, and some of the smaller seating areas around the perimeter of the pagoda have a nice breeze and view of the structure.

Bike Ride Around the West Lake - Hangzhou

We were so lucky to get gorgeous weather while in Hangzhou, and we definitely took advantage of this.  We biked around the West Lake, in total spending about 5-6 hours to complete the whole adventure with lots of stops along the way.

Motor Boat Ride around West Lake - Hangzhou

This was our chance to manuever our own motor-boat, that unfortunately road very, very slowly.  Regardless, it was beautiful to be out on the lake taking in all the scenery.

Exploring the Fun and Unique Shopping Area - Hangzhou

Hangzhou is such a unqie area to China, since there actually seems to be some nice, higher end boutique shops here.  We had a nice time just wandering around some of the market places.  As you can see, Jason and Buddha were hanging out with their Dairy Queen Blizzards.

Eat, Drink and Be Merry in Hong Kong!!!

We spent a lot of time soaking up the wonderful restaurants and bars of the town, and especially loved the areas of Central and SOHO to go out in!

Dinner on Kowloon and Ferry Ride back to Hong Kong Island

We were so lucky to catch the city on such a clear night.  The lights on the buildings literally sparkled and lit up the sky.

Drinks with Kath and Jake at Juliette's Wine Bar

Urban Hiking through the hills and streets of Hong Kong