You think?

Sakura

2008-05-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

Kyoto - Nanzen-ji

2008-04-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

Nanzen-ji (南禅寺), the head temple for the Rinzai Zen sect, down the Philosopher's Path from Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion): http://nanzenji.com/index.html. Pictures of, inter alia, the imposing Sanmon gate, aqueduct, and Hojo.

Fushimi - Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum

2008-04-12T00:45:00.000-07:00

After a little hike at the Fushimi Inari Shrine, we made it to Fushimi and visited the Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum where there were various displays showing the traditional process for making sake and, most importantly, samples.

Big barrel . . .

The end result . . .

Choken-ji Temple? Not sure, but there were a couple of sake barrels at this gate, as well as sakura blooming in the courtyard.

Fushimi Inari Taisha

2008-04-08T01:31:00.000-07:00

Fushimi Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社). A little side trip on the way to the sake brewery was more than we bargained for.

One of many foxes (kitsune) at the Shrine.

Think: "Memoirs of a Geisha"

Nothing like an unknown bird on a stick after a long hike . . .

Kyoto - Kiyomizu Temple

2008-04-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺) - a little early for sakura.

Kyoto - Kitano Tenman-gu and Kinkaku-ji

2008-04-06T16:03:00.000-07:00

Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine (北野天満宮) and Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺) in Kyoto.

The main hall, hidden behind tourists.

Plum blossoms (I believe). Apparently Sugawara no Michizane, to whom the shrine is dedicated, was fond of plum trees:

http://www.kitanotenmangu.or.jp/eigo/index.html

Wedding couple at Kitano Tenman-gu:

The Golden Pavilion under dark skies. You can read the book by Mishima.

Nara

2008-04-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

Some pix from Nara - Todai-ji (東大寺) and Kasuga Taisha (春日大社), both in the Nara Park (aka "Deer Park").

Kyoto - Hanami

2008-04-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

Some pix from Kyoto - Higashiyama, Nanzen-ji, Kiyamachi and Gion.

Himeji Castle

2008-04-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

Himeji-jo (姫路城) with blooming sakura.

The sakura were blooming nicely at Himeji-jo. A couple of lunatics were locked away in the castle's donjon.

Hawaiian Great Wall

2006-12-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

While Al was off in China, his co-workers decided to construct their own "Great Wall" consisting of soon-to-be recycled telephone directories. The result, as you can see, is that Al's workspace was completely walled off.

Beijing Rush Hour

2006-11-14T01:11:00.000-08:00

Rush hour in Beijing appears in many ways to be similar to rush hour in the U.S. or Japan - lots and lots of buses, trucks, taxis and passenger cars jamming the expressways. On the city streets, though, there also are mopeds, bicycles and pedestrians. Plus a horse drawn cart or two! I didn't see any joggers - probably too dangerous given the chaotic traffic conditions.

Suzhou - Cruising the Grand Canal

2006-11-04T03:30:00.000-08:00

In the afternoon, after a vist to Garden for Lingering In, we boarded a boat for a cruise on the portion of the Grand Canal that runs through Suzhou and got a different glimpse of everyday residences, etc. The Grand Canal is approximately 1,200 miles long, running from Beijing to Hangzhou, and was constructed during the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD). Incidentally, our local tour guide for Suzhou and Shanghai, Jennifer, was from Hangzhou. Jennifer bravely risked her life trying to stop traffic for us on a Shanghai street so we could cross it to get to the Yuyuan market. She can be seen sitting across from our tour director, Scott (holding the microphone) in the boat picture.

After the Grand Canal, we visited a silk factory, where tour members loaded up on silk comforters, had lunch, then headed back for Shanghai.

The Great Wall at Badaling

2006-11-04T02:26:00.000-08:00

Our second full day started with a visit to the Great Wall at Badaling. Apparently, there are two areas of the Great Wall at Badaling open to the public, and we visited the less crowded (access restricted) area. Two sections of the Great Wall were open, with the area on the left consisting of approximately 1,700 steps (bottom picture) and the area on the right consisting of 1,400 steps (top picture). Upon the advice of our tour guide, we took the right hand way to the top. The last picture is looking north from the Great Wall - the direction from which any barbarian invaders presumably would come.

Beijing - Ming Tombs

2006-11-04T02:11:00.000-08:00

On the way back from the Great Wall at Badaling, we visited one of the Ming Tombs - the tomb of the Yongle emperor at Changling, consisting of a large hall in front of a soul tower, which contains a stele marking the mausoleum of Chengzu (Zhudi), tomb name of the Yongle emperor. Originally built in 1409, it was rebuilt during the Qing dynasty. Liane apparently found something quite shocking or amazing, although I'm not sure what it was.

Xian - Terra Cotta Warrior Museum

2006-11-04T01:40:00.000-08:00

The terra cotta museum displays the warriors that were buried as part of the funeral complex for the first Chinese Emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, whose unexcavated tomb is nearby. The terra cotta museum consists of 3 pits that are in the process of being excavated. The first pit, known unsurprisingly as “Pit 1,” is huge. Another army of sorts, Chinese school high school kids, also was at the museum, sweeping through like a flood. A dumpling dinner with music and dancing from the Tang Dynasty (sort of House of Flying Dagger-ish), followed by a massage at our hotel ended a long day.

Xian - Big Goose Pagoda

2006-11-04T01:26:00.000-08:00

After the Shaanxi provincial museum, we visited the Big Goose Pagoda, located in a Buddhist monastery. There was a very nice restroom, with incense burning, similar to the restroom of the Shanghai restaurant in which we ate prior prior to heading to Suzhou. As I commented to one of our tour group members, it feels as though we've visited all of the restrooms in China. Al did some bargaining with a vendor, although I'm not sure if he was as successful as some of our fellow travellers, who negotiated to buy 5 rolex watches (or, perhaps more accurately, "in the style of rolex") for $1 in Shanghai.

Shaanxi Provincial Museum in Xian

2006-11-04T01:22:00.000-08:00

Our second day in Xian started with a visit to the Shaanxi provincial museum, which is in the style of a Tang dynasty palace. The museum had a great collection of clay figurines - although the realization that they were funeral objects excavated from tombs made it a bit macabre.

Shanghai

2006-11-04T01:13:00.000-08:00

A couple of pictures of Shanghai, including the Oriental Pearl Tower, which provides a panoramic view of the Huangpu river. We saw an acrobatic performance before leaving for Tokyo.

Suzhou - Garden for Lingering In

2006-11-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

After Xian, we flew to Shanghai’s Pudong airport, and then drove to Suzhou, about 2 hours away. Suzhou is known for silk production, its gardens and its canals. We visited the “Garden for Lingering In”, which was nice, but you would probably get trampled by the crowds of domestic (i.e., Chinese) tourists if you linger too long. Sort of the same thing that happens in Japan when domestic tourists by the busload storm through otherwise tranquil Kyoto temples during the fall. Our tour director, Scott, and local guide, Jennifer, are pictured with the Loos.

Xian

2006-10-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province, is famous for the terra cotta army of the first Qin emperor dating from about 210 B.C. Also known as Chang’an, Xian was the capital of the Qin, Tang and a number of other dynasties.

After landing in Xian and driving about an hour into the city, we did a quick tour of the city walls, apparently the only completely extant city walls in China. Dinner at a hot pot restaurant (shabu shabu Chinese style) followed. Our hotel was the Sheraton Xian, an older facility, but with very good service.

As indicated by the pictures, Xian suffers from haze, probably a combination of dust and smog from coal burning plants and motor vehicles. Traffic also is unbelievably chaotic. I thought that traffic was nuts in Beijing, but it's even crazier out here - there's a mix of buses, trucks, taxis, private cars, mopeds, bicycles and pedestrians. The white lines between lanes are regarded as suggestions rather than real divisions between cars and bicycles and pedestrians mix freely, without any apparent regard for traffic signals. Driving looks like a wild west experience where it helps to be in bus because it's big. Size does matter, at least when the traffic rules don't! The people we met, however, generally were very nice and friendly. Our local tour guide even sang us a local song on the bus.

Beijing - Temple of Heaven

2006-10-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pix from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. The area has a lot of seniors doing exercises, playing cards, music, etc., sort of the "Ala Moana Center" of Beijing, I guess. Liane and Al joined in some of the senior games - some kind of tennis or badminton. Maybe they should challenge Rocket Girl's 8.0 team?

Beijing - Day 1

2006-10-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, here are some pix from our first full day in Beijing, including the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City is huge and we saw only a portion of it. The Summer Palace contains a Tibetan lama temple (shown in the picture), sponsored by the ethnic Manchu Qing dynasty. Lunch was a many course meal of, what else, Chinese food. Al can be seeing checking out a street vendor selling chestnuts. Dinner was Thai food, which was sort of funky. We saw a performance of "Legends of Kung Fu" at the Red Theater, which was excellent, but unfortunately everone was pretty crashed out from the jet lag and day's walking. A massage at the hotel helped a lot, but I forgot to tell the masseuse about my chronically sprained/broken little finger and it was excruciatingly sore when she popped it!

China at Last

2006-10-22T16:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, after actual flight time of 12 hours, we finally made it to Beijing at about 4 a.m. Sunday morning (HST), and were greeted by a Starbucks at the airport. The hotel, the Oriental Bay International Hotel, is new and very nice, although the name is a bit of a misnomer since there is no "bay" nearby. Liane liked the hotel so much she did an impromptu try out to work as one of dancers in the show at the hotel. The view from our hotel room included the Beijing bell and drum towers, as well as the white lama pagoda in Beihai Park in the distance.