One of the many things I'm loving about being on this side of the world is that some of the world is a lot closer to visit. Well, at least until you read a map. I took a 12 hour flight from Auckland to Shanghai. If I had flown in the other direction 12 hours would have taken me to Los Angeles.
However, my good friend Em was in China teaching ESL and we spent the last two weeks of her time there touring around with her family and seeing The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, various temples, The Summer Palace, Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors, the city of Wuxi and Shanghai.
In one of the museums we visited, this fabulous arrangement of carved jade was on display.
However, my good friend Em was in China teaching ESL and we spent the last two weeks of her time there touring around with her family and seeing The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, various temples, The Summer Palace, Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors, the city of Wuxi and Shanghai.
In one of the museums we visited, this fabulous arrangement of carved jade was on display.
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  | |||
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| And in the Shanghai Museum, we discovered that our dog Bo'sun has Chinese ancestry.... |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| The smog everywhere was a bit alarming. This is the view from our hotel's top floor restaurant overlooking the city of Shanghai. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Nanjing Lu is one of the main pedestrian shopping precincts, providing that you generally shop at very high-end retail stores. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  | |
| More from the Shanghai Museum. I think it is the equivalent of Buddha rookie cards. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Another view from our hotel in Shanghai, looking east this time over the river (not that you can see the river). |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  | |
| Rickshaws waiting passengers in Beijing. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| a marvellous tea cup at the tea house we visited. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Scooters are electric so instead of needing a fill-up from time to time, recharging is the issue. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Samping a variety of teas at the tea house. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| How do you take your tea? - Lumpy, tied in bundles and in a large pile. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| The bravest thing I did: walk into a hairdresser and ask for a haircut. Well, not actually "ask" per se. More of an assumption that that's what I wanted. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| The second bravest thing I did: eating lunch at the street meat cafe along the alley where all the students eat. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  | |
| And here is what the alley looks like. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  | |
| There are some beautiful parks scattered here and there. The lake was dead calm and offered this lovely reflection. |
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| The same lake and a pair of intriguing reflections. |