Pictures As Promised - China

Shanghai Grand Hyatt, tallest hotel in the world.


Images from the Temple of the Jade Buddah, Shanghai








Yuan Garden, Shanghai






Water Taxi in the water town outside of Shanghai. This is where MI-3 was filmed.


Bridge over the canal in the water town


Along the a canal in the water town.


Great Wall


Me in my dog coat


View of the mountains from the wall


Inside one of the towers


Great Wall


Climbing along part of the wall that has not been reconstructed.


Magnolia tree blooming at the Summer Palace


Summer Palace


Marble boat at the Summer Palace


Chairman Mao's Masoleum at Tian'anmen Square


Entrance to the Forbidden City


Inside the Forbidden City


A Visit to a local kite maker in the Hu Tongs of Beijing


Temple of Heaven


I intend to do a post about some of the things I may have forgotten to post. Check back for what you missed!

Pictures As Promised - Japan

Wedding Procession at the Meiji Shrine


Meiji Shrine



Wedding Party



Guard House at the Imperial Palace



Cherry Blossoms



Tea Time



Traditional tea service



Flower Shop in Tokyo



Infamous Toilet in the Park Hyatt Tokyo



Red Snapper at the Fish Market in Japan



Mt. Fuji at Sunset



Fish Heads at the fish market



Dried Anchovies at a local market



Pine Tree at a Garden in Tokyo. The entire photo is the tree.

Jetlag!

I can't quite seem to get over the jetlag. I have been so tired the last few days. I practically slept all day yesterday. My days and nights are completely backwards. Lisa gave me an Ambien to help me sleep at night. I took half of it last night and don't remember anything from eating dinner to about 5 am this morning. I don't remember putting on my pj's or getting in bed. I was thinking that if half an Ambien did that then I would have probably woken up with my face in my pizza if I had taken the entire thing!

I am working on the pictures. Hopefully I'll have them up by this weekend. Keep checking back.

Day 81-83 Japan to Lubbock

I'M HOME!!!!! We came home a few days earlier than we expected. It is 4 am here in Lubbock and I am wide awake. My body still thinks it is 6 pm. I didn't really tell anyone that I was coming home early so I could surprise everyone. My mom knew, but I didn't tell Daniel or Lisa. I surprised Daniel by skyping him from my apartment, which he recognized immediately. Lisa, however, I didn't quite get to surprise her as I had planned. She actually came in my apartment to drop off my mail. I had intended on just showing up at her house. I am glad to have a few extra days to settle in before I go back to school. I have several things to do, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get it all done before I started back at Parkway. I think it may take me a while just to get over jetlag!

Our last day in Tokyo was a full day of sight seeing and shopping. We went to the Imperial Palace and the Meiji Shrine. The Imperial Palace is only open to the public a couple of days per year, and we were not there for it. It is surrounded by a large wall and moat. The grounds are beautifully layed out with bonsai-ed pine trees.

The Meiji Shrine, is a shrine built to one of the former Imperiors, and sits in a large park area. While we were there, we got to see a traditional Japanese wedding procession.

We were so fortunate to be in Japan the time of year we were because the cherry blossoms were beautiful! They only bloom 8-10 days per year.

Hang in there, I promise pictures are coming. It just takes a while to upload pictures and I have so many to share from Shanghai, Beijing, and Tokyo. Hopefully I can get them posted this week.

When we arrived in Dallas from Tokyo, we all had huge smiles on our faces, and I don't know how many times we said "It's good to be back in Texas!" It is truly good to be home. Now if only my suitcases could magically unpack themselves! That seems like a daunting task!