I feel like I'm just waking up from a six month nap. It was so easy to allow myself to get lazy and do practically nothing. I'm still not sure how I got away with doing so little for so long, but I think I'm finally paying the price. It would be nice to go back to a time not so long ago when sitting around doing nothing all day was possible. Maybe reminiscing about China will help...
Our Kunming hosts were looking out for me and insisted my soup be made with plain hot water. The restaurant's owners, however, were confused by the request and kept coming by to make sure I was happy with my meal. It was delicious! Loved the chrysanthemum petals.
This long lost cousin of Zuzu's belonged to our horseback riding guide. He had very similar mannerisms to our beloved Tibbie.
Drifting through Lijiang after horseback riding.
One of my favorite pictures from the entire trip! The higher the elevation, the smaller the horses.
The Potala Palace, the the main residence of the Dalai Lama until he fled Tibet, is now mainly a museum and tourist destination. I feel fortunate to have been able to visit such a historic place.
Emma, out Lhasa expert, made sure we each had offerings of flowers. The man behind me in line said flowers are the Buddha's favorite gift. Thinking about that still makes me smile.
This is one of my most memorable moments of the trip. Words cannot even describe what it was like to look out at this glacier while the wind whipped through the prayer flags above our heads.
At the temple in Gyantse, Tibet with the smell of the roasting tsampa coming from the oven below. From this vantage point, we could see several different weather systems around us.
We all get back in our little green bus and start going down the road when Adrien realizes he can't find his glasses. The driver immediately pulls over and asks the men to get out and direct traffic as he expertly turns the van around on a road with two huge ditches on either side and not much wider than our vehicle is long. We go back to our last stop, men again help with traffic, driver again turns bus around, and we all get out to look for the glasses. After several minutes, we hear Bill yell, "Adrien!" We look up to see him holding up the glasses that were on the floor of the bus the whole time.
This little businessman completely forgot his lines as soon as he saw the hair on Andrew's arm. I pointed out that it was like a monkey. From that moment on, the kid just followed Andrew around trying to get his attention by calling out, "Monkey! Monkey!"
We were told there are no traffic cops in China. They do have these these plastic cops posted every so often as a reminder to obey the rules. We also went through speed stops where paperwork was timestamped so we couldn't get through the next speed stop until after a certain amount of time had elapsed without facing a fine.
Street food in Chengdu. Our hosts were eager for us to try the local delicacies, so Andrew sampled the squid feet dipped in chili peppers. Think Chinese calamari with a kick.
Telefreeking to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. The ride alone was worth the price of admission.
It's a tourist destination but still pretty cool.
Hong Kong skyline near the Avenue of the Stars on Kowloon right before the oh so cheesy light show.
It turns out there aren't a lot of vegetarians in China and serving rice at banquets honoring your guests is not done, so I had very little food (let alone anything nutritious) for the couple of weeks in mainland China and Tibet. So, it took a few weeks for body to recognize that it could come out of starvation mode. Even with that, I would not change a thing. It was the adventure of a lifetime!
