The Great Wall of China & Beijing

At the Simatai part of the Great Wall you can zipline off. This time at the wall I did it!

Check out the small video I tried to do while ziplining!

Back in Bejing, I went to see the Forbidden City again. What a bummer it was, there is still green scaffolding up all around it. I was really hoping that they would be done

with restorations this time around and I could get better pictures!

These are for you Mom!!!

The Great Wall of China

For the second time in my life, I have climbed the Great Wall of China. Both times were at a place in the wall called Simatai. These pictures loaded out of order somehow, but they are still enjoyable to look at!

Eating ice cream in a tower.

Vee Vee (our local Chinese host) and I.

Back on the Simatai wall. In 2006 when I visited this section of the Wall, I took a similar picture to this one.

This trip to the Great Wall was much more enjoyable than the one in 2006. In 2006, I was very out of shape and could not walk along much of the Wall. This time I not only got to the top without (near) passing out but I walked a huge portion of it! This made for some really pretty shots that I didn't have from before!

Panda Bears in Chengdu

Chengdu, China is home to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base. They have over 50 giant (white and black) and red pandas. They are trying their hardest to keep them free of diseases and to help them breed as they are slowly dying out.

Here are some of their amazing pandas!

My friend Laura and I paid a little extra when entering the park and got a special treat! We got to hold a panda cub! They told us he was a little over a year old! He's a big baby!

Laura with a panda.

Good bear!

This is the perfect picture!

A little bit of Shanghai

Here are some photos of Shanghai. We worked a lot that week and were really tired! But here's some shots anyways:
That last picture you may recognize. It's a pretty famous shot of The Bund. It's an area in Shanghai that is next to the Huangpu River. Sadly though, what you hear about the pollution in China is true. This was taken on "clear" day.

Internet at last!

Here I am in Beijing with some time off and some decent Internet. It's been a really busy two months here in China. This week in Beijing is a true blessing, most of us were starting to get burned out.

This hotel was very happy to have us stay with them. You just have to smile at their English translation! This year, since I am no longer wardrobe, I am helping run the coffee stand. The coffee stand is a crate that we travel with us around the world and it is kinda like a traveling convenient store. It has a fridge with sodas and sandwiches, and lots of snacking options you can purchase from us. Adrian, Krista, and I are running it this year. On days where we are at the venue all day, Adrian and I try to cook meals. We had a "hidden Mickey" in our bag of potatoes that we picked up!