rather than post all of my food photos from China at once, i decided to take a more piecemeal approach (har). i’ll be uploading five pics a day to my flickr stream. they’ll be in chronological order, starting with Beijing, moving through Shanghai, Huangshan, Shexian, Nanxiang, and then ending in Shanghai (yes, we went there twice).

in summary, i’d have to say that during the 12 days we were in China, i probably ate better, and more continuously, than i have at any other point in my life. each meal (most of which were orchestrated by my father-in law Eric) was an adventure, filled with surprises and delights at every mouthful. from banquets in imperial palaces, to hot pot at a college student hangout, it was all amazing…this culinary journey was just as much a part of our adventure as the places we visited.

Revolutionary Wall II

On our way back from Huang Shan, we stopped and visited an ancient walled city called She Xian. while much of the city is modern (relatively speaking), a lot of it has been preserved as it has been for hundreds of years. A truly authentic cultural experience, not one that most tourists would get, and one we certainly wouldn’t have had without Eric and Debbie as our tour guides.

Sentinels

during our stay in Beijing, we visited the spectactular Summer Palace, playground for the emperors. it’s a massive complex, with more than 200 buildings, scattered around several man-made lakes.

Sunrise over Pudong

five days in Shanghai wasn’t nearly enough to sample this huge metropolis, but it was enough to get a sense of things. we had an absolutely fantastic time here, ending our trip with a stay in the Grand Hyatt Pudong.

Fall colors

of all the segments of our trip to China, i have to say that our visit to the mountain region known as Huang Shan was the most memorable. Elaine, Bernie, Eric, Debbie and I spend a total of three fantastic days in this indescribable place. i hope these photos can help convey what we experienced.

Vogue

Photos from the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, including shots like this where Elaine impersonates a Russian fashion diva.

Rickshaw lineup

The latest set of photos from our China trip has been posted, this one a collection of shots from our tours of the Beijing hutongs.

The Sweeper

I’ve posted photos from high-speed jaunt Elaine and I took in the Forbidden City. as usual, i’m filled with intentions of writing a blog post about it.

just posted another batch of China photos to Flickr: our second day in Beijing, with visits to a few temples and an ancient observatory. trust me…i’ll start writing blog entries about this soon.

Space invaders tag the Brooklyn Bridge

last week i was in New York for business, and manged to finagle a few extra days so that i could hang out with my friend Chookyfuzzbang and see my childhood buddy Michael. i spent all of my time in manhattan and brooklyn and generally had a fantastic trip, despite being a bit cold and getting totally soaked with rain one night. new york remains one of my favorite "places-to-visit-but-you-wouldn’t-want-to-live-there."

Read more