I figure its time to do a post about China / Hong Kong trip. Here we go :


This is the entrance to Forbidden City in Beijing. The basic phrases you need to know when visiting Beijing : No, I don't want a " Rolex "...this phrase eventually turns into just a plain simple, No. Other than that...its all good.



This is a picture of a beautiful lady inside the Forbidden City.



These things were on top of most, if not all the buildings we saw in China. The tour guide said they are meant to ward off fire.



This is part of the Summer Palace. In the winter, the Emperor stayed in the Forbidden City and the summer he stayed here because it was apparently cooler, although it was still hot as a bitch.




This is where the opening to the 2008 Olympics will take place. Its not finished yet.




This is a nice clear morning in Beijing. Yeah thats the beautiful sight of smog.


The highlight of Beijing......The Great Wall




Rosanna & I taking a break from climbing The Great Wall....it was a tiring experience but one that had to be done...don't get me wrong, we didn't climb the whole thing!! I left the performance enhancers at home.


This is a Jade shop. These Jade Masters are the ones that create all the jade works of art. The neat thing is that they are all from the same family. Their secrets of jade making is passed on from one generation to another. Pretty cool.


This jade boat thing costs over $10,000 US!


This is what seems to be what we in Canada would call a truck.



This was the worst experience of my life....well it ranks up there. This was the National Opera...THIS was the National Opwhythefuckwerewebrougttothisshitera



I do not want to sound like a dick but Beijing is lucky they have The Great Wall. Overall its a shitty city. I will refer to it as Shitjing from now on. Before I left Canada, I was given this info regarding the China tour : " Overall its nice. Xi'an & Shanghai are nice, Beijing is a dirty, shitty city...man is it SHITTY "


This is Rosanna & I at the Teracotta Warriors in Xi'an. This was the highlight of our trip.


So far 3000 warriors have been unearthed but its believed that there are 8000.


A close up of the Warriors...little does anyone know that theres were some white warriors.


Rosanna beside an elephant sculpture at the Wild Goose Pagoda.


In Xi'an, we saw this amazing show. This show could travel and make money...serious money. We had a dumpling dinner after the show. I got sick shortly after this dinner....at least thats when I think I got sick.


Normal traffic - yeah I said it...NORMAL. Being a pedestrian fucking sucks in China.


This is a cool shot. I exited one of the Warrior buildings and I stop to take a picture for some Chinese people because they hadn't seen too many white folks and I see this dude upside down out of the corner of my eye. After the photo I posed with some lady with, I took our camera out and took this picture. I figured where else will I see an upside down man like that...so cool.


Rosanna & I on a boat ride around a water town in Shanghai. It was pretty neat. Theres more pics of Shanghai but I was sick for a day so I can't comment on the pics because I don't know what they are about haha.



In this water town, we found a shop where this artist was hand carving some of his art. We bought a souvenir from him and he signed it and posed with Rosanna. He said he liked my tattoos...I'm thinking that he liked them because he's an art guy.



Now in Hong Kong. Phrases to know in Hong Kong - No, I don't want a suit made. Later on you'll find out that a quick wave of the hand will do.

Another highlight of our trip was seeing Panda's up close at Ocean Park. This panda was named An An. We watched it walk down and eat. SO COOL. There were a couple others that were playing in a different area but An An was more fun to watch. I'm pretty sure that it was the first time I'd seen a panda up close. It was worth the gondola ride, the smelly bus ride & the crazy heat of the day to see An An....the only way it could've been better was if Andy Lau was sitting with him hahaha.


Rosanna on the gondola after seeing An An.


My fave thing about Ocean Park


Next up....the Big Buddha. Another very cool experience.


Up next was the Peak....the highest point in Hong Kong.




Rosanna at a restaurant at the Peak for lunch.



I'm just making sure the chopsticks are made the same way as in Canada before I use them.



Rosanna at the top of the Peak...its windy.


A cool market by our hotel called the Temple Street Night Market.


Rosanna with 2 of her cousins..aka " The 3 Horses "...all born in the year of 1978.


At night, theres a light show with all these buildings put to music. It was pretty cool to watch.


Let me put it this way...we have a shitload of pictures. I think we're having a book made or something. At any rate, this was our trip in a nut shell. Some of the pics are a little out of order but this is a major post and I'm tired but it was a great time.

Many thanks to Ida for taking us to museums and letting me ask you all sorts of questions about Hong Kong. I learned a lot from you. I'd like to say thanks to all of Rosanna's family for preparing me for the trip and to those to who took us around and all the suggestions of what to see. China/Hong Kong is a trip I will remember. I'm glad I went....even with the LOOOOONNNNNGGGG plane ride.

Side note : We had a pretty cool tour group in China. Rosanna & I had a great time with 2 Oregonites. Actually, we all thought that it would be fun to do another vacation at some point together. We were lucky to have a pretty good tour group.