Happy New Year!

Wishing every visitor a Happy 2010!
Thank you for your support throughout the years!


Click the 'play' button if you want to see some random pictures posted on my blog during 2009.

No New Year's-related picture to share, but here is the mascot, Haibo, welcoming all to visit the Shanghai World Expo in 2010.

- Karen

Bicycles Everywhere

The bicycle is a popular mode of transportation in China. They can be seen everywhere you go, but how can the owners tell which one is theirs?

Holidays in Shanghai

Yet another holiday-related post.
Since China does not celebrate Thanksgiving like the U.S., their Christmas decorations were up in early November during my visit to this upscale multi-story mall.

Decorations from another angle

Same decorations looking straight up to the glass ceiling.

- Karen

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you and your family a festive holiday today, tomorrow, and throughout the year!

- Karen

First Impression

Saw this quaint entryway during my walk through a neighborhood last weekend. The little gate and archway make it unique and welcoming.

- Karen

Greeters

Retired ladies entertaining tourists as they make their journey into Zhouzhang, a city 90 minutes drive from Shanghai.
I was told they were performing a folk dance traditional to that region.

- Karen

People in Red

The color red symbolizes happiness, luck, love, ...etc. in the Chinese culture so it was not unusual to see red being worn everywhere while in China.
These tourists in red caps taking a break inside the Forbidden City.

Volunteers in red eager to help tourists.

Our restaurant servers in elaborate red outfits during one of our dinners. The restaurant owner's daughter in the center is not in red though.

- Karen

High-Rise Window Washer

Standing 4 blocks away on the 5th floor of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, one could see the Bank of America building in the distance.
If you enlarge the photo and squint your eyes, you can spot a window washer on the 49th floor of the 52-story building.

Here is a perspective photo with less camera zoom. It is not a job for the faint of heart.
And, by the time you finish cleaning the last window, you will have to start all over again.

- Karen

Beauty In The Fog

This is the most sun I saw during my 10 days. It was well hidden amongst the clouds and smog.
I am quite sure this is a beautiful spot overlooking Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace, Beijing. The paddle boats in the foreground were grounded due to the lack of visibility.
While doing research on the internet for this post, I saw a lot of beautiful scenery at this location; but alas, it was beyond my grasp.

Summer Palace or "Yihu Yuan" in Mandarin means "Gardens of Nurtured Harmony". The Tower of the Buddhist Incense tops Longevity Hill and the center of the Summer Palace was once a place where emperors and empresses come to worship.

What I could have seen on a beautiful day!
Photograph borrowed from the China Tour Guide website.

- Karen

Picture Perfect Windows

A visit to Beijing will most likely land you at the Summer Palace. A place where royal families of the past come to relax in the pavilions and enjoy the beautiful surrounding sceneries.
During my visit on an overcast day, I noticed the brightly-colored windows on a narrow external corridor. Many tourists had to squeeze by the 3-person wide walkway and probably did not even notice them.

three close-up samples. Are the windows made to look out of or to accentuate the exterior?
What do you think?



- Karen

Wednesday Hero

Petty Officer 2nd Class Daniel Elsey


Abdul Rashid, a 5-year-old resident of the Nawa district of Afghanistan, receives a dressing for a wound on his face from Petty Officer 2nd Class Daniel Elsey, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, while a linguist translates at a medical aid station at Patrol Base Jaker Dec. 3. Rashid was injured by a motorcycle earlier that day. Navy hospital corpsmen like Elsey routinely see local residents and children here to treat their wounds.

Photo Courtesy United States Marine Corps

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Sculptures

I was quite fascinated with these rooftop sculptures I saw in China. Quite a few locations had these similar types of decorations.

Intricate dragon carvings on all the columns. I like the curvature of this open courtyard and I lucked out at the moment with no one to block my shot.

- Karen

Ocean View

Stand here and take a deep breath.
Do you feel better now?
This was taken at Fort Funston, a part of the coastal headlands in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Note: I apologize for not visiting your blog regularly. My father-in-law is having health issues and I have been busy looking after him. Hopefully, things will be better soon.

Hope you have a great weekend!
Karen

Circles & Patterns

Do you enjoy looking for patterns as much as I do when going photo hunting?
I noticed this pattern by looking up at the ceiling of the National Museum of Korea.

This one is a light fixture at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. If you stare at this fixture too long, you might get a little dizzy.

- Karen

Wednesday Hero

Spc. Michael P. Garton & Spc. Rolando R. Flores


Spc. Michael P. Garton, a gunner with the Personal Security Detachment, with the 36th Sustainment Brigade out of Temple, Texas, and a Texarkana, Texas, native, relaxes on a Humvee and shares a laugh with Spc. Rolando R. Flores, a gunner with the PSD and a San Antonio native, during a break in preparations for a mission Nov. 23 in the maintenance yard at Contingency Operating Location Adder, Iraq.

Photo Courtesy U.S. Army

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Fire Juggler

I thought I would give you a break from my vacation photos, at least for a few days.
I attended a night parade the other evening and saw this impressive fire juggler. It was a little rainy and cold, but he was able to keep the flames going and even keep warm in the process.

It is hard enough to juggle in daylight let alone at night while walking in a parade with hundreds of people watching.

- Karen

Columns

56 newly erected columns in Tiananmen Square marked the 60th anniversary founding of the People's Republic of China celebrated October 1st of this year.
As you can see, the day I visited was quite overcast.

Each of the 26 ton columns represents an ethnic group living in China and is said to symbolize their unity, harmony and equality.

On the back of each column inscribes the name of each of the ethnic groups.

- Karen

A Little Snow Adventure

The Xi'an International Airport was closed due to a snow storm as we waited for our flight to Shanghai. Since I do not live in an area where it snows, I do not know if it is normal for humans with shovels to clear the roads instead of snowplows at the airport.

When we were finally allowed to board, we had to take a shuttle bus to our plane. The terminal did not have a gangway, so we had to walk out into the cold, stand in the snow that has now turned into slush, and hike up the staircase to embark onto our airplane.
In this photograph, I am looking back onto the airport terminal and waiting at the bottom of the crowded staircase while the airport personnel check our boarding pass again.

We were stuck inside our plane for 3-1/2 hours waiting for it to be de-iced. While other planes on the tarmac were de-iced by the standard de-icing machine, our plane was manually de-iced.
Since I had a window seat, I could see workers climb onto the airplane wing, tap on the ice and sweep off the excess snow.
Needless to say, we were quite nervous that our plane was not serviced like everyone else. Many people clapped when the plane took off safely, but I was more interested in it landing safely at our destination.
Considering you are reading this post now, you can deduce that I did indeed land safely. And, I might add that it was one of the smoothest landings.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!

- Karen

Wednesday Hero

Rear Adm. Ned Deets


Rear Adm. Ned Deets speaks with Frank Chebatar, president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, at the conclusion of the base consolidation ceremony. The two bases consolidated to form Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Fort Story.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Skilled Cyclist

With the amount of traffic in Beijing, this skilled cyclist shows no fear transporting the huge load on his tricycle.

- Karen

Fancy Cans

Trash and recyclable containers situated at various locations throughout China. They look like antiques and too fancy for trash collection.







Have a nice weekend!

- Karen