China Adventures

Greetings all! I am four days into my China trip, and in my third hotel (fourth if you count spending a night on the airplane). I am hopping all around China! I started in Beijing, then moved to Shenzhen (at the very southern end of Mainland China), WALKED into Hong Kong, and am here for a few days before heading back to Beijing, and eventually Qingdao.

I haven't taken many photos yet, but here are a few:

Alaska. I will go there someday to explore the amazing things it holds. The snowy mountains are beautiful. The only time I have been in Alaska was on the way to my mission. If you don't know the story: We were 5 hours into our flight, over halfway to our first stop in Japan. An individual on the flight began having severe seizures, for which the flight crew decided to turn back to Anchorage to seek medical attention for the man. Due to flying restrictions, we had to stay in Anchorage for 24 hours. I just remember it being cold. The skies were clear, but there were mountains of snow on the roads (was the end of March). We continued to Japan, but arrived after the noise curfew had gone into effect, so we stayed a night in Japan before finally making our way to Taiwan... three days late. Was a small adventure to start an even greater one!

One shot of the perpetual sunset I enjoyed for 10 hours on my flight to Beijing. You all know how much I love sunsets, so you know how wonderful this was for me. The sun was setting when we took off, it disappeared from the horizon, then reappeared as we pushed further north, then set again as we turned south again into China (pictured above). Having the sky lit helped me stay awake for the flight, and adjust to the new time zone.

Walking into Hong Kong. I remember the tails of Dad going to Hong Kong when I was little, and then again periodically for the Rugby Sevens. It was always a mystical place in my mind. Now I get to be here for myself!

Not a bad view from the hotel. We are staying in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island (left and bottom of the picture). Hoping to get out and explore a little while we are here before heading back to the Mainland tomorrow night.