Dim Sum Lunch

Stopped at a Restaurant for lunch conveniently attached to a cloisonné factory. Lunch was good and our group experimented with different tastes. Meant to drink tea but ended up with beer and a Chinese Saki.

Beijing Noodles

The restaurant was out of curry so my second choice was "Beijing Noodles". The noodles were special for the area ( and aren't simply spaghetti) with additions of carrots, jicama or something like it, and covered in a sweet brown sauce with small meat pieces. I drank a lot of the bottled water as I'm feeling a little dehydrated from the flight. Used the chopsticks without problems and didn't dirty the fork.

We have wifi access in the room. I can post to the blog by sending this info in an email and I'm glad that I set up the account to do that. If I do this on my phone, I'm limited to one photo due to email size limits. I can't directly web access the blog so I will have multiple photos prepped to add when I have can.

So far, my impression of China and Beijing is very positive. The young woman next to me on the plane was very chatty and spoke much to the other passenger. She and I had a fun discussion about several of the tourist sites. At the airport, the tour group was easy to find with their large signs. The drive in from the airport took about an hour. I did see some of the large new developments that stand empty as well the full ones. (See 60 Minutes story) Our tour guides will be Lee and Dan. Lee explained that next week is a holiday time so the sites will be crowded with locals. Great. Traffic coming in to the city was jammed and I have some interesting driving photos for a separate discussion.

My mother and aunt arrived late and I haven't seen them yet. Can't wait to hear about their travel adventures.

Pacific Ocean - Long flight to Beijing

The flight from Phoenix to San Francisco seemed very short.  I didn't sleep the night before and so I was sound asleep before we took off.  There was a four hour wait in San Fran so by boarding time I was ready to take another nap.

The flight was full and it was funny watching all of the interaction as people tried to find places for their duty free bags.

I watched a few movies and slept.  The flight was almost 13 hours.  The group is staying at the Beijing Marriott City Wall. Ate dinner at the hotel tonight (Beijing noodles) and now I am off to sleep!

Wisconsin Ginseng?

I have only made it as far as the San Francisco airport and I am already bewildered and amazed by new sights. I was walking to my gate, window shopping. This display caught my eye. 100% Wisconsin Ginseng products. What? When did Wisconsin get in to this business?

Asia to Alaska - And the fun begins

Started the day with a 6AM flight.  Super Shuttle pick up at about 4:15 AM made the international "2 hour before the flight" departure time smooth.  A coffee shop was open and I bough a latte and scone.  Two hour flight to San Francisco, and then another 13 hours to Beijing.  This will be a very long travel day.  I didn't go to sleep at all last night, so I should get a good sleep on the plane. I am so lucky to be able to fall asleep on the plane.

Camera storage is ready! Disks are clean and I bought a 32gb disk. Fast and holds a lot of pictures.

Testing Desktop Blog Tool

I have searched for a blogging tool that will allow me to write the blog on my laptop, even when I don't have an internet connection. Then, when I have an internet connection, I can publish the information immediately.

I have also added a picture.

[photo deleted…need to figure out flickr connection]

This should also use less computing time as I won't use the minutes writing the content.

The product for this test is ecto. Thoughts on this?

Bose Headset ready for flight

I can't take a flight without my Bose headset. I have several books in the iPod. Check. Check.

Testing remote blog post with a photo.

Test - remote post

I am running through the checklist to make sure that my vagabond systems are in place.

Ladee

"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign."
Robert Lewis Stevenson

Gilbert, Arizona - Birds at Gilbert Riparian Observatory

I attended a presentation with Lisa Langell, a local wildlife photographer. The title of her presentation was "How to Avoid the 7 Key Mistakes Wildlife Photographers Make".  She is lively and engaging. Her PowerPoint presentation was filled with examples of her own work with the "mistakes" and the joyous results.

I went back to my February 2013 photographs taken at the Gilbert Riparian Observatory.  Yes, I made all of those mistakes. The big one was that I went from place to place to take photos instead of quietly finding a spot to watch the activity and learn the action of the birds.  I decided to process the photos and post them on line so that I could compare the "mistakes" with future photographs (given that I am adaptable enough to learn.)  These are plain and uneventful....  Birds are in the  middle...just standing there.  And one final comment...I need a bigger lens if I am going to do this more often.  No comments necessary.  This is my "draw the line in the sand" post.