Hong Kong - April 15-16

The past few days I have been in Hong Kong. I went up to the top of Victoria Peak. It was in a cloud. The next day I went to Disneyland Hong Kong. It was a ton of fun! At night we had our last group dinner and everyone said goodbye. The next morning we took a fifteen hour plane trip to Newark and then a short flight back to Richmond. I had a stupendous time in China!

Yangshuo China - April 2010

Hi everybody! We made it to Yangshuo. Yangshuo is a really cool area in Southeast China with lots of mountains. This is were the floating island scenes from Avatar were filmed. We rode bikes through the mountains, took a cooking class, a Tai Chi class, a Kung Fu class, and a Chinese calligraphy class. I was surprised that I was such a good cook and could do martial arts. We ate some adventurous things such as chicken brains, snails, lotus root, and I drank some rice wine. I had a fantastic time in Yangshuo. We are taking another overnight train to Hong Kong. Will update later.

Xi'an China - April 10,2010

Hi everybody! For the past few days, we have been in Xi'an which is a city in the middle of China. I did many things like take a stroll through the markets, saw some Pandas, and walked along the ancient city wall. I also had a great time at the Terra Cotta Soldiers. I can't believe that there are at least 7000 of them. The soldiers were made by Emperor Qin who also made the Great Wall and unified China. Even though he accomplished many amazing things, he was still very unpopular because many people died working on the Terra Cotta Soldiers and the Great Wall. Back in Xi'an, we even encountered a pick pocket or two in the markets - (nothing stolen though).

I'll post another message from Yangshou.

Beijing - April 2010

Hey everybody. We made it to China and just spent 5 days in Beijing. Beijing is a gigantic city with about 22 million people and it was a whole lot of fun! We saw Tiannamen Square, the Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven, The Great Wall of China, and amazing acrobats. We also saw the Bird's nest and the Water Cube where the 2008 Summer Olympics were held. We've eaten all kinds of foods (including cow intestine), but passed on the Scorpion on a stick.

We took an overnight train to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta soldiers and will let you know how that is in my next post.

More London

Second time in London was nice. We met with more friends and played around in Regent's Park. We ate near St. Paul's Cathedral. The Science Museum was the best ever. They had a really fun Wallace and Gromit interactive exhibit. We also watched a 3D Imax movie. Shakespeare's Globe Theater was cool. The original burned down in a fire. The last thing we saw was the Tower Bridge. We had a great view. Next stop: Home

Harry Potter

I had a great time seeing Harry Potter sites. We went to Oxford to see the steps where Mrs. McGonagall met the 1st years in movie number 1. Also, the banquet hall is based on the dining hall there. In London, we saw the place where the Leaky Cauldron scenes were filmed in numbers 1 and 3. The spot was different in each movie. We went to King's Cross Station to see platform 9 3/4. It was not actually filmed at platform 9, but at platform 4. In the 6th movie, coming out this summer, Death Eaters destroy Millenium Bridge on the Thames (pronounced Tims) River. We also went to the place that Grimmauld Place was based on. We went to many more cool Harry Potter sights too! I can not believe it is almost time to go home.

England

England was so much fun! We went to Hampton Court Palace, which was owned by King Henry VIII. There was a giant hedge maze and many awesome rooms. Then, we went to Stonehenge. It is a mystical rock arrangement. Some people (like Carson) think they were dancing giants, turned to stone by aliens. Lastly, we went to Legoland Windsor. There were so many fun rides and shows all based on legos. It was too fun to express! I can not believe we are almost done.

Greece -- Athens, Olympia, & Temple of Poseidon

I can not believe how wonderful Greece was. We went to the Acropolis. On top, is not only the Parthenon - but also, the Temple of Athene NMike, The Stod, and Dionysus' Theatre. A little ways off is the super columned Temple of Olympian Zeus. We drove for 4 hours to the site of the ancient Olympics. In the site was the training grounds, Temple of Zeus and Hera and the ancient track. The Temple of Zeus was almost all rubble, but one of the columns stands to show how tall it was. We then ran 4 laps on the ancient track. We had it all to ourselves for a long time! On the way back, we drove to the Temple of Poseidon. It is on a cliff and we also had it all to ourselves. I hope we have a fun last week of travel!

Acropolis...












Parthenon...














Ancient Olympia...











Starting Line at Ancient Olympia Track

Temple of Poseidon...

* The last picture isn't actually the Temple of Poseidon in Greece :-) Does anyone know where it is from (except Nonni, Mimi, and Pa).

Greece: Santorini

Pretty, Pretty, Pretty! Our hotel had a great view, 2 floors, and a jacuzzi. The first few days we just hung out at the hotel with the occassional walk around. One day, Carson and I spent 5 hours in the Jacuzzi. Later in the week, we went to the volcano and hot springs. At the volcano, we had a nice walk across the lava (not flowing). The hot springs were unenjoyable -- cold and not very much worth a long freezing swim to get there :-) On the last day, we traveled around the island to go to both red and black sand beaches, see some other sights, and catch the sunset in Ia (ee-ah). I had the most lazy and relaxing time of my life.

Turkey - Istanbul

I had the nicest time in Istanbul. It is a very clean and exciting city with the nicest people EVER. It is the only city in the world that is on two continents (Europe and Asia). We stayed in a small, but stupendous hotel near Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. First, we went to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. The inside of the Blue Mosque was beautiful. A Mosque is a Muslim church. The Hagia Sophia is a 1500 year old church which was eventually turned into a Mosque. We also walked around an ancient underground cistern that was dark, wet, and cool! We took a cruise down the Bosphorous which is the waterway that divides Europe and Asia. We met a friend of my mom's from High School in Istanbul whose name is Jennifer. She is a writer and she was so nice. She gave us a box of the best Turkish Delight ever. It was covered in Chocolate. We ate the whole box in just a few days!

We had a really great time in Istanbul!

Jordan - Amman with Friends

Jordan is a really great country with a ton of fun stuff to do. It is bordered by Iraq, Syria, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

I had a fantastic time with our friends in Amman (the Capitol of Jordan). We met them during our tour in Egypt. The kids (Rhys, Rahdika, Carson, and I) played, made a band, and watched movies. We ate a scrumptious home cooked dinner. It was really nice to see our friends.

Jordan - Wadi Rum

I had a phenomenal time in Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a big desert area in Jordan. It is where Lawrence of Arabia lived. We stayed in a Bedouin camp with the Bedouins who live in the desert. We took a jeep ride through the desert with a Bedouin named Aboud. He showed us a few sites and then he started driving really fast through the desert and flying over big sand dune cliffs. I was in the back of the truck with no seat belt on. After that, we took an evening camel ride deeper into the desert to watch the sunset. When we finally got back to camp, we ate a deliciously delicious dinner of rice, lamb, beef, chicken and pita bread. Our room was a tent with a cloth door and lit by candle light. My family had a great experience in Wadi Rum.