Several people have asked me to blog some images from my time in East Asia, so get ready for photo-overload! I did my best to get a good selection of what I saw...but there's just no way to describe it.
A couple mornings after I'd been home, I woke up wishing I was back in Asia. There's a different feel about life. Maybe it's culture or because I was only there for a short time, but I will never forget the value of having a different perspective.
Relationships are valuable. They're extremely important. I enjoyed seeing the pagodas and eating a different type of food, but those things are fringes of what I'll remember most. I'm going to do my best to describe to you the images to follow, but there is so much story behind each of them that I hope you can grasp the full experience!
Much of our time was spent in one of these:
This is a cab (duh). Most drivers have some sort of religious tassel hanging from their rear-view mirror. Once, taking advantage of the fact that many people don't understand English, Jason turned to the driver and said, "So I see this cab is Budda-powered. How's that working out for ya?" Of course the driver paid no attention...but we laughed pretty hard.
This is a "taxi" as well.
On our first full day, we visited a nearby mountain that had some great views of the city. This is the entrance.
One example of "Chinglish". This is one side of a trash can- I'm guessing the side for non-recyclable items.
Gorgeous cherry blossoms.
Incense burning outside a temple.
The red ribbons are prayer ribbons- but I don't know the purpose of the lock.
This is sweet baby Carson with his daddy. Carson is just so precious- Lindsey and I wanted to take him home!
The women have an incessant habit of nosiness...especially when there's a baby around. :)
Some snapshots from the Meat Market.
This isn't the greatest repair feat we got to see...I wish I had taken a picture of the man atop a highwire, held up by his buddy and a bamboo ladder.
We got to go to a local park to visit some elderly people Jason and Lindsey made friends with last year. They all play a hackey-sack like game that we call "feather kick". These people may be older, but they are definitely in better shape than I am! Here's a cute one of Lindsey:
This man is the teacher of the game. He kept telling Lindsey and I to put our hands behind our backs so we didn't use them!
Check out Jason's outfit- he had it made last year. When we walked around the corner, the group recognized he and Lindsey immediately!
Remember the thing I said about nosiness?
They had a cool top game that turned out to be pretty hard.
Bishop trying his hand.
We got to be a part of a game night at a University. It was really fun- made a lot of new friends there.
The next day we got to hike out to a natural landbridge. Actually, we just got to hike out to the ocean. The tickets for the landbride were way overpriced, and we were up for a little adventure! Here is Lindsey and Air.
Lindsey and I. Sorry for the crazy arms! I was being lazy!
Some of the friends that came with us.
The Bishop deep in thought.
Marcus and Jason.
Our group!
Here's the view from our hotel room:
We ate at a Mongolian restaurant one rainy night. These geese lived outside the restaurant. They were either pets of the owners or future dinner...
One of our friends is an English professor at the University and asked us if we'd come speak to her students. Since it was a beginning English class, there wasn't much talking, but we did take a LOT of pictures!
We spent a full day in Beijing, which went from a beautiful sunny day to so foggy we started to worry that our flight would be cancelled.
On our last night, Katlyn took Lindsey and I to see an Acrobat show. It was amazing! I spent the entire time gawking and worrying they would fall!
There was a lady walking around patrolling the use of cameras, but I snuck one in. Take that, camera lady!
(Yes, this picture is of 10 girls on 1 bicycle!)
I had a wonderful time. I was amazed the things that God did in my own heart and the hearts of others as well. This won't be the last visit!
