 Ryan and Xiaofeng in their beautiful Chengdu apartment |
 My first Sichuan meal...hot spicy and addicting |
 I was pretending to be good with chopsticks |
 Chengdu office building |
 The plant with an amazing scent that attracted Xiaofeng from across the street |
 Just outside the entrance to Chengdu's version of SeaWorld |
 In the park |
 Carp mania |
 Sea eel tubing |
 Shark watching |
 Being ignored by a penguin |
 Xiaofeng found a few that didn't mind the company |
 yep |
 Apparently it is fun being swallowed by a big-lipped aqua thing |
 Joyness |
 Joyness in motion (GIF animation) |
 Under the sea |
 Manta ray |
 First trip around |
 In the (flying) yellow submarine |
 Ryan warns of impending rotation |
 He wasn't bluffing |
 Lift off |
 Contemplating life or maybe carp |
 Hot pink dragonfly |
 Something like a bougainvillia |
 Alone together |
 Neat flower |
 Another neat version of the same flower |
 Subway directions help you emerge on the right side of the intersection |
 Ryan and Xiaofeng were excited to show me a camping/outdoors store |
 Prices are in yuan |
 The Zen of texting at intersections |
 Our first hot pot meal |
 Ping-Pong paddle warning: Please don't eat the rubber |
 Our makeshift pingpong net |
 Guess she needed a new screensaver |
 Popcorn lady |
 Caricatures on buildings in a rural area |
 Not sure what they mean |
 Entering a beautiful (but crowded!) area of Buddhist monasteries |
 Prolific web designer |
 A covered thing |
 Something about the covered thing |
 Something like a columbine |
 Beautiful little bridge |
 Yeah |
 A very friendly local hangs with us for awhile |
 This dude challenged me to a race up these stairs |
 One of my favorite flowers |
 Peace bell |
 Web in early morning dew |
 Closeup of dewy web |
 My REI backpacker umbrella came in very handy |
 Typical street market offerings |
 Yeah, a peach sandwhich |
 These guys never ceased to amaze me |
 Another web design |
 This sign really says 'English Proof-Reader Wanted' |
 A serene mountain lake |
 Xiaofeng admiring the lake while I admired the scene |
 View from the bridge |
 Serenity |
 A gazebo, two bridges, and a couple elephant butts |
 A mountain stream (possibly spring-fed) |
 Carvings into the limestone cliff face |
 I should know this, but I think they were carved by the Buddhist monks in the area |
 Big cat in stone |
 Narrows |
 Web-adorned trees |
 Beware the dangerous monkeys |
 Like this one |
 More dangerous monkeys ready to pounce |
 Typical view of rainforest-like flora |
 Ryan and I test-drive the bamboo taxi |
 Side stream |
 Bridge over untroubled waters |
 This place borders on being a rainforest |
 The web design |
 The web designer |
 The real bamboo taxi team...these guys are amazing |
 Evidently why they have bus service |
 We got this place cheap for the night...no wonder |
 I gave it a half a star |
 Along the quiet path to a monestary |
 Bamboo forest |
 Apparently a Buddhist shrine/cemetary |
 A toad and a leaf |
 One of the prayer flags...not sure if I have it backwards or not |
 After an 800 step climb up to a monestery, this was the view |
 One of many butterflies native to the mountains |
 Mr. Blue Sky back in Chengdu |
 Xiaofeng's hot pink ride |
 Xiaofeng's white hot hat |
 Sold me on em |
 Flowery sign near the river |
 Leavage |
 The happy couple |
 Just a week away from their first wedding anniversary |
 Chengdu high risers |
 Chendgu skyline |
 Little greenbelt area between the river and the road |
 Chinese outdoor barbeque area |
 Little residential garden |
 Another kind of flower I'd never seen |
 Xiaofeng and her bubble show |
 Filling the world with bubbles |
 Xiaofeng and her bubbles |
 Ryan gets into the act |
 Ryan and his bubbles |
 They bought one of the scented flowery plants that Xiaofeng liked so much |
 It's new home |
 Apparently it works in Chengdu |
 Xiaofeng doesn't really have a drinking problem...more likely a phone texting problem |
 Beijing river walk |
 What about that guy in the background? |
 Or this guy (arrowed)? |
 Great Wall near Badaling |
 QiFei hanging out on the Wall |
 Try to spot the tourist |
 One of the signal stations |
 First day of the Chinese national holiday so the place was crowded |
 Women always go for guys in uniform |
 My last hotpot meal before leaving for home |
 The mountains north of Beijing |
 Sunset somewhere near Harbin |