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Album: Flight into China

Pull out your globe, and pull a piece of string tightly between New York and Beijing. The line runs almost exactly over the North Pole and back down to Beijing.

Album: At work in Beijing

Miscellaneous photos from my time in Beijing at work, and all the in-betweens not in the other albums.

Album: Temple of Heaven, Beijing

My first tourist stop was at the beautiful Temple of Heaven, filled with imperial Ming architecture.

Album: Tian'anmen Square, Beijing

In and around the world's largest public square

Album: The Forbidden City, Beijing

A lightning-quick traverse from south-to-north. Unfortunately Christie couldn't make it here with me.

Album: Olympic Park, Beijing

A few shots from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Park.

Album: Beijing with Christie

Christie didn't have much time in Beijing. Before leaving for Yunnan, we had almost no time at all. On the return, we arrived mid-afternoon, and her flight out was the next morning. Still, we got to see a quick little bit of the city.

Album: Kunming, Yunnan

Combine an altitude well over a mile high, and a latitude to match the Florida Keys, and you get the capital city of Yunnan, the "Spring City", famed for mild weather year-round.

Album: Kunming to Dali, along the Burma Road

We were packed into a stuffy bus, but the scenery was fantastic. We passed by traditional Yí and Bái villages, as well as the "Dinosaur Valley".

Album: Dali

Photos from Dali Old Town

Album: Cángshān mountains

Over Dali rise the impressive Cángshān mountains. We took a chairlift to the Zhōnghé Buddhist-Taoist temple, and high on the mountain could see the expanse of Ěrhǎi Lake below.

Album: Xǐzhōu

We visited the Sunday market in Xǐzhōu, a Bái village north of Dali.

Album: Wēishān County

Home to Yí and Huí minorities, we lunched at a Huí Muslim restaurant (no pork!) in tiny Diànzhōng village, and continued to the off-the-beaten-path Huì Míng Buddhist monastery.

Album: Yí countryside near Dali

Jim took us for a trek over the mountains south of Dali, through a hillside Yí village.

Album: Dali to Lijiang

The road winds into the hills north of Ěrhǎi Lake. The sight of Yùlóng Xuěshān, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, a true Himalayan peak over 18,000 feet tall, would herald our arrival in the capital of the Nàxī minority.

Album: Lijiang

Album: Black Dragon Pool, Lijiang

Lonely Planet puts it best: "[...] The most obligatory photo shoot in southwestern China"

Album: Báishā village

Outside of Lijiang lies this sleepy village, once the capital of the Nàxī kingdom. Now, it's most famous for "Dr. Ho", the town's now world-famous herbalist.

Album: Jade Dragon Snow Mountain

We took a trip up from Lijiang to see this mythical 18,000 foot Himalayan mountain up close.

Album: Tiger Leaping Gorge

In one of the world's deepest river gorges, the Yangtze River is funnelled into a narrow gap between the mountains, so narrow in fact, that legend says a tiger jumped across the river.

Album: Shangri-La County

A little slice of Tibet in Yunnan Province! Photos from the drive to Zhōngdiàn.

Album: Zhōngdiàn (a.k.a. "Shangri-La")

Adventures in this truly Tibetan town.

Album: Ganden Sumtseling Tibetan Lamasery

Just north of Zhōngdiàn lies the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Yunnan.

Album: Tibetan Bike Ride

Beck, Mark, and Celeste hired mountain bikes for the afternoon. Destination: the little villages out in the valley beyond the town. Beck nearly got gored by a yak, and the altitude started to make itself known, but all arrived safely back!

Album: Flight from Zhōngdiàn to Kunming

A beautiful flight included spotting the tallest mountain in Yunnan and many Himalayan giants on the horizon. Now if only the airport wasn't closed...

Album: The Summer Palace, Beijing

Back on my own, I biked out to the Summer Palace on a beautiful sunny but windy afternoon, and walked several miles clockwise around Kunming Lake.