If I had to describe my trip to China in one word, that word would have to be ohmygoditwasabsolutelyamazingholycrapthatwasanamazingtripdidimentionitwasama-zingbutdamndoihavejetlagnowandistillhavetoomuchtodoleftfrombeforemytrip. Or something like that. Let me check the thesaurus, and I’ll get back to you.
As you might imagine, I have lots of photos. Well over 2000 of them, in fact. Some of them are basically duplicates, as I had my camera set to produce both raw format and jpg for the Great Wall visit, but I still have to sort through them to decide which to keep and post-process. I have spent a little time looking through them, and so far have selected a conservative 200 or so to share. Sometime.
I also have plenty of tales to tell. (You might, for example, enjoy the story of how I killed my iPod. Or how I won an award, which was not for the most creative murder of an iPod. Or about how I seemingly got a small group of us kicked out of a restaurant, which turned out to be a good thing.)
But remember that staggering to-do list I posted before my trip? Unfortunately, I do. And there are things left that still haven’t been done, and still need to be done. So I need to do some of them (the work-related ones) soon. Also, I really really really need a nap. (I fell asleep last night around 9 while trying to post this, but then woke up at two in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. I’m not quite adjusted to this time zone.)
Since I don’t know where to start in on my photos, here is one I took from the plane during my flight back. Once again, my choice of window seat paid off. I happened to glance out the window about an hour or two into the flight, and saw a rather dramatic looking mountain peeking through the clouds. I grabbed for my camera, and managed to snap a few shots before the mountain left my view. I probably would have gotten a clearer shot with my telephoto lens, but fortunately I correctly assessed that I wouldn’t have had time to dig it out from my bag and change lenses in time. Once the mountain was behind me, I looked at the live flight map on the individual monitor to see where we were: roughly over Tokyo. Further investigations once I got home confirmed my suspicions: this was Mount Fuji.
collecting tokens 
Good god. That is an AWESOME photo of Mount Fuji!
Glad you enjoyed your latest visit to China, Alejna. But please, don’t forget Hong Kong! ;)
Thanks, YTSL! I was pretty excited to have seen it, and even happier that I had my camera handy.
And, no, I haven’t forgotten Hong Kong! I do wish I’d managed to get those posts up pre-Shanghai, but life had other plans for me. (Other things I did not manage to do before my trip included getting sleep the night before my flight!)
The photo you snapped is amazing. I can hardly wait to read about your adventures in China. And the demise of your iPod. Whatever did you do to the thing?
Thanks, Ally Bean! I will try to write about these things soon. As for the iPod, it could fall into the category of “accidental drowning.”
Wow! I am looking forward to the further stories and photos! And good luck adjusting to jetlag. Have you tried taking melatonin before going to bed? Sometimes it helps me stay asleep.
You know, I considered getting some melatonin before my trip, but I got some mixed reviews and ended up not getting any. I’ve actually been resorting to benadryl, as I also have some allergies that I’m dealing with. The couple of nights when I’ve taken it, I’ve slept through the night, the couple nights without, not so much. But maybe I’ll give melatonin a shot at some point for some future trip. (Not that any cross-time-zone trips are planned at this point for the near future. Sadly.)
How absolutely marvellous.
And here I thought ‘smile’ was supposed to be the longest word in the language.
hugs, and get some sleep.
Thanks, Mary! I’m not familiar with the expression about ‘smile.’ I’ll have to look it up, as I’m curious. (I’ve heard my kids say some very long drawn-out productions of the word “no,” come to think of it…)