China 2015

instagram: #elsiemeetschina



















So many feelings about China. Some deeply personal. Some cliché. It's a wondrous, amazing, staggeringly complex place. I felt fortunate to have gone and even more fortunate to have traveled there with my mom. Also, I ended up giving my mom my shoes on this trip.

There is a wishing tree that sits on the grounds of the temple my uncle built for his village. My mother told me a story about how construction workers saved and moved the tree to where it now stands. It seems to be flourishing and now also houses a flock of doves. Or maybe they are pigeons. I can't remember. Red ribbons of villager's wishes fluttered with the breeze, surrounded by the birds and so much bird poop. Such was my experience in China. So much beauty and hope, intermingled with so much, well, the opposite.


I took 1000+ photos. I managed to edit it down to 552 and uploaded to an album on my Flickr account.

China - Itinerary

My cousin got married! In China! Mt mom and I got to go! It was an amazing trip. Probably a once in a lifetime experience to travel one-on-one with my mom. I was grateful every step of the way.

Guang Zhou 4 nights
Tai Shan 1 night
Guang Zhou 2 nights
Beijing 2 nights (should have been 3 nights but missed our flight, which meant we spent an extra night in GZ)
Guang Zhou 1 night
Hong Kong 3 nights
Guang Zhou 1 night

The big event took place early in Guang Zhou which became our home base. There is definitely a more efficient way to travel that would have allowed us to loop in additional cities and sights. But family and cost consciousness was wound tightly around this trip which dictated many of the moves we made.

I can't even list all the different foods and meals we ate. I learned a lot about...everything. I missed Sergio and Luca like crazy.