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.

Happy Birthday to Me from Sergio

Sergio surprised me with a Fujifilm x100s for my birthday last weekend. I am so thrilled to start shooting more with a "real" camera again. I loved my Sony NEX-5 but it became too heavy to lug around. I can slip this one on cross-bodied and I barely notice.

Shooting in all automatic right now while still learning the settings. Loving what it can do so far.

Villa Photoshoot

These would have been our engagement photos but the shoot took place just three days before the wedding. I guess we can just consider them part of our wedding photos. We are over the moon happy with these and so glad we chose this location. There was no time during the wedding to capture intimate, quiet photos so I'm glad we did this. I love them. Grazie Andrea!



All photos by Andrea Di Giampasquale.

JTree

Many years ago, I spent a day in Joshua Tree on a guided tour, part of a corporate team building exercise. I recall being impressed by the otherworldly beauty of the park. But returning to explore on our own was an entirely different experience.

This place is pure magic.













IG Gallery: #elauincJTree2014



Travel Dates: December 6-8, 2014