my last post

well guys, my time in china has come to an end. i have to say that overall, it was an incredible experience. while my grades are hardly worth noting, looking back, i will greatly appreciate this once in a lifetime opportunity to really immerse myself in such a foreign culture that allowed me to see some really great things and meet some really great people. nevertheless, there is no place like home and i am happy to be back.

hope you all enjoyed the travel tales.

tuning out,
leo

(yes, i realize sayonara is japanese)

maccau, beijing, and the great wall

here is am with sam in hong kong just before our visit to maccau and beijing. we are wearing matching columbia jackets that we purchased for $10. not bad at all....

a nice pan of a bay at maccau. off in the distance are some of the more expensive homes owned by the casino operators im told.

cathedral of saint something or the other at maccau. it was pretty cool

back in beijing, i am standing on a bridge at this nice park next to the forbidden city. usually there is water but they drained it to prevent freezing.

here is a picture i like of my mom standing at the top of a bridge.

there were some cute little kids waving flags running around, and so i took a picture.
here i am with sam and my cousin at one of the old gates to the city of beijing. there are several of these around.

in the center of tienamen square, there is the tomb of mao. i am standing at its southern side, saluting mighty china. i dont know how pleased the guards were about this, but im sure that if they took one step away from their post there would be some serious explaining to do...

here are sam, my cousin, and grace (my buddy who was an incredible guide in china)

this is one of my favorite pics of my mom, standing alone in one of the main squares of the forbidden city. click to enlarge.

here i am with my mom in front of a cool tree at the forbidden city. there are a lot of beautiful old tress in china.

pic of me at the great wall. this place was really awe inspiring. here i am about to roll all the way down. look at how far it goes into the horizon? amazing eh?

summer palace and restaurant

these are some pics of me, family and friends at the summer palace. it was soooo damn cold that day but we still had a great time. last are pics at the greatest duck restaurant in the world...

this is a cool picture of my cousin, grace, sam and myself in that order from left to right.

here i am with grace at the lake of the summer palace, built by an empress of china who stole the money reserved to build a navy for the dynasty. haha

here is a nice little panoramic of the lake at the summer palace. a man made lake, workers were forced to dig it out of the ground with their bare hands. off into the distance in into the right, there is a mountain with a tower on top of it (cant see it in this pic). that mountain was created by the earth uncovered in this project. did you notice you can see my cousin in three places?

here i am at dinner as grace is trying to strangle me to death. at this moment, my eyes began to roll back into my head, the life slowly draining from my skin as my lungs tried desperately in vain for one last gulp of fresh air....

here i am eating the most amazing duck ive ever had in my life at a place called "emperor duck". it was so fresh, so crisp, so tasty.... i miss it. (p.s. the tacky sweater is on because beijing was freezing cold cindy).

pics of my new crew and me...

the newest membor of my clan. his name is leondardo. raphael, michaelangelo & donatello are his companians... see below pic.

hehe these guys are cute. ive got some good vids of them (you cant see all of them in this pic). will consider posting online..

every time i look at this i laugh at myself (i find that i do that more and more each day). im eating one of my favorite desserts, mango sago. sago apparently is like tapioka (sp). who kows, but its damn good...

another weird pic of me. i like this one because it makes me look like a mad scientist. that kid in the back lives on my floor, he is a great guy...

here i am taking a sip of some water coming down like a waterfall. albeit a very small water fall. and no, i didnt think it was gross or that i would die of some random disease...

here are some random pics of me all over the place. more will come....

here i am sticking my face against this water sculpture at the top of this gigantic escalator.

here are some palm treees at the avenue of stars. from here you can view the hong kong skyline... there is also the handprint of jacqui chan and a statue of bruce lee (who was from hong kong)...

a picture of the hong kong skyline by vantage of the harbor ferry...

this is quite possibly the most amazing food ive discovered here in hong kong. dont know what its called, but it is a "rice ball" stuffed with chilled mango, and coconut shreddings on the side...

the buddha of lantau

here are statues honoring his holiness, the buddha.. .

here is a pic of the buddha at lantau. the worldest largest statue to buddha in bronze (largest bronze statue perhaps? not quite sure..) its really much bigger than it looks in this pic....

here is the buddha off into the distance. it looks huge doesnt it?

here i am standing on the steps leading up to the buddha, in my failed attempt to seem like im pointing up to it...

me on my balcony

guess who's back?

me. sorry for my leave of absence, but i am back in black, and ready to roll with updated pics and videos.