A Visit To The Motherland

Work has me traveling the world, and a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the motherland, China. Since our work kept us in Beijing for over a week, we had the opportunity to go on a weekend sightseeing extravaganza. With the help of our local office, we were able to arrange a private tour guide and driver which were both key for our action packed weekend since there are hoards of people in China and rules seem to be optional when you are on the road.

On Saturday, we visited the Temple of Heaven, Tian'anmen Square-Forbidden City, Lama Temple, Hutongs at the Shichachi Lake, and National Silk Market.

Temple of Heaven

Beijing Roast Duck

Tian'anmen Square - Forbidden City

Silk Worms

On Sunday, we visited the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall, Olympic Stadium (Bird's Nest and Water Cube), and Summer Palace. The Great Wall is truly amazing sight to be seen. The wall seems to go on forever and ever and the burnt orange hues of the changing leaves made the view even more breathtaking.

Mutianyu Great Wall

After our time in Beijing, we took a quick trip to Shanghai and I was able to visit the Bund Center. Unfortunately, since our time there was so short and I started coming down with a cold, I wasn't able to see anything else before I had to jump on my plane to head back home.

Bund Center Shanghai

That should be it for my international travel for this year. I can't wait to see where I am assigned to go next year!

Weekend In The Mountains

Over the weekend, we went to Mammoth Mountains to celebrate a family friend's 60th birthday! Since we were in the area, MH planned a quick day trip to Mono Lake and Yosemite.

Mono Lake is known for it's "tufa towers," calcium-carbonate spires across the lake shore. Apparently, the best time to visit Mono Lake is at day break, to catch the morning light. When we arrived at 6:30 AM, we pulled into a full parking lot and found a number of visitors with the cameras and tri-pods already set up along the shore.

Mono Lake

After we snapped a few pictures we continued on our journey to Yosemite. To give me the quick tour, MH first stopped at the Tunnel View point to show me the grand view.

Yosemite

Then, we made our way down the Yosemite Valley to the Visitor Center and did a short hike on the Lower Yosemite Fall Trail. It was a beautiful day to be outside and as we strolled along the trail we spotted a couple deer snacking on the brush. After our hike, we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch and then headed back to Mammoth.

When we get into shape we will have to return to hike half dome. Any one else interested?

OpenWorld 2011

Just after we returned from Hawaii, I headed off to San Francisco to attend Oracle's annual conference, OpenWorld. Being a first time visitor to a conference like this, I wasn't prepared for the magnitude of the event. However, I should have known when I started looking into hotels and everything was either sold out or cost a small fortune, like $600/night to stay at the Holiday Inn.

Shout out to Ickity for letting me stay with her during a heavy loaded school week. Even though you were crazy busy, it was still good to see you and spend time with you in between the chaos.

The conference as a whole was a great experience and very informational but I'll spare you the details on that aspect of it. What is more exciting about the conference is that they had Sting and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers perform at their appreciation event on the second to last day of the conference at Treasure Island.

Sting! (the little speck in the middle of the stage)

In addition to having a full blown stage set up for the musical performances, they also had complimentary carnival games, ferris wheel rides, food stands, and beverages. It was a VERY impressive event. Fingers crossed I get to go back next year. Maybe Metallica will be headlining ;)

A Trip To Paradise

While our honeymoon was a once in a lifetime type adventure, we wouldn't necessarily describe our trip to Africa as romantic or relaxing. There is something about the constant application of bug spray and waking up before the sun that seems to kill the idea of romance and the feeling of being well rested. Thankfully, we had the opportunity to go with Oahu with my family at the end of September to get the R&R that we needed.

Sunset @ Waikiki Beach

While we were there, we caught a rerun of Man v. Food that featured the Mac Daddy Pancake Challenge at Mac 24-7 in the Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio Hotel. The challenge is to eat four pounds of pancakes in 90 minutes without leaving the table before you're finished. Since the restaurant wasn't too far from our hotel we decided to give it a go and ordered the hot and wild blueberry pancakes.

Mac 24-7 Hot & Wild Blueberry Pancakes

It is difficult to fully comprehend the true size of the pancakes in the picture. With four of us eating, we came no where close to finishing it, and were only able to eat about half!

On the recommendation of a girl friend, we also tried Mana Bu's, Hawaii's Masubi Headquarters. We picked up a few different masubi's one morning and they were a perfect afternoon snack for a day at the beach. On top of our little masubi pyramid is their fresh strawberry mochi. Although it cost more than any of the masubis, I do admit that it was quite tasty, and I wouldn't mind having another.

Treats from Mana Bu's

Last but not least, we found this awesome beach just north of Haleiwa where we got to watch a group of Hawaiian green sea turtles snacking on the vegetation just off of the shore. Unfortunately, none of them were out on the sand sun bathing. However, every now and then you could see their heads pop up for air or one of their fins sticking out of the surf as they balanced themselves in the waves.

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle

It's always such a treat to visit the Hawaiian islands. Till next time Hawaii, I'll miss you!