Scuba Diving

I've been diving with Abyss for a very long time now. I chose to do my organised dive travel with them, I chose to do my Divemaster and Instructor courses with them and I always drop in at the shop when I'm in the area.

http://www.abyss.com.au/scuba-diving/sydney/

Quick trip around

So my friend Tom has been here and we took a quick trip out of Beijing to Xi'an and Chengdu

Xi'an

Terracotta Warriors

The Shaolin Temple

Chengdu and Pandas

Going into the Forbidden City

Having wandered around the Forbidden City the other day, it was time to brave the crowds and go back in! It was a weekday but for some reason it was completely packed. The weather has been great though and this day was no exception.

Going into the Forbidden City

It was a little bright for great photo taking though.

Back in Beijing

Back in Beijing and Tom has come to visit!
After spending the Thursday resting and the Friday working, we went out for a walk around in central Beijing.
Not the best day for taking photos although it was super clear (for Beijing anyway)

Walking around the Forbidden City

San Francisco

We just got back from San Francisco, where we had gone to see our friends Giles and Suzi get married! And we also did an astronomical amount of shopping!

San Francisco - Out and About

I also took some shots of the wedding, sorry they're not much good. Of all the types of photographers I am not, I am especially not a wedding photographer :)
The wedding was really nice though. In Golden Gate Park, it was nicely set up and all went off without a hitch. Jane had to read some of the script from Buffy which may have surprised some people, but not the ones who know either Suzi or Giles! It also went very well.

Giles and Suzi Get Hitched!

We had a fantastic time, it was great to catch up with friends. One of the things about being in China is that it is pretty isolating so seeing friends that I hadn't seen since the last time we were in Aus was really great.

We also got the chance to go for a drive down to Monterrey Bay which was also very nice. San Francisco seems to have terrible weather in the summer, colder than Australia in the winter which surprised me (even though EVERYONE told me in advance, it's still weird). We had a lot of overcast days except for the wedding so that was a bit like Beijing.

On the whole, a successful trip and I'd definitely like to go back. Maybe in another season though, I'm hoping that the other ones are warmer :)

Beijing Summer Walking

We went for a walk around the Muslim Quarter in Beijing. We couldn't go into the mosque (because we were wearing shorts) but the oldest Buddhist temple in Beijing was fantastic.

Beijing - Out and About

Hiking (all of) the Ming Tombs

Just before we went to Chicago, we went on a hiking trip to the Ming Tombs.
Sigh.

It was quite a trip. We walked around 20km in the 38 degree heat, visiting each of the Ming Tombs without going into any of them. And they are all the same.

Hiking the 13 Ming Tombs