St Hubert's is famous for another great Quebec institution- Poutine!
(Poutine, for those poor souls unfamiliar with this miracle of culinary delight, consists of chips (fries) with curd cheese, covered in gravy.... mmmmm....)
Central Park (above and below)
Waiting to ride the subway from Tokyo International Airport to Narita city.
On the streets in the city (town) of Narita
At the temple complex in Narita (above and below)
With the girls: (clockwise from top left: Manny, Maria, Lou, Irene, Daniela, Federica, Cindy)
Posing in front of a pagoda on the mountain side
Next to the pond at the base of the Sword Falls
Lunch time, after some serious walking up the mountain
Watching the traffic from the mini-van, while returning to Hangzhou from Moganshan
Playing 'Uno' on the train back to Shanghai
Watching the world flash by from the train window. Or more appropriately- Manny does our Thai resort, as we were too scared to take the big expensive digital camera to the beach to capture Manny there.
"He's got a lovely bunch of coconuts..."
"Duuuude!"
Standing on the granite wall, built during the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644).
This section of the wall is less comercial than the highly touristic section at Badaling, and is famous for the multitude of Ming Dynasty guard towers along its length.
Manny sits in the window of one of the guard towers, admiring the view.
Posing in one of the archers' defense holes
Manny gazes at the steep wall of steps at the end of this section, trying to decide if he has the energy to ascend the near vertical stairs. (You can see the steps starting from near his right ear, heading towards the horizon)
Half-way up the steps. Near enough is not close enough for this intrepid adventurer.
Resting proudly at the platform at the top of the stairs! This is the last Guard Tower before the Wall disintigrates into ruins. Not many people realise that only relatively small parts of the wall have been preserved/restored, and the majority exists as ruins.
Gazing back to where we came from... and where our tired souls (and our tired soles!) have to walk back to.
Manny colour-coordinates with the PRC flag
North view
South view
Posing in front of a blurry Mao (too late in the afternoon to get the light i needed for that kind of depth of field... but appropriate as most of his memory here is somewhat blurred from truth)
Getting suspicious looks from the guards on duty
Chilling at the Front Gate: Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644)
I finally got some photos resized, got Beta-Blogger working, got Saturn aligned with Venus, and the wind blowing from the South-east, or whatever, but the end result is that I can finally post some photos of our trip around China.
So with no further ado, here is...
On the edge of the moat encircling the Forbidden City
"Where's Manny?"
Posing for a photo in one of the many gardens...
... and checking out the distinctive architecture.
Inspecting one of the old bronze couldrons, that were kept filled with water in case of fires in the old days.
Playing Hide and Seek
The obligatory photo in the main square of the Forbidden City
("Hello my god... it's Manny here... there's nothing much I want to say, just hellooooo my god..." --this will be totally lost on any non-Aussies, but ten points to anyone in Oz who recognises Manny's song)
...and goes for cash in the end:
