This Year’s Travel Ornaments

We put our tree up recently and one of the most fun parts is taking out the new ornaments I’ve been saving from our trips this year!

We like having an ornament on our tree for each place we’ve traveled.  Last year it was a little camel from Egypt.

From London, we have this tiny little double-decker bus.  It’s only about an inch tall!

In China, we picked up this cool red and gold design.

They’re both keychains, in case you were wondering!  Christmas ornaments can get expensive, very large, or even difficult to find in some places.  Getting a keychain really opens the possibilities!  I remove the key ring part, add a hook and it’s done!

What about you?  Any special new ornaments or travel traditions from this year?

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Wishes in the Trees

In China this year, Mr. P and I visited Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province.  It one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.  At almost five thousand feet up, we were standing above the clouds.

Walking through the park, we came upon a path with hundreds of red sashes tied to the trees.  Our friend told us that you buy a sash with your own money, write down something you need luck for, then tie it to one of the trees.  It really was a sight to see.

We bought two sashes.  Thinking about what I needed luck for, I was at a loss.  A complete loss.  I was in a beautiful place with my husband and I couldn’t think of anything we needed.  It made me realize that we were all right.  We may not be exactly where we want to be, but where are working on it and we are is great.

I looked at him and he was thinking the same thing.  We wrote on our sashes and tied them to the trees.  We didn’t ask for anything for ourselves – we asked for luck for our families.

We really do have a lot to be thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving.

China Vacation Photobook

My China photobook is done!

I now have 5 out of 6 vacation memory keeping steps complete!  Technically I think it’s 5.5 steps because I have half of step 6 (careful storage of mementos) complete.

I create a photobook for each vacation before I work on the scrapbook.  I discussed all the reasons why when I got back from Egypt last year, see the post on that here.

Same drill as last time, this is a 5×7″ photobook from MyPublisher.  Their software has gotten even better since last year and they make everything so easy.

I always start the book with a statement picture – this time it was the red lanterns on Gui Jie (Ghost Street).

I put text on each page where I started a new city but left the rest text-free.

Then I made lots and lots of pages.  This book is about 60 pages.  MyPublisher’s standard pages are very thick and high quality.

On the last page, I used a grid of pictures from everywhere on the trip, plus the cool “End” sign.

On the back cover, I put a picture of us.  I decided to make it a “thing” to put us on the back since I did the same with our Egypt Photobook.

Again, I’m really pleased with the quality and MyPublisher isn’t paying me to do an advertisement here.  When the book arrived at my office, my coworkers were very impressed with the quality and how good the pictures look when they’re printed and bound.

More Pictures from China

Summer is coming to a close.  My next vacation being far off, let’s have some fun and look at pictures of my most recent trip to China!

The picture above is from the Shanghai Pudong International Airport.  It’s right above a moving walkway between the Maglev station and the main terminal.  Mr. P was halfway down the moving walkway before he realize he’d lost me.  The sign was too perfect, I had to stop!

Next, a fruit salesman outside of my friend’s apartment.  China has lots of interesting dichotomies, in this case food on a bike cart outside quite modern high rise buildings.

An unrestored section of the Great Wall.  Most pictures of the Wall you see are actually restored sections.

A trip to the Beijing Zoo to see pandas!

The summer palace in Beijing.

Famous Shanghai soup dumplings (xiao long bao).  These were sooooo very good.

Quail eggs on a stick for sale in Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter.

The Terra Cotta Warriors outside of Xi’an.

Amazing sandstone pillars at Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.  This is the land that inspired the movie Avatar.

Wild monkeys on the valley floor of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.

Standing above the clouds over three thousand feet up at Tianmen Mountain National Park.

On Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, looking down at the city.

The Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island in Hong Kong – the largest sitting Buddha in the world.

Fried rice inside a pineapple Shek O Chinese & Thai Seafood Restaurant on the southern end of Hong Kong Island.

Mr. P and I on the last day of our trip standing above Shek O beach.

Cue wistful sigh.

I never understand the enormity of anything I do until way after the fact.  Looking at these pictures, I keep thinking “my gosh, we went everywhere!“

Minibook: Everything We Ate in China

I’ve never made a mini-book before.  Funny, right?

I wanted to do some sort of fun project about all the food we ate on our trip to China.  I started by taking a picture of everything we ate, beginning on the plane ride.  Mr. P and our friends were gracious in not touching anything on the table until I got a shot of it – they even reminded me to take photos!

Shopping in Beijing, I found this awesome little book.

I printed the food pictures as 2-inch squares when I got home, and then left a 1/8-inch white border when I cut them out.

I was a little concerned that the thickness of all the photos was going to mess with the binding of the book, but the finished product is actually pretty cool!

I sat in front of the TV with these supplies and went to work.

I used a date stamp to stamp each page with the date the meal corresponded to.

Then I taped in each picture and wrote a few words.

I also wrote divider pages for each city we were in.

Not bad for a first attempt?  I like how minibooks have an effortless look, so I hope I succeeded.

I’ve included a bunch of pages below so you can look at them.  I used over 80 photos, so this is just a sample!

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Paper Treats from China

A friend of mine asked me what I wanted to shop for in China.  Paper, I said.  Paper, really?  Yup, paper.

People think I’m a weirdo when I want to shop for paper products on vacation.  I’m not looking for scrapbook stores but random interesting paper that I can make into something.  Remember when I tried to by blank papyrus in Egypt last year?

I came away with lots of goodies!  The picture above is several big sheets of paper with pretty designs.  It’s actually supposed to be used as wrapping paper.  However, this stuff is heavy duty, very unlike flimsy American wrapping paper.  It’s probably not acid free, so no scrapbooking with it.  I’ll definitely make something cool though!

Next, I picked up pretty postcards and notecards.  There were a bunch of cute paper/card shops on a neat street called Nanluoguxiang in Beijing and I had to stop in each one.

Of course, I ended up with a stack of pretty tickets from the sites we visited.  Some of the tickets even double as postcards!  Clever!

Finally, I snapped up this blank little book.  It’s small, just a few inches square.  I have a really cool project in mind for this little book.  Stay tuned!

Do you shop on vacation?  What types of things do you shop for?

China . . . in Red

Beijing | Shanghai | Xi’an | Zhangjiajie | Changsha | Hong Kong

19 days, 15,400 miles, 8 airports, 2 bus stations, 4 public subway systems, too many boat & taxi rides to count, never once asking for a fork, 1 suitcase that lost a wheel and over 2000 photos taken.

A trip of a lifetime to be sure.  I’m furiously going through photos and still adjusting to the time change.  This trip, I experimented with color and captured as many red things as possible.  I thought of trying many colors, but it was too overwhelming!

Left to right, top to bottom:

The Bird’s Nest, Beijing | Chinese Flag, Shanghai | Cherry Blossom Art, Dirt Market, Beijing | Hutong Tour, Beijing | Fish in Shanghai | Tourists on the Great Wall | Airport, Changsha | Gondolas through the Fog on Tianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie | Bikes on City Wall, Xi’an | Terracotta Warriors, Xi’an | Central MTR Station, Hong Kong | Wishes in Trees, Tianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie | Pudong Skyline, Shanghai | Sign at Tian Tian Buddha, Hong Kong | Lanterns on City Wall, Xi’an | Fruit Salesman, Beijing | Shopping Bag, Shanghai | Dipping Our Toes in the South China Sea, Hong Kong.