Dear Xanga,

Here are some more pics. from my Study Tour and from other places that I've visited on my own...China is sooooooo BEAUTIFUL!  Everyone should come here to visit   Enjoy yalls! (p.s. haynes, what's your new site? send it to me in an email if you're paranoid of other ppl. stalking u, ok?)

Fishing out a lotus flower petal from the pond in one of Suzhou's MAGNIFICIENT Gardens!

             I took this picture...doesn't it look so cool?


         Lotus Flowers...they're GOHGEOUS dahling...GOHGEOUS!!

Sitting on a zig-zag pathway, created to keep evil spirits out

Various stages of silk worms at the #1 Silk Factory... fun fact: George Bush wore a traditional Chinese-style robe made from this factory on his visit to China

Silk worms and their doo-doo...HEHE

Process of extracting silk fibers from the silk worm's cocoon

                             
                Can you see the silk threads being extracted?  Cool right?

              
Me & workers stretching out silk threads that will later be converted into fabric for human consumption

Next to the Great-Wall, this river is considered China's greatest man-made creations, very important for commerce and transporting goods within China.

Me piggy-back riding a statue...this statue commemorates the men who built this river

 
The leaning Tower of China...older than the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy

At a clay teapot factory...this is HUGE!

Me & Chinese actor...p.s his beard is fake in case u were wondering

More Chinese performers at a Suzhou Performance hall.

They have a saying in China:  "If you want to see China's past, go to Xi'an; if you want to see China's present go to Beijing; if you want to see China's future go to Shanghai"  This is a model representation of Shanghai at Shanghai's Exhibition Center...sooooo COOL!

It's hard to tell in this picture, but these are all models of buildings and other landmarks in Shanghai...each building is so intricately designed and modeled to look like the real thing!! They even put bushes and water and trees just to make it that much more realisitc!

Me on a simulation boat ride...I was captain of my ship for the day

In the main lobby of the Shanghai Exhibition Center

The famous "Pearl Tower" in Shanghai

The famous "Pearl Tower" and other corporate buildings

The "Bund" in Shanghai...the architecture of these buildings is magnificient!

This is a hand-painted t-shirt of "xiongma" aka: Panda Bear.  I also had the artist paint Emma's name so she can wear it with the panda-bear back pack I got her

These were some CRAZY koi I saw at a garden in Shanghai...I even got to touch one and it felt so slimy!!   I wish the koi in my pond would come out and play with me...they always hide under rocks

Once I got back from my study-tour, I got a HUGE box filled with these goodies from my BABY   He made a note of all the things I didn't have in China and sent them to me   beginning from the top left corner:  1.) Nemo pillow (bc I always sleep with 2 pillows but I only had 1 pillow in my dorm room), 2.) One of my favorite pics. of my baby blown up and signed to look like an autographed picture (signed by yours truly), 3.)school supplies (ie: loos-leaf paper bc they don't sell any in China, folder, pens, index cards, and sticky-notes), 4.) some magazines ("O" bc I can't get my daily dose of Oprah in China), 5.) candy (my FAVORITE JELLY BELLY!!), 6.) an alarm clock (bc I didn't bring one), 7.) toothbrush, lotion, chapstick, venus razors, bandaids, and last but DEFINITELY not least 8.) Portable DVD PLAYER w/ LCD Monitor!!!   (He surprised me BIG time with this one...I guess he thought I'd need one to watch all the DVD's I had bought in China)... isn't he AMAZING?!?!  I LOVE U RONNY RON!!!

At Yihe Yuan "Summer Palace" in Beijing...one of the most BEAUTIFUL places!!! This is one of the many gardens which members of the Imperial family would come to...think of it as a summer home for the rulers of the Qing Dynasty  

Many beams of palaces and pagodas are intricately painted like this...

Hahahaha!! If you walk around China, you'll see almost all the babies wearing either a.) no pants, or b.) pants with a MAJOR opening in the butt...aparently the Chinese don't believe in diapers so they just spread the pants and let the babies do their thang out in the public...

This is an "illegal" picture bc no cameras were allowed, but I didn't see the sign until AFTER I took it

The famous "long corridor" 

I walked the entire stretch of this bridge and it was amazing!

Just before our long journey across the bridge

Finally on the bridge...posing next to a lion head

I took a boat across the water to get to the other side of Yihe yuan, and I was welcomed by what seemed like acres upon acres of lotus flowers and plants...I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it was

Dorothy and I walked forever!! But we were surrounded by such GOHGEOUS scenery

It may not seem like it but it was a LONG ways up to that hill.

It reminded me of the scene from "The Last Emperor"

This is a Buddhist Temple at the top of the hill...as you can see, many of the heads near the bottom have been taken off...

Inside a hide-out at the top of the hill...I felt like I could see all of Beijing from the top!

One more picture before climbing all the way down...

Ok I'll post more later...I miss everyone!! Take care