Osaka

Great start, spending the night out at Beijing Airport, with a view of our departure terminal.

 Shinto shrine near Osaka Castle.

 Many restaurants in Japan display plastic replicas of their menu items.

 Fruit in Japan can be very expensive. These cost about $2 per strawberry.

 Pachinko, a cross between slot machines and pinball, is a hugely popular type of gambling in Japan, and there are many addicts.

 Drunk cat at an Osaka bar.

 Osaka's famous Dotonbori district.

 Queuing for octopus balls.

 I spotted Trump in Dotonbori.

Dotonbori ramen stand.

Japan still has the neon green public pay phones. Over two decades ago when I first moved to Japan I used to use one of these at a nearby temple to call around trying to find an English teaching job.

It's about a 2.5 hour ride south from Osaka to Shirahama, a small hot springs town.

Above 2 photos, a Shirahama Shinto shrine.

Beautiful Shirahama.

Year of the 🐖 pig

Soon hundreds of millions of Chinese will be on the road, heading to hometowns or elsewhere to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Dawn and I took a quick trip to Shanghai before the travel fenzy hits...

 I love traveling by train in China.

 ... though sometimes it gets very crowded.

Out on the platform, en route from Beijing to Shanghai.

 Smokers on the platform, Beijing South Railway Station.

 Above photo and 4 below, preparations for the upcoming new year's celebration in Shanghai.

 Above photo and below, wedding photo shoot at You Yuan Garden, Shanghai.

 Above photo and 3 below, Shanghai street shots.

A room with a view. Shanghai has one of the best skylines in the world.

The iconic Pearl Tower, looks like something out of a 1950s sci-fi movie. In the basement is the wonderful Shanghai History Museum.

Fast food ad at a Shanghai subway station.

Taishan: sacred Taoist mountain

Taishan is one of China's most famous Taoist sacred mountains. It's about 7,000 steps to the top, though the cable car can reduce that by about half.

A nice sunny winter day for the hike.

Very lively up near the top, with shops, restaurants, inns.

Pilgrims praying near Taishan's peak.

The busy, colorful Jade Emperor Taoist Temple, near the peak.

Heaven Street, nor far from the sumit.

Christmas in China

 Christmas Eve ride to Jinan, about 2 hours south of Being.

 Pingan ( 平安) apple, means safe travels.

 Christmas treat at the hotel cafe.

 We spent Christmas morning exploring 1000 Buddha Mountain, above photo and 1 below.

 Hotel delivery, Christmas day.

 Baitou Springs, Jinan. Above photo and below.

Happy holidays from Beijing

Thought I'd post a few recent photos from China, and send out holiday greetings...

Cartier Christmas tree, Tianjin, China.

Ritz lobby, Tianjin, China. Dawn managed to get us a free suite there for a couple of nights.

Tianjin Train Station sign: Do not lie down

I've been fortunate to have had a number of great train trips in China this past year.

Time to start putting Christmas gifts under the tree...

They set up this crazy obstacle course at the entrance to one of my favorite places in Beijing, the National Museum.


Below: cold in Beijing now, and at times the air is bad, but I still love living in China, traveling here, studying the language.