This post is long overdue but it took some time to edit the million (okay, a thousand) photos. My sister, Anne, and I visited my mom in China for 2 weeks at the end of July and beginning of August. My mom was living and teaching at a university in Xi’an since February and will return home in September. Coincidentally, my dad spends majority of his time in China, in Dalian, but we didn’t make it there as he came to New York in June. China was very hot and humid but the food was amazing (now obsessed with garlic spinach and tofu), the sites were incredible and we had a great time. Below is a mini summary of the cities we visited with photo links corresponding to each place. Or if you’re lazy like me you can start clicking here for City Pics, Food Pics and a Video. Enjoy!

• Xi’an. We saw the Terracotta Warriors, Muslim District (craft and food vendors), Drum and Bell Tower, City Wall and early one morning walked around a park where thousands of people in various groups were doing aerobics, ballroom dancing, thai chi and badminton all before 8 in the morning. Amazing.
• Guilin. Next stop was Guilin where we saw a local park where a hill looked like an elephant. We also took a little bamboo motor boat on the Li River which is surrounded by limestone hills and very tropical and gorgeous views.
• Yangshuo. We biked around this town for a day and saw a lot of farmers harvesting wheat and planting rice. We hiked up Moon Hill, named for the moon shape cut out near the top. We also visited a park that was home to a 1500 year old Banyan tree and fields of lotus blossoms nearly as tall as me.
• Kunming. We walked around Cuihu Park and on our return trip from Dali visited the Qiongzhu Si (Bamboo Temple).
• Dali. A small town surrounded by Er Hai Lake. We visited a local market in Shaping, a small tie-dye factory in Zhoucheng, and walked to see three Pagodas outside the city.
• Beijing. We toured the Summer Palace, Forbidden City and hiked six tiring but amazing miles of the Great Wall from Jinshanling to Simatai. Joining us was my mom’s friend, Paula, and my two friends, Abbie and Jessica.