Battle

This photo was taken in 2009 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Vendors near Songhua Lake

This photo was taken in 2008 near Songhua Lake in Jilin, China. The women in the picture were selling a few fruits and fried fish. Songhua Lake is dammed by the Fengman Dam and the heated water forms a beautiful phenomenon known as rime ice. Jilin hosts the International Rime Ice and Snow Festival every year, which is a celebration that I have been fortunate enough to attend twice.

Joe at 世纪广场

This photo was taken in 2008 at 世纪广场 in Jilin, China. 世纪广场 translates to Century Square. In this picture, Joe Deprey is skating under Chairman Mao. Joe was asked to stop skating so close to the dear Mao Ze Dong by a security guard. Mao appears on every denomination of currency in Mainland China.

Stop and Smell the Roses

This photo was taken in 2008 on the train between Manzhouli and Harbin, China. Sometimes you have to stop to smell the roses. The rose has been used to display love since the ancient Greeks and Romans both used it to symbolize their goddesses of love, Aphrodite and Venus.

Piano Bar in Kumamoto

This photo was taken in 2007 at シャルマンバルール in Kumamoto, Japan. The piano player was quite good and we sang a few songs together. The piano is thought to have been invented around 1700. The word is a shortened form of the Italian word for the instrument, pianoforte.

Aso, Japan

This photo was taken in 2007 in Aso, Japan. The sun is 150,000,000 kilometers, or 93,206,000 miles from Earth. The sun was formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a hydrogen molecular cloud collapsed. The Sun does not have enough mass to explode as a supernova. Instead, in about 5 billion years, it will enter a red giant phase, its outer layers expanding as the hydrogen fuel in the core is consumed and the core contracts and heats up. We will all die. Fortunately, if you're reading this, you have no real chance of being alive in 5 billion years. But, still sad.

Flowers in Jilin

This photo was taken in 2009 in Jilin, China. During my stay in Jilin, the coldest night was -38 degrees Celsius. And yes, that's cold.

That's G

This picture was taken in 2009 at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. The Bird's Nest, as it is known, was the site of the 2008 Summer Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies, athletic events, and soccer finale. For another post and more info on the Beijing National Stadium, click here.