If you are wondering why this blog has been so quiet lately I’ll tell you: Victor and I were away on vacation in China for 2 weeks!   If you’ve been following this blog for a while you know that we go away without the girls for a couple of weeks once a year.   I keep thanking my wonderful (AND retired) in-laws who agree to take care of the girls for a few weeks year after year, giving us a much needed couples-only vacation.  I have to say that although I do love our family vacations, they are no subsitute for an adult-only vacation – it is SO nice to be just a couple and take a little break from parenting responsibilities.

Victor and I take turns picking out a destination each year;  last year it Victor picked Southern France and this year for me China was a no-brainer.  We have not been to the mainland and it was a huge gap in our travel map.  I’ve planned the trip and have to say that I did a pretty good job with the itenerary:)   We took close to 2 THOUSANDS photographers and while I am planning to go through all images and do a more detailed post on each place we visited, given how busy I am during this season with family and children photo sessions, it may take a while… So here are the highlights from the trip – more  images will be posted here eventually:)

We started in Hong Kong where we visited friends and a Giant Buddha:

saw amazing sunsets:

and a futuristic skyline:

From there on to Shanghai where we saw these lovely ladies put on a show in the middle of a street:

managed not to get run over by motorcycles and cars:

and saw beautiful temples:

From there onto Longji for beautiful scenery of rice terraces:

and friendly locals:

Next stop was a small town of Yangshou for more beautiful sunsets and Li river cruises:

and long bike rides among limestone cliffs and rice fields, wearing what seems to be the only two bike helmets in all of China!:

And we finished off our trip in Beijing, where we got our fill of historical touristy sites:

Celebrated Confucius’ birthday with local school kids:

tried local delicacies (although I have to say that no silk warms showed in this pictures were consumed by us!)