Because it has to be said....

One inescapable fact of foreign travel, especially in Asia for some reason (but not exclusively there), is the scarcity of what is delicately described as "Western facilities".

Now, in my own defense, my need for the Western-style 'throne' is purely physiological...I simply cannot easily arise from a squatting position. Simply stated: weak knees + fat ass. And since the women in my travels are for the most part strangers, and would frown on my husband coming in to help me up....there you have it.

Fortunately, our guides have always been most helpful in identifying 'acceptible' facilities. In China, we had a rating system:
5-Star: clean, Western 'throne', toilet paper, seat covers
4-Star: clean, Western 'throne', toilet paper
3-Star: clean, Western 'throne'

I never went below 3-Stars. I do carry my own travel kit of seat covers and travel TP (after a particularly traumatic experience in Moscow years ago).

I asked our guide if they (the guides) all thought that all of we female Western tourists (a) had extraordinarily weak bladders because we were always taking advantage of stops and (b) were incredibly picky. He politely dodged the question.

Here's a shot taken in a 4-Star. It isn't particularly well composed, because when you are taking a photograph inside a ladies restroom it's best to start with a vacant one and take the shot really fast, lest someone come in and think you a pervert.

The sign on the right means 'for mom's - has changing table'. The next is, of course, the 'Western throne' and rest are all the more traditional 'squat' toilets.

To be fair, they were all quite clean...everywhere we went. And I really think that we're being the picky ones. And I totally appreciate the fact that other societies are indulging us our weakness.

And I'm still peeved that men don't even have to think about this stuff!!!!!

Just a couple of days in Beijing...

Here is one of the buildings in the Lama Temple. It's actually a series of buildings containing many variants on the Buddah, including an amazing 26 meter statue of Maitreya (the future Buddah) that is impossible to photograph.


My niece recommended that we visit Lama, and it wasn't on our tour itinerary, so we made sure to include it on our first self-tour day. It was a spiritual way to launch our exploration -- a really peaceful place within a bustling Beijing.

This is the detail on one of the archways to the Lama Temple. The detail was very impressive.


Our next day of self-touring started off with the daunting Temple of Heaven complex. Not just a single building, but two main structures and several adjunct buildings for each, plus a prayer mound...none of which are actually called the Temple of Heaven. The iconic focal point is the Temple of Prayer for Good Harvest:

Each of the points of interest in the complex had it's own entry arches.

And the interiors of the two central structures are as fascinating and intricately done as the exteriors.


We then went for a walk along the Ming city wall in Beijing...enjoying the (somewhat rare) blue sky.


More to follow...

Best. Feetshot. Ever.

Just got back from 2 weeks touring China and haven't had time yet to sort the 1200+ photos I took, but had to get this one up as soon as I could...it's just so cool!

This was taken while I was standing on a glass platform in the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower...I was about 800 feet above the traffic. Very weird feeling!

Here's the Tower from the ground up -- the platform I was standing out on is at the base of the second "pearl" (this also shows that it was raining that day -- the only real rain we experienced over the whole 2 weeks.)

We were very busy the entire time seeing things like the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Lama Temple (Yonghegong) in Beijing, the Xian terracotta warriors, Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai, and the beautiful gorges along the Yangtze River, to mention a few.

More photos to come (after I get caught up at work and get some laundry done)!