hey- i remembered that i didn't say anything about the pictures i put up a while ago. they were taken in China 2006, on a performance tour i went on with a youth choir from Vancouver. the cities were Bejing, Shiujauxong, Xi'an, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Suzhou, respectively. because it was a performance tour, a lot of time was devoted to prep and rehearsal. if it had just been a vacation, i think i would have gotten more cool pix, but would have had worse accomadations. as a group, we were guests of the government, and so stayed in nice hotels. never be able to afford them myself. all in all, kinda cool. wish i had more time to go down the back streets of the cities, and go into the countryside. for the most part, all i got to see was a couple of megacities in the summer. not a good first impression. i'm pretty sure i won't go back, unfortunately. ah, well. don't let that discourage you from going on your own excursion to China, though.