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surprising China - bridge at the Summer Palace

The Summer Palace (simplified Chinese: 颐和园; traditional Chinese: 頤和園; pinyin: Yíhéyuán), is a vast ensemble of lakes, gardens and palaces in Beijing. It was an imperial garden in the Qing Dynasty. Mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (万寿山; 萬壽山; Wànshòu Shān) and Kunming Lake, it covers an expanse of 2.9 square kilometres (1.1 sq mi), three-quarters of which is water.

Longevity Hill is about 60 m (200 ft) high and has many buildings positioned in sequence. The front hill is rich with splendid halls and pavilions, while the back hill, in sharp contrast, is quiet with natural beauty. The central Kunming Lake, covering 2.2 square kilometres (540 acres), was entirely man-made and the excavated soil was used to build Longevity Hill.

In December 1998, UNESCO included the Summer Palace on its World Heritage List. It declared the Summer Palace "a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design. The natural landscape of hills and open water is combined with artificial features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges to form a harmonious ensemble of outstanding aesthetic value".

surprising China - walking on the Wall

The Great Wall of China one of the most famous landmarks of the human civilization, the mysterious and mystic subject so often approached in our imagination as children, discovers itself, nowadays, to millions of tourists from the whole world. In China, when you refer to "millions of tourists" it's far from being mere a literary expression since it's the actual reality quite disturbing to tell the truth. This, avoiding the tourists hoards, was the reason that we have been forced to climb the wall in one of the less famous places (near Beijing) than Badaling or Mutyaniu nevertheless not less interesting and challenging ... the location is still out of my memory in this moment. The feelings you are confronted to when on the Great Wall of China are certainly derived out of the "I am HERE" feeling that is so characteristic when you get the first time to some place whith a history and significance for you that is remarkable. Personally, I could describe that feeling that I had when, for he first time in my life, I was seeing the Tour Eiffel, the Mountain Table, the Iguazu falls, the Red Square or the Time Square, the sea, the Grand Canale in Venice or the Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro  to name some of the most important touristic objectives that remained impregnated so deeply in my "touristic soul".
As I was able to re-construct after uploading this pic the section visited was Juyongguan and I came to this conclusion by the help offered in this blog : tourscanner.co/blog/great-wall…

For details regarding the Great Wall of China, please see the wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wa…

surprising China - admiration at Huangshan
The Yellow Mountains is one of the most famous and beautiful mountainous areas in China. It was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990. Its spectacular natural scenery includes oddly-shaped pines and rocks, and mystical seas of cloud. Personally I can testify almost entirely the described in this sentence, except for the clouds, as we arrived a bit too late and Sarina didn't want to spend the night before on the mountain (being addicted like me to urban civilization). I have used a lot of energy and effort to "hike" on the various portions and it was to be my last important sportive show in this China trip, as in the afternoon, I had to face this unhappy accident resulting, as I understood yesterday, in a longitudinal muscular rupture of about 1 cm. some 10 cm. above my right knee. after considering other alternative I am quite satisfied with this outcome even though I still have to find out to which limitations of movement I shall be confined ... this personal conclusion is certainly a demonstration that Einstein was right : Relativity is governing our life ...

surprising China - colors on a Tuesday

There is an obvious tendency of the local people to use colorful decoration in virtual any place. This is one of our first encounters with this tendency in he Coal Hill park in Beijing

surprising China - Rice fields for ever

Longji Rice Terrace (龙脊梯田), also called Longsheng Rice Terrace, is one of the most amazing terraces in China, about 80 kilometers away from Guilin. In 2017, it was listed as the “Top Rice Terrace in South China” claimed by the United Nations.

Once more, a trip to China as challenging it might be, confronts you with the additional hazard of the changing meteorological conditions that are quite unstable becoming different surprisingly quick and under the erratic laws of the harshest randomality. As the main target of our visit is to "see" (and photograph) the visibility conditions are of paramount importance. After quite a long and vehicle-changing way including a last fragment of a private car hired specially to carry us up and to avoid the last one-hour climbing we have reached the observation terrace but to our immense disappointment the visibility was very limited - not more than 20-25 meters pushing us towards the review of various images seen on the net, while preparing the trip. Superfluous to describe our frustration ... Our guide suggested and the nice driver accepted to wait some time while having the lunch in the restaurant (and praying for a change). I was quite skeptical but, voiding other alternative, I accepted (and prayed to the GOD of trips) and the unbelievable became true, as the above pic might certify justifying a nice bonus the driver got from us.

Surprising China - view from the Bund
Just returned yesterday from China after a 20 day trip while the cybernetic isolation imposed by the web censorship put in practice by the authorities that block essential applications like google, youtube and hinder a normal use of the deviantart have only enhanced my drive to resume my old habits and connect myself with the DA friends.
However, I had a very prolific photo period during this time and I am facing these days the great burden of selecting the more interesting pics out of the about 15 thousands I clicked with feverishness ... My dedication was so great that I even had an accident when concentrated on my photographic mission I have fallen on some steps in the art museum in Huangshan and have only with great difficulty been able to continue and finish my "mission" crippled by a painful knee injury that only in a few days shall be estimated by an orthopedic specialist.
From the touristic POV, the trip was quite successful and Sarina and I have passed a very interesting experience making acquaintance with several high-educated people (our private guides) who interfaced us the great and tremendously surprising China that is quite different compared with the bulk of pre-concepts we have carried with us prior to this trip.
I have selected the above pic that represents the waterfront to the Hangpu river in Shanghai as it is connected to the Jewish history both by the presence of the Baghdadi Jewish family Sassoon, as well as by the salvation of 23 thousand Jews during the WW II.
Wikipedia info :  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund

I do hope that you can enjoy the pic in itself with no connection to the story.

Independance day 2019
Exiting the Egypt exodus (celebrated by the Jewish Passover) and entering the Independance Day (in above a dozen of days) the Israel people have traversed a very agitated history which is in our collective memory like being concentrated in these few days, like a reduction of the thousands of years to a period of some days. 
Since our identification to these events as well as to the Holocaust and the commemoration of our soldiers fallen in the Israel wars is so strong these days, I cannot avoid to upload a pic related prior to leaving for a longer trip (three weeks) to China.
I Hope that this manages to express my feelings.

Khmer imperium - memories from Angkor
The capital of the ancient Khmer empire 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor

Paris the city of lights - red rain
Each and every time I am strolling along the probably most famous city promenade in our world, the Champs Elysees, I am impressed by the charm radiated by this location in all situations. I do believe the above pic would strengthen my statement ... 

good morning Vietnam - Napalm girl

I couldn't avoid to associate this accidental "photo" with one of the most famous one taken in same Vietnam of the "Napalm girl" some almost fifty years ago. Things have changed dramatically since then but still I believe for those who lived at the time of the Vietnam war the association remains unavoidable : time.com/5527944/napalm-girl-d…

for the beholder to judge it ...

Wroclaw - another view
Poland

heroic Serbia - the Danube at Novisad

Pisa - another view
Italy

good morning Vietnam - daily life

Actually, when trying to synthesize Vietnam leaves on you as a tourist, I believe that the hard life of the people and their love for colors are the most pregnant impressions ... therefore, I have tried to express this impression in the pic above ... hopefully it gets some resonance with the beholders preferences :

Paris city of lights - Notre Dame
We all hope the French people will be able to rehabilitate the wonderful landmark of Paris - this famous Cathedral that suffered from a devastating fire ...

Eternal Jerusalem - trail park. Israel
Despite the relative short distance between Tel Aviv (where I live) and Jerusalem, I am referring and approaching Jerusalem more as a tourist than a local, as virtually all my activities are related and bound to the never-sleeping Tel-Aviv.
Last time I had to arrange some business in Jerusalem, I have discovered the trail park a very interesting urban design around an old train track in our Capital that I thought could be of interest and I have decided to share it with you. A short history is at this link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_Tr…

fascinating Venice - bridge of sighs
Italy.
a landmark in Venice and not only. further details at: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_o…

fascinating Venice - remembering Venice

land of rising sun - dialogue in Kyoto
Japan

imprisoned in Rocca Scaligera
Sirmione - italaly