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  Hi Everyone Am staying at a  bush camp, so no internet until we get to Victoria Falls. Can I live without the internet? Most of us can’t. i decided to wait until I return home to publish my daily blogs. You will get one per day until the trip has been completed. Any comments or thoughts are always appreciated. How did the day start? Let’s first go back to mid day yesterday after I wrote my first blog. Went to sleep. We were meeting in the lobby of our hotel in J-Burg for dinner at 5:45.Woke up at 5 and rushed to take a shower and shave. Met everyone and we all walked to a restaurant named “Tribes”. Served all local food and I had a ball. Ordered the African Game Combo plate. Had Kudu, Impala, Ostrich and Warthog. A real feast and made just the way I liked it. We all had some great laughs and I made a toast that I hoped that we will all still be friends after two weeks of being together. We walked back to our rooms at about 9 PM. I immediately fell asleep and woke up at around 2 AM to check the Yankee game that started at 1 AM my time. Fell back to sleep and was awoken by my trusted iPhone at 6:30 AM. Got some deep relaxing sleep. By the way, my beloved Yankees won. I am scheduled to board an Air Botswana plane at 10:30 AM for my flight to Maun. Had breakfast and then got the shuttle to the airport. Found a fellow photographer in the group waiting on line. Alan is British and lives and works in Nigeria. He has extensively travelled in Africa. We went through security and had a good cup of coffee. It was then onto the gate and our flight. We boarded a shuttle bus to the plane. What kind of plane was it? A 45 passenger two engine prop. It seems that the airplanes are getting smaller as I venture deeper into Africa. I sat next to a stewardess. She is a citizen of Botswana and asked me why I am traveling to Botswana? I told her that I am still looking to find the beauty of Africa. She assured me I would in Botswana. I took the window seat. I normally sit in an aisle seat, but wanted to see the terrain. I can tell you the terrain was very interesting and different. After two and one half hours we landed in Maun. The immigration and customs was very archaic. There was one person checking your passports at immigration and she was sitting in a wooden booth. Customs was another woman who really did not care what was in your luggage. When I walked out I met Andy and Will. Will is the other professional photographer who is helping Andy with the group. Will has extensive experience in Africa. I met him on the Antartica trip and was attracted to his knowledge of photography and friendly nature. Will is British and an interesting person who has traveled to many countries. We waited for about two hours for the entire group to arrive. There are four men and four women in the group. When everyone arrived we went through security again to the departure room. We were then lead to another plane. This plane was even smaller and was a one engine prop that held all ten of us plus the pilot. I sat next to the pilot. Will told me that many aspiring pilots come to Botswana to be bush pilots and hone their skills. The flight was forty five minutes. As the plane got closer to the Kalahari , the terrain was turning into more desert. 84% of Botswana is located in the Kalahari Desert and the population is two million. There were sporadic watering holes and we started to notice wildlife around the watering holes. The plane started to descend. We were never too far from the ground anyway. We were always below the clouds. We passed by a large single elephant and some zebra. We then landed on a dirt runway. The plane pulled up to two open air safari vehicles. Two drivers were waiting for us. Our luggage was loaded onto the vehicles and we all boarded. Our Camp was about a fifteen minute ride over a bumpy road. We finally arrived at Camp Kalahari. As we walked into the Camp, a large elephant with tusks greeted us. The servants told us that this elephant stays around the Camp and they have named him “George”. How amazing this was. I was awestruck by the size and beauty of this animal. Andy told us two drop our bags off in our tents and that we were going to shoot the sunset. As we walked to our hut or tent, we saw some fresh elephant droppings on the walkway. My roommate is Alan. We are sharing a tent. We have our own bathroom and shower. All electricity and hot water is solar. The hut or tent is almost open air and very comfortable. It was then onto shooting sunset. The guides told us that there are lots of watering holes in the Kalahari for this time of year. They had about double the normal rainfall. We watched the sunset over a large watering hole with the bright red colors reflecting over the water. The guides had set up a temporary bar and we we all had drinks and talked about photography and the serine quietness of this place. It was then back to Camp Kalahari for dinner. We had a fish called King Klip. This fish is from Namibia. Very tasty, soft and light. It was now time to board the open air vehicles for some night photography. We were going looking for Aardvarks. Aardvarks are nocturnal. You may think that we are in a desert, but it is quite cold at night. The driver had

Hi Everyone It seems like we just talked. We did. I got home from Cambodia and China on May 30 and am in Johannesburg now. The Cambodia/China trip was very strenuous and a still feel it in my system. Have just gotten over jet lag and am back for some more.  What am I doing in South Africa and why? I have some unfinished business in Africa. I have previously been to South Africa twice before. Around five to six years ago, I visited South Africa first with my wife Olivia and then as an extension to one of my Cambodia trips. On both those trips I felt that I had not experienced the beauty and charm of the real Africa the way I wanted to experience Africa. I have always felt that I needed to go back and see if I could find that beauty that I was looking for. When I decided to go on this trip, I knew that it started only twelve days after I arrived home from Cambodia/China, but the itinerary is so unique that I decided to go. Got on a 11 AM flight yesterday from JFK to Johannesburg nonstop. After nearly sixteen hours of flying, we finally arrived at 8 AM on Tuesday. Africa is six hours ahead of NY. Got our luggage and went outside for the shuttle to the hotel. The cold and brisk air hit me. I forgot it is winter here. Almost everyone was wearing a winter coat. We are spending just one night in J-Burg (Short for Johannesburg) and then it is onto the adventure. Tomorrow or Wednesday morning we fly on Air Botswana to Maun Botswana. Don’t tell me no one has heard of Maun? We then go through immigration and customs and board our bush plane for our flight to Camp Kalahari. I had to pack very light since the bush plane cannot carry large and heavy luggage. Furthermore, our laundry will be done daily so there is not a need for much clothing. Also, I needed to bring sun protected clothes since the sun is very intense. My doctor has also given me malaria pills and vaccinations for this part of the world. Of course, Camp Kalahari is located in the Kalahari Desert. Why go there? Its a desert. Meerkats live there. I have always wanted to take pictures of meerkats. You get up early and lay in the grass near their dens and then start as they emerge to sun themselves and go off for their daily hunt for food. Meerkats are very inquisitive animals and have no fear of humans. Image them crawling all over me as I shoot away in the morning sun of the Kalahari? We will also be spending time with the San bush people. They are the local inhabitants and we will watch them go about their daily routines. The chief’s name is Cobra and I look forward towards meeting him. We spend two nights at Camp Kalahari and then its off to the “Island of the Lost Baobabs”. We each get a quad bike to travel over the salt pans called the “Makgadikadi”. We then set up camp at the “Island of the Lost Baobabs” for two nights. Our game plan is to leave most of our clothing at Camp Kalahari and take day bags and a few items of clothing. We will be sleeping in sleeping bags. Want to know where the toilets are? Use your imagination. My kind of place. Andys game plan is to take pictures all night of the Milky Way, shooting stars, star bursting and the baobabs as a background. During the daytime we will rest. Then its back to Camp Kalahari to rest, cleanup and take some more pictures of the local wildlife for two more days. It is then onto the Okavango Delta for five days of intense wildlife photography. We fly on our bush plane to Sable Alley and the Moremi Game Reserve. This game reserve is in northern Botswana and is one of the largest in the world. The wildlife literally come to you. We are talking elephants, buffalo, alligators, antelope, rhinos, hippos, lion, leopard, wild dog, birds and any other inhabitants. Our own zoo but without the cages and bars. We will be taking lots of boat rides and truck excursions all over the reserve. Andy has already given me some pointers on taking good wildlife photography and what to look for. For all of you photographers, I have brought my Sony A9, that can take up to twenty frames a second. This location should be something. Getting up every morning at 5:30 AM and following the wildlife from morning until dusk. Its now onto Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side. We will be spending two nights there relaxing, swimming and taking pictures from a helicopter over the falls. I have also reserved a microlight flight one morning. Now onto Zimbabwe and the Hwange National Park. We will be staying at a camp named “Little Makalolo”. This camp is known for its wildlife and privacy. We will be doing drives early in the morning and the wildlife is known to be very special here. I know I have left out many details but will follow up on them as we go along. On the internet, I may or may not have internet service at all locations. The only internet service I am sure of is at Victoria Falls. If you do not hear from me don’t worry. I will still write my daily blog and publish them later. As for my China photos. They are almost ready and I will publish them when I return from this trip. Hope I find the real beauty of Africa on this journey. I think I will. Love Larry  

Hi Everyone This is it. It’s all over. Where did my day start? My day finally started in bed as I was awoken from a deep sleep by my trusted iphone at 7 AM. We were leaving the hotel at 10:15 for a one hour drive to the Guilin Airport and then a three hour flight to Shanghai. I literally dragged myself out of bed, took a nice long hot shower to try and work out the sore legs and back and then went down for breakfast. I figured I would give the Chinese breakfast one last try. Couldn’t do it. I had some horrible coffee and then went for a walk to the local Starbucks. The Starbucks opens last 8 AM. Would never work in New York. Had a great couple of cups of Joe and went back to the hotel to relax. I met Andy and Kevin and they took me to a local coffee shop where the owner makes each cup of coffee separately. Meaning he does not have a big amount already made. It was so hot and humid that I couldn’t even have some more coffee. We all met in the lobby at 10:15 and had our luggage and gear loaded into the vans. I sat in the front and what did I do? Immediately fell asleep. For the past few days I have been fighting my fatigue and exhaustion. We arrived at Guilin Airport for another round of dealing with the Chinese security and check in. After security,  we all found a nice restaurant to have lunch. I had a very plain white bread sandwich. The last time I had a sandwich like this was so long ago that I cannot remember. Add another airline to my enormous list. This airline is named “JuneYao Airlines”. A new one for me. Anyone ever hear of this one? I got my aisle seat and settled in for another round of sleep. I was woken up by the stewardess. Lunch was being served and I already knew what was being served. Of course, I say no thank you. My sweet dreams called me back. Arrived in Shanghai at around 4:30 PM. Shanghai has a city population of over 25 million and is the most populous city in the world. If you count the city and suburbs, Tokyo is one and Shanghai falls down to number two. The airport is named “Pudong International Airport” and is enormous. We walked at least one half mile to the baggage claim. It was then an adventure finding our bus. At 5:30 we finally left Pudong. The smog was unbelievable. I could never describe it. It seemed that a deep fog hung over the entire city and as we drove further towards downtown, the smog got worse. Michael confirmed that this was the real deal. Smog at its worst. We arrived in a downtown section named “Bund”. “Bund” is a german word for a bend in the river. We then took an elevator up seven floors to a beautiful restaurant. The restaurant was mainly inhabited by non oriental people. Tables and chairs were set up on a large terrace and there was an inside section. We decided to all sit in the inside. I then walked out to the terrace and looked out. My eyes were mesmerized. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There was a winding large sort of canal winding around and on the other side was these enormous skyscraper buildings with huge neon signs. There were lots of people on my side walking around the Bund and there were colorful ships and vessels going around the waterway. It was night and the colorful colors and reflections on the water made for some beautiful shots. I set my camera up and clicked away. The food was great. Served western style. I had a great greek salad and then pork loin. The pork loin was the best I ever had. Dessert was an amazing array of pastries that melted in your mouth. It was then onto the hotel. The hotel is situated near the airport and I can hear airplanes landing and taking off as I write this. Now for met return home. My first flight leaves tomorrow morning at 11:40 AM and arrives in Hong Kong at 2:25 PM. Piece of cake. Now for the problem. My next flight is from Hong Kong to JFK nonstop. I leave Hong Kong at 4:05 PM and arrive in JFK at 8:15 PM. Now factor in the time difference. A nonstop flight of over sixteen hours. I don’t know how I will fight jet lag, but will try. Jet lag always hits me when I return home. Now for my summarization. I was hesitant to come to China, but there were certain things I wanted to see and experience. I found the real people of China. In Xian I had a wonderful time taking pictures of the people. They were so friendly and fun loving. Most of my misgivings have been erased. The highlight of the trip was the Great Wall. I will always remember walking on the Great Wall of China by myself and feeling the presence and spirit of the Chinese soldiers. How special that was. No tourists. Yes it was hard and exhausting getting to this location, but the experience was priceless. I can thank Michael, Andy and Kevin for this memory that will last me for the rest of my life. The Terra Cotta Army was special. How unique this treasure is. I always wanted to see them for myself. It is reassuring knowing that there is constant restoration and excavation going on. The Yellow Mountains were different. We spent three days visiting a place that few foreigners venture to. Yes it was hard and strenuous constantly walking up and down steps. The five hour hike one day was something I will always remember. My trusted porter helping me and holding my arm so that I would

Hi Everyone We all woke up late today and met in the lobby at 3:20 AM. Oh how I yearn for my old and comfortable bed. My wish will be granted soon. We drove and hiked to the same location we went to the previous morning. I traveled much liter, but the morning heat and humidity started to take its toll early. We walked through the same village with the same dogs barking and arrived at the rocky shore of the Li River. The same man and contraption was waiting for us. I boarded the so called ferry on the last cross over. We then arrived. Michael made us some coffee and we all waited for the morning lights to start. I set up my gear and we waited. As the light appeared, a lone Cormorant fisherman in his traditional boat with his two cormorants appeared. We waited and then the light started to arrive. For all of you photographers, you start with a very high ISO and work your way down with various adjustments along the way. A high ISO normally creates more noise in the picture of which most of it can be corrected in Lightroom.  It was now time to start shooting as he lit his lantern. All of us moved all over the rock outcropping to take various images from different angles. Don’t forget, I was shooting in continuous mode and taking multiple pictures of each viewpoint. As the light got stronger, it always gets easier to shoot and constantly reset your camera. Finally the Cormorant fisherman pulled out a net and started to throw the net into the river. They also used nets when they used to fish. This fisherman was seventy eight. I realized that probably within ten years there will not be anymore people who know of this way of fishing. The three Cormorant fishermen we have photographed are eighty six, seventy eight and seventy six. How lucky I am to have seen this way of life before the people die out who used to lead their lives this way. There are no younger Cormorant fishermen left in China. I kept on taking pictures as he swung his fishing net around and into the water. At 7 AM we packed up our gear and took the long uphill hike up the mountain to our vans. This was the same hike we had taken yesterday. I can tell you that it seemed a little bit easier this time around. We then arrived at our hotel at about 8:15. How could I face this breakfast again? Decided not to and wandered over to Starbucks for a venti cold brew. it was time to go back to my room and cuddle up in my bed after taking a long cold shower. Could not sleep and finally wandered over to get some durian and coffee. My new favorite combo. We were all meeting at 2:30 for our last afternoon in Guilin and the Karst Mountains. How can I describe the afternoon? It was one adventure after the other in horrible heat and humidity. We arrived at Xingping at about 3:30 and Michael took us to a factory where some local artists had made large beautiful fans and paintings of the local area. I was tempted, but continually heard Olivia saying “What am I going to do with this?” Some of us bought fans and the scroll pictures. Andy bought six for his family as gifts. It was then a walk down to the Li River edge. There were lots of local long boats with weird looking motors on the back, transporting locals up and down the river. We then got back into the vans for a short ride to Yangshuo. We walked through the village and boarded a ferry for the other side of the river. It was then a hike to the home of one of the Cormorant fishermen. We were going to take some portrait pictures of him in his traditional dress and smoking a long pipe. He lived a long hike from the ferry landing. We finally reached a long and narrow large stone street or alleyway with doors on either side, lots of chickens running around and clothes and mops outside many of the doors. He lived at the end of the street or alleyway. The only way i can describe where he and his wife lived is that almost everyone reading this blog could not spend one night there. I have seen conditions like this before. The best description I can remember is when I visited some South African workers on a vineyard. The Cormorant fisherman welcomed us and he posed for many shots of himself in various possess and some of the possess had his smoking a long handmade pipe. We all clicked away and rotated around to get different viewpoints. At about 6 PM we finally left and walked back to the ferry. We then took a short ferry ride to a place called “Putao”. Putao is a beautiful location where the Li River meets the Karst Mountains. The same Cormorant fisherman appeared on his reed raft and two cormorants for us to take pictures of him as the sun set over the mountains. We were all standing in thick grass near the shore line taking shots of him as he paddled around and used his nets and birds. The birds have a sort of symbiosis with these fishermen. I have encountered something like that in Mongolia with the Eagle Hunters and their relationship with their birds. At about 7 PM we were finally finished. Walked back, over and through long grass and marsh to the ferry. We were then ferried across the river to meet our vans for the one hour drive back to the hotel and dinner. Dinner was at the same western style restaurant. i decided to try something different. I had pork neck. Very tasty and cooked the way I liked it. I cannot explain how exhausted

Hi Everyone Hello from hot, humid Southern China. Our day started at 3 AM. Woke up at 2:30 and dragged myself out of bed. Andy has been keeping an activity log on his iphone, and he says that we have walked over 100 miles on this workshop. He also said that in his eleven years of doing these workshops all over the world, this workshop is the most strenuous and covers the most ground of all his workshops. Don’t forget, we have already been on three separate flights within China. We drove for around forty five minutes and then took a dirt road until the vans could not go anymore. Of course, I slept all the way there. I brought all of my camera gear, including my tripod, all packed into my large backpack. I did not know the situation or what I would face. We then gathered our gear and walked in a straight line through a village and over creaky old platforms over small streams. Some dogs started to bark as we walked through the village. I could not make out anything. It was totally dark and our flash lights guided us to the bank of the Li River. A Chinese man navigating a small ferry like reed raft with some seats, worked his way to us. We were standing on rocks watching this weird looking contraption come towards us. The hand made ferry could only take six people at a time. I was in the second group. We waited about ten minutes for the raft to return and the rest of us boarded this weird looking vessel. We arrived at an outcropping of jagged rocks. It was still totally dark so that footing was at the best an adventure. I eventually tripped over some rocks, but did not get hurt. As the morning light started too appear, we saw them. There were two Cormorant fishermen in their traditional boats and clothing. There each had a lantern and each had two Cormorant’s on their boats. One Cormorant was in the front and one in the back. One of the fishermen walked up to us and I was able to get a great portrait of him in almost total darkness. He then went back into his boat and the fishermen started to create different scenes and do activities. We all clicked away at this amazing site. I was watching the fishermen interact with the Cormorants and it seemed like they had a special relationship with these birds and the birds understood them just by their actions. One fisherman was eight six and the other was seventy six. They do not fish anymore like this, but earn their living by doing special photo shoots for people who they know and trust. Thank Michael for having this sort of contact. A foreigner could never pull this off. The lights were changing and the sun rising. In the background of the river there were mountain peaks layer after layer. It is difficult to take pictures in this situation. You have to constantly adjust the camera for the additional and changing light. ISO, shutter speed, compensation and aperture are just some of the adjustments you are constantly making. One of the fishermen fell into the river as he pulled out his cell phone. I have seen many Buddhist monks talk on their cell phones, so seeing a Cormorant fisherman protect his cell phone was not unique to me. As i clicked away, I wondered what my pictures would look like on the computer. On my small camera screen, it appeared that I was taking some amazing images. At 7 AM it was time to leave these unique people. Michael felt so sorry for me that he carried my heavy backpack all the way back for me. A real gentleman. He and I have had some great conversations. Two people from different parts of the world. We hiked back to the vans. I can tell you that the first half of the hike back was all uphill over old and decrepit stone steps. There were times when I walked up on my hands as the steps were so steep and broken. We finally reached our vans. My clothing was drenched in my sweat, but I knew I had just seen something that will last a lifetime. When we arrived at the hotel, at around 8 AM, we all went up to our rooms and dropped our gear off and then immediately  went down for breakfast. Breakfast was all Chinese. What do you expect when you go to places that do not cater to foreigners? Suck it up and eat it. I could not even though I was famished. They even served coffee with milk already in it. I then crawled up to my room for a long cold shower and rest. It was about 9 AM and I needed some sleep. Fell into bed, turned the A/C way up and fell asleep. The next thing I know its 1 PM and I had missed the group meeting for lunch. While I was sleeping I was downloading my pictures from this morning and did a quick look over. I nailed many of them. Great images with very little editing necessary. I have been shooting in hand held continuous mode. I find that many times the third, fourth even fifth images of the same thing are the sharpest and best of the sequence. I went down to look for some coffee and a snack. What did I find? Two of my favorites. Durian and Starbucks. Bought a whole durian and had a venti cold brew. Was really in heaven now. We were all meeting at 3 PM for our afternoon shoot. I went back up to my room and was tempted to lie down, but realized that would just make it worse. Andy always says “You can sleep when you die”. How true. Life is about living and enjoying every day as you wander through the journey

Hi Everyone I really liked the city of Xian. The people I ran into were so nice and friendly. There was so much to see and do that I hope one day I can return, but know in the back of my mind that will not happen. We ate breakfast at the hotel. I had the American breakfast. Eggs and toast never tasted so good. We then left for the airport. I slept the entire forty five minute drive. Add another airplane to my list of airlines I have flown on. Did you ever hear of Hainan Airlines? It exists and I flew on it. After going through the insane Chinese security once more, we all walked to our gate. Andy decided to try and keep me up, so he ordered me a triple expresso. Was so good. Hope it works. We then boarded the plane. Unfortunately, a crying baby was in the seats in back of me. Does much better than the triple expresso. As we lifted off, the baby stopped and I fell back into another deep sleep. Andy struck out. I was then woken up for a meal. It seems that all flights in China are serving meals, but all the meals are the same. Either chicken or beef and white rice. I passed on the meal. Cannot handle the constant boredom of the food. It just is the same all the time, and sometimes served differently. It was then back to sleep. We finally landed in Guilin at around 12:15 and left the airport an hour later. We are all being transported in four vans since a large bus will not fit in the streets and roads we will be traveling. The first thing that hit me as we left the airport was the hot and humid air. Where was I? Guilin is in southern China. We are around 300 miles from the Vietnamese border and the weather feels more like Southeast Asia than China. We all boarded our four vans and left for a one hour drive to a restaurant. We were given our own dining room and served the same food all over again. Some of the other people are commenting to me that I do not eat enough. I had white rice and some chicken. By the time we finished lunch, it had started to rain. The rain even was like Southeast Asia. A torrential downpour and then a lessening. We made our way to the hotel where we will be spending three nights. The hotel is nice and very livable. The name of the hotel is Yangshuo Green Water Hotel. I like that name. Why is it named Green Water hotel? Will try to find out before we leave. Sort of adds a mystery to the adventure. It was then up to our rooms to put our bags and gear down and immediately meet again to go out to shoot. We al met and got into our vans. The skies opened up again. A torrential downpour and then stopping. it seemed like a faucet was opened and then closed quickly. Michael took us to a great place to take pictures. It was a panoramic view of the Karst Mountains. I kept on clicking as the lights constantly changed over the mountains. The mountains were in the background and there were layers upon layers of them. Eventually a mist and fog started settle and move over them. It was then back to the hotel to drop off our equipment and have some dinner. I was dreading dinner. I knew what was on the menu. I was surprised. We all walked to a restaurant serving Western cuisine. They even had cold drinks. Cold drinks served with ice does not exist in China. If you order a soda, it comes warm. The dishes are small and table napkins are little pieces of tissue. Not this restaurant. Cold drinks and normal size dishes with real forks, knives and spoons. I looked through the menu and saw what I needed to order. A New Zealand tenderloin steak. The picture was starring me in the face. When the steak arrived I was disappointed. A small cut of meat and not what I expected and needed, but it was not Chinese food and I didn’t care. After dinner we walked back to the hotel. The weather is still hot, humid and steamy. Similar to Cambodia, but not like the other Chinese cities we had been to. What’s on the schedule for tomorrow? Would you believe we are all meeting at 3 AM in the lobby. We need to take a one hour ride and then a thirty minute hike to take pictures of the Cormorant Fishermen. What are Cormorant Fishermen? Cormorant fishing is a fishing method in which fishermen use trained cormorants (birds) to fish in the rivers. The fishermen go out at dawn on the Li River and stand on reed rafts with only a cormorant bird, a kerosene light and a net. The fishermen tie a snare near the base of the bird’s throat. This prevents the birds from swallowing larger fish, which are held in their throat, but the birds can swallow smaller fish. When the cormorants catch the fish, they are brought back to the boat using ropes that are attached to their bodies. The fishermen then take the larger fish out of the birds throats. This way of fishing began over 1300 years ago. This type of fishing is still practiced in Japan and China. in China, the only place it is practiced is on the Li River in Guilin China. This way of fishing is a dying art and will probably die soon. I am so tired that it does not matter that I sleep and rest will be nonexistent until after breakfast. It is now 11 PM and I have only three and one half hours to rest. The days have all melted into one. I could pass and sleep in, but how many

Hi Everyone Well I finally saw the Terra Cotta Army. I can tell you that I was not disappointed. How did the day start? We all met in the dining room at 6:45 AM. Low and behold, an American breakfast. Bless their hearts. Had a fried egg and toast. Thats a beginning getting my stomach and system back to what we call normal. We left the hotel at around 7:15 for a one hour drive to the site. We wanted to get in by 8:30 before the horde arrives. We were taken by a large tram like vehicle to the site after we entered. There were large covered pits with openings around the sides letting in some light. We entered the largest pit where most of the soldiers were and where most of our photography would take place. I had two cameras attached too two zoom lenses slung over each shoulder. The first view we saw was a panorama of the entire pit from the front. Most of the restored soldiers are towards the front. The middle of the pit is being excavated and the back is where work stations are set up for the restoration. I could not believe my eyes seeing this enormous site for the first time. I started to take pictures. I rotated cameras as I adjusted the focal lengths constantly. By 9:15 the hordes started to arrive. I then worked my way around the pit. The walkway is raised above the pit and soldiers so you are looking down at them. It took me approximately another 90 minutes to work my way around the pit constantly clicking and rotating cameras as I navigated the walkway. Not to many people had arrived by the time I got back to the front. Every face and every soldier is different. Some do not have their heads. When most of the soldiers were excavated they were in pieces. It is up to the restoration team to put the pieces together. At the back of the pit, where the restoration work stations were, there were desks and large magnifying lamps attached to the desks. I can tell you that there is still lots of work to be done. Some of the just finished soldiers were wrapped in a plastic sheet. After I left the first pit, I walked over to the second pit. This is where there are large chariots behind glass displays. The crowds were so large that I could just get a glimpse of the chariots. Forget about any pictures. It was then onto another pit where excavation work was being done. You saw ladders, shovels and picks with some small evidence of some more pieces of soldiers that were just unearthed. I worked my way back to the large pit to try to take some more pictures from the front. I had to squeeze my way through the masses and finally worked my way up to the front. I just took in the site again knowing that I had seen something that I had always wanted to experience. I bid these magnificent soldiers goodbye knowing that I was so lucky to see them. I went away knowing that future generations will see more of this army and hopefully one or more of my grandchildren will experience this wonder of mankind. At 11:30 we all met for lunch. There are some restaurants on the site and thank god, we ate at one serving American fast food. I had a roast beef sandwich with two coffee smoothies. How delicious the roast beef sandwich was. I finally found some food that was not spicy. We then walked back to our bus for a one hour ride to visit the Muslim quarter of Xian. Xian is a very clean city and all of the cities I have visited thus far are very clean and orderly. People spend lots of time outdoors and there is a constant flow of people and vehicles. Nothing seems to be private in China. There are people all over. Don’t forget, the population is between 1.3 and 1.4 billion. Nowhere to hide. Our bus driver dropped us off in the middle of the Muslim quarter. We walked to the Great Mosque. I saw Chinese looking people dressed up as Muslims. The women were wearing shawls over their heads and most of the men were wearing a Muslim skull cap. These were the descendants of the original Muslims who settled here to trade commodities during the Silk Road era. We walked through a food and clothing bazaar where their were numerous stalls set up selling all sorts of middle eastern looking foods. This area reminded me of the bazaars of Istanbul. Vendors were selling Nan breads in all shapes and sizes. dried fruits and nuts, coconut milk, various meats on sticks and fresh fruits of all kinds. Olivia would have had a ball seeing this display. I wished she was here with me and miss her more every day I am away. We finally arrived at the Great Mosque. I have visited and seen many mosques in the middle east and Turkey and even went inside the “Dome of the Rock” in Jerusalem. I have never seen a Mosque like this. This mosque was built in Chinese architecture. No dome. There were numerous court yards with Chinese looking pavilions. Very different. We finally worked our way to the back where there was afternoon prayer. Many men were kneeling down on rugs performing their prayers while a large speaker vocalizing the afternoon prayers. There were Arabic words inscribed on tablets and the afternoon prayer was being performed in Arabic. All the men praying looked Chinese and not Arabic. After the afternoon prayer, we worked our way back to the bus. As we walked through the bazaar many of us sampled some of the foods. Andy had some lamb. Michael offered me some squid and I sampled it. Very spicy. One of the weirdest looking foods was pig feet.

Hi Everyone A travel day today but still a great day in China. I woke up by myself at 3 AM and was thinking about meeting everyone for the sunrise shoot. That thought did not last long. My legs and back are still hurting from yesterday, so I decided to roll over and go back to sleep. My trusted iPhone woke me up at 5:30. I could barely get out of bed. Everything hurt now including my shoulders and arms. I needed to meet everyone at 6 AM for breakfast and then for check out at 7 AM. Furthermore, the thought of seeing horrible Chinese food served for breakfast did not sit well with me. Time to suck it up and get ready. I packed my day bag and camera gear and finally journeyed down to face the food and have some horrible coffee with soy milk. At 7 AM our porters met us to carry our camera gear down to the cable car. Our day bags had already left. What a walk to the cable car. First straight uphill and then straight downhill. I eventually started to pant and needed my porter to hold my arm as we navigated up and down. By the time I reached the cable car I was totally drenched and spent for the day and the day did not even start yet. I gave my porter a nice big tip. He was fabulous, I couldn’t have  done it without him and I felt sorry for these men and their lives. One interesting side note about the hotel on Yellow Mountain. The hotel has two booths where people can practice their karaoke. Karaoke is big in China. You go into these sealed booths and there is a monitor facing you. You pick a song and sing away all by yourself. We all ran into the cable cars as they were passing by and eventually made it down the Mountain. It was now time to walk for about fifteen minutes, with all our camera gear, to the public buses that took you back into Town where we would meet our private bus. Of course, the bus was full and I had to hold all my camera gear in my lap. How much more of this insanity could I endure? A great four hour bus ride awaited me. We finally made it to our large private bus and picked up all our luggage that was in storage. Don’t forget, we still had to transfer what was in our day bags into our luggage somewhere. Andy decided we would do it at the Airport. As soon as I sat down in our comfortable bus I fell into a deep sleep. The next thing I knew was that we were pulling into a pit stop for the necessary bodily functions. It was then back on the bus and another nap. I could not keep my eyes open. It seemed like the activity of the whole trip came crashing down on me. We then stopped at a service area for lunch. Lunch was cafeteria style. Most of you know that I have had some of the weirdest food on the planet. I could barely eat anything. I saw food that I could not describe nor did I want to taste. Rice was served from a big barrel where you go and ladle some out. We finally arrived at Hangzhou Airport for our two and one half hour flight to Xian. I have flown on some airlines that most of us have never heard of. Airlines such as Yangon Airlines will always be remembered by me. I flew on China Eastern Airlines. Another first. After going through another round of Chinese security insanity that I have become used to, I needed to find coffee in a hurry. Low and behold “Costa Coffee” emerged and Andy, Kevin and myself all jumped on the bandwagon. Another comment about the Great Wall. One of the other photographers said that he had sent home a picture of the Great Wall, and the comment he got back was, where are all the tourists? There were no tourists when we experienced the Great Wall. Very rare and unique to be given the opportunity to experience one of the great treasures of the world literally by yourself. An experience I will never forget. Thanks Andy,Kevin and Michael for giving me the opportunity to behold the Great Wall and its beauty this way. A memory I will never forget. Onto China Eastern Airlines. We were the only foreigners on the flight. Food was served and of course, I could not eat anymore of this food. So boring. I need American food and fast. We finally landed in Xian. Some facts about Xian. Xian appears to be southwest of Beijing. Our hotel was around a one hour ride from the airport. We drove on a highway passing the most large skyscraper housing I had ever seen. Take COOP City in New York and multiply it by at least a thousand. I was blown away by the enormity of the City. Xian population is around ten million. It was the first city ever to have over 1 million residents and that was over fourteen hundred years ago. The famous “Silk Road” started or ended here. This is where camels were loaded with products to travel to Central Asia and beyond. Due to this, there is a 100,000 population of Muslims living here. They live in their own section. Why come to Xian? It is the home of the Terra cotta Army. I have always wanted to experience this site and dreamed about seeing the Army. In 1974, Chinese farmers digging a well near Xian made one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries ever. The terra cotta sculptures depict the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. The armies purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. Estimates are that there are about 6000 figures with only

Hi Everyone What was the last day like on top of the Yellow Mountains? Started the day when my iphone woke me up at 3:20 AM for the 4 AM meet. We all met in the lobby for some coffee and our loyal porters were there promptly waiting for us. I am feeling sorry for these porters. They are older men and the job they perform is hard. Younger Chinese will not do this sort of work anymore. We left the hotel and walked straight up to one of our previous locations and then at least ten minutes beyond that point. As we ascended, the fog got thicker. I started to wonder what am I doing here when a soft bed was waiting for me back at the hotel. We finally reached our destination and we split up into two groups. I went with the group that hiked some more. We finally reached our viewing point and the fog was even thicker. We just sat around and talked to wait and see if the fog would lift. Guess what? The fog even got thicker. We then decided to walk back to the hotel. As we reached near the hotel, the fog lifted and we were able to take some good images of the view points around the hotel. It was then time for the standard Chinese breakfast. Oh how I crave for some American food. The Chinese have a great time eating breakfast yelling (talking) to each other. At breakfast we were told that there would be two hikes today. One hike would start at 2:30 and go to locations and peaks we had not seen. The total duration would be approximately five hours and we would return to the hotel at around 8 PM. The only problem is that it is a very strenuous hike with many uphills. The other hike would be around the hotel to take sunset pictures. A nice easy hike compared to the other one. Most everyone knows me by now. I took the 2:30 strenuous hike. Half of us went on that hike. Of course, I was the oldest one by far. But first I had to crawl up to my room, curl into bed and get some well deserved sleep. I first called my beautiful wife Olivia and told her I missed her. I have been away since May 6 and everything is starting to get to me. The food and packing and unpacking constantly. Furthermore, I have had very little time for moping. Woke up at 11:30 and went down for lunch. Of course, lunch was the same food, over and over again. I need help eating. Cannot eat the food anymore. What I won’t do for a New York City bagel and smear. The crazy group met at 2:30 for the five hour strenuous hike. Porters were there. I had a cappuccino first. A small cappuccino costs about $6.30 and Andy gets a three shot expresso that costs $12. I knew I was in trouble when shortly after leaving the hotel we started to climb. I cannot describe how much we climbed up old stone steps. It seemed almost forever when we finally arrived at a pagoda like pavilion for a five minute rest to collect our thoughts and breath. We all sat down on the stone rails including the porters. Before I knew it, it was time to move on. I could barely get up and felt my back crack as I got up. I was thinking, how could there be anymore steps? Low and behold there were lots and lots more with almost 90% of them going up. We finally reached our first of three locations. The outcropping and viewing points were near a satellite station with a large antenna. Was the view worth it? As we ascended, I asked Michael to please confirm that we would not be disappointed after making such an enormous effort. We were not disappointed. The views were outstanding. I walked around sizing up the location and looking for my shots. Climbed over some boulders to a nice spot and clicked away. We were about 6000 feet up. I bought a cute baseball hat with Yellow Mountains China written in Chinese on the cap. It was then onto our second location. More steps up with less steps temporarily down. We then arrived at that location and I walked up a narrow stone corridor of steps onto a viewing platform. The rolling hills and clouds created a beautiful view of the area. We even saw the cable car under us as we took some more shots. It was then onto sunset. Andy wanted to stay at this location since the light was that good. Michael insisted that we all follow him. More steps up to our third and final view point for sunset. I set up my tripod and clicked away. I was standing next to Andy. A Chinese woman with a tripod tried to inch her way in front of us. Andy stood his ground and told the woman he would not move after spending so much effort getting there. A well deserved comment and job well done. The sunset was so beautiful and combined with these beautiful granite peaks and clouds, created a beautiful and unique landscape. We kept shooting until around 7 PM. Time to leave. I kept on thinking that we will be descending most of the way and it should be a piece of cake. Oh how wrong I was. It seemed harder for me going back down than up. The steps seemed steeper and it was also easier to fall down descending. My porter eventually grabbed my arm as the darkness came around us. I couldn’t believe how many steps we had climbed going up. My legs and back ached. I was proud of myself. I had not let this hike defeat me. I conquered it and lived to tell the tale. At 69, I had climbed up

Hi Everyone How is the other side of the world? What did we do today in the Yellow Mountains of China? My iphone alarm went off at 3:15 AM. Needed to get ready and be down at the lobby by 4 AM. Michael is so nice when  we meet this early. He makes us all coffee. Our sherpas met us. Lets talk a little bit about these sherpas. They are mostly men in ranging in age from thirty to about fifty. They all work for a company. They are housed here on the Mountain by the Company and go down to visit their families a few times a month. The cost is $90 US for the day paid to the company and you give the sherpa $15 US per day as a tip. They carry everything you normally carry. My heavy backpack plus another small camera bag. I have been assigned the same sherpa for our entire stay. Everyone has their own sherpa and you really need them here. Think of it like having your own camera caddy similar to a golf caddy except the camera caddy does not speak English and cannot advise you on your photography. I told Andy he should get this for all the workshops. Getting this kind of labor in America would be hard. Nothing to wake you up like a brisk hike up and down old stone steps. We finally reached our destination at about 4:45. Sunrise was set at around 5:15. Kevin, myself, and a few others set up at an outcropping looking over the peaks. The Chinese all want to see the sunrise at the Yellow Mountains. It is some sort of religious pilgrimage for them. Within fifteen minutes we were mobbed by a large group of Chinese. Many of them pushed their way towards the front where we were set up. Hard to take pictures using a tripod when there are lots of people around you who all have to see the sunrise. I managed to hold my ground for some time as I took shot after shot of the morning colors and lights over the Yellow Mountains. After the sun rose and the crowd dispersed, I decided to go further up the trail to see a scene named “Stone Monkey Watching Over The Sea”. My sherpa always follows me. Wherever I go he follows. I had to literally walk over large boulders to get to an outcropping where I could see the view. There is a small rock structure on top of one of the granite peaks looking into the distance. The figure is the Stone Monkey and he or she is watching over the sea. There is no sea here. It may mean the clouds that look like the sea as they come, roll and wind over the granite peaks. I was helped over some large boulders and rocks to set see what the view looked like. My jaw dropped and I was amazed by what I was seeing. Such a unique and new view. I started to take pictures and then navigated myself through and over boulders to the other side of the outcropping. There were some moments when I had to get down on all fours to make sure that I did not trip or hurt myself. There were two large granite peaks and one of them had the Stone Monkey on top of it. I decided to wait until the light hit the peaks and then take lots of pictures of the peaks and the clouds swarming over and rolling in. Another amazing view and site. Got some great pictures. I could not set up my tripod here since the ground was so uneven and full of large rocks and boulders. When you shoot with a tripod, you use time lapse photography and some of your settings are different from hand held. It was then time for me to work my way back over the boulders and sharp rocks. As I descended, I thought of where I was and how fortunate I have been to see what I have seen here. My hunger kept me moving thinking about some eggs and an American breakfast. Got back to the hotel and my sherpa took my equipment up to my room. Bless him and his tireless energy. I then went down for a well deserved breakfast. Where were the eggs, breads and all the other good things we normally eat for breakfast? Only Chinese food. Fried rice, white rice, chicken, sweet and sour pork, dumplings and some other strange looking dishes. I passed on it all. Could not eat Chinese food for breakfast. What do you get for going to a place that caters to the Chinese? After having coffee and a pear, I crawled up to my room to take a nice hot shower and curl up in my bed for a well deserved nap. Woke up at 11 AM and lunch was at noon. We all met in the dining room for another round of Chinese food. After this, I may never eat Chinese food again. They finally made something that I could eat. They brought out a flat fried pancake baked with some bamboo leaves. That was my lunch. After lunch, we had a three hour critique session led by Andy. We all had to pick out five images each and copy them onto an SD card. Andy would then download them into his computer and critique them in front of us all. This is a good way to see how everyone shoots, what is their style and how advanced they are. Andy has a large screen set up so we could all see what is on his computer. When we take pictures we shoot in a format called “raw”. Most of the world shoots in jpeg. Raw files are much larger work files and give you the flexibility to edit your images any way you want. Jpeg images are created by the camera