Gion Matsuri Parade, Kyoto, Japan

Jie Tai Temple, Beijing, China

Tea, Beijing, China

Taroko Gorge, Taiwan

Yi Lan Mountains, Taiwan

Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto, Japan

Hawker, Great Wall of China

Yangtze River, China

2011-2014.  My best memories of East Asia are from China.  I had students who had protested at Tiananmen in 1989, students who had no idea what the Tiananmen protests were, and even one much older student who hadn't been allowed to go to college during the Cultural Revolution because her father was considered "bourgeois."  I made friends with monks, survived apocalyptic smog, introduced middle-aged men to their first Michael Jackson song, & heard stories of the coin operated binocular machines that look over the border into North Korea. China, shine on you crazy diamond.