China

So back in high school, I was in the band.  I play the alto saxaphone.  Anyhow, in 2004 our school was fortunate enough to be invited to go with another on a music exchange trip to China in the summer of 2004. 
It was a neat experience.  I can say that I've been to China.  And I don't have much desire to go there again.  Don't get me wrong.  There is a lot of culture and history there.  But the government is very controlling, keeping a tight lid on everything.  We were constantly monitered while we were there. 
Anyhow, getting there was an adventure in and of itself.  Keep in mind that although I have spent a lot of time on airplanes, I cannot sleep on them.  We started early, with a 5:30 am flight from Houston to Denver, switched planes, flew to Seattle, switched planes and flew to Tokyo, had a 2-3 hour layover, and finally flew into Beijing.  By the time we got to Beijing, it had been over 24 hours, and since I cannot sleep on airplanes, I was beyond exhausted. 
The first full day there we toured Tiananamen Square and the Forbidden City.  It was neat with a lot of history.  The street vendors there are brutal.  The will do anything to fleece you of your money.
The next couple of days involved touring the summer palace and playing our first concert, and the China Music Conservatory.  Turnout was not the best, because the date was the anniversary of the Tiananamen Square incident, and people were not too keen to catch the government's suspicion by being out and about.
We went to Tianjin, and played a concert at the Tianjin University.  The turnout there was pretty good.
On the way back to Beijing, we stopped at the Great Wall and played a concert on the wall itself.  That was really neat. 
We then flew to Xian, and got to tour the terracotta warriors exhibits. I did not know that shortly after the emperor's death, there was a peasant revolt, and they broke into the terracotta army and stole the weapons they had (the terracotta army had actual, usable weapons), and smashed every one in the process.  As such, all the warriors you see have been reconstructed and glued back together. 
We played our last concert in Xian, and it was a resounding success.  There was about 1100 people crammed into a space meant for only 500.  It was about 120 degrees (F) on the stage, but the people loved us.
Some other neat things we got to see included a trip to the martial arts academy, a cooking school, the temple of the sun, and a royal welcome at the gates of Xian.
The trip home was uneventful.  A 13 hour plane flight directly from Beijing to Chicago, over the North Pole.  From there it was a short trip home to Houston.

The top picture is me on the Great Wall, and the bottom picture is me at the terracotta army.  The area above my left shoulder, where you can see warriors on a raised section, is where the warriors are glued back together.  Over my right shoulder are unopened chambers of the army.