Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Skyros Quartet travels to...CHINA!!! Part II: Xi'an

As we mentioned in our last post, we will be sharing special stories from our trip in the coming months, but here is a quick glimpse of pictures from the second part of our travels: the ancient and wonderful city of Xi'an!

This is a city park in Xi'an. The vibrancy and activity was truly amazing!
These ladies are practicing traditional dance.


There was a large market in the middle of the park. This was a stall of fresh steamed rice buns. Ovens are very uncommon in China!




Fresh fruit and veggie vendors.




These boats are for floating on the large lake in the center of the park.



There were plenty of carnival stalls all around the park.


Stone dragon at the foot of a stone bridge.


There were many instrumentalists practicing all over the park!


Community choral practice.


Temple in the park.


Xi'an is home to the famous Terra cotta Warriors! This UNESCO site definitely lived up to the hype; it was incredible!



Findings at a local grocery market.


Durian! Justin and Sarah tried it! It is also the source of a sickly sweet, strange smell in most markets.


Stone Dragon in the city.


Backstage shot at one of our concerts! We will update with more concert pictures in the coming months!


On our morning off, we took a bike ride around the top of the historic city wall. It was amazing!





That little orange cat wanted off the roof but I think he/she was stuck up there!


Many buildings resembled this one in more historic sections of Xi'an.


A nod to the city's most famous people in an ex-pat bar.


Another activity at the local park.


One of countless sculptures at the city park.



Check back in the future for new adventures with the Skyros Quartet! We will update again about China soon.


Monday, May 20, 2013

Skyros Quartet Travels to...CHINA!!! Part I: Hangzhou

We just returned from the most amazing tour in China! We will make follow up posts with our favorite memories as we have more time to go through information, pictures, and videos, but here are some pictures of our time in the first city we visited, Hangzhou.

This was the first amazing sculpture of many we saw in China...at the Beijing airport!


First views of Hangzhou. Urban vegetable farms.


The following pictures were from our first day in China at an instrument museum!







A river right behind our hotel.


Mirror picture taking!


Breakfasts at our hotel were incredible!



Pagoda in the city.


Justin was missing his cats...


KTV Karaoke!


We visited the Wetlands...



...and the gorgeous Westlake!




Nighttime market...


...and a Skyros Quartet elevator shot!



More to come...