Beijing - Lama Temple

Our visit to Beijing begins with a visit to the Lama Temple.  Originally, this was the mansion of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty when he was a prince.  After he ascended the throne in 1723 and moved into the Forbidden City, his mansion was converted inot a temple for Tibetan Buddhism.   Incredible architecture, color ... and people watching.

 The family picture ... first of the week.

The gate as we enter the Lama Temple grounds.

Whether we should have or not, we took pictures as people burned incense and worshiped Buddha.  It did start some interesting conversations with the girls (primarily Jenna) about what they were doing.

Our tour guide Lucy, explaining some of the interesting history.

A Prayer Wheel

Not Buddha (I don't believe), but in the foreground, you see where the monks would kneel and read / meditate.

Now here is Buddha.  9 meters above ground, 9 meters below ground.  A meter is about one yard.  So, that's almost 27 feet tall.   Total 18 meters tall, and made from a single piece of white sandalwood.

Small Emily and very large Buddha.

What happens when you have a blond white girl in China?  You get stopped for lots of pictures.  So, here it goes.

Good Night

Friends night ... all the girls had their best friends for a good night sleep.

Kristin's Birthday

Kristin has another birthday ... and is looking great.

Addlea made the official birthday cake, an Alabama Sour Cream Cake.  It was great.

Banyan Tree, Bintan Indonesia

For Kristin's birthday, the two of us (yes, just the two of us) headed off to Bintan, Indonesia for a weekend at the Banyan Tree Resort.  It was a wonderful place with individual bungalows ... with wonderful privacy.  We headed our own large deck with a "cooling off" pool.  The weather was fantastic, the beach fun ... and very relaxing.  Did we mention no kids???  Yes, the girls stayed back in Singapore with Addlea and had a lovely time preparing for mom's birthday.

Beautiful views of the resort.  This was next to one of the main restaurants ... where we ate breakfast both mornings.  Ahhhhh!

Our deck and balcony over looking the South China Sea ... with our own little cooling off pool.

Views from the inside.

The resort ... our unit was up on the right among the trees.

An Indonesian Monitor Lizard sunning himself on the rocks.

Another one of our little friends.  About the size of a small hand.

Our selfies ... we hear these are popular.

At dinner.

A picture of the spa ... where we had a couple massage.  It was only enjoyable for one of us though!!!