China
At the end of May I took a two week trip with my Mother to China. As I've been trying to do with most of my recent trips, I took a few pictures. My initial reaction to the trip was that it was good. The cultural sites in China are amazing. What disturbed me though was the visible environmental impact of China's growth. In particular visiting the Turtle-Head Peninsula it was hard to make out the islands only a few hundred yards away due to the smog in the area. I never got a good view of Shanghai's sky-line and the only nice day we had around Beijing was due to 30 MPH winds blowing all day.
The tour company we went with is state owned but privately controlled. I felt like most of the material presented to us was overly sanitized and scripted, as evidenced by two guides telling us the same material independently. Needless to say while I went with an open mind the reenforcement of "stereotypical western demonization" was hard to escape at times. I'm glad I visited and I suspect that I'd want to return for a much more rural an unstructured exploration.