Ephesus is located near the village of Selcuk, an hour outside of Izmir (the third most populous city in Turkey).

An easy 5TL train from Izmir to Selçuk takes an hour and crosses some beautiful Turkish farmland.

The sights around Selçuk are scattered around a 10km radius. We wanted to rent a pair of scooters for the day, but they were sold out. We settled for some bicycles (20TL for the day) instead.

The Temple of Artemis was a Greek temple dedicated to a goddess Greeks identified as Artemis and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was completely rebuilt three times before its eventual destruction in 401. Only foundations and sculptural fragments of the latest of the temples at the site remain.

Antipater of Sidon, who compiled the list of the Seven Wonders, describes the finished temple:
“I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, “Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand”.

The Seven Sleepers refers to a story where a group of Christian youths who hid inside a cave outside the city of Ephesus around 250 AD, to escape a persecution of Christians being conducted during the reign of the Roman emperor Decius. Having fallen asleep inside the cave, they purportedly awoke approximately 180 years later during the reign of Theodosius II, following which they were reportedly seen by the people of the now-Christian city before dying.

The Odeon was used as a Bouleuterion for the meetings of the Boulea or the Senate. The second fuction was the Odeum as a concert hall for the performances. These are the pillars of the ‘foyer’ of the Odeon.

Two councils administrated Ephesus. These were Demos or the parliament which was open to the public was taken place in the great theatre and the Bouleia which gathered in this small theatre. The members of the boulea were chosen from the aristocratic class of Ephesians. The most important decisions and city matters were discussed here.

Curetes Street is the diagonal street in Ephesus that runs from the State Agora, past the Slope Houses, to the Library of Celsus. Once lined with shops, workshops and inns, Curetes Street was both a main city street and an important processional route in the cult of Artemis.

The Temple of Hadrian is one of the best preserved and most beautiful structures on Curetes Street. It was built before 138 A.D by P.Quintilius and was dedicated to the Emperor Hadrian, who came to visit the city from Athens in 128 A.D The facade of the temple has four Corinthian columns supporting a curved arch, in the middle of which contains a relief of Tyche, goddess of victory.

The library of Celsus was built in honor of the Roman Senator Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus. The library was built to store 12,000 scrolls and to serve as a monumental tomb for Celsus. He is buried in a sarcophagus beneath the library, in the main entrance which is both a crypt containing his sarcophagus and a sepulchral monument to him. It was unusual to be buried within a library or even within city limits, so this was a special honor for Celsus.

The gate with three passage ways at the right of the Celsus Library was built in 40 A.D by the slaves Mazeus and Mythridates for their emperor, Augustus, who gave them their freedom.

This is the most magnificent structure in Ephesus ancient city. It is the largest in Anatolia and has the capacity of 25,000 seats.

The theatre was used not only for concerts and plays, but also for religious, political and philosophical discussions and for gladiator and animal fights.

The Church of Mary is dated to the early 5th century, coinciding with the Council of Ephesus or the Third Ecumenical Council held in 431, suggesting that it may have been built specifically for the council, during which the title of Theotokos for the Mother of Christ was decided.

The baptism pool at The Church of Mary.

Our luggage being loaded on the DHC-6 Twin Otter 19-passenger Canadian-made plane we took to Lukla.

Lukla is a small town in eastern Nepal right at the foot of the famous Mount Everest. Before the existence of an airport, Lukla can only be reached by road traveling from Kathmandu to Jiri and five day hiking from Jiri to Lukla through rugged hill. The airport was named the 'Tenzing-Hillary Airport' - after the first two men who climbed Mt. Everest.

The airport is situated in the Himalayas at 9000 feet above sea level. This high altitude often causes difficulty for the pilot to control landing speed of the plane. The runway is a short and sloppy asphalt strip. It is only 1,500 feet long and 65 feet wide with a gradient of 12% from north to south. Due to its size, it can only accommodate small airplane and helicopters.

The topography of the place makes any go-around impossible. At the south, the runway is the end of an angled drop of about 2000 feet. This cliff is fenced off as a precautionary measure. At the northern end of the runway there is a huge mountain terrain. It leaves no room for error.

The weather is highly unpredictable and can suddenly change by minute. Fog, high wind and cloud are common. Low visibility often causes flight delay or non-operation of the airport. Flights were delayed for 5 days the week before so we were quite relieved that everything went well.

The landing plane comes from the north to the south of the runway, so the plane will have go round the mountain and land on an uphill runway. Being uphill helps stop the aircraft before it hits the fence and falls into the steeply cliff. Pilot has to reserve propeller even before touch down. There is a possibility that a plane could fly too low due to a false visual perception. Any mistake in the approach procedure will result in either the plane crashing the mountain or falling into the cliff .

We started our trek by walking along the river to Phakding. Phakding is a village in Khumbu. It is located between Lukla and Monju. It's located at 2652m.

Yak, naks (female yaks), and dzos (yak/cattle cross) are used to carry heavy loads of raw materials, food, and trekker packs throughout the trails.

Dorche and Dukes, our assistant guide and porter, blaze ahead on the trail to do the paperwork at the checkpoints.

Our first view of Mt. Everest on our way to Sherpa capital, Namche, at 2800m.

RJ on route to Namche.

Etienne, from Barnstable UK, leads to way as we pass by other trekkers.

Another viewpoint of Everest on the way to Namche.

Dukes (one of our porters), Etienne, and I standing in front of one of many bridges we had to cross.

Each porter takes the big packs of 2 trekkers. Dukes leads the way. On the way to Namche, we climbed up 800 vertical meters.

Steel cable bridges connected the trail at many key areas.

Neil and Theresa Pitkin (on their quest to travel the world) crossing a rope bridge. Their teddy bears followed them where ever they went.

There they are.

The view over the bridge.

100m long waterfalls caress the sides of the mountains.

Etienne and RJ cross another bridge.

Visit their blog at http://pitkinsaroundtheworld.com/

RJ stands in front of the highest rope-bridge we'll be walking aross.

Prayer flags line the bridge.

Sanskrit prayers are written on the flags. The wind takes their message and spreads them to the gods.

Walking (well, dance-walking) to music always gave us some extra motivation.

At about 3000m, you begin to reach low-altitude clouds.

These girls yelled 'Photo! Photo!" at me as I walked pass.

Arrived to Namche - Although no more than a village, the Sherpa capital has two museums, several internet cafes, and, at last count, two pizza houses and three cafes (locally known as bakeries).

We had an acclimatization day at Namche. This involved us walking up 300m, staying at that altitude for 30 minutes, and relaxing the rest of the day. This was meant to get our bodies ready for the lower oxygen levels at high altitudes.

At 3440m, Namche has some beautiful views of snow-capped mountains.

Namche's helipad and elementary school.

The entire birds-eye view of Namche from our 3600m acclimatization point.

Frozen rivers down the mountains.

At the top of our acclimatization point.

At the same level as the clouds.

We decided to do a quick trip over to the neighbouring village, Khumjung.

Aw.

During cloudy days, many mountains become fully hidden.

On our way to see the famous Yeti scalp in Khumjung.

Nima (our porter) talks to a Sherpa child while leading us to the Yeti skull.

An explanation of the Yeti skull.

...the Yeti skull.

Stone tablets engraved with Sanskrit prayers line the walls along the paths.

Donations are made for tablet restoration projects.

We began looking for rocks to take dramatic photos.

Macau Tower Bungy at 233 meters / 764 feet! – The World’s Highest Bungy Jump certified by Guinness World Records.

The first thing resembling a Bungee jump was carried out by hardy young men from Pentecost Island in the Vanuatu archipelago. They would throw themselves off wooden platforms with their legs attached to vines to prove their manhood.

Eccentric Oxford students carried out the first bungee jump with modern materials off the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol on April Fool's' Day 1979. Using nylon braided rubber shock cords and dressed in top hats and tails, four members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club jumped off. They survived and were immediately arrested.

Bungee jumping is so named after the strong elasticated cords that are normally used to strap down luggage.

The highest commercial bungee jump in the world, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is 764ft (233m), off the Macau Tower in China. Jumpers experience four to five seconds of freefall at up to 125mph.

James Bond film GoldenEye, starring Pierce Brosnan as 007, featured what was the largest bungee jump ever performed at the time in 2002. Stuntman Wayne Michaels jumped off the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland, a 720ft (220m) drop. That year it was voted the best stunt of all time in a Sky Movies poll.

In 1991 Andrew Salisbury jumped from a helicopter attached to a bungee over Cancun in Mexico. He fell 3,157 feet before the bungee reached full stretch.

Frequent injuries have included dislocations, rope burn, back injuries and eye trauma.

For $10,000 (£6,700) you can jump off a helicopter into the mouth of an active Andean volcano in Pucon, Chile. Breakfast buffet is included.

The catapult or reverse bungee involves a jumper standing on the ground attached to a stretched cord which is then shot up into the air.

Walking towards to the monkey show.

Monkeying around.

African bird show.

The golden eagle has a wingspan of up to 7 ft.

The HippoKing

Thieves!

The elephant gang at Panyu Safari

Yup, that's an elephant on a balance beam.

Yup, that's an elephant doing a handstand on a balance beam.

The crowd at the elephant show.

Our group's small, but we stand out.

Hoola-Hooping Elephants

Jump!

I don't even...yea, I can't do that.

Elephants can be taught how to cheat in a relay race.

The elephant king claims what's rightfully his.

Introducing ourselves.

The tiger & lion show.

The Queen Of The Lions

White tiger trainers.

Discipline.

Overtop.

Quick! Before it notices the bigger piece of meat on the other side of the fence.

Obviously, if things go wrong, we can sacrifice Terri first.

This is what a hungover panda bear looks like.

A panda bear eats more than 84lbs of bamboo a day. That's 12 hours of eating.

Only 10,000 Red Pandas are left in the world.

On our way out, we saw an entire family of elephants just playing in the water - without a trainer.

Beautiful.

RJ's second jump of the month (the first one at Macau 200m high tower)

Me, free-falling...

Grant Mobley

Grant's jump had more spin than everyone else's combined.

Mandy's first jump ever.

Terri's first jump.

WenQi's jump.

You can be strapped by the body as well.

Do the twist.

Yuki's jump

The whole crew.

The Macarena suddenly came on over the loudspeakers.

As the song progresses, the nationals stop staring at the jumpers and turn towards the crazy public dancers.

...and more.

After the jump, we caught our own fish and had a BBQ on WenQi's roof. Chinese supermarkets are self-served.

There are many smaller apartments in the Tian He community.

Preserved duck, goose, and pork hanging out to dry in Guangzhou Shimen forest park - commonly known as "Lap Cheong".

A menu written on a stump-plank at a restaurant in Shimen Forest Park, Guangzhou.

The famous hot pot chicken, steamed with green onions and an assortment of mushroom and sauces.

My mother's sister and her husband. Years ago, they took their wedding photos here.

Shimen Forest Park is the most popular wedding photo destination in Guangdong. Each week, hundreds of newly-weds get their photos taken here - every marriage in my family so far has had their photo taken here.

A little girl feeds a giraffe at the Guangzhou zoo.

An Asian elephant at the Guangzhou zoo.

The 'Elephant House' at the Guangzhou zoo.

Two baby chimps play fighting at the Guangzhou Zoo

Ancient Greek for 'river horse', "Hippopotamus" is the third largest land animal and can weigh up to 4,000Kg.

These visitors mistake RJ to be on display as a part of the "Foreign Caucasian Exhibit" at the Guangzhou Zoo. They asked me for permission to take pictures with him. Hilarity ensues.

The steps to a Taoist temple in Guangzhou.

Bookended by two larger-than-life incense burners, the entrance to this Taoist temple expresses the architecture of many temples in China.

Four Taoist monks engage in their daily verbal meditation. Taoism was founded in 4BC.

A Buddha tower consists of hundreds of mini Buddha statues, each contributed in memory of a passed relative.

A Taoist monk plays on the large drums located in two towers surrounding the temple.

Meditation seats and instruments are placed in front of the main hall.

The mini incense burner fills the air of the temple with a smell of jasmine.

A daughter escorts her father after a weekly temple visit, perhaps to pay respects to a passed family member.

An upside down busker makes a few extra bucks in front of New Town.

The New Guangzhou Library was built in 2011 and contains over 98,000 square meters of floor space, holding some of Guangzhou's most extensive collections.

Completed in 2010, the International Finance Center (IFC) stands as the second tallest building in Guangzhou - with 109 floors and a Four Seasons Hotel starting from the 69th floor.

An international design competition determined the plans for the 2005 Guangzhou Opera House. It has since become one of the three biggest theatres in the nation.

The Guangzhou No. 2 Children's Palace, built in 2003, accommodates many children and youth services and classes.

With the Guangdong Museum at the left, patrons line up against the backdrop of the Canton Tower.

Bored in line, a man begins belting out lines from a Chinese opera (quite professionally). Unbelievably, another woman near the front of the line began to sing the female part.

A street artist exhibits live calligraphy with a giant mop and some water.

A full body leash. That's all.

A wall of lanterns, each with a wish, on display in New Town. At night, these lanterns light up under a synchronized program.

A bank note printed during the "Anti-Japanese" war includes state propaganda.

A plaque in the Guangdong Museum recounts the war - the translations are less neutral.

Old tools for Moon-cake moulding on display at the Guangdong museum. Moon-cakes are sugary deserts eaten during the Full Moon Festival (Harvest Festival).

A poem is engraved on wooden plaques on display at the Guangdong museum.

The night view of Tian He district from my cousin's 12-floor balcony.

My attempt at Christmas decorating in my cousin's living room.