We recently shot a short film about autumn in Portland using the fantastic Canon 5Dmk2 DSLR camera. The film is starring Mariessa Portelance and was shot by Jedrzej Jonasz.

Our final video from the Yangtze river cruise aboard the Victoria Jenna. We had a chance to see some amazing sites along the Yangtze river including the Three Gorges Dam, the City of Ghosts, the White Emperor City and the lessor Gorges.

Our first video about the Yangtze river cruise we took is about the ship we were on, the Victoria Jenna. More China videos to come, including one highlighting the excursions we went on along the river.

Here is our second video from Beijing detailing the sites we visited with Pacific Delight Tours. The next video will be from our cruise on the Yangtze.

Google has released a Street View map of the ruins of ancient Pompeii, the Roman city that was buried by ash from the Vesuvius volcano. I have personally been lucky enough to visit this amazing site and it was among the most surreal travel experiences I’ve ever had. As it is a complete city, walking around the streets and through the buildings gives you a real perspective on what life was like in Ancient Rome, and how it wasn’t all that different from city life today.

So take a tour of the Street View today, just make sure to click on full-screen to get the best experience. [via Gizmodo]

We’ve just completed editing on our first video about our trip to China. This is an overview to the city of Beijing and our experiences there. Check out our other TripFilms travel videos at Tripfilms.com.

On our last day in the Beijing we drove an hour out of the city to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Although it’s takes longer to get there, the Mutianyu section is a lot less busy and offers spectacular views as it is located in the mountains. There are 3 ways to get to the wall from the parking lot: a covered cable car (great for cold days), a chair lift (chilly on cold days, but offers a slide on the way down) or walk 1000 steps. We opted for the covered cable car… it was cold, and there’s plenty of walking to do on the wall itself.

Beware of all the gift shops that line the paths, they generally won’t bother you too much on the way up, but if you don’t plan on buying anything on the way back to the parking lot just look down, move quickly and don’t make eye contact. What is strange about these little gift shops is that all 50 or so sell the exact same stuff. It’s as if one company owns them all.

Once on the wall you can spend a few hours walking up and down this section, with a steep climb of stairs at the highest open tower. Much of the Great Wall is in ruins, so only certain sections have been restored. But even though this is only a small section of the wall, there are still 22 watchtowers and over 2 km open to the public.

This marks our last excursion in Beijing, as the next morning we flew out to Yichang to start our Yangtze river cruise. Stay tuned…

Mariessa, Tom and JJ in Tiananmen Square

After a delicious buffet breakfast (with really good coffee) we were picked up at the hotel by our Pacific Delights tour guide Tom. He started off our tour of Beijing with Tiananmen Square and the enormous Forbidden City, which is the largest Palace complex in the world. Although it is November, and pretty chilly, these world famous attractions were packed with visitors from China and around the world. Apparently it is like this every day as thousands of people flock to experience the incredible history and scale of the Forbidden City…

Tom not only showed us the popular tourist attractions, but we also had a chance to experience some of the best local noodles and even have lunch at the home of a local family in the old town (Hutong) neighborhood. While there, we met a cricket champion, and of course we were under the impression that the British sport was very popular in China, but to our surprise we soon discovered that they meant cricket fighting champion!

We continued on over the next few days to the Summer Palace and to the Temple of Heaven, which is very popular among senior Beijingers as they gather in the mornings to play cards, Chinese checkers, badminton, Tai Chi and dance.

Stay tuned for our videos about Beijing and next blog about our experiences at the Great Wall and the Yangtze river cruise.

New Subway Train on the #10 Line

We checked into the New World Hotel in downtown Beijing and it too was recently remodeled, although there is still remodelling going on so not all rooms have been updated. By the time we got settled in, it was already dark so we didn’t get to explore much on our first day and ended up having dinner at the hotel restaurant. We learned that many of the meals on the menu are actually for two people, so be sure to ask about the size of the portions so you don’t order too much (yes, we ordered two meals, which were meant for 4 people). The next day, we headed out to see the Forbidden City.

After a 12 hour flight from San Francisco to Beijing, we were exhausted and desperately needed showers. For flights of that length on an American carrier, I would highly recommend upgrading. Unfortunately the first and business class seats were all booked on our flight and the only remaining option was “Economy Plus”, which only offered a few extra inches of leg room… not really worth it if you are short.

Beijing Airport was very impressive, it is one of the largest terminals in the world and since it was built for the 2008 Olympics, it is very modern and functional. The customs lines were fairly long, even though they didn’t ask any questions like in the States or Canada. Each officer’s booth was equipped with a digital survey button panel where you could select your level of satisfaction with the process… although I’m not sure if I would ever select “dissatisfied”

We then proceeded to take a shuttle train to the baggage claim where we were met with a high tech carousel that detected if there was a space between bags on the carousel before dumping a new bag. Much better than the pile-o-bags functionality of typical baggage carousels. With luggage in hand, we headed to the exit and were met by our Pacific Delights tour guide: Tom, a local Beijing’er with several years of experience giving tours of his home city. His driver picked us up and we drove out of the airport towards Beijing’s downtown.

Mariessa and Tom