Terra Cotta Warriors

The other highlight to our trip throughout China was our stop in Xian to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. To get there, we took a 12 hour over-night train from Beijing. This is a pretty good option, especially with a family. There are some downsides, however.

1. Non smoking cars aren't truly nonsmoking as people can smoke at the end of the train cars and that seems to circulate quite nicely back into the other cars via the air conditioning system.

2. You're easy pickings by fellow train passengers who want to interact with you and your kids. This time I was the target. Some random lady who saw me on the platform buying drinks and snacks tracked me down and found my room and, uninvited, sat down to tell me all about why she was going to Xian. She probably would have stayed there forever had we not told her to leave our cabin...in a more nice way than I'm putting it.

The Terra Cotta Warriors were stunning. They were first discovered by a local farmer who was drilling for water and came across shards of terra cotta. That turned into the massive dig that we have today. If this had been the United States, then the guy who found this would undoubtedly be a very rich man...kind of like finding oil underneath your house. But in this case, the man who found this has a new job, that of sitting in a visitor center outside of the entrance, shaking hands with people and signing autographs for tourists who buy coffee table books. Look, is it a step up from farming? In my book, yes. But come on...this guy got shafted in grand scheme of things.

I don't know if it's comforting or not to know that wasteful government spending isn't a modern invention. A few hundred years BC, Emperor Qin, who's buried here, recreated an underground palace complete with an army to help him fight in the afterlife. So much planning went into this, that it was started over 30 years before the future Emperor died...even before he was made Emperor.

The whole compound is fascinating. It's one of these places where you can stand in one place and stare it would still be as stimulating after 30 minutes as it was when you first saw it. It's just hard to fathom how much time, money, people and effort that went into making these statues. The attention to detail and the sheer number of soldiers is incredible. Most have been broken apart underground and it must be so tedious to put them back together - like a giant 3D puzzle.

This place is still very much a slow work in progress. There are three pits, two still darkened significantly, denoting ongoing archeological digs.

As always, click on the pictures to take you to a small gallery of shots from the day. The youtube video below offers a brief look at the statues and the pits.

Camping at Lake Kizakiko and Matsumoto Castle

Fall is here in Japan and a few weeks ago we escaped into the mountains with some friends to do some camping. Here are a few thoughts:

Not only were we getting out of the city, but we were doing it by car that were actually driving. This was the first time in my four plus years of living in Japan that I've driven. And for all my attempts to play it cool, I turned on my headlights by turning on the back windshield wipers, and signaled my intention to turn left by flipping on the front windshield wipers. The Californian-Car-Dependence gene inside me kicked in and became more and more convinced we needed a car.

I remember when I would camp as a Boy Scout and I could carry on my back everything I needed for a week's worth of camping in the High Sierras. But on this trip we filled the car full of odds and ends from hot plates and sauce pans to coolers full of food and pillows.

Japan is an incredibly beautiful country when you're actually in nature and for as densely populated as Tokyo can be, rural areas can be equally as remote. It was a great time to photograph nature.

I think Anthon found his first camp girlfriend, a daughter of a family we just met. He sat next to this girl who's his age and she reached across the camp chair and was tickling his knee. For about a minute they stared at each other giggling. It was really cute. The whole rest of the day they couldn't be separated playing hide and seek, building airplanes with logs and just being the best of friends.

Bonfires, hiking, fire-jumping and even a quick trip to Matsumoto Castle - the second time in two weeks for me - were also highlights of the trip. Click on the pictures above for more pictures, or on the picture below to see a short video.

Daytrip to Nikko

While the town of Nikko houses some of Japan's most well known cultural artifacts, it in many ways is the antithesis of Japan and parts of Japanese culture. Nikko is nestled in a rural part of Japan 90 miles north of Tokyo. Nikko is cool and crisp to Tokyo's hot and muggy. Nikko looks like an alpine village to Tokyo's concrete jungles. Tokyo is modern while Nikko is steeped in cultural tradition. Nikko is home to a spectucular array of colorful temples and shrines that one would argue are a better in China than in Japan. It's one of my favorites places in the area.

Nikko was founded more than 1200 years ago, but didn't become a draw until after one of Japan's most famous rulers - Tokugawa Ieyasu - commissioned a shrine and his final resting place as a legacy to his rule. If you've read the book Shogun, it's based on this guy. He is credited for unifying Japan's feudal Lords under one regime with the samurai class at the top of the food chain. His rule sparked more than 200 years of Tokugawa rule that was eventually toppled in the Meiji Restoration, which restored the Emporer as sovereign of Japan.



When you come upon Nikko you first pass over Shinkyo Bridge, which spans a small river. Before modern roads, this was the only "legal" way one could cross the river to the shrines. Only samurai, other top government officials and religious leaders were allowed to cross the bridge and enter the holy shrines and temples of Nikko.

It's quite a breathtaking site for a few reasons - one it's sheer beauty, and two the elevation. Not only are you in the mountains, but there is a fair amount of step climbing that's done throughout the course of the day. Ella was so overwhelmed in her Baby Bjorn that she promptly pooped all over me. That felt nice. Anthon did an admiral job considering he wasn't interested in one thing we saw. He was interested in throwing rocks, touching important artifacts that you're not supposed to touch and wandering in directions we as a group weren't intending to go.

But as far as highlights go, you have to see the see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys (Anthon does his impression in the picture gallery). There's the carving of an elephant done by someone who had never seen an elephant before. You have to try yuba in soba noodles, which is the skim of tofu in warm noodle soup. Go into the Futarasan Shrine (circa 800 AD), and try throwing rocks onto the lower bar of the torii gate (for good luck!) and drink from the sacred spring water for longevity. Listen to the dragon cry at Yakushido Hall. See the hundreds of stone lanterns covered in moss. Though we didn't have time, definitely go up to Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls.

We did this in one day, and each of my now five times I've done one-day trips. But this would be an easy overnight trip, especially if you're going to do some hiking and spend time at an onse (natural hot spring).

Hakone - Part 2: Eating Black Sulfur Eggs

Hakone was the gateway into the Edo (now Tokyo) during the Shogun rule. A road linking Edo and Kyoto (the old Capital of Japan), called the Tokaido road, was a primitive version of the interstate. A check point was set up here in Hakone to filter who came into Edo.

Hakone is mountainous. It's an extremely volcanic area, which is why there are so many hot springs here. Our course for the morning was to see Lake Ashiko where a Shinto torii gate seemingly floats in the water. Then we take a pirate boat (doesn't quite blend into the scenery) to a ropeway (gondola) that takes us up to where they mine the sulfur. Here at the mountain tops you can do some hiking up to where they actually boil eggs into the sulfur hot springs. It's quite an operation. There's pulley system that transports many loads of white eggs to the top of the mountain where they place them into the sulfur hot springs. The eggs then turn black cooking in the sulfur. They sell a half dozen for 500 yen and then ship down the valley via the pulley system the remaining black eggs.

The eggs certainly don't look appetizing, especially if you're not a big lover of the hard boiled eggs. But I guess for novelty's sake you have to try them just to say you've eaten a sulfur egg. Plus there's a sign that says if you eat one of these eggs, you tack on 7 years to your life. Hmm. Once you crack them open they don't taste any different, but they sure are hot! Anthon, not the best eater in the world, downed a full egg all by himself. Maybe we need to start cooking things in sulfur now.

The funniest part, and probably the greatest proof point that Ella has an immature father, was getting Ella to suck on the sulfur egg. She won't take a bottle, and she won't take a binky. Yet she'll take a sulfur egg. At least she's a good eater otherwise.

It's an interesting environment because you can smell the sulfur, which has a rotten egg quality. And as you're hiking around you see plums of steam rising up everywhere from the hot springs. It's almost like you're in a wildfire without the fire.



I think if I were to do this again, I would include in our trip an overnight stay with a trip to the Open Air Museum with a large collection of paintings and a huge sculpture garden. Further, I think a trip to the Gyoza Center (potstickers / dumplings) is in order.

Lastly, here is a video of our black sulfur egg eating exploits.

Hakone - Part 1: Bathing in Coffee, Tea, Wine, Sake and Rose Petals

Japan is a country that loves its natural hot springs. It being a volcanic island - you'll find hot springs EVERYWHERE. In college in Utah, I did a fair amount of hiking and when we would happen upon a natural hot spring it would usually be inhabited by a few naked hippies. So we moved on. And when I was a missionary in Japan, we were not allowed to enter into the hot springs...so I am a relative late-comer to the hot spring (called onsen in Japanese) party.

Hakone is a resort town close to Mt. Fuji, two plus hours south and west of Tokyo. And there are tons of onsen in the region. Onsen are typically segregated into mens baths and womens baths. You strip down, shower off and then soak in the various pools they have. Being onsen newbies we felt a conservative approach was in order here! So we elected to try the family onsen, where everyone was in bathing suits. Think Raging Waters but for hot tubs. It was awesome.

There are seemingly dozens of different kinds of pools you can get into. One outdoor pools has a water slide and a waterfall. An indoor pool is shallow and has balls and toys that kids can throw and play with. One was a salt pool where you could float. Then they get to be a bit more outrageous. One pool is bright pink and has tons of flower petals floating around and smells like a rose garden. Still other pools have coffee in it, or wine, or green tea, or Japanese sake, or charcoal...or my personal favorite fish...yes, those fish that will come up to your legs and feet and eat away the dead skin. That pool was aptly named Dr. Fish and was the most popular pool by far. It was gimmicky, but it was fun. We found ourselves hopping from one pool to the next. Anthon got into it. Ella even got into it. She was so calm and relaxed wading around in our arms in these various pools.

The funniest part was in the wine pool. Three times a day an onsen worker trots out with a huge bottle of wine and like a rock concert the crowd (in their swimsuits) starts crowding the man. Kids were crying, wine was flowing everywhere. We threw our hands in there to get our hands on the wine and upon having some poured into our hands we just looked at it and thought, "Ok, we're not going to drink it...now what?" If you're familiar with the Mormon religion, then by now you're catching on to the irony of the situation - we don't drink coffee, tea, or alcohol, yet we're soaking in it. I think that increased the novelty of it for us. They say it helps to soften the skin. But the only difference in my skin was that it smelled like coffee after the coffee pool, wine after the wine pool and so on. This leads me to the question, can one get drunk via osmosis? :)

Ok, so I'm a full fledged convert and love this place, Yunessun. I'm already thinking about when we can come back.

If you haven't seen it already, Shelley posted about our trip to Hakone as well. Click any of the pictures or this link to see more pictures from Yunessun Hot Springs.

Day Trip to Kamakura

Shelley and I haven't really discussed who's on our top 5 list of famous people that we could kiss if we had the chance. If I had to guess, I'm sure Matthew McConaughey would be right up there at the top - as would Carrot Top. But I never in my wildest dreams thought that my wife would have the hots for the Buddah. I guess I should have read into her getting into yoga with a bit more scrutiny than I did.


The Japanese can be very hospitable hosts. We certainly didn't expect to be welcomed to Kamakura with a sign welcoming the "Great Kannon." I admit I am flattered. Not to be a nitpick, but couldn't they at least spell our names right?

And finally, as Shelley said in her blog about our trip we happened upon a couple who were getting married in this very public place. On the one hand I felt excited to see this, but I also felt bad that I was opportunistically snapping shots of their special day. While I was taking these pictures, Shelley was watching Anthon, who decided that he wanted to just go exploring on his own. Well, that didn't see well with Shelley who went after and resulted in our son, who has a pretty good set of pipes, screaming all the way back to his stroller after Shelley caught up to him. Nothing like being the one with the screaming kid to disrupt a wedding ceremony. Like a good father and husband I pretended I didn't know them.




All of the pictures are linked to a page of photos I shot from the day. Or you can clik on the link to go there.

Hiking the Narrows

Over Labor Day weekend, our friends the Derricks invited us, our friends the Mulliners and another family to spend the long weekend playing in Zion National Park. The deal was that half of the couples would hike The Narrows on Saturday and the other half would hike on Monday, leaving our kids behind to be baby sat by the non-hiking couples.

It was Shelley's first time hiking the Narrows, while it was my third time. It had been a while since I'd hiked this, so it's easy to forget that it's 17 miles of traversing down a river, oftentimes not being able to see the bottom and the ankle-breaking, slick rocks that await the feet of weary hikers.

To me, the best part of the hike is the upper 10+ miles that are really only accessible if you hike from the trialhead downstream. This is where you can really get through some narrow canyons. We had the trail pretty much all to ourselves until we got a few miles from the bottom. Then we ran into day hikers who had made their way upstream. We knew we were getting close when we could see "hikers" in skirts or walking barefeet.

The day before, I had been inspired by a few local photographers who had galleries of their shots from Zion's and in particular The Narrows. So that inspired me to shove my tripod into my backpack and lug it down river. There were a few tense moments when the current, combined with a lack of sure footing, submerged my bag. But luckily no moisture made it in into my bag. While I don't think these pictures are professional quality, the gallery does contain some shots that give you a sense of the color and beauty found on the hike.

Here's a picture of the group. As you can see, the backyard of the vacation home has quite the view!

A Short Trip to Seattle

Our family went up to Seattle this last weekend to meet up with Shelley's parents and visit Ed's Mom, Shelley's Grandma, and Anthon's Great Grandma...all one person in case you didn't already figure it out. This was the first time that Anthon has seen his third Great Grandma. Since Shelley and I hadn't been to Seattle before, we made a long weekend out of it...spending one day in the city and driving through some of the islands in the Puget Sound, and then spending a day hiking around Mt. Rainier.

Shelley and I really liked Seattle. We found ourselves saying, "could you live here?" And by and large I could. Now we were there when it was the hottest four days of the year. And rain was nowhere to be found. But you can't beat the views of the Sound and the mountains.

Most importantly, it was great seeing family - his Grandparents and Aunt Rachel as well as the three new relatives he met for the first time, Great Grandma Emily, Aunt Patty and Uncle Barney.

Please click on either picture to take you to a small gallery of photos from that weekend.

Girls Trip to New York

A few weekends back, Shelley took a weekend trip with my Mom and one of my sisters, Becky, to visit another sister, Liza who lives in New York. From the looks and sounds of things, they had a great time. They shopped, ate great food, saw a play and bonded. I've uploaded pictures from the weekend onto our website for you to view.

I stayed home with Anthon and had a chance to bond with him, too. I think it was a great weekend for everyone involved.

PS...And before you wonder,yes, it's 3:20 AM and I am still up. No, it's not that I can't sleep. I have to wake up early for a 6:40 AM flight to Evansville, Indiana. And I got home from school late (10:30 PM) and I had to pack and do some school work stuff before I could go to sleep. And I just kept going and now that I'm really tired, it's too late to go to sleep. I'd just be up in an hour. So I'd rather be tired and strung out (like I am right now), than tired, grumpy and disoriented, which I'd be an hour from now if I napped.

Memorial Day Trip to Zion National Park

Shelley and our friends the Willards and Ragozzines planned a great trip to Southern Utah this Memorial Day weekend. One of the highlights was spending time in Zions National Park, where we climbed Angel's Landing and saw the sunset on the Canyon Overlook. Simply spectacular views.

As if that weren't enough, however. We stayed in LaVerkin, a town outside of Zion's, and stayed with Sarah Ragozzine's parents who spoiled us with their kindness, generosity and great food.

It had been a few years since I'd been back to Zion. I fell in love with the place while tour guiding Japanese folk. I'm looking forward to the day when our family can hike The Narrows all together. That might be a few years off.

Click on one of the thumbnails below. The one on the left takes you to a small group of photos, while the one on the right takes you to a home video shot during the weekend.

Photos from Zion

Zion Home Video

Traffic: a microcosm of Indian economic life

I think India is a country of contradictions. On the one hand there is a young and burgeoning middle class made up of talented, educated people. On the other hand, there is an immense number of poor people who are not engaged in the formal economy. So while India is full of promise and has a bright future ahead of it, there are significant problems that need to be addressed. The pictures in this post are all taken of things we saw on the roads while driving through the country.

What really put India into perspective for me was taking a long drive from Delhi to Agra where we spent the day sightseeing at the Taj Mahal. To me, driving in India is a microcosm of Indian life in general. You have a lot of people trying to go from point A to point B on roads that don't have the capacity to accommodate everyone. In the same way, you have over one billion people who are trying to get ahead in an economy that is supported by an industry that employs so few Indians, relative to the whole. In the process everyone improvises and makes do with what’s given to them.

Because the roads are still so bad, you get a lot of improvisation out there. People are routinely breaking all sorts of major rules, like driving on the wrong side of the road…for what seems like long stretches of time! But it’s how they get from point A to point B and everyone understands that how it is and they adjust to that wild card. There a ton of variables out on the road. Not only are you fighting against cars, busses, trucks and auto-rickshaws, but you have to include the animals as well! There are cows, water buffalo, camels, and dogs running around on the highways.

From an economic standpoint, we’re seeing the same thing: people are essentially improvising and doing what needs to be done to survive. So everywhere you see what are essentially unlicensed and illegal shops everywhere on the side of the road that sell their wares from helmets to produce. There are roadside barbershops and, of course, beggars. They do this to make ends meet and adjust to the conditions of life in India’s poor class.

What would help the roads is the same thing that could help India get its underprivileged active in the formal economy: investment in infrastructure. More roads, wider roads, newer roads would allow more people to have access to these highways. The result would be a more efficient transportation system, more road travel and a more organized highway system. From an economic standpoint, building infrastructure would create a lot of jobs and move labor away from the tremendously inefficient agriculture sector to the more productive construction and manufacturing sectors.

Up close and personal...

In India, you have to get used to people staring at you. It's just going to happen if you stand out a bit too much. We were not only stared at, but oftentimes we were approached for picturs. Or, I should say Shelley was approached by men to take a picture with them. I mean, who wouldn't? It's not everyday you get to see someone as beautiful as her! One guy went so far as to ask for her address...with me standing right there. Uh, nice try fella.

Anyway, I've posted just a few of the many pictures that we took with our new-found friends from India.

Our Trip to India, 2007

Shelley and I got back from our trip to India. As part of my MBA program at USC, we traveled to India to visit companies and research the economic and social trends in that country. This took me to both New Delhi and Bangalore.

After a week, Shelley flew over and we met up in Delhi and we spend time there, in Agra to see the Taj Mahal and then over to Jaipur and Shekawati in Rajasthan.

Please click on the thumbnails below to see the pictures from our trip. I've whittled down nearly 1,000 pictures taken to just 44. India was an incredible country that provided daily sensory overload. I'll post more about our trip in the next few days.

Shelley, Anthon in Houston & Utah

February and March were busy traveling months for the Cannons. While I was in Japan and India, Shelley and Anthon visited family in Houston, Utah and Evansville. Shelley then left Anthon with her parents to come travel with me in India. Is that clear as mud?

Anyway, the two trips to Utah, I think, was a big hit. Anthon was introduced to snow, his really, really large snow suit, and the joys of sledding. Click on the thumbnails below to see the pictures.

San Francisco from Cruising Altitude

On my way to Tokyo last last week, the best part of my flight was during the first hour as we flew over San Francisco. This is a veryunique view of one of the most beautiful cities on Earth. It's because of this view that I ask for a window seat on the right hand side of the plane en route to Tokyo.

The St. Louis Arch

While driving from St. Louis to Shelley's home in Evansville, Indiana, we stopped for a few minutes at the St. Louis Arch and took it all in. Man, this structure is huge! I had no idea it was that large. And for some reason I thought it was made of stone. But it's not...it's metal. Guess I'm not so smart after all.

Even though it was a cloudy day, I snapped what I think are a few interesting shots. This structure does really allow the photographer to shoot at some fun angles.

Thanksgiving in Utah, 2006

For the first time in nearly 18 months, Shelley's entire family was in one spot - Woodland Hill, Utah for Thanksgiving. This was a big occassion, since the last time we were all together, the two grandchildren had yet to arrive. It was also nice to see Anthon endure two 9 hour trips in the car from Pasadena to Utah and back to Pasadena. We were truly grateful for that.

Anyway, at most points during the long weekend, there were 17 - 20 people hanging around the house. Lots going on - a family dinner with 28 people, lots of football on Saturday (sorry to say my Utes didn't win) and a visit to the Salt Lake City Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. Clik on the pictures below to see the photos from the long weekend.