CHINA

The wall, the Forbidden City, the terra cotta warriors, the Three Gorges---all fabulous sites not to be missed, but most often limit the camera's eye to scenes that have been shot millions of times before.

I tend to be more interested in what lies off the beaten tourist path. Tight travel schedules rarely leave time to stray much beyond the proscribed tour stops. So trying to capture the people and their daily lives is a challenge.

I came away impressed most of all by the palpable energy-from construction of massive buildings in Shanghai to lettuce patches planted in six inches of dust between road and curb in small villages. Everyone seemed to be in motion.

Beneath the noise and smog I found Chinese more animated than most Asians. They're loud and laugh a lot. And eat with remarkable gusto. (Maybe Marco Polo left behind a small gene pool.)