This is the second part of my Best of 2011 – a dash at break-neck speed through New York, Boston, Provincetown, London, Berlin, Singapore, Shanghai, Suzhou…. in search of some deeper purpose to life.

My journey ended at an ancient teahouse in the ancient canal city of Suzhou, where I finally found one precious moment of stillness and calm, amidst sweltering heat.

生当作人杰，死亦为鬼雄。至今思项羽，不肯过江东。 （宋  李清照《夏日绝句》）

The High Line in Summer, New York

A lone old lady amongst tenements, Boston

A very contented sealion at the Boston Aquarium.  THAT, I thought, was the state of mind I wanted to be in.

Paul Revere, Boston, Stanley Cup Season

A Family in Provincetown, Massachusetts

Surreal maritime landscape in Provincetown

Dreamy view of the water, from the Provincetown ferry to Boston

Brandenburger Tor, Berlin

The East Side Gallery, Berlin

Along Karl Marx Allee, in Berlin.  View of an ideal state of mind.

A very contented lady at the Neues Museum, Berlin.

With my family in Shanghai

A leisurely stroll through the leafy French Concession, Shanghai

Shanghai Gongqing Forest Park （上海共青森林公园）

A landscape of lotus and duckweed at the Shanghai Gongqing Forest Park  （莲叶山水）

Representative of Shanghai’s vast migrant worker population, yearning for opportunity at the Bund.

The ancient canals of Suzhou

Reflection of the very modern Suzhou Museum, by I. M. Pei

The Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou. （拙政园）

A quiet teahouse on Pingjiang Rd, a historic canal-side cluster of inns and teahouses in Suzhou.