You may think this is crazy and I am strange. I have just spent 22 years to learn how to play Beethoven’s Fur Elise by myself, not how to play the piano but only Fur Elise. Since I was 18 years old, after watching someone playing Fur Elise, I couldn’t help myself trying to play […]
It took us a long time to prepare Daisy and Lavender for the trip including harness training, getting used to the van and use of travelling backpack. The key is to always keep their best interest in mind when deciding where to go and the length of travel time to ensure they have enough rest
Daisy and Lavender play a key role as it is a journey of discovery and growth not just for Kin and myself, but more so for our furry children since we get to see various facets of their personalities and reactions on the road that we have never envisioned before. When we first had the
Many friends and family members are worried about us and been asking if we have gone back to Hong Kong. We are still in Yunnan and have kept them updated that we are doing okay. We are so grateful for all the support and care. Thank you guys. We learned about the coronavirus when we
Deep in a mountain area in Yunnan, there is a tribe called Hani. They grow delicious brown rice on terraces in high altitude using the same method of hundreds of years ago. We are honored being invited to join their New Year Eve Kill the Pig dinner. 雲南元陽有藍色的梯田和哈尼族人。我們被邀請參加了他們每年的殺豬飯慶祝新的一年。
I want to tell you more about Mr. Ma. He was a school teacher for 30 years and he probably taught all the grown ups in the village. He also worked on his paddy fields and so you can imagine how hard working he is to support his family. Although he is much older than
On the fourth day, four young guests arrived and their presence altered the mood of the guesthouse. We had not encountered any foreigners on our trip so far and hearing them speaking in English sounded out of place yet refreshing at the same time. We chatted with them at breakfast the next morning and learned
The next morning, we heard a knock on the door and got ready in a daze and went down to meet Mr. Ma. We saw his son-in-law instead and together we walked uphill in the dark and passed the village where most of the guesthouses are located. We reached the sunrise spot when it was
We went to Yuanyang for its beautiful rice terraces (梯田), but slowly we discovered what attracted us most is the hospitality of its people and its simple way of life. According to Lonely Planet, Yuanyang’s rice terraces is one of the top attractions of the province, an UNESCO World Heritage Site and the best time
This is not for the fainthearted. While we were in Puzhehei(普者黑), we did this beautiful hike circling the Qinglongshan (青龍山). The hike took about 2 hours and scenery was amazing. It was already quite late, when we were about back to the starting point, the trail abruptly ended with wetland. We spent 20 minutes trying
What really strikes us most is the people and how direct and forthcoming they are. As we have lived in Shanghai and Guangzhou for over eight years, we know that mainland Chinese are very open about their age, how big their apartment and how much they earn, etc. But here, we encountered yet another level
We finally left Wuzhou City after spending two weeks there. Started early in the morning, we drove six hours (580 km) to Baise City (白色市). We spent two nights in Baise City then drove another five hours (360 km) before arriving at Puzhehei. Puzhehei is a turning point in our trip as it marks our
Originally we didn’t plan to visit Wuzhou but it turned out that we love this city so much that we spent the Winter Solstice, Christmas and New Year there. Wuzhou City is where the Cantonese dialogue originally came from. We feel right at home as everyone here proudly speaks Cantonese. Even in Guangzhou, there is
Once again, we had a very hectic week back in Guangzhou preparing the van. We checked in our apartment in Pazhou(琶洲) and attended the wedding banquet of Fengling’s son the first night we got back. As I started to develop a toothache for several days, on Sunday after having dim sum with my great uncle
We stayed in a nice apartment which overlooked the famous Seven Stars Lake (七星湖). The residential area was very quiet as most of the flats around us were empty. The best part was that we could spend some time daily to make small improvements to the van as it was conveniently parked downstairs. Zhaoqing was
25 Nov-10 Dec 2019 We travelled to Panyu right after Akie’s driving test in Hong Kong. We went straight to get the van and drove to Panyu where we stayed for 2 weeks. We picked up Daisy and Lavender from our part time helper (玉阿姨) on the second day. Our furry children didn’t react any
