Count Your Blessings

It is never too soon to count your blessings.  

Going out and coming home safely is very often an underrated blessing.  

Just think about it.

Elevenses

 

 

Buns and coffee from Oo White Coffee

After a brisk walk in the park, what could be more yummy than a cup of white coffee and buns. These are purple sweet potato buns with sweet filling and red bean buns.  I was quite captivated by the purple buns with their "pop up" appearance - first time I've seen them!  They looked too good to eat but being hungry after all that exercise, I downed them with my coffee.  Delicious!

Post Travel Ramblings (5)

 

As they say, all good things must come to an end.  After nine days of travelling, we finally found ourselves at the airport waiting for our flight home.  It had been a good if not challenging experience; we made new friends, tried new food, saw new places. I have not documented everything that happened on this trip due to time constraint and so have just mentioned the key happenings.

We had a nice surprise on the last day of our tour.  The tour company presented all those with their birthdays in April/May with a nice big cake to celebrate!  

We look forward to saying 

 你好

to China once again in the near future!

Post Travel Ramblings (4)

Perhaps the most thrilling destination of our 9-day tour was the visit to the Huajiang Canyon Bridge.   It stands at 625 meters high (2,050 feet) and is 2,890 meters long.  It was opened in September 2025 and dramatically reduces crossing times over the canyon from two hours to just two minutes!

We were told that we could walk "under" the bridge while traffic goes over the top and after we recorded our individual visitors' number (I was the 188,344th visitor!),  we began the long trudge.  There is a small section halfway along the bridge which has a glass bottom - and that's when a few of us tested our guts and walked without trying to look down!  Of course being faint hearted, I avoided this section but my aunt steeled herself and walked a short distance to the cheers of our group!  

We also witnessed someone doing a bangee jump; it was, to say the least, frightening and made my heart skip a beat considering the height of the bridge!  

Group photo at the bridge

(To be continued)

Post Travel Ramblings (3)

One can never get tired of visiting China.  It is such a big country and you still can't see everything no matter how many trips you make.  This last trip was to Guizhao, a province in south western China known for its karst landscapes, towering waterfalls and ethnic cultures.

At the Huangguoshu Waterfall

It took us something like two hours' walk to track to the waterfalls and back, a really tough job for our legs but thank goodness we had the foresight to bring  our walking sticks which really helped!  But as we all agreed, it was worth the effort!

Lights of the Miao Village

Apart from the waterfalls, we did see a few historical places (it would be too long to describe them) but what I enjoyed most was the Miao village, a sprawling settlement of wooden stilt houses on mountain slopes.  At night the whole place is transformed into a breathtaking fairyland of lights with shops and wayside stalls selling food, silver jewelry, batik, embroidery, dolls and other souvenirs.

Another attraction is the traditional Miao clothing for rent.  The shop that we visited had hundreds of clothing in various styles and colours complete with headdress.  Many of our lady group members tried them out and they did look spectacular!

(To be continued)

Breakfast Today

 

Something different for breakfast today - croissant with chicken ham and salad.  Not really very filling for breakfast.  I washed it down with milk and an additional cup of oats!

Post Travel Ramblings (2)

 

This trip was full of surprises, if not very anxious moments.  The first thing that happened when we checked in at the airline counter was that my aunt (age 89) was told by the clerk that her passport would not be acceptable by the Chinese authorities because of stains on several pages!  My aunt didn't know how the stains had got there or what they were - spilled coffee, tea...?  The airline clerk made a call to China, sent a photo of the spoiled passport pages and told us to wait for a reply.  

They were indeed very jittery moments because it could mean my aunt could not go on the trip!  Luckily we had checked in early and after something like half an hour to 45 minutes, we were given the All Clear signal, much to my aunt's relief!  We never knew the Chinese authorities were so strict, so now my aunt has to make a new passport!  So for those of you travelling to China in the near future, check your passports and make sure all the pages are free from blemishes!

(To be continued)