Ocean of Morality
  • Blog
  • Family
  • Relatives
  • Countries
  • Gallery
  • Guestbook

Boxing day

30/1/2012

 
Picture
Thankfully Ava and I have a week off work to "recover" from our holiday away. We're both still sniffling, itching, limping, peeling and trying to unblock ears and noses! With my school and her shop closed for Spring Festival, we have had no option but to  take things easy; lie-ins, DVDs, internet, meals with friends and, today, some crafts. Ava decided she needed a sock storage system and so commandeered an orange box and decorated it [see photo]. She's now making another one for her doll's clothes!! Well, it keeps her occupied.

I'm warming you

28/1/2012

 
Picture
This sign is in the men's toilets in Kunming airport. The "aim carefully" bit makes sense (not that anyone seemed to have taken any notice), but "warm tips"? This odd translation is cropping up in an increasing  number of signs around town. I guess it's better rendered as "gentle advice"??

Welling wall

26/1/2012

 
Picture
On arrival back from hols, I found water running down the wall of our spare room. It must be a leak from the flat above, but they are away for Spring Festival and uncontactable. As you can see, the various work information I've stuck up over the months is now all soggy. But unreplaceable is the B/W print [top right] which was a one-off and is now destroyed.

Back to chilly and chilli

25/1/2012

 
Picture
We arrived back home to cold Kunming today. Despite aches and pains, we had a good holiday overall, and managed to do everything we'd hoped to. Hopefully it won't be our last visit to the Philippines.
[L to R: View from boat, floating restaurant, starfish collection]

Cebu zoo

24/1/2012

 
Picture
Still awfully stiff from sunburn and with nose-bleeds (Ava) and ringing eardrums (me) from the scuba diving yesterday, we decided to take it a little easier today and visited Cebu's very own "Crocolandia".

Picture
This place apparently started as a sanctuary for abused crocs, then added some snakes, an iguana, a few parrots and... well, before they knew it they became a small zoo with a very odd selection of animals. We seemed to be the only visitors there and it made for a pleasant hour's wander.

Scuba do

23/1/2012

 
Picture
Snorkelling is great fun, but scuba diving is something else. You're not just looking down on the fish, you are moving amongst them or looking up at them. It's also more intense (you only have about 30 minutes of air) and more dangerous (you need a guide and you can't simply stand up if any equipment malfunctions!). It was actually 15 years ago here in Cebu  that I qualified as an "Advanced Open Water Diver", so it was nice to return and dive here again.

Picture
Ava had only done one shallow dive in China before, but after a quick briefing, she bravely sank down 15m (50ft) with me and our two dive guides. We saw lots of sealife - starfish, seahorses, puffer fish, clown fish, parrot fish, green beltfish, lionfish and a majestic shoal of metre-long silver dolphin-fish swimming slowly in circles above us. We'd both like to do more diving in future holidays.

Bites, burns and beans

22/1/2012

 
Picture
A mixed day today. Ava and I enjoyed another day of hopping between islands and snorkelling - if you hold a little bread  under the water all manner of fish swim up quite boldly to have a bite to eat. One large fish took this too literally however, and bit the end of my finger. Blood everywhere! 

Picture
However, on our return to the hotel, Ava and I realised we had been under the strong sun a little bit too long. We both had bad sunburn and struggled to walk to our favourite restaurant! But worse was to come. No sooner had we tucked into a fried vegetable dish than we both started to feel very dizzy. I nearly passed out and Ava said the room felt like it was spinning. After five minutes we recovered enough to leave and stagger back to our hotel room. We were told later that the local dish contains a bean which, if not cooked properly, can be quite toxic. Hmmm...!

Tarsy, tarsier, tarsiest

20/1/2012

 
Picture
Picture
An early start today for a 6.00am pick-up to Bohol Island. What we weren't told is that, at that time in the morning, the tide is out and we had to wade through deep mud to get to our boat! The boat trip took 2½ hours and we were met by a mini-bus to take us to the main sights of Bohol. Tarsiers [photo left] are the smallest primate in the world and indigenous to Bohol. I could easily hold 2-3 in one hand. Nocturnal creatures by habit, we were lucky enough to see a few with their big eyes wide open. Very cute.

The other famous sight on Bohol Island is the "Chocolate Hills" [photo below] - over 1000 strange bumps stretching as far the eye can see. The odd name comes from the fact that they turn chocolate brown in the dry season.
Picture

Hopping for the best

19/1/2012

 
Picture
Ava and I are sharing our holiday trip with "CAL" a Kunming family we know well [above]. "Catherine" speaks very good English and gave a speech at our Chinese wedding. Her husband, Liu Zhen, is a kindly man with more English than he lets on. This is his first visit to another country. And their daughter, Ai Ran, is full of fun. It's her first new country too. We spent today island-hopping together, which involves skimming between small islands on a hired outrigger boat and snorkelling whenever we see some fish or coral in the clear seas below. Great fun.
Picture

Fort so

18/1/2012

 
Picture
Our hotel is located on a small island called "Lapu-Lapu" (a double anagram of someone's name!) which is a part of the Cebu island group. We took a trip around the mainland today to see the sights. Cebu's 300-year old San Pedro Fort housed a bizarre collection of "baby Jesus" statues, including this one of him balancing on a rock, grabbing a plane (which seems like the ending to the "King Kong" movie to me). We drove on to the huge 16th century Santa Nino Church, busy with worshippers despite today being a Wednesday.

We ended the trip up at the top of a mountain viewpoint. We could feel the temperature drop as we were driven up to the peak. And from the top we could just about make out our hotel in the far distance.
Picture

Swim with a view

17/1/2012

 
Picture
After a first night in a grotty hotel near the airport, we moved on today to our main hotel, which is lovely. The view from the rooftop swimming pool is amazing [see photo]. There isn't much of a beach, but it does have access to a flotilla of small boats which we intend to use during our week here for some island-hopping, snorkelling and scuba diving.

Flight now bearding

16/1/2012

 
Picture
We left for our holiday in the Philippines today. We had decided to save money by making the journey in three flights - each with a few hours layover - so it's taking the whole day to get there. Quite tiring, especially as I'm limping badly with a swollen gout knee [the first time it's been in the knee - not a good sign apparently] and Ava is coping with a sore throat and cough. We're hoping some sun will get us healthy again! I enjoyed this Chinglish sign at Kunming's airport...

Terminated

15/1/2012

 
Picture
JianShe Lu Branch Teachers' Office
Our school term came to an end today and it's been a good one for me, overall. However, I've been struggling with my health for the last week or so - sore throat, cough, skin rash, gout, dizziness - so it's a very welcome break. Jiajia and I fly off to the Philippines tomorrow with a Chinese couple we know well, and their daughter. There may not be any new entries here for a week or so but, in the word of The Terminator, "...I'll be back"

E...! Come out!

14/1/2012

 
Picture
Even Western-owned supermarkets slip up on their signage out here.

Having a peak

13/1/2012

 
Picture
I get quite excited when the number of unique visitors to my blog nears the "200-in-a-day" mark. Imagine my shock on finding that Jan 9th 2012 recorded nearly double that number! I'm not sure I even know that many people!

(If you are one of the hundreds of "anonymous" readers, many thanks for visiting and why not "out" yourself by taking a moment to sign the blog's guestbook - see tab above. And keep visiting!)
<<Previous
    paul hider

    About the author

    Paul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and updates his blog about his  life there every other day.

    Past blog entries

    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009

    Tags

    All
    April Fool
    Ava
    Birthday
    Blog
    Cal
    Cemetery
    China
    Chinglish
    Christmas
    Construction
    Dancing Lady
    Dave & Esme
    Disaster
    Dorta
    Draft
    Druncle
    Earthquake
    Ebike
    Education
    Everton
    Exercise
    Family
    Flashback
    Food
    Forest
    Friends
    Furniture
    Geese
    Gym
    Halloween
    Health
    Heijing
    Holiday
    Home
    Illness
    Illusion
    Jd
    Jiajia
    Kindergarten
    Kunming
    Language
    Laos
    Lattitude
    Leaf
    Lexulous
    Life
    London
    Ma
    Mandarin
    Me
    Merton
    Minority
    Molly
    Museum
    Nanny
    New Flat
    Olympics
    Painting
    Parents
    Park
    Party
    Pets
    Police
    Pregnancy
    Random
    Random Bus
    R.I.P.
    R.S.L.
    Schools
    Shenzhen
    Shopping
    Sport
    Spring Festival
    Sri Lanka
    Swimming
    Temple
    Tesol
    Thailand
    Traffic
    Transport
    Travel
    Tv
    Ufo
    Uk
    University
    Visit
    Vso
    Water
    Weather
    Wedding
    Wildlife
    Xishuangbanna
    YUFE
    Yunnan
    Zoo

Powered by
✕