I got some photos sent through yesterday from the Sams family - a reminder of a fun day in Harrods, Hyde Park and ...errr something else beginning with "H"? This photo was taken by the Princess Di Memorial. Aled and Ben were exhausted after a "pulling silly faces" competition (which I won incidentally ....yeah!)
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Ava and I had a card in the post from our UK friend Vix today. She has a daily tear-off calendar which gives ideas for making cards, and decided to not only make them but send them to friends and family throughout the year. Lovely idea, right? I'm a big fan of "random acts of kindness". This was ours, chosen for the travelling theme. Thanks Vix! Ava and I began our long journey "home" yesterday evening, and arrive early tomorrow (local time). It's about 24 hours door-to-door. It's been a fabulous three weeks in the UK, full of wonderful experiences, happy memories and lots of love from family and friends. Thanks to all of you who supported us through your gifts, time, help and kindness.
Jiajia and I spent another nice day up in London today, this time with our friend "Ratch". We met in Little Venice - where London's various canals can be seen - and took a narrow boat down to Camden Market. Camden has three markets, each of which was bigger than I imagined the whole would be. There were stalls featuring food from all over the world, but we'd brought a picnic, so we resisted the yummy smells. And there were plenty of shops selling unique ornaments, unusual clothes and antiques. Surprisingly, Jiajia wasn't particularly impressed and so after a couple of hours looking around we headed off. Despite feeling tired from all the walking, we decided to try and squeeze in a look at the British Museum. It was the final unticked "things to do" that Jiajia and I had listed before coming to the UK. Jiajia was suddenly full of energy as she walked around, gazing at the Egyptian, Assyrian and then Chinese displays. "You've stolen all our best stuff", she wailed, but loved seeing it, beautifully displayed, all the same. It really is an impressive museum. We said some rushed goodbyes to Ratch at the railway station half an hour later and just caught our train home. A great last day in the UK. Most of our friends and family have arrived at Walmer now and it's lovely to catch up with them in a relaxed atmosphere. We walked to the sea this morning, where Vix made one of her famous stone artworks. Then suddenly the heavens opened and we all scuttled back to the house, soaked to the skin! This afternoon couldn't have been more different, with warm sunshine and clear skies. So we made the most of the fine weather with a garden bowls tournament. Sixteen competitors started with high hopes and it was finally won by Dave, Vix's boyfriend. But can it be a coincidence that his job involves advanced aerodynamics?
My parents drove Ava and I down to Walmer today. Ava has only really experienced tropical seas before and was intending to have a dip into the Kentish seas ...until she felt how cold it was! We are staying at "Westwood" - a beautiful London City Mission holiday home - along with various family and friends (sany of whom couldn't make it to the wedding celebration last weekend). Some are arriving today - others through the weekend. Ava and I also had a little look at Walmer Castle, where we'll be honeymooning next week. But more about that later. An ex-VSO friend of mine, Michael, kindly arranged for his daughter Ruth to show us around her fashion design studio in London today - of particular interest to Jiajia who has a background in design and would like to add her own clothes creations to the brands that she sells in her store. It was a hive of activity, full of inspiration and ideas for Jiajia to pursue when back in Kunming. We planned to visit the British Museum afterwards but the rain and a rather punishing sightseeing schedule this week saw us heading home instead. Another day in London today for Jiajia (Ava) and I. We spent a relaxed morning with our friends Jo, Rob, Aled and Ben. Harrods was first on the list for a looksee, followed by a walk to Hyde park for lunch and a visit to Princess Di's memorial. Then off to Covent Garden (Ava needed more "Lush" soap) and a Chinese buffet. My friend Miki had very generously bought top tickets for Ava and I to see "Mamma Mia" in the evening, including one of her famous backstage tours. She also got discounted tickets for my boss Robert and his Chinese wife Rachel, over in the UK for the school's Summer Camp, so were able to meet up to see behind scenes and then sit together to watch the show. It's a great musical and the two Chinese girls were the first to stand up and dance at the encore! Ava and I had our first proper guests round last night - a handful of my friends (representing 5 countries between them) to tour the house and watch a DVD of this year's Eurovision Song Contest, kindly sent by my friend Ratch in the UK. We had voting forms, a sweepstake, a bewildered Chinese senior citizen (Ava's Mum!) and refreshments which included 10 varieties of sandwich! We all choose our favourites (both the songs we liked most and the countries we'd drawn in the lottery) and cheered them on (or grimaced as approriate!). Eve [French, left in photo] won the sweepstake, while Monique [Dutch, closest in photo] used her Euro-powers to correctly pick the winning entry. We'd forgotton that the event now lasts over 4 hours, due to the plethora of pseudo-Eurpean countries taking place, and so a late, but enjoyable, evening was had by all. Oh, Azerbaijan won - the one country none of us could really place on a map!
I still try and keep up with 10 games of online Scrabble, (well, the similar-looking Lexulous) playing a move or two each day. I had a few "firsts" last week: First, there was the innocent-looking word "vitamers" [see photo] which earned me my all-time high score of 193! And then in another game I managed to score a 7-letter word to start with, and then another and then another... after seven consecutive 7-letter words, the game was over and I'd scored over 600. A fantastic run of lucky letters. Unfortunately my long-suffering Scrabble-pal, Ratch, was the player on whom both were inflicted. But she's still playing, which shows grit, determination or just plain masochism? I had a fun time this evening, visiting the house of Peter and Monique [left in photo], teachers at my school, for a Scrabble evening with half a dozen other of their other foreign friends (from Germany, Israel, Britain, America, Holland and Australia!). As someone who doesn't often mix with foreigners in Kunming (apart from work colleagues) it was refreshing to meet some new folk. Modesty forbids me commenting on who won all the games! Ava and I got an invite to Robert and Rachel's (my bosses) new house today, where Rob's British parents are also visiting at the moment. And what a mansion it is, freshly decorated and occupying no fewer than SIX floors! It even has a private, internal lift! The picture shows the view from the second floor balcony, overlooking the enormous first floor living room [Ava left, Rob's Mum, right]. Four en suite bedrooms above and a roof conservatory above that! Rachel cooked a lovely lamb chop meal followed by a scrummy cheesecake. The Brits then chatted so fast in English, poor Ava got a real taste of what she's in for when she visits the UK later in the year! A three hour bus journey yesterday saw Ava and I travel from JiangCheng to Simao. After a night there, we met up with our friend Catherine and her family, to hitch a lift back with them to Kunming. The usual 5–6 hour drive turned out to a nine hour marathon, due various hitches including heavy Spring Festival traffic and half a dozen crashes to negotiate. Still, Kunming is warmer than when we left, and we feel refreshed and ready for a busy 2–3 weeks ahead. Last night was Chinese New Year. Cathy (my Chinese teacher) kindly invited me to spend it with her family, which was a lot of fun. The food on offer was a veritable feast and everyone got very full, very quickly. Cathy's uncle also got very drunk, very quickly! After the table was cleared, the mahjong and card games started, with the Chinese TV Special rabbiting on in the background. The fireworks and firecrackers in the city built in intensity as midnight approached. Cathy's young cousins got in the mood by letting off fireworks and I got to wave a sparkler! Cathy's parents' house is in a built up area, and the noise from the firecrackers echoed to deafening proportions as we entered the Year of the Rabbit. Ava and I had a lay in today, after a late night getting back to the hotel yesterday. We managed to get bus tickets for tomorrow's onward journey, and then heard that my good friend Nita, and her friend Shasha, were soon arriving in Jinghong. We met up with them for another Dai meal in the evening, along with Ava's ex-classmate, Lao Bie. I fear all this Dai food is ruining my recent months of hard work at the gym! It was hard to keep a track of all the teachers at school who got really ill in the last few weeks of term (myself included). But two of our foreign teachers took things a step further. Jay has been in hospital for four days with a raging temperature and Ross [photo left] managed to collapse in the street! After a night in hosital and many tests, he's now convalescing at my flat for a few days. The tests didn't give a definitive reason for the pavement-dive, nor does he have any recollection of it happening. But school staff saw him 5 minutes beforehand and somebody, somwehere called an ambulance which got him to hospital. All a bit scary and mysterious. He's making a slow recovery, having cancelled the holiday flight he was due to take today. Poor chap! Ava and I were hungry guests of our good friends, Peter and Judy, last night. Judy was a teacher at Robert's School for some time and they return to China perdiodically. After a yummy home-made meal (spag bog and jammy custardy sponge) we embarked on an epic game of "Risk". It was eventually won by Peter - not surprisingly as he is a former naval officer (...and vicar ...and beekeeper... long story!). Having made a rather impromptu proposal to Jiajia in Thailand a couple of months ago, we've been without an engagement ring for a while now. Jiajia finally saw one she liked in Hong Kong last month though and arranged to get it engraved. She recently picked it up and passed it over to me to find a suitable time to officially give it (back) to her! Having been invited to a buffet meal in a 5-star hotel by (my bosses) Rob and Rachel, along with friends Peter and Judy, I did the one-knee proposal thing again [see photo above], although I had switched the real ring for a beer can ring pull [see photo, right]! On receipt of the real ring, however, I finally got a "yes", amidst the giggles. For those who like to know these things, the "Tiffany" ring is solid gold, engraved with "I love you" around the outside, and "PJ {heart shape} JJ" inside - we couldn't afford more than 5 characters (kidding!)! Now I just have to start saving up for the wedding one! It seems like people can't stay away from Kunming for too long. My friends and fellow RSL teachers Peter and Judy arrived back from the UK yesterday for a few months back in "Mingers", and my old Kunming friend Emily arrives back today after a couple of years in England [left in photo, enjoying a last game of Mahjong with my UK friend Vix]. Then, my parents are planning a second trip here in February next year and others have promised (threatened?) to make 2011 the year they make it out here too. It's really great to have so many visitors and "returners", so why not take the plunge and come visit me (us!) in China next year! Thailand has some of the most impressive Buddhist Temples in the world and there's a real danger of visiting too many, too quickly and finding them all much the same (getting "templed out" is the technical term!). But Oli and Ling drove us out to Wat Phrae today and it really is a stunning collection of buildings. With some parts dating back over 500 years, the temple felt active, "lived in" and cared for (without being overly restored). It seemed like there was something of interest or a new architectural style awaiting around every corner. Yet we saw very few other foreigners there, being some way out of (an untouristy) town. I particularly enjoyed a large gong which, when stroked in a certain way, emitted a low humming noise. An energetic party of uniformed school children started it with a stick until I showed them how to do the strokey/hummy thing and after that it was all they wanted to do! After Wat Phrae we drove into the countryside to visit a large plaster Buddha perched on the top of a hill overlooking Lampang. Ling and Ava have quickly become best buddies [see photo], as I suspected they would, chatting in away in Kunming local language and sharing all sorts of "in-jokes"! The Buddha was fun to see, but more impressive were the hundreds of butterflies collecting pollen from the surrounding flowers - fluttering movement as far as the eye could see. In the evening, Oli and Ling rang the changes with dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. Quite different from the Thai food we have been enjoying so far, but also delicious. With fellow-teacher Marie leaving for Paris, via Bangkok, tomorrow morning I "nobly" agreed to make use of the desk and chair from her flat (for free!), which turn out to be a perfect size for my computer and printer. Up until now I've always juggled them on two wobbly collapsible tables. Thanks Marie! Something to remember you by. Bon Voyage! It was lovely to share dinner with my old friend Nita the other day. She seems much happier and more confident these days after something of a rude awakening on joining a rural Senior Middle School last year. Some of her horror stories of the goings on in countryside schools leave me shaking my head in disbelief - new/modern teaching methods being publically criticised by school leaders, teachers turning a blind eye to cheating, young teachers being given the least able classes and then criticised when their class's exam results are below average, etc. How not to run a school! Nita is getting more realistic and worldly-wise though, knowing when to toe the line and when to do what she knows is the right thing. I got a funny e-mail from my friends Susie and Chris the other day which recounted the latest of their many travel jinxes! They claim that it's all a coincidence and that they are in no way responible, but you be the judge from this list of their recent trips: 1999 - Flew into Holland as a fireworks factory blew up half the town 2001 - Stood on the “Twin Towers” in New York less than a month before they were destroyed in 9/11 2002 - Toured Europe during the worst floods for decades 2003 - Toured France during the worst heatwave and forest fires in living memory 2004 - Toured Asia as the tsunami struck 2005 - Flew into London as the Bunsfield Oil Refinery blew up (largest postwar explosion in Britain. Saw the explosion from the plane) 2006 - Coup started in Thailand as they flew out ...and they landed in Burma just as a dissident crackdown started 2010 - Visited Poland just before the Prime Minister and wife died in a aeroplane crash 2010 - Flew into UK just as Icelandic volcano ash closed down all air travel So if you see their names on your flight manifest, I suggest you take the next plane...... no, really....!! I have the occasional look at the blog of my good friend Nita, and was a bit concerned to see a photo of her on an IV drip yesterday. However, her blog is largely in Chinese, and so I couldn't work out the reasons for her hospital trip. Undeterred, I used Yahoo's website translator, and now I know that she, "trickles the creek and roars the gallium to flog aboard. Pigtail houses change Jan in a careless brook, in the sea of the village domain." I'm glad I cleared that up! I had a visit today from "Diary", who was a student of mine in YiLiang over 4 years ago. Her spoken English was always better than others of her age but, after further study in Zhaotong and Kunming, it's even better now and it was a pleasure to chat to her. The daughter of potato farmers from a small village in the YiLiang countryside, Diary is a real inspiration in the way she smiles through hardships, insists on heavy-duty study (even when others are sleeping or relaxing), and refuses to give up when faced with constant challenges (eg she opted to retake her last year of Senior School in order to improve her exams scores and get to a better University). She has such a refreshingly independent mind, and always sees the "big picture" despite her fellow students bemoaning the minutiae of University life. Perhaps it's her humble upbringing? When arriving at her new University dormitory (yes, even University students in China are required to share bunk bed dorms with 5 others!) she was amazed to find them complaining at the poor conditions. She decided not to tell them that, for her, "...it's the cleanest and warmest place I've ever slept". Whilst her classmates take breakfast back to their dorms to eat, Diary prefes to eat in the canteen because, for the price of the cheapest food there - a 1RMB (10p) dumpling - she's allowed unlimited free cabbage soup! "...I'm used to it, and it seems to keep me healthy". She's such a grounded young lady. On the subject of health, I met Diary in my flat, rather than at a restaurant, because I woke at 5am to a "spinning" bedroom and have been so dizzy today that I'm having to walk from room to room with my hand touching the wall. Previously, I've "only" been light-headed, so this is a worrying new development. I've got an appointment tomorrow with the doctor who diagnosed my blood-brain problem and hope it's just a bad reaction to the Chinese herbal medicine he gave me. I had a lovely evening yesterday with a couple of teachers from my school (one of whom, Peter, with his wife Monique, started while I was away) and some of their friends. It's always nice to meet new foreigners in town, as I tend to mix with Chinese more these days. It was a very multicultural affair with folk from England, USA, Holland, Greece and Australia. We met in Peter and Monique's 13th floor flat, with beautiful views over Kunming [see photo]. This was one of their semi-regular Scrabble get-togethers. We had just enough people for two simultaneous boards and there was a mixture of experts and newcomers to the game. It was a laughter-filled evening, especially when a sudden run of "less than wholesome" words appeared on the two boards (bum, wog, porn, hun, poke, tit, etc)! And modesty forbids me from mentioning the overall winner. |
AuthorPaul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and regularly updates this blog about his life there. Past blog entries
May 2024
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