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Fish, feast and fast boats

30/9/2023

Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese National Day fall in the same week this year (the former being linked to moon phases). This means everyone gets an 8-day holiday (minus all the catch-up days before and after). JD is very excited at being off school for so long, especially as it coincides with his half-birthday!

The main tradition for Mid-Autumn Festival is eating little round pies, with various sweet or savoury fillings, and gazing at the full moon. We'll spend our holiday in and around Kunming with plans for a fishing trip with friends, spending vouchers at a huge all-you-can-eat buffet, R/C boat racing and a yard sale of JD's unwanted toys.

Malaysia malaise

28/7/2023

A smooth journey back to Kunming today - taxi/plane/plane/taxi. Missing Malaysia already...!

Crystal clear

27/7/2023

We left Redang Island today by ferry. The two hour journey took us to Terengganu City, passing the gorgeous Crystal Mosque.

We'll stay in Terengganu for a night in a hotel near the airport, to catch our homeward flights tomorrow morning.

Scuba do

26/7/2023

JD was keen to learn how to scuba dive this holiday - something JiaJia and I enjoy doing when we can. So we arranged for a Dive Shop to give him an hour of training. Scuba trainer Aaron gave JD an onshore briefing before practicing "Mask clearing" and "Regulator/BCD management" in the shallows. Then they headed 6m/20ft down to the coral beds to explore while I looked down on them, floating up on the surface. JD loved it and Aaron said JD was "fearless" and a "natural"!

Paradise?

25/7/2023

We took a boat to Long Beach today, around the other side of Redang Island. We'll be staying in Paradise Resort for our last few days here. The hotel is only a little better quality than our last one but the beach is literally outside our room and there's no Mosque to wake us up!

There are also new areas to explore, including a beach full of shells.

Bar none

23/7/2023

We took a boat-based snorkelling trip today to explore some other areas. On the way back, we stopped at this pretty sand bar for photos!

Mosque annoying

22/7/2023

One annoying aspect of our hotel here is this mosque, some 200m away. I'm all for religious tolerance but the wailing "call to prayer" blaring out over loudspeakers at 6am (and then four more times through the day) does not endear me to the Islamic faith!

It's one reason why we are thinking of moving to a hotel in another part of the island for our last two nights here.

Turtley amazing!

21/7/2023

Well, "Turtle Beach" is just amazing! We swam out from shore to interact with huge (1m/3ft) sea turtles. Or there are closer coral reefs just begging to be snorkelled, with hundreds of fish such as clownfish ("Nemo"), zebrafish, neons, sea cucumbers, parrotfish, angelfish, sea snakes etc. The water is crystal clear and the sand is white. The beach is public, but somewhat out of the way and therefore nearly deserted at times. We had a blast!

No boat, but...

20/7/2023

We flew to Terengganu today. We had planned to jump on a ferry there to our island destination but, on doing more in-country research, we realised that the "3 ferries a day" in our guidebook had now been cut down to one a day - and our flight arrived after it left.

We expected to have to find a local hotel and "waste" a day. But on arrival at the airport, we seized the chance to charter a private speedboat to get us to the island same-day. It was expensive but we had already paid for our hotel on the island, so we went for it and were whisked over in 45 minutes (the ferry takes 2 hours). It was bumpy and splashy, but JD loved it! So were are now in De'Rimba Hotel - a bit basic, but just a 20 minute walk to "Turtle Beach".

Indestructible

19/7/2023

We spent this morning shopping in "Central Market". The shops there are an interesting mix of local crafts, food, clothes, antiques, tourist souvenirs and curiosity shops. In was in one of the latter that I suddenly spotted these two toy vehicles from "Captain Scarlet" - my favourite TV show of the 60s/70s. Sadly, they were far too expensive to purchase (I own painted versions in the UK already). But seriously, what are the chances?

Palace place

18/7/2023

We took an open-topped bus tour today to see the main sights of Kuala Lumpur (without all the energy-sapping walking we've been doing lately). It was good to take in some of the eye-catching buildings in the outskirts of the city, such as the National Palace, National Museum and Merdeka Independence Square.

After lunch, we shopped and then headed back for another evening swim.

Great skates

17/7/2023

We visited Kuala Lumpur's aquarium today. It gave us a taster for our diving later in the holiday, especially the glass tunnel underneath a huge tank of sharks, skates, stingrays and sea turtles.

In the evening, we found the city's night market for some local food. Jiajia was on the lookout for exotic fruit to buy, while JD tracked down some model aircraft as souvenirs of his travel. Once back at our apartment we had a cooling evening swim in our rooftop pool.

Twin towers

16/7/2023

We have rented a great apartment in Kuala Lumpur - two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, shared gym and swimming pool etc. And it is just ten minutes walk from the imposing Petronas Towers.

Plane sailing

15/7/2023

JiaJia, JD and I flew off to Malaysia today for a fortnight's holiday in Kuala Lumpur and Redang Island. The only direct flight from Kunming to KL is with AirAsia - a budget airline. So a cheap and cheerful four hour flight.

JD is something of a plane buff and seemed more excited about the thought of air travel than the holiday itself. We spent most of the journey listening to him regale us with various facts about the Airbus A320!

Pools

31/1/2023

We spent today in and around the various pools at our spa resort.

Spa kle

30/1/2023

We're off on a little trip - one night in a spa chalet and a further night in the neighbouring hotel.

Hike and Hotel

22/8/2022

Yesterday, we took a trip out to CongMao Reservoir with two of JD's old schoolfriends and their parents. We hiked up a mountain collecting edible mushrooms and checking out the wildlife!

After an evening meal together Jiajia, JD and I drove on to a 5 star hotel for the night. Jiajia had secured some vouchers for three nights, at 10% of the usual price. So we slept well on the 20th floor (great views) and pigged out on the buffet breakfast this morning. We'll use our two additional nights later in the year.

Back

4/8/2022

We're back from our holiday in Dali.
And yes, we fnjoyed ourselves.

Half km - cool!

2/8/2022

We grabbed our last chance for a swim in the outdoor neighbourhood pool yesterday before heading back to Kunming today.

The pool was pretty cold, but JD managed 500m of fast-improving breaststroke before calling it a day.

Not far-li, no car-li, it's Dali

22/7/2022

Jiajia, JD and I are off to Dali today. It used to take some eight hours to get there by sleeper train, but now this beast can do in two. We are having a fortnight away - our first trip outside Kunming for three years - and JD is keen to relive his last visit here when he and I went horse-riding, cruising on the lake, cable-car up the mountain etc. We are staying in a friend's house while she is away on her holidays, so we can spread out and have a comfortable base to explore from.

Boatiful weather

16/7/2022

With exams all over and a week of sunshine ahead, we've been hitting the paddle boats on both Green Lake (with some of JD's school friends),and LianHua Lake (with just JD and I).

It's a good way for JD to get some exercise in a controlled area (ie no cars or pedestrians) with fresh air and a cool breeze. The pedals are too close for me to be able to help much (...that's my excuse) so I just let the kids wear themselves out, whilst ensuring they are not about to bump into any boats, ducks or islands! And at 40RMB (£4) an hour, it isn't going to break the bank anytime soon.

Sleep, homework, out, eat, fun, in, repeat...

20/2/2022

With COVID still making it tricky to leave Kunming, let alone visit other Provinces or countries, we once again spent our Winter holiday in and around the city.

We passed the time with optician/dental check-ups, trips to the countryside, Lego builds, lay-ins, shopping and meals out with friends. Plus plenty of holiday homework for JD. Now it's time to start thinking about our return to school and University.

KING of the sKIING

30/8/2021

As an end-of-holiday treat, Jiajia and I took JD to an indoor skiing centre about 30 minutes drive away. It's JD's third time skiing. He loves it and has been asking us to go again for ages.

After JD made four descents of the beginner's slope without falling over, I took him up to the Intermediate slope. It's a fair bit faster. He got down without falling over but ended up crashing into the cushioned fence at the bottom! He decided to return to the baby slope after that!

The centre isn't cheap (£20 each) and Jiajia had to pay full price even though she only wanted to watch. So we persuaded her to at least have a try. Let's just say it wasn't her strongest showing!!

Choo-choose your activities

16/2/2021

With just a week of holiday left (for me, JD has a further week) we are ticking off the activities we had planned to do at the beginning of the break. Today was junk modelling a stream train and then painting it.

Tweaked week

2/10/2020

Unusually this year, Chinese National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival fall on the same day, so there is a full week of holiday throughout China. Apart, that is, from my University where we have just have one day off! They blame COVID, and promise we'll get an extra week in the Winter holiday. But I'm suspicious ...all the other Universities and schools in Kunming have got a full week. Mean!