Blog

Old, but still sharp...

30/10/2024

We met up with Ratch, my good friend from College days, in London today to visit the British Museum. So much to see, and quite busy, but we saw the main sights by the end and left exhausted for a spot of shopping and some pancakes for dinner.

Despite seeing the Rosetta Stone, Elgin Marbles, Easter island statue, Sutton Hoo helmet, Lewis chessman, etc, I think my strongest memory will be handling the flint knife [bottom right] which the "hands on guide" assured us was crafted around 400,000 years ago. I mean, wow!!

Grand Tour - "forbidden"

8/5/2024

Yesterday evening, on the way back from a restaurant meal with Beijing friends of ours, JD stumbled on a broken bollard, and fell flat on his front. With a badly scraped knee and bruised leg, we feared he might be in no fit state to tackle today's trip - the Forbidden City....

We took over an hour to find the entrance but eventually we passed through the security checks and into the massive Palace complex. I'd been there twice before, but Jiajia was looking forward to exploring the museums inside for the first time. However, it was a really hot day, with huge, noisy crowds everywhere and JD hobbling. So we quickly decided to stick to the main central route through the City without investigating the side areas. It still took two hours.

Grand Tour - "square"

7/5/2024

The last time I was in Beijing in the 1990s, Tiananmen Square was somewhere where you turned up and just wandered about. Now you need to book your visit 5 days in advance and pass through three different security checks to get anywhere close.

After seeing the Square (declining the two hour queue to see Chairman Mao's embalmed body - I've seen it before) we headed for the nearby National Museum (also booked 5 days ago). More security checks and long queues. The items displayed were very impressive, but the place was packed with Chinese (very few foreigners) so we just gave it a few hours before heading back to our hotel.

Still a pillar?

15/2/2024

JiaJia, JD and I visited Kunming's newly relocated Science Museum yesterday with another Foreigner/Chinese family we know. It has more exhibits than before, and more of them are now in working order! We had a fun couple of hours exploring. Can you see what's unusual about the pillars [above left]?

Bus ted

28/5/2023

I took a little solo trip to the Yunnan Provincial Museum last week. It relocated to an imposing purpose-built site about ten years ago; unfortunately some distance from the city centre. But I planned my underground and bus routes to get there, and set off.

The metro was great, but the connecting bus let me down. After waiting 40 minutes for my bus I eventually gave up and took a taxi. I chose a different bus route back but, when that one still failed to show after an hour, I decided to take a longer route on another bus instead. The best laid plans...

As I walked around the museum, I realised I'd been there last year on a University outing! But I saw more of it this time, and at my own pace. It's not a bad museum - in a very impressive setting - though a little more English would be nice. I finished my visit with a well-earned cup of coffee.

Zebra crossinsect

5/1/2021

JD and I visited Kunming's Zoological Museum last weekend. When JD was 4-5 years old we bought an annual family pass for a couple of years, so we've visited the museum 20-30 times before, but not for a couple of years. There were a few changes this time. Some things we had fond memories of had disappeared (the interactive computer games, the snack area etc) but there were also some fun new exhibits, such as the tank full of stick insects [see right] and a stuffed "lion catches zebra" display [see below]. All good fun.

Quickie and Miki

29/7/2019

Our last little trip to London yesterday. While JiaJia checked out the Van Gogh exhibition at the Tate Gallery (crowded), JD and I walked to the Imperial War Museum where JD proceeded to tell me imaginative statistics and backgrounds to all the various planes, tanks and weaponry (to the amusement of passers-by). Who knew a Spitfire was from Canada and could travel at 10,000mph?

We also managed to meet up with my good friend Miki, recently returned from running a hotel in Poland. We all joined up for a picnic by the Thames before Miki went on her way and the rest of us headed back to Sidcup to start packing for China.

(Virtual) Reality

14/4/2019

JD and I finally got to Kunming's new Science Museum yesterday, meeting up with a family we know who are due to leave Kunming for good next week. To our surprise, the Museum was excellent - very interactive and modern. And free, too! We'll be going back again soon.

Gum, gone, gun

23/3/2019

JD's just finished an odd week.
He was sent home from school on Monday with a tummy ache and a "37ºC fever" (...even though that's quite a normal temperature for a child). It miraculously got better once he arrived home. Hmmm..

Then on Wednesday we had to take him out of school for the afternoon to collect his Chinese ID card and have some preventative dental treatment [see above]. Wednesday night JD was complaining of tummy ache again and so we kept him home on Thursday. By noon he seemed fine so I took him out for some fresh air, meeting up with my old friend Emily and her two-year old, Jonathan [see photo below]. Emily and I reminisced about when we had first met. Little did we know then that, some 16 years later, we would not only still be in touch, but watching our respective children play together! We had intended to visit the newly refurbished Science Museum, but a notice on the door said it was closed - decorations still a week away from being finished.

With "tummy ache tears" again on Friday morning we felt it was wise to take JD to the hospital to get his stomach properly checked out. Blood and stool tests later, the doctor said there was nothing obviously wrong and just gave him some digestion tablets to take. Jiajia and I suspect JD is enjoying his days off school a little too much and perhaps exaggerating his pains a bit. But of course you never know. So extra "Daddy homework" on Friday afternoon and no iPad until he does a full day at school again!

Mu see 'em

9/8/2018

With our time in the UK coming to an end, we decided to make one more trip up to London. JD and I headed for the Science Museum, while JiaJia checked out the V &A.

Win-Winchester

13/7/2018

Today we got to see my brother Andy's new house. He and his family have been looking for their dream house for about four years but have now finally found the right home in the right location. And while my sister-in-law Ali took JiaJia to Winchester's charity shops, Andy, Louie and Daisy took JD and I to Winchester's very interactive Science Museum and Planetarium for a fun visit.

Improving self a steam

26/5/2018

JD and I spent this morning at the Kunming Railway Museum. JD was two years old when we last went and he had no recollection of it. But this time he thoroughly enjoyed seeing everything from the old steam engines to the new high-speed trains. I've been to the museum about half a dozen times and it just gets better every time with new exhibits and more English captions. Shame about the toilets though!!

Change the size

5/1/2018

I had arranged to meet a colleague at my University Library coffee shop the other day but, arriving too early, I looked around for somewhere to kill 15 minutes. I spotted a doorway marked "Ethnic Minority Accounting Museum". Walking in, I found a collection of darkened rooms. A receptionist suddenly appeared, clearly surprised to receive a visitor, and happily turned on all the lights for me. The exhibition was based around the ways that ethnic groups in China have recorded trade deals and wealth through the ages. It had a pleasing amount of English labelling, one of which claimed to show the "largest metal coin in the world" [see above]. Not easy on the pocket or purse, I suspect! There was surprisingly little Chinglish to amuse me, but one sign did catch my eye [see below].

Bite to eat

4/1/2017

We invited a couple of JD's schoolfriends and their parents, to the Animal Museum the other day. They had never been before, so JD took great delight in showing them where everything was (having been there 30+ times himself!).

Afterwards, we went to a nearby Thai restaurant for lunch. The two families had been very generous to us on a visit their hometown last year, so the museum and meal was our little thank you treat.