龙脊梯田 (dragon's back rice terraces)

It was worth it. We had to get up at 6.30am in order to make the 3hour trip from 阳朔 to 龙胜 (which turned out to be much longer, but that's a diff story) in order to visit the rice terrace (梯田) since we had to catch a flight back to HK at 6pm the same day.


The view of 龙脊梯田 up at 龙胜 is absolutely breath taking. The multi level of rice terraces have been built over hundreds of years by generations of farmers. Comprehensive irrigation system is in place to distribute water from nearby catchment areas to each section of the terrace.



Despite the rain, we still had an enjoyable time hiking up beside the terraces. We only had enough time to go to 七星伴月 (picture above) which is the must-see in 龙胜. Would certainly like to come back here in a different season, eg the autumn to see the hills all turned golden with the ready-to-be-harvested paddy...

Perhaps due to difference in micro climate, while we saw quite a lot of paddy fields in 阳朔 starting to bear flowers and the fields beginning to dry up, the paddy up here has only just come out from the nursery and terraces are still filled with water (and happy ducks...).



[Images courtesy of Chai Yew Wei]

漓江漂流

One of the highlights of visiting 桂林 and 阳朔 is to enjoy the scenery of 漓江 between and around these 2 towns.

Didn't realise that 漓江 comes all the way down to 广西 province (just goes to show how little I know about China geography...)

The picture on the right is taken on 遇龙江, one of the offshoots of 漓江, easily accessible from 阳朔 town. Someone had the brilliant idea of slowing down the gushing water and turn this place into a tourist spot. The guy in the picture is crossing 遇龙江 by walking on one of the many 堤 built to provide a calm surface for tourists to leisurely 漂流 ( see picture below) along the amazing scenery.

This is one of the few places in China where you see local people appreciating the value of protecting the environment. No motorised boat is allowed of this stretch of the river to ensure that this place is as unpolluted as possible (and hence keeping the tourist dollar coming).









[Images courtesy of Chai Yew Wei]

Noodle and massage in 桂林

This not very exciting looking vermicelli is the famous 桂林米线. Since we are actually in Guilin, it's simply called 米粉. Seems like 米粉 is the staple diet of the place as we saw locals eating it for breakfast, lunch & dinner! There are slight variations of the way it is served by different places - you can sometimes get soup to be poured on the noodle, the condiments also vary by place. I don't know how they made the sauce but this simple looking dish is very delicious.

We were taken to this little 大排挡 (sounds funny to say little big "pai dang"!) by our lady taxi driver who brought us from the airport to the hotel. She managed to convince us that we should book the ferry tickets to go to 阳朔
for tomorrow on the night we arrived. She then offered to show us a local place for supper and even offered to pay for the noodles (mmm.. I wonder how much commission she made from the ferry tickets). Anyway, we didn't let her pay for the noodle - it's only RMB 2.50 per bowl and we were initially so skeptical that we only ordered 2 bowls among 4 of us...

Thinking about getting a massage after 米粉 and so happened there were quite several of them just next door. Initially we thought they didn't seem too dodgy, but after a dressed up woman walk past in 4-inch stilleto plus the guys noticing that the girls in the massage place opposite wearing hot pants under their white coats (what's the deal with these white coats by the way...? They do that too in HK. Are they supposed to somehow imply professionalism?). Another tell-tale sign was girls sitting outside some of the massage places on the same road. In the end, no massage that night.

From the photo on the right, you can probably make out the 按摩院 next to 龙记.


[Images courtesy of Chai Yew Wei]

Chill out in Taipei

Had some airmiles expiring in Q4 2006, so thought would do a short trip somewhere in Asia just for a weekend. Ying has been over to HK for the same reason, so thought it would be nice to see the Yang's in Taipei.


It wasn't the best weather to take photos. This shot of the 101 tower was taken from an institution of the city - 园山大饭店 http://www.grand-hotel.org/newsite/html/e/cb01.htm.

The hotel used to be THE place that foreign dignities were entertained. The internal deco is probably a little OTT by today's standards of slightly preferring minimalist style. Anyway, the Yang's took me there for lunch after I touched down. The Chinese/Cantonese restaurant in the hotel is one of the few places you can get decent dim sum in the city.

The young man was very well behaved, bless him. He would play in his room for hours and recite stories that he heard from daddy & mummy to keep himself amused :)

Anna has turned one!

Decided to spend New Year with OB and family in Shanghai. Happened to coincide with Anna's first birthday. As parents go, I think my brother & sis-in-law were pretty restrained in the celebration :)

Old2 was in town too. Sharon came over for dinner too.

We bought Anna an ice-cream cake from Haagen Dazs with a lovely picture of a young girl.




With a rough brother like Josh, I'm sure Anna will grow up to be tough girl (like me!!).


Despite being so naughty, Josh's still melts my heart when he smiles, makes cheeky face, holds my hand.... Dunno whether it's a family thing or he's just good at manipulating adults!

Is this really London?

Thanks to KL & Irene's (http://pokokkelapa.blogspot.com/) hospitality, I managed to see another side of London. Within 15 min of where they stay, we managed to visit an animal farm (http://www.mudchute.org/), eat freshly baked scones (don't forget to ask for home made ginge ale), play tennis at the Greenwich Park (the oldest royal park; http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/parks/greenwich_park/about.cfm), see egrets flirting with each other, pay tribute to what's remain of the Cutty Sark (destroyed by fire on 21st May 07; http://www.cuttysark.org.uk/index.cfm) ....





This photo is taken using my Sony Ericsson K610i under the twilight of London skies, so doesn't realy do much justice to the lovely couple I just spent the weekend with.

Don't miss the orange trees

Went to Hanoi with Tony & Andy to meet the MOF just before Chinese New Year of 2007. Perhaps I should call it Lunar New Year to be more PC...

The determination to display orange trees at home certainly rivals that in HK. These scenes were common on the streets of Hanoi.



Tony made an interesting observation that there doesn't seem to be many traffic lights in the city. Despite the appearance of chaos, the traffic does somehow sorts itself out. Could this be an example of rule of reason prevailing over the need for rule of law? Tony insisted that I must take some street photos as they would disappear in a few years' time.

Musee Rodin

I don't know very much about arts and culture, especially not French ones. For some reason, I very much like sculptures that are displayed outdoors.

Musee Rodin (www.musee-rodin.fr) in Paris is one of my favourite museums. It's small enough that you don't get overwhelmed (unlike le Louvre) but rich enough to keep you busy for at least half a day. Not to mention the wonderful garden of Hotel Biron (in which the museum is housed) where several amazing pieces of Rodin's work are displayed.



This is a close up of one of the most famous pieces by Rodin - Les Bourgeois de Calais - a bunch of bourgeouis about to be executed. The intensity of the moment is very clearly communicated through the facial expressions and body language.





Another famous piece is Le Penseur (The Thinker). This shot is just trying to be cute. Can you spot him in the garden on the right?

Wildlife at Canary Wharf

Casual Sunday afternoon stroll along the waterfront between Millwall Dock and Canary Wharf gave us a pleasant encounter with the wildlife (well, as wild as one gets in the middle of the city - as you can see the nest is made up of plastic bags and restaurant drinking straws!).

Irene first heard the chirpping of the birds and spotted the family right next to "Jumbo" Chinese restaurant near Canary Wharf.

From the photo we could only see the 2 babies but in fact there were 3 of them but the 3rd one was always photo-shy.

La Rogue Gageac

Lots of charming little medieval towns near Shereen's country house in Perigord. I was hoping to have a chance to visit La Rogue Gageac which is a nearby town recommended by tourist info. As it happens, La Rogue is one of Shereen's favourite towns in the region!

The drive there was about 40 min from Belves. Though the town is pretty small, it has a nice quiet charm to it with buildings carved into the cliffs, windy paths along the terraces; view from higher up over the River Dordogne is serene.

Rolland Garros 2007

Earlier this year, having experienced live tennis at Australian Open 2006, was thinking about Wimbledon for 2007 ...

Around May, found out that I needed to go to London in June for business, so thought would catch up with Jem in France before that. As it turns out the dates coincided with French Open (http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/index.html) !

Jem was brilliant and managed to organise for tickets to the men's quarter-finals and ladies' semis just a couple of weeks before the tournament. We saw everybody who eventually got to the finals - Federer, Nadal, Henin & Ivanovic. Also saw Djokovic (http://www.novak-djokovic.com/english/index.htm), whom we both like very much, beat Andreev. Djokovic has moved up to 4th place after his stellar performance at the French, well done! Nox, 加油!

The photo above was taken in the Paris metro. The slogan "Qui peut l'arreter?" means "Who can stop him?". There's a similar one for Nadal too that Nike has put up. It was an easy choice for me whose picture I wanted to take with :)

Needless to say, I was devastated that Federer didn't even come close to beating Nadal at the final :(

Chez Shereen

Received an invitation from Alan's good friend Shereen to spend some time in French countryside. Was told that Shereen's house is near a town called Belves, in the Perigord region (south west of France). Never heard of the place, so I googled. Guess what, Belves turns out to be one of the most beautiful villages in France!

Some info about the Perigord region: http://www.arachnis.asso.fr/Dordogne/guide1.htm

The house dates from 17th century and Shereen's grandmother bought it at the early part of the last century. It certainly felt special to be staying in a place that has so much history behind it. The antique furnitures that Shereeen's grandma collected made the place feel luxurious but maintaining a cozy touch. Very tastefully done.

Having been a city girl most of my life, I was enjoying the nature thoroughly - picking cherries from the trees, trying out blackberries first time in my life, smelling the roses, cutting herbs from the garden. Shereen probably thought I was a little mad, getting so excited over some fruits.