least favourite yunnan destination 2

a former outdoor movie studio- i hate. what is there to see and admire huh? you only get man-made structures and some performances. boring. gosh, i didn't even know which movie was filmed here. the name just did not register in my head as i do not like to watch costume dramas.

this studio is on a hill in da li.

a fountain after the entrance.

the street.

the plan of the studio.
the main entrance.


i guess this must be the king's outdoor seat.

the palace?


a cart to ferry the prisoner for execution. hehehe....


like the symmetry of this photo.

and the 3 stupas in a row.

a ride on the yak anyone?? rmb5 or 10 if i am not wrong

you can also dress like the emperor or the empress....with a fee.


nice spot for a cup of tea.

the show i mentioned earlier. this one is finding a husband to marry the princess.

not interesting lion dance performance at all.

well, one still got to have some fun although that place had nothing to offer.

hmm....i still have one more least favourite destination coming up after this post.....

only successfully received...not confirmed

it is a yo-yo experience shopping online this time around.

first, there was this happy mail which came as soon as i shopped :

Your order has been succesfully received by Customer Service. Please note your credit card has not been charged. You will be charged once the item has been shipped. Please allow one to two business days to process your order for shipment. Items ordered are subject to availability.

then, few hours later, a disappointing e-mail from them to me, an overseas customer:

This is a brief note to inform you that, as our payment system does not accept foreign credit card for the moment, your online order has been cancelled and your credit card will not be charged. It was a pleasure assisting you and we look forward to assisting you in the near future.

my heart was broken. but then, there was still a glimmer of hope. i e-mailed aunt that same night to ask if i could use her credit card and shop. she did not call that night, so i mailed her instead.
and this morning, checked my mail, came this reply:

u can book now

yippppee.....and so i went ahead just now.....and booked. the reply came almost immediately.

Your order has been succesfully received by Customer Service. Please note your credit card has not been charged. You will be charged once the item has been shipped. Please allow one to two business days to process your order for shipment. Items ordered are subject to availability.

ok, it is the same e-mail as the one i got when i placed my first order yesterday.....so now, there is more waiting before the purchase can be confirmed. and since it is a weekend, i doubt i will know till monday.

so now....the waiting begins................

least favourite yunnan destination 1

when one goes for a tour, one is lead like a dog on a leash and has no choice but to follow and go to every place selected in the itinerary.

so my tour to yunnan was no exception and there were 2 places which i hated and i only wandered since i was already there.

the first one is this lake side area by a cliff in kun ming which we went to after we landed on the first day. it was straight to exercise for the legs.

there is nothing much to see at this place, except a view of the side of the city and the big lake and many many small deities and prayer places on the cliff.

already someone suggested group photo on the first day. from past experiences, group photo usually came after few days into the trip when everyone had got familiar with each other. but i guess our group warmed up very fast and hit it as soon as we got into the coach at the airport.
nice park at the foot of the hill.


i have no idea who ni er is.

there are many temples all along the climb up the cliff. climb climb climb. definitely not for those with weak knees.


some of the narrow ways we had to go through and it was slippery too because it was stone floor.

the side of the cliff we were on.

can't conceive?? well, this is the deity you pray to. heard it is quite miraculous.

t.g.i.f.

never have i agreed more with Thanks God It's Friday. what a welcome it is today.

sitting here at home now, listening to the thunder and feeling the wind blowing through the opened window, it is really a bliss.

the house is really quiet with nary a sound and there is only occasional sniffing from my grandpa. his nose is slightly blocked but that is better than listening to his wheezing cough. he had a fall last weekend when his legs just gave way as he stood up and suffered cuts on his arms. a patch of his already thin upper arm skin was cut but it is slowly mending now. everytime i do the novel with the kids and it talks about 'granda' (catch us if you can), my mind will fleet back to my grandpa and wonder how he is doing at home at that moment. my grandpa cuts such a forlorn figure in my head. well, i guess i will just 'watch' him as much as i can, silently, when i am back every weekend. he hardly does any talking at all except when he makes requests.

i heave a sigh of relief as i leave all my work from monday to friday behind and get this afternoon free from the kids. if you have followed my blog these few weeks, you would have noticed that i hardly update during weekdays. one, work schedule is really hectic. two, when i have time to blog after work hours, i feel reluctant to use my broadband since it comes with a limit. using the broadband quota for cafe world is more important. hahaha.

am going to check the pc later if episodes of amazing race and gossip girls have finished downloading. i have finished the day's paper and will start marking a few books later.

i even have time to do e-purchase just now. shhhh.....let me wait till i get an e-mail confirming my purchase, then i will reveal my item. if the transaction is successful, i still won't be able to see the item till the next few months because it will be shipped to germany anyway. i will just have to be content with the photo and the idea of owning one piece of art. hahaha.....can you guess what i got??

everyone in the family now is counting down to the days my sis will finally pop the oven. wow, i am going to be an aunt. still hard to believe. it is going to be a matter of few days or 1 or 2 weeks now. fingers crossed, hope everything will go smoothly for her.

am looking forward to my lunch date with some kids here who got their spm results this year. they are going to buy me pizza. what a coincidence. i have this yearning for pizza this whole week and when it is decided that we are going to pizza hut, i told myself, 'this is better than nothing'.
just this morning, i felt so 'hurt' when i heard from one of my colleagues that one of the kids called all his ex-teachers including those from primary school for dinner last week for his good spm results. 'weren't you invited?' my colleague asked. ouch.

well, i am not going to think about it but look forward to the great time i will have tomorrow instead and enjoy the serenity i feel when i am home. you can look forward to a few more posts too since it is the weekend.

have a good weekend.

it is all about flowers in spring

going to china in march means you see so many flowers and greens that will even make any non-nature enthusiast fall in love with the blossoms.

everyone could not stop snapping and posing in front of the flowers that the local guides got quite impatient with our antics as we queued up at that particular spot to get our turns to pose with the blooms. well, it might be a common sight for them, but for us who seldom see sakura, cherry bloossoms and other flowers i dunno their names, it is a chance not to be missed.

i present to you all my flower shots. flower-power.

can you see the snow-capped mountains at the back?? how serene it is.




the entrance to the ancient city of li jiang.

white sakura.







camellia- the iconic flower used by chanel.





bees gathering pollen on poppy flowers.