I am so blessed…

I am heading out to Tibet in less than 5 days.  I am having such mixed feelings about my up-coming adventure.  A sense of excitement?  It’s a trip that I have been longing for since I was a little kid.  I have always wanted to go to Tibet, it sounds so remote, so mysterious and so spiritual.  On top of that, I am going to volunteer an an orphanage, helping out the less fortunate.  I am going to camp under the stars in the mountains.  It’s going to be so beautiful!  A sense of fear and nervousness?  Can I finish the hikes?  Am I going to be ok at high altitude? How much home sick can I take?  It’s exciting to challenge yourself and embrace an adventure… and at the same time, it’s very scary.  So much unknowns…

I started digging out all my camping gears and started packing for my trip.  Look at all this stuff that I got to take along…

 

Alright, Spazzy is not supposed to come along, but he manages to get into every single one of my packing picture.  Looking at the pile of stuff gives me a headache.

I always call my sister See-Lai… as she comes prepared with all sorts of stuff that you may need on a trip.  Kleenax, wet naps, hand sanitizer, lotion, sun screen, bug spray, after bite, needles and threads, water, juice, gatorade… You name it, she will have it!  I call her See-Lai, not because I think she is over-doing it.  It’s more like a compliment.  She is so well prepared, it feels like she is like a mom taking care of me.  How on earth am I supposed to go to this crazy treking trip, without her carrying all the stuff that I need by my side.  Well… being so prepared, she did prepare for this unfortunate scenario:

My sister prepared this super girly Himalayas Survival Kit for my birthday.  It has EVERYTHING that a girl would need in the wilds, including bottles to carry my make up.  Of course, the toilet paper has to be pink to make this kit complete!  Looking at this today makes me feel so blessed.  I am very fortunate to have a sister/best friend who supports all my crazy dreams.  I know she is worried about me, but she is doing everything that she can to take care of me, and make sure that I am well and sound.  She even taught me bundle packing today!!!!!  I am very grateful and fortunate to have my little sister supporting my life mission.

I’d really also need to thank my husband… Look what he has got me:

A beautiful high-tech altitude watch!  This is like a little safety charm.  Although he cannot come with me, he is giving me something so I am always safe…  It’s not the value of the watch or how many functions it has that touches me.  To me, it’s like I can bring him with me with this watch… and I know I will always be ok.  I will always know my way around, and I will always know how to get home.  Through all this, Ken is beyond supportive.  He encouraged me to take the course, yelled at me when I wanted to give up… made me go training… He is SO open-minded… and is always passionate about me chasing my dreams… and helping me make them come true. 

Today, I look around my messy house, I feel so blessed… to have a family who always love me and support me… Even if it means I cause them lots of worries…

Where to go next after Tibet?

I have about 4 days left after my trip to Tibet.  I have been struggling to decide where to go.  My flight flies out from Shanghai, so, I have to make it back there before my flight back to Canada.

Option 1:

Chengdu - Stay in Chengdu and then fly to Shanghai before heading back.  This will be the cheapest, least tiring option.  I will get to visit the cute little pandas.

Option 2:

Shanghai - Fly to Shanghai right after the trip, and lux out on 5-start hotel.  Pamper myself before heading back on the long flight.  Not cheap at all, and will probably drive me nuts.  I really do not like Shanghai.

Option 3:

HK - Fly to HK and visit friends and family.  It will be VERY tiring and exhausting.  I will spend the 4 days eating non-stop, and gain all the weight back from the trip.  But this will be so much fun to see everyone else again.

Option 4:

JiuZhaiGou - a very beautiful national part - pristine scenary and waterfalls.  I will get to stay in a Tibetan family guest house.  I will be a bit of an adventure as I am traveling off the beaten path by myself.  But it is so exciting.

So hard to decide...  

Yunnan Family Trip 2010 - Dali – Part 1

Located @ about 2200 m. This is supposed to be a very laid back town. The city sits between Cangshan and Erhai Lake. The mountains and the lake gives Dali very mild and pleasant weather year-round.

Because of Tin Long Bai Boa from Kam Yung's novels, I have always been fascinated by Dali. I want to see how a place can be warm year-round... with lots of different types of beautiful flowers. What do Dali marbles look like? Do the marbles really keep the house cool in the summer, but warm in the winter. According the Chinese novels, Dali was a little kingdom in 937, ruled by the Duan's Family. The family was really good with Kung Fu. Some of the kings gave up their rule for the country and became monks due to their passion for Buddhism. How much of these stories are really true?

Things I loved about Dali:

Hotel – Our hotel is located in the old town, about 510 minutes from the Foreigner Street.  We stayed in a hotel converted from a traditional Bai Minority house. When we entered the hotel, there was very beautiful and relaxing courtyard. You can simply have tea at one of the tables.

 

 

Bai’s architecture really matches its name.  All their houses are painted in white with light-colored wooden beams and windows.  The house will have a big courtyard in the middle.  The courtyard is surrounded by three sides of houses, and one side of all.  Bai Minority people are very artistic.  They usually do all the painting around their houses themselves. 

I really liked this hotel because it felt like we have stepped back in time.  Look at the service menu and the table lamp.

 

The table lamp really impressed me.  It has been fitted with energy-saving light bulbs.  This is one of the things that I have noticed during this trip.  Although majority of the Chinese cities are still very polluted, the Chinese people, and the government have actually taken steps to help reduce the pollutions.  You will notice green initiatives / practises when you least expect.

Eating noodles at Street Corner – We took a really early flight from Kunming to Dali.  We were all starving after we have settled down at the hotel.  So, before we can do anything, our guide, Dragon, took us to a local eatery.

Here, we are sitting at the little chairs, just like the locals.  This noodle place is just at a street corner.  Coming from the western world, we all had our reservations when we first saw this place.  But after we had our first taste of the delicious noodles, all the reservations vanished.

The soup is steaming hot.  The noodle is a different from Canton noodles in that it’s a bit chewy.  It tastes more like soupy rice cakes than noodles.  The preserved veggies and the meat was really yummy… This is definitely the highlight of Dali for me.

Yunnan Coffee – Coffee is a VERY important part of my life.  And being jet-lagged has made this beverage essential for my well being.  It is also very important to my group’s happiness, and you don’t want me to be all crumpy around them.  So, while having my delicious noodle, I created Mission Impossible for our guide, Dragon.

And you know what, it was literally just a walk to the market for him.  He went to the market and got us fresh coffee bean and made me a fresh, strong, and delicious Americano.

 

It turns out, Yunnan is very famous for coffee.  The coffee here is really light, tastes kind of like my fav, Blue Mountain.  The coffee is exported to Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.  Too bad, they don’t ship to Canada.  Later, when we were visiting the old town, we found a place that sells the Yunnan coffee beans.

This has got me hooked to hand-made steeped coffee.

Beer – Dali Beer tastes awesome, and has a beautiful name.

The name of the beer is “Wind, Flower, Snow, and Moon”.  The name signifies the four most famous sceneries around Dali.

Wind - The strong wind near the lake. 
Dali’s flowers – it has a huge flower market.   Too bad the place is going through a drought now, and there aren’t many flowers.  Snow – the snowcapped mountains. 
Moon – The Erhai Lake, which is shaped like an ear, and also like a moon.

The beer goes very well with the deep-fried mushroom chips.  We sneaked in the beer and the chips after lunch.  :P