I left off some ten days ago with the hope of writing something light. Well, adjectives are always problematic, for what is light to one may be perceived by another as weighty, controversial, incomprehensible and probably irrelevant. But never mind. Let me try. I have been advised to abstain from alcohol while on the TCM…
Paul Wan who gave me unconditional approval to use the original photo he had taken of me for the cover of my first memoir humored me on my threat to write a sequel, suggesting that his experience of sequels – based on movie series – had been such that sequels normally couldn’t match the original….
Su and I were back from a short trip to Northeast China the highlight of which was a climb up Changbaishan (CBS) to see the Heaven Lake. Tianchi in Chinese literally refers to a pond in heaven, and is translated in English to various versions and known by different names in Korean and Manchu. It…
Not surprisingly, my last blog attracted only a handful of visits, but included one who went out of his way to say something nice or polite and more interestingly who repeated the sentiments when we accidentally met yesterday. I had never intended to post anything too serious – it would require more reading and original…
I spent most of last week resting, but managed to have three lunches and two dinners with friends outside and two meetings at Zetland Hall, which was hardly vigorous. However, I was in the park only once and managed only one gym session. I need to work harder to prepare the body for the next…
I left off two weeks ago with an account of my battle with shingles. I had meant to post something else in between, something slightly more interesting, but there wasn’t a lot to write home about from where I was, unless I began to discuss China-US relationship which would take up a lot of time…
By now, some of you would have got wind that I had contracted shingles and had taken medical advice to avoid social activities and take as much rest as possible for a week, meaning to stay home and sleep as much as possible. My first close association with shingles was in July 2004 when Rosita…
I announced yesterday that I had posted four more blogs on my recent travels. Together with the previous posts, it meant that I had posted altogether nine blogs on this the first trip we had taken after a break of more than three years. I have never meant these blogs to be travelogues, and as…
I left off leaving Fontevraud Abbey for Saumur. Our first stop was Turquant. We left shortly after mid-day and were there in less than half an hour. This was where Su had first booked for an evening, but changed her plans later. It was billed as a city of cave dwellers, troglodyte caves, troglodytique in…
Proceeding onwards, we arrived Cherveny at 11:30am and began the chateau routines, walking from room to room as before. It wasn’t a big outfit, so that we finished and departed at 13:50pm after coffee and the mandatory visit to the gift shop. Out next target was Chaumont sur Loire Chateau and gardens. Once again, we…
