Going out with my son

Today was the first time I brought my son on my own... usually, we go out as a family, though even when we go out together, I usually volunteer to bring him around while my wife roams the shopping centre. While sometimes I take care of him at home when my wife goes out to shop, today was the first time that I actually brought him out of the house on my own.

We went to my friend's place for a gathering of secondary school friends. People whom I have known for more than 15 years. Quite interesting to be able to meet up once in a while to see how we are all getting along. Plus of course, to introduce "new members" like wives, girlfriends and kids.

Everyone was quite surprised that my son is actually quite okay with strangers, and took turns carrying him. And of course, we all know that he is big... my friend's son is 6 months older, but only 1kg heavier!

Going out with my son was a good chance for me to get to know him better, to know his needs and how to answer them (bottle? diaper? sleepy? attention?) The next step is bringing him to my taiji classes...

Solar eclipse of the year

Seems like the year of eclipses... after the solar eclipse on the first day of Chinese New Year, we have another one today! Read more about it here.

The Silk Road travelogue part 2 - Lanzhou 兰州

The next stop along the tour was Lanzhou 兰州.

Lanzhou is the first major city nearest the start of the Yellow River, and is historically important as it is the first major crossing along the river as well. It is also a major link along the northern Silk Road. Here is a view of the Yellow River, as seen from Baita Mountain.
Here is a view of the river, seen from the banks.
The Yellow River is given the title "Mother River 黄河母亲", as it is the cradle of Chinese history and cultural development.
And here's a statue depicting the "Mother River",.
Lanzhou was a short stop, mainly to see the Yellow River, and for us to board our train. From here, we board the Lanxin railway, which runs along most of the cities along the old Silk Road and thus the cities of our tour.

Next stop, Zhangye 张掖.

The Silk Road travelogue part 1 - Xining 西宁

This tour took place in June 1995, where I spent 2 weeks traveling along the western part of China, following quite closely in the footsteps of those who used to travel the northern Silk Road.

The first stop in China was Chengdu 成都. But it was just to clear immigration and have dinner, after which we are off again. Our tour starts in Xining 西宁, with a warm welcome. There was even a banner put across the entrance to our lodge to welcome us.

This scarf being put around my neck is a gift to visitors, used to welcome them and show their hospitality, as well as to signify their status as dignified guests.
Xining has lots of temples like this one here. Most of them are Tibetan Buddhist temples.Here is a prayer wheel. Inside are lots of scrolls of prayers. Spinning it one round is supposed to be equivalent to reading all those scrolls inside once. You will find lots of these prayer wheels in the Tibetan temples. I think it is a great solution, since in the past, most people were illiterate and won't be able to read the scrolls.We also managed to squeeze in a visit to Qinghai Lake 青海湖.The lake is so big, you can't see the other side... looks more like a sea to me. And that is exactly what the name means. 青 means 'blue' (as in 石青, which is the blue colour used in Chinese painting) and 海 means 'sea'. We had a nice dinner here, with fried fish (caught from the lake), plus lots of Tsingtao beer, and slices of red tomatoes with sugar sprinkled over them. There was also a show on traditional Tibetan dance. Then it is off to the next stop, Lanzhou 兰州.

The Silk Road travelogue

I went on a journey along the Silk Road 14 years ago. I still have photos of the travel, plus lots of memories, and will be using these to come up with a travelogue on this blog, so watch this space! For those interested, I went to the northern route.

Need to get down to scanning those photos...

What's for dinner?

Chicken × Bird flu
Pork × Swine flu
Beef × Mad cow disease
Fish × Mercury in seafood
Vegetables × Over-use of pesticide

Seems like we have to live without food...

3 months old

As of 28 Jun 09, the baby is 90 days old. Here's a picture taken from my wife's blog.We went to the clinic today for innoculation, as is compulsory for babies when they reach 3 months of age. Weighing the little one, he is now 8.38kg and 64.5cm in length. That puts his weight around the 97 percentile and his height at between 90 and 97 percentile for a 3-month old baby.

Talk about a giant baby... no wonder our backs are hurting...