Sunday, August 12, 2018
Friday, May 4, 2018
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Police @ Airchina Boarding Gate
Our flight back to Beijing was delayed 6 hours. We arrived at airport at 620pm to check in for the 830am flight, a direct flight of 11 hours and 20mins between Melbourne and Beijing, bypassing the usual stopover in Shanghai.
We felt a bit elevated when the checkin lady gave us meal vouchers when we completed our checkin procedure. Kristine and Kimberley had a feast at McDonald's plus three bottles of fruit juices from another eatery place. Soon after arriving at the boarding gate, the meal vouchers became explainable, as the flight was then delayed to 1030pm. As 1030pm approached, the boarding sign updated the time to 1130pm, yet the all passengers were told to collect fresh meal vouchers. I told Kristine the airlines would not issue meal vouchers at 1030pm if the departure time was 1130pm.
We were still full from McDonalds so we burned the meal vouchers on a gift box of 20 freshly baked macarons for Beijing.
The boarding time kept ticking and changing:
1230am
130am
200am.
A few boisterous passengers became rowdy and started to hurl abusive words at the Airchina ground crew. Soon enough a pair of policemen came, followed a few minutes later by another team of 2. At first the policemen just stood by, but as a male passenger got louder and louder, a police stepped up and yelled "Quiet!". That didnt really work with this crowd.
Then the police started shouting "This is becoming a Public Order issue and if you dont quiet down, you will miss your flight!". That male ringleader then disappeared, to be substituted by 2 younger students ho spoke English. It then became more civil. Captain of the flight, sounded like a Bristish, came out to explain the mechanical problem and apologised on the PA.
An hour later, our flight departed.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Lijiang Puppies
丽江'一品香'餐馆的老板娘让Kristine和Kimmie带着这两小狗玩一天. 沈阳人. 狗仔是丽江土狗. 差点带回北京, 只是不够时间搞免疫证托运.
Lady owner of a restaurant in Lijiang let the kids take these two puppies around Lijiang ancient city for most of our last day of visit. Almost brought them back to Beijing but immunisation certificate required for flight checkin needed more time than we had.
Faces of Lijiang (2)
Na Xi minority nationality (纳西少数民族) women are well known for hard work. Na means 'dark skin' and Xi means 'ethnic group'.
Photo 1 - The Na Xi old lady carries a basket laden with pastries and bread on her back (a common backpack in Lijiang, possibly from the local tea growing and picking tradition). Two Han shop attendants were buying their afternoon snacks from the old lady.
Photo 2 - A younger Na Xi woman with her son asleep on her back was doing her rounds collecting recycled cardboard in her trishaw.
Faces of Lijiang (1)
Faces of Naxi Minority Nationality in Lijiang ancient city, Yunnan Province, south west China.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Bicycle Repair
He occupies a street corner under the East 4th Ring Road with his trishaw tool cart and supplies, from daybreak to nightfall. A small tree is his shelter. When he is not repairing bicyles, someone will play chess with him. My peddle was replaced new for RMB5.
Vegetable Market
This lady with child and her husband sold their leeks and sweet potatos on roadside pavement outside of our neighbourhood produce market. It was a wintry windy afternoon with subzero temperature. A kg of leeks sold for RMB5. Sweet potato around RMB3.
Beijing Fresh Milk
Fresh milk in bottles are delivered everyday to our home. The guy in photo comes from Shangdong province to work as milkman in Beijing. His milk cart was stolen 2 weeks ago on his evening delivery run. This is his new replacement costing roughly RMB2000.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Bicycle from School
Yesterday, at 12:00 daddy picked me up because I felt a little sick.
Daddy picked me up by bicycle and I sat at the back.
I saw a lot of taxis; the drivers were eating at a little tiny rest runt. And I saw a lot of cars too. It took like 30~40 minutes from my school to home. And when I got home I ate my lunch and ate some mandarine and then went 2 bed. kris 13/10/2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Apple Picking
Went apple picking with HT and Jane, at a town outside of Beijing. The normal journey should take around 40mins but it took 1hr 40mins that Sunday afternoon. Not much daylight left for apple picking but we did well.
Apple prices are at historic high this season due to poorer harvest, but the orchards around Beijing never need to sell their apples the traditional ways: wholesalers/markets. These orchards around Beijing cater to Beijing residents wanting to pick their own, at prices even higher than supermarket prices.
Beijing Halloween
Grace dragged us to Huanlegu (A Beijing 'Disneyland' copy) for Halloween Friday. We arrived at 7pm and left just before 9. Very crowded, Very young crowd with loooooong queues at the gates and every game and ride.
Weekend at Jianguo Hotel
Courtesy from Tom, we spent a weekend at Jianguo Hotel (a 5star hotel in central Beijing) for free. Kids enjoyed the pool and spa. While the kids opted for McDonalds for dinner, Grace and I dined at the Chinese restaurant in the hotel.
Tom subscribed to an annual membership package at this hotel. For just 1688 yuan, a member gets 3 free room nights (Executive Suite, Graden Room, and a Standard Room), which more than pays for the subscription. Just a standard room alone costs 700 yuan per night. Throw in 2 buffet breakfasts per stay at 100 yuan each. On top of that, a member gets cash vouchers worth more than 1000 yuan redeemable at the hotel outlets.
While the kids opted for McDonalds for dinner, Grace and I dined at the Chinese restaurant in the hotel. We redeemed a 100 yuan voucher and further enjoyed a 50% off the balance.
We cycled to the hotel.
family haircut
We had a family group haircut at a salon nearby. Kristine and Kimmie's cut and wash costs 10yuan each before discount, and mine was 20yuan. 25% off, deducted from Grace's prepaid account at that salon.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Serpell Primary School
I wrote to no less than 10 primary schools in Eastern Melbourne to take Kristine and Kimberley in on short term basis during their northern summer holidas. Most replied to say their respective classes were full. Two agreed to take K and K but just Serpell with its International school accreditation was allowed by the state to take temporary students.
The principal Ms Culton was a very friendly person. She had two boxes of books and stationery ready for Kristine and Kimberley when we went to meet her. "We have been expecting you!" was her welcoming statement. She last wrote to me in June. She is obviously a very organised person, and a very dedicated educationist. On their first day after school, she led 3 other school staff/teachers to direct traffic outside the main gate. A leader by example as well.
In my opinion, Ms Culton examplifies the level of professionalism towards her job. She saw her role 'to serve', 'to help'. Her actions reflect that. She even was so thoughtful as to suggest to us not to buy Kristine and Kimberley school uniforms for 15 days use. Somehow she found two sets for the kids for temporary use. How many principals would bother to go that far?
Ms Culton was invited to visit China several years ago. She thinks Beijing airport looks like a space station. She told us she visited Beijing Normal University, and #1 Primary School in Suzhou. "Your government was very kind to me". I told her our two kids have to adjust to the rigid discipline in Beijing schools. The conversation went on to Ms Culton relating a discussion she had with a Professor of Education in the US. A China born and raised gentleman who was later educated and settled in Illinois. He told Ms Culton when he was young and asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, most kids would reply what their parents had wanted them to become: doctors, lawyers etc. When he asked his 5yr old US born daughter what she wanted to be when she grew up, her reply was :"I want to be an elephant".
The distinction here is that in the west, kids are allowed and encouraged to dream.
According to Ms Culton, the direction taken maybe very different in the educational systems, but there is no discernable difference in result.
Photos: Their day 1 without uniforms
Fees: $200 per child each school year for Aust residents and citizens
The school can take foreign students at $200 per week per child but must be accompanied by a parent (grandparent does not qualify)
Flight to Melbourne
It has been a long while, almost 30 years, since I last boarded a Cathay pacific flight. It had been SQ, Airchina, Qantas, United and Delta.
Their booking website was very easy to navigate, on par with SQ, much ahead of Airchina which would not permit family booking online. The Airbus Cathay flies has a somewhat unique seat in the economy. Maybe other airlines have the same but this is the first time for me. The seat does not recline backward at all, but it slides forward. I felt that was a more comfortable seat design, on top of obviating the hassle imposed on the passenger behind.
We took the longer flight paths stopping over in Adelaide ("Ade-Lai-De" to Kristine) so the kids got to sleep better after departing HKG. Worked out well. The Melbourne airport was deserted when we arrived. The Australian Customs waved us through. We were first to emerged out of the terminal. The only setback was airport transfer in Melbourne. The early afternoon arrival time made it inconvenient for friends to fecth us from airport, whereas the usual arrival time of 6am would be ideal for those who needs to work during the day. We ended up taking an aairport bus downtown, then a commuter train and then a taxi home.
Melbourne has been greeting us with rain and strong winds...
Photos at Southern Cross station and inside Melb Metro train
QinHuangDao Lertao Amusement Park
We joined Auntie Vivien and 36 of her troops on a weekend stay at Lertao on July 24/25. The place is by the sea in Qinhuangdao city in Hebei Province some 300km ENE of Beijing, about 4.5hrs away by coach bus. The park is a privately operated amusement park capitalising on the lack of Disneys within several thousand kms. Its main attraction is a sealion and dolphine show, doing basic stunts but entertaining nevertheless.
For a hot summer afternoon, the water park was attractive to the kids and many adults in swimsuits. Kristine and Kimberley, together with Scarlet and Xuno spent the most time here. It got chilly towards late afternoon. Much shivering and may purple lips.
By evening, the crowd had dispersed, the beach was empty. The sand is soft, but the water was dirty and beach littered with rubbish. 26,000 people came through the turnstile that day. It was an overly crowded place.
Overnight stay was at a beachside cabin inside the amusement park boundary. Space-wise, each cabin looks more like a hotel toom in Tokyo, except the quality furnishing (in fact very poor furnishing). Erected 10m from the rock embankment, the cabins had panoramic view of the sea littered with cargo ships anchored in front of Qinhuangdao harbour.
We were greeted by a severe thunderstorm that night. While Grace and kids shared a double bed, I had the upper bunk with 0,5m clearance from the ceiling. When the rain pelted the roof, it felt like sleeping under an umbrella, and thunder was just an earshot away. It wasnt until the next morning when we realised the whole cabin compound had no lightning rods. Lucky, but never again! Quality of the park is reflected by the quality of lifesaving boat in the photo!!!
Sunday was a rainy day so the attention all went to those shows under shelter. Kids had great fun. Worth re-visiting? Na!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Kristine's Mileage Plus expired
It has been a while since we last credited any miles into our MP accounts. When Grace received email notifications from United on Kimberley's miles about to expire, we had just a few days to figure out what we could do to save her miles.
A small purchase on the very last day from OldNavy.com was sufficient. The miles were initially treated as expired but when the miles came through a few days later, all miles were re-activated. Didnt know that when we were doing all that, thinking the miles were lost, but the system works.
In the meantime, we somehow got Kristine's account figured out wrongly. First we couldnt remember her account password, then we also forgot which email address her MP account was linked to. It was not later that we realised her MP was linked to an email address she stopped using a while back. At the end, all her miles expired.
A small purchase from a whole host of MP related retailers can keep the miles alive fr another 18 months, but it pays to link your frequent flyer account to an email address that is current and active.
A small purchase on the very last day from OldNavy.com was sufficient. The miles were initially treated as expired but when the miles came through a few days later, all miles were re-activated. Didnt know that when we were doing all that, thinking the miles were lost, but the system works.
In the meantime, we somehow got Kristine's account figured out wrongly. First we couldnt remember her account password, then we also forgot which email address her MP account was linked to. It was not later that we realised her MP was linked to an email address she stopped using a while back. At the end, all her miles expired.
A small purchase from a whole host of MP related retailers can keep the miles alive fr another 18 months, but it pays to link your frequent flyer account to an email address that is current and active.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Matsuri
Though not as festive as the outskirts, residents still flocked the streets in a suburb of Tokyo in traditional kimonos and yukatas to participate in local festivities.
There is games, food, traditional dance and drum performances. A photo shows Adele hitting a watermelon blindfolded. For Y300 (US$3.30), each person, young and old, gets a chance to try hitting a stationery watermelon by walking blindfolded some 10 meters. The oly guides are a man sitting the melon blowing a whistle, and shouts by parents 2 meters around the melon. Kristine had two chances in one try but still failed. Adele hitting the jackpot and we had a big melon to bring home.
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