(Distant Xinjiang – Part 5 of 6) – Part 4 of 6 here 9 August 2015After travelling for a round trip of close to 2,000 km on the road between Urumqi and the beautiful Kanas nature reserve, the 2-hour journey from Urumqi to Turpan seemd like a rather short trip to us. We were greeted by…
(Distant Xinjiang – Part 4 of 6) – Part 3 of 6 here 6 August 2015After exploring the beautiful Kanas nature reserve we paid a visit to the Tuwa/Tuva (圖瓦) villages around the area. The Tawa/Tuva people or Tuvans (圖瓦人) live in three villages around the Kanas nature reserve, i.e. in Kanas Valley, Hemu (禾木) and…
(Distant Xinjiang – Part 3 of 6) – Part 2 of 6 here 5 – 8 August 2015We started our journey from Urumqi (烏魯木齊) at 11am, going through oil city Karamay/Kelamayi (克拉瑪依) with a stopover at Karamay Devil’s City(烏爾禾魔鬼城), an interesting landscape with wind and rain eroded earthen mounds before reaching quaint Burqin/Bu’erjin (布爾津) after nightfall…
(Distant Xinjian – Part 2 of 6) – Part 1 of 6 here We left Urumqi at 11am on 5 August and made our way to Xinjiang Kanas National Geopark (喀納斯國家地質公園) in the far north to stay for 3 nights. En route there and back we stopped to take a look at the interesting and very…
(Distant Xinjiang – Part 1 of 6) “Who would go to Xinjiang?” my boss asked and sounded baffled when I appealed for my 11-day leave to be approved. He had initially rejected it as he was rather unhappy that I would be taking another holiday not long after my 3-week break to the UK in…
I’m back! Feeling stimulated and inspired (though tired) after getting away from it all and letting the wanderlust take over for 11 days. 3 August 2015After months of talking about it our most anticipated trip of the year was at long last here. My good friend May, her daughter Emma and I made our way…
As a hotelier over the years I have heard (and thank God I was spared from witnessing) my fair share of foreign tourists behaving in ways that are simply unacceptable in the eyes of the locals and disrespectful to the local customs and culture. When certain antics are seen as common and allowed in one…
Most of us had never expected that we would experience a 6.0-magnitude earthquake in Kota Kinabalu in our lifetime as our state Sabah is outside the Pacific Ring of Fire, unlike our neighbouring countries the Philippines and Indonesia. The tremour we felt in KK early morning on 5 June lasted for only about 15 seconds…
5 June 2015, 7:17am 6.0-magnitude earthquake, 30 seconds West coast of Sabah, a place outside the Ring of Fire Trauma on Mt. Kinabalu, 18 deaths We mourn… We mourn for those who have lost their lives far too soon, most of them far too young, so unexpectedly and so tragically. To the families who have…
Chinese yellow rice wine (黄酒) making was something I had wanted to try for a long time. I eventually got round to having a go at it on a public holiday when I made a date with mum and got her to come over to teach me the process. The ingredients were minimal and uncomplicated,…
Colourful Threads of Life 