I slipped and fell on adventure

Sanlitun is a clean and crisp place for shopping and restaurants in the day, and well known for its bar streets and alternative entertainment of an evening. If you are looking international cuisine, it’s the place to go, or seeking a few drinks and some go-go dancers, take a left and there you are. The main quadrangle of Sanlitun presents shiny and new, well kept, with restaurants and shops one level  below, and three floors up, mostly open to take advantage of the sunshine (or snow) when each or either appear. The bar street is a bit… ‘bar-ee’ for me, maybe in my early 20’s, and the go-go street… once  was enough, but I wont deny it was a very interesting experience and recommend it for one and all. For this trip though, we went elsewhere and discovered some hidden  gems… Starting at the end of South Sanlitun Road and would work our way up to Workers Stadium North Road. First stop… Beer Mania. Beer Mania Upon first arrival, having spent an hour walking...

As I write this I feel very flat. Sometimes living in a country where you cant  speak the language and have expectations that are not aligned with the countries culture, can be difficult. Wanting to pop to the shop, grab some cheese, without getting beeped at, pushed and shoved… but the beeping is to make sure you don’t get run over, the pushing and shoving… its not rude over here, and cheese… well it’s a 20 minute bus ride away. The sun, although still belting its heat and humidity on my town, has disappeared behind a haze and low hovering clouds, its been a week since I’ve seen a blue sky, it’s a different summer to what I know from home. Australia is known to be rather warm, but I’ll simply call it mild in comparison to a month of above 38 degrees with 60% to 70% humidity. Something a very old friend said to me made me realise that possibly my blog has really been a rose tinted view of living my life, the kids, the travel, everything is blissful and serene… where ever y...

“Lies! All lies!” I grunted to myself while watching Kung Fu Panda I, then II – and because one cant stop half way thought, III, “I’ve been in China a good year and am yet to see a town like that!” And then… after a 6.5hr train ride, a three hour hike and an unfortunate lunch we found ourselves at the entrance to a UNESCO World Heritage Listen 900 year old village by the name of Hongcun. Upon arrival you are greeted with a flat lilly littered lake, we were fortunate with  a sky blue day and peaceful breeze. Moving from the car park there is a que divider which implies that at certain times there are large crowds that make their way through. Fortunately, Robyn and I had come the day before the big-move, that is… all of China going from one place to another during the Dragon Festival long weekend, so once tickets were purchased we walked easily through the entrance  gate into a still functional ancient Chinese village. Established in the Song Dynasty, this village...