China Tour 2024- Day 5: Li Jiang

It may not be the most 'fun' day but today is the most critical day of the trip. The 'hike' to Jade Dragon Mountain and visit to the Blue Moon Lagoon. Its very tiring in deed. We woke up very early and join a local tour to visit the 'Golden mountain view aka Sun rise'. The view is stunning but we are all kind of "shocked" at the weather, which is really cold despite all out clothing accessories. If we are 'that cold' at the bottom of the mountain, will it be much colder on top?

The next program is to visit the Moon Moon Lake. It is absolutely as beautiful as advertised. The problem is (1) its too cold (2) there's quite a bit of crowd (3) we don't have a lot of time to enjoy the view, just barely enough to take photos

Next is the hike to Jade Dragon Mountain. After a long que in the cable car, we managed to get on. 

Altitude of Li Jiang is 2500meter. Altitude of Jade Dragon Mountain Foot is 3000meter. At the end of the cable car, which is near top of the peak is 4506 meter. The peak (available) is 4680meter.

China Tour 2024- Day 4: Da Li -> Li Jiang

 

Today we say Good Bye to Da Li and took a train ride to Li Jiang.

The hotel we stayed in Li Jiang- Zu Yu, is the best hotel for the trip. It is also not surprisingly the most expensive but very much worth it. It is spacious, plenty of facilities, great location and have a sense of good smell in the room. 

We have a short walk to a center of LiJiang old town at night just to have a feel for it. 

China Tour 2024- Day 3: Da Li

 We have a busy schedule today, however, it is is also the most relaxing day of the trip.

We started the trip by going Er Hai for cycling along the lake. This is an excellent decision vs Cruise hopping. It is cooling and fun despite being under strong sun. Everyone got a big hat. Sceneries are beautiful and plenty of nice cafe for us to chill out in between the ride. 

After the ride, we went to the famous Pagoda and Temple (where 天龙八部 is based on). We are kind of late but managed to squeeze into the last session. After the end of the busy day, we have one of the best meal of the trip- BBQ at the Old Town.

China Tour 2024- Day 2: Kun Ming -> Da Li

Day 2 of the trip. We took a train from Kun Ming to Da Li. The ride takes longer than expected due to crowd and waiting time and we arrived Da Li hotel later than expected. The hotel is pretty decent although the location is in the middle of nowhere. 

Today's itenary is visiting the Da Li Old Town. The castle door and the view on top of castle are amazing. The night view is stunning. 

The town is not as crowded as I thought therefore more comfortable. There are also plenty of souvenirs and street food too. We could have spent a few more hours here if we are here earlier as we have probably only cover about 50% of this old town. 

(Hotel Roof-Top)

(The amazing castle door night view)

(The Red Dragon Well)

China Tour 2024- Day 1: Kun Ming

We are back to Kun Ming! The last trip was 2017. We only have 1 day in Kun Ming in this trip, however. The focus of this trip is (1) old town, which Sacha bought some 'jade' thingy and we bought some other small souvenirs and (2) city area, which Hong Yi bought a jacket, which is essential for the trip. We also have plenty of delicious street foods & drinks along the way. The weather is acceptable cold in the morning but start to warm up in the afternoon. It is kind of hot under the sun too. 

Medals & Trophies

 All the medals won this year.

Mine: 8 Completion Medal

(2- Great, 3 satisfactory, 3 disappointment)

Hong Yi: 6 winning medal 3 completion medal

Hong Xin: 6 winning medal 2 Completion medal

Confused Terms

 

Many are confused over the "terms" seen in the Sydney Marathon application page. What is Non-Binary? Gender Fluid? Gender non-conforming or Gender Queer?

Here are many simple explaination in Chinese:

Non Binary = 不男不女

Gender Fluid = 又男又女

Gender non-conforming  = 半男半女

Gender Queer = 不知是男还是女

Either that or one simple Chinese Word = 妖

China Malaysia Run 2024

Good run. This is the best 10km run this year and just few seconds short of personal best. Final result of 55mins 53seconds over 10.37km, average pace of 5.23/km (short of personal best of 5.22/km but ahead of 2024 best of 5.26/km). What amazes me is that I am able to run faster than a few faster/stronger runner in this rather uphill route. I guess the advantage for me is that I have been running the exact same route (almost the same) for seven times in the last three months. Practice makes perfect right?

Pacemaker- Pre-race photo

First km

Last KM

About 2km mark

Pre-race

Final Result