The last few days have been a little slow because it has been  Chinese “Tomb Sweeping” holiday, where people take time off to tidy up family graves.  I do have a few stories and some “Chinese’ism ” photos below for you.

Story 1:   Yesterday my Dad was sitting on the porch working and called for me to come outside, because a delightful elderly Chinese man had wandered over from across the street and was trying to speak with him, but Dad could not understand what he was saying.  I rolled outside and also had no idea what this man was trying to tell me.  I had to bring out my new caregiver, Xiao Lin, to actually translate local Yunnan dialect into Mandarin Chinese for me.  So here we had a three-way translation, where our neighbor had to speak to my caregiver and then my caregiver have to translate the local Yunnan dialect into Mandarin Chinese for me, which I then could translate to my Dad!  In the end, he just wanted to say “welcome to our neighborhood.”

Story 2:  I went to lunch yesterday with my sister Tiffany, with David Wishart (David is also a patient in the Kunming Walking Programme) and with David’s sister Rusty.  So, there were two wheelchairs and four foreighers … and we had a little band of curious local people following us on our trek, apparently curious to discover where on earth we could be going.  In the event, we went to this tiny Sichuan sidewalk restaurant that has become a favorite of mine.  Sometimes I wish I could peer into the minds of the many intensely curious local people, as I wonder what they are thinking when looking us over so closely.  On second thought, I think we’d actually best leave that a mystery!

Story 3: I was at the large Carrefour shopping Plaza yesterday with my Dad, my Mom, my sister Tiffany and neighbor Sandra, after which we decided to have an early dinner  at the Wyndam Hotel that is across the street.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen such fancy five-star hotel in Asia before … this one actually billed a being “platinum 5-star” … lots and lots of polished marble like a Hollywood movie set.  We had a scrumptious, multi-course Thai meal for about $20 a person, high for China but for what we ordered a bargain pretty much anywhere else.  China is a great place to live, but there are some days when you just need a break from everything Chinese, and a Thai feast at an Amercian hotel definitely lets you escape for a few hours into a parallel universe!

So, enjoy the pictures below… I think the captions pretty much speak for themselves.

In the next post, I’ll be updating you on my specific workout program at the Tongren SCI rehab center … this to give you a better idea at about what it is I do every day.

You have to love a Chinese man wearing a cowboy hat at a five-star Thai restaurant at the Wyndam Hotel in Kunming

Mom and dad in the Wyndham Grand  lobby

Here we have a mobile police station with full glass windows so you can “watch a cop”

Hmmm … at least they’re kissing condoms.

First shopping trip out with Dad

Sisterly love while out shopping at Carrefour

German company selling “Whitening Repair” for Chinese!

How about this for Starbucks global reach … and, yes, I did buy one!

In Chinese car garages they have little red and green lights over the parking spots, just in case you can’t see if there’s a car in that spot.

Tiffany and I had to double check there was no baby left in the stroller … Great public safety over here!

We live next to a dairy distributor and have learned that refrigeration is not standard for yogurt in China!

Lunch with David and Rusty @ Sichuan Restaurant

Technology at its best … Skype video connecting brothers and sisters on opposite sides of the globe!