Reverie of the cat

I think I may have made my point about the challenges of working in a government referral hospital in Cambodia - so on a lighter note some pictorial musings from China....

This is the notebook that Suzi bought as her journal for China - Reverie of the cat, why not?

In a side room of the ICU in the hospital we visited in Zhangye there was a room full of these machines, head coolers - again why not?!

Karaoke is endemic in Asia but at least this one has had some thought put into its name

Surrounding the temple that houses the largest clay Buddha in China were many old beautiful houses, I think the Chupa Chups tin to catch rain water is a newer addition 

A highlight of our morning explorations were the exercise parks that could be found in many outside spaces. There would be a collection of old but ultra fit & toned people going through their early morning exercise regime. These people are making full use of the very popular, always a queue for it,  massage station.

Suzi emulating the 70 year old man before her on the monkey bars

A scary baby statue in water whose central water feature had no water in it. There were other scary baby statues but too scary for this forum

Road cleaner

On our rest day we visited the wetland park & Miss Du, our translator, got very excited about the prospect of a trip around the park in a pink golf cart. It was in fact an excellent visit with a Lady Gaga sound track

During rush hour pedestrians are physically restrained from jay-walking by a man in a high-vis jacket & a rope 

There's nothing like a sign that states the bleeding obvious....

....or is on a carpet in the lift to remind you which day of the week it is...

....or is not a cold warning....

.....or intrigues you to wonder what is the contents of its container...

....or insenses you at the suggestion that pregnant women shouldn't go on an escalator if not accompanied by an adult.....

...or makes you want to be part of the Family of Happiness (that sales underwear!).....

or just makes you NOT want to put its contents any where near your skin!

Great little shops

Just what I need for my bicycle seat back in Cambo

Every supermarket deep freeze section needs a fish bowl on it, especially if the contents of the freezer is fish

Morning exercises are often accompanied by morning out door radio listening & kite flying. If you anchor the kite to your bike you have both hands free for tai chi

Suzi 'Tango stretching' at my favourite exercise park

A circle of Chinese horoscope statues can also be used for exercise adjuncts

Suzi looking apprehensive before out 'pedicure' - it was good but didn't involve nail varnish or our feet much

Out favourite waitress who when we tried to tip we learnt that there is no tipping culture in China. But having our photos taken with her was culturally appropriate

When going 'solo', sans translator we tried to order beer so they helpfully brought us a menu all in Chinese characters & with no photos. Another we miss Miss Du moment. Not sure this photo captures the faux marble with sparkles table top - I loved this restaurant but we only had a warm beer despite their protests that we needed to eat

Suzi's wrist modeling the  lucky chinese horoscope bracelet (Suzi is a tiger, I'm an Ox but they didn't have one of those for me so I have a Rabbit instead!) & dragon boat festival band that Miss Du gave us as a leaving gift. I wear both mine fervently like the superstitious fool in need of a lucky break that I am.......