Kangding

Our first evening was a little eventful. After we checked into our hotel we went to the fantastic Tibetan restaurant. After eating most of our meal Gemma went on to projectile vomit all over the floor. Poor thing, I think she had been suffering from car sickness on the windy roads and the food just made it come to fruition.

The next day we decided to go up Paoma Shan one of the small mountains in Kangding. It had a nice view of the city and a nice place to hike around with the kids. Here are some of our photos of the day.









One of the temples at the top.



Tibetan prayer flags



Tibetan Stupa





Angus and I decided we would try our luck on a Tibetan pony/horse. Luckily we faired better than Gemma and I did in Songpan.





Catherine and Sam

After our trip to Paoma Shan we headed to meet Ethan at a Chinese restaurant. Ethan really knows his food! This tiny hole in the wall place had probably the best food I have ever had in China! I couldn't believe how fabulous it was!

Unfortunately we had some sad news from home as our dog Clark had some pretty major issues with a tumor and had to have emergency surgery to have it removed. Lily, the kids and I had to call our trip short because I needed to get back to take care of Clark. Fortunately he is doing well after a successful surgery. Hopefully next time we will get to Tagong!!!

Drive to Kanding

On Tuesday we woke up to get ready to leave for our trip and found out that our dog Clark had dried blood all over him. We weren't sure what to do as we couldn't pin point where the blood was coming from until we could get him cleaned up. I did find a small scab on a fatty tumor. He seemed to have stopped bleeding, so Jonny told me to go ahead and go on our trip. I was a little hesitant, but he assured me he could handle Clark. We got on the road a little bit late, but were able to catch up with the Platt-Goldings around Stone Elephant Lake (if you are a regular reader you have seen pictures of the tulips in this park). We drove about an hour past the park and then stopped in a small village past Ya'an for lunch. Our friends Ethan and Catherine told us that they have fantastic chicken dumpling soup. Here are so pictures from our lunch...



Making the dumplings



Cooking the dumplings



A really tasty chicken with a sesame-chili seasoning



Our Chicken Dumpling Soup! This was delicious!!!

We got back into the van and we all crashed out for about 2 hours until the Platt-Goldings had to stop because one of their kids had to go to the bathroom. It was perfect timing because we were all due to stretch our legs and check out the beautiful scenery.

Yes, there are really blue skies in China! You just have to drive until you find them!

Gemma and Angus checking out the rest area and the mountains.

We Off Again!!!

Gemma begins school on the 23rd of August so we only have a few more weeks of doing out own thing before we have to get back into a routine. Tuesday the kids and I are going to head to the mountains for a few days. We are going to the Tibetan part of the Sichuan Province for the week. I am very excited about the trip as really love Tibetan culture so it will give us another look at Tibetan lifestyle in China.

Stay tuned for pictures of a beautiful new world!