Just the two of us

Lupines at Lake Wanaka

These are wild Lupines growing on the shores of Lake Wanaka. We didn't even know that they were there until we saw them. They are supposed to have come all the way from the Alps in Switzerland.

Mt. Taranaki

This is Mt. Taranaki, near New Plymouth where my nephew, Albert Chow is staying. One day, Christine and I took a very leisurely drive from Hamilton. Along the way, we took photos at the rest stops. At one of them I saw a familiar sight, a 24 in Reed rock bit!

This photo was taken by Eugene. We were on our way to North Shore to see his new house when we saw this empty picture frame at a park.

Franz Josep Glacier

One year, we toured the South Island with Kevin and Pearl. Eugene was unable to come because he has to get his practical experience for his mechanical engineering course. He worked in a carpet factory in Christchurch, crawling inside heat exchangers to clean them.

This vineyard is on Waiheke Island. Pearl took us there during one x'mas holidays.

This was taken on top of a small hill near Pearl's house in Wellington

 The Beehive is the house of parliament in Wellington.

This is Raglan beach. We went there for a one day trip.

On top of One Tree hill in Auckland. By the time Christine arrived, they have removed the tree!

On the desert road, near Mt. Ngaruhoe. This was taken by Eugene.

This is Bucklands beach. It was very cold that day when Eugene showed us around the area where he went for practicing his drifting.

This is Tien An-men, Beijing, the front of the forbidden city. Standing there made me think of my roots. Two generations ago, my grandfather left Kwangtung province and went to Sabah to seek his fortune.

Deep inside the forbidden city where the concubines of the emperor used to live. Nowadays it is open to the public and tourists.

I put on some costumes to take a photo as the emperor of China. Christine wore some concubine costumes. It was all free. At other places, you have to hire them for 50RMB

Chengdu was 6 degrees C in the morning. I was dressed in 4 layers. We were going for a boat ride on a lake this morning. Many of our tour members were not dressed warm enough because they were told that Chengdu was warm in summer!

This was taken at a place called tian-shan in Kuching. The temple was built from money received from public donations.

This photo was taken on the overpass connecting the Miri district council public car park to the open air market. Very often we have met many old friends on this pedestrian bridge.

We have missed our flight from Kuching yesterday and is booked on waiting list to go back to NZ tonight, giving us an extra day shopping in KL.

Anduki beach looked very nice but there was hardly anyone around because it was too warm.

On this occasion, we were in Auckland to witness Kevin receiving his citizenship certificate from the mayor. He took this step because as a kiwi he can go to work in Australia without need to apply for a work permit.

That means we could visit the Gold Coast at a very cheap rate because the major part of any travelling expenditure is always for the hotel accommodation.

Most of the beaches here are man made. The ocean currents continuously move the sand away. The Spit is the place where a pump is used to move the sand back on to the beaches at Surfer's Paradise.

Surfer's Paradise is a very popular tourist destination. Christine and I have made 3 visits there so far. We probably will not visit there again because Kevin has moved to Brisbane.

This was taken at the Queen Charlotte track at the Marlborough Sounds. Because of the cooler weather, it was not a very difficult walk.

Tramping in Blemheim

On the ferry at Picton

Waiting for the ferry

Bath house, Rotorua

Mt. Eden for a panoramic view of Auckland sky line.
There was also a volcano crater right behind where we were standing.

Huka Falls, Taupo

Top of a hill in Blenheim

At the farm

This horse seems very friendly to strangers. He belongs to Derrick's parents who are running a horse tracking business on their farm in Blenheim. They have about 20 horses on their farm. Rob was a truck driver in Europe for many years.

Pearl took us tramping on the Abel Tasman track. It was warm and quite an easy 5 hr walk to the water taxi which took us back to the starting point. We rented a house which was quite comfortable.

The movie set at Wuxi was quite a huge place. We got a lot of exercise just by walking around there.

This is the Bund, which was made famous by movies produced by Shaw Bros in Hong Kong. I have heard about the place so many times that I cannot ever forget the name. One thing is for sure. I have never expected to see the real 上海灘,  in my life time and yet, here I was, with Christine. I do not think that it is likely that we will make a 3rd visit to China, any time soon.