dallying in dali (not)

i wish they would let me dally. dali is pretty and the flowers are a-plenty but the tour guide is most task-focused in getting us to cover as much ground as possible. da-ka has become the word of the day, i notice. nooooo, i want to protest. i don't need to mark my attendance and confirm i have been to any place! what i would like is to sit idly at a nice spot and shoot the breeze, itinerary be damned.

mercifully it is dry and hot today.

dallying in dali

we arrive 3 hours early due to judicious and serendipitous hustling. this next stop has been mercifully dry so far. am i glad to leave behind 3 days of incessant rain and constant damp!

really wet day

we take in the sights of teng chong. that is to say, the guide tries hard to help us appreciate the sights.

the sights are pretty enough but unfortunately much marred by the incessant rain because no matter how you look at it i am just not a diehard tourist i am a city girl who needs my creature comforts and i like them dry.

if the rain continues tomorrow i might need to park meself in the van.

jingcheng dihai hot spring hotel

 

palatial set-up. breakfast delivered to the room. we lose our way looking for the elevators.

rainforest

we hike. what i say is, i am very grateful for gore-tex. although the waterfall is pretty too.

mangshi hotel (estab. 1956)

pretty much a grand dame in look and feel. complete with faded carpeting climb-in bathtub soap and shampoo in tiny bottles and heavy wooden furniture that gives me two new bruises within an hour. but also (much appreciated) firm mattress pillow options and bedside charging access. and, as i tell HOM, a to-die-for view from the comfort of my room.

of night markets, rain, and getting older

the gang plan a street food dinner at the night market. i am sorry to report that i decide to have dinner delivered to the room and catch the gradual glowing up of the pagoda.

comes a time a girl has got to say, it's the rainy season in the tropics, guys. gimme my creature comforts. meituan is wonderful. as is dinner.

my year off - robert mccrum (1998)

memoir of a 42-year-old man who suffers a stroke. the account is thoughtful philosophical and surprisingly upbeat. he writes quite beautifully, which restores my confidence in publishers and makes me want to specially read faber & faber books. 

the main beef i have with him is that he is sometimes medically inaccurate, although of course that gives an insight to his perspective. and he is a little medically quaint too, because he writes from a time when people had strokes and left the hospital with just aspirin.

the one thing i learn from him is how fatiguing it can be. 

red eye travel

bloodshot, more like. two sleepless flights and a car ride later we tumble out into a hotel one can only describe as quaint.

on the other hand, the sleeping facilities at kunming airport are wonderful, with a mattress for every budget. it's a near-camping-hostel-living-like experience but very clean.

also, as we descend into the dehong mangshi airport we have to lower the shades on account of security reasons so it all feels very hush hush and momentous.

off again!

always grateful for the opportunity and ever mindful of the privilege of jiving off again.

watch this space!

i've been waitin'

one icky sweaty muggy day and four cold showers later we finally sight the clouds.

actually, five cold showers later.

make that six.

doxology

40 years almost to the day from when we had the first sunday service at the current location. really? that sounds so long ago! i feel young yet. have 40 years passed?

the new building is where HOM and i meet and where we wed and bring up J1 and J2, at least for part of their fragmented childhood. it is the home to which we return from foreign assignments and, these days, from our travel adventures. it is where we are held to the most account, of all the churches and amongst all the small groups.

my heart and my soul swell as we sing, praise God from whom all blessings flow... praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

doctored - charles piller (2025)

 

heavy-going but interesting. a little bit disjointed and kinda messy. you get upset with the villains but unfortunately there is no satisfactory resolution. i guess that is the problem with accounts of history as it unfolds and the end is not written yet. it is a troubling but enlightening read.

my man the plumber

HOM changes the bathroom tap.

as in, tap leaks and mildew grows. (real) plumber quotes for new tap. HOM decides he can do better and besides it's not rocket science. HOM buys new tap and installs it. voilà!

one could start a second career soon.

unexpectedly pleasant encounter

lovely young man on the helpline trying to get me thru with my face verification function who says ah! in a most reassuringly knowing tone and then cheerfully walks me thru the steps to successfully set it up.

what i appreciate the most, i tell HOM, is that he is so clearly present with me in my agony and is so openly thinking aloud as we work through the steps that i gladly submit to his instructions and forget to don my usual crabby luddite persona for when i am flummoxed by tech. 

thank you sir!

poco vino

the shiraz comes in a dinky bottle and is surprisingly drinkable. it is nice to end the day this way with a great view to boot.

surprised by quality

pretty decent cheesecake and almost certainly the best cake i've had this side of the causeway yet. now to see whether the blood sugar shoots up to decide if it is as good as it tastes.

the arthur truluv books - elizabeth berg

of which there are 3: the story of arthur truluv (2017), night of miracles (2018), and the confession club (2019).

arthur truluv catches me and holds me tight in his gentle otherworldly kindly embrace and i enjoy his story and lucille's (and iris's and monica and tiny's). but the magic peters out after one-and-three-quarter books and i find myself reading from the final chapter forwards for the last book.

she writes better than debbie macomber but not as well as maeve binchy or marian keyes.

a walk in the park

we join the older adults' fellowship group for their quarterly walk this morning, HOM and i. the heavens declare the glory of God, someone shares. the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

and it's true. in a way i mostly hardly notice and certainly do not pay enough attention to, there are lovely things to look at if only i bother to. 

in other news, those gorgeous heavy-laden almost-violet promising-rain clouds in the background never delivered.

big gah

when you remember to tell them to leave out the pickle but you let them put the onion in because you are thinking of the in-n-out grilled onions but then the carl's jr. burger comes with raw onions and now you cannot get the taste out of your mouth even after a rescue ice cream.