Sophie has a fascination for kid sized chairs/stools, any type, plastic ones, wooden ones, bamboo ones....

When we were in Matamata, we went to Warehouse(similar to K-Mart) to find a doll for her (coz mummy me forgot to pack in her doll!) and we ended up going home with a S$6 bright pink plastic chair from China that she chose and played constantly throughout the past few months and had friends over fighting over it......

... while the dolly we chose got left under the bed next to a stack of other toys.

Lesson learnt - buy what she likes, not what I like. Sooooooo hard..... :)

This trip has been a great Chinese immersion trip for Sophie.

Other than learning a bit of conversational mandarin, Sophie has taken a liking to using the chopsticks. She's able to get some food into her mouth while having lotsa fun with it! :)

It's amazing how China picks up some things so fast.... all the shopping places charge for their paper bags (ya... no more plastic bags!) and also no sign of styrofoam boxes, all paper now.

We need to learn.

Btw, that's my fav foldable shopping bag that I bought from HV for $12. It's ex but it looks great and it's been one of my fav travelling tools so far. Aus and NZ also charge for shopping bags now.

Pa (James' dad) has many friends in China so we've been having meals after meals. Yesterday night we had two dinners! :) One of which was a wonderful home cooked meal. It was typical Chinese style entertaining - check out the number of dishes! 10!

This is the home of the son of an old family friend of my father in law. Now we have three generations of friendship. Sophie had so much fun playing with the two kids that she cried when we had to leave. I'm really glad that relationships are very important to her.

I feel a bit sad that in China, since the late 70s, each couple is only allowed to have one child. Must be so tough for some and yet most have gotten used to that and enjoy having only one precious child. On Sunday, I could see the fathers happily carrying their kids and holding hands with them, no matter girl or boy, and enjoying the time they had together. Very precious.

We're back in Kunming.

Right after church on Sunday, while waiting for my in laws, Sophie decided to perform on the streets. She started singing Hallelujah Praise Ye the Lord. Watching too much Chinese opera on TV in the hotel... :)

Right outside the church we attended on Sunday

My parents in law finished teaching at the bible school yesterday morning. So, in the afternoon, we went to do some sightseeing. Erhai Lake is translated as ear lake because it is shaped like an ear. It is the second largest highland lake in China.

Sophie absolutely loved being able to run in the open, picking up sticks and eating fresh fruit which we bought from a lady in traditional costume. I think she has had enough shopping. You should see her smile when she saw the open space! She looks like Moses trying to part the red sea except she's pointing in the wrong direction...... :)

See more photos on Facebook.

In the local restaurants, food is displayed by the roadside and you can choose the ingredients and the style of cooking you want! Food is normally full of salt and oil. We'll have to ask for less salt and less oil.

The good thing is that the restaurants outsource their cleaning and we get fresh utensils each time, wrapped nicely and very hygienic. Still, we're always prepared with our own bottled water and anti-bacterial handwash gel and wet wipes, very essential!

Yang Ren Jie aka Foreigner Street, Old Town, Da Li

We spent yesterday morning checking out Foreigner Street. It's a street with restaurants and shops catered for the tourists. We bought a few handicrafts, books and even some 100% pure wool shawls. The design and quality of the goods found on this street are relatively better than those on the other main streets but of course we do pay a little bit more. Still, it's very affordable, for example, we paid only less than S$50 in total for 2 huge woollen shawls for James and a nice woollen shawl/blanket for myself.

We saw quite a few foreigners around. I was wondering to myself, how do foreigners survive here since almost everything is in Mandarin. There are hardly any signs in English, maybe except for the toilets. Even I am struggling and I understand basic Mandarin. How do they order food and ask for directions? How to bargain? Hmmm.... not easy. I'm so glad that James speaks fluent Mandarin and my in laws are amazing. My father in law calls himself a local (because he is originally from China) when he needs to get a better price. :)

It's our third day here and I'm starting to get a feel for the Chinese people. It's always like that when we travel - first few days go by in a blur and after a while, then we start to observe and understand. I'm really glad we are travelling with my in laws and we eat at all the local restaurants and experiment with all the local dishes. I'd be so lost without them!

This pair of shoes caught my eye when we were shopping. Sophie chose the colour. :) A girl after my own heart....