A few days ago, I was revising some Chinese homework with the kids when I stumbled upon the Chinese characters 明代 (míng dài), which refer to the Ming Dynasty.
One thing led to another and I found out that the Ming Tombs we’d visited in 2008 were actually 十三 堎 shí sān líng or the 13 tombs of Chinese emperors of the Ming Dynasty.
Pardon me if I sound like a complete fool in sharing this revelation – you need to know that we did not have the chance to read up on it as we had our hands full running after a 2 year old!
Here’s the beautiful entrance to the area:
[click to continue…]
Sichuan is famous for the tongue numbing Sichuan peppercorns in this fish dish:
Now, Sichuan is famous for the second earthquake which has left:
- 200 people dead or missing.
- 11,800 people injured.
- 100,000 homeless.
The average Chinese has very little to call their own thus when they lose their home, they seriously lose everything because that’s all that they have.
One of my former colleagues is from Chengdu and he has invited us to visit for years and years. However, I find it extremely challenging travelling with our toddler that I have declined.
Channel News Asia reports that travel and tours to Sichuan are not affected and that the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not issued a travel advisory to that region yet.
I pray that he and his family (he is married with a child and lives with his parents) are safe.
