Jujube aka “Chinese Apple”

About 1 1/2 year ago, my dad gave me this little tiny jujube tree and I didn’t it would survive the first winter.  But, it did and also it is the first year of this tiny tree to produce some fruit.  The only regret is that I planted too close to the japanese maple and the european beech trees, but I really don’t have much space elsewhere.

Prior to writing this blog, I didn’t really know the common name of this particular fruit.  Although, I know it is similar to “mark tun” as people back in Laos refers to this fruit.  After talking to my landscape buddy and checking his reference books I managed to narrow it down.  The official name of this fruit is “Zizyphus Jujube” aka Chinese Apple.

This picture was taken last year back in June 28th of 2010. Also was taken with my old camera rebel Xsi/18-200 IS lense.

This picture was taken back in Sept. 15th of this month with new camera and lense. What a big difference:-).

Notices the different sizes of the jujube tree in between the japanese maple and european beech tree.  I’m glad that I planted all those trees as soon as I moved in.

Close up of the jujube tree. I need to get some new tree posts.

I forgot to count the number of fruits. I'm guessing it is probably somewhere between 10-15.

It is almost there, maybe in a week or so.. I can get my first taste

Mom stop by to get some banana leaf to wraps her "kao tome". I didn't think she would clean it all up like this.

 

 

 

Chateau De Versailles

I don’t even know how to begin to describe this place to most of you folks.  Talking about grand scale of Palace and gardens.  We spend most of the day walking around inside the palace/outside gardens and we barely covered half of its ground.  This is probably #2 destination places for tourists to visit after the Eiffel Tower.  We got there some what early and there were so many folks waiting in lines to purchase the tickets and entering the Palace.  I didn’t really care for the inside tour of the palace itself.  It was too crowded, too hot, and the smell of old furnitures.  The package tour we choose was € 15 ($ 20) per person.

the end of line... this line goes up all the way toward the building and loop back toward us... then loop back up toward the building again

view of gardens/groves and grand canal

too bad that all the fountains were off.

 

she is feeding the ducks and fishes with left over sandwich.

 

The view of Palace from the Grand Canal. There are so many sculptures places all over the gardens.

The best way to see everything is probably by renting the golf cart or ride the bicycle.

Paris By Night

Another amateur move on my part that I didn’t bring my tripod along.  First of all, I didn’t think I’ll be out cruising the city late at night.  Just happened that old friend of family found out I am in town and offered to show me around.  Of course, I accepted the offer:-).  This guy went out of his way to pick me up at my cousin’s house.  It has been 7 years since the last time I saw him and his family.  The whole family took me out to a dinner at this really nice seafood restaurant, the foods was awesome.  We talked about the time they spend in U.S. and where I took them to in Northern California.  They were glad that I show them around and very appreciated it.  I also appreciated them for treating me so well:-).  When I saw the bill from a distance, my first reaction was… Oh my god!!!  I did a quick currency exchanges rate to the U.S. dollars, talking about some expensive dinner.

It was almost 10:30pm by the time we finished the dinner.  After he dropped off his family, he drove me around the city to various tourist spots.  It was 2am and we still didn’t see everything yet, but the thunder storm ruined it for us.  We just called it a night after that.

Sorry for the pictures... It is the best I can do without a tripod and cordless shutter remote.

 

I really like this picture, although it would be nice to have the tripod and remote shutter

Paris, France (Aug. 16th, 2011)

All summer long, I’ve been looking forward to spending some time in Paris.  Since, last year trip I didn’t get to see much of Paris.  My cousin’s place is about an hour out of Paris, she thinks the best way to go is by Train/metro.  Our adventure that day begins at Disneyland RER Train station.  We took the RER train toward Paris, then we got off to take Metro into Paris.  The first stop is Eiffel Tower, I was so looking forward to climb the tower til I arrive at the base of tower.  There are so many lines filled with people and doesn’t seem like those lines are moving at all.  My cousin insist that I should stand in line and wait to hike the steps of Eiffel Tower.  After I saw the massive crowds on the stairwells, I didn’t want to waste the whole day on one place.  I told my cousin, I’ll skip it this time and I’ll make sure not to visit the Eiffel Tower during the month of July/August ever again.  The next time I’ll try to visit them during the fall season.

I was so disappointed with myself for not checking all my gears.  Not even half way through our tour of Paris, the battery on my camera is flashing red which meant is running really low.  No big deal…. I have extra battery in my bag, the nightmare begins when I switched the battery.  The reserve battery I had in my bag had drained and it is also about to died on me any minute.  I had to be on extra reserve mode while taking the pictures, like not turning on my lcd screen and turn it off as soon as I’m done taking the picture.  Here are some of the pictures I managed to capture.

We took one of those tour boat around the city

This hotel is famous for the scene in "Bourne Identity" movie, when Matt Damon is on roof deck looking down at the CIA agent.

 

Standing in the middle of Champs Elysees street looking toward Arc De Triomphe

The most famous attraction spot for Asian folks... Too expensive for me 😦

 

Happy 2nd Anniversary

I can’t believe it is been 2 years since I started blogging.  First of all, I didn’t think I’ll last this long.  After 98 posts and 12,372 hits later, I just want to thanks those folks that regularly visits the site.  Although, at times I feel like my rants are boring, but still some of you keeps coming back.  Kob jai der!!  That’s just a simple thanks in lao, for those folks can’t read my lao karaoke.

So, stay tunes for more rants to come…

British Man Died In Vang Vieng

Even before I even finish reading the article of below, I immediately assume that alcohol and drugs are involved.  As I commended on my previous blogs, Vang Vieng is best known throughout backpacker communities for the cheap drugs.  I am surprised that there aren’t as many death as reported it.  Not too many cities in Southeast Asian countries that you can order your drugs directly from restaurant menu.  Alcohol, drugs, hot sun and water just doesn’t mix well together.  It is only going to get worse if the government doesn’t step in and clean up the mess.

Bournemouth man died after river ‘tubing’ in Laos

A Dorset man drowned after “tubing” down a river during an adventure holiday in south-east Asia, an inquest has heard.

Benjamin Light, 23, of Bournemouth, was on holiday in Laos when he took part in the extreme sport on 13 April at Phoudindaeng Village near Vang Vieng.

The court heard the trip on a tube down the river also involved several stops to drink shots of alcohol.

The coroner sitting in Southampton recorded a verdict of accidental death.

Gordon Denson, deputy coroner said that Mr Light’s mother, Andrea Lowehry, had been in contact with a professional lifeguard who had been on duty on the river bank the day her son died.

He had described how all the participants of the activity had been given alcohol during stops on their way down the river.

‘Eyes rolled back’

Mr Light then swung on a rope swing and jumped into the river.

“He was immersed for some time then crawled back on to the riverside,” Mr Denson told the inquest.

“He then stood up, said ‘excuse me’ and fell backwards.

“His eyes rolled back and, when attempts were made to resuscitate him, a little bit of water came out of his mouth and at that point he passed away.”

Mr Light’s embalmed body was repatriated to the UK. where a post mortem-examination revealed no clear cause of death, although there were signs of cardio-respiratory failure caused by drowning.

Mr Denson said: “Benjamin Light was on a holiday to Laos to experience what a lot of people want to do, an adventure holiday.

“He was riding down on a tube in the river, but the difference in this was that during the course of his experience he obviously consumed alcohol and then swung across the river on a rope.

“He went into the river and I can only surmise that while immersed in the water he took on board a lot of water into his body, which ultimately caused the cardio-respiratory failure.”

He added: “I wish to pass on my own personal condolences to the family.

“It’s always difficult when you lose a family member, especially when one is so young as Benjamin who was 23 years of age.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-14918533

Laziest Dog

Meet “Cassius”, my cousin’s dog from France.  I’m not very good with identified the different types of dog.  It is a pretty good size of dog but probably the laziest I’ve ever met.  Most of the time, you’ll find him snoozing under the shades.  My cousin claimed that he is a good watch dog, but I find it hard to believe. hahahhaha

enjoying his morning sun..

about to drink his water..

 

 

 

Tiny Town of Coulommiers

Coulommiers is a typical small town in France.  Most of the buildings are old and streets are tiny.  There are hardly any traffic in town because most french people takes vacation during the month of July and August.  Majority of people heads to Southern part of country or to the coast.

The town oldest church..

Most shops are closed during the month of vacation

It is almost like ghost town... hardly any traffic

Most towns in France are well landscape with beautiful flowers compare to towns in U.S.

The whole we walked around town, we probably ran into a group of people once.

Water fountain at the park.. The park itself is very well kept.

The bee

More bee

Wild flowers

Trying to keep up with my tour guide on the right.

Friends had asked me about the trip and see if I could live there.  My quick reply would always be “NO”!!!  It was nice to visit and see all those old places with so much histories. Life there are much slower pace compares it to the U.S.  The people in Laos are well adopted to the french style of living.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Provins, France “A Medieval Fair Town”

A year went by so quick.  Earlier in August I went back to France for my uncle 1 year anniversary of his passing.  During last year visits, I didn’t get to see much of France other than the temple and funeral home.  So, the goal of this year visit is to see as much France as I can in 2 weeks.  The first place my cousin took me to is this medieval town “Provins”, about an hour out of Paris.  Most of the monuments in this town were built back in the 12th and 13th centuries.  This town became part of UNESCO’s World Heritage List back on December of 2001.

The Saint-Jean's gate..

The old wall

the town's square..

Stand tall is Caesar's Tower. It was used as a watch tower and prison.

Up close of Caesar's Tower.. I had a chance to tour the inside of this prison

A view of town's square from top of Caesar's tower.

View from Caesar's tower to the Saint-Quiriace Church.

Another view of the church

View of a town..

Inside of the Saint-Quiriace Church, the service was in process.

Typical streets of Provins

 

Center of town..

By the end of the day, I was so tired of walking.  This tiny little town is pretty hilly.