The return of family members

Recently my father-in-law passed away at the age of 81. He had hip fracture five months before this. Prior to the fall which resulted in the above fracture, he had to undergo dialysis thrice a week.
His body became weaker and weaker and finally he had to leave this world.

The news of his death brought his sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren who were staying in Selangor. For five days before his cremation, all the family members gathered at his house to perform chanting of the Amitabha Buddha's name and other rituasl. Normally the house will be very quiet because most of his sons are working and living in Selangor.

This incident shows that the Chinese stress the importance of filial piety to parents even to the day when they pass away. The death of one of the parents will definitely bring all members of the family back to show their last respect and responsibility to the dead.

Dong Ba Wen - World Heritage Language

The Naxi ethnich group in Yunnan has its own language called Dong Ba Wen. This is one of the surviving picture language of the world. It consists of pictures to tell the meaning. Not many Naxi people know this language and efforts are being done to preserve this world heritage.

I manage to catch some examples of Dong Ba Wen in photos and produced below for the perusal of readers to this blog.

Some Dong Ba Wen can be found on the pillar

One example of Dong Ba Wen in pictoral form on the wall

Some pictoral words of Dong Ba Wen on the wall

The Dong Ba Wen is written above the Chinese words

The Jade Dragon Snow Hill

My very aim of going to Yunnan was to touch the snow or ice of Jade Dragon Snow Hill. However, when I was in Li Jiang, the upgrading of facilities there had not been completed and we had to contend ourselves by watching the snow-capped hill from a view-point at a height of 3502 meters instead of over 4000 meters at one of the 13 peaks. Anyhow, it was a wonderful sight and we were lucky because the mist had not completely covered the hill as can be seen from the photos below.

So far, no one has been able to conquer Jade Dragon Snow Hill because of the unpredictable weather conditions and the unstable rock structures. The climbers will fail to anchor themselves on the ascent because of the nature of the rocks which give way easily.

This is the scene of trees at around 6 degrees Celsius.

This is a common site on the way up the hill - moss-covered trunks

The blogger posing with Jade Dragon Snow Hill as the background

The unsurmountable Jade Dragon Snow Hill

Another view of Jade Dragon Snow Hill

Let me take of photo of you with the conifers as the background.

A resting place on the way down the hill

You can hang your wishes here.

Can you spot the wishes I put down here?

Going down the hill through this wooden bridge

If you have reached this arch, you have reached Jade Dragon Snow Hill

The cave in Jiu Xiang

Another interesting I set foot on was Jiu Xiang Geological National Park where beautiful stalactites (structures formed on the roof / ceiling (remember the c ing stalactites) of caves) and stalagmites (structures formed on the floor / ground (remember the g in stalagmites) of caves. I was surprised to see a waterfall in the cave too.

The photos below are self-explanary with some comments added in.

The words on the stone read
'The Jiu Xiang Geological National Park'

The arch's wording reads 'The Scenic Area of Jiu Xiang'

What 'animals' can you make out of these structures in the cave?

Some beautiful stalagmites

A 'tiger' opening its mouth

Beautiful stalactites 1

Beautiful stalactites 2

Beautiful stalactites 3

Posing in front of stalactites

Another beautiful site in the cave

A very tall stalagmite

How beautiful these stalactites are

A rare scene - waterfall in the cave

The amazing stone forest

One of the peculiar physical features of Yunnan is the Stone Forest. There are stones as tall as trees lying here and there forming a forest. A visit to Yunnan is not complete without a visit to this wonder of nature. Earthquakes which occur frequently also affect the structure of the stones as can be seen from the photos I took of them.

We were able to watch the traditional dance performed by the Bai minority group of Yunnan. Some visitors joined them for the dance too.

Entrance to Stone Forest

Stones growing up from the water

Erected natural stones

Stones of various shapes and sizes

Effect of earthquake on the stones resulted in this condition

The carving on the stone reads 'Shi Lin' or 'Stone Forest'

Do I look like twin-tower

Fort-like stones

Do you dare to walk under the trapped fallen stone?

Scene showing effect of earthquake on the stones

Towering stone forest

Do we look like snow-capped mountains?

Look at the stone that resembles the trunk of an elephant

Beautiful stone structures

Imagine the animal shapes you can make out of the stones

Let us play some music for the girls to dance.

Dance, girls, we're strumming now.

See how we dance, then you can join in.

"Wait, I want to dance too," said the man.

A maple tree

Flowers, flowers everywhere

I have never really had a good look at flowers when I am in Malaysia. However, during my visit to Yunnan I seemed to be attracted to flowers. They can be seen everywhere. My camera helped me to capture some of them which I produced below. Frankly, I do not know the names of the flowers except Flowers 8.

I hope you enjoy looking at the flowers posted here.

Flowers 1

Flowers 2

Flowers 3

Flowers 4

Flowers 5

Flowers 6

Flowers 7

Flowers 8

Flowers 9

Flowers 10

Flowers 11