The Souks

Today we ventured out in 100 deg heat.

We went over to old Dubai to visit the Spice and Gold souk.

First we had to cross the creek on an Abra, which at least caused some breeze 🙂

The spice souk was very colourful, I was looking for saffron but was very tempted with the wonderful smelling vanilla .

In the end I settled for 2g of saffron, which Geoff bought me , and I will have to wait till Christmas before I can use any.

We also bought some crystal Alum to try ,which is a natural deodorant.

Now the gold souk was amazing,shop after shop filled with gold jewellery,the amazing thing was all the shops were
packed with people .

The earrings took my eye especially the ruby ones but at almost £500 I decided to give them a miss.

After 6 hours in that heat we cooled down in the pool 🙂

Before ending the day with a swim in the sea , the warmest sea I have ever swam in, while watching the sun set.

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The adventure begins

Now sat in heathrow airport having what could be my last lovely cappuccino for a month.

We board in an hour and I cannot tell you how excited I feel.
Also feeling a little sad that I won’t see my boys for a whole month , it’s the longest we will have ever been apart.

On route to Beijing we are having 3 days in Dubai so this time tomorrow I will be enjoying the pool and heat .

Then next on the list is our walk with the Beijing hikers 🙂

When packing I realised all the kit I have with me is from Rohan , even my jeans , all good travelling clothes, I hope 🙂

BTW for any one interested the small package in my previous post is a 20 L day Ruc sac great for travelling with.

Although I may need another bag to bring all my souvenirs home especially as Matthew has requested a terracotta army 🙂

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This we might give a miss :-)

I was reading about Mt Haushan in china and thought wow 🙂

So added it to my list of places to go/see/do/walk.

Then last night I came across The Mt Haushan hiking trail

I think we might give this one a miss 🙁

But there is a cable car to the top, so no need to miss out altogether 🙂

The YouTube Videos are fantastic.. if only i was brave enough !

Mt. Huashan Plank Path

Packing Light

Time to think about packing for china.

As we plan to travel light it wont take long.

Clothes wise it will be walking trousers, skirt, a few T-shirts and some sandles.

Jogging bottoms, 2 pairs of undies , 2 bras and walking socks.

A warm top and Rain jacket.

Wash kit is just a bar of soap , tooth paste , tooth brush and a quick drying towel.

Then there will be my camera, GPS, i phone and chargers.

Plus a few other bits and bobs.

All packed into my Osprey Kestrel 48 ruc-sac

Wonder if you can guess whats in the small package on the photo….

Its a great bit of kit , I got Geoff one for his birthday and hes used it everyday 🙂

Now I can think about packing !

Because I have finally finished knitting my first sock.

Although I must confess that I seem to have done the casting off too tight , so it wont stretch over my foot 🙁

Sure it can be sorted , but maybe not before I go to China.

When I return I shall look forward to knitting the other sock to make a pair 🙂

colour

Recently I have had work done in my Kitchen and Bathroom 🙂

All that is left to do is the painting

Trying to decide on a colour is a nightmare and something I am not used too.

All my married life it was magnolia or magnolia 🙂

Geoff insists I should just paint everywhere white but I find that so cold looking.

So far these are the choices for the kitchen, soft peach, wellbeing, and Lemon tropics.

Lemon tropics is the favourite 🙂

The choices for the bathroom are perfectly taupe, soft peach and soft truffle.

Soft truffle is the favourite, even though it would be dark , it means it would be warm.

What are your favourite colours ???

A 20 Miler

Yesterday was our last walking day before we go off to China.

We really wanted some hills to climb but as none were available we decided to make it a long one.

It was the most perfect September day for walking

So we walked along the fen Rivers way from Cambridge to Ely,thinking one day it might be fun to walk all the way from Cambridge to Kings Lynn

Once in Ely we had tea and scones at Peacocks Tea rooms

Then we caught the train to Waterbeach and from there we walked back into Cambridge.

Making it a grand total of 20 miles 🙂

Amazingly my feet did not ache at all so maybe these new boots suit my feet.

Another week and we shall have some hills to walk along, on the Great Wall of China

Witches Stones

If you remember back in July I walked with my Friend T.

Now she has led her walk for the Newmarket Ramblers I can tell you the story behind the Stones !

They are the Witches stones supposedly put there because a witch has to count the stones before she enters the house.

With all these additional stones to count it is day break before she has finished so she cannot enter 🙂

The walk was a great success for T and I am glad to say no snakes were seen.

As when I walked it out with her again just last week she missed stepping on a grass snake by a cats whisker.