Shanghai, 26-31 May 2026

 Our very first family trip- dad, mum, ed, jas, luis, asher, jiu jiu and me. It was a tiring trip as we had to manage dad throughout. He woke up before 6am daily and mum and I accompanied him for his breakfast round 1 (even on days we are going to go out for breakfast) and he couldnt walk for long. Shanghai is a big city, cant say I really like it but our hotel location was good and we could walk easily to the bund. I prefer zhu jia jiao and especially since it was quieter earlier in the day. Food was extremely affordable and didi was cheap. Food delivery was also so advanced that robots sent them up to our hotel room. It was a comfortable trip and was also the first time I didnt get anything (literally nothing at all) for myself as souvenir.  

Nepal, 25 Dec 2025 to 2 Jan 2026

 We went with this small private tour called Brothers International or something. Signed up with the tour as we didnt want to crack our heads with the planning and since this was q an exotic place. The flights had long transits and it made me realise that I can no longer appreciate sacrificing sleep for lower costs. The food there was expected and similar to Indian food. Weather was cold at night. The 2 day hiking (now I cannot even remember which places we went) was extremely tough and challenging, especially so as I experienced serious back pain before the trip and the hike from Pokhara (although less than 2000m) made it worse. The scenery of mountains in the distance and throughout the hike was very very beautiful; the country is fortunate to have so much nature. I still remembered the little doggy who followed up for the more than 1hr walk, the extreme cold on top of the mountains (temperatures dropped after 2pm) and both Huimin and I were shivering under the blankets. The long and bumpy car rides and I wondered why the hell the roads were so unconnected (always with holes in the roads). The sunrise view at the temple was breath-taking, the unbelievable view of tourists doing paragliding in the mountains in front of our hotel, the simple and yet down-to-earth local bus ride up the mountain to our hotel together with the locals, spending countdown and new year,.... Before the trip we were still concerned because early in the year the riots in Kathmandu was so major that a new major hotel was burned down and we wondered if we should continue with the trip. The only shame was that the tour guide was too young and inexperienced to show us anything. My first time on Yeti (Nepal domestic flight). The country came across as sad to me, as on our first day our chat with the more experienced local guide shared with us that young people are all planning to leave the country due to the corrupted government and they no longer find any future staying in the country. This left me thinking a lot throughout the trip despite the beautiful scenery throughout. It's sad, really sad.

Melbourne Road Trip, 1-8 May 2024

 First trip post pandemic. Huimin drove and we travelled across Great Ocean Road. The scenery was awesome and having the time to travel in a relaxed pace was really enjoyable. Fish and chips was really good anywhere and Huimin cooked as well. Another highlight of the trip was to the Grampians National Park. There was an on-going festival and the hiking trail was the one of the toughest I've tried. The breath-taking scenery at the end was definitely worth it. Met my colleague boarding the same plane and going to the same national park.