Its that time of year when we seem to see life in extremes. In my home country - Australia - they have been ravaged by fires and floods. both extremes along a continuum. In my current residential country - China - we have been ravaged by snow and smog. Well at least they like to call it "smog" but in fact it is plain old air pollution which unfortunately we are having had the highest levels for many years. Beijing seems to have been hit the hardest with levels over 750 when the world's experts are saying that 500 is extreme danger levels!!! Even here in Nanjing we have been affected by air pollution this year in quite noticeable levels. It is difficult to go out walking (when you brave the cold) as even the healthiest of us get breathless....heaven help those with respiratory disorders who are being advised to stay indoors. Mind you it is still cold enough that I don't need much inducement to stay indoors!!! Spring might be around the corner and the minus temperatures seem to have passed but it is still in single digit figures which is too cold for me!!

China Daily have recently released the top 10 most satisfying tourist cities in China for 2012 and I can say that I have managed to visit 6 of them. Guess the other 4 better be on my list of places to visit in 2013. For those who are interested the top 10 in descending order are: Chongqing, Wuxi, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Xiamen, Chengdu, Nanjing (!), Huangshan, Shanghai and Suzhou. The ones underlined in black are those that I have put on my "to do" list!!

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of seeing my Nursing students graduate!! These are the students that I have been teaching since their first year at University and it was such a delight to see their happy, smiling faces as they graduated. I was humbled by their attitude as so many of them came up to me and gave me a kiss or a hug and said "thank you so much for all you taught us". They commenced their internship at the hospitals on Monday and were all very nervous about dealing with actual patients. Needless to say I cant wait to meet up with them and hear how they are getting on.....am guessing it will be a bit of a shock initially as they really don't get much practical experience during their time at University.

Good news....my wonderful friends Paul and Amy have given birth to a baby daughter Olivia. Just scrapped it in as a Dragon baby!!! am waiting impatiently till I get the chance to see her. Bad news - I heard yesterday that a dear nursing colleague in Australia died suddenly and unexpectedly. I must admit I am still reeling from the shock as we are of a similar age and I can only imagine how so many of my friends must be feeling right now. I guess this re-affirms my thoughts that we must all live each day to the full as you never know when your number is up.

As the heading of this blog suggests it is almost celebration time. We have entered the peak travel time for the Chinese as the New Year travel madness begins. Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as it is often referred to, in the most important holiday for the Chinese people.It is a customary for families to reunite for the holidays which of course leads to massive seasonal travel rushes on an already bust transport system. According to the Ministry for Transport this peak travel period will see 3.4 BILLION trips being made....that is an average of 77.4 million per day...absolutely staggering numbers that we cannot begin to comprehend in Western countries. Buses, trains and planes will all be jam packed and even then many will miss out :(

The 10 February is the official date for Chinese New Year but celebrations begin now and go through for about a month. 2013 is the Year of the Snake and it is interesting to see some of the pictures that are emerging to commemorate this animal. Lets be honest none of us think of snakes as friendly little critters!!! It will be interesting to see what emerges especially as people prepare lanterns for the Lantern Festival which commences on the 15th day of the Spring Festival.

Needless to say I am not travelling around China at this time. I was silly enough to do that in 2010 and learnt my lesson then. The idea of working my way through waves of people is not my idea of fun and relaxation!! I am escaping the madness completely - or at least once I get through the airport - for those who don't know I am heading to Sri Lanka!!! Looking forward to doing a 15 day tour of the island and then spending 6 nights at a beachside resort that provides Ayurveda treatments. Admit I don;t know a lot about Ayurveda except that it means "wisdom of life" and is a holistic approach to health and wellbeing. Therefore I'm looking forward to my stay at this all inclusive resort with lots of massages, yoga, tai chi, meditation, excursions into surrounding villages etc etc and should come back feeling like a new woman!!!

Until I return (at the beginning of Lantern Festival!) I will sign off from Chinese Chats and you can all look forward to my new entries from Sri Lanka :)

Chun jie kuai le (Happy New Year). Bye for now. xx