China - the year that was

Better late than never.  I hit the one year mark a few weeks ago while I was back where it all began.  I had grand plans for a long post marking the event, but time has slipped away so lets just go with some highlights.  Goodness knows I can't remember what I did last weekend, let alone in a few months time remember what I did last year. So...during the first twelve months in the G to the Z:

I've had about 23 or so visitors from afar. I've received over 20 cans of tuna, fresh dates and olives and a dozen packets of ibuprofen - not to mention all the tea, stamps, coffee, chocolate...

I met over 150 dogs.

I've had about four really bad haircuts.

I travelled a lot and went to all of these places (*some of them more than once):
Hong Kong*
Shanghai*
Macau
Chengdu
Xiamen
Fuzhou
Yangshuo*
Phnom Penh
Siem Riep* 
Longyan
Kuala Lumpur
Tokyo
Dali
Manila
Beijing
Shenzhen 
Wuhan
Canberra
Bowral
Sydney

I made 13 of you join WeChat - some with more chat success than others (thank you for embracing the only social media I can reliably access).

I painted not enough paintings and went to zero movies. I listened to more music than I have in years, but only went to a handful of live shows and one music festival. I watched an entire season of Girls in two sittings. I went to one wedding. Well two actually, but they were both for the same couple.

I developed an unnatural addition to the TV channel Diva and then went cold turkey from TV for 11 months (hence the uptake in music listening). 

I've drunk a lot of coffee, taken thousands of photos, ate many dumplings and drunk more cocktails in sky-high bars than I'd care to admit. So yes it's been fun, but it wouldn't have been so great if it wasn't for the family of friends I've made here in G to the Z and being able to share this with you all from afar. 

Next time I'm at a sky-high bar I'll raise a glass to the next twelve months and make a wish that you are all here. Though just so we are all clear on that, maybe not everyone come at once...