Travelling up North - continued

I took many photos while we were in Sapa, a famous tourist destination in the north of Vietnam.
Here're what I have captured that you might find amusing.
BBQ Sapa style, incluidng: eggs, sweet potatoes, various kind of meat etc. You can find local people making and selling them along the street, especially in the back-packer's quarter of the town.

Local souvenirs, made and sold by local minority people, the H'mong.

For English speaking tourists, there're H'mong tourist guides, who can speak English perfectly.

And a mountain pig.

If you are interested in this place, please check out here for information and here for more photos.

Travelling up north

I have been travelling up to visit the provinces of north-western Vietnam. This trip has long been dreamed of so you can guess I enjoyed it to the utmost.
There were 8 of us in an 8-seater, cruising over 8 cities in the space of 8 days! We wished to make it longer but how long is enough for holidays anyway?!
Here're just some photos of the most liked places on the trip.

Will share more photos next entry.

Generation next

My early attempts at cross-pollination on my amaryllis have shown some results.

I have made records of the crosses so hopefully, if these seed pods ripen, I will know exactly what parentage the seeds have.

It's so much fun and rewarding doing all this.

Amaryllis parade

Half of my seedlings from Ann has now showed off their beautiful face. So far, this season, I have 8 new crosses blooming for me. To my best guessing, they are crosses made from Charisma, Exotica, Bolero back in 2007. They have shown very interesting traces of their parentage.

From possibly Charisma as one of the parents, I have this bloom. Notice the picotee edge and tiny dots on the blooms.

This one, however, clearly shows traces of Exotica and Charisma. What present here are the visible veins, a characteristic of Exotica and the dots of Charisma.

In the same direction, from Exotica and an unknown parent, I have these.

And maybe from Boleto, I have this, with the trace of a pink on the petals.

Cindee hint that one of the parents for this bloom could be Pink Diamond.

A part from those visible traces of parentage, I have these two reds.

Out of these blooming amaryllis, I have also made a few crosses. It's so much fun to make all these cross-pollinations.

Two more new amaryllis blooms

I'm so happy with my amaryllis bulbs this season, I have many blooms everywhere!

Here're two more new crosses I grown from seeds given by members of Gardenweb Hippeastrum forum.
This one shows some traces of Exotica and perhaps Orange Sovereign.

And this one?

Even without proper ID/parentage, they are my treasures. Many thanks to Ann/Elizabeth for all these lovely blooms.