rivafilia's photostream

i found a tucked-away cafe in shanghai when i went there two weeks ago. i didn't do much on my visit primarily because it was raining most of the time but, i loved it and would even say it was the best trip that i have ever had so far primarily because, it was not hurried and so, was very relaxing. i spent most of my time in shanghai in this cafe; reading an arthurian romance novel by cornwell while drinking wine or coffee.

i dont know what the hell i was looking at above me!

This was taken during my hike on 徽杭古道 (hui hang gu dao), a thousand year old trail over the mountains used by tea merchants to transport tea from plantations in anhui province to the markets in zhejiang province .

my good friend, aidan, once told me that the progression of ones readiness in handling a relationship is the ability to take care of plants-pets-significant other.

i have a green thumb but somehow, i never warmed up to pets.my track record includes; a friend's lovebirds died under my watch and another friend's goldfish committed suicide on me (it jumped out of its fishbowl!!!). the only success i had was with my brother's pet mini pincher but i think it's going to have a heart attack pretty soon due to the excessive amount of pork skin cracklings i fed it when i was in the philippines.

my flatmate here in china rescued a kitten from a dumpster and brought it home before i moved in. when i moved in, the cat and i used to wage war against one another with me usually losing and wounded. however, the cat became used to me and would sleep on my chest at night and kiss me in the morning.

eventually, my friend gave the cat to me on my birthday and it probably was the best birthday gift anyone has ever given to me. i love this cat immensely. he loves to sit on computer keyboards, he stretches like a yogi, nuzzles me like i dont need anything else in the world. what's amazing is that this cat can understand both chinese and english. i am beginning to teach him filipino.

he is still alive now and i fuss over him so much. he receives way too much love and attention from both me and my flatmate but more from me. he loves to just chill as if he has no care in the world (he probably doesn't since i cater to his every whim!) and just does whatever he feels like doing. he roams the apartment as if he owns the place and we are his minions well, he probably does, after all, he isn't named NAPOLEON for nothing.

plants and pets down, one more to go...