I am originally from India. I am aware that there are other South East Asian countries and Australia/NZ etc that grow the grapefruit commercially. You might want to check with some of those growers about the rootstock and pest resistance of varieties for Asian climates. There are several esteemed agricultural universities in India too that might be able to give you more information on the best variety of grapefruit suitable for you and its care and maintenance. I would also suggest that you get in touch with the University of California Riverside's citrus research station for help. They are world leaders in citrus research. Personally, I like the Oro Blanco grapefruit and it can take quite a bit of cold temperatutes compared to others. If it is grafted onto a Flying Dragon rootstock, it might help with your low temperatures. Also, this variety is quite a valuable, sought after and expensive crop even in the US. There are only a few farmers in california who have started growing it in small acerages and the fruit goes for around $2 a piece in the local specialty markets. You might even hit the export market if you succeed. Good luck and keep us posted.

Once upon a time, I was searching for travel literature via blogs, and I found this list which I saved on my computer (just found where I saved it). Some of these authors/books have been mentioned above, but there might be a few new ones in here, too. I would also add (if you don't mind a bit of natural history) the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, Homboldt's Cosmos, which describes his journeys in Meso/South America. The following are 100 great travel literature arranged alphabetically by authorÂs name: #01 Desert Solitaire (1968) / Edward Abbey #02 London (2000) / Peter Ackroyd #03 A Visit to Don Otavio (1953) / Sybille Bedford #04 Chasing the Sea (2003) / Tom Bissell #05 Down Under (published as In a Sunburned Country in the U.S.) (2000) / Bill Bryson #06 A Walk in the Woods (1997) / Bill Bryson #07 The Lost Continent (1989) / Bill Bryson #08 The Road to Oxiana (1937) / Robert Byron #09 Road Fever (1991) / Tim Cahill #10 The Muses are Heard (1956) / Truman Capote #11 The Songlines (1987) / Bruce Chatwin #12 In Patagonia (1977) / Bruce Chatwin #13 The Age of Kali (1998) / William Dalrymple #14 From the Holy Mountain (1997) / William Dalrymple #15 City of Djinns (1993) / William Dalrymple #16 In Xanadu (1990) / William Dalrymple #17 Out of Africa (1937) / Isak Dinesen #18 Stranger on a Train (2002) / Jenny Diski #19 My Family and Other Animals (1956) / Gerald Durrell #20 Bitter Lemons of Cyprus (1957) / Lawrence Durrell #21 An Unexpected Light (1999) / Jason Elliot #22 The Snow Geese (2002) / William Fiennes #23 Europe, Europe (1989) / Hans Magnus Enzensberger #24 All the Wrong Places (1988) / James Fenton #25 Chasing the Monsoon (1991) / Alexander Frater #26 In an Antique Land (1993) / Amitav Ghosh #27 Paris to the Moon (2000) / Adam Gopnik #28 Ghost Riders (2003) / Richard Grant #29 The Size of the World (1997) / Jeff Greenwald #30 Seven Years in Tibet (1953) / Heinrich Harrer #31 A Moveable Feast (1964) / Ernest Hemingway #32 Oracle Bones: A Journey Between ChinaÂs Past and Present (2006) / Peter Hessler #33 River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (2001) / Peter Hessler #34 Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft (1950) / Thor Heyerdahl #35 Barcelona (1992) / Robert Hughes #36 Video Night in Kathmandu (1988) / Pico Iyer #37 Ghost Train Through the Andes: On My GrandfatherÂs Trail in Chile and Bolivia (2006) / Michael Jacobs #38 Balkan Ghosts (1993) / Robert D. Kaplan #39 The Shadow of the Sun (2001) / Ryszard KapuÂciñski #40 Sea and Sardinia (1921) / D.H. Lawrence #41 Blue Highways (1982) / William Least Heat-Moon #42 Between the Woods and the Water (1986) / Patrick Leigh Fermor #43 A Time of Gifts (1977) / Patrick Leigh Fermor #44 Golden Earth (1952) / Norman Lewis #45 Artic Dreams (1986) / Barry Lopez #46 Red Dust (2001) / Ma Jian #47 Fabled Shore: From the Pyrenees to Portugal by Road (1949) / Rose Macaulay #48 The Hall of a Thousand Columns (2005) / Tim Mackintosh-Smith

Yeah I didn't think Kathmandu was very cold by any means in winter, but I think some years ago I'd looked only at the averages (average low of 36F in January!) and just made the usual assumption that there would be "cold spells" where some nights therefore at least went in the low-mid 20s. I would have guessed it was zone 9. But when you are surrounded by the Himalayas and on the "warm" (or at least warmer) side of the never-changing Siberian High in winter...nope. The record low is not even 10f below the average low and that tree is proof of it.

Sunday July 12 was a “lucky day” in Taiwan, a numerologically auspicious date to start eternally resting, and the recent Covid surge has added to the large backlog of persons awaiting their eternities. There was a long wait at the funeral home for the crowds of families to greet their departed, say their last words, close the lid, and escort the casket through the courtyard to a waiting hearse. Most of the groups were larger, in yellow robes, and others in the courtyard turned their backs in respect as the families passed. Eventually it was the turn of our small group, in black suits and dresses, to say our last words and file behind the only white casket with a cross. Most Taiwanese are Buddhist, others Daoist, with less than 10% of the Christian faith, like our departed had been. I should mention that the funeral home was mostly open-air temple courtyards, with no air conditioning, except for the no-longer-living, and that it was very hot. In addition to my mother’s passing some months ago, my family recently lost my older cousin. On this lucky day we were beginning of the all-day process of welcoming cousin J____ to her resting place. After some hours at the funeral home, we got back into the vans and drove across Taipei to the crematorium. About 80% of Taiwanese are cremated, everyone wants to do it on a lucky day, and it takes about two hours to say the actual last words, perform the cremation, and do the bone ritual thing, while saying the really last words, so we were there for a considerable time. I must comment that the crematorium was not air conditioned, and that it was even hotter now. The vans had been air conditioned, and I had just about dried out during the drive from the funeral home, but by the time we boarded the vans my shirt was again a sodden mess under my damp suit. Southeast Asia is having a heat wave. In Taipei, it was 97 F and humid that, according to my weather app, it “felt like” 117 F. Even locals were commenting on the suffocating heat. On previous, cooler days, I’d already been very hot in the evenings, wearing shorts and a T-shirt. In this day’s midday sun, in my sagging, sticking suit, tie tightly knotted around my neck, I was dizzy with heat as I did my best to copy the steps of the ceremony, remember some Chinese, and not drop any bones. After the urn was ready, we got in the vans for an hour’s drive to the mausoleum. It was a beautiful drive through lush mountains, and I managed to dry off while molding the ends of my shirtsleeves into something resembling cuffs. The mausoleum had an expansive view over a verdant ridge that resembled a Phoenix or a dragon, I didn't quite catch which, a deep valley, and a tranquil lake. J____ was destined for a prime spot, a locker at the door, looking over the valley, right by my mother. Unfortunately, the urn had taken a left instead of a right at the last mountain, gotten lost, and was stuck in traffic an hour away. I am compelled to observe that the mausoleum was also not air-conditioned. Or, rather, it had central air conditioning, but no-one thought to turn it on during our unscheduled vigil, until right when it was finally time to assemble on the sweltering patio to greet the urn and say the definitely last words between the correct number of bows, performed in turn by each family member in order of descending age, at each point in the urn’s journey from beflowered arrival table to its gilded locker. By the time we closed the locker door and got back in the vans, we’d been at it for some six hours. After the post-funeral banquet, and taking care of a few estate-related things the next day, I flew back to the SF Bay Area where SWMBO and I are dog-and-house-sitting for friends for another week. It has been a long time since I visited Taiwan, or anywhere in Asia. The reason for the trip wasn’t a happy one, and quarantine was frustrating, but I got to see my relatives, visit my mother’s resting place, attend cousin J___’s ceremony, and eat quite a lot of interesting food, which I wanted to show you. The heat and humidity is difficult to take, for wussy me at least, but I’d like to do an actual vacation trip someday. Maybe to Japan and Taiwan.