day 3: was it.. Chao Yang??

our driver recommended us to this teochew fishball noodles place for breakfast which was better than expected. soup was salty enough (oops) and fishballs were of the right consistency. unfortunately the noodles could be a little more 'al dente' hahaha!

so apparently according to AN, the place we went was not Chao Yang - but rather the 'other side' of Chao Zhou.. ok nevermind, they all look the same when it is your third day, seriously.

we climbed quite a long way up the rock formation place we visited and for a moment memories of mt kinabalu came back to mind.. specifically - the part about hokkien swearing while on our way up mt kk..

and of course we visited yet ANOTHER temple so here's presenting you the 101th temple of this trip.. zzz

ended the day with a put of fresh fish porridge.. while i am not a fan of fish, the porridge was awesome with the kiam chai the served with.. and there was a special drink made out of black beans (sounds gross i know but tastes great!) which tasted a little like herbal tea.

day 2: Chao Zhou

started the morning with comfort food - Teochew kway chap!! a little different from the Singaporean version but still nice to see food that are close to our hearts here!

our driver cum local guide then drove us to this place which apparently used to be a very vibrant capital city during the Tang/Song/Ming/Shang??? (one of them lah) dynasty but now an old village with very few inhabitants.

the trip carried on here where we found the REAL "ah balling" - it is only now that i know 鸭母埝 is the Teochew name! #enlightened-again..

this 湘子桥 cost us 50 RMB (nearly 10 SGD) just to cross!! - BY FOOT HOR. ok lah boh bian must do touristy stuff right..

my travel buddy this time - also a fellow Teochew - "AN!". was glad we did this trip together as i felt i found a new friend. :)

day 1: old town Shantou

for a start, it was REALLY weird listening to the police, immigration officers, school kids and hotel receptionists speak in super accented Teochew! hur.. the only time i hear someone speak Teochew is during CNY when the dad speaks to his siblings.

first day in Shantou and we took it easy.. cabbed to the old town just to soak in its atmosphere.

many of these buildings were deemed unsafe and some were abandoned and cordoned off.

i have been really paranoid during this trip - not super willing to try the street food although they smell REALLY nice! maybe too many reports on China food scares making me abit kia see!.

stumbled upon an old school studio and i was tempted to take some studio shots in there!

never knew there were so many types of Teochew kuehs.. and for the first time in my life - i was told 'soon kueh' is actually made of 'soon' (bamboo shoots) and not turnips!! #enlightenment

school boys fooling around on the streets.. super accented Teochew detected!!

hahaha found a tze char chef that really looks like 刘青云!!!

swatow

it all started with..

"eh 你是不是潮州人??"... "是"!

then we go 潮州 la! want??... "ONZ!"

yup.. so the decision was made just like that. air tickets, CHECK. hotel, CHECK. itinerary.. (just follow everything this guy wrote on his BLOG) CHECK!

woohooo! swatow here we come!

not just another evening walk

sometimes we forget that the best things in life are just right at your doorstep. took a walk round my hood with DY and brought her to one of my favourite spots in ktown. met a new 'friend' here, but clearly the love was a one way traffic heh..

an angmoh walking his dog (maybe i should say gwailo since we are in HK) was amused at how we were posing so much alongside a very un-interested dog.

MC hotDOG!

i spotted this perfect backdrop for a great picture.. love the depth in this! makes me really inspired to pick up my camera and go around capturing HK in its finest.

captions for this pic would definitely be: concrete jungle..

VERY nice emo shot i did for DY. perfect lighting, perfect colours, perfect mood.

of course i did not forget to introduce her to the awesome meat of an unknown animal sold at the local corner store adored by all my Singaporean visitors thus far.

life changing

two 'life changing' events happened to me today:

1) i was in a room with Kit Chan for over an hour!!! - yes, THE. REAL. DEAL.

2) i tried the, i quote: "life changing udon" at this small unpretentious Japanese CAFE tucked away in one of the quiet streets of TST.

with all due credits given to the food, (DY and i went back twice in a week for their udon!!).. CLEARLY, life changing event #1 was more life changing than #2!! *UNREAL*

never in my wildest dreams i thought i could be in a room chatting with her in person. and thanks to her, i have one more word added to "PQ's limited vocabulary book" now: psoriasis.. go figure!

tai tam tuk reservoir

no one really knew where we were going.. but we just walked and walked.. we took a bus to wong nai chung and then got off to start the hike. was not a tough hike per sae but i was deinitely in the wrong shoes! it's not a place you want to wear your limited edition adidas sneakers to, you know what i mean?!

had quite a bit of fun "rock climbing".. we were trying to be "smart" by climbing up to the top thinking there may be a short cut.. clearly there wasn't hah..

entire hike took about 3 hours but totally worth it! great view and hard to imagine it is HK.

the obligatory jump shot at the end, of course!

bra...

or should i say, bra-less?? so you will not believe it - i went to work today without a bra!!! oh my F god. seriously am i too tired or am i too tired? geez. mind and body not in sync.. thank god for the jacket i had on me.. LOL.. and i hope no one discovered it?! *faint

天意

after what happened today, a song actually came to my mind..
难道说...一切都是天意, 一切都是命運, 終究已註定..???

so..
天意, 到底是 可违 还是 不可违??？

shop like a PRC

i do not know what got over me today.. somehow just felt like spending some money? bought a pair of tory burch shoes and a burberry bag... all the buying decisions, made in a flash. but all the items were.. so "not me"!.. =_=||

TOTO

so my dream to win the 10 million dollars Hong Bao TOTO is officially over as the results were released. but apparently the mum texted me next morning to say i struck "3 and a half numbers".. haha ok i did not know 3 and a half numbers also can win money one. but yah.. 60 bucks not bad lah.. if anything this is "heng heng" money so must take! HUAT AH!!

ah siao 又发福了..

SG Hyatt - Straits Kitchen

the best of all the mediocre hawker food combined, haha even though it does not sound like it but i meant it in a good way! will be back again!

华艺 festival - 插班生 之 才男才女 篇

DY and her crew during a rehearsel in the afternoon.

this is CY and her attempt to play an "instrument" haha..

he was the music director of the night.. i liked how he 改编 the songs to give them a new lease of life!

somehow.. drummer is always a little 胖胖的 and botak 的..

CY's brother in law also kena pulled in to become the keyboard 手!

华艺 festival - 插班生 之 lelong 篇

haha so what is my role in this whole thingy? apart from being the audience i got another "important" responsibility.. which is to take care of all the "miscellaneous".. LOL!

apart from running to the carpark to help the guitarist to retrieve his iPad for song list and sorting out the crew t shirt by sizes to the most important part - HELP TO LELONG their merchandises!! haha look at our failed attempt in trying to get this very, very cost conscious friend of friend to buy something from us.

BUT!!! overall - i must say.. BB sales girl 是强的!!! we made lots of money that night!!!

definitely a night of fun and experience. my passion for selling may have just been reignited there haha!

otah also "staff retreat"

been craving for otah from this shop for the longest time and for two days in a row i went with hope, only to be disappointed twice!! sigh. well at least i hope you guys enjoyed the staff retreat!!