vegetarian 'dinz'

tried cooking an all veg meal today for AN and SL. everything was vegetarian including the oyster sauce! took quite a bit of effort for the old cucumber soup but it tasted great! i started the habit of becoming vegetarian once a week since April and it was possible only with social support from friends who do not mind doing it together! perhaps i may just turn full veg one day.. mmm..

Shanghai in a nutshell

after the 3 hour flight delay from HK to Shanghai... 筋疲力尽
thank god the car ride from airport to LL's house... 有惊无险
seeing LL and Yellow... 异地重逢
Cami... |骨|瘦|如|柴|
walking around the city with no agenda... 随心所欲
most of the restaurants we ate in... 物超所值 ^^b
appreciative of the hosts... 地主之宜
wrong return date on my ticket... 晴天霹雳!!
so bobian must buy a new ticket... 破财消灾 :(
after all that fun it is time to go back to work... 打回原形 @@

Guilin.. 真的还好而已

and they say 桂林山水 - 甲天下.. i say SO-SO-ONLY! quite disappointed with what i saw. not sure if it was the wrong season or was it because we joined a local Chinese tour which kindda spoiled it for me. this picture was probably one of the best shots of the 山水 there, so you can be the judge.

we joined this cheap local tour which brought us to so many places, including a ride on one of the ferries like this. i got into a huge fight with a China aunty on board of the ferry because threw a soiled diaper (full of shit) into the river right in front of my eyes. i even had to take a whiff as the wind was blowing my direction. let's just say it was VERY hard for me to sit and do nothing - i went right up to her and gave her a piece of my mind!!

what was slightly more entertaining were the caves we visited, unfortunately they were dramatically litted with neon colours that made me felt like i was in 盘丝洞 of 西游记 the entire time.

very impressed with how they actually brought the entire souvenir shop INTO the caves as well - seizing every opportunity to sell fake stones and jades to tourists like us.

and of course, people like them almost makes me want to laugh. excuse me, the '后面 aunty' - the sign already told you "NO ENTRY" and you still happily walk in to take pictures. '前面 aunty' sitting on the railings 'like a boss'. haha.

Guilin - definitely not a place i want to re-visit again.

the tan chen hong dodson HK reunion

been a while since the family of four travelled together. definitely a luxury for the sis to be out alone without the kids. i was eager to arrange for something special so i made a booking for lunch at an exclusive club in HK.

the food was really amazing - so many selections and they were all delicately prepared. they rarely repeated the same dishes so each time you go back to the buffet line you find something new!

what made it extra special was the décor and exclusivity of the club i guess.. i will definitely bring special guests/visiting friends to this place anytime!!

just another day in HK

really curious to see how long these protestors can last.. the previous "occupy central movement" went on for more than a year!! i certainly it will not take that long for the workers to find a solution as time is clearly not on their side..

life is GOOD

came to work and saw 爱心早餐 ready on the table with a very sweet note. i guess this must be "breakie?" as AN would most likely put it..

ps: LL.. jiayou!! life is good! "earn while we can!" HAHA.

cycling @ Tai Po

today was a fantastic day out cycling in Tai Po! really makes a difference when you have locals to bring you around. for a start, i would have never found the bike rental company! it was on the 5th floor of a building in an industrial estate.. and you know the trail is amazing when you look up and see this while cycling!

went to the village in Tai Po where the fellow HK friend's grandma still lives in.. we even had the priviledge to visit the 94 year old grandma and see the insides of the ancestral house

vegetarian-ed

fulfilled my promise to be a vegetarian for a week, a promise i made here: Chi Lin Nunnery at Diamond Hill HK. Reb, you MUST win the fight against pneumonia!! we are all rooting for you!!

simple things that make me happy #12

a pot of good soup shared with a good friend.

家人。朋友。

i knew the day was not a good one when i was greeted with a PITCH BLACK sky at 9am in the morning!! apparently it is the "amber rain signal" in HK today. but what i did not expect was the thunderstorm brewing 1,596 miles away.. in Singapore. tried to contain the emotions but it just went..

thankful for the friend who shared an umbrella with me on a rainy day. See's candies, rock my boat.

silence all these years

other day i was walking around trying to find the 'silent bros noodles shop' and for a moment i thought i was 'blur' with directions (but how can it be?? it was just DOWNSTAIRS) actually i was not... the shop has been torn down!! it is like.. GONE. no more awesome CCF for S next time she comes to HK..

such is the situation here, even if you are very good at what you do, you may not survive the ruthless landlords and their hunger for sky rocketing rents. i started to wonder what will happen to the 'silent bros' and their parents? will they have the ability to set up shop somewhere else? will business be as brisk?

well i tried to think on the bright side - perhaps they have made enough money to retire :) i have many questions but will never have any answers.. i never saw them again.

simple things that make me happy #11

i finally ditched the office papercups! towards a greener me.

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.