Shenzhen and Guangzhou Trip (6 - 12 November 2012)

您好! I am back from my trip to China! There are many photos and as I am too lazy to upload all of them here, please do check out my album in Facebook. However, here are some pictures to appease you readers, if there are any left who have been faithfully refreshing this page for new updates!

The start of the journey began with this remarkable view.


Look! There was a rainbow in the distant clouds! Something that I noticed when I uploaded this picture just now. What a great form of welcome to start our adventure in a foreign land.


In-flight meal. The last Malaysian meal before we had Chinese food every meal for the next seven days.

4 HOURS LATER... 


At Bao An International Airport, Shenzhen!

Then it was another an hour or so journey to the hotel via the Metro.

This greeted me when I opened the room door.


It was so tempting to immediately slip myself under the duvet and sleep till morning!

The following day, we went to Window of the World (世界之窗). It was a fascinating place with all the popular landmarks of the world replicated to the tiniest detail.

A part of Malaysia or rather Penang was also there!


Do you Penangites recognise this famous landmark?


A pat on the shoulder for you who guessed correctly. I am proud to be a Malaysian! Our pagoda is as famous as the Eiffel Tower and the London Bridge!

Let's fast forward to the next day when we went shopping at Dong Men Pedestrian Street located two stations away from Luo Hu (罗湖)), Lao Jie (老街).

That place was crazily packed with people! One tip for shopping is to haggle the price as low as 70% from the original price quoted. Indeed, it worked!

The famous milk tea brand there is not Chatime but Da Ka Si (大卡司).


What I like about the milk tea here is the pearls are smaller and that makes the chewing more fun!

Soon it was time to say goodbye to Shenzhen and we had dim sum for our last breakfast there.


I don't know why but I still prefer Ipoh dim sum. My palate is too used to Malaysian food.

The next destination: Guangzhou

We took the train from Shenzhen to Guangzhou. The fare cost RMB 80.



After an hour's ride, we finally reached our destination.

Time for a good rest before torturing our legs again.


A quaint little place. The bed was not as comfy as the one in Shenzhen but I slept soundly for the next three nights nevertheless.


The busy street of Jie Fang Nan Lu (解放南路). This was the view from our room on the 9th floor of The Bauhinia Hotel.

We did more shopping at Chang Shou Lu (长寿路) where we bought most of the items.


The stretch of the road that seemed endless. We walked and walked for almost six hours!

Some bronze statues along the way were spotted. Here are a couple.


An old man selling herbal tea


Two naughty boys climbing the gate

They were fascinating! Even the expressions were given the attention to detail.

The following day, we went to Yue Xiu Park (越秀公园) to see the famous statue of the Five Rams also known as Wu Yang (五羊).



Here is the legend of how the five rams came about.



Isn't it a fascinating story? No wonder the rams have been held in high regard by the citizens of Guangzhou and now the main attraction for tourists. It was that significant.

We headed to the Canton Tower (广州塔) where we were lifted up to the 107th floor for a magnificent view of the whole of Guangzhou. The entrance fee is RMB 150 per person.


A replica of the tower within the tower.


It's mesmerising to be looking down at all the tall buildings and they now looked so toy-like.

Another picture of the view from another part of the tower.


With more water this time. Still breathtaking!

The next day, we went to Beijing Road for more shopping. This time however, we did not buy a lot of things. We spent more on snacks.



Now here is a photo of an interesting snack.


A sausage wrapped in the waffle! Only RMB 10 for 2 pieces.

Time flies and soon it was time to say goodbye to Guangzhou.


The receptionists at The Bauhinia Hotel, Kitty and Candy.


We finally reached the Bai Yun International Airport.


Goodbye China! Till we meet again.

So that was just roughly what I had in mind for this blog post as I was too lazy. Hope you enjoy reading this short entry (it was a six nights' trip, so it is considered short).

Although I don't speak much Chinese, I think we did okay and managed to bring our messages across to the people there using mostly Cantonese.

Penang War Museum

Tourist attraction to be struck off the list.

Penang War Museum

Yes! Finally I have been to somewhere touristy! The next destination would be the Peranakan Mansion. Hmm, I wonder when I will have the determination to go. If it were not for friends, I think Penang War Museum will be the last place that I will visit because it is so far away!

All of a sudden, my cold seemed to get better when I was out having fun. Thank God for giving me strength in times like this!

So the adventure began at approximately 9:00am on a clear Sunday morning, 12 August 2012 to Batu Maung. The fares cost me a bomb! RM4 to go to Batu Maung from KOMTAR. Two and fro would already be RM8! That excluded the fare back to Feringgi. Add another 50 cents to the total of fares and I would be able to purchase a ticket back to Ipoh. Oh well, it's way cheaper than driving to the site though.

The journey took almost two hours from Feringgi to Batu Maung (inclusive of the time we waited for bus). After an arduous journey on the bus, we had to hike uphill to the museum for another 500 metres which felt like 500km under the afternoon sun which was fortunately filtered by the shrubs and trees along the way.

This was the sight to behold. The mark of the start of our adventure!


Let's begin the journey to take a step into the past.

I was a little apprehensive before entering the museum because I did not know what to expect. RM20 per entry so it better be good. I mean, better be good in the supernatural department.

I did not know what I expected to see or hear then. Probably some shadows and sounds of screaming from the living quarters of the soldiers? I really had no idea.


It was reopened in 2002.


A soldier greeted us when we entered.


Lest we forget the brave and gallant soldiers who fought for our country, look at this. A memorial stone is erected to commemorate them. Did you see the figure in multi-coloured outfit? That was not a ghost. It was me. Hehehe!!!

Please be prepared before scrolling down to the next picture because there is something real in it that you will soon find out.

A brief description about the photo: The location is just opposite the memorial stone and right behind it, a banner with a figure that looked like a Grim Reaper chopping the head of someone is hung in full view with Japanese words "Sayonara" (which means good bye in English) written on the painting. Gruesome.


Oh yes, the human skull is real if you are wondering.

Entertainment is essential and pivotal to the survival of humans even in times of war.


Here's the proof. They played the piano till the keys were peeling off.



These are snapped from the barracks of the British soldiers.




They were drinkers too.

I didn't snap many photos so the photos that you are seeing here are just random shots taken whenever I felt like it.


During the Japanese Occupation.


One of the original bicycles the Japanese soldiers used to invade into Kota Bahru in December 1941.



Wanna take a ride home?


I have no idea what this was.


This picture was snapped from one of the torture chambers. I don't see how torturing it was but there was one room where a mannequin with long hair covering the face stood in the room. That was torture for me.  


A huge snake outside the torture chambers (if I am not mistaken).

The next photo is also quite shocking so brace yourself before scrolling down.


The boards hanging on the wall were used to chop off the heads of the Japanese soldiers when the British returned. That is literally putting your head on the chopping board. I actually touched one of them without knowing the purpose of the boards in other chambers.

*shudders*


This tunnel leads to a few rooms used for discussions on strategies. Rumour has it that the light will automatically turn off at random so visitors, remember to keep your flashlights on all the time while passing through the tunnel.

We spent approximately one and a half hours in there and after visiting the museum, I felt thankful that I was not born during the World War II era.

I guess I shall stop writing now and hope this post does not scare some of you till you can't sleep at night. There is no escape from haunted places because every place has its own past and there is no way you can change that. :o)

Next up: Wait for it.... I might go eccentric and post up something interesting again.

Healthily gone for two months but sickly back after that.

It is a surprise, isn't it? After disappearing for more than two months, I am finally back here to pen down something. I can be a little eccentric and do the impossible -yes, I call posting an entry in my blog impossible because it feels like a chore most of the time - when I am sick.. Well, not that sick. Probably I should call it less healthy. :P

The period from the last post I wrote till a few days ago, I was still very much myself. By saying that, I mean I was as healthy as I could be. How I wish I could answer, "I am fit as a fiddle!" whenever anyone asks me how I am. All I could say was, "I (let out a Super Cough) am (another long stretch of Super Coughs) FINE!" Notice how I capitalised the last word because that is exactly how I desperately form a sentence now from my mouth. The sentence would rise in a crescendo and ends with the last word ending up as a shout, most of the time. Sorry if some of you who have spoken to me experienced my reply in this manner. I absolutely did not mean to be rude or being deaf. It is just how the cold is taking away my good manners.

I remember the last time I had a bad cold was the beginning of last year when I first started my industrial training. How time flies! Weird thing though. I seldom get sick when I was in Ipoh but here, I have been struck by the cold virus for three times! I hope third time's the charm and this will be the last of it. No more cold for me. Okay, I will allow you (Mr. Cold) to visit me for a maximum of 24 hours and after that duration is over, you have to be gone!

On an unrelated note, sort of related I guess, because I feel a little stressed out due to my current sickness as there are so much to follow up at work at the moment since my dear colleague is going to leave for another department starting from next week. So it means, I have to be versatile enough to do jobs for two people. Not to mention some of her tasks are quite different from what I have been doing so I just have to get used to it.

Tuesday will be the only day for me to do handover with her. Hope we do not leave out anything important!

Counting down to Raya as I will be back home eating all the wonderful delicacies again so Super Cough, I warn you not to ruin my festive mood! Be gone by then!

Signing off with another blast of SUPER COUGHS.

*cough cough cough*

UGH.

Before I forget, please like www.facebook.com/rasasayangresort if you haven't because we have great promotions to offer and it will be quite a waste for you to miss it.

Okay, thanks and bye!

A Saturday of good food

Today is Food Day! Come and check out the food that I had from morning till night.

BREAKFAST: Dim Sum at Sun Kok Kee Restaurant, Bercham


This was our selection. Scrumptious! We had another round of the furry balls and more rounds of tea (a compulsory beverage as accompaniment to the dim sums).

There were not many people at the restaurant considering it is a Saturday. A good experience to have breakfast there since there are less people around! I don't guarantee it is like that every week though.

LUNCH: Spare Rib Rice at Home-Cooked Recipe near Woolley

Our initial plan was to eat at the Taiwanese Shop near Jalan Yang Kalsom but it was not open (I think, as my sis showed me her friend used a voucher there today. Weird.) so we went to Ipoh Garden and had our meal there.


This was how it looked like when it came. One piece of pork for RM1 (according to Eunice) since there were only 4 of them and the cost of this meal was RM5.50.

It was quite delicious so no further complaints other than the number of pork slices.

DINNER: Tom Yum and Kangkung with Chilli Paste at Koh Samui

This was the highlight of the day when we had our most awaited tom yum at Koh Samui. It was my second time there and the place had not change much.


The tom yum that satisfied my stomach.


Looked pretty ordinary but the chilli paste was heavenly. I could just mix the gravy with my rice and finished the whole plate!


What better drink to order in a Thai restaurant than the Thai tea? Refreshing and thirst-quenching!

At the end of the evening, we were all bloated humans.


There was not a single drop of soup left! If only the lemon grass could be eaten, I would have consumed them too.

I am not exaggerating. Probably not many will agree with me on this unless you love tom yum.


Even the kangkung was not spared. Yum yum.

So that is the end of my Saturday in Ipoh.

Oh yeah, I finally collected my HND cert from the college. I am officially graduated now that I have the certificate!

A Tribute to a Good Friend

I am still feeling numb by the news. So this is how it feels to know someone whom you know personally passes on. When I received the news, my initial thought was "This must be someone else with the same name. It can't be her." But reality sometimes catches you by surprise and you have to accept the truth no matter how much you wish for it to be otherwise.

I remember you being a tough young lady, always filled with energy keeping the noisy bunch of us in order. It is hard to speak of you in the past tense because you are still very much alive to me. The memories of all those years ago, being in the same class as you for the mere one year when we were fifteen, are jumping out of the archive of my mind seeking to be seen and relived. 

Thank you for being a part of my life once. Though you have bade us farewell, you will be forever etched in our hearts as an incredibly smart and talented girl. And most of all, you are a great friend. So long, comrade. Till we meet again in eternity where there are no longer pain and sufferings.

Siew Pik, rest in peace. 

Tangy laksa on a warm Saturday evening

I don't have to think so hard on where to eat for dinner every Saturday as the night market is only walking distance away!

Been dying to try out the laksa for the past few weeks but somehow did not so this time, I went straight to the laksa stall although the Malay economy rice looked tempting.


This is where the delicious laksa is born!


I always prefer mine with no hint of vege so I can taste the soup better! I can actually eat two bowls of this but it is unwise to spend too much on being a glutton.

So what did you have for dinner? Feel free to share with me in the comment below.

Tomorrow is Sunday and I will go to church to be spiritually fed again. I am guilty for not feeding myself well on my own. Oops.

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On another note, Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort &Spa has opened a Facebook Page! There will be many more updates in due time and why not be the first one to receive upcoming promotions and events? Click here to like the page! Thank you!