Our first breakfast in Singapore and of course in a hawker center at New Upper Changi Road. Ken had his kopi-o while I have my teh-c. We were greedy and had mee rubus and fried carrot cake. We were so happy as breakfast was not only good but it cost us about A$5.00 which is cheap! Yes for all those food!
Teh-C and Kopi-O (Tea with Carnation Milk and Black Coffee) |
Fried Carrot Cake! My favourite! |
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Mee Rubus (Malay noodles) |
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Durain. Yes Ken finally had his durain after a long time and I must admit, not because we were in Australia but rather I would avoid him if he eats that fruit! *Evil Grin*
King of Fruit - Durain |
Savouring it with his mom |
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Finally, I get to eat durain! |
I am satisfied hence I am happy and grinning away! |
... We LOVE our FOOD don't we? ...
...comes from the family. Naturally!
Monday, December 25, 2006
As you can see, all the food on the table are prepared by my parents. Yes the Christmas turkey and ham too!! My parents prepared the turkey, the stuffing and ham from scratch. The turkey was huge, about 6kg or 7kg and it took my parents about 4 hours to cook it and our family devoured all of it in just one evening. I guess this spells how yummy the food was.
We had a good time playing with the fire sparklers and we even had a mini project with all the cousins! It was no easy feat however we succeed and I will make it into cards (special edition) for all the families this (2007) Christmas!
Family Feast |
Look at that Leg Ham |
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Huge turkey |
Fresh Oysters |
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Ham slices |
Baked potatoes with dill |
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Little cousins getting their fill |
Playing with fire sparklers |
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Trying to form a word |
Having fun |
November 25, 2006 to December 17, 2006
I know I shouldn't be laughing at their English but I thought it may be worth sharing. We captured these during our 3 weeks in China.
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Taken in a train carriage |
Taken in a train carriage |
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Policeman's Cue Please Take Care Of Your Own Property Prevent Lose |
It's actually a hairdressing salon |
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A shop name that sticks in your head? |
Spoof of the brand Crocodile? |
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All the lights actually turned green at one point leaving me confused |
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Hopefully we are not too late in wishing all of you a Blessed, Healthy and Prosperous New Year! I know we have been lazy and have not been updating the blog thus many of our friends are asking "what have you been up to and where are you guys now". So I hope the next couple of post we will be able update those interested what we have been up to! Highlights would be the China Tour and Family Christmas Party back in Singapore!
November 25, 2006 to December 17, 2006
We were in Shanghai for 2 weeks and Beijing for 1 week. Serena had classes to attend in Shanghai while Beijing was a holiday for us both. However Serena did manage to squeeze in time for some sightseeing and feasting in Shanghai as well. We did enjoy ourselves however by the second week we were missing pizza, spaghetti, salad, cereals ... We got really sick of Chinese food and eating out! We were missing "organic" food i.e. food without MSG and too much oil. I've got to admit this trip to China really made me home sick in a way!
Serena attended lectures from Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade (SIFT) and Fudan University. Pictures shows how massive the campuses are and they indeed have splendid facilities.
 SIFT Songjiang Campus |
 SIFT Canteen. |
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 RMIT won the basketball match against SIFT |
 Top Uni in China-Fudan University |
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 Lecturer & Classmates |
Sightseeing and feasting around Shanghai.
 The Bund |
 Oriental Pearl Tower |
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 Nanjing Lu |
 Yuyuan Gardens |
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 Yuyuan Gardens @ Night |
 Famous Xiao Long Bao @ Yuyan Gardens |
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 TangBao (Soup Bao) |
 Black Sesame Tang Yuan with a tinge of orange peel taste. Yum! |
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 Mince meat tang yuan. Unique but not to our liking. |
 Offerings @ Jade Buddha Temple |
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 Lady selling fishes @ Qi Bao Gu Zhen |
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Look out for Part II - Nanjing, Hangzhou and Suzhou and Part III - Beijing in the next couple of days.
November 25, 2006 to December 17, 2006
Over one of the free weekends, we travelled to Nanjing and Hangzhou by train with her classmates and lecturer. Taking the train and just being at the train station is indeed a truly China experience. We had to first take the subway to Shanghai Railway Station and from there we take the train to Nanjing. The subway itself is so crowded. We were travelling in a group of 10 and all of us could not squeeze (or should I use the word jostle) into the train. Ken was smart he managed to stand in the front and the crowd simply just pushed him into the carriage when the train arrived.
The journey from Shanghai to Nanjing was good and it took us about 2.5hrs. However the train journey from Nanjing to Hangzhou was a nightmare! We kept asking each other "Are we there yet?". The train was not only slow but it kept stopping in between stations and so our ride was freaking 10 hours long instead of at max 5hrs. Yes and we were grumbling that we could fly from Melbourne to Singapore and even have enough time to clear immigration and head to East Coast Park for a feast!!
Well despite the "endurance test" we decided to make the best of our time in Nanjing and Hangzhou. In Nanjing we were treated like VIPs, we had the best dinner upon arrival and later was checked into one of the finest hotel. Its a pity that none of us had cameras with us when we had dinner as each of us had a 24 course dinner!! The next morning I thought I was dreaming as I had smoked salmon (in China) for breakfast at the hotel!! And we were chauffeured around sightseeing.
Purple Palace Hotel, Nanjing
 Our suite |
 Nice fluffy beds |
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 Lakeside - Hotel's permises |
 Sunrise with purple hue |
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 Hotel rooms were facing the lake |
Train Ride
 Train Platforms |
 Train Class-Hard Sleeper |
Sightseeing
Nanjing - It is a pity that we had less thabn 24 hours in Nanjing. With the little time we had, we visited Xuyuan Garden, Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum and Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. Xuyuan Garden is very pretty at night and it was in one of the restaurants there that we had a 24 course Nanjing dinner!
 Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum |
 Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum |
Hangzhou - We had 2 days in Hangzhou and was able to explore more. We enjoyed West Lake best and sunset there is so beautiful! And of course no trip is complete without feast at Lou Wai Lou restaurant along West Lake.
 Sunset |
 Sunset from West Lake |
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 Boat ride on West Lake |
 West Lake |
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 Sinfully sweet candy |
 Doctor consultation anyone? |
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 Chinese Herbs |
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Feast at Lou Wai Lou restaurant.
 Famous West Lake Vinegar Fish |
 Begger's Chicken |
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 Ken's special order Dongpo Meat |
 Serena's Fav - Eel with shrimps |
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 Not for the faint heart. Make a guess what this is!! |
 Everyone satisfied! Ken can't get enough-still looking at menu. |
Qinghefeng Jie Food Street. Lots of delicacies or should I say Fear Factor type of foodie segment. Well I belong to the faint hearted so I stayed clear of such foods and also gave Ken the no go. I would say that the Begger's Chicken here is should be the authentic Begger's Chicken unlike the one at Lou Wai Lou which had yummy beef and vegetable stuffings.
 Of course we didn't eat these! Yes they are Duck Heads. |
 Ken unwrapping "the real Begger's Chicken". |
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 This is the real Begger's Chicken. No frills. |
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Look out for the final installment Part III - Suzhou and Beijing, China's Capital. Shesh I got hungry after updating the foodie section.