November 25, 2006 to December 17, 2006
Suzhou
We went to the Venice of the East - Suzhou with the school group. Visited The Humble Administrator's Garden, Tiger Hill and Suzhou Museum. Humble Administrator's Garden represents the architectural styles of Song dynasty. This among 3 other gardens in Suzhou is added to the World Heritage List in 1997. The garden is massive and it is such a serene sight (minus the hordes of tourist). In Tiger Hill, we felt that the timber pagoda is the major attraction there. It is the oldest pagoda in Suzhou. It is viewed as the Leaning tower of the East and and for the past four hundred years has leant towards the northwest.
 Picturesque Suzhou |
 Tiger Hill Pagoda |
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 Gongfu Duel |
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Beijing
Beijing was freezing when we were there. Temperatures range from 0 to 6 degrees celsius in the day. However this did not deter us from doing some sight seeing and besides no visit to China is complete without a trip to the Great Wall, Tian An Men Square and Forbidden City. Besides these places we also went to Jing Shan Park, Summer Palace and Ming Tombs.
 Great Wall of China - Ba Da Ling |
 Forbidden City |
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 Forbidden City Moat |
 Jing Shan Park People playing shuttlecock like thing |
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 Which bicycle is mine? |
 Famous Mao potriat |
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 Chairman Mao's Mausoleum. Embalmed body of the Chairman is displayed. |
 Sheng Dao (Spirit Way)-Ming Tombs |
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 Stone statues along Sheng Dao |
 Inside one of the underground tombs-Ding Ling |
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 Summer Palace |
 Mighty Warrior? |
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 Fishing on frozen lake |
 Ahh another Fear Factor Challenge. Food street stall along Donghuameng Night Market |
Finally we tried authentic Peking Duck from the place of origin. However we preferred the Singapore version as the Peking version has too much fat content. It seems like the fat is fused together with the skin and I am unable to scrap it out. We had Peking Duck twice during our 1 week in Beijing, we tried 2 restaurants - Beijing Dadong Kaoya Dian and Quan Ju De Kaoya Dian. We enjoyed the food, duck and service at Beijing Dadong Kaoya Dian better and it was more reasonally priced. The latter shop is over priced and over rated.
 Look at the number of condiments for the Peking Duck |
 That's 1/2 a duck |
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 Nothing goes to waste Duck head (Delicacy) |
 Process of making the Fattest Duck Roll! |
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 Cute edible sparrows Filled with red bean paste |
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Both of us got tired of Chinese food and we doubt we will visit China in the next 5 years.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Today's weather was no better than yesterday's. Both of us felt so stuffy and the air around us was hot. And tonight in the city and around our place it seem smoky so we are suspecting there's a fire nearby.
Tonight we are having a pizza party with a few of Ken's classmates at our place. Alrite don't drool ... (We've got a couple of "complaints" ops I meant compliments.)
 Pineapples |
 Fresh Mushrooms! My Favourite :-) |
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 Ham and Salami |
 Home made pizza |
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 Final touches |
 Going into the oven |
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 Good thing we have a huge oven |
 Home made strawberry cheese cake |
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 Cross section of strawberry cheese cake |
 Serving |
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 Our guests busy tucking in |
 Oishi! |
Monday, November 20, 2006
Melbourne's weather is really really crazy. Today we are experiencing a high of 34˚C and tomorrow will be a high of 36˚C and believe it or not just last week it was freezing cold. Oh well no complaints as the weather here is better than that of Singapore's anytime with the exception of December and January!
Anyway today we went for FHM Party and boy was it HOT! Besides hot babes and cute guys, the food served was HOT, SPICY HOT too.
On the menu:
Main
Chong Qing Hot Pot Stock
Beef slices
Chicken slices
Pork slices
Squid
Sausages
Fish Balls
Beef Balls
Egg tofu
Vegetables
Vermicelle
Udon
Dessert
Ice Milk Tea
 Hot Babe serving us :-) |
 Hot Babe ensuring we are contented! |
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 Spicy Hot |
 We did a good job |
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 Everyone is contented |
 Sexy Hunk Fir trying to do a dance? |
FHM Party @ Carlton
Firdaus's Hotpot Monday Party. Haha!
One thing for sure, its better in terms of quality and quantity as compared to the one we had along Russell Street. Loads of meat and balls!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Last couple of days we have been experiencing freak weather here in Melbourne. It is late spring now and we had two days of snow in the highlands which is uncommon and the city was freezing cold. The news reported that Mt. Baw Baw had 30cm of snow and Tuesday, 14th November 2006 was the coldest November day in 53 years!! It was hailing in the city and there was gusty winds so we thought steamboat with some friends over at our place this weekend would be perfect. However, Melbourne's weather lived up to its reputation of being unpredictable. The weather changed so quickly that it was hot hot hot at 26˚C and a BBQ would have been perfect. Unfortuantely we had planned for a steamboat and went ahead as planned.
We had the following on the menu and used Marcus' huge rice cooker as a steamboat:
Entree
Nachos with Salsa and Cheese
Fresh Oysters with Lemon and Tobasco
Main
Home made Chicken Stock
Fish slices
Chicken
Squid
Sausages
Fish Balls
Home made Shrimp Pork Dumplings
Egg tofu
Vegetables
Vermicelle
Steamed Rice
Dessert
Home made Mango Pudding
 Home made pork shrimp dumpling |
 Taste and look pro! |
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 We need a bigger pot? |
 Waiting, waiting ... |
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 Yummy |
 Whose big bowl is that? |
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 Home made mango pudding! Yeah its mango season once again |
We ALL got too carried away eating and enjoying ourselves and playing good hosts that we forgot to take pictures of our guests in actions ;-)
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Today we went for the Tezuka Osamu exhibition at National Gallery Victoria with Ken's classmate, Yoshiki.
Above image is taken from http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/tezuka/
For many of us who grew up in the 80s (living in Singapore), will remember the time where we would sit in front of the TV at 6pm to have our dinner and watch Kimba the Lion or any other cartoons :-)
Ken and myself was wondering Disney's Lion King and Kimba have so much similarities ... Hmmm what are your thoughts?
Above image is taken from Madman Entertainment
For those who don't know ....
TEZUKA Osamu is heralded as an icon of the Japanese manga movement; acknowledged in Japan as an artistic master, and revered as the figurehead of the manga and anime industries. Creating over 700 manga titles during his lifetime, he is best known in the West for his cartoons of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, which were serialized for television in the 1960s. Tezuka’s work is acclaimed for its complexity and originality and his drawings showcase an extraordinary calligraphic dynamism. His prolific manga work contains two main streams: manga ‘comic pictures’ for a youth audience, including Astro Boy, Kimba and Princess Knight; and gekiga ‘drama pictures’ – more seriously-toned, adult oriented narratives such as Song of Apollo and Ludwig B, that stress realistic effect and emotional impact. This exhibition features both aspects of his work, introducing Western audiences to the complexities and extraordinary range of the manga form.
Above text taken from http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/tezuka/