Guilin, China

Got a free trip to Guilin for 4 days & 3 night all inclusive except flight.

So off mom and me flew there and the weather is tropic winter with slight flurries!

Well I don't have much to say but just pictures to show what Guilin, China has to offer.

Local delicacy -Fried mini soft shell crabs

Along the Li River

Master Painter during lunch

Tai Chi with the elders.

Beautiful oriental architectures.

Winter floras.

Tau fu fa and it comes in salty, spicy and sweet flavors

Underground treasure (Honey)

By the fire place.

For culture.

Detailed craftsmanship.

Ancient printing.

Oriental living.

Life underwater.

Underground beauty.

Ending with a beautiful sunset

Me signing off at the Li River

Back from Guilin, China

Just got back from my Guilin, China trip a couple of days ago.

Will update soon I hope and on the Ipoh/Penang trip.

Tomorrow uni starts again and I'm a little nervous about my results. =S

wish me luck!

sneak peeks

crazy goofy moments from Ipoh/Penang

Guilin, China

Grand Bazaar Istanbul - Final Day

On the last day of our adventures in Istanbul, what more can we do but SHOP! Yes yes shopping! For a few souvenirs to remind us of beautiful Istanbul.

So mom and me headed to THE GRAND BAZAAR!

The Grand Bazaar (Turkish: Kapalıçarşı, meaning Covered Bazaar) in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with more than 58 covered streets and over 1,200 shops which attract between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily.

At the entrance of the Grand Bazaar.

Oh one item you must get when you are there is the "Evil Eyes" (blue eyes ornaments) It is believed by the locals that it will protect them from evil and also it will bring bad omen's to those that they this like.

It's an endless maze inside the grand bazaar.

So much to choose from.

It is a musician's heaven too. ^^

Everything is divided into sections according to type of goods.

A shop filled with lights.

Spice and sweet delights to excite your senses.

Lots of clothes and blings for the ladies to shop and it is at a reasonable bargain price!

We started exploring the grand bazaar about 830am and by the time we exit on the other side it was already 4pm

So mom and I bought good turkish coffee, famous turkish apple tea, turkish delights, an "evil eyes" ornament, a dress, beaded jade and stone necklace from Afghanistan, 'evil eyes' bracelets, and etc.

After all the looking around &bargaining we had some local food. I don't know what it is called but it taste real good!

Here is what it looks like very simple but delicious.

This man stays behind that hot stove all day to make those food.

This is mom all tired and happy!

And me back on the airplane going home.

Istanbul is one of the best cities I have ever been and I would love to go back there someday.

Basilica Cistern & Gulhane Park, Istanbul - Day 6 - Part 2

After leaving this post for so long due to schedule overload.

I will now continue with my journey in Istanbul. The last post was about Day 6, part 1 at Tokapi Palace. Now for part 2, after lunch my mom and me went to the Basilica Cistern.

For those of you who are wondering what is a cistern. Well it is a receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Often cisterns are built to catch and store rainwater. The Basilica Cistern is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul.

Going down beneath the earth... Feeling all damp and cold... This is what it looks like...

What a beautiful sight!

And Located in the northwest corner of the cistern, the bases of two columns reuse blocks carved with the visage of Medusa. The origin of the two heads is unknown, though it is thought that the heads were brought to the cistern after being removed from a building of the late Roman period. Tradition has it that the blocks are oriented sideways and inverted in order to negate the power of the Gorgons' gaze.

Beware of the Medusa's head! muahahahha

Later, surfacing from beneath the earth where the warm summer sun shines music greets me.

And nearby there was a few men having a jamming session of traditional music.

Then mom and me walked around and somehow we came to Gulhane Park. The landscape is beautiful. It's like walking into a Disney fairytale.

Florals were everywhere. Mom is definitely enjoying the flowers. I wish Malaysia had such beautiful landscapes in the city.

And this is me signing off for day 6.

Up next the final day of Istanbul... THE GRAND BAZAAR

Singapore 2009

P/S:

This is a back dated post from October sorry for the late updates. I have been so busy with uni. So Sorry!

As you guys know every year I'll go down south to Singapore to visit my sister and my niece. This year the trip was different. I went down with my beloved boyfriend and a big bunch of nuffnangers from the Asia Pacific Region.

Why so many people?

Well bloggers from all over that region were attending the 1st Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards. As you know by now it was an event to remember.

Updates on the full event: http://www.nuffnang.com.my/blog/2009/11/09/napbas2009/

Bloggers were the stars of the night! and I too felt like a star! ^^

Here are my moments on camera:-

My Protégé Ms Zoe Yve and Me

Zachary Wong and Me

We were each other's replacement dates while our bf's were working that night.

And finally the one and only

Tan Yee Hou a.k.a the beloved boyfriend

All Thanks to Nuffnang for everything! ^^

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And not to forget I family. Of course I dropped by and visit them. It was a short one but nonetheless great. My baby niece is so big and cheekier than ever and we will be expecting an addition to my little family too... well not so little anymore but all happy news! YAY! ^^

Here's my cheeky baby niece and growing!

From this...

To this...

and now I'm missing Singapore already!

"Indulge in the Uniquely Singapore experience"

I should be given a chance to experience the rich blend in culture, cuisine, arts and architecture of Singapore because I’m an explorer who loves to indulge myself in food, culture and adventure and Singapore has it all! And I would enjoy every moment and every step I take if I am given the chance.

My perfect Itinerary to explore Singapore in one day starts of in the morning.

MORNING

At 8am off to SENTOSA exploring what nature has to offer going through the dragon trail the stopping and getting an up close and personal with Mother Nature by visiting the underwater world and Dolphin Lagoon.

And moving to Imbiah lookout point for some exhilarating excitement by hopping on the Skyride for a scenic tree top view and straight to the Sentosa Luge a Part go-cart, part-toboggan race down a 650km track!

Then head on back to mainland by taking the cable car for one last look of Sentosa.

Afternoon

Heading on to Mandai Orchid Garden for lunch while enjoying fine garden dining at the Vanilla Pod Restaurant and Bar. Well might get to do a little orchid shopping too for mom’s little garden at home.

After refreshing at the Mandai Orchid Garden, off to more sightseeing by hopping on the Heritage Hippotours to experience major heritage sights and their architectural like Chinatown, Little India and Kampong Glam and if have a little more time I’ll take the city Hippotours where I get to see the Botanic Garden and The Raffles Landing sight and a little shopping too.

Evening/Night

Right before sunset I’ll hop on the river cruise where I get a view of the city from the river like how traders do in the old ages and also I get to see the beautiful sunset of Singapore.

Its dinner time and I want to experience what the locals eat. So the best place to experience that is at Chomp Chomp! A place filled with hawker stalls where I get to taste all sorts of food satisfying my taste buds.

After dinner I would take a flight on the Singapore Flyer which is the world’s largest observation wheel to see the Night cityscape's of Singapore.

And to end my Singapore adventure right before midnight is to be launched up into the sky at 200km per hour to a dazzling height of 60 meters on the G-MAX and scream at the top of my lungs so Singapore would hear me.

And this is how I “Indulge in the Uniquely Singapore Experience”

Cameron Highlands with the other half

Had a weekend trip with tan yee hou during the Raya breaks and it was a good one away from the urban life.

First we stopped at Bidor for lunch for the famous Wu Tao (fried yam with char siew inside), the famous duck drumstick noodle and bought the chicken biscuits at Pun Chun Restaurant. [I can't believe that they have their own blog!] Boy it was yummy! As my other half would put it... "Can sing wan! *sings...aaaaaahhhh*" Lol

After that we pumped petrol and Yee Hou was annoyed by the que at shell and after that headed up to Cameron's using the old roads.

We arrived at Cameron's about 530pm and had dinner at about 8pm at one of the charcoal steamboat shops. After dinner we drove up to Brinchang and watched lighted nurseries. It was like a cities of lights *yee hou tan is so romantic* XD

Oh while we were up there we bought Kinder Joy to entertain ourselves. I kept getting the good toys and the other half was manipulating me to give them to him.

Next morning we had breakfast at T-Cafe, such a charming place, nice food and rustic ambiance.

I love the chicken pie!

This is yee hou tan's glam moment having breakfast!

It was a rainy day but it didn't stopped us from going anywhere. We tracked up mount Irau's trail half way urban style with umbrella's and a macbook! Yeap! a macbook because the other half doesn't feel safe living it in the room. Anyways it was freezing cold up there. I don't know how campers camp up at mount Irau.

After the hike we stopped by at the Boh Tea Plantation and took some pretty pictures using a manual camera.

Then headed down to Kea Farm where we bout like 6Kg of strawberries for Rm80, 6 packets of cheery tomatoes for Rm10, 10 pieces of sweet corn for RM 10, 7 different bunch of flowers for Rm 20 and 2 potted "naughty boy" (lilies) for Rm15.

It is a very good buy to us!

When we got down it was already late tea time. The other half manage to convince me to go to KFC nearby. The chicken pieces was big but the air-cond was killer freezing. I wonder whose idea is it to have air-cond up in Cameron Highlands. =.=

Later we went to hunt for roti naan and tandoori chicken at restaurant no 14 but attempt fail because all sold out. Had roti canai and tosay instead and headed back to devour the strawberries.

The other half enjoying himself.

Next morning we woke up at 530am to go watch sunrise at the Gunung Brinchang tower.

Wanted to get a dramatic shot of the sunrise something like this http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=brinchang+sunrise&m=text

But out attempt failed again because mother nature was in a moody mood.

After breakfast we took a nap, packed up and left for home. Well even though mother nature wasn't much on our side but we enjoyed very much of our time up there. ^^

Now back to work... =.=