After 5 days in Beijing, we flew back to Guangzhou for a day of shopping! Fortunately, it had ceased to rain when we went back there. This allowed us to do some shopping. Guangzhou is really a shopping haven. If you like shopping, you must go to Beijing Lu and Shang Jiu Jie and Xia Jiu Jie (Direct translation: Upper and Lower Ninth Street). Many people from Hong Kong actually shop there because it is relatively cheaper. It's like our JB equivalent. On average, a nice top goes for SGD10 - SGD13 dollars, and they look just like what you can get at big departmental stores in Singapore.

The next day, we walked across the custom to Macau (Yeah, Macau is that near!). Oh, how I miss Macau! I was there 3 years ago and the place held many fond memories for me. It is not because I struck a windfall at the casinos there, but it's the food! We went to Taipa Village for lunch and chanced upon a restaurant that was featured in many food magazines and news articles. They served excellent crab porridge and other seafood. Yummy!

Since we were in Macau, the Portuguese Egg tarts were of course not to be missed. We bought a mixture of 20 Portuguese egg tarts and Bird's Nest egg tarts back! Oh, not forgetting my favourite Old Wives' Biscuit. Macau is indeed a food paradise!



Finally, that marked the end of our holidays. I'm glad that we ended our trip on a high note. We will definitely visit China again some time soon!

As for now, it's getting ready for school next week!
Hutongs
Hutongs are a rare sight in Beijing now. It used to be a distinctive characteristic of Beijing. However, in the name of cleaning up the city in preparation of the Olympics, many Hutongs are demolished to make way for skyscrapers. It’s really a pity.

We were very fortunate to be staying near a Hutong and we had dinner there for 2 nights. I immediately fell in love with the simplicity of life in the Hutong. Kids were running about along the street, laughter filled the little allies where the locals chatted with one another. It appeared to be a close-knit community which is a stark contrast to the cold concrete jungle outside of the Hutong, where vehicles were honking impatiently at one another on the roads and people simply had a vacant look on their faces. Probably, they are like us who are too caught up with the hustle and bustle of city life.



The Summer Palace
We enjoyed this palace the most. The Summer Palace was where the imperial family moved to in order to avoid the searing heat during summer. The huge lake in the center of the palace actually made the entire place very cooling. As expected, this palace was HUGE, but it was comparatively more beautiful than the Forbidden City. The landscaping there was absolutely stunning. The entire place was so serene that there were even some old folks doing calligraphy on the walkway. It was really an ideal place to get inspirations for poem-writing.



We stumbled upon a costume rental shop and had a whale of a time there dressing up as Kangxi, Qianlong and the Empress. We did many hilarious poses and laughed till our sides hurt!


The Forbidden City
We visited the Forbidden City (Gu Gong in Chinese, the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties) on the third day. If you say the palace is huge, it's really an understatement! No kidding!

We spent the entire day exploring the palace and still not able to cover the whole palace. I wonder if the Emperor had ever been to every part of his residence. Our legs were aching so badly by late afternoon that we couldn't go on anymore. We finally had to throw in the towels, and rested under a tree for a break. By the end of the day, what we could only think of was a good foot massage.



The Great Wall of China
One the fourth day, we woke up at 4a.m to make our way out of Beijing city to the Great Wall of China. It was indeed an incredible feat to build the wall on treacherous slopes which I don't even think it was humanly possible without the use of advanced machinery at that time. Nonetheless, the people of China did it. To conserve our energy for the rest of the day, we didn't climb the entire Great Wall of China, we took a cable car up and started mid way instead. Even then, the hike up was exhausting!



I had one of the most wonderful holidays this June. Even as I'm blogging about it now, I'm already starting to miss it!

As the weather was bad and there was some flooding in Guangzhou, I was immediately whizzed off to the domestic flight departure gate the moment I landed at the airport. Much to my delight, my husband had already bought air tickets to Beijing! Yippie!!

It was another 3 hour flight to Beijing and by the time we arrived in the evening, we were totally famished. Seizing every minute we had, we quickly dropped our luggage at the hotel and walked out to the town centre.

Beijing is now an extremely developed and modernized city. Skyscrapers are seen everywhere and the streets are surprisingly clean. Macdonald's or KFC can be easily spotted. Shops carrying top notch brands like Rolex, Cartier watches, Gucci, etc lined the streets in the town centre. The young people there are also fashionably-dressed. You can no longer call them country bumpkins now. Many of them can even speak simple English!


Our first meal in Beijing – Gou Bu Li Bao Zi! Don’t be tricked by the name of the dish, there's no dog meat filling inside the buns. They were merely pork and vegetables fillings.


Next, we hit the food street. There was a wide variety of street food available, from fruit candy sticks to live baby scorpions and even grilled star fish! Can you imagine having a scorpion squirming in your mouth as you bite into it? Well, we can't!

As there's just too much to blog about my Beijing trip, I will be blogging about it in several blog posts. Stay tune! = )


It's finally the holidays for me! It feels so good to just drop all the work, lug my luggage and fly off. Whenever I go on a holiday, I usually have some company on the plane. But for the record, I'm flying alone for the first time! It’s kind of exciting for me. Yeah, cheap thrill! = P

Alright then, I will update my blog with my holiday photos when I’m back! Tata! = D
What happens when the cat is not around?
The mouse comes out to play!!! Muahahahaha

After sending my husband to the airport yesterday morning, I have 3 full days of “Me Time” before I meet up with him on Sunday in China.

Since I have the entire house to myself, I took the opportunity to invite my secondary school friends over to my place for dinner. Our lives have certainly changed a great deal over the past few years. Waifong is already a mother, Jeannie runs her own business and Yeeling will be leaving for Japan soon for work. I'm really glad we are still in touch after more than 10 years! Sometimes, amidst all the hectic work schedules and family commitments, it can be quite a challenge to find time to catch up with old pals. Nonetheless, friends are still an integral part of my life and they are definitely worth keeping in touch with.

Well, needless to say, we had a great time catching up with one another. We even took some fun shots and laughed ourselves silly when we saw how ludicrous we look. Here are some of the more "glamorous" photos.


Yes, call us and keep in touch, Yeeling! Take good care of yourself and more importantly, have fun in Japan! We will meet up again when you are back!


Hmm... think we are still pretty well-maintained after 10 years, isn't it gals? = P

P/S My dear Mr Koh, if you happen to have Internet access and you are reading my blog post now, please do not think that you have been forgotten. I'm just keeping myself meaningfully occupied while you're away. Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday! = )

Fish ain't no pets. My husband hunts them! As for me, I eat them!

While I was busy taking down salient points for our group's discussion during our Mid Year Staff Review today, my husband was having a great day out at sea fishing. His love for fishing was rekindled recently when he had a bountiful catch during one of his recent fishing trip. Right now, if you dangle a lure or a live bait in front of him, he will definitely bite!

Somehow, I don't feel that I've missed out on the fun because I don't share his passion for fishing at all. To me, fishing is just a waiting game and a hobby mainly for men. The poor sanitation, the fishy smell on board the boat and the choppy sea will probably make my stomach churn. My husband claims that it's the euphoria of catching a huge or rare fish that's addictive.

Well, I have never caught any fish before, not even ikan bilis (ok, I'm exaggerating, but you get my point). That probably explains why I'm not hooked.