Gone Fishing....

I remember the times when i had to buy films from the shops for my compact camera so I could take pictures. And also making trips to the photo shops to develop photos. So troublesome but that was how it was if u wanted save your sweet memories.

At that time, I took photos ONLY when necessary coz really, who needs so many copies of the same thing? There were also times when i ended up with some totally hopeless pictures :'( Sigh, what a waste of my hard-earned, blood & sweat money.... If only i'd known before I developed them :(

Thank goodness for the invention of digital camera! It's so common these days that almost everyone has one. I myself already have 3. Super outdated ones though. But, I don't care and I don't mind since they still take nice pictures :) *easily satisfied*

These days, I just snap snap snap all I want. Sometimes even when targetless and not necessary coz I can delete them later or just keep them in my hard disk until i decide that they should be deleted. Love that I've total control!! ^^

Went thru some old photos just now. ooo, i didn't even remember some of the events! good lah.. the digital photos help to keep track of things that have happened. Less work for my brain hehe... Digital camera is soOOOo convenient that it makes me wonder how we lived last time! haha...

Let me just show u one of the uses of digital camera...

Taking funny pictures!

Here is a BIG fish Jude and I caught last year...



好可爱的大肚鱼吧 haha.. Jude is keeping him. He is her favourite pet :P

BTW, Happy Birthday HIP!

He won't find out abt me posting such interesting pic of him coz he doesn't read my blog anymore muahahaha...

In Heaven 世外桃源

Chinese Painting

In the past, when i heard Chinese poems about the beautiful sceneries poets saw, I praised them for their magical words. When i saw chinese paintings like the one above, i praised the artists for their imagination.

In my mind, such heavenly scenery existed, well, only in heaven... I now finally believed that such heavenly place does exist on earth when i saw it with my own eyes. Am amazed! I don't have to die and go toheaven to see it! It's real! It's the creation of mother nature and it's toucheable! 珍珠都没那么真！

Floating tea houses on the river

Guilin is damn beautiful. U can easily take award winning pictures even if u are hopeless in photography. I took dozens of pictures without much effort and all are postcard, wallpaper, painting materials. Suddenly, i felt like such a professional photographer! haha...

Greeted by mountains in the morning
~ From our hotel room

We took a 4 hour boat ride from Guilin to Yangshuo. It may sound like a tiring way to travel but not at all. I had no time to feel bored as I was mesmorised by the beauty along the river. It's beyond words can describe... u just gotta be there physically to know what i mean...

Boat ride "in between mountains"

Yangshuo - see our resort on the right?
Like living in heaven!

The mountains in Guilin are unlike any i 'normally' see. They stand individually and are everywhere!! In the city, behind the shops, along the river, in the park, next to the washroom.... And sometimes, a family can have one whole mountain in their backyard like they own it! mannn, i would love to have a few as my backyard! Simply beautiful!

Lucky ppl! They have mountains as 'back up'!

Guilin to me is heaven on earth. I especially like a town called Li Pu. It's the place filled with my favourite food - taro! yummmm... now u know why i love that place so much. Not only is it peaceful and beautiful but also because i can get taro in every dishes! ooo, i think i can live here :P

taro with pork

minced pork and taro balls
They are big like tennis balls!

Candied taro 芋头拔丝
Similar to the candied sweet potato in Shanghai/ Chengde

There is even taro rice! YUM!

We went to see a performance directed by the famous chinese director, Zhang Yi Mou 张艺谋. Like most of his movies, I didn't fully understand the plot but the real Guilin mountains and river as its backdrop and stage and the big number of performers and colourful use of lightings really took my breath away! How did they do it??? I must say, they are good!

Just imagine this as the background. Very beautiful right?



Was being told that Guilin used to be under water. From then on, each time i looked at the breathtaking scenery, I imagined how they used to hide under the deep sea where only fishes could enjoy their beauty...

See the reflection on the water!

Guilin kinda reminds me of my trip to Halong Bay, which is known as Little Guilin. I can see the resemblance... Hmm, you know what? Probably after a few thousand or million years, Halong Bay might lose the water and become Halong Park instead... Don't sneer. That's what happened to Guilin. Applying the same theory, it might happen to Halong Bay one day too... or not since Guilin is inland while Halong Bay is not.. okie, a bit irrelevant. Am going too deep :P

Guilin is indeed a beautiful place. It's different from other Chinese cities i've been to... The only complaint i've for this holiday is that - it's too short!!! *greedy jenn demanding for more*

Even inside the cave is beautiful

Can't help feeling a bit sad at the same time though coz by going inside, we are actually 'killing' the cave :( Hope ppl would stop taking pictures with flash lights while in caves... Every little action counts mah......

Okie, before I end this super long post, here is one little game to bring u back to reality ~~ Can u spot the 'sleeping buddha' in this picture, which I took it at the mountain top?

Guess what this is?

Looks like something u have in the kitchen right? Hehe... Nope, it's not an oven mitten.

It's something i bought for Tiger. Don't underestimate this simple glove. It has quite a few functions. I can achieve several things at one time. Incredible leh...?

I can use it to pat Tiger so he feels loved and at the same time give him massage so he loves me even more; also, combing thru his fur with this gives him silky hair so ppl know that Tiger has a super caring owner (me me me)!

Tiger really enjoys his patting, massage and combing... Come, I can let u use it so long as Tiger doesn't get jealous and bite u...

My Holiday (Part 2)

Haha, did you really think I went to a foreignland for holiday when u read the title? Gotcha! haha...

It sounds like a big budget movie when i split the related post into a few parts... Hope you'd enjoyed my little holiday so far :)

... I was still drinking my milk tea from the plastic bag when I arrived at the old court house. Ooo Look! New cafe at the court house! mannn.. I've not been out here for too long! Since when is this nice cafe opened?! It looks like a cozy place. I wanna come here one day! Seriously, I really felt like i was in a foreign land! I discovered so many new things! Again, was it because of the tourists around me??? or was it because I really wanted to go holidaying???

Cafe at courthouse

Thank goodness for the gigantic trees at the court house! It was so cool there that I decided to give my poor legs (& bum) a rest. Found a place near the cafe to sit.

Ooo, shade... me felt soOOo cool

The occasional breeze really cooled me down. Would be nice to spend sometime at the Cafe but I don't think they would let me bring my 'outside' drink in. Also, I felt quite bloated after the big bag of milk tea so really, what's the point of going to a cafe if I won't be having any drinks? To use free Wi-fi of course! But i don't have a laptop ;(

Entrance of court house!
Looks like postcard hor? hehe...

The wind and the relaxing atmosphere kinda made me feel lazy and sleepy so i thought i better leave to keep myself awake. Since I'd walked so far, i decided to continue my journey to India Street. Woo hoo hoo, I still couldn't believe how far i'd walked as I write abt my little holiday now.

I passed by the Indian stores. SoOOo many colourful spices! None I know of though... Yeah, I'm lousy in the cooking department :P I was a bit tempted to buy the papadoms but am lazy to fry them at home. Nah, i think I will just buy the ready-fried ones at Indian restaurants...

I walked thru the little alley to get to the heart of India Street. The pathway is v narrow. Although there weren't any signboards but we the pedestrians seemed to know when and where to give way to other ppl. I then walked all the way to Coffin Street hoping to get a few pieces of
the delicious taro century egg puffs. I was there too late. There wasn't any left T______________T SOOooooo disappointed!

After window shopped for a while, I headed back to Hilltop. This time, i decided to take a different route - thru Carpenter Street! Must see different 'scenery' so I wouldn't get bored. And probably discovered more new things!! Yayee...

On my way to carpenter street!

Halfway thru my return, I saw a little hawker store near the temple. OOoo, it's Lak Tou Sua (Split Bean soup)! Wah, I haven't seen ppl selling lak tou sua like that since dunno when! It really reminded me of my childhood.

Taokeh busy with my lak tou sua

When I was small, there were ppl selling Tou Fu Hua (Beancurd Jelly) in wooden bucket at the streetside. When we ordered, the ppl would opened the wooded lid and scooped out the still-warm tou fu hua. Then they would put the jiggling jelly in a bowl and poured some pandan flavoured sugar syrup over it. Anyone know where to get such toufu hua these days? haha, now you know which generation i belong to.

lak tou sua cooking in 'face bucket'

OOOooo, did u know that many of the shops along Carpenter Street have been converted to guesthouse? Some are as cheap as $18 per night! The shops in that area are pretty old, I wonder if cockcroaches and mice come out dancing at night :P

By the time I reached my car at the hill top, I realised that I'd walked for about 4 hours!! I must say, this was a fruitful walk. I walked a lot, saw a lot, did a lot, learned a lot, thought a lot and sweated a lot. What amazed me is that, there are actually quite a lot to do here!!

I saw this wooden coaster and couldn't resist. It's handcrafted. U like it?

Dayak Coaster

There, that's the end of my little holiday in my hometown.

Did i lose you somewhere? hehe...

Rescuing Hungry Sheep

Jane went to NZ recently and bought a sheep. Naturally, since sheep is like their national icon and what's a more suitable souvenir than that?

Poor Fluffy (that's the name i gave to Jane's sheep. She didn't know it, YET :P) was starving like crazy when Jane handed her to me. Fluffy was FLAT like a pancake (anyone wants a sheepy pancake?)! She was so weak that she couldn't stand properly. Aiyo, that's animal abuse! Fluffy needs intensive care!!

See? So flat! Cannot even stand !

Determined to save her life, i went to the fabric store and bought a piece of silky smooth cloth. And then to the handcraft shop and got some needles and a bag of cotton. After 2 nights of my gentle care (playing with threads and needles), Fluffy finally re-gains her strength and now, she can stand on her feet, on her own! *proud*

Happy Fluffy

Her favourite activity is jumping over the fence at night, over and over again. I fall alseep whenever she does that *zzzz*

Look! Got Jane's name!

Green is her favourite colour and the fish represents Jane's name in Chinese Aren't I thoughtful? hehe...

Fluffy will be going home to Mama Jane soon. I will miss her *sob sob*

Baaa Baaa...

I have one problem now. Tell me. What should I do with 1kg of cotton???

My Holiday (Part 1)

Everytime ppl ask me for interesting places and activities to visit and do in my hometown, i always find myself thinking v hard *frown* Then i worked out a standard answer so i don't have to stress my brain each time i get asked - just eat, eat, eat. Hehe, I forget that not everyone likes food as much as i do :P

Like i say quite often lately, ppl tend to take things for granted and only realise their value until they lose them. I don't wanna be like that anymore.... There are beauties in everything. It just depends on how u choose to look at it. Ok ok, you probably know this too well since we read abt this in many many forwarded emails but, do you practise it?

It was quite a nice day one weekend. I managed to find a beautiful spot at the hill top (near Hilton). And under the shade! As i needed to buy some souvenirs for my friends, I decided to treasure hunt at Waterfront where all the souvenir shops are.

Ahaha... you might be thinking that Jenn has gone nuts. Why walk from the hill top??? So hot! And so far to walk!! In the past, i would think myself as mad to walk under the hot sun too. But that day, i was in such a good mood that i thought, Why not? I have never done it before! Also, there were a lot of tourists at that time. Why not join the fun? Spontaneous aren't i? haha...

I went into every souvenir shop at Waterfront. I actually felt like a tourist while walking there! haha.. In fact, everyone just assumed that i was a tourist since i was walking in the touristy area. Eh, i later found out that i can get the same thing at cheaper price at Sunday market T___T Mann, me getting ripped off at my own hometown? haha... Oh well, nvm. i really enjoyed the journey, so it's ok pay a bit more :P Also, it just shows that I didn't know my hometown that well even though i live here ;P

I want one of those pandan leaves bag!

I kinda felt good to do this. I actually felt like i was on holiday!! May be my mood got affected by the relax and happy tourists around me. If u are like me - wanna go out of town for a holiday but cannot afford it, just go somewhere touristy like what I did and do what tourists do. Instantly, u will feel as if u are holidaying overseas! What's more? You get to learn more about your own hometown, like u can get 1 more fridge magnet for the same price at Sunday Market. That's killing 2 birds with 1 stone! Cool hey?

It was bloody hot that day and i craved for some cold drinks. Guess what? i walked to Tua Pui Sim and ta bao (take away) teh c peng. Eh, I didn't know that their shop now has name! It's called NEXT. So IN one!! Probably they wanna make it easy for the tourists to find/ remember. Or may be it means "if you don't like to wait hours for one bowl of my delicious vinegar noodles and pork seaweed soup, go NEXT door!!!" Ahahah... Okie, out of topic. Back to teh c peng. I was a bit surprised to see the big bag of iced milk tea. Must be because of my dehydrated look so the person made me an XXXL one haha... Glad he did coz that was just what i needed to kill my thirst and cool me down. I also managed to take a peep on how they make their teh c peng hiak hiak hiak... can make my own at home liao :P

Me and my milk tea
I was sweating like mad that day
Didn't lose any kilos though :(

I went on with my adventure while drinking from the plastic bag. Quite a few ppl looked at me with envy but sorry dudes, I don't share when it comes to food!

Excuse me for a while. Jenn wants to watch the slow-moving clouds while enjoying her milk tea...

Fluffy clouds, where are u floating to? Can you take me with u?

Do come back again for the NEXT episode on my "holiday".....

Busy like a bee

I was being told that I eat a lot. I was even crowned as the eating queen last time. Do i really eat that much? Seriously, DO I?!

Not really lah. I do eat SLIGHTLY more meals than others, that's all. That must be the reason ppl get the wrong impression that I eat like a dinasaur.... But i'm not going to deny that I like to eat. Because eating is my hobby!! \(^V^)/ And yummy food cheers me up. Bad food = bad mood.

There is something abt foodmakers here. Food can be very very nice and filled with ingredients at first. As time goes by, they start to substitute this with the cheaper version of this or totally skip this or add other cheap stuff thinking that the we won't know the difference T____T What are they thinking?! Unless our tongues don't function or better, if don't have a tongue, we will know! Sometimes the taste is so out that I don't know what I'm eating anymore T______________T

I remember a funny story told by my ex-boss. One fine morn, she went to a kolomee stall next to our office to ta bao noodles. Being health conscious, she told the kolomee taokeh not to put MSG in her noodles. The man nodded and continued with his work. After a few seconds, she told him not to put too much oil in her kolomee so as to cut down on unneccessary calories. This time, the taokeh got annoyed and said to her 'so troublesome! You go make your own kolomee lah!!"

Ahahaha, funny but true. If you don't like what you are getting or can't get what you want outside, why not make your own? d(^@^)p Ooohaha, so clever of me!

So 姜姜姜姜...!

My soya bean and cashew nut milk

Avocado with 100% full cream milk

My almonds, macadamia nuts, cranberries Granola bars.

And my specialty - Kimchi!

It's a lot of hardwork i must admit. AND i ALWAYS regret each time i start the project (like cleaning my room back in 2009). But like what i always said, '先苦後甜'. The end products are so good that I forget abt the lOOooong and complicated processes I went thru.... Then I make them again, feel regret to start, then forget abt the pain, and start to make again and..... ya, u get the sequence.... :P