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| Set of 17 xiao chi dishes |
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| Wen Shu Fang |
Then it was flight back to Singapore....and which ended my trip to Si Chuan... ^-^
Places visited:
1. Wen Shu Temple
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2013
Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 9
Day 11 - 27th Dec 2012
Ahh...last day in Chengdu today. So we ended up sleeping until 10 plus, skipping the hotel breakfast. I woke up at around 10 plus and went to have a nice shower. My friend still nuaing on bed...kekeke...I had the roasted chestnuts which we bough last night. It was 500g and i ate half of it for breakfast...eat until abit scared...(came back liao..don't want to eat again for the time being...hahaha). After nuaing for the whole morning, we checked out at 1.30pm and went out for lunch. We went to Lai Tang Yuan and ordered a set of 17 items (small serving of each item) for RMB$40 each person. The set consists of rabbit meat, dumplings, dan dan noodles, fish, tang yuan, duck and etc. There were alot of people eating there as well as those taking away..good business there....The xiao chi are not bad, but some of them are quite ma la...i like the zhong shui jiao (dumpling with a red sauce..sweet one). The tang yuan also nice...After eating, we went to take the metro to head down to Wen Shu Temple.
After coming out from the metro, we walked a short distance to the entrance. The ticket booth was a small small window in the wall, where u can only see the hands of the staff. Then i bought the tickets (RMB$5 each) and we went in to explore explore. It was very big too (like Qing Yang Gong) but there were a few places in Wen Shu Temple that were not open to public. There was a bigger temple inside too for devotees to chant and pray. There were also alot of meaningful wordings displayed around the temple, there even have a room to let troubled person to pour out their troubles. We walked until around 4 plus, then as it was about time to get back. Then we slowly made our way back to Chun Xi Road. We walked around as it was still early for dinner, went shopping for jackets...After shopping around, we went to Long Chaoshou restaurant for dinner. It was having 4 levels, the first level is like a food court place and they were selling all their xiao chi separately. On the 2nd level, it's more like restaurant class and they were selling their set meals. So we headed up to their 2nd level as the 1st level was packed with people and cannot see any empty seats around. We ordered a set of 16 items for RMB$58 each..There were some dishes different from Lai Tang Yuan, but still like the zhong shui jiao best (there was more meat here, compared to Lai Tang Yuan..but still nice..). After eating dinner, we walked back to the hotel to take a cab down to the airport. When we boarded the cab, the cab driver was trying to get us to pay RMB$90 for the journey as he said still got don't know what road taxes/charges but we knew that the journey actually would only cost around RMB$60. But our luggage were all loaded up in the cab...haiz...so we went ahead with it...After a long ride, we finally reached the airport. It looked empty when you entered, not many people around there. We walked and shopped abit to see what else we can buy..bought some fruits back too..hahaha..
Then it was flight back to Singapore....and which ended my trip to Si Chuan... ^-^
Places visited:
1. Wen Shu Temple
Then it was flight back to Singapore....and which ended my trip to Si Chuan... ^-^
Places visited:
1. Wen Shu Temple
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 8
Day 9 - 25th Dec 2012
Today, we are going to walk around Chengdu by ourselves. So we got up slightly late (not very late too..hohohho), and got ready to go down for breakfast. It is buffet breakfast, and have cornflakes too..finally got cornflakes to eat...After breakfast, we went back to our room to take our bag and set off. We went to take metro down to Jin Sha Ruins Museum, but when we came out of the metro station, we still have a quite a distance to the museum (and it is not very near...). Finally we reached the museum entrance and bought the tickets (RMB$80 each...). Then we went in to explore the place, there were 5 halls, contained all the artifacts dug out from the site. They had preserved the whole site and let it for public display. There also had videos giving introduction on how it was first found and as they dug, the more artifacts they discovered. We even went for a 4D show, showing the life of the Jin Shan people's life (Can feel the snakes crawling very fast on your butt and can feel an arrow strike on your back...). The 4D show is RMB$20 per person...a bit exp...After that, we walked to another area to see the site where the artifacts are dug out from. We stayed there until 3 plus, then we went to buy admission tickets for the next place - Du Fu Thatched Cottage (RMB$60 each). Suppose there is a free ride between 3 places if you purchase the tickets for the 3 places (which is Jin Sha Ruins Museum, Du Fu Thatched Cottage and Wu Hou Ci Memorial Temple..didn't managed to visit the 3rd place as not enough time), so we expect there is a free ride to the cottage. Instead the lady from the museum told us that the free bus is not operating now as there was road construction going on, so she took us to a bus stop and take their public transport FOC to the cottage. She didn't take with us, she told us to alight after 4 or 5 stops. Luckily the alighting bus stop is near to the cottage entrance.
And so, we went to explore the house of Du Fu. The place was also big, spent an hour or so exploring the place. There was a 4 storey high tower inside, i climbed up to 2nd storey and took some photos. When i came down, my friend was nowhere to be found. So i tried to search for her around the area..Gosh..i walked in and out the tower and even climbed up to the 4th level (when i don't have the intention too in the first place). Finally i gave up looking around the tower and walked to another area, there she was...(from far saw her walking at another area..haiz..). She still asked our friends in singapore to send sms to me to meet up at the south gate (already saw her before i saw the sms...kekeke). After done exploring the house, we headed out to Kuan Zhai Alley. We exited at the other gate of the cottage house, and we walked for about 15 mins to the bus stop to take the bus. It was 2 or 3 stops away. But when we alighted, we don't know where to head too...later when asked a passerby where is the alley, she told us it is just opposite the road..the name for the alley is super not easy to see, (unless you know ancient Chinese characters....hohohoho). And so we walked in the alley, there was not much people too....very nice and not squeezing to walk in the alley...We ate some xiao chi as dinner and went back to our hotel after eating..After reaching the hotel, my friend went down to shop around while i stayed in our room to watch tv... kekeke..tv time!!
Day 10 - 26th Dec 2012
Today, woke up at around 8 plus to get ready for breakfast. After breakfast, we made our way to the bus stop to Qing Yang Gong (青羊宫）. It was 4 or 5 stops away from our hotel, and it stopped at the bus stop opposite the temple...Quite convenient compared to taking their metro.....Apparently the places of interest are near to bus stops, rather to metro stations...And when we reached, we still need to pay an entrance fee of RMB$10 to go in (A Taoist just sat outside and issues the tickets..). The Taoist temple is the oldest and biggest of its kind in the area, located in the west of downtown. While it has a long history, the buildings are modern, cheaply-made concrete constructions, and it quite frequently shows. The statues inside are also cheap modern constructions of no real interest.All the things inside are very old, and the place is super big. There were a lot of gods inside, and there was an animal statue (shown on the left). It was made up from a small part of the 12 zodiac animals'. (Can you figure out?) We spent about half a day exploring the temple, saw a Taoist washing her super long hair too....really super long (going to touch the ground)...And there was a place for tea too, at the back of the temple. After exploring the temple, we set off out for lunch..hungry...We decided to go back to Chun Xi Road, after finding out the original place we wanted to go had closed. But along the journey back, we alighted at Tong Hui Men Road and went to walk at a street (Qin Tai Lu) where the whole street was filled with gold jewellery shops. After walking for a while, we decided to go into a restaurant there - Tanyoto....MaLa Steamboat time.....
We went in and ordered steamboat with mala and tomato soup based...and ordered a fish head, mixtures of balls (got pork, cuttlefish and prawns), lotus root, cucumber, a duck (cold dish) and got a free side dish (corn..don't know what is it called...but still nice to eat..hahaha). We waited for some time before all the food came...The fish head was divided into 2 and boiled in both the soups (i took the mala and my friend took the tomato....). Wah!! The mala is super super ma....cannot tahan...When i ate the fish, my tongue was ma...until cannot talk already...hahhaa..i almost wanted to cry out....really cannot tahan...I told my friend to put all the rest of the food into the tomato-based soup...Cannot eat any more with the food in mala....We spent 2 or 3 hours for this meal..hahaha....Super full after eating....Then we slowly made our way back to Chun Xi Road for shopping (snacks and souvenirs time....). We went back to hotel room to rest for awhile first..then we went down to shop around and bought souvenirs (panda items) and snacks back...After bringing back the stuffs back to the hotel, we went down again to buy some food back...heavy lunch...can't even eat proper dinner...Bought alot of snacks again in the supermarket...kekeke...We had instant noodles for dinner and my friend bought a few yogurts back to try...after that, we went back to hotel to make our noodles...ahh..the instant noodles also oily and no taste..plain plain de...kekkee...Then is back to tv and ipad's time...night night!
Stay tune for the last day's journey in Chengdu..... ^_^
Places visited:
1. Jin Sha Ruins Museum
2. Du Fu Thatched Cottage
3. Kuan Zhai Alley
4. Qing Yang Gong
5. Qin Tai Lu
6. Chun Xi Road
Hotel Stayed:
Haiyatt Hotel
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| Mask |
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| Du Fu Thatched Cottage |
Day 10 - 26th Dec 2012
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| Schwarze Ziege |
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| MaLa Huo Guo |
Stay tune for the last day's journey in Chengdu..... ^_^
Places visited:
1. Jin Sha Ruins Museum
2. Du Fu Thatched Cottage
3. Kuan Zhai Alley
4. Qing Yang Gong
5. Qin Tai Lu
6. Chun Xi Road
Hotel Stayed:
Haiyatt Hotel
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 6
Day 7 - 23rd Dec 2012
Today we woke up slightly late and prepared for the day. left our luggage outside the room and went down for breakfast and slowly eat until it is time to board the bus. It was about a 2 hr ride from ErMei back to Chengdu.
First stop, we went to Bao Shu Tang, a place where they sell....dun know what they sell. Got mediated plasters for aches, cream for face and herbal drink. We were brought in a room, where there was a guy and he started to promote all their products. He also let us try some for testing...After his 'speech', they started to see who wants to buy..then after that, we left for the next stop - Pearl Jewellery Outlet. It was a short distance to the pearl outlet. When we reached, there was a lady explaining how the pearl was taken out and was made into jewellery. After the explanation, she brought us to see their finished products for sale. She even took 1 pearl necklace out and put on one of the ladies in our group. Later then, is shopping time again. The boss even came out and gave us his offers. There was a cream made using pearl and ginseng/lingzhi. He was giving his offer, buy 1 box of 6, free another box and free another 2 bottles...like very attracting o....hohohohho....Some of them shared the cost and bought back..from the boss, we also got to know that our tour guide is the top 3 best tour guide ranking. Then we went to another room, where they are selling pearls jewellery (taken from sea)..more expensive...the lady who was still wearing the pearl necklace was deciding with her husband whether to buy it..hohoho..She tried to negotiate the price with the boss. The boss asked her what is the price she wants, 一口价 $3000 sgd..the boss said ok to her wo and even threw in a ring and earrings to make it a set. Her husband was 'sweating'...lol...After the payment, the boss took out another more expensive necklace and tried to persuade her to get it too.. for a price of $6000 sgd and even throw in a ring and earring to make it a set. He even told her if she gets this, he will refund her the $3000 she paid for the earlier set, so to make it a free set (this is how they make business...hohoho...). She decided not to get it..as the 2nd offer doesn't sound worth. There was another family who also bought a nice necklace back..The husband was also getting 'worried' on the price..hahaha..It was funny to see all the husbands when the wives are shopping for jewellery..The rest of us were just walking around the shop to pass time..and we were getting very hungry as it was near to lunchtime. My friend and me went on to the bus to wait for the rest. The 2 kids and the grandparents of another family were on the bus too. Wah...the older kid actually shouted vulgarities at his grandma and the younger one followed...The grandma was also complaining to us that the 2 kids scolded her for eating their mum's snacks and the 2 kids were just kept shouting at the grandma...Kids these days.....
Finally, all came out and we were off for our lunch. It was a feast of herbal dishes, which the tour guide told us it was actually dishes made in palace for the royals and it was later passed down the generations. We reached the restaurant and started our lunch, there was a small wine too for drinking or you can pour into their chicken herbal soup to drink. The wine has a super strong taste sia...don't like..anyway the waitress spilled mine on the table when she was putting the dishes on the table. The sweet and sour pork was nice....gone very fast...lol...The food was nice in this place...After lunch, we made our way down to Huanhuaxi Garden, where there is a path that Chinese poems are printed on the ground (诗歌大道). But it was a Sunday..the garden was packed with people when we arrived..and the tour guide still asked us to pick a poem to recite when we come back to the bus..Sianz...so we just walked around the garden to pass the time...and bought ice cream to eat before getting back on the bus. After that, we made our way to JinLi Alley for shopping. During the journey, the tour guide really got a person from every family to recite a poem. My friend went to recite..kekeke...
We arrived at JinLi Alley and the tour guide let us to walk around the place for shopping. So we just walked around the alley and see see...there are people standing there to help you wax your ears too..kekeke..There was a panda house, selling panda stuffs too...and there was a area selling snacks, there was restaurants and pubs there too. We saw a guy eating chicken wings and he just throw the bone on the ground. Even when we saw him again at Liu Xiang's tomb, he also throw the bone in front of the tomb...wah piangz...cannot find a dustbin to throw de leh...After walking for some time and was crowded with people, we walked towards to the entrance and waited for the tour guide to fetch us. The tour guides came and fetched us all at around 6 plus, then they brought us to our dinner place. It was a beautiful place, we even had the original mala tofqu and gong bao ji ding. After the dinner, we went for SiChuan Opera...We were seated in the 1st row and not allowed to take photos or videos...(but we bought their DVD to keep). There were a few short plays in the whole performance. First to start of was the brotherhood of the 3 brothers (Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei) from the Three Kingdoms. Followed by the battle of Liu Bei, then followed by a performance of Liu Bei with Sun Shang Xiang. Then it was a puppet show, showing He Xian Gu admiring the lives of the humans. After that, it was a performance of hand shadowing, showing animals and humans from shadows...it was interesting...Next was a comedy of a wife punishing her husband from getting home late after gambling. It was funny and the wife was trying to get the husband to blow out the candle on his head without using his hands...The whole conversation was in Chengdu language..it was hard to make out what they are saying but there was translation on the side tvs...hohoho...Next was a performance on Erhu Solo...nice music...After that, was the highlight of the show - Face changing. There were 3 persons doing the face changing, one of them was actually a puppet. It can also perform face changing too..Amazing...At the last part, they even did a clothes changing. The whole show lasted about 1 hr plus..Very entertaining...nice nice (Make sure you go for this performance if you are in Chengdu). After that, we went to check in our hotel - Crowne Plaza Chengdu Panda Garden. When we arrived, there was a big christmas tree, there were masks all around the tree. And we went into our room, there were a small gift on our beds, cookies was inside (My sis ate up the cookies..lol). It was a big and spacious room, quite nice...there was a partition that can open up from the toilet to the room and there was a bath tub too. But too bad, only staying for 1 night nia...heater was strong and we can't open the window as there was some burning going on outside (got smoke smell)...Anyway we stayed up quite late before going to bed...kekeke...
To be cont'd.....
Places visited:
1. Bao Shu Tang
2. Pearl Jewellery Outlet
3. Huanhuaxi Garden
4. Jin Li Alley
5. SiChuan Opera
Hotel Stayed:
Crowne Plaza Chengdu Panda Garden
 |
| Bao Shu Tang |
First stop, we went to Bao Shu Tang, a place where they sell....dun know what they sell. Got mediated plasters for aches, cream for face and herbal drink. We were brought in a room, where there was a guy and he started to promote all their products. He also let us try some for testing...After his 'speech', they started to see who wants to buy..then after that, we left for the next stop - Pearl Jewellery Outlet. It was a short distance to the pearl outlet. When we reached, there was a lady explaining how the pearl was taken out and was made into jewellery. After the explanation, she brought us to see their finished products for sale. She even took 1 pearl necklace out and put on one of the ladies in our group. Later then, is shopping time again. The boss even came out and gave us his offers. There was a cream made using pearl and ginseng/lingzhi. He was giving his offer, buy 1 box of 6, free another box and free another 2 bottles...like very attracting o....hohohohho....Some of them shared the cost and bought back..from the boss, we also got to know that our tour guide is the top 3 best tour guide ranking. Then we went to another room, where they are selling pearls jewellery (taken from sea)..more expensive...the lady who was still wearing the pearl necklace was deciding with her husband whether to buy it..hohoho..She tried to negotiate the price with the boss. The boss asked her what is the price she wants, 一口价 $3000 sgd..the boss said ok to her wo and even threw in a ring and earrings to make it a set. Her husband was 'sweating'...lol...After the payment, the boss took out another more expensive necklace and tried to persuade her to get it too.. for a price of $6000 sgd and even throw in a ring and earring to make it a set. He even told her if she gets this, he will refund her the $3000 she paid for the earlier set, so to make it a free set (this is how they make business...hohoho...). She decided not to get it..as the 2nd offer doesn't sound worth. There was another family who also bought a nice necklace back..The husband was also getting 'worried' on the price..hahaha..It was funny to see all the husbands when the wives are shopping for jewellery..The rest of us were just walking around the shop to pass time..and we were getting very hungry as it was near to lunchtime. My friend and me went on to the bus to wait for the rest. The 2 kids and the grandparents of another family were on the bus too. Wah...the older kid actually shouted vulgarities at his grandma and the younger one followed...The grandma was also complaining to us that the 2 kids scolded her for eating their mum's snacks and the 2 kids were just kept shouting at the grandma...Kids these days.....
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| Lunch Place |
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| JinLi Alley Entrance |
We arrived at JinLi Alley and the tour guide let us to walk around the place for shopping. So we just walked around the alley and see see...there are people standing there to help you wax your ears too..kekeke..There was a panda house, selling panda stuffs too...and there was a area selling snacks, there was restaurants and pubs there too. We saw a guy eating chicken wings and he just throw the bone on the ground. Even when we saw him again at Liu Xiang's tomb, he also throw the bone in front of the tomb...wah piangz...cannot find a dustbin to throw de leh...After walking for some time and was crowded with people, we walked towards to the entrance and waited for the tour guide to fetch us. The tour guides came and fetched us all at around 6 plus, then they brought us to our dinner place. It was a beautiful place, we even had the original mala tofqu and gong bao ji ding. After the dinner, we went for SiChuan Opera...We were seated in the 1st row and not allowed to take photos or videos...(but we bought their DVD to keep). There were a few short plays in the whole performance. First to start of was the brotherhood of the 3 brothers (Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei) from the Three Kingdoms. Followed by the battle of Liu Bei, then followed by a performance of Liu Bei with Sun Shang Xiang. Then it was a puppet show, showing He Xian Gu admiring the lives of the humans. After that, it was a performance of hand shadowing, showing animals and humans from shadows...it was interesting...Next was a comedy of a wife punishing her husband from getting home late after gambling. It was funny and the wife was trying to get the husband to blow out the candle on his head without using his hands...The whole conversation was in Chengdu language..it was hard to make out what they are saying but there was translation on the side tvs...hohoho...Next was a performance on Erhu Solo...nice music...After that, was the highlight of the show - Face changing. There were 3 persons doing the face changing, one of them was actually a puppet. It can also perform face changing too..Amazing...At the last part, they even did a clothes changing. The whole show lasted about 1 hr plus..Very entertaining...nice nice (Make sure you go for this performance if you are in Chengdu). After that, we went to check in our hotel - Crowne Plaza Chengdu Panda Garden. When we arrived, there was a big christmas tree, there were masks all around the tree. And we went into our room, there were a small gift on our beds, cookies was inside (My sis ate up the cookies..lol). It was a big and spacious room, quite nice...there was a partition that can open up from the toilet to the room and there was a bath tub too. But too bad, only staying for 1 night nia...heater was strong and we can't open the window as there was some burning going on outside (got smoke smell)...Anyway we stayed up quite late before going to bed...kekeke...
To be cont'd.....
Places visited:
1. Bao Shu Tang
2. Pearl Jewellery Outlet
3. Huanhuaxi Garden
4. Jin Li Alley
5. SiChuan Opera
Hotel Stayed:
Crowne Plaza Chengdu Panda Garden
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Si Chuan, China Trip 2012 - Part 3
Day 4 - 20th Dec 2012
Today, we woke up early too..ahh..didn't manage to sleep well too. We checked out of New JiuZhai Hotel and went off to start our day...(Breakfast not nice anyway....). The tour guide let us get off by a road to experience the coldness...wah...it is really really cold...and there were snow on the ground....Later we drove off to Western Gemstone and Jade Outlet, during the ride, the tour guide told us how Tian Zhu come about and how to identify a real tian zhu and what to look out for. It was believed to be one of the expensive beads for Zhan Zu people. The tour guide also told us that he had bought one about 16 years old and had been wearing since. He told us to look out the bead's transparency, lines (hua wen), and how it glows (don't really remember the last one..hohoho...). Anyway, we arrived at around 10 am. The tour guide passed on to the guide in the factory and the guide started to introduce us to how the gemstones come about, and introduced on the different gemstones..like tian zhu （天珠）, mao yan (猫眼) and Amber. The guide also told us how to identify the real and the fake for all these gems...For tian zhu, there are the 3 points to identify which is the transparency and the lines. For tian zhu, there was so called '新天珠‘ and '老天珠‘. As for the lao tian zhu ('老天珠‘), they are normally kept for a long time and its transparency is much more, compared to xin tian zhu ('新天珠). So they are normally much much more expensive. And there are many patterns printed on every tian zhu, there are called 1 eye to 10 eyes, plus there are still other patterns which there are different meaning to every pattern. To identify the real mao yan, the guide told us to let it reflect with the light, there will be a line that will open and close like a cat's eye. As for the Amber, the real thing will need to identify by using its weight, it will float in water if it is the real thing. After the demo, the guide brought us to use a microscope to identify the tian zhu. After that, he brought to their main shop to do shopping for their tian zhu and there was a 50% discount now as they are closing for holidays. So we walked around and see. My friend and me bought a RMB$3400 (which is sgd$692) for a 9 eyes tian zhu...and we each also bought another 'turtle shell' pattern for RMB$300 (which is sgd$60 plus). Xiong....After shopping for some time here, we left for the next shopping shop....Zhan Zu Tea Outlet
Next, we arrived at a outlet (茶马古道） which is selling their tea. We were introduced to how their tea was being carried out for exports/imports by using the silk road. Then later we were introduced to the creator of tea and the super big and old tea tree. After that, We were brought to a small room, where everyone was seated. There was a lady who started to introduce their tea to us, there were 3 other ladies at the back preparing the tea. Then they let us to try on their 1st tea - 七叶胆...it smelled nice and sweet, quite refreshing..and the lady also told us how to hold the teacup when drinking...Later she later us try on the 2nd tea (don't know what is being called)...She also showed us how to drink the tea...it was funny..(somehow you will need to hold the tea in your mouth and suck it in instead of swallowing down..and you need to make sucking sound as loud as possible when drinking...lol). For the 3rd tea, it is called Zhan Cha - 藏茶. And during each tea testing, the lady told us that the benefits of the 3 types of tea. The lady told us that it was after the 2008 earthquake that they were selling this tea now, and half of the $ will be donated to charity for those children who had lost their homes/families during the earthquakes. And these tea are donated by their living buddha...And she also said that if you get their 10 pieces of zhan cha, you can actually send back the last 2 pieces to them and they will send a new box of 10 pieces to you. So in a way, you are paying 1 time and getting endless tea. And she said it is up to us whether to get the tea anot and it is still limited edition (but if you are getting endless tea when send back, how will it be limited edition leh??? Haiz....) Me and my friend actually bought 1 packet of the 1st tea we tried..and already went out of the place..Suay suay, the lady came out and got us another offer to get another packet of the 1st tea and she will give us 1 more packet for free...Once we went in again...that's it sia....she started to persuade us to get that zhan cha. Gosh....even the tour guide was also persuading us to buy the tea for charity... -_-"...In the end, i just agreed to buy them...(3 pieces for RMB$1000 instead of RMB$1800). My credit card even bounced when i went to do the payment..hahaha...(Should have run off when it bounced..lol). In the end, my friend helped mi to pay for it first...Haiz....Lesson learnt..if really want to buy, always get the 1st offer..don't take their 2nd offer...hohohoho...
After shopping at these 2 places, we went for our lunch. Nothing fantastic too, one of our tour group member even got ice in her rice...hohoho...the food area was cold too, no heater...and the food was also not hot...the 2nd round of rice is also half-cooked, hard hard one... After lunch, it was a super long ride down from JiuZhaiGou to Mao Xian. So the tour guide entertained us by telling us some information of how the 2008 earthquake had affected him...After that, he let us to take a nap on the bus. We arrived at the same pitstop where the bus got its bath and i went down to buy fruits. The stall owners were trying very hard to get business for their own...After the bus had its bath, we continued our journey down the mountain. By 4 pm, we arrived at a Qiang Zu Village. It was built for them after the 2008 earthquake. All the houses are newly built, some are even quite modern and all are at least 2 storeys high. The tour guide even went in one of the locals' houses and asked for permission whether we can go in the house to take a look. It was a 3 storeys high house and up on the 3rd floor, it had a super nice view of the mountains....After we came down, the tour guide tried to talk to the house owner, who has 3 daughters. After that, we took a walk around the village and the wind was blowing....very cold there...After spending about 1 and half hour there, we all went back to the bus as it was really getting cold. Then we made our way to the hotel - Maoxian International Hotel and our dinner was prepared by the hotel too. The restaurant was on another building beside the hotel and their wifi wasn't working when we were there...the hotel staffs said their router was having some issues, so it is unable to work (what to expect when staying on mountain areas?? lol). So we had our dinner there, again there was no heater in the restaurant...and food was so so too..During dinnertime, our tour guide told us that breakfast will be served as ala-carte dishes and on time too. So everyone needs to be punctual to have breakfast the next day. After dinner, we went back to our hotel room to rest. I called back to Citibank as my card was bounced earlier today...and the call lasted 18 mins, including a 3 mins call i made earlier, which got cut off. $72...heart pain sia...The hotel room is small and the only heater available is the heater blanket...and mine doesn't even get heat up...I was shivering the whole night during my stay there (luckily it is only 1 night...can't take it...was even wearing my fleece jacket and pocket warmer to sleep sia...i just quickly did everything i needed to do and crawled into my bed and don't want to come out..hohoho...). And still the hotel stopped their whole power at midnight to save electricity...Again, i was unable to sleep well due to the coldness....
For these few days, the tour guide had also told us information about Zhan Zu - how they come about, their culture and even their burial methods. They are actually people from Tibet,who have chose to stay on in China after their wars. They also put up colored flags around their houses, and on the flags, scriptures are printed on the flags. The flags are called '经幡'. One thing i find interesting is their ways of burial, there are actually 5 burial ways according to their customs:
1. 火葬 - Fire burial (Is to cremate by fire)
2. 水葬 - Water burial (Is to buried in the sea and let the fishes to eat the corpse. Normally this is done for young infants/children who died. This is the reason too why Zhan Zu folks don't eat fishes.)
3. 土葬 - Earth burial (Is to buried underneath the ground)
4. 天葬 - Sky burial (For this burial, the zhan people actually chop up their loved ones' corpse into many small pieces and let the vultures to feast on it. Even after the bones are left, they will still chop the bones into smaller pieces and let the vultures to feed on them. By this burial, they believed that all the sins committed in this life by the dead person is being cleansed. Therefore, nothing is to be left behind.)
5. 塔葬 - Pagoda burial (This burial is normally for Dala Lama, or high monks. They are to be buried in pagoda and expensive items will also be buried together with it.)
To be cont'd..........
Hotel Stayed:
MaoXian International Hotel
Places visited:
Western Gemstone and Jade Outlet
Zhan Cha Outlet
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| Western Gemstone and Jade Outlet |
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| 茶马古道 |
After shopping at these 2 places, we went for our lunch. Nothing fantastic too, one of our tour group member even got ice in her rice...hohoho...the food area was cold too, no heater...and the food was also not hot...the 2nd round of rice is also half-cooked, hard hard one... After lunch, it was a super long ride down from JiuZhaiGou to Mao Xian. So the tour guide entertained us by telling us some information of how the 2008 earthquake had affected him...After that, he let us to take a nap on the bus. We arrived at the same pitstop where the bus got its bath and i went down to buy fruits. The stall owners were trying very hard to get business for their own...After the bus had its bath, we continued our journey down the mountain. By 4 pm, we arrived at a Qiang Zu Village. It was built for them after the 2008 earthquake. All the houses are newly built, some are even quite modern and all are at least 2 storeys high. The tour guide even went in one of the locals' houses and asked for permission whether we can go in the house to take a look. It was a 3 storeys high house and up on the 3rd floor, it had a super nice view of the mountains....After we came down, the tour guide tried to talk to the house owner, who has 3 daughters. After that, we took a walk around the village and the wind was blowing....very cold there...After spending about 1 and half hour there, we all went back to the bus as it was really getting cold. Then we made our way to the hotel - Maoxian International Hotel and our dinner was prepared by the hotel too. The restaurant was on another building beside the hotel and their wifi wasn't working when we were there...the hotel staffs said their router was having some issues, so it is unable to work (what to expect when staying on mountain areas?? lol). So we had our dinner there, again there was no heater in the restaurant...and food was so so too..During dinnertime, our tour guide told us that breakfast will be served as ala-carte dishes and on time too. So everyone needs to be punctual to have breakfast the next day. After dinner, we went back to our hotel room to rest. I called back to Citibank as my card was bounced earlier today...and the call lasted 18 mins, including a 3 mins call i made earlier, which got cut off. $72...heart pain sia...The hotel room is small and the only heater available is the heater blanket...and mine doesn't even get heat up...I was shivering the whole night during my stay there (luckily it is only 1 night...can't take it...was even wearing my fleece jacket and pocket warmer to sleep sia...i just quickly did everything i needed to do and crawled into my bed and don't want to come out..hohoho...). And still the hotel stopped their whole power at midnight to save electricity...Again, i was unable to sleep well due to the coldness....
For these few days, the tour guide had also told us information about Zhan Zu - how they come about, their culture and even their burial methods. They are actually people from Tibet,who have chose to stay on in China after their wars. They also put up colored flags around their houses, and on the flags, scriptures are printed on the flags. The flags are called '经幡'. One thing i find interesting is their ways of burial, there are actually 5 burial ways according to their customs:
1. 火葬 - Fire burial (Is to cremate by fire)
2. 水葬 - Water burial (Is to buried in the sea and let the fishes to eat the corpse. Normally this is done for young infants/children who died. This is the reason too why Zhan Zu folks don't eat fishes.)
3. 土葬 - Earth burial (Is to buried underneath the ground)
4. 天葬 - Sky burial (For this burial, the zhan people actually chop up their loved ones' corpse into many small pieces and let the vultures to feast on it. Even after the bones are left, they will still chop the bones into smaller pieces and let the vultures to feed on them. By this burial, they believed that all the sins committed in this life by the dead person is being cleansed. Therefore, nothing is to be left behind.)
5. 塔葬 - Pagoda burial (This burial is normally for Dala Lama, or high monks. They are to be buried in pagoda and expensive items will also be buried together with it.)
To be cont'd..........
Hotel Stayed:
MaoXian International Hotel
Places visited:
Western Gemstone and Jade Outlet
Zhan Cha Outlet
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Perth, Australia Trip (Part 2)
Day 4
We woke at 4 plus again today, to go to see the 75 metre high Bicentennial Tree and the valley of the giants. We had our breakfast at 6am, it was prepared by the tour guide (anyway is just cornflakes and fresh milk, tea/coffee are made using the free packets from each room.) After breakfast, we all loaded our luggage up to the bus. After everything were loaded, we all got onto the bus. The old uncle still asked my friend whether he remembered to bring his fake teeth....hohoho...joker....
First the tour guide took us to some place (don't know where), anyway he said that's where we can see wild kangaroos around. We did managed to get to see 2 or 3 kangaroos resting there.Next, we continued our journey to see the bicentennial tree. But the weather was abit wet, still wet from last night's rain, so the tour guide was against the idea of climbing the tree as it was not safe. We reached the bicentennial tree and we saw a group of students climbing up on the tree. It was a super tall tree and there were metal rods poked into the tree as a form of steps for people to climb up. There were platforms on about half the tree and at the top of the tree. It was quite an achievement if one really climb to the top..lol...Anyway no one from our group climbed up the tree, only the australian guy climbed halfway on the tree. My friends and i just took photos on the early steps of the tree...kekeke....
After that, the tour guide us to a small town, where there was a cafe called Hollowart Cafe. The tour guide told us they had the best chicken pies in town. So we ordered the chicken pies, coffee and hot chocolate. The pies are super tasty but the hot chocolate sucks (just like plain water with choco flavour)...lol....Next, the tour guide took us to Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park. But it was just like a deserted jetty...lol...nothing is there except water...and the tour guide also didn't tell us any information of the place. Anyway, we left for lunch after 15 mins or so. We went to Denmark Town, where we had our lunch. This time, is hamburger with last night's leftover salads and meat patty. I didn't had much as i was still full. The hamburgers were super big in size, my friends just had half...lol...i just went to the nearby post office and bought some stamps.
After lunch, the tour guide took us to the valley of the giants Tree Top Walk. The tour guide helped us buy the entrance tickets. Then he passed us the entrance tickets and left us to roam the tree walk. Then we just walked on our pace to the tree top. After the tree top, we walked down to see the tingles trees. There was a tingle called Grandma's tingle, it looked just like a old granny's face where you look at it. After that, the tour guide took us to green's pool to see elephant's rocks. But the weather turn bad when we reached green's pool. The wind was blowing super hard and the rain was coming down heavily. So the tour guide told us that whoever don't want to go down can stay on the bus. So I and one of my friends went down to see the elephants' rocks. The tour guide took us down to the beach but there was a big rock we needed to climb down. So my friend backed out as he had injury on his knees, so i went ahead. But i slipped and fell down when i was climbing down the rock. I landed on my butt..lol...my pants got wet. Later, the tour guide continued to climbed a super big rock up and the rest of the tour members too climbed up. But the water was flowing down fast and my shoes were too slippery. Luckily there was a small staircase at the other side, so i was about to climb up and continued the path up to see the elephants' rock. It was large rocks facing the beach and it looked like a herd of elephants from the back. (I sure took great lengths to see the rocks...lol) We still went down to the beach and it was super cold.
After that, we climbed back to the bus. I was wet and there was a lot of sand on my pants...lol...Later, the tour guide brought us a small town nearby. He gave us half an hour time to go see and shop. So we just walked down the streets and see the shops. We saw a supermarket nearby and went in to shop, we had fun shopping inside. After that, we went to wait for the bus. The old uncle still bought sausages for our dinner for the day...(we were so happy, finally we had something better to eat...lol). After that, the tour guide took us to see the gap and natural bridge. From the gap, we saw the big big waves crashing against the rocks. It was very amazing to see the waves crashing against the rocks. After that, we went to see the blowholes. Pity it started to rain again and the ground was wet again. And the blowholes were quite down and needed to climb rocks again. So i didn't went down but 2 of my friends went down. My other friend was 'frozen' to death...hohoho...she was so scared of the cold...lol....
After the blowholes, the tour guide took us to the hostel for the night. It was at Albany, it was called Albany backpackers. So as usual, we got the room key and we were sharing with the australian guy. Then we need to help out to prepare dinner again. This time we were cooking pasta, but the sauce was going to add in beef meat. But i went to bath 1st while waiting for dinner (to avoid rush for toilet). The toilet was common use and it was shared by everyone living in the hostel. When i was bathing, the lights in the toilet went out and it was super dark inside (I was still bathing..-_-"). Luckily my friends came and looked for me in the toilet and when they opened the door, the lights came up. Anyway, i quickly finished up my bath and went out for dinner. But the tour guide didn't want to cook the sausages that the uncle had bought...sad....anyway we finished our dinner. My friends all against of taking shower the next morning, so we all agreed that we are not going to take shower the next day and just tahan until we returned to Perth hotel..hohoho.....We played monopoly deal and had potato chips to pass time as it was still to early to sleep. We played until 10 or 11 plus, before turning in for the night.
Day 5
We woke up early today, and prepared to leave for the day. We all took turns to change our clothes and the australian guy took off all his clothes to go for a bath, leaving only his underwear on (luckily me and my friends are back facing him..lol). There was a big spider hanging on top of the bed i was slept...scary....Then we all returned our room keys and went out to wait for the bus. The tour guide took us to Desert Mounted Corps Memorial. We had climbed steps up to the top and saw the overview of Albany. After that, the tour guide bought us to a place, where he told us to walk down the path and he will be waiting for us at the end of the path. So we all walked slowly down the path to enjoy the breeze, sea and sun. After that, he brought us to buy some good coffee and passed by a rock at the side of the road which looked like a shape of a dog. After that, we went to see castle rocks. Once we reached there, the tour guide told us whoever wants to go the toilet,may do so except there was no water...lol....and to bring our water bottles along as it was a long long walk up to the castle rocks.
So we started our journey up, it was like hiking up the jungle. We walked super long way up to the top, just to see the balancing rock and castle rock. Halfway through when we were still climbing up the mountain, my friend's singapore phone rang. So we were all so amazed on the good reception out in the wild...hohohoo....Instead both my friends' who had got australia's local data sim card, there was not good reception on their own networks..lol..Finally we reached to the top and got to see the balancing rocks. It was a nice view down to the lands. And there was a rock with metal bars built into the rocks and you can still climb higher up to the rocks. 2 of my friends went up, even the old couple managed to climb up.lol...so mi and my other friends waited downstairs. Later we all took a group photo at the viewing gallery there and left. It was a long way down too, same way up, same way down. After we came down, we had our lunch. This time, we left others to prepare the food, no mood to prepare the food anymore..lol..The bread was super hard due to the cold weather..cold food for the 3rd day and i am so glad it was the last meal that we need to prepare the food and no more cold food. Our last place of visit was castle rock winery, where the owner taught us how to drink red wine. She let us try some of her products, a few even won awards for it. So we all bought 1 or 2 wines back, then we left the place. Finally it was our last stop for the whole 3 days trip and is back to Perth. We stopped at a petrol station, where i bought a pack of hot chicken and fries to share and eat....nice!!
We reached Perth around 6 plus and we returned to the same hotel we stayed in Perth. We were soo happy to return to the hotel. We took showers and rest for awhile before heading out for dinner. But most of the shops are closed, we had our dinner at the restaurant at the hotel. The food was quite nice and we were all happy..lol...After the meal, we settled our bill and went back up to our room and ended our day.
Day 6
Today is the day to visit wildlife park and the Pinnacles Desert. It was with a day tour too which we had booked before the trip. We got ready and went down to the bakery shop opposite our hotel, bought breakfast. Then we went to the bus waiting area, there were a lot of buses, all going to Pinnacles Desert too. We got onto the bus and waited for everyone to board. All aboard and we were all set to go. The tour guide told us it was a long journey there and there was a mobile toilet at the back, which we could use for real emergency...lol......There was a group of japanese tourists with a tour guide translating what the guide was saying. And the japanese guide was talking non-stop throughout the whole journey, we can't even hear the tour guide speaking clearly. First time, we found them very annoying...We arrived at Caversham Wildlife Park, then the park guides took us round the park. First they took us to see the kangaroos, there were a lot of kangaroos, they even got white color kangaroos...hohoho....There was one kangaroo with little joey inside...so cute....We even got to feed the kangaroos with some snacks. After that, the park guide took us to see a wormbat. It was very very big in size, it weighes 30kg of muscles and it can run very fast, regardless of its size. It is a vegetable eater too. We took turns to take photo with the wormbat. After that, the park guides took us to see the koala bears. There were 2 koala bears on the bamboo tree, one was sleeping and one was having its lunch...cute cute....We took turns to take photos with the koala bears. After the koala bears, it was time for us to leave the park, but there was other animals we yet to see.
Anyway, we had to leave the park to go the pinnacles desert. The tour guide brought us to a beach first and later we went to a lobster shack. There, we got a tour to see how the lobsters are being processed and shipped out to other countries after being caught. After that, we had lunch there, we also bought a cold lobster to try out. After lunch, the tour guide took us to the Pinnacles desert. It was a long drive ride to the desert. And the japanese guide was still talking non-stop on the bus, until we cannot take it. Finally we reached Pinnacles Desert. We all got out and walked to the dessert. It was a big place with a lot of sands and rocks, luckily the weather was good, no rain..nice weather to walk. We had a good 1 hour time to explore the desert. Me and my friend took some the sand back...hohoho....After the desert walk, we headed to sand dunes, where we can play sand boarding. It was inside a town, called Lancelin town. The tour guide drove us around the sand dunes, it was like roller coaster round...there was another bus infront of us too. The tour guide drove us 2 or 3 rounds the sand dunes before stopping the bus at the top. Then he took a sand board from the bus, and gave us a demo on how to glide down the sand on the board. Then he let us take the boards out and let us glide down the sand. It was fun, gliding down the sand but it was tiring climbing up the sand back..hohoho....we all had fun playing there. After that, the tour guide took us back to Lancelin town to wash up before going back to Perth.
After that, we had a long ride back to Perth. We returned back to our hotel first and rested for a while. Then we went down to have our dinner, we had japanese food for dinner. We had a full dinner and after that, we went to the mini supermarket to buy some snacks. After that, we went back to our hotel rooms to rest for the day.
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| Elephants' Rocks |
First the tour guide took us to some place (don't know where), anyway he said that's where we can see wild kangaroos around. We did managed to get to see 2 or 3 kangaroos resting there.Next, we continued our journey to see the bicentennial tree. But the weather was abit wet, still wet from last night's rain, so the tour guide was against the idea of climbing the tree as it was not safe. We reached the bicentennial tree and we saw a group of students climbing up on the tree. It was a super tall tree and there were metal rods poked into the tree as a form of steps for people to climb up. There were platforms on about half the tree and at the top of the tree. It was quite an achievement if one really climb to the top..lol...Anyway no one from our group climbed up the tree, only the australian guy climbed halfway on the tree. My friends and i just took photos on the early steps of the tree...kekeke....
After that, the tour guide us to a small town, where there was a cafe called Hollowart Cafe. The tour guide told us they had the best chicken pies in town. So we ordered the chicken pies, coffee and hot chocolate. The pies are super tasty but the hot chocolate sucks (just like plain water with choco flavour)...lol....Next, the tour guide took us to Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park. But it was just like a deserted jetty...lol...nothing is there except water...and the tour guide also didn't tell us any information of the place. Anyway, we left for lunch after 15 mins or so. We went to Denmark Town, where we had our lunch. This time, is hamburger with last night's leftover salads and meat patty. I didn't had much as i was still full. The hamburgers were super big in size, my friends just had half...lol...i just went to the nearby post office and bought some stamps.
After lunch, the tour guide took us to the valley of the giants Tree Top Walk. The tour guide helped us buy the entrance tickets. Then he passed us the entrance tickets and left us to roam the tree walk. Then we just walked on our pace to the tree top. After the tree top, we walked down to see the tingles trees. There was a tingle called Grandma's tingle, it looked just like a old granny's face where you look at it. After that, the tour guide took us to green's pool to see elephant's rocks. But the weather turn bad when we reached green's pool. The wind was blowing super hard and the rain was coming down heavily. So the tour guide told us that whoever don't want to go down can stay on the bus. So I and one of my friends went down to see the elephants' rocks. The tour guide took us down to the beach but there was a big rock we needed to climb down. So my friend backed out as he had injury on his knees, so i went ahead. But i slipped and fell down when i was climbing down the rock. I landed on my butt..lol...my pants got wet. Later, the tour guide continued to climbed a super big rock up and the rest of the tour members too climbed up. But the water was flowing down fast and my shoes were too slippery. Luckily there was a small staircase at the other side, so i was about to climb up and continued the path up to see the elephants' rock. It was large rocks facing the beach and it looked like a herd of elephants from the back. (I sure took great lengths to see the rocks...lol) We still went down to the beach and it was super cold.
After that, we climbed back to the bus. I was wet and there was a lot of sand on my pants...lol...Later, the tour guide brought us a small town nearby. He gave us half an hour time to go see and shop. So we just walked down the streets and see the shops. We saw a supermarket nearby and went in to shop, we had fun shopping inside. After that, we went to wait for the bus. The old uncle still bought sausages for our dinner for the day...(we were so happy, finally we had something better to eat...lol). After that, the tour guide took us to see the gap and natural bridge. From the gap, we saw the big big waves crashing against the rocks. It was very amazing to see the waves crashing against the rocks. After that, we went to see the blowholes. Pity it started to rain again and the ground was wet again. And the blowholes were quite down and needed to climb rocks again. So i didn't went down but 2 of my friends went down. My other friend was 'frozen' to death...hohoho...she was so scared of the cold...lol....
After the blowholes, the tour guide took us to the hostel for the night. It was at Albany, it was called Albany backpackers. So as usual, we got the room key and we were sharing with the australian guy. Then we need to help out to prepare dinner again. This time we were cooking pasta, but the sauce was going to add in beef meat. But i went to bath 1st while waiting for dinner (to avoid rush for toilet). The toilet was common use and it was shared by everyone living in the hostel. When i was bathing, the lights in the toilet went out and it was super dark inside (I was still bathing..-_-"). Luckily my friends came and looked for me in the toilet and when they opened the door, the lights came up. Anyway, i quickly finished up my bath and went out for dinner. But the tour guide didn't want to cook the sausages that the uncle had bought...sad....anyway we finished our dinner. My friends all against of taking shower the next morning, so we all agreed that we are not going to take shower the next day and just tahan until we returned to Perth hotel..hohoho.....We played monopoly deal and had potato chips to pass time as it was still to early to sleep. We played until 10 or 11 plus, before turning in for the night.
Day 5
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| Balancing Rock |
So we started our journey up, it was like hiking up the jungle. We walked super long way up to the top, just to see the balancing rock and castle rock. Halfway through when we were still climbing up the mountain, my friend's singapore phone rang. So we were all so amazed on the good reception out in the wild...hohohoo....Instead both my friends' who had got australia's local data sim card, there was not good reception on their own networks..lol..Finally we reached to the top and got to see the balancing rocks. It was a nice view down to the lands. And there was a rock with metal bars built into the rocks and you can still climb higher up to the rocks. 2 of my friends went up, even the old couple managed to climb up.lol...so mi and my other friends waited downstairs. Later we all took a group photo at the viewing gallery there and left. It was a long way down too, same way up, same way down. After we came down, we had our lunch. This time, we left others to prepare the food, no mood to prepare the food anymore..lol..The bread was super hard due to the cold weather..cold food for the 3rd day and i am so glad it was the last meal that we need to prepare the food and no more cold food. Our last place of visit was castle rock winery, where the owner taught us how to drink red wine. She let us try some of her products, a few even won awards for it. So we all bought 1 or 2 wines back, then we left the place. Finally it was our last stop for the whole 3 days trip and is back to Perth. We stopped at a petrol station, where i bought a pack of hot chicken and fries to share and eat....nice!!
We reached Perth around 6 plus and we returned to the same hotel we stayed in Perth. We were soo happy to return to the hotel. We took showers and rest for awhile before heading out for dinner. But most of the shops are closed, we had our dinner at the restaurant at the hotel. The food was quite nice and we were all happy..lol...After the meal, we settled our bill and went back up to our room and ended our day.
Day 6
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| Kangaroos |
Anyway, we had to leave the park to go the pinnacles desert. The tour guide brought us to a beach first and later we went to a lobster shack. There, we got a tour to see how the lobsters are being processed and shipped out to other countries after being caught. After that, we had lunch there, we also bought a cold lobster to try out. After lunch, the tour guide took us to the Pinnacles desert. It was a long drive ride to the desert. And the japanese guide was still talking non-stop on the bus, until we cannot take it. Finally we reached Pinnacles Desert. We all got out and walked to the dessert. It was a big place with a lot of sands and rocks, luckily the weather was good, no rain..nice weather to walk. We had a good 1 hour time to explore the desert. Me and my friend took some the sand back...hohoho....After the desert walk, we headed to sand dunes, where we can play sand boarding. It was inside a town, called Lancelin town. The tour guide drove us around the sand dunes, it was like roller coaster round...there was another bus infront of us too. The tour guide drove us 2 or 3 rounds the sand dunes before stopping the bus at the top. Then he took a sand board from the bus, and gave us a demo on how to glide down the sand on the board. Then he let us take the boards out and let us glide down the sand. It was fun, gliding down the sand but it was tiring climbing up the sand back..hohoho....we all had fun playing there. After that, the tour guide took us back to Lancelin town to wash up before going back to Perth.
After that, we had a long ride back to Perth. We returned back to our hotel first and rested for a while. Then we went down to have our dinner, we had japanese food for dinner. We had a full dinner and after that, we went to the mini supermarket to buy some snacks. After that, we went back to our hotel rooms to rest for the day.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Seoul, Korea Trip
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| Viewing of North Korea |
Day 1
Went to Seoul, Korea from 17th Feb to 23rd Feb 2011. We met up @ 5.45am in the morning and made our way to Changi Airport T1. Then we checked in our luggage and waited for our plane to KL. We took AirAsia airline, we waited in the airport until 8.55am. Then our plane took off to KL, and reached there around 9 plus. Then we went to the KL Plaza Premium Lounge in the budget terminal, in there, we had shower, lunch and waited for our next plane to Seoul. We started to make our way to the gate at around 12 plus, then i got delayed in the Malaysian Customs. I asked my friend to go ahead 1st to clear the checkpoint, by the time i was done with the checkpoint, i was unable to find my friend after the checkpoint (Don't know ware she went, 吓死我). Finally i saw her already inside the gate,waiting for me. Then we went up to the plane, which took us 6 hours plus to Seoul. We played monopoly card game on the plane (My friend kept winning...lol), ate our dinner and slept on and off on the plane. Finally we reached Seoul, and the temperature was like below 0 degree (Shiok!!). Then we collected our luggages and tried to make our way to our hotel. It was located in Dongdaemum (East Gate) area, where all the fashion shopping malls are located. Then we checked in our hotel, then we went out nearby for a walk and tried on the food sold by the roadside stalls (yummy!!). Then we went down to coffee bean and bought hot chocolate drinks, after which we went back to our hotel to rest.
Day 2
Woke up in late morning which we prepared to go the Gyeongbokgung Palace. But we went down to the hotel lobby to settle the data roam first, which took us 2 hours. By the time we reached the palace, it was already 2 plus in the afternoon. But we still managed to go for the mandarian guided tour, so we waited for the guided tour. There was a changing of guards performance at around 3pm, were unable to watch it due to the guided tour (My friend "很凶地" called mi to go liao..hohohoho). Then we went around the palace, guided by the tour guide. The palace was very big and there were alot of interesting things inside. The guide took around 1 hour plus, then we went to the museum cafe for a small snack (which was our breakfast and lunch). It was nice, then i took a nap while my friend chatted on her phone. By the time we left, it was past 5pm and we was not able to go to the palace museum, as the last admission was 5pm. But we still went in to take a peek inside the museum displays. Then we left at around 6 plus, which the sky was already getting dark and the temperature was getting lower. Then we made our way to Jogyesa temple, which was @ Anguk station. The monks were chanting in the hall, so we just see the surroundings of the temple (Anyway it was kind of dark, as there was no street lights outside the temple). Then we went to have our dinner, we had bibimbap (with no beef, only vegetables..hohoho). It was nice with all the side dishes, and were very full. Then we went back to our hotel to rest (as we were going to have our DMZ tour the next day).
Day 3
Woke up early to prepare to go to our DMZ tour. We left hotel at around 6 plus and made our way down to Samgakji station. We had problem finding the USO office from the station. In the end, we took cab down to the place (Luckily, we still managed to find the office, thanks to my friend's GPS, which she used it to guide the cab driver). By then, it was already almost 7.30am, luckily, the bus waited for those latecomers. And so, we managed to go for the tour (which was worth it, eye-opening too). The bus left at 7.45 am and we were on our way to the DMZ zone. There was a checkpoint that the US army was required to check on our identifies before we can go in. The tour was guided by US army, so our guide was a new soldier who was just posted there. He introduced to us on the JSA area and the meeting place, where South and North Korea was divided (so the conference room was also divided by half, and was determined by the doors on South and North Korea side to determine who get to use the room for their own meetings). There are 2 villages located at that area too, one was called Freedom village (in South korea) and another was Peace Village (in North Korea). There was also a flagpole war between South and North Korea. South Korea had placed a flag up on their area, North Korea responded by placing a much higher flag pole, which was 160m tall, the world 2nd highest flagpole. There was an incident called Axe Murder Incident, which was quite an incident where 3 US soldiers were up against more than 20 North Koreans soldiers, all because of a poplar tree.
After which, we made our way to the 3rd tunnel. There were total of 4 tunnels, which the south koreans found out, and they opened the 3rd tunnel to public for visiting. We had to walk a super steep walkway down to the tunnel. Then we just walked to the end of the tunnel, to see 3 small windows which can see across to the other side of the tunnel. Then we made our way back up to the walkway, we had to climb up the steep steep slope, it was tiring. By the time we reached, we were both sweating and the temperature outside was like still below 10 degree (Had to take off our thick sweaters to cool down, hohooho...). After that, we went to the observatory to have a better view of North Korea. At there, we were only allowed to take photos from a yellow box drawn on the ground. Then we had our lunch at their canteen there,and then we went down to Dorasan Station.
There, we took a look around of the train station before making our way back to Seoul. After reaching Seoul, we made our way to Myeong-dong for shopping and dinner. There were alot of shops and stalls selling clothes,food,etc. There were people selling hugs for free too, you just have to walk up to them and they will hug you for free..Kekekeke..... When we were at the hotel, we got a call from the ski tour agent to inform us that there will be maintenance going on in the ski area on monday. So she requested us to change to the next day instead. So we went ahead with the plan, to go skiing the next day. And so we went to bed to prepare for the next day.
Day 4
Went up early morning to prepare for our skiing tour. The tour van came and picked us up at our hotel at 8am. Then we went to a nearby hotel to pick another 4 persons that had joined the same tour. The tour guide's name is Summer. She is very funny, told us alot of jokes along the way. The other group of friends are also super funny, they also chatted and told jokes with the guide. We headed down to the ski place, where we rented the ski equipment before we drove up to the mountain. Halfway up, the ski rental shop had forget to pass us our gloves, so we u-turned back to the shop to get them. Then when we were on the way, my friend found that her gloves were of the same side. Kekeke......thgt we need to u-turn back to the shop again, but the guide called up the shop and 'scolded' them for the mistake. In the end, they brought the correct gloves up for my friend. Then we started to try out to ski in the beginner's slope. We both had our fall there, twice. Both of us fell at the same time before we went off, and we couldn't get up on our feet. Luckily there was a kind lady who pulled us up. Kekeke......We also tried to make a snowman (which doesn't even have the shape of the snowman) there. We played until 12.30pm, then we went to pick the 4 ladies from the ski sled area (which was meant for small children). Then we went down the mountain to have our lunch. We had BBQ chicken, it was so yummy (Best meal of the whole trip). After the yummy lunch, we headed to Nami Island where Winter Sonta (korea drama) was filmed. But we didn't managed to walk the whole island due to time constraint. We took the ferry back, then waited for our guide to pick us up and went to a Ginseng factory. At there, they explained to us when the ginseng can be cooked. There was a total of 6 years, by the age of 2, ginseng can be used to make Ginseng Chicken Soup.
By 4 or 5 plus, we reached back our hotel. My friend stayed in the lobby for internet accessing and i went back to our room. I fell asleep while watching tv in the room, ke lian my friend, cannot come in to our room while i slept (hohoho...). In the end, she took another key from the reception to come in. And i was awoken by the opening of the door when she came in. Then we decided to go down to Seoul Tower for night viewing of Seoul. We went to have our dinner @ TwoTwo Fried Chicken, but by the time we finished our dinner, it was reali getting late. So we dropped our plan of going to the tower and went back to our hotel instead for early resting.
Day 5
Went up abit late today, since the previous 2 days we had been waking up early for the tours. Today we went up to Seoul Tower. We found the Namsan cable car building and went to buy tickets for cable car ride up to Seoul Tower. Everyone was being squeezed into the cable car and being brought up to the tower. On top of the tower, we still need to buy admission tickets to the Observatory and the teddy bear museum. Plus, we paid for our lunch at the top of the tower @ Han Cook. After that, we went to the teddy bear museum first. It was quite small, with all the teddy bear miniatures display in it. Then we went up to the tower observatory to have a 360 degrees view of Seoul. Audio guides are available at the tower to help you identify the places down below (but seriously, it was hard to see the buildings even with the audio guide was explaining the different building standing). After that, we went for our lunch. It was buffet-style for the side dishes and we were required to order only 1 main dish for each.
(Lunch was at around 2 plus or 3, why we always eat meals very late de?)
After lunch, we went down to Namsangol Hanok Village, which was someware near Namsan area (which i don't know ware). We went to a bus stop and took bus no. 2 down, it was 2 bus stops away. Then from the bus stop, we walked a short distance to the entrance of the village. We walked around to see the traditional houses of Korea, there were a spot for traditional Korea games too. After that, we headed to watch JUMP performance. We went down to the metro station and headed to the Korea Tourism Organization Office and queried for the directions. While i was asking for directions, my friend called her mum using the free international phone there (3 mins free). Later we called back to our office and disturbed our office friends. Kekekee......
Then we walked down to JUMP theater, bought our tickets and bought our food @ the coffee bean there. After that, we went for the show. It was a (around) 90 mins performance and it was funny. I bought their program book and had it autographed by the cast (^-^, happy happy). After the show, we went to cheonggyecheon stream walk walk, and the fashion malls around our hotel. Then we ended our day.
Day 6
Today was the last day in Seoul, we went for shopping in Namdaemum Market. At there, we walked around the streets, then we walked to the central post office to buy some stamps for posting postcards back. After that, we had lunch at a small shop @ Namdaemum Market. It was just selling soup noodles there. After that, we went to buy some seaweeds and candies to bring back..... Then we went back to our hotel 1st, after which we went to walk Cerestar shopping mall. It was sooo empty inside, the shopping levels were only up to level 6 and it was a 20 plus high building (weird....). After that, we headed down to the airport, which we had to take the metro down to Seoul station. At there, we had our light dinner first before taking the airport express train down to the airport. Upon reaching the airport, did our check-in, then my friend wrote her postcards and sent. Then we went around to see if there is any restaurants opening. Then later, we took the airport shuttle train to our gate. And so, we left Seoul and we arrived back in Singapore @ Noon the following day (which we also spent the whole morning in KL budget airport, doing nothing except sleep. And the KL-SG plane still delayed some more).
The Seoul Metro can be very confusing when you first take, because there are 14 different lines. And there are alot of different exits and staircases (the lifts are 'hidden', need to try finding). You will need to go from different stairs to get to the correct platform and if you need to decide the platform first before tapping your card, make sure you watch out for the direction that you want to go. (Encountered once, we had to walk until the next line platform so that we can get to the opposite platform)
Hotel Stayed: EastGate Tower
Places visited:
1. Dongdaemum (East Gate)
2. Gyeongbokgung Palace
3. Jogyesa temple
4. Anguk Street
5. DMZ - JSA, 3rd tunnel, Observatory, Dorasan Station
6. Myeong-dong
7. Ski Place (don't know where it is)
8. Nami Island
9. Ginseng factory
10. Seoul Tower
11. Teddy Bear Museum
12. Namsangol Hanok Village
13. JUMP Theater
14. Namdaemum Market
15. Central Post Office
16. Cerestar Shopping Mall
17. Cheonggyecheon Stream
Complete Photo Album: Click here
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