food at xu jia hui... =)

Day 61 – 20 Sept (Sat)

Had lessons at jiaotong uni today, went to the nearby hk restaurant called billy & bros (don’t ask me why a hk restaurant sounds so angmoh)... haha... we’d been there 2 or 3 times previously... this time round, I tried the 双拼烧味河粉汤 (2 types of roasted meat – roasted duck & roasted pork with hor fun in soup)... it was pretty gd! =) also ordered 叉烧酥 to share... the pastry was really nice, along with fragrant char siew... =P

billy & bros hk restaurant... =)

my delicious 烧味双拼 with noodles... =P

叉烧酥 char siew puff! yummy... =)


After lessons, we slacked at metro city’s food republic coz we weren’t that hungry yet... think I was watching some jap drama on my archos player or something... then when it was finally dinner time, went sushi tei! Yummy... jap food... my all-time fave... =P

The salmon sashimi was still on offer, so we grabbed a plate of that... shared an agedashi tofu which was woohoo! =P for my main course, I had a nice tempura udon! Oishii!! Haha... nice soup, nice tempura, nice udon... yummy... =D

After the sumptuous dinner, we headed right home, coz I had to pack some stuff for my dad to bring back to sg... he would be coming down to visit next week!! Yay!! =D

salmon sashimi! =P

agedashi tofu! =P

oishii tempura udon! =)

sushi tei at xu jia hui's metro city... =)

haha...i know my blog's super outdated... =P

Day 60 – 19 Sept (Fri)

After lessons in the morning, we went to 静安寺 again... it’s almost become a weekly routine... haha... as usual, since it was lunchtime, lotza restaurants were crowded... we decided to try the thai restaurant at the basement... I ordered a seafood tom yam noodles for 23rmb... the soup tasted not bad, slightly sweet, probably to cater to the locals... ingredients wise, there was a tiny mussel which wasn’t too fresh... but well, it was an alright meal lah... unlike William... who was kinda ‘cheated’... he ordered a tom yam soup for 20rmb, and a bowl of rice to go with it... but it turned out that his tom yam soup came in a very small bowl, definitely insufficient to fill his stomach with... haha... it he’d just 3rmb to get my noodles, it would have made a whole lot of difference... but well, too bad for him lah... wrong choice... haha... so he had to order an additional dish of pandan leaf chicken which cost 25rmb I think... what an expensive meal for him... >_<

thai restaurant at 静安寺

william's 'cheaterbug' tom yam soup! >_<

my pretty gd tom yam noodles...=)


We decided to go somewhere new, so went to check out 中山公园 which has a park and a few shopping malls nearby... it turned out that the park was really pathetic, small and poorly maintained! >_< it was really cmi, especially after we’ve visited beautiful places like 玄武湖公园 (lake xuanwu) or 雨花台(yuhua tai) in nanjing! Totally thrashed it hands-down... =P

Then we went 陆家嘴’s super brand mall, where we found 喜多屋 (xi duo wu), this international buffet restaurant, recommended by my friend, shanshan... it’s really ex... the dinner costs 220rmb = S$48 based on current exchange rate...>_< weekday lunch is cheaper, 20 or 30% off that price... they supposedly have the alaskan king crabs, lobsters and various types of seafood... and the main highlight’s that the restaurant is near the huangpu river, so if you choose the seats by the window, the view of the huangpu river at night is very beautiful...=) but you’ll have to place reservations way in advance if you want the window seats, coz the restaurant’s really quite popular.. it tends to be full-house on weekends especially... we figured that we were too full to try the buffet today, and that we should perhaps go for their weekday lunch since it’s be cheaper, so we went to check out another Chinese restaurant which shanshan recommended... she loves seafood, especially fish, so she told me about this 鱼馆 which serves very fresh fish coz they just fish it out of the tank and cook it for you in the restaurant... we chose a 江鱼, i.e. fish from their Yangtze river, considered a freshwater fish I believe...it cost 48rmb/斤 (500g), so we ordered a fish that weighed slightly over 500g, and since it would be cooked in a steamboat style, we chose this clear tonic soup base, and ordered a serving of cabbage and mushrooms for the steamboat... instead of plain white rice, we shared a 牛腩炒饭 (beef fried rice) which was pretty nice... only 32rmb for a huge portion...=) the fish tasted slightly fishy, probably coz of the clear soup base, but luckily it still tasted very fresh coz the chef actually fished out the fish and showed us to check if we were ok with it, before he sliced the fish and served it along with the pot of hot soup... =) we were really full after the meal, but just before leaving, the waiter served us some complimentary fruits and a small glass of corn juice each... haha... first time trying corn juice, I found it quite alright... interesting taste... but William didn’t like it... haha...

our fresh fish at the 鱼馆

straight from the fish tanks in the restaurant... =)

the restaurant...nice ambience... =)

our steamboat soup+fish...

smooth and yummy fish! =P

娃娃菜

mushrooms! =P

牛腩炒饭 (beef fried rice)

steamboat! woohoo...=P


After dinner, went to the lotus supermart downstairs to shop around while waiting for our food to digest... bought some stuff for my family, coz my dad would be coming down to visit during the golden week holiday, so I can pass the stuff for him to bring back to singapore... =)

training again! yay... =P

Day 58 – 17 Sept (Wed)

Went out for a company dinner function at a hotel today... I was surprised to see MANY wedding couples at different corners of the lobby, MANY couples on various levels, outside various ballrooms... and I was like omg... why’s the whole world getting married today?! Haha... then I asked my colleague, he thought for a while, and suddenly realized... it was 8月初18, so lotza pantang Chinese who love the no. ‘8’ will choose this special date to get married... not to mention it also happens to be 08 年... hahaha... as usual, food was gd, but lotza negative externalities... no prize for guessing what... but well, just drank a little red wine... luckily not that disgusting 白酒 (Chinese white wine)... =)

Day 59 – 18 Sept (Thurs)

Went back to shanghai today... met william directly at steak house, near jiaotong uni, for dinner... ordered a carbonara spaghetti, 18rmb, but wasn’t gd... the cream sauce was far too bland, and the spaghetti was too soggy... but well, had to grab a quick dinner before going TRAINING!! Yay... =) at times, we’ll suffer from some inertia... not very tempted to drag our butts all the way down to the uni for training... but after training, we’ll always be so satisfied and glad that we made the trip down after all... =)

spaghetti carbonara at steak king...


Well, we bought the membership card from the coach... 10 sessions for 200rmb, which means each session costs 20rmb=S$4+ (with the + coz S$ has depreciated by quite a lot against the china yuan)... but training usually ends quite late, and if we take the train back, there’s a risk that we might miss the train at the interchange, so we would always cab back... which means another 10rmb per person = S$2+... hahaha... so effectively, each tkd session actually costs us about S$7... ntu tkd pple... start feeling grateful that you don’t have to pay any training fees... hahaha....

Well, at the start of today’s training, the coach approached me to check which dan I was... I guess he probably heard from the coach who relieved him last training that I was 2nd dan... so he lent me a black belt and yay! I regained my black belt status! Haha... no longer look weird wearing white belt with black collared dobok... not used to it... haha... oh, and William had his brown belt too, coz his parents helped him to bring it from sg when they came to visit previously... =) so yup, we were both wearing our actual belt levels for that training... a little stressful coz we were afraid of being judged... haha... like wondering what the other people might think of our standards... but thankfully, all went well! =P apparently, shifu’s training has been really helpful... when it came to the jiaotong uni’s training, it didn’t seem as strenuous... only about 50% of what we’re put to endure, especially nearing ivp period... haha... probably coz their trainings aren’t really stamina-based... more technique-based... which is quite a nice change actually... =) oh, but the stretching and warm-ups are very similar to what we do in ntu tkd... for one of the stretches, I was partnering William... it’s the kind where you just pull the person down from in front while he stretches his hamstrings... knowing how inflexible William is, I slowly pulled him down, while grabbing onto his forearm... but later, the coach happened to walk past, and decided to give William a hand... he pushed William down from behind and O-M-G... hahaha.. GG for William... his grip on my forearm suddenly tightened and when I looked up, I could see that look of pure agony on his face!! =S sorry William, I could see the words ‘HELP ME!!’ written all over your face, but there was really nothing I could do... I didn’t mean to be sadistic, but if you had seen that expression on your face at that point in time, think you would laugh out loud too... =P

After lotsa kicking, we did pattern, and I practiced taebaek again... the coach sorta got me to demo koryo for the rest of the black belters there... stressful... but luckily I didn’t really screw up... =) Anyway, training was fun and satisfying as usual...=) went home feeling exhausted but happy... =)

MAF travelling over long weekend... =) (part 3 finally...)

Day 56 – 15 Sept (Mon)

Haha...finally blogging again... have been really busy at work these days... anyway, I shall continue with part 3 of the maf traveling... =P

Went to 新街口 (xin jie kou), walked around, had lunch at this food court in a shopping centre called Fashion Lady or something. The place that’s like bugis street... I ate the 辣子鸡米线 (spicy chicken mee sua) for 12rmb, which was more like sg’s 粗米粉 (thick bee hoon) actually... quite a nice change from the type of noodles we generally get here... I miss noodles like 粗米粉 or mee pok or mee tai bak! Hahaha... anyway, the taste of the noodles was not bad, but the amount of chicken meat was really miserable... >_< well, I’m kinda used to it by now... reminded of the 红烧牛肉面braised beef noodles that I had at the jiaotong uni’s canteen previously... hahaha... 1 pathetic cube of beef... -_-“

辣子鸡米线 (spicy chicken mee sua)


After lunch, went back to walmart where William finally bought his bolster to bring back to shanghai... hahaha... I bought various foodstuff to top up the supply in my nj apartment...

After walmart, we slacked at kfc, where we had popcorn chicken and coffee float! Have I mentioned that china’s kfc’s popcorn chicken is very nice!! Haha... I find it much better than sg’s version! Haha... the ones here are smaller pieces, but nice & crispy... =P oh, and the coffee float was not bad... I was asking if they served coke/sprite float instead of coffee float, but they said no... and I was thinking to myself... kfc sells coke, sprite, coffee, and ice-cream, so why is it that they can add the ice-cream on top of the coffee and sell you a coffee float, but they cant add ice-cream on top of a coke/sprite to give you a coke/sprite float... -_-“ well, we had quite a while to slack there coz William was taking the 4+pm train... and he was kinda packing some stuff into a luggage that he’d just bought... our dear mr William is really cmi at packing... he was pulling one rather empty luggage, carrying 2 sling bags and holding onto some plastic bags!!! Like omg... what’s the luggage for if you don’t fill it up?! Haha... it’s a fixed capacity there, not as if the luggage will compress itself if you don’t put anything in it... so you should obviously try to stuff whatever you have into that luggage first to minimize the no. of pieces of baggage you gotta carry? Moreover, since that luggage has wheels, it’ll be much easier to pull it around than to strain your shoulders and back with those heavy sling bags, and not to mention your hands occupied with carrying several plastic bags and 1 BIG BOLSTER... >_< so well, I suddenly thought of my mom’s wondrous packing skills – she’s known to be a magician when it comes to packing... somehow, she can defy the natural laws of matter, making it seem like matter suddenly doesn’t occupy space, or that solids can be compressed to occupy less space... haha... and she does it like she’s playing a game of blocks twisting and turning every item to fit into the limited amount of space, shifting items here and there to fully utilize whatever little space there is... so when you thought that NO, itz IMPOSSIBLE that anything else can fit in there, she does her magic and... VOILA! There it is... sitting neatly in the luggage, with my mom by the side, beaming with pride and self-satisfaction... hahaha... =P yah, so well, even if I haven’t picked up all those magical packing skills from her, the 0.0000000000000000001% that I inherited from her was still more than sufficient to help William pack his stuff into 1 luggage, 1 sling bag and 1 bolster... –beams with pride too- =P

coffee float at kfc... =)



Finally, it was time for William to catch his train, so he cabbed down to the train station from to 新街口 (xin jie kou) while I took a bus back home... so that concludes our maf traveling in nanjing! =)

MAF travelling over long weekend... =) (part 2...)

Day 55 – 14 Sept (Sun)

Part 2 of MAF traveling begins… haha… we took a direct bus to 玄武湖公园 (Lake Xuanwu Park), which was a really beautiful place!! The lake itself was HUGE, & de entire park surrounding it seemed to stretch miles all around its perimeter! Really beautiful… =) the weather was fantastic that day… warm sunlight but breezy, light blue sky with scattered clouds… =) right at the gate wall, we saw a woman selling cotton candy! The cotton candy was made using some old and ancient-looking machine! Haha… but the cotton candy was delicious! =P didn’t taste of those artificial colouring that you often get in sg, rather, it was just like the taste of malt candy… yummy… =)

玄武门 Xuanwu Gate...


aunty selling cotton candy! yummy! =P


Equipped with our delicious treat, we entered the park… the entrance fee cost 30rmb, but it was definitely well worth it! =P for all the splendid greenery and scenery, which were generously captured by our digicams, the money was definitely well spent… =) there was a shop renting buggies, normal bicycles, & TRIPLE bicycles!! Haha.. what sg has is at most double bikes at ecp, but here, they rent out so many triple bikes! =O haha… & as usual, since there’s a lake, there’ll always be those boats where u maneuver by cycling on de pedals.. reminds me of de time when I went genting highlands with my parents when I was young, & how I always enjoyed taking that water boat coz it was really fun! =P

boat rides at the park... =)


stone waterfall


As we walked further into the park, we came across this reptile garden… the admission ticket only cost 10rmb & de ticket vendor kept asking us go in, saying that a lot of people would visit their reptile garden, so well, we figured… why not… the ticket was quite cheap anyway… but after going in, our conclusion was: DON’T EVER WASTE THAT MONEY EVEN THOUGH IT’S JUST 10 BUCKS!!! The reptile garden was ULTRA PATHETIC!!! Omg… the worst animal “park”/”garden” I’ve ever visited! The whole place was rather dark, and the enclosures were all so small and dirty!! They had very few animals inside, and I really pity those animals coz the living conditions were really sad! =( there was a monkey right outside the main exhibit area, which was locked in a wooden cage… gosh, it looked so pitiful! We should sue the management for animal abuse man!! =(

reptile garden?!

pathetic & chui-looking entrance... >_<

oooh..so THAT'S a TURTLE...?!!!

saying our last prayers for the little bird... our condolences... =(

HUGE lizard...-_-"

GIGANTIC crocodile... -_-" (more like pathetic crocodile...)

pitiful monkey locked in a cage... =(


Well, right beside the reptile garden was a “haunted house”… a “haunted house” playing weird techno music of ghosts’ howling… HOW SCARY… -_-“ the “haunted house” itself looked more like a fun playhouse for kids lah... we were totally not interested in wasting our money going in... we’d definitely learnt better after wasting 10rmb on that lame reptile garden visit... >_<

lame "haunted house" with a big group of students wearing red t-shirts...


So as we continued walking further into the park, we saw some beautiful lotus gardens, which really caught my attention... enjoyed snapping many shots of the lotus plants... it was apparently the lotus season! =)

lotus garden...=)






at another part of the park, there was a huge open area with a statue of guanyin goddess on a lake! there were some water fountains surrounding the statue too! =)

me supporting the "leaning pagoda of nanjing"! =P


realizing that the park was really too huge to be covered in half a day, we decided to u-turn and head back for the exit... our stomachs were kinda growling by then... so we were all excited to have a good lunch at 湖南路 hunan rd! =P

we decided to have lunch at de Korean restaurant where I’d once been to with my company bosses previously... we ordered a 韩式炒年糕 (korean rice cake) 石锅拌饭 (bib bim bab stonepot rice)... the 炒年糕 was nice, but the石锅拌饭 was unfortunately disappointing! =( the last time I tried it, it was really fantastic! Hm... I wonder if itz bcoz we didn’t wait for the rice to be sufficiently heated up in the stonepot before starting to eat... so it wasn’t hot nor fragrant enough...=( but well, at least the 炒年糕 was good & filling...=)

our appetiser:

石锅拌饭 (bib bim bab stonepot rice)

韩式炒年糕 (korean rice cake)

冰糖葫芦！malt-coated fruits & haw candy! =P


after lunch, we took the mtr from 玄武门 to 中华门 and walked for about 10-15mins to 雨花台风景区 (yuhuatai terrace scenic)! Yuhuatai is actually a site to commemorate the martyrs who perished in the CCP’s fight against the Kuomintang... (once again, don’t trust my history...>_<) there’s a stone sculpture of several martyrs near the main entrance of the park... and as you walk further in, there’s a museum/exhibition hall... BUT... we were too late!! =( we didn’t know that the museum closes at 5pm, so we ended up spending quite some time taking pics at the entrance, and reached the museum at 5:15pm or so! >_< wasted...

雨花台风景区 Yuhuatai Terrace Scenic


stone sculpture of the martyrs... =)

taking a pic with the martyrs... =)


we continued exploring yuhuatai, and there was a Mao Zedong museum in there too... a grand statue of chairman mao along with many other items which were related to his life then... as we walked further, there was an area with lotza tombs of the perished martyrs as well as some pavilions which were constructed to commemorate them... oh, there was a nice pagoda right beside a temple too! Took a few pics in front of the pagoda... =P

毛泽东纪念物展 exhibition of mao zedong's souvenir items...


what a dua coin!! =P

which size of chairman mao would you like? XS,S,M,L,XL,XXXL?

oops... feeling a little playful... =P

china's national song... try singing it! =)


the museum which closed at 5pm!! >_<

nice house...=)

"yuhua stone" song!

and you thought nanyang house was high... >_<


all in all, yuhuatai was another beautiful place where we spent quite a lot of time walking around & taking lotza pics till my digicam went out of batt... haha...

for more pics, visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/celest8787/MidAutumnFestivalHolidayTravelling2

finally, we headed for dinner!!! =P I suggested for us to check out 太平北路(north taiping rd) as I’d passed by once as I was cabbing home at night... and noticed that the place seemed quite fun & vibrant despite the late hour, and there were quite a couple of restaurants, and a rather big starbucks outlet with a European styled façade... =) the whole area kinda reminded me of Clarke quay/boat quay in sg... coz the restaurants were about mid-range to high-end, and there were quite a few pubs, clubs and ktvs as well...

we checked out quite a few of the restaurants, which were all quite ex, and almost wanted to settle for a Cantonese restaurant, but the waitress told us that we would have to wait for about half an hour for a table... so we decided that while waiting, perhaps we should go back to this tairyo teppanyaki restaurant and check out the menu and price...

tairyo teppanyaki restaurant was serving buffet for 150rmb/pax = S$30! Unlimited teppanyaki items (seafood, steak, vege, etc), sashimi, & even beverages (inclusive of alcohol)! For the fare available, think the buffet should be quite worth it... but we weren’t feeling that hungry, so we decided to check out the ala carte items instead... it turned out that the ala carte menu was actually quite ex, but thankfully, there were some set meals which seemed quite reasonably priced... so the 2 of us decided to share a teppanyaki steak set meal for 140rmb, so each person would hafta pay 70rmb = $14, which should be considered quite alright for a 10-course meal! =P

course 1: sashimi

course 2: salad

course 3: golden mushrooms wrapped in beef slices

course 4: a certain type of beef which I’ve forgotten... only recall that it was delicious!!!

Course 5: fantastic beef cubes!! Omg... heavenly... =D

Course 6: green vege (healthier change! =P)

Course 7: beef fried rice (woohoo!)


Course 8: miso soup

Course 9: azuki red bean ice-cream!

Course 10: fruit platter =P
-nth really special, so i din take a pic of it...-

the pro teppanyaki chef at work!!


OH MY GOD... FABULOUS MEAL!!!

The teppanyaki chef was so skilful! He made cooking teppanyaki seem like an art! We were just sitting there, admiring his professionalism! =P the way he handled the spatulas... omg... such clean and swift movements...simply amazing! =D we were in this room upstairs with one teppanyaki counter, so the chef would cook one of our courses, then cook for this other group of Koreans also at our counter... so we would have some wait time after finishing our food, which we didn’t mind at all, coz watching him cook was already a treat in itself, and the waiting was good coz it gave us some time to digest our food in between courses, so that we could enjoy our next course! =P it was SO worth it!!! =D the group of Koreans was having the buffet, and they ordered lotza seafood items like unagi, scallops, oysters, prawns, codfish, salmon, etc... omg... how tempting!! We were thinking about trying the buffet the next time round... this 70rmb/pax set meal was already such a superbly filling meal, so should we pay 150rmb for the buffet after all? Although it would allow us a lot more variety of food choices... haha... we shall see how it goes when we next visit... well, this was truly one fantastic and memorable meal... =D