Chengdu : Street Hawker Stalls (2)

Pineapple stall and several stalls making and selling the round and fluffy candy floss or 棉花糖 (direct translation as cotton candy). These round and fluffy candy floss I guess is the old time favourites for most of us.. Don't you agree with me? I remember having the white coloured and pink coloured 棉花糖 during my childhood days.

冰糖葫芦串(Fruits coated with a think layer of transparent, hardened rock sugar syrup). The original fruit is the 山楂果 (hawthorn or crataegus) coated with rock sugar at the price of RMB 3 (yuan) per stick. The mixed fruit (hawthorns, grapes, strawberries, dates, pear, apple etc) was sold at RMB 4 to RMB 5 per stick. The first time I bought this was way back in 2002, during my previous trip to Beijing/Chengde/Tianjin.This time, I bought few sticks of different varieties. The original 山楂果/hawthorn is still the best. Mixed sweet and sour taste :)

Stunt man.. He will clap his hands each time someone put money inside the container in front of him. We gave him few bucks as well.. If I remained in this posture for hours, I guess I will have severe giddiness :P

Purple sugar cane.. Out of curiosity, I bought some from this stall. The taste is similar to our local gree coloured sugar cane.

Thin skinned Pomelo. The skin is as thin as the orange skin :D Doesn't taste as nice as the local ones in Malaysia.

Happy Birthday, Cynthia

On this special day more than two decades ago, a sweet and lovely baby gal was born.. Her name is Cynthia.

Sorry gal, no time to handmade a birthday card for u, so I substitute with something I made several years back - my calligraphy. I just snapped the photo of my calligraphy, written many years ago.. I write that just for fun initially, and still have it in my collection.. Yeah, I know it's old.. And the paper is yellowish liao.. Hope u don't mind ;)

Happy Birthday Cynthia
生日快樂

Wish U Many Happy Returns and May All Your Dreams Come True...

Q and A post

Tagged by Winn not long ago.. She tagged me cos she sayang me..

Current time: 11:51 pm.

What i am wearing: Grey coloured T shirt and cheetah black coloured short.. and a pair of rimless spectacles.

Something out of the ordinary on my desk: Seems like there are lots of out of the ordinary things for others, but ordinary to me.. on my desk :D

Current fave song: 女人心 (Woman's Heart) by 梅艳芳 (Anita Mui). My favourite since several years back. I remembered playing this song a year ago inside the Operating Theatre (OT). The Orthopaedic Surgeon (my friend) who was doing the surgery at that moment told me - This is a very sad song :) Well, for those who doesn't know... Playing music and songs during surgery inside the Operating Theatre is something very common. Our Malaysia OT is not so sophisticated or canggih yet. We only have radio or CD player. Many U.S. operating rooms have sound systems.

Last thing consumed: Consumed so many things.. What is the last thing I consumed just now? I guess that was Almond Cheese Biscuit.

Last phone call received: Mmmm... My sister calling me from Sarawak.

Current annoyance: I guess none :) Why made my life miserable by thinking all the unhappy things? I will try to solve every problems I have or minimise them :)

Plans for the day/evening: Since it is near midnight already, I will go to sleep soon. Zzzzzz time..

Tagging: I will give my beloved bloggers and friends a break :D

Jiuzhaigou ( 九寨溝) : Gold Tree?

This photo is taken in Jiuzhaigou. What attracts me at that time is the colour of the tree. The branches looks like bright gold colour from afar. I have no idea what contributes to the gold colour. Tree sap? I don't know what is the name of the tree as well.. Anyone has any idea?

Vegetarian Food

Guess what ? The rings in the picture above are not calamari ring/sotong ring nor onion ring. The round balls above are not fish balls.. But... those are potato rings and yam balls. (Very misleading!!) Since these are something different, so I went for another servings (Buffet dinner in Jiu Zhai Paradise International Resort in Jiuzhaigou). I love the yam balls. The potato rings are nice as well. Something different from what we eat everyday.

This is another vegetarian dish I have in different settings. The green coloured bean is the green soya bean. There are few people asking me why the soya bean milk in my previous Sichuan cuisine post is green in colour. The answer is --> cos it is made from green coloured soya bean. Prior to this trip, I'm only familiar with the yellow soya bean (which is widely available in Malaysia) and black soya bean. This is the first time I see the green soya bean. The double-layered black coloured thing is the tofu/bean curd product (豆干). How's the taste? My comment for this dish was ... not nice :P

Jiuzhaigou ( 九寨溝) : Shuzheng Lakes (树正群海 )

A picture speaks a thousand words. Several pictures will speak millions words ? I won't write much in this post. Mainly want to share the beautiful sceneries of Shuzeng Lakes (树正群海 ) and Shuzeng Waterfalls (树正瀑布 ).


Shuzeng Waterfall. Be prepared to get wet. By just standing for few seconds in front of the waterfall, I can sense cold water from the waterfall splashing my face non stop :). It is nice to feel so close to the nature... I really enjoyed myself :)

As you can from the pictures above, one can really touch the splashing water of the waterfall. I didn't stay long in this location or else I will get really wet cos of the continuous splashing water.
Cold weather + cold splashing water = ?? Well, I would describe as syiok. Fantastic !!

Tourists/Photographers with various posture at various position for the same reason - trying to get nice shots of the waterfall. I really salute them.. Climbing so high up on the steep slope with tripod :)



Lots of walking need to be done if one really wants to enjoy the beauty of Jiuzhaigou - splendour of the magnificent waterfalls and the calm colourful lakes and ponds. I really felt very tired and my legs were so heavy towards the end of the day, but I had no regrets. Or more appropriate to put it this way, if I didn't walk, then I will really regret..

Shuzeng Lakes - Combination of 19 large and small lakes.


The Tibetan Mill Houses.

I have no idea what is the name of this thing.

Chengdu : Street Hawker Stalls (1)

These hawker stalls are located on the street right infront of the Chengdu Zoo (the place where I saw few lazy giant pandas in their "sleeping beauty" position). After coming out from the Chengdu Zoo, I gave myself a treat :) Must taste some of the local food, or else what's the point of travelling so far away?


First of all, I bought several sticks of grilled mutton meat/satay(烤 羊肉) with extra chilli powder sprinkled on top of the grilled meat. (RMB 0.50 per stick). The taste is so-so only... I still prefer our Malaysia satay :P

Next I get myself a stick of Yunnan Stink or Smelly Bean Curd/Tofu (雲 南臭豆腐) (RMB 1 per stick) The stink element is there, but not to the extreme and still tolerable. The red coloured powdery thing next to the Bean Curd and Sausages is the chilli powder, for additional spicy taste. We also get ourselves two different variety of local sausages (RMB 2 per sausage).

Grilled Sweet Potato. Bought one at the price of RMB 3. The sweet potato was still hot. Very tasty and yummy.

There are several other stalls nearby.. The one above is the sugar canes stall.. The sugar cane here is purple in colour ( in contrast to the green coloured sugar cane in Malaysia). I didn't bought any at this time cos I can't consume so much food in one time. (I bought some later on in the night from different stall).

Pineapple on the stick. The display is unique (first time I see pineapple being displayed this way) but I didn't buy any :)

Water Chestnut. Peeled water chestnut. The price is much much much cheaper compared to Malaysia. I didn't buy any this time but I bought some later on in the night.

Blog in Chinese Language

Robin asked me whether there is any website translating blog into Chinese language since his Malay Language is very private limited.. or the so called Sdn Bhd in Malay Language :P

Here are the links :) One can translate not only text or website into Chinese Language but into several other languages (French, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, German etc etc) as well.. But really have to bear in the mind the translation is not 100% correct and there are errors. Well, nothing is perfect. Have fun.

1)Applied Language
2)World Lingo

My Blog in Malay language.

I get this link from dragoncity. Ever wonder how your blog sounds like in Malay language? This is my blog in Malay language. Really damn funny.. To me, the content in Malay language sounds like broken grammar and hanging words :P But nevertheless, it is still fun and I can still roughly understand what is it about.. Have a look.

You can read yours or whatever website you like to be translated into Malay Language by clicking here, the linguaweb website. Have fun.

Food : Fish Cracker & Sarawak Acar

Sarawak Acar

This is one of my beloved dish - Sarawak Acar. Best to eat together with keropok fish crackers or prawn crackers. One of the Must-Have food during Chinese New Year. Sarawak Acar is different from the acar in Peninsular Malaysia. The acar here comprise of long bean, carrot, cucumber, cabbage and chillies and best eaten with rice. The Sarawak Acar comprises thin slices of dried cucumber, raw papaya, carrot, chillies, garlic, vinegar, sugar etc. Tidious to prepare cos involving lots of work. I used to help my mum to prepare the ingredients and cook the Sarawak Acar during my primary/secondary school days. I love both version of Acar. Both have their own unique taste.

Fish Crackers/Keropok Ikan

When eat together (I mean the Sarawak Acar and the Fish Cracker), the taste is... heavenly :)

How Old Are You?

The "How Old Are You" Tag.
Mmmm.. Actually I'm still young Selba tagged me few days back, and I decided to join in the fun :)

1. Name one of the actor of the old days that you missed.
***Chow Yun Fatt (周润发)

2. Name a cartoon of the old days.
***Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck (My favourite cartoon is still Walt Disney Cartoon).

3. Name a singer/group of the old days.
***Anita Mui (梅艳芳)

4. Band of the old days.
***scratch head... ? Beyond can be considered as Band, right?

5.TV Series of the old days.
*** One of the Cantonese tv drama series that I enjoyed previously was 上海滩 (Shanghai Beach). Love the drama songs with the same name, 上海滩 by Francis Yip (叶丽仪).

6. Actress of Old Days.
***DoDo Cheng (郑裕玲)

7. Fashion of Old Days that you miss the most.
***I guess none :)

8. Movie of Old Days.
***mmm.. Inspector Chocolate Chocolate Inspector (神探朱古力)

9. Music Video of Old Days.
***无言的结局 (this is really the 金典老歌) by 李茂山 林淑容

10. Coolest Song of Old Days.
***童年 (childhood days) by 刘文正

Who are the people who will go through the same torture??
1. Cynthia. Hahaha.. She is my constant victim. Always kena tagged by me :) She has a great sense of humour. I really enjoy reading her post.
2. Carcar. Malaysian in Singapore who writes good poem.
3. Alicia. She owns a Min Pin too.. but her notti boi is brown in colour, and mine is black :)
4. Winn. Yeah, I sayang u, that's why I tag u again :D
5. Sbanboy. Take a break and do this tag if u are tired of studying. Gals, he is still single and available. Eligible diamond bachelor.
6. Jellyfish. How can I leave out my dear KSL? Anyway, I guess he is very busy at the moment and no time to do this..

**By the way, my Rule of Thumb still applies.. u don't have to oblige to do the meme if u don't feel like doing it.

Parit Fall (Cameron Highlands)

Several months back, I still consider Parit Falls in Cameron Highland as a good site for photo taking. But after my recent visit to Jiuzhaigou, China and after seeing all the magnificent waterfalls there (including the Nuorilang Waterfalls and the Pearl Shoal Waterfalls).. Mmmm...

These photos were taken few months ago during my last visit to Cameron Highlands in September 2005. Wonder if anyone of u noticed anything from the picture above? If u look carefully, u will notice there are bundles of rubbish nearby the mini waterfall. So unsightly.. What a disgrace. Why can't the people throw rubbish at the proper place? What sort of mentality is this? Not that rubbish bins are not available.. There are rubbish bins nearby. Sigh :(

Initially before I reached the place, I wonder why the place is called Parit Fall. I guess the name derived cause the waterfall is just like "parit"?? (Parit = Drain in Malay Language). No wonder the place is fulled with rubbish :P

Luckily there are still areas which is still "clean"."unpolluted" and "free" from rubbish in Parit Fall..

Jiuzhaigou ( 九寨溝) : Pearl Shoal (珍珠滩)

Pearl Shoal (珍 珠滩) is a wide sloping area of active calcareous tufa deposition covered in a thin sheet of flowing water. I guess the name Pearl Shoal derived from the stream of water which ripples over the rocks which glister like white pearls. The stream of water empties into the famous Pearl Waterfalls. Some of the scenes of the tv drama series Journey to the West(西遊記) were filmed here. This is one of the beautiful site in Jiuzhaigou.

The Pearl Shoal Waterfall (珍珠滩瀑布) is one of the distinctive waterfalls in Jiuzhaigou. The stream of water surges down from the Pearl Shoal. The water will splash like millions of bouncing white pearls before going down to form the fantastic waterfalls of various shapes with thunderous sound.

Armenian Street

Well, well.. I know CNY is over already. This photo is taken on the last day of CNY (12/2/2006) near Armenian Street in Penang.. whereby they have the state open house on the 4/2/2006. What is your opinion on this artificial temporary cheap looking grey coloured thing? For your info, this thing is not made from cement or concrete.. but...

on a closer look, I see styrofoam !!!

And also thin layer of styrofoam with wood beneath !! I guess this thing can be destroyed within minutes :D

Jiuzhaigou ( 九寨溝) : Nuorilang Waterfall (诺日朗瀑布)

The Jiuzhaigou valley contains so much flowing water. I've never seen so many waterfalls in cascades. Falls and rivers gushing downstream all within a short distance.

Nuorilang Waterfall (诺日朗瀑布) is the widest waterfall in China (270 metre wide). The name Nuorilang means magnificent and splendid in Tibetan language.

Hanging curtains of crystal, ice and snow

During winter, the waterfall becomes a dazzling white curtain of solid snow hanging from the top of the cliff. The waterfall is partially frozen. One can see the magnificent view of the gushing downstream of water in between the frozen solid ice/snow. At the bottom, there are icicles; some of which are few meters in length.

This is the first time I see a frozen waterfall. Splendid view :) Different from the waterfalls in Malaysia. There are several nice waterfalls in Jiuzhaigou and I will post the others later on.

Valentine Day (情人節)

Although 14th February is known worldwide as Valentine Day (情人節), but in my humble opinion, Everyday is Valentine Day and we don't have to specifically wait till that day to express our feelings toward our loved ones. We should show our care and loves to our loved ones everyday, not only on that particular day. Right?

And furthermore, Valentine Day is too commercialised today. Many will spend lavishly on flowers, gifts, jewellery and fine dinings. The prices for flowers, fine dining etc shoot up several folds compared to normal days. To me, expressing love need not be expensive and it can be done several ways such as a romantic home-cooked dinner, a stroll by the seaside etc etc. What is your opinion in this matter?

Happy Valentine Day

Theft

Today, I'm the victim :( Normally I will put all my valuable belongings inside my pocket before entering the Operating Theatre (OT). We have to changed into the blue-coloured scrub attires before entering OT. But today, cos I was in a hurry.. I forgot to take my valuable things out from my white coat - my purse, PDA and my handphone. It's my mistake for being careless to left those things behind. I went inside the operating theatre for less than half an hour and when I went back to the changing room to change my attire, I noticed I left my things inside the pocket in my white coat. I noticed my handphone, PDA and purse were still around, but all my fifty dollar notes ,ten dollar notes and five dollar notes missing !! Few hundred bucks missing !!

Normally I don't carry so much cash with me. This is one of the odd occasion. The thief left behind some one dollars notes for me.. I'm quite "geram" at that moment.. But whatever is done, is done... (I didn't curse the thief nor swear bad things nor utter four letter words..) At least the thief left behind my identity card, driving license, ATM card and credit card.. It must be the work of insider, and it is a female.. cos it occured in the female changing room... And outsiders have no access into the operating theatre changing room cos one have to key in the security code before he/she gains access into the OT. The security code was changed every month, in the beginning of each month for security reason. But, since the thief is insider, this won't help.. Should we install a CCTV instead inside the changing room ??? Then, there won't be any privacy.

My several days salary is gone... Anyway, although I'm unhappy, but I won't let this incident ruin my day. Just take it as a lesson to be more careful and vigilant in the future.

The security code thingy was implemented last year due to increasing number of thefts. Valuable belongings were found missing from the changing room inside the Operating Theatre. Not only $$$ or valuable belongings missing, even the staffs' clothings disappeared as well, regardless of time.. it happened both in the day time & night time as well.. I wrote about the security code thing several months back.. I think I should share it again..

I have colleagues who lost his trousers inside the male changing room. He was doing craniotomy and evacuation of blood clots for the severe head injury case in the middle of the night. By the time he finished the surgery and wanted to change back to his normal attire, he noticed his trousers was missing !!! I have few colleagues who lost their shoes as well.. And the most hilarious thing is that another colleague of mine even lost his pair of socks !!!! (His shoes were still around, but just that his socks were missing). And this occured during day time. My goodness, the "used smelly socks" also want to steal?? The person who steal the used socks is really a joker.

Chap Goh Mei (元宵节)

gigantic colourful joss stick

Today is the last day (15th day) of Chinese New Year celebration. This day is also known as Chap Goh Mei (which means 15th night of CNY in Hokkien dialect) or 元宵节/Yuan Xiao Jie. Well, it is also the Chinese Valentine Day.

In the past, eligible young ladies will throw mandarin oranges on Chap Goh Mei into the river as a gesture of hope to get good husbands. Surprisingly, these traditions are still being practiced today :) Those who are interested can go to Esplanade, Penang to have a look :)

(side note : Fruits are expensive nowadays.. Shouldn't waste the fruits by throwing them into the river. More practical to just consume the fruits. Hahhaha... But to those who wish to participate, I have no objections as well.. But please don't throw rotten mandarins. And don't forget to write down your contact number, email address or blog address on the oranges. And good luck to the throwers and pickers).

One Thousand Bloggers

Get to know about this from Alicia. I joined in the crowd yesterday. It's free. I still remember the quote that Cynthia always mentioned - "Free stuff is Good stuff ". (Don't you agree?) I noticed Cynthia and Jellyfish were there as well.. Little tiny dots but fun to look at. Anyone noticed where am I?



Those who are intested to join in the crowd "One Thousand Bloggers" are invited to have a look :) Better grab the free space fast before the offer ends..


**Updates (12 February 2006 6:30 pm) :
The free listings are now over; and it'll be $3 dollars to get a spot.

Talent, Lifer or Mandarin quiz

Today is Thaipusam Day. The road out there is damn packed with vehicles and people. Can see coconut shells everywhere. Better not buy the fresh coconut milk these few days.. (who knows where is the source from??)

Get the link for the "Talent, Lifer or Mandarin Quiz" test from Cynthia. Since I have nothing better to do am free at the moment, so I give this test a try. This is the introduction to the test. In the mid-90s, in articles in The Atlantic and Time Magazine, Nicholas Lemann introduced the idea of three paths to success in American society - that of Talents, Lifers, and Mandarins. He later went on to write a book, The Big Test, about the SAT as the Mandarin path to success.

Which path are you on? That's what this test aims to find out.

I'm a Mandarin!

You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now. You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational. You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking. It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power. You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.

Talent: 44%
Lifer: 41%
Mandarin: 70%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

I love the result & the interpretation since it is quite true ;) Do have a look at this test if u are free :) Cynthia also mentioned "Sharing is caring.. Caring is Loving". So, since I'm a loving person, so I will share my result here as well :P (Oops, I'm not "perasan" by the way...)

By the way, seeing the word Mandarin reminds me of mandarin oranges.. oops... thinking about food again... :D