Gigantic Red Dates

I took the follwing photos from the stalls nearby Mingsha Mt Gobi Desert in Dunhuang, Gansu Province in China.
The Red Dates here are huge !!! Tua tua liap :)

The above photo will give u a better idea regarding the size of the gigantic red dates (in comparison with the surrounding stuff). Huge leh? The red dates here in Malaysia are so mini and minute :(

Apple Vinegar Drink

I kinda love this packet drink in China ~ The Apple Vinegar drink, which I have yet to see in Malaysia. (This is different from the bottled apple vinegar :P). Not only there is apple vinegar drink, there's packeted red dates vinegar drink too. Can't remember the price, I think it's around RMB 5 or RMB 6 per 500 ml packet :)

Grilled Lamb Satay

Does skull = eerie stuff? Not really. We are going to have grilled lamb meat/satay aka 烤羊肉串.
XinJiang and Gansu Province is famous for grilled lamb meat, hence there are several stalls selling similar products at the night market.

This is the place where we had our 烤羊肉串 (grilled lamb meat).

Naan Bread (RMB 2) ~ to be eaten together with the satay

We ordered 10 + 10 skewers of spicy grilled lamb meat (Can't remember whether it is RMB 0.5 or RMB1 per skewer, but it's cheap).
We chatted with the shop owner while enjoying the yummy grilled lamb meat. He is a Muslim Chinese from the Wei ethnic and had been operating the grilled meat stall for more than a decade. He even gave me his name card. This one in the picture above is his son, preparing our additional order of grilled lamb meat :)

The more expensive better quality grilled lamb satay (RMB 5 per skewer). I'm lovin' it :)

Mt Mingsha Desert

The silk road tour continues... The highlight for the day is the Mt Mingsha Gobi Desert (鸣沙山沙漠) and Crescent Spring (月牙泉) in DunHuang (敦煌市), Gansu Province (甘肃), China.
We were now entering the sandy world ~ and what welcomed us was the sand dunes in Mt Mingsha Gobi Desert.

Ada Desert mesti ada Camel lah...

Cute boh the camel? I think it resembles "Misti" Ostrich. And the camels are not that smelly...

Wah.. Camel with alopecia "skin disease"? Nope, some of the camels do shed fur at certain time of the year...

These two camels are cuter and more photogenic :P

And since I'm here at the desert liao, a ride on the camel is a MUST. Some of my tour group members opt to take the 'car ride' instead of camel ride in the desert. What a waste woh...
Syiok leh riding the camel... Dunno when is the next time I will ride on a camel again?
And the camel brought us to the "centre" of the desert. The little figure in the above picture is my husband. He was busy taking photo of the Crescent Spring from above ;)
Water Springs and Deserts can hardly be related to each other, but the Crescent Spring and the Mt Mingsha Gobi Desert is an exception. And yeah, the sand and and water can actually "live together". And the water is crystal clear and the sand never gets into the spring water, and the spring never dried up. Both the Crescent Spring and the Mt Mingsha Gobi Desert have existed for hundreds or thousand years already (i lupa the exact duration liao :P)
The scene is kinda spectacular and unique huh? Healthy looking grasses, trees and the desert coexist together.

Those interested can enjoy the sand sliding and the dune surfing :)

Signboard taking the shape of Camel reminding us not to waste even a single drop of water.

Saja saja.. Since Misti loves pict of man or woman with wrinkles :P

For those who are interested, u can buy some 'colourful' sand from the Gobi Desert back home as souvenir ;)

Ah Boy & Mangoes

Cleaning and drying up the mangoes on the floor...

Our Health Inspector on duty come, sniffing the mangoes. To ensure that the mangoes are safe for consumption.

And yeah, no untoward events occur after eating the mangoes. Many thanks to Ah Boy, the Wonder Dog, for doing such a fabulous job :P

Burping Diary

Sunday – Met up with my dear sampat partner in crime, Angeles who managed to find her way here. Burping Chicken Porky Hot Soup, stir fried green vege (supposedly we ordered tou miao wan) and curry sotong at Ahekor Hot Soup at Bandar Seri Kembangan. Nope, we were not "in Hot Soup"despite drinking the hot soup :P One of the waitress talked like machine gun and summore take the wrong order, and another one blur-blur tei. Asking tambah soup and she went to tapao our hot soup instead!! Earlier on we thought the shop might chap lap soon.. as we are the only customers there. But then hoh, mana tau, in half an hour time, the shop become full house tim.. Continue 2nd round of burping, this time burping cold chocolate drink, iced plain water and ice cream toast again at Old Town Kopitiam while surfing online and burping at twitters using Eee PC and iPod Touch at dunno wat plaza South City Plaza.

Monday – Gadget moment plus burping chicken, beef and mutton satay plus nasi himpit and coconut water with Sbanboy at Sate Hj Samuri, Bangi. Order too much satay till cannot finish... *burps*

Tuesday – Too much burping already.. So berehat seketika :P

Wednesday – Catch up and continue burping chicken satay and nasi himpit plus coconut water again with few of my good old uni frens (coursemates) who are now working in UMMC, GHKL and PPUKM in Sate Hj Samuri, Kajang.

Thursday – Sampat moment and burping Bakuteh tom yam bee hoon, slices of watermelon and ice lemon tea with Angeles, LB and CP1 at ?Station Kopitiam in Mines Shopping Mall. Feel like kena ti(p)u cos the servings is mini in comparison with the one in the picture, and the waiters there are super sotong. (And not forgetting, we burped Vitamin C too ~ the Vitamin C iced lemon tea drink plus some 38 "no eye see" photo session). Since the food portion is not that big, we continue burping milk tea and peanut butter toast at Uncle John Kopitiam cos no StarBucks mah.. (No flying peanuts, duh). And also iPhone-ing, iPod Touch-ing and Nokia-ing, and almost Eee PC-ing. And the fat koi in the pond didn't get to eat the peanut butter toast crumbs.

Addendum : And also kena ti(p)u by the ?Bangla waiter who said there were WiFi in the Station Kopitiam but in fact there is none. He also dunno what is soy sauce. Fulamak..

Friday – Burping Diet Coke, French Fries and Double Black Pepper Burger at Burger King in KLIA. Can't wait to go back home as I wanna burp Penang Assam Laksa :)

*Burps*

And the Silk Road Tour series will continue after this :)

Cheezels indulgence

Cheezels ~ The Ring of Power The Ring that Rules... Wanna wanna? :)

"iPhone without the Phone"

The properly "clothed" iPod Touch...

I was busy playing with my iPod Touch yesterday night.. and suddenly Angeles came up with this one million dollar question...

Angeles : So the iPod Touch is the iPhone without the phone? means it's only the "i"?
Me : err.. and minus the camera too :P

Hahahaha, I really chuckle when Angeles said that.. Only my dear beloved sampat Angeles can come up with such fabulous ocipala and funny idea. How can i not lup her? And not forgetting we have several GMTA moments too :)

The naked iPod Touch (without "baju" loh) :P

And not forgetting to surf online using the built in WiFi. But not that easy leh to "type" on the iPod Touch touchscreen using my index finger...

Addendum : And to those blur sotong out there, GMTA = Great Minds Think Alike.

Frozen Watermelon

This has nothing to do with the Hami Melon. It's purely coincidence that I posted this up after the Hami Melon post :P
Some of you might have noticed my status last weekend regarding I had frozen watermelon. The idea of eating the frozen watermelon originated from my hubby few weeks back since he ate that at his friend's place and he loved it. Last Saturday, I bought a watermelon from TESCO at a great deal of RM 1 per kilo and I freeze half the fruit overnight inside the freezer.
Presenting the frozen watermelon. I left the watermelon aside to defroze a bit as the watermelon flesh was kinda hard when took out from the freezer. Hahaha, it's similar as eating watermelon ice cream. ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ I'm lovin' it :)

Hami Melon

Since I kinda lazy, I will write a short post today. Yeah, we were back to Hami town again.
The colourful and fragrant flowers outside our hotel in Hami. Something different from the unhealthy, dull and dusty plants seen in the desert :)
Yeah, we spent our night here in this particular 4 star hotel in Hami. Banyak juga customer hoh check in (or check out?) at the counter. And they were not from our tour group. Btw, did anyone notice something unique in the above photo? ;)
Yeah, the Hami Melon. One fresh, huge Hami Melon was put on display next to the counter. There are many other hami melon related paintings and poems seen in the hotel. Well, Hami town (哈密) is well known for the sweet and crisp muskmelon, the Hami Melon (哈密瓜). Hami Melon is also known as the King of Melons. So cute hoh seeing the hami melon being displayed in such a way inside the hotel. Imagine if Malaysia display our the King of Fruits (aka Durian) inside the hotel??? Hahaha, this is beyond imaginable and I'm pretty sure this will never happen. Else 99% of the tourists will run for their lives :P
The hotel also display several different types and varieties of Hami melons, which varies in shapes, sizes, skin color, flesh color etc. Sorry, the photo was a bit blur as I was in a rush as it was a last minute thing...

Yeah, I did taste the delicious Hami Melon (but not inside the hotel lah) but I didn't snap any photos of the fruits I ate ;)

9th Anniversary

Many thanks to BabeKL for the advanced Anniversary Greetings posted in her blog few days back. If not I would have totally forgotten my wedding anniversary liao this year. Thanks BabeKL once again. BabeKL and her hubby also celebrated their 10th Wedding Anniversary recently, on 4th July aka US Independence Day :)

Yeah, today (7th July) marks the 9th Wedding Anniversary for me and my hubby. No celebration lah. After so many years, we don't really celebrate birthdays or anniversaries (till i almost forgotten about it this year :P), as long as we love each other and have each other inside our hearts every single day.

Just now, I kaypoh went and read back what I wrote in the past, and noticed the sampat Winn suggested me to celebread by eating bread during my wedding anniversary 2 years back. And the equally sampat Carcar suggested me to cele-bread by eating celery + bread. And since I malas nak tangkap gambar today, so I will use back the same wedding ring photo I posted last year :P ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶ ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶

And nope, I didn't eat celery nor bread today :P

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Balikun Grassland

We continued our journey to Balikun Prairie or Grassland (巴里坤草原), 90 km or one hour plus bus ride from Hami town.

Spotted few wild camels on our way to Balikun Prairie.

Yeah, there are green nearby the desert, with scenic landscape. Just like entering to a different world.

Syiok lah sitting here enjoying a cuppa of evening tea under the sun.

Pine trees. Feel like rolling on the green grass.. But alas, there cow or sheep or horse dungs on the green.. :(
It would be fun spending a night here at the country side, inside the farm, together with the horses, sheep and the cows. The common toilets here are clean, but doorless :)
Might be even more syiok if staying inside the tent-like rooms.
The air here is nice to sniff. Can inhale and take deep breath here, unlike the sandy and unhealthy air in the desert.This is my horse. Err, I meant the horse that i gonna ride. This was my first time riding a horse leh. It's not that easy to climb onto a horse, unlike climbing onto a camel..
This is the horse owner, a nice man with wrinkles. I presume he is from the Kazak descendant? He only speaks minimal Chinese language. (I know Misti will notice his wrinkles) ;)

Gallop, horsey gallop...

Balikun Grassland or Prairie with beautiful lush pastureland. Say hi to the sheep... and the cows... and the horses... They are all busy munching grass. And this somehow reminds to of Psalm 23 :)
Flocks of sheep Yong meh meh with different "baju", or fur.. Anyone here born in the year of kambing? If that is so, say hi to your distant relatives :)

Say hi Moooo to the Cowie with cute mini, short horns.

The White Stone aka Baishitou/白石头 (a huge white quartz rock in the midst of the prairie) with a sad story behind it..

Ini kuda manyak cantik woh..

Sheep crossing the field in a group... Animals also know the principle "Unity is Strength". Don't play-play :P
Last but not least, a photo of the leng-leng yellow countryside flower :)