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A Lovely Break

Koh Samet. Something I did not expect. After the exciting day at Songkran, this was quite a relief... Loved spending time with friends. Wished it could have lasted longer.

Back

Dare I? It's been so long. Will it still mean something?

on the move

will I start blogging again?

River Cruise

This was definitely a difference from the night cruise on the Pearl River. First off, it was so cheap you wouldn't believe it. S$0.40. No frills of course; they even locked the bathroom. And it only runs in the day. But you get an entirely different view than at night. No less stunning I must say. Especially loved the sunset. So if you are ever inclined to do this, I highly recommend the 5.20pm departure.

Food of the Bloom

莲子扣肉, or lotus seed stewed pork. Something we found in a 湘菜 restaurant, i.e. cuisine from the Hunan (湖南) province. Lotus seeds wrapped by fatty stewed pork. The fat may put some people off initially. But there's certainly eye appeal and the when tasted hot, the fat just melts in your mouth.

Another Sunday

Mag and Viv got up bright and early that morning and headed off for some geocaching on the White Cloud Mountain. The rest of us decided to take it a little easier...

Our day started with a strill along the river bank over to the concert hall and modern art gallery on the island where I live.


Perfect weather for it. Haven't seen weather like this in such a long time.

There are quite a few pieces outside the gallery so there was no need to even to go in. Just enjoying the outdoors was perfect.

Is that a cat giving birth to Ed?

We persuaded Su to do a little posing with these working women...


... Ed of course needed little persuasion to practise some of the moves he's been using for Mag's specialty shots.

We had some pastry and coffee at the French deli next to the concert hall and then headed out to...


... yes! 四海一家, apparently the largest buffet in Asia. Max and Russell joined us for this excursion. Gosh, the crowd we had to fight through to just get the seats we had reservation for... you'd think we were getting it free! Unfortunately, no photos were really allowed inside of the food etc. The intrepid Janes cut it really fine by turning up just before the buffet was closed. So we had to bring a whole bunch of food to lay on the table before they arrived.

All said and done, the fare was only soso. Definitely value for money though. Nevertheless, I won't be back in a hurry.

Hainanese Fare ...

After our little sojourn at Deer Lake on Sunday, we were looking for a place to eat and chanced on this Hainanese restaurant that just opened. It's not even had it's official opening. And we were pleasantly surprised at how good the food was.




My memory is really failing me here. Cant recall which was the duck and which the lamb dish. But they were both delicious though.


These are the shells of the "eye clams" that were fried with beans. They are rock hard and I could see any was for the clam to attach itself to.

Last Day of 2007

Boon was inspired by Hweeb and Ed into performing a kungfu kick...

The weather was lovely, so we spent most of the day outside. We then decided to go for a massage, chinese style, stuff our faces with Portuguese tarts (not really), head home for a brief respite (last minute naps). Then it was off to NY's eve dinner.

炳胜 Bing Sheng

One of my favourite restaurants in Guangzhou. Unless you've booked a private room, there's always going to be a wait.

Aubergines
Beef Ribs Chinese style
Crispy Char Siew... definitely worth the calories
Salmon Sashimi
Stuffed Peppers


Water Snake anyone?

Surrealism

Mag started taking pictures of this scene and I joined her. The smog of China turned this afternoon to a scene of peaceful morning bliss.

Food Again

We had the chance to try some truly local fare at one of the sites in KaiPing. This was the only restaurant in the AAAA rated Li Yuan (立园). The tofu was excellent. It was only when we were leaving that we realised that they had added a layer of fish paste before frying them. Even those who were not keen on rice enjoyed the claypot rice with eel (黄鳝).

Kai Ping 开平碉楼

These have been called 碉楼 or 碉堡. Could be translated as a sculpted tower or fort. (Wikipedia)

We were not allowed to take any pictures inside. Couldn't figure out why as none of the old furniture or artifacts were protected from the elements anyway. And there was no one stopping those who did.



These buildings are even more amazing when you see them from high up. There are usually quite well spaced from each other and appear out of nowhere. Notice how small the windows are? Wonder if it's for keeping the cold or the enemy out.

Boy, were the koi hungry. Does nobody feed them?



One of these lucky shots that I managed to get. Just pointed the camera and shot from almost ground level. Couldn't look through the viewfinder.



A little afternoon tea perhaps?