Carmen and I went to China for work. We took a flight from KL to Hangzhou. It was my first trip to China and i was really excited about it.
We took the earliest possibe flight...
Luckily we could catch up on our snooze during the 5 hour flight there...
Luckily we could catch up on our snooze during the 5 hour flight there...
...Carm with her ever-faithful sleeping companion- her Ahmah blanket...I'm a staunch believer in learning local customs and doing as the locals do. We landed at Hangzhou airport and we ran into the first Mcdonald's we saw...haha...So much for soaking up local culture!
Anyway, after that little detour, we were supposed to take the local bus to Yiwu, an industrial city an hour plus from the airport. So we (well ok, Carmen led us to the ticket booth, asked for the tickets and paid for them...in fact she did most of everything on this trip...oh she also paid RM100 for a CHINA SIM card from this little lady in a proper little uniform. But after making a 1 minute local phone call, the card ran out of credit. Poor Carm, kena conned!! ) So anyway, i digressed...we took the local bus to Yiwu...
...we pretended we were on the amazing race (which has always been our dream...sob!)...I was so proud of ourselves for travelling just as the locals did...Looked out the bus window and did a double take...
WTF?? The houses looked strangely un-Cheena! I felt kinda cheated. I was expecting some rustic looking chinese architecture or at least some straw huts next to paddy fields...We alighted at the Bus terminal and suddenly we both felt really out of place. I mean it was in the middle of town and there were lots of shady looking characters eyeing us. Hmm...on second thoughts, i think they were actually eyeing my rather conspicuous looking PINK luggage...which i oh-so-love!
We were eventually rescued by Carmen's friends: Alice and Mr GrowlerChingchung. They were really kind, hospitable, ever patient and really polite. We made small talk over a spicy meal of Szechuan dishes. Well.. ok, i shall be honest: Carmen made the small talk. I just smiled and nodded repeatedly...and butted in occasionally (in my poor Mandarin) when i knew she was bitching about me!
There was a pasar malam near our hotel. Only about 10 minutes car ride away. We really enjoyed eating piping hot taiwanese sausages, buying little trinkets, bargaining with the vendors...
We were looking for a cab to take us back to our hotel when i saw this motorised trishaw waiting for passengers...I sooo wanted to ride in one.
And poor Carmen gave in (as usual!) to my persistent begging! The minute the trishaw-lady started pedalling i soooo regretted my petulant ways! The blustering wind was unbelievably cold! Our teeth wouldn't stop chattering and we couldn't feel our face after that!
But what fun!!! LOL
...but can still take picture of ourselves...
...and the view as it passed us by...(can see the trishaw lady wore faux leopard fur jacket...stylo man!)
Ahhh.. we finally reached our hotel!
What a comfort to be going back to our super cosy, spacious and comfy suite!
Good choice, Carm!
The best part about our room?
We love reading the "WARM HINT: CAREFULLY SLIP" sign everytime we took a bath!
We woke up really early each morning to get to work (REALLY!) and usually took a quick break in between to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city. It is a HUGE commercial city with little touristy things to do so when we came across this band outside a hotel, we got really excited!
Here comes the bride!!...
And we scouted the streets for good food!
this Egg Pancake was Carm's favourite. We came across a few vendors selling it all over town. Sometimes she would make us cross 4-lane crazy traffic just to check if that vendor was selling this.
It's cooked like a takoyaki except he cracks an egg into the middle of the batter. I always asked mine with extra chili! Super yumms!
Me in front of a HUGE trade centre...Note: i'm clutching the Egg Pancake again! : )
...and so is she!...
We noticed that the taxi drivers seat were covered with covers that had the name of the day of the week. We could only assume it was to encourage good hygiene..?
We went back to the pasar malam near our hotel every night since there wasn't much else to do and there were so many good hawkers there! Here we're tucking into hot beef noodles and some chicken yakitori. Carm always made sure she asked what type of meat they used...you know, you hear so many horror stories about dog meat, rat meat, etc.
We woke up really early each morning to get to work (REALLY!) and usually took a quick break in between to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city. It is a HUGE commercial city with little touristy things to do so when we came across this band outside a hotel, we got really excited!
Here comes the bride!!...
And we scouted the streets for good food!
this Egg Pancake was Carm's favourite. We came across a few vendors selling it all over town. Sometimes she would make us cross 4-lane crazy traffic just to check if that vendor was selling this.It's cooked like a takoyaki except he cracks an egg into the middle of the batter. I always asked mine with extra chili! Super yumms!
Me in front of a HUGE trade centre...Note: i'm clutching the Egg Pancake again! : )
...and so is she!...We noticed that the taxi drivers seat were covered with covers that had the name of the day of the week. We could only assume it was to encourage good hygiene..?
We went back to the pasar malam near our hotel every night since there wasn't much else to do and there were so many good hawkers there! Here we're tucking into hot beef noodles and some chicken yakitori. Carm always made sure she asked what type of meat they used...you know, you hear so many horror stories about dog meat, rat meat, etc.
Posing in some random hotel lobby which we sneaked in to borrow their toilet...
The local ladies that we met were intrigued by me. They kept asking Carm "ta shi she ma ren?" and pointed at me...At first Carm patiently answered i was Chinese, from Malaysia....bla bla..and they would *gasp!* So after a while she just flippantly replied i was american... LOL
Some of the factories we visited were okay...Like this one making pretty manequins...
And some were in the outskirts and were really...er.. "industrial" looking...
There was this particular visit to a factory one night that was the most memorable. Carm and I got a lift from Alice and for some crazy reason Growler was driving along the highway with the windows down! We were both clutching to each other cause it was sooo cold and we really needed to pee. After 2 hours of travel hell we finally reached the factory and Alice kindly brought us to the toilet. This toilet story really takes the cake. Never mind that there were no lights, (and mind you it was pitch black, Alice had to guide us in with her tiny Nokia handphone)...there were no doors... there was also no water so you can only imagine how bad it stank!!! We had to squat over what we thought was the hole. But as I squatted down to pee, i could vaguely make out the shape of a gunny sack right next to my face...and a shovel next to it! OMG... so we could only assume that was how their sanitation system worked! Wahhh... i rather pee outside by the road man...The funniest part was when it was Carm's turn after me, i asked her,"hey babe, it's so dark in here. What if something crawled up the hole and bite your pehpek?" She screamed! Muahahah...I'm evil.
Cher (de bombshell) : *whispers loudly* Babe! What if they brought us to a "game/exotic animals" restaurant?
Carm (de wonder-BFF) : *condescending tone* No-lah...Alice and Growler are civilised city people. They don't eat weird stuff.
Cher (de bombshell) :*sounding slightly alarmed* But we are in the middle of nowhere...*big beautiful eyes rolling around dramatically*... They just might bring us to some crazy weird restaurant. Please, please just ask them...*in annoying whiny high-pitched tone*
Carm (de wonder-BFF) : *firmly but gently* No. I'm not gonna offend them! Shhh!...
Then 5 minutes later Growler stopped his car and pulled up to this restaurant and guess what greeted us...
(Any restaurant with a bar at the front manned by a comrade Mao soldier must smell fishy)
...snakes...lots of them...ew!...
...fish...turtles...ok-la...
...eels...hmm.. I eat Unagi...
Then i spotted a "tudung saji" on top of a table and asked Carm to ask them to show us what was under it...
...hmm...wild boar perhaps?...
...It's dog meat! Huahuahuahahah! We both looked so stunned and were speechless. Alice and Growler quickly said, "Oh don't worry, we've already ordered that for you!" The look on our faces were priceless.
I just had to see how they cooked it so we paid the kitchen a visit and the cook proudly lifted out one paw for me to see...puke puke!
(check out the stunned look on Carmen's face)
An interesting dinner with Growler, Alice and Carmen...We had deep-fried savoury dough balls that were sweet and sticky inside, tossed with crispy seaweed that gave it a salty tang! Very very yummy!
We also had a few other normal dishes like tofu, vegetables, etc...
And finally...the House specialty...Dog meat slowly cooked in double-boiled ginger soup chopped into bite-sized portions, served piping hot with a dash of black pepper!
Growler took a piece and plonked it onto my plate! It was a RIB! Eeekkk... I was overcome with a mixed feeling of nausea and intrigue...
But i guess curiousity got the better of me...and like i say all the time, "When in Rome..."
It wasn't too bad actually. It tasted a lot like mutton. I had 2 pieces just to be sure...But i just couldn't stomach the parts which were hairy or looked like the nose/lips...We left the next day for Guangzhou...
We almost missed our domestic flight...(which wouldn't really come as a surprise to those who have had the pleasure of travelling with us) cause we got carried away potting outside here, enjoying the fresh cool air......and when we landed, we saw this sign outside Guangzhou airport...
After checking in Carm forced me to approach this group of chinese policemen to ask them in my newly *ahem* learned Mandarin where the nearest Mango Dessert Cafe was. He was surprisingly nice and actually walked us all the way there!
Fresh mango pureed and served with sago, pamelo, coconut cream... and Durian pancakes!
The dessert was to die for... Drools...We went back to the same cafe EVERY night!
"this ish shoooo goooood!!!"
The next day we got down to work again... Carm thought it funny to take photos of me working and looking so unglam...
So i childishly repaid her the favour...
And got my revenge by suggesting we took a motorbike-taxi! At first she was dead against it..dangerous-la... we carrying too many things-la...there's 2 of us so how to fit onto one-la... But after trying miserably to get a taxi, she caved in! The fun part was all 3 of us (driver included) squeezed into 1 and we had to hang on real tight as he weaved in and out of mid-day rush hour traffic! Woohooo!!!
"this ish shoooo goooood!!!"The next day we got down to work again... Carm thought it funny to take photos of me working and looking so unglam...
So i childishly repaid her the favour...
And got my revenge by suggesting we took a motorbike-taxi! At first she was dead against it..dangerous-la... we carrying too many things-la...there's 2 of us so how to fit onto one-la... But after trying miserably to get a taxi, she caved in! The fun part was all 3 of us (driver included) squeezed into 1 and we had to hang on real tight as he weaved in and out of mid-day rush hour traffic! Woohooo!!!
And of course after all that hard work, we had to treat ourselves to some nice dim sum at the Hotel restaurant...
...more funny signs we tried deciphering...More yummy beef noodles... with tender juicy succulent tripe! Sluurrrppp...
I liked this street a lot. Very quaint...
the original Lady Gaga...Carm introduced me to this really yummy dessert!
Egg custard served with either gingko or red bean...
It looks kinda gross and gooey...but it's so delicious! The texture is smooth, light and airy...A little bit like soybean "tauhua" back home. But a hundreds better!
The menu was completely in mandarin and no one there could speak English.So for the hundredth time i was sooo glad Carm was there!
walking along the Orchard road of Guangzhou...
...one of the very few photos we took together...
We wanted to try their BruceLee Fast Food...
Carm looked so much more convincing!
...hahahah...
It was quite yummy. The set meals even came with herbal soup...
...and we were reminded to "Watch Out for the Thief!"...We had a really sumptious feast on one of the nights in Guangzhou. We went to this HUGE seafood restaurant that boasted it served thousands of dishes! We had so much fun checking out out the cool strange and bizarre foods they served!
...chocolates with Chinese Zodiac and shapes in Mah-jong tiles...
...a cute birthday cake!...all too pretty to eat!
...snakes and snake parts...oh my sweetiepie sweet lips...muaahh!
...and what i would do to unfaithful lovers...
...lots of geoduck...
...crabs...
...soft shell turtles...so kesian... : (
..abalone...
...and really strange looking giant "worms"... ew...
our last photo together for the trip...Finally, to Carm: I had so much fun and the memories we shared are simply priceless. You've been the best tour guide (yea, i know, even the locals believed you when you bluffed them that you were the local tour guide to this american tourist! LOL) I still can't believe you introduced me to your China contractor as "Lola Siew-che" just because i was bored. We did so many crazy things and we laughed so hard almost all day long! This was by far one of the BEST-EST trip ever with my Best-est friend. BFF! xoxo
