Diary of the Brainy Bombshell: March 2011

My family decided to go on a trip to China. The flight to Pudong was pretty early.

Like i said it was pretty early...

I know i shouldn't get too excited about the police dog sniffing my luggage but he was cute.

We had to wait for an hour for our train to Hangzhou. Time to share the yummy CNY cookies Ailin gave me...Thanks babe!

And we got free mineral water... wow...free water...

It's always a joy travelling with my sis. She's such a silly girl...

And my parents? They're awesome too.
They even layan me by wearing the scarves i knitted them just for this trip..

...Cool super-speed train was er...fast...

Aah..Finally it was time for dinner...

(look Carmen, i'm wearing the gorgeous scarf you knitted me!)

We walked around a tourist shopping street and man...it was freezing!

We spent the better part of the hour running from shops to shops to prevent hypothermia.

i kid you not, it was minus 0 degrees...

Next day we rose early (tour guide forced us...definitely not by choice!)

And headed to the West Lake gardens...The scenery was so gorgeous...

Here's Derek our young National guide. He's funny, genuine, knowledgeable and entertains us with stories about his Uni days studying (or not studying) English. He also told us funny stuff about the Selangor MPs when he acted as their guide to the World Expo.

"Follow Derek!!!"

Our best imitation of goldfish at the goldfish pond..

On one of our toilet breaks we saw this guy fish out some turtles from the lake and took out a pair of scissors and deftly snipped off their heads! Lav was screaming her head off. Pansy.. okla it was quite gross...

Then we all boarded some ancient looking boat for a cruise...

Told you it's gonna be cold Dad!

We then went to a green tea plantation to see how they make them. This guy was demonstrating how the tea leaves were dried and my mum's so itchy hand..he actually smacked her hand away ! hahahah...

I swear i so wanted to break out into song here...

Finally, some nice green tea to thaw my frozen fingers..

Yes yes Kor, you are a big teapot...

And time for us to stretch before boarding the bus again...heeeeyah!!!

We went to this awesome buffet revolving restaurant at the top of a hotel.

Spectacular view and super awesome food.

And i get to do my own ice-cream cone! Little pleasures that makes me happy!

We travelled to Suzhou after that and at one of the rest stops we encountered our first (one of many) weird China toilets... You can't flush ya...every few minutes water will flow down automatically. How very environ-friendly.. eww...

I really liked Suzhou...there were lots of gorgeous old architecture...

...that were juxtaposed by amazing modern buildings like this 3D imax theatre. The fairy lights you see changes every few minutes.
(very similar to the birds nest in Beijing)

Actually on hindsight i observed that the Chinese are very fascinated by lights.
We're at a really fun bridge...

...cos the sides are lined with advert light boxes that are motion-detected...

we kept running up and down it like kids...weeee...

Chinese cuisine however, so not my taste...They have this must not waste anything attitude...

Chicken feet? Don't waste!
I mean i eat chicken feet at dim-sum but only if its steamed with lots of sauce...
this was simply booiled and served with salt and chilli.

Right outside our restaurant we watched tele on the "worlds largest LCD panel"

(see...lights again..)

(kindly take note that we never asks our Dad to pose with us ya...It's all on his own accord)

...And my Mum?? OMG...

She refused to get off the bench cos she kept waiting for the snopy show to be played again...

and again...

The next we visited a garden that was owned by this really rich guy a long time ago...

...my parents have a weird fascination for plants...

Dad: hey check out the pamelos...

..."look at those flowers...."

I guess when you're a trained horticulturist you can't really help it.
And my mum's given in to peer pressure

simple formula...
Vainpots (Lavinia + Cheryl ) x Gorgeous Garden = take pictures (x infinity)!

(my fav pic!)

Our national guide Derek told us that Suzhou women were known for their beauty (both looks and mannerism) and our local guide a living proof of that. Jessica spoke in a lyrical sing-song manner and her laughter (tho a bit annoying at first) was infectious...

we visited a silk factory...and all of us ended up buying duvets, bed sheets and quilt covers...
Apparently it will keep you cool at a comfortable 22 degrees... i have yet to try it out.

Then after all the shopping we were ushered into a room for a fashion show.

Lav: Cher, what's she wearing?

Cher: i think she's wearing a silk nightie

Lav: She is hor...OMG!

My dad travelled around with his thermos filled with hot tea. I kept teasing him, caling him old man...Until i was too cold and wanted a sip. He was like,"who's the old man now??"

We walked around to shop...Everyone was rushing cos it was CNY eve..

(look Carm, gorgeous lilac scarf AGAIN!)

People were selling baby rabbits EVERYWHERE! Reminded me so much of my Tehpeng...

Time to loh sang!

And buy huge-ass box of fireworks! : )

Travelling light is just not in the genetic make-up of the Lim family...

The pretty blue fairy lights in out hotel garden..

...BOOM...Aaaahhhh!!!!

...Or next city was Nanjing. Our local guide was this stern lady who's a curator from Nanjing Museum...Very no nonsense un-humurous woman.

Chairman Mao!

We visited the museum overlooking the Najing Yangtze River Bridge.. Pretty cool. They were very proud that it was funded by local and chinese overseas. And 100% Made in China!

...i was trying to figure out what meat this was...Frog i think...

Sean heating up his jacket...It was still sooooo cold...

At most rest stops they sell snacks like chips, cookies, candy, etc... In China?
They sold chicken feet...

...And preserved eggs...

...my dad's such a goofball sometimes...

I love this pic, reminds me of our visit to Taj Mahal...

Next we went to our Kungfu training ground...

Let's warm-up with some breathing....

...some sparring exercise...

...some Matrix moves...

...and learn from the Ancients...

...finally time to cool down...

Hai-yaaaaaahhh!!!

...came across this crushed peanut candy...

...yums!!

We visited this really pretty water-village...

...Chinese people really love dogs...Both on theirs plates and off them...

We split up cos Sean was hunting for a gift for Elaine...
and i followed him. I bought a back-scratcher for Jose. haha..

We kept coming across restaurants with aquiriums with puffer fish that they caught from the canal... gulp.

The last leg of our trip we went back to Shanghai...

We took lots of pics at the fountain in front of Shanghai City Hall

...The fountain comes on and off every few minutes...When the fountain was dormant my siblings dared me to run across it right to the other end... And of course i couldn't resist.

...It was terribly childish of them to egg me on. Tsk tsk! (But it was crazy fun!)

I love how the Chinese name their shops... Sucker drinks anyone?

We qued up for this famous xiao long bao. Boy what a disappointment! When i pierced the skin (mind you it was super thick) thick goeey fat spurt out! i threw mine away... : (

Lav took this pic...She found it hilarious...

We went up to the 468 meters high Pearl Tower to get a view of Shanghai's skyline.

But the highlight for the day was walking onto the oudoor observation deck..the floor was made of glass! At first it didn't sound like a big deal but when i looked down..Man, awfully daunting!
All of us were such chickens. But my mum just casually sauntered over and posed!

...next was my turn...

...family photo time!

Automatic massage? kekeke...

some random dude dancing ballet in the middle of nowhere...

Oooh...Sephora...Evil!!

On our free day my parents wanted to try more shanghainese cuisine..My siblings and i wanted KFC...guess who won...heheh

We took the river cruise on our last night. I loved the colorful lights and gorgeous old and new architecture...

gorgeous!!

The view from our room...

Lav, Cherry (our Msian tour guide), Bombshell, Dad, Derek, Wong Sir (bus driver), Sean.

Our final stop was a visit to the China World Expo. The que to get into the China pavillion was approxiamately 3 and half hours long so we gave it a miss.

Yay..Group picture time! Our tour consisted of groups of families (x 3), a group of 3 sisters, a few nice couples. We made friends with the older friendly auntys and uncles and enjoyed hanging out with the younger ones. : )