Beijing Part 2 - Places of interest

Places of interest in Beijing. I won't be posting all the places of interest. Only those I have seen during my Beijing trip. Will post pictures and explanation the best I could.

This is a Church located very near to my Hotel. I was surprised to see a huge church along WangFuJin Street. I went inside, it was huge and grand. Looked very old. Must have been here for hundreds of years.

One of the famous eating place one must visit is this. WangFuJin 'Little-Eating' Street. It is packed with stalls and places to get all the nice and famous local Beijing goodies.

From the inside of this little alley, you can go to places that sells food, souvenirs, beijing tradisional clothes and stuff like that. It is like 'Petaling Street' in KL. But not as hot, double the things to see and the walk way is much wider.

Anyway, from here, I walked to the Imperial Palace, Forbidden City. It is just 20 mins from here.

Along the way, you will pass by the Famous Beijing Hotel. Was established since 1900. Here's the website.. http://www.chinabeijinghotel.com.cn/eindex/fdjj.htm The inside is really nice.

Finally, I am here. Tian'an Men. The entrance to Forbidden City... There will be a fee of RMB 60 to get in. Then inside, you need at least 6 Hours to finish everything. Which I did not manage to do so.. and my legs nearly broken...

Here is the aerial view, The place is HUGE !!! One single building is the size of a Soccer field.

This is the main building in the forbidden city. Too bad it is closed for renovation. Actually almost 1/2 of the place is closed for renovation. So my trip was only 50% worth the money. But still, I can't finish visiting the whole place.

Anyway. this is something you really need to see in the Imperial Palace. STARBUCKS !!! Right in the middle of it ! hahaha. I was so surprised.

This is the view of Tian'an Men from right across the street of Tian'an Men. Notive the Flag ? Every morning, the flag will be raised and the national anthem will be sung. I did not manage to witness this event as I did not wake up early enough in the morning. Hahaha

This is Beijing's Government Office at night. This place displays the Beijing 2006 Olympics's countdown. A few hundred days to go.

Another thing very nice in Beijing. This is the car park indicator in a few car parks along the street. It shows the available parking lots in the car parks.

Okie.. I will be posting about Food in Beijing on the next post. Going off now...

Beijing Part 1 - Introduction

Beijing, people always tell me. Beijing is China, China is Beijing (In chinese). If you go to China without visiting Beijing... You are missing a big part of your trip.

So, during my trip back to Malaysia, I decided to stop over in Beijing for 1 night. I took an early plane from Dalian to Beijing. Arrived at 10am in the morning of 1st April.

1st April.
I arrived in the Airport and took a Taxi right away to the heart of Beijing Town. It cost me RMB 100 to my hotel. Hotel name "Time Hotel" It is just a street away from WangFuJin Street. The most famous shopping street in Beijing. A must visit place. see the map below.

Look for Chao Yang Men. My hotel is at 'ao' of the lable. You can clearly see WangFuJin just next to it. Very easy for me to get there.

See the picture above ? At first, I don't know why people keep taking pictures of this SignBoard on the wall. Then I realise, it is the words "WangFuJin" in Chinese.

Another very important place to visit, is of course the Tian'an Men, Forbidden City and the Imperial Palace Museum. If you come to Beijing and you missed these, it is like going to Penang without tasting it's food.

That's me at Tian'an Men. I will post more about this in the later blogs.

There are a few places in Beijing one must visit. One of the most important one is the Great Wall of China. I did not have time to visit that during this trip. Will sure make it on my next.

Small scaled models of the palace. Picture taken from one of the Palace Museums. Kinda cool.

One thing about Beijing is, it is full of Bicycles. They have so many bikes on the road, until they have bike traffic lights.

And Bicycle parks to park your bike. Chargable fees...

Ok.. will post about places of interest next.

Mr Blogger on Holiday

Hi All, I am on holiday from April 1st till April 10th. Will update my blog after I am back in Dalian. (Now posting this blog from KLIA Airport, 10th April, 11:30pm) My Flight delayed till 3am...

Here are the draft I will update you guys on.

- Beijing Part 1 (Intro)
- Beijing Part 2 (Places of Interest)
- Beijing Part 3 (Food)
- My mission in Penang

Then I will continue on my usual Dalian Blog.
Stay tuned.

"Thin Biscuit" Dinner

'Thin Biscuit' direct translation from chinese which means "Popiah" over in Penang. Well, we are used to having popiah as a side dish in Penang. But here in Dalian, they have a restaurant to serve 'Thin Biscuit' as a main course !


Here is the shop name. It is actually quite close to my apartment. Just across the main road.

They server you Black Rice Tea when you enter the shop. This tea is brewed from Black Rice. It tasted a bit burnt. But quite nice actually.

Here comes dish number 1. Some been sprouts. "Taugeh" or Tou Ya (Dalian slang)
Some spring onions with prawns. The prawns are fried with the shells still on it. Very hard...
Some long beans...
And these are the 'Thin Biscuit'. We will later use this to 'bandage' the vegetables in it and eat it.

I complaint to me work mates that I am having lack of meat here in Dalian. So they ordered "Mutton Sticks" (which is more like penang satay). It smells so good and the taste... mmm... superb.

This is how you 'bandage' the vegetables in the 'Thin Biscuit'. Hahahaha

Sorry for all these Food Blogs these few times. I am so busy in the office. The only time I get to see Dalian is during meal times.... So for these few days.. FOOD FOOD FOOD !!!

Low Budget Lunch

Today's blog will be very short. Not sure what to write about my Low Budget Lunch. Seeing is believing... Here.. Look at it for yourself.

This is RMB 5.00 (RM 2.50). This is a meal I have for lunch everyday near the office. For RMB 6.00 I can get 4 side dishes. As you can see, the above is only 3 side dishes. And the selection of side dish are always the same every day. 80% are vegetables.. the rest, a bit of meat.

Hmm... Everyone LOVES it... As these are the only food we can get around the office.. We have to stick with it... Sad eh ?

Now, you know why I need to spend more to eat something special at night... As my lunch is so sad...

Seafood Restaurant in XingHaiSquare

Ever wanted to take a look how China Seafood looks like ? Well, I had a chance to taste some last night. (Camera Phone pictures again. Taken secretly as they don't allow picture to be taken on their 'products')

One thing really nice about Seafood restaurant in China, they labled the price properly, let you choose the product (FRESH) and they will cook them fresh.

Anyway, browsing through the selections. They seems to have a lot of variety. All types of clams, fresh fish, shells.... and....

HUK ?? What are these ? According to a work mate these are "Deep Sea - Ocean Worms". WORMS ?? Well, they are very alive.. swimming around in the bucket... Yewww.... I don't think I am gonna taste any of these.

The orders are keyed into these wireless device. I was really scared to take this pic.. Because from another angle, it looks like I am a pervert. A friend of mine from Xiamen (in pink) was making the order. I don't have a clue what to eat. Too many to select from...

Hmm Dinner was served. Scallops ! And it is HUGE. check the size of it compared to my plate.

Here is another nice one. Roasted Goat Rib. It smells so good and the meat is so tender.

hmm... Snails. I have tasted them in a Japanese restaurant before. And this time, it is even larger. Nearly 5 inch in length, these Water snails are boiled and served directly from the pot. They are so fresh, you can even taste the mud these things are wriggling in all day. Hehehe.

Did you notice the plate of goodies on the top right on the snail picture ? It is actually China's version of Roti Canai :D. They called it "Hand Tear Biscuit" Direct translated.

We also ordered Soup and we ate all these with Rice. I was actually quite full after all these. Darn, it is really good. I don't think I will come here alone as I sense the bill is really expensive. My friend from Xiamen paid for it. I did not even have a chance to split the bill.

Anyway... A good, fancy Seafood Experience...

Dalian's Japanese Set Meal. Bento.

I love japanese food. In Malaysia, a set meal (bento) with Sashimi, rice, chawanmushi, miso shiru and udon will be quite expensive. Let me share with you the Bento here in Dalian. I went to one of the most expensive Japanese Restaurant here in Dalian. Just to try out the difference in Price. The restaurant is called "Kappo Shimizu"

As I can't take pictures in the restaurant. I took some using my Handphone to be able to show you guys. Do ignore the picture quality.

Here is the Bento set I ordered. It is written in Japanese, so I can't tell you what is the name. But it came with all these.
- Shashimi (The empty plate on the top right, out of the tray)
- Rice (bottom left)
- Tempura
- Miso Shiru (bottom right)
- Udon - Eel (Left)
- Chawanmushi (The tall cup)
- Fruits
- Pickled Vegetables
- Some seafood clamshells.

When I drink my Miso Shiru... Surprise !! It has a Crab in it ! Wow. This must be expensive !

And when I thought the surprise it over, A tray of assorted seafood came. Here is the picture of the Large Fish Roe (I ate 1/2 already). The tray came with Squid/Octopus strips and some vegetables.

And, the surprise is not over yet. The final part of the meal is a Steamboat. And these are the goodies in the steamboat :
- Huge Prawn
- Clams
- Mushroom
- Tofu
- Lots of Vegetables
- Noodles.

I was already so full. Can't really fit all these in my stomach anymore... So I tried to finish everything except for the Vegetables...

Finally.. the bill.... RMB 110 (RM 55) !!! Not bad huh :)

f-Pod Nano (China's Fake iPod Nano)

I always wanted an iPod Nano. 4Gb of music space, super thin and lightweight. Power packed with a colour LCD for games, picture viewing and whole lots of fun. But at the price of RM 1k... It is not really kinda affordable.

Picture : Real iPod Nano from Apple

Well, anyway. My basic needs were just an MP3 player that is able to hold at least a few hours of music, looks cool and lightweight... and... CHEAP ! (I don't print money in China you know... )

Then, My dream came true.

Here is the look and feel of the Fake ipod nano. Looks the same, have the same metal back. The real iPod have a chrome back, this one is just a stainless steel. It is packed with 512MB. (White one is 256MB)

And the front panel, instead of Shiny black. The china one is matt-black. I think it looked cool in matt colour as it does not have finger print marks all over it. The earphone looks exactly like the real one from Apple too.

This is what you get when you buy the f-pod. The mp3 player, ear phones, Charger-USB, USB cable, Manual and CD with softwares.

Let's check out the functions. This is the menu. Don't expect it to look the same as Apple's menu. It has it's own menu and it is quite user friendly actually. I am a bit disappointed with the speed of the response. But it is kinda ok.

For music, it can play mp3, wma and a few other major audio. Sound quality is good and with one look, you can see the song that is playing, the EQ mode you are in battery status. Quite good. And the one I like most is the Reply function. You can choose A-B, which lets you select within a song, to mark a point the reply would start and stop. (Anywhere in the song, chorus, 2nd verse... anywhere you like).. And you can set how many times you want it to repeat too.. I'm Lovin It !!!

Next... This f-pod can play MP4 too ! It comes with a software for you to convert Almost ANYTHING to the AMV format to be uploaded to this f-pod. You can select parts of movies from VCD/DVD. Your favorite mp4 or wmv movies to be uploaded.

It is also packed with a Photo viewer. Letting you view pictures on the go. Just drop in your favorite pictures, and you can show off to your friends anytime, anywhere.

E-Book !!! I have just loaded my TXT version of Harry Potter 6 into this f-pod and I can read them anytime I want. But what is stupid is, you can launch E-book WHILE listening to mp3. Only 1 at the time. No multi tasking.

Last but not least. GAMES... You can play tetris on this little thing. It is kinda entertaining.. But then again.. No multitasking... :(

Other than all these features, there are the setting mode which allows you to choose from over 8 languages, LCD brightness, auto lights off time, auto off time and all that...

A good buy? For RMB 320. I would say YES !!!

My first home cook meal

I woke up quite late on Sunday morning. So I guess I should just cook a simple meal before I go out.

First of all, let me intoduce to you a new member of my kitchen. A cute little rice cooker. It is only RMB 38 (RM 19) !!! Cheap, quality is not bad, and multi functional little rice cooker. It even comes with a steamer, I can now steam buns, bread and all the food I have frozen in my fridge.

I actually bought 2x McD Fillet O Fish and 2xApple Pie to be frozen. So that I can steam it for a quick meal. Heheheh.. Good Idea eh ?

Jeng jeng jeng.... This is my first, simple meal of porriage. (Don't laugh at me. I got nothing much to cook in my kitchen yet). I prepared the porriage with some bottled side dished. Salted Duck Egg, Fermented ToFu and Pickled Vegetables. Let's take a closer look at the bottled goodies.

On the left, Fermented ToFu and on the right, pickled mix vegetables. Let's take an even closer look of these...

Here is a piece of fermented tofu. It has some kinda smell actually. Some people hate it. But for me, as I have been eating this since young in Malaysia, I am used to it. Hmmm... it smells so good. And I tasted it later on, it is quite good. Superbly cheap here.. RMB 3.60 per bottle. (RM 1.80)

These are the pickled mixed vegetable in the bottle. It has lots of stuff : Cabbage, Lettuce, Peanuts, Carrot and some others I can't figure out. It is not too salty and it is surely a must for porriage.

So. What a sad lunch I had on Sunday morning. Will buy more stuff and have a healthier meal next time.