Marriage Proposal - 6th April

Well, my Penang trip was a BLAST !

The largest thing that happens and made News in Penang was my Marriage Proposal to my Girlfriend. It made headlines to 8 major newspapers in Malaysia. Hahah. Let me fill you with some stories of Before the event, during and after.

BEFORE 0604

It was about 2 months ago, when I got this idea and started laying out the plans. But soon enough, I was too busy, I put that aside until the final 2 weeks.

The plan was to project a Video Clip of our love journey, add a video clip of me talking about it and propose. This clip will be projected in the Cinema. And since my company's 'GPTW' team is having a movie day. It will be a perfect timing to do so.

So I made arrangement with Mega Pavillion Cinema Bukit Jambul to work on the plans. With some fee, they will arranged it to be projected, control the crowd and call the media. (Well, good plan. I thought)

And so, it is ON. I went and got myself the Engagement ring from one of the oldest gold smith in Dalian. It's a Platinium Diamond ring. I know my Girfriend's finger size because I tested them using my own ring. So I wasn't too concerned.

Half of the video was created in Dalian before I go to bed each night. And the other half needs a video camera. I can only do that back in Penang.

3rd April. I am back in Penang. I started to work on the video only on the 4th, which is the same day I had to pass the complete video over to Mega Pavillion. I was so tense that day. (I took the day off). Luckily I manage to finish the video by 4pm. (The last few minutes was spent right out side of Mega Pavillion, burning into DVD dics.

ON 0604

The day has come. My girl friend and I was on leave. She did not realise that I have planned all these behind her. Eventhough on that day I recieved a lot of phone calls, confirming about the flowers, movie time and lots of last minute arrangement. I even had one Press Interview with me when I was at home, she was watching DVD downstairs while I did the interview upstairs. hahaha.

We went to Bukit Jambul Complex around 4:30pm. Took her around the complex until around 5:00pm. I was so nervous that I was feverish. Friends have gathered at the cinema.. and there where :O over 10 photographers and media crews. All on standby.

Exactly at 5:30pm, the Video Clip was projected. And everyone was cheering, camera's flashing...

You can get the Video here : www.johnsonlam.com/video/live_proposal_jl.wmv

It went well, She said YES... It went perfectly well..


AFTER 0604

I did not expect to see this news was so hot and it was published in 8 Major newspapers in Malaysia.

Beijing Part 3 - Food

Every place will have their local food, specialties and attractions.

In Beijing, one of the most famous one is of course the Beijing Steamboat. The pot looks like this. It will contain the Charcoal in the middle of the pot. NOTHING at the base of the pot and you cool all these using the heat from the charcoal, boiling the soup around it.

This is one of the famous Steamboat restaurant in WangFuJin Street. This restaurant is even more special as it serves Halal food for Muslims. (Click to enlarge picture)

Just near the street is WangFuJin's and Beijing's most famous hawker street. You can walk along this near 1 mile row of stall and choose from the many variety of goodies to eat.

BBQ ? Well, it is more like Satay.. but with 'special' stuff. From bottom, you can see Pig's Liver, Then Chicken Heart, the brown one is Cocoon of some big bug and the top most are squids. Heheheh

Here's some good ones. These are little Chicken which are not hatch yet. It was taken out from the egg the last few days before it hatched and made into snacks. I did not taste any of these during this trip as Bird Flu is at large now. Kinda scared but curious at the same time.

(The white one in the middle) Frog on a stick anyone ? The one on the left looked like friend Worms... hahaha.. the one on the right are just harmless cuttlefish.

If you feel that is weird, look at these.... Dried Lizards on a tick.. and Starfish too. :) hehehe.

In Beijing, the most famous food of all will be the Beijing Roast Duck. Here is one of the restaurant. I did not enter for a few reasons : 1) Bird Flu (remember?) 2) I heard it is very expensive 3) 1 person would not be able to finish 1 duck alone. So... I did not tasted any in Beijing. But I sure did that in Dalian.

Well.. that's about all on my discovery of Beijing Food... I will be visiting Beijing again one day. This time.. I will make sure I catch the Great Wall of China :)

Anyway.. My next trip out of Dalian will be to QingTao in May. Will update those for you guys too.

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...