Shanghai, nice meeting you for the first time :D

Still remember the Shanghai trip I got from a magazine subscription last year? reading, travelling, here i come!

Last March, we went for the trip :) I am now posting up some pics for the wonderful trip.

Luggages ready for check-in

 We arrived at around 4.30am at LCCT after departing from Ipoh when our flight to the land of our forefathers was at 8am. =.= So we had plenty of time to kill.

A cup of coffee to freshen up

Now everyone can fly, includes me :)

happy faces and couldn't wait to on board

FIRST DAY~

Just arrived at Hangzhou airport

It was really cold outside. I preferred to be wrapped in the shawl even after got into our bus

Thanks to my dear friend who actually lend me her winter outfits from top to bottom.  Do you like this?  I like it so much. Esp the beanie winter hat, totally in luv with it!

Below is a snapshot of the residential house which look old but are still occupied by residents. We were taking a trip down the canals on a boat. Along the way, we passed through ancient bridges and the whole experience was really serene and enjoyable. :)

Our first destination - Wuzhen, it's a very beautiful village on a river. Too bad it was drizzling when we were there and no many photos taken there.

Not easy to get a snapshot because the boat was swaying left right when we trying to position ourselves in the boat. 

苏州文化艺术中心

Me and aunty uncle - still feeling cold in the building

enjoying 苏Show

enjoying 苏Show - 西施与范蠡

Talented young performers

Chinese Opera

Chair Stacking

Great show =)

Taking a photo with aunty :)

2ND DAY~

my first morning on the street of Suzhou :)

Brrrr... cold.. the cardigan i was wearing is not thick enough to keep me warm @@

耦园 Ou Yuan, establised in the Qing Dinasty

hello, Miss Chloe here ^^

Ou Yuan is a very beautiful mansion of an official during Qing Dynasty

It was still early spring as most of the flowers were not blooming yet

五代同堂 - this was a living hall and five generations of the family would be seated accordingly

Over here, I've found some flowers here!

The beautiful garden in the mansion

A beautiful pavilion overlooks the man made pond

In those days, i think the only entertainment for the daughters / ladies in the household was to spend time in the garden, admiring the beauty of the trees, rocks and flowers LOL

Me wrapped in layers of clothing :D

:D

handsome pair of carved chinese wood door panels

POSER! lol 

Min Fei's daddy and mummy

Us

Father and Son

boatman singing a boatsong for us. (this is my most favourite photo of all)

Min Fei with his big looking tummy :P

parking for motorcyclist along the street

nice road name - daichengqiao lu

pedestrians crossing the road - y did they put a "No Honk" sign up there?

man made landscape with waterfall at 灵山大佛

it's really a nice waterfall :)

Group photo

The spectacular view of the shrine at 灵山大佛, Wuxi

you need to put on a shoe protector to enter the shrine

that's a huge door behind us!

灵山梵宫

This Buddhist Sacred Place is really beautiful

Min Fei said that's Nobita walking by :P

Me and my best buddy - I'm born in the year of Pig! are you? 

An enormous bronze palm

aunty and I fell in luv with the lovely vege flowers behind us

closer shot of the 'vege flowers'

Thank God for beautiful weather, still super cold though

View from the top

The Famous Lingshan Grand Buddha - an 88m high bronze buddha statue, weighing over 700 tons

Lost in translation =.=

Felt great to sip on a cup of hot bubble milk tea in a weather like this :)

People put down their wishes here

Handwritten wishes on the little wooden plaques

出入平安 - peace be with you in your coming in and going out

全家健康 - good health for the whole family

grumpy old man

red flowers spotted!

posing with the mini bus

closer shot

老妈米线 at the shopping mall in Wuxi

3rd DAY~

ahhhh.. cold.. can die @@

freaking cold but yet still have to pretend to be bold cuz WE ARE ON A BATTLESHIP! fuhhhh...

it was drizzling, brrrrrrrr...... *cold*

hiding behind

watching a show, and it's part of the famous story of The Three Kingdom

group photo with all Hwa Jing tour members

Shanghai - 上海城隍庙

I love the lighted buildings in this famous street

Snacks selling on the street

The streets are filled with people at night

Starbucks!

Xiao Long Pao! Awesome!

Yummy but tasted rather salty compared to Malaysian food

Night View of Shanghai

Shanghai's beautiful night view with the Oriental Pearl Tower

Shanghai's beautiful night view across Huangpu River

another good view captured!

Nanjing Road

one for him, and one for me LOL

see, it's 5 deg in Shanghai city... i'm freeeeeezed

4TH DAY~

everything is lovely as long as it's hot / warm, even when it's just a glass of plain water

Taro Pie in Mc D, super yummy i tell you

trying to keep my hands warm with this papercup of hot choc

yummeh max!

reflection :)

Mr Frog

5TH DAY~

i look just like a Bak Chang / Chinese Dumpling =.=

this snack bought in the supermarket is kinda yummy. it's a sausage btw

lastly, if you dun wish to end up like this, remember to prebook your Air Asia meal online before you go on-board >____<

My birthday 2012

Hmm.. I'm writing about my birthday which was in January!!! haha.. scold whatever you want and I will continue to write about this freaking late post :P
This year, my birthday fell on the eve of the cny eve (eve of the eve). Therefore it was a double joyous occasion for me. (Syeok sendiri).

Too bad Min Fei was not here in Penang during my birthday. So he celebrated with me a few days earlier before he went back to hometown. Journey to Straits Quay was terrible even as we started off from Bayan Lepas as we were caught in traffic congestion due to it was during CNY season. Min Fei actually booked a table at Weissbrau but I did not want to eat there (because I went there before already :P). Since it was a weekday and not much crowd there, so we changed our venue for dinner. After checking out a few doors, we decided to dine at Agua. This was our first time there at Agua and we only found out that it serves Spanish Food when we were seated. (Hmmm.. interesting!)

Still wearing my green company badge on our way there LOL!

We ordered a set dinner + an ala carte

Check out the menu for the evening

clockwise from top right: Calamaris Romana, Lamb Catalan,
Fig with  brandy syrup and vanilla ice cream, grilled pork
middle: white and red wine  

We were very satisfied with the quality of the food served. The portion was just nice for the two of us and we were still able to go for a drink at Starbucks next door. XD I particularly like the dessert that I picked from the main menu: Fig with brandy syrup and vanilla ice cream. It was my first time eating a fresh fig fruit (i had those dried ones before).

My birthday 'cake' happens to be a tiramisu > <|||

 BIRTHDAY PRESSIE FROM HIM <3

A brand new hairdryer wei!!!!!

Heheehhe.. dun laugh okay.. i know it was so unromantic to receive an electronic household item on your birthday but hey, i requested it. And I think it is a useful gift for me since my old one is spoiled. Thank you dear. muaxx

Miss Ong and Miss Tan!!!

During the week of cny, my bff celebrated my birthday by giving me a little surprise! It was really thoughtful and sweet of her to drive me all the way to Tanjung Tokong area for a nice dinner and after that to Hard Rock cafe for a drink, just the two of us! *thank you dearie*

posing with our food, and the pork knuckle was really really yummy and highly recommended!!!

After the dinner, we went all da way up to Hard Rock Cafe for a drink wei!!!!! Even until now, I'm still very much grateful and touched by the effort made by her. She's such a darling. This is my very first time visiting Hard Rock Cafe. It was really a good time spent there with my bff while listening to the band playing. AWESOME! :)

The little surprise that miss Ong gave me was not long after our drinks came and one of the performers on the stage started to call out my name. It was then i saw the wicked smile on Miss Ong's face and then I knew something fishy was going on that time. Realized that I didn't really have any choice, so I reluctantly walked to the stage front with my bff cheering for me (back at our seats) together with the crowds :S

So below is a caption of what's happening next >>>>>>>>>

It looks like i'm gonna hang this on the wall of fame of my own dee :P

A video captured by my dearest bff is also shared here. Not sure are you able to view it or not. Perhaps you need to add me as a friend in FB first :)
priceless expression

My lovely cute bday gift from HK. It comes with a cute note too ^^

Valentine's Day with a cough

How was your V day, peeps? For me it was just another busy day at work. Moreover, i am down with a cough this week, a real bad one. He already told me on Monday night that he's not bringing me anywhere cuz I am not supposed to go out but to rest at home. ~TOTALLY DOOMED~

Anyway, it turned out to be less gloomy at the end of the day, as my dear colleague gave me two cute figurine cookies of angry bird before she left office.

Hehe.. so cute!

Fung, thanks for the cute cookies :)

After dinner, he brought me to Starbucks for a short date! what a lovely surprise!! aw....... thanks dear for the sweet thought :) i know that you will always find your ways to cheer me up even when I'm sick on this special day :)

Hot Choc for him and Hot Greentea Cream for me <3

I got a gift from him last weekend too!  It's a black leather purse from Guy Laroche. 

He said can use as a brick to throw at ppl! LOL

Well i have to admit that it's slightly too puffy due to its interior spacious compartments for cards and coins. 

But I like it a lot because I can now keep more things in my purse in a more organized way of course. :) hehe

It looks more like a mini organizer

By now you would be asking what did i give him for V day rite? No I didn't get him a gift. Reason is simple:  he didn't want one. LOL

So what do you give your loved ones on V day? Do u exchange gifts with them or it's a one way thingy?

Weekend dinner with parents

Last Saturday, I suggested to my parents to have our dinner at a nice place in Straits Quay.

Mom: Aiyo, dun wan lar.. food there is so expensive
Daughter: Come on, once in a while only mar....
Mom: Hmmm.. okay la okay la.
Dad: Are we going to eat chee cheong fun there?
Daughter: >___<|||

So I was the driver and drove them down from our home all the way to Tanjung Tokong using our family car, mini Viva. Usually during weekends brother will be around, but this time he was away in campus for his exam preparation. And sister was not around too. I decided to bring them to try out the food at Blue Reef , Straits Quay. (we could have higher budget since the two of them were not around, muahahahah *evil grin*)

Grilled Salmon seafood platter

Mommy and Daddy

Me and my dearest ones

After our dinner, we bought a super yummy froyo and enjoyed it at the bench outside. It was a nice evening with my beloved parents even though the dinner costed me ~RM90 and the froyo was RM13 @.@

But nevermind. For them I will spend the $ to bring them to nice places that me and min fei or my friends always have our meals. When they were my age, they did not get to enjoy all these good food because they were already starting up a family to raise up children. During those days they were working extremely hard for their three children. Today I am grateful to God for blessing them with good health despite the sacrifice they made all these years.

We went out again for dinner on Sunday night! This time, dad's paying :P

He brought us to a very famous chinese restaurant during their time and it is located in Cintra Street.
To our disappoinment, the food was not that good anymore. The char hor fan we ordered was supposed to be very nice and popular according to my dad but it turned out to be so so, nothing much to shout about. The siew mai we ordered were made using pork tendon instead of minced meat wei!!! cuz it was so tough and chewy that me and my dad could not swallow. =.= Epic failed siew mai
The egg tarts were surprisingly nice though. I like the flaky egg tarts a lot and I da pao some back for Min Fei for his breakfast the next day :)
The bbq pork filling steam buns a.k.a char siew pau were also good. :)

dim sum is available during dinner time

Aunty pushing the trolley filled with types of pastries, yums!

Dim sum we ordered

Sorry for the half emptied plate. Forgot to snap a photo before makan

I dun like the siew mai >__<

Me n my dad

Egg tarts da pao-ed! =)

Mom <3

Weekend has arrived again peeps, have a great great one ya!!!! woots

New Year old post

Peeps, Happy New Year to you all.
I must have missed out a zillion of your exciting posts for the past months.

Same for you dear friends, I have failed to update you guys with the exciting events that have happened during these few months.

Of course the major event happened in November 2011 was the Penang Bridge Half Marathon that I participated for the first time in my whole life!

Previously I have updated in my posts on the training I did over the last few months before the marathon, and I was actually attempting to hit two birdies with one stone.
1. Build stamina for the half marathon
2. Reduce weight and hoping to get rid of 'spare tyre' around my tummy

I think I have done item No.1 quite well. During training, I tried to keep my running pace slow and steady. During the actual day, I also ran with the pace I used in my training. I did not have much problem in running up the bridge and doing a U-turn at the middle of the bridge. It was on my way down from the bridge I had some difficulty in maintaining my pace due to stomach cramp, and followed by tiring feet and aching muscles due to long hours of running, especially on the route towards the finishing point. Gosh, the road was straight, dull and boring. The power bar I bought for RM8 per piece did some help in dragging me towards the finishing line! Yes, I did it. I DID IT!!!!

Thanks to all my friends and blogger friends, who have supported and encouraged me during the trainings. I truly appreciate the advice and cheers given to me. Above all, thanks to God, for providing a fine weather for the morning. It was thunderstorm and lightning on Saturday night at around 10pm and we all thought that this weather would last till the morning but the rain stopped totally before the marathon started. The sky during the early morning was so clear that I could see the moon shinning brightly over our heads as we were running up towards the bridge. Thank God for giving me the perseverance and good health to prepare for this race.

I would like to share with you the running gears I have invested in this run.

ASICS GEL 1150

Yeah... my first pair of Asics running shoes. Started using it for my training for about two weeks before the actual marathon. Love it to the max!!!

My chio digital watch

Why i said it is chio? Cuz it is in apple green colour and I bought it for RM8. Yeah.. .it is 8 ringgit!! I found this gadget at 1st Avenue one week before my marathon. It did a great job in keeping time during my run and most of all, it comes with light up dial function wei.... I could check the time during the early morning when the sun was not up yet. Until today, it is functioning well.

Here is my results I got from the official website for PBIM.
http://www.penangmarathon.gov.my/portal/

Name	:	TAN SUI YING
Status	:	Active
Collect Method	:	Queensbay Mall (12th & 13th Nov 2011)
Category	:	Half Marathon Women Open
Bib No	:	E25127
Event Results
17KM CheckPoint	:	2:33:28.81
ChipTime	:	3:17:02.29
GunTime	:	3:18:22.37
Ranking	:	655/1393

NOT BAD HUH? :P

I almost forgot about Item No. 2!!! Haha... Frankly my weight is not showing any significant change but I am still grateful that it is not going up. Now it is 2012 so one of my new year resolution is to slim down. I am trying on something different for the moment and I shall update you more in future. :P

Let's cheer and welcome this new year with greater hope and greater love!

See ya in the next post!!