Chillin' in China Part 4 - Glimmer and Glitter

When evening unfolds, Hangzhou becomes so much alive as it sparkles up with brilliance of multi coloured neon. It is as if there is no stopping from the day's liveliness. So many people, So many buildings. So many lights.

Main street bright lighted

One of the many night markets around the city

Shop, shop, shop ladies.....

Anything interesting? None.....

Surely would be able find something of our liking here......

where the real action was.....

at this fancy lot....

Tired and famished, growls of the tummy pulled us here.....

to savor its fillet and soda

On our way back to the hotel, we discovered this HALAL eatery. We are Muslims they said, do come in and reserve your space. Had we been luckier, we'd been dining lamb ribs and sharks fin.....probably.

Next change or coming soon? No lah it's COMEING soon!!

Chillin' in China Part 3 - West Lake Hangzhou...more pics

We took lots of pictures during this trip. And West Lake being such a vast area, offered many interesting spots to go do that "snap, snap" job.

Su Causeway..it connects one part of the lake to the other

Another boat jetty. The boat takes you to other parts of the lake.

Option was to go on the boat or walk...(you gotta be kidding attempting to walk round the lake on foot!!) Choice was obvious...naik boat daaa....

View of Hangzhou downtown from the boat

Now..go figure where else to visit

Pagodas

Fruits...err don't ask me what fruit tree this is. Only know how to makan...

Tall trees that shoot up to the sky

Ahhh...no words to describe this breath taking view

There is even a restaurant on the lake

And another pagoda

Found me self a new BF...tall, dark and handsome, bak kata Busymom100 in FB

And he pun tak mau kalah...nak gak (take picture lah...) with amoi cun ni

And then he walked straight ahead......leaving me (to snap more pics....)

Fruits and sweets, my dear? He offered me....
My reply was, "Nakkk tapi tak tau what they were made of and boleh makan ker???"

"I give you these roses lah....." he offered.
Boleh lah...my reply.

See what roses can do to you....heh..heh :)

Chillin' in China Part 2 - West Lake Hangzhou

Although it was still early, the lake entrance was already packed with visitors. The majority were Chinese locals, all dressed in their best Sunday outfit. Never before had I seen such eagerness to discover nature’s beauty; a definite far cry from Sunday crowd I’ve seen at the Shah Alam Lake.

The famous West Lake covers an area of 5.6 km² in Hangzhou. Surrounded by hills on three sides and by the downtown area on one side, the lake is divided into five parts by the Su and Bai causeways. West Lake is known for its panoramic scenery, weeping willow trees, flowering peach trees, rockeries, ancient stone bridges, and hills dotted with multi-tiered temple pagodas.

Sunday crowd making their way to West Lake

The famous Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo (960-1127) composed this poetic verse when he likened the lake to Xizi, a Chinese Cleopatra, for its allure.

"Ripping water shimmering on sunny day,
Misty mountains shrouded the rain;
Plain or gaily decked out like Xizi;
West Lake is always alluring."

It must have been this scenic surroundings that had inspired Su Dongpo to come about with such poetic sentiments.

Contrary to my initial thoughts, West Lake is a not a natural lake. It’s man-made lake, with an average depth of only 6 feet. It was a historically important source of water for the local farmers, but when the dyke collapsed during the first century, West Lake nearly dried out.

We spent the entire morning at the lake, enjoying the marveling serenity and calmness and its surrounding. Sit back now, and enjoy these pictures as much as we had enjoyed the enchanting West Lake.

"Hi my name is ...." This brave little man came to me and conversed in English. He was good!!

Boat to go visit the Yingzhou Islet, a 20 minute ride got us to this little island in the middle of the lake

Boat ticket...

Smaller boats for scenic rides

Pagodas at the islet

Water walk and weeping willows

Another pagoda on the opposite side of the islet

Kois of West Lake

Ahhhh....what a beauty

Garden of colours

Boat wait...take another boat to the other side of the lake

Shimmering ripples....

to be continued....

What a Lunch!!

Edgy was the feeling in me when I saw my watch ticking towards midday. Janji nak jemput Kak Ezza and Desert Rose at the Subang Jaya commuter station around noon. I'm gonna be late, and goshhh....I hate making people wait. Very quickly I called Desert Rose to inform I've just left the office and I would be there in a little while.

Today's event was something we have been looking forward to all week. Yesss....Datin Mamasita had asked us to have lunch with her at TV3. Datin has been coming down to KL for the last two weeks for her Pahang Art Exhibition show. Isshhhh rezeki kan, tak kan nak tolak.

Mamasita's camera yang memory card nya came later

When we arrived at Sri Pentas, Mamasita was already there with two pretty ladies, NanDJ and Zendra. Uhh..segan pulak rasanya bila jumpa power bloggers ni. After the salam-salam & kiss kiss, Mamasita told us to go get our food. Haa..part yang ni yang best coz the food spread at TV3 cafeteria was ........ (boleh tergolek drooling!!) You all bayangkan lah sendiri, the ikan patin, ikan bakar, gulai perut with nangka (unfortunately, nangka is my enemy # 1....so I stayed away from it) and other mouth watering lauk pauk. There was a good spread of dessert too. Mamasita went for the tapai pulut as I controlled all temptations, reserving myself for that special sweet treat Mamasita had brought with her.

Seronok bercerita round the table as we ate. Not long after that Kak Puteri Kama joined us. Makan lagi dan cerita lagi topics of all sorts. Then it was time to celebrate. Yours truly slipped away from the table with a red box in her hand. Got the cafe lady to arrange candles on the cake and then light it up. I then carried the cake to our table.

You sure you didn't know what us girls were up to eh?

Mula-mula when Kak Puteri saw the cake, she looked so puzzled. Birthday siapa kah today, well that's how I read the expressions on her face. Surpriseeeee....the cake was for you lah Kak Puteri, with lots of lurve from Mamasita (and the rest of us too).We sure got heads turning when we sang that melodious birthday tune.

Apalagi...cake time and it was creamy cheese cake from SR!! Diet out the window please....just indulge, work out and worry later.

It was a good meet today. Unfortunately the few of us (me, DR & Edelweiss) who work had to return to our respective workstations. Rasa tak cukup time to borak-borak tadi.............but it was all worth it. Good lunch with such GREAT company :)

NanaDJ, Zendra & Desert Rose

Orang kuat....Kak Puteri, Mynn Edelweiss & Kak Ezza yang selamba dan cool

Happy faces upon being fed by Mamasita..heh..heh.

Thank you Datin for the lovely lunch.

These beautiful ladies were....ehem...contestants bagi program "Gadis Melayu" yang confirm akan menang tanpa bertanding :)

Chillin' in China - Part 1

Each time I seek his permission to go on my RTs, he never created much fuss. I guess after being together for more than 20 years, Abe knew that he couldn't stop me, not when my mind is so set in doing something. Kata orang berpada-pada at pushing your luck lah kan. Hence, after a series of RT trips, plus several outstation work assignments, I knew I was going to run out of luck with my "jalan-jalan permission seeking" very soon.

It has been a while since we went on our "just the two of us" trips. If I recall well, beach bumming in Phuket circa July 2007 was our last. So, to draw the final curtain on 2009 travel with some "us" time seemed like a good idea.

The bookings for Air Asia tickets to Hangzhou was done quite early in the year. Its price was indeed an offer one wouldn't want to miss - RM230 for a return trip!! It's dirt cheap, even cheaper than doing domestic traveling. That is how easy it is to travel these days, AA keeping its promise - "Now Everyone Can Fly", and for the two of us - Hangzhou and Shanghai here we come!!

Hangzhou - famous for its intricately designed parasols

Hangzhou the capital city of Zhejiang province, is a sub-provincial city located in the Yangtze River Delta and located 180 kilometres southwest of Shanghai. Abe had been here twice actually, once when he first started work and the second time was just after we got married. On both occasions, he was there for some hydro conferences. I think it was during his second trip that he got that painting in our dining area of the famous West Lake in Hangzhou. Twenty years after his maiden China trip, Abe was making his return to these two cities.

Battery power motorbikes and bicycles

We arrived late in Hangzhou on that 24th October evening. Upon our arrival at Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, we proceeded to taking the airport shuttle bus to downtown Hangzhou. As in any other Chinese cities, language was immediately a challenge. Not many people understood English and conversing with the locals required lots of creativity. It was like ayam and itik talking - lots of gestures and sign languages. We were lucky to have met a group of Indonesians who had a Chinese guide that night. The Chinese local helped to find out about our hotel stop and provided us directions to our hotel. Incidentally, this guy was an engineer who worked in a power company in Indonesia and both he and Abe had exchanged a topic or two about their what they do at work. Not bad huh...a local Chinese and a Malay conversing in Indonesian!!

Our hotel was on Tiyuchang Road, one of the main streets in Hangzhou

It was pass midnight when we got to the hotel. Checking in was fast, thank God. We headed straight to our room after that. Changed, prayed and next thing I knew it was morning.

Autumn leaves at West Lake Hangzhou

Introducing....

Look at us world, we are making our feature preview at 2 weeks old.

Petra - the only boy

Second sister - Cleo

Youngest of them all - LunaChentaLestari

Due to space constraints, we have to give away Cleo & Luna (sob...sob....more so lepas watch PAPAdom the movie last night). Abe wants to keep Petra, to increase the male head count in the house, I guess. Haven't decided where to send the other two. Any takers amongst fellow bloggers here? Or can anyone recommend me a place to send them to?