Batu Caves - I Did It!

I think I have not blogged this, pardon me if I had.

Sometime mid last year (yes, it was that belated * =P *), a colleague from Netherlands came to KL, and over the weekend, we showed her around KL, one of the places we went was Batu Caves.

It was the 2nd time I been there, the 1st was back years ago when I volunteered to be on duty as a First Aider during Thaipusam. That visit did not allow me to explore the place, this time, well, I go as a local tourist * =P *

The majestic Batu Caves. Before the trip, was asking one of my colleague, who lives near there on the directions. He insisted that I must CLIMB up to the cave - or else it defeat the purpose of the visit. OMG - me? those hundresd of steps? no no no! no thanks!

But then again, once there, I cant be a spoil sport and allow my far-travelled colleague to climb up all by herself. I gritted my teeth and thought - what the hell, lets live and seen it than never, hence the huffing and puffing journey up.

Along the way, you can see plenty of monkeys around - a bit too close for comfort in my view.

And Yup, I made it! * woohoo * and as we were congratulating ourselves, we realised that we just only reached the ENTRANCE of the temple, there are more steps to go INSIDE! * LOL *

Anyway, we managed to drag our feets and look around, truly amazing...

Went to KLCC with her too, and it was actually my 1st time actually strolled in the park. Usually was just a short walk to the convention centre or just pass by the exit to the park * =P *

And she ws laughing away, commented that I was more excited at taking pics than she who was the REAL TOURIST * hahaha *

We also had a fine dinner with her, colleagues and Boss at the Petronas Club. My first time looking at the skybridge near, but no entry at this time of course.

Yeah, it is indeed impressive building, more so enhanced by the night lights.

Beijing - Forbidden City

OKies Folks - my final entry on my Beijing trip. Yay! * hahaha * Quick one to summarize the trip, as I think everyone is getting tired of it already * =P * More pics from my multiply which capture more details of my trip - kindly be my multiply contacts to view them. Thanks!

Yeah, I know I am guilty - with Krabi trip not updated and many more... * LOL * SP, I promise I will up the efforts * LOL * Hey, it doesnt help when my Internet was down, now that it is up, it keeps having thunderstorms when I am home... SP - keluarkan your alat sembahyang, need your blessing booster!!! * kekekeeke *

No one will dare to miss the opportunity to see the Forbidden City. With my infatuation reading those ancient Chinese stories, Emperor stories (besides old Shanghai era stories *wink wink *), how can I miss a chance to get a real feel of a Chinese palace? * =) * Yeah, was brewing the images of eunuchs and servants prancing the area to cater to princes, princesses, the emperor... * LOL *

I must say that I am highly fascinated with this plce. It was sad that we only manage to spend aout 2 hours here due to ur tight schedule - will definitely spend a whole day here should I have a chance to be back in Beijing...

The "highway" outside of the main entrance - I think its a 8-10 lanes road!!!

Looking not much from the outside but the inner yards are spectacular!

How can I not mark this joyous event with my Pandie! * LOL * My colleagues took turns to take pics with my Pandie here - wanna enhance the "we are in china" vibe * LOL *

Really lurve the details - a huge area to explore! Each nook and corner and tile has a story - I am enchanted...

Overlooking Tiannanmen Square - and yes, those black dots are humans!!! The square is H-U-G-E and filled with people!!!

It does gave me some creeps as the first thing which hit me when I am looking at the square, was a flashback of the stories I read about the Tiannanmen Massacre...

Oh well, its a beautiful place no less...

After that, we took a walk at the area surrounding the Forbidden City, in which is the Hutong Area I blogged earlier.

Beautiful sight. The houses reflection on the pond. Used to be homes to the royal relatives and high ministers back then.

Like this pic!

I really enjoyed myself in Beijing, am very grateful and happy that this opportunity was granted to me... And to all people who helped make it happen, and who made it so fun - heartfelt thanks, for inbedding another entry of fond memories in my small heart...

Beijing - Central Business District

This is the place where we stayed, close to the Beijing office. Its like our KLCC area.

The view from atop - from our Beijing office, overlooking the city. Beautiful scenery.

We took a walk around the area - mainly with the intention to find the Silk Market - a tourist hub for shopping, its consists mainly of skyscrapers and office buildings.

We took this vey gaya picture * LOL * had been doing this very often during the trip as it appears that all 3 of us like to take pics! * LOL * Very very fun as we kept tripping over with laughter!

The Silk Market - which basically selling so call cheap-goods-with-prices-jacked-ceiling-high. More like the stalls we have at Petaling Street all cramped into a building. You can find lots of imitation good as well as souvenirs.

This is the first time in my life where one can see how vicious Chinese promoters ar. Yup, they literally claw at you if you look at their good and end up not buying, and haggling is a survival skill here. I even witnessed 2 chinese promoters, each at one side, holding to an Angmoh's hand, barricading him from stepping away until he make the purchase.

So scary that we were traumatised and quickly leave the market.

Saw this woman walking her beloved pets and couldnt resist to take some pics. Yeah, we see many occurances of owners dressing up their pet and what struck me as cute was that it was winter - hence it makes sense to dress them out during a walk, instead of those owvers who put on clothes to furry animals despite the heat in our country.

When the woman saw me taking pictures of her beloved, she stopped in her tracks and ordered her doggies to pose for the picture!!! * LOL * So cute!

Beijing - Formal Dinner with Colleagues

We had this very fancy, formal dinner on the night of the 1st day session. The restaurant was really posh, with expensive looking decor and cutleries.

We had a chinese banquet style dinner, and yes, there were many dishes. Unfortunately, i did not enjoy them at all as I do not like the taste of them. Yup, they do looked very pretty but taste - just did not excite my taste buds.

Just a short pictorial recording of the food we had...

Minced beef cooked in Spicy Soup and HOT STONES!!! Yup, the hot stones are inside the bowl!!! This is the only yummy dish I can stomach * =P *

Braised Chinese Cabbages

Some sort of Chinese Soup - tasted ok, I think got traces of Fish Maw in it * =P *

Tasted like sweet n sour tofu

Cuttlefish in sweet, dark soya sauce

Forgotten what this was * sowwee!~ *

Deep Fried Shrimp in Sweet, Soup, Slightly Spicy Sauce * wah - 4S dish! * =P *

Chinese Ham, Deep fried skin of animal I cant identify to be eaten wrapped in the thin, soft bread

Lotus root slices, with gingko embedded in the "holes"

Spicy Pork Slices - Szechuan style

Deep fried meat loaf with saltedegg yolk - this i know WL will likey! * hehehe *

Chinese Black Fungus Salad (muk yue)

This is beh-tahan : I dunno what's the name of the vege, they were drenched in PEANUT SAUCE!!! * ughhh... * The Peanut Sauce memang one kind of yucky taste - more like water-diluted-melted peanut butter sauce with some spice in it * puke *

Desserts;

Assorted Chinese sweet buns

A very impressive fruit platter - very beautifully and painstakingly decorated.

Despite the food tasted not to any of my likings, we had great company and great fun. All around the table we shared stories, and even brain-teasing games. Really missed the great companions!

Beijing - Ming Tombs & PingGuoYuan

On the way back from Great Wall, stopped by this another main tourist attraction at Beijing called the Ming Tombs. Apparently houses some underground tombs from one of the dynasties...

It looked really boring hence we skipped buying the ticket to go inside * =P *

We spent more time fooling around the area - taking silly pictures, there's this awesome wall with very intricate 3D carvings...

Along the way to get to this Ming tombs is the PingGuoYuan - which is APPLE FARM. They are growing those Fiji Apples.

Along the road you can see some farmers selling their own grown produce which are so fresh and irresistable - to the point I told the driver that I wanted to stop shortly to grab some pictures and purchase some... * hehehe *

Look at the pretty, very fresh pink apples!!! rm5 for 2 of them - not that cheap but super sweet n fresh! Just for the sake of boosting Local economy n helping the farmers * wink wink * You can see them lined neatly at the roadside - hard to resist hor?

The Farmers also sells dried fruits and other seasonal fruits - these are blue berries!!!

And this I cant resist - huge pumpkins! Reminds me of those books we usually read, about farm/country life where they put a lot of effort to grow the biggest pumpkin/vegetable to win the local contest! * LOL *

Beijing - Great Wall of China

Ok, SP, am trying to finish blogging about my Beijing Trip by tonight!!! If my internet connection doesnt konked out - in which it appears almost like you won the lottery each time you manage to connect but you never know when you gonna get robbed (disconnected). So much for Broadband and I am terminating this yucky service!!!

Of course, not to be missed when one is in Beijing would be the Great Wall of China. Am still trying to make myself believe that I actually been to one of the Great Wonders of the World!!! * heehee * And yes, it is really Great!

Barely adjusted to the cold, we excitedly and rather bravely went to visit the Great Wall. With the winter on mainland is already hard to bear, oh, just enjoy the chill when you reach the mountain area!!!

Sight from the car approaching the Great Wall.

The view from one of the towers. The mountain air is even colder, with strong, gusty winds blowing away. Here was where I bought my panda hat! * heehee *

This pic was taken from the cable car. Yup, they have cable cars to bring you up to one of the towers. As the cold air was unbearable, we did not walk much, took pics and grab as much sights as we can see and headed back down to the warmth of the car. There was rather many other tourists there as well.

I really, really like it, will definitely return should I have to the chance to go Beijing again * =) *

As we were dead hungry, and there isnt much choice of food there, we went to eat at one of the few restaurants there. In which almost all of them do not accept credit cards... * ughh... * And the food was REALLY REALLY BAD!!!

This is some sort of Tofu soup, which was bland and more like pepper soup that vegetable tofu soup * eewww... * Ordered that for the sake of heat...

And this was the WORST fried rice I have ever eaten in my entire life!!! * eeeek!!!!! * Please, I do not want to remind myself how it tasted like - yeah, it was that bad...

Oh yeah, how can I not end this post with another pic of me with my Panda-hat? * LOL * And my red face was caused by the cold wind, not Blusher Overload ok! * LOL * Yup, very nice experience!!!