Places to eat in Shanghai :)

Below are some of the good food to eat in Shanghai, if you happen have a chance to visit Shanghai one day :)

Shanghai food:

 1. Lai Lai Xiao Long - 莱莱小笼 (Michelin)

Lailai Xiao Long - Must eat the crab and meat xiao long bao :)

Address: Huangpu, Tianjin Road No.504

Recommended food: crab and meat xiao long bao (soup dumpling) 8 pcs/basket - CNY46, ginger with vinegar (to enhance the depth of the xiao long bao flavor - CNY1 per small plate), fried pork cutlet - CNY25, crab and shrimp Wonton soup 8 pcs/bowl - CNY55. 

Open 8am-9.30pm. I was second in queue around 7.40am. Before, there was nobody. But once the queue was formed, it was getting longer, longer, and longer. You need to come early (slightly around or before 7.30am) to avoid longer waiting time. 

2. Xiao Shao Xing - 小绍兴

Xiao Shao Xing - Sliced boiled chicken or baizhanji :)

Address: Huangpu, Yunnan South Rd No. 69

Recommended food: sliced boiled cold chicken or baizhanji - CNY55 per500g or CNY77 for half chicken, scallion oil noodle - CNY8/bowl, and chicken congee - CNY3. 

The chicken dish may look simple but it is prepared with superior quality compared to ordinary poultry. It is served with dipping sauce.

It is a traditional brand food street shop (government owned) and has been there for a long time. If you prefer something to eat that is simpler and healthier, this is the place to go. My local Shanghai friend brought me here. It was perfect to have it with Qingdao beer :D

3. Da Hu Chun - 大壶春

Address: Huangpu, 11 Sichuan Rd (South) and many other branches.

Recommended food: pan fried pork buns - CNY11 for 4 pcs or small pans one - CNY39 for 10 pcs.

4. Xiao Yang's Sheng Jian or pan fried bun - 小杨生煎

Address: Hongyi Plaza 299 Nanjing Rd E or 178 Ningbo Rd and many other branches.

Recommended food: Xiao Yang pan fried pork buns - CNY13 for 4 pcs. If you want to try more choices, you can choose the 3 flavor in 1 plate (pork meat, prawn mala, and vegetables) - CNY24.50 for 6pcs. 

Personally, I like both the pork bun and prawn mala fillings. It is very juicy and tasty. Bite a little hole on the soft part of the skin, and slurp the juice before biting the big flesh, otherwise you will burst the whole juice out and become a waste :D I did not have a chance to visit Da Hu Chun and managed to try the 3 flavor pan fried bun here at Xiao Yang. It was good. You can add some sauce and chili oil provided by the restaurant.

Xiao Yang's and Xiesanbao combo - Must eat both :)

5. Xie San Bao - 蟹叁宝上海 

Address: Huangpu, Tianjin Road No.513 and many other branches

Recommended food: crab roe noodle, crab roe rice, crab roe porridge. I paid CNY103 for takeaway the crab roe noodle (inclusive of the warmer bag, plastic container and cutlery). It was better to eat it at the restaurant. They give two small side dishes (black fungus - really nice! and very salty beans - not to my liking) plus vinegar to be eaten with the noodle. 

I bought takeaway because my hotel is very near from this restaurant (only 3 minutes walk) so the noodle was still warm and the crab roe was still hot when I had it. It was not cheap but I really love the taste. The noodle was thin type, portion was just nice for me as I also takeaway 6 pieces of the Xiao Yang pan fried bun back to hotel. If I just had to eat it alone, perhaps I would order rice to make my stomach fuller. 

There are plenty of restaurants in Shanghai that sell the crab roe noodle. I chose this because it was the nearest from my hotel and it ended up good enough. Plus the staff who took my order was very good and friendly. She asked me not to go anywhere after ordering because it would be ready very fast (since I ordered noodle and had to be eaten fast to prevent soggy). The order really came in about 5 minutes time.

6. Shucaiji Sheng Jian - 舒菜记 生煎菜饭 

Address: Huangpu, 49 Yunnan Rd (Middle) and many other branches

Recommended food: pan fried pork buns - CNY10 for 4 pcs and vegetarian fried rice - CNY15 per plate.

7. Xian De Lai Chop Nian Gao -  鲜得来

Xian De Lai Pork Chop and Nian Gao or rice cake :)

Address: Huangpu, Yunnan South Rd No. 36

Recommended food: fried pork cutlet with 4 pieces of nian gao (rice cake) and soup (with 2 pieces of kind of yong dou fu items) - CNY23 per set.

This is also government operated and owned restaurant. That is why it sells the food with a very affordable prices. According to my local Shanghai friend, this local food was not that popular until one of the Chinese TV drama was taken at this restaurant. Since then, the sales was boosting up and everyone wanted to try the food.

FYI, pour the Xian De Lai soy sauce into your pork cutlet before eating to add the flavor. Not many people know this. Only local Shanghai people know about it :D

8. Wei Xiang Zhai Noodle Restaurant - 味香斋面点 (Michelin)

Address: Huangbu, Hubei Rd No. 151

Recommended food: sesame sauce noodle with scallion  - CNY14 per portion and beef broth - CNY10 per bowl.

Too bad my days were too short in Shanghai. The food here looks so delicious. Maybe one day when I visit Shanghai again, I will drop by and dine here.

9. Jia Jia Tang Bao - 佳家汤包

Address: Huangpu, Huanghe Rd No. 127

Recommended food: pork meat xiao long bao (soup dumpling) 12 pcs/basket - CNY23, scallion oil noddle - CNY12, dry crab roe noodle with soup set - CNY89, 

10. Huxi Lao Nong Tang Pork Liver Noodle - 沪西老弄堂面馆 

Address: Guang dong Rd, No. 500

Recommended food: clam and pig liver noodle - CNY38, large intestine noodle - CNY34, fried pork cutlet - CNY18.

If I have a chance to visit Shanghai again, I will definitely visit this shop!!! A must visit spot for pork liver noodle lover :)

Shanghai snacks/sweets:

1.Shen Dacheng - 沈大成

Shen Dacheng - tasty and sweet green red bean rice ball qingtuan :)

Address: 636 Nanjing Rd (East) - the only Branch that make the fresh one.

Recommended food: shuang niang tuan (双酿团) - CNY5, jin tuan (金团) - CNY5, tiaotou gao (条头糕) - CNY4 and red bean qingtuan (青团) - CNY5 or egg yolk with pork floss qingtuan- CNY8. All is made of glutinous rice. 

2. Shanghai Hongkou Gaotuan Foodstuff Factory - 虹口糕团 

Address: Jingan Nanjing West Rd No. 969 (Tongli Commercial Building F B1)

Recommended food: glutinous rice cakes wrapped with sesame and youtiao 全家福 - CNY10

3. Park Hotel Deli - 国际饭店西饼屋

Park Hotel Deli - famous butterfly (sweet and savory) cookies. Perfect for gifts back home :)

Address: Huangpu, Huanghe Rd No. 28

Recommended food: the original sweet - CNY32 and cheese savory butterfly cookies - CNY35

Got to know about this from my local Shanghai friend. He was the one who recommended me to buy this when I mentioned about the butterfly pastry. The queue was crazy. It took him 70 minutes starting from the + Junction traffic light until the ordering place. He was kindly queueing on my behalf as I had to go back to hotel to pack and check out :D Both flavor are delicious. Each has its unique strength. Worth queueing for!!! :) Fyi, you can smell the fragrant butter while queueing from a far :D

4. Panyongxing Cake - 潘甬兴糕点

Address: Jingan Wujiang Rd No. 269

Recommended food: Tiaotou cake, peppermint cake, mugwort rice cake, citrus cake or juhonggao, Handmade糍毛球 (sticky rice balls), 酒酿糕 osmanthus (fermented rice cake);小米糕 (millet cake) and黑米糕 (black rice cake).

Western Bakery in Shanghai:

It has been a trend these days with the upcoming western bakeries in Shanghai. People post at TikTok bringing awareness of these bakeries that not only having wide variety of breads and cakes, but also have Instragammable outlook. Brands like Butterful and Cremorous, Amamlon Bakery Town, Fascino or Fengshengli, the Bakehouse Grand Liz, Pompi Tiramisu, etc. like what you can see at the photo below. All these can be found near West Nanjing Rd metro.

You can also found good cafes and beverage shops like Birdie Cup Coffee or Xiaoniaobei, Manner Coffee, Chagee Bawang Chaji, Goolden, Tims Tianhao Coffee, and so on.

Birdie cup coffee - Nice one :)

And you can find many at other places too, good place to take a break after walking or shopping too much. Hahahaha.... :P Also the best place to chit chat with old friends :)

Manner Coffee

Since I only had 3 days 2 nights stay in Shanghai, I tried those that I could not find in Singapore. So I had to miss Luckin coffee and Chagee although it was much cheaper than in Singapore :D 

There are many more food establishments that you can visit during your stay in Shanghai. I only covered a few here since I had a short visit this time. But I hope, it could help you for your next visit there. Hope you can enjoy the Shanghai delicacies as I did. Happy eating!!! :)

What apps to download before going to China from Singapore

Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower

With the advance of the technology, I would say we are very lucky to be able to live in the world these days. The last time I went to China was in the end of 2018 and I could not use the Chinese payment apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay. I had to use cash to pay wherever I went. And sometimes, I would not be able to purchase something (like using the vending machine to buy drinks). I was reluctant to use my credit card to pay too, since the exchange rate given by the bank was awful and there was other charges for using it. 

Trust Visa Debit/ Credit Card (Photo source: Trustbank.sg)

First of all, if you live in Singapore, the digital bank and cards like Trust and YouTrip are the two great assets that you must have beforehand, because they offer the online currency rates - not far from what you usually check from XE.com, there is 0% foreign transaction fee (not even the 1% Visa charges), and also no annual card fee to pay. You manage all your money using the apps on your fingertip. 

For the Trust saving, you can earn up to 2.75% p.a. interest rates on your first S$800k depending on how much you put your money in and earn up to 11% savings on groceries and food at Fairprice Group when you spend on your Trust debit card. You can read more details in here. You can also apply their VISA credit card to earn up to 15% cashback on your preferred category and unlimited 1% cashback on all other eligible spend. Read more details here. If you do not have one yet and interested to get one, you can let me know and I can give you a referral code and get yourself S$10 Fairprice e-voucher as a lovely start :) 

YouTrip Mobile Wallet link with Mastercard 
(Photo source: You.co/sg)

As for YouTrip, you can sign up using your local Singapore mobile phone. It is a multi-currency mobile travel wallet with linked Mastercard and money changer in the app.  There are currently 12 wallet currencies in which you can do the money change without having to go down to money changer. The currencies available as for now are: SGD, MYR, AUD, USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, HKD, NZD, CHF, SEK, and THB. 

You can first top up your SGD money using PayNow or to link your bank account for easy transfer. You can also top up using a Visa/ Mastercard but there will be 1.5% fee for Visa Credit. Fees waived for all Mastercards and Visa Debit. 

After topping up your SGD into the account, you can then start the exchange between those 12 available currencies and keep your money there. But when you want to use it overseas, you can pay in any currencies (not only those 12). For example, you can use it in Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, and so on. They will convert the currency automatically and deduct it from your SGD or other currency balance that you stored. Just tap your card (they will issue and send you a physical card once you sign up), and key in the passcode on the credit card machine for a more secure transaction. And Voila! If you do not have one yet and interested to join, you can let me know too. I will send you the referral link and get yourself S$5 on your account upon confirmation and acceptance :)

With YouTrip, you can also transfer money overseas or send to other YouTrip User. And if you want to take your SGD money back into your bank account, you can do the withdraw through PayNow or transfer back to your local bank account. So it was up to you how you want to manage  your money. You can link WeChat Pay and Alipay with similar cards like Wise or Revolut too, if you already have one. Once you have them, you can link the above cards (no more required to have a local China bank account and credit card) with WeChat and Alipay. 

I post this blog because more people are travelling to China recently due to more available direct (some budget) airlines between countries, the easy access to pay using the Apps, available translation apps (I use Google translation apps so far), available maps App using English (fyi Google map in China does not give an extensive locations and accuracy, some even are misleading), convenient to travel using public transport such as Metro, bus and ferry, with the downloaded Metro apps that were linked to WeChat or Alipay - just scan the QR code at the entry and exit gate, more world class entertainment parks, such as: Universal Studio in Beijing, Disneyland in Shanghai, Pop Mart theme park or Pop Land in Beijing, Legoland in Shanghai (opening in 2025), and so on. 

Chinese apps to download

So, from my recent trips to Shanghai, I did some research before going, and here are the list of the apps I downloaded before going:

1. WeChat

If you have not had the account yet, you can sign up using your local mobile number. Then you can click here on how to link your credit card with WeChat Pay. I linked my YouTrip Mastercard with WeChat Pay. You need to submit your Passport information as a verification, otherwise you cannot use it. 

2. Shanghai Metro apps (linked to WeChat pay). Once you download the no. 1, next you can download the metro apps. In my case, I downloaded the Shanghai Metro app - Discover, Mini Programs, Search Shanghai Metro App - the red color one - and registered. To use it, you need to turn your bluetooth on, then it will produce the QR code, which you can scan when entering and exiting the metro gate. The fee will be charged into the credit card that you linked with in your WeChat Pay.

3. Alipay

This is another very useful payment apps in China, it works similar like Google pay, but with more services. You can click here for more information on how to register your Alipay. Same thing, you need your passport information for verification plus your photo. Then add your foreign credit card under the Bank Cards. For Alipay, I link it with my Trust Visa card. 

The apps can be set in English and there is the floating translation button that you can click too for easier translation from Chinese to English while using the app. 

4. Shanghai Metro apps (linked with Alipay)

Once you download the Alipay, I search e.g. Shanghai metro - I choose Shanghai Metro Daduhui - registered, saved it, and could find it under the My Apps (My Mini-apps). I can copy this apps button into my mobile home as well for easy use. 

Same with the no. 2, you need to turn on your Bluetooth when scanning the QR code at the entrance and exit gate. It is much more convenient than buying the metro ticket manually at the ticket machine. It will save you a lot of time in taking public transport. 

5. Didi Travel (linked with Alipay)

If you go in larger group with elderly or children, you might want to travel around using hire transport service like Grab and Gojek. In China, you use Didi. You can download the mini-app in Alipay or WeChat for Didi service. Follow the instruction on how to use it. I did not try it during my trip in Shanghai as I travel alone and metro is very convenient public transport to go anywhere.

6. Amap

It is very useful map that you can access during your trip in China. You can enter search using English and Chinese language. Click 'Route' to find out how to get there - by driving, metro or bus, cycling, and walking. Just turn your location button on and it will give you various alternative to reach your destination :)

7. Disney Resort

As I visited Disneyland in Shanghai, I downloaded this app beforehand. Here, you can purchase your ticket based on your needs. There is a Super Early Bird One-Day price ticket if you know already when you are going to visit and choose it to get discount, at least 15 days in advance, or Early Bird One-Day price ticket at least 10 days in advance. In fact, so many options to choose. Weekdays and weekend prices are different, so if you visit many days in Shanghai, I recommended you to choose weekdays than weekends.

You can pay the fare using foreign credit card. However, with additional 3% charge. In this case, I tried other alternatives such as: Klook, Traveloka, and Trip.com. At the end, I bought it through Trip.com as it offered the best price among all.

With Disney Resort app, you can use it during your stay in Disneyland. You will use the map function the most. There, you can see how much is the waiting time for each rides. How to get there from your location (you need to turn on your location button) and how many minutes to reach. Where you can have your lunch, snacks, or dinner. Where to shop if you need to get something to bring back home, and so on. They also tell you the schedule of the parades of the day, and toilet locations.

There are more apps you can download based on your needs during your travel in China. I myself is a newbie and not very well in reading Chinese words. It will be better if you have friends from China who use more Chinese apps and have time to explain to you what to download and how to use.

Actually I would love to use their share bike to go around Shanghai by myself, but with the limitation of the area/ location knowledge, plus not knowing much Chinese words, taking metro is more than good to go. But I was lucky enough being able to cycle around in the middle of the Shanghai city with the guide and help of my local Shanghai friend who is familiar with the road there. He also helped me to unlock the bike - using 2 different bike apps from 2 different companies :) 

Meituan share bike in Shanghai

The traffic for bikes have lessen up these days unlike more than 2 decades ago. Now people take more metro, bus, electronic motorcycle, didi, or car to travel around. But it is good for me and they still have bike lane for bicycle and motorcycle users. Many road was covered with big trees at left and right, giving cool shades for riders like us. I was very lucky experiencing it and hope can experience it more next time :D

Oh ya, for mobile access, you need a SIM card that allows you to access Google, what's app, Facebook, or Instagram. In Singapore, you can purchase your physical China SIM or e-SIM from Lazada or Shopee SG. I purchased the ICC China Mainland 3-30 days Unlimited Data SIM card (China Mobile Network). It worked very well during my stay. Just insert it (if you buy physical card) when you reach there, turn the roaming and mobile data on, and you can start using it.

I hope the above info can help you a little in preparing your visit to China. And wish you a wonderful trip to China soon!!! :)

Where to go and what to do in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

We spent a night in Karakol. Karakol is the forth largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located near the eastern part of Issyk Kul Lake. It used to be a place where the Russian military outpost founded in 18th century, and also the place where the place where large number of Dungan, the Chinese Muslim fleeing warfare in China. I will share here some of the places that you can visit or things you can do in Karakol.

Holy Trinity Cathedral (Russian Orthodox Church) - Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

1. Visit the Russian wooden Orthodox church called Holy Trinity Cathedral. The building was constructed in 1894-1895, replacing the earlier church that was destructed by the earthquake. During that period, this church was initially built as a chapel for the Russian military personnel. Later on, after the 1917 revolution, it also served as a school, sport hall, theatre, and even a coal store, before it was briefly returned as a church. By 1961, again it was not used as church until the collapse of Soviet Union in 1991. 

The church is beautified with flowers and trees at its surrounding, plus the snow capped mountains view as the background. Inside it was quiet, calm and peaceful. You could grab some wooden souvenir or accessories to bring home afterward. 

Dungan Mosque - Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

2. Visit Dungan Mosque - a mosque built and designed in 1904 by Dungan, the Chinese Muslim, without a single nail and looks resemble like a Buddhist temple. If you visit it in September, the place will look more like a garden with so many beautiful roses beautified the area. Fruit trees like pear, apple, and walnut would be full of fruits too!!! We were lucky that the staff plucking some of the apples and pears to be shared with us. I had them for breakfast next day and it was really wonderful!!! They were juicy, sweet and crunchy, most importantly, organic and grew with TLC (tender loving care) :D

Issyk-Kul Brand Shop - Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

3. Shop local products at the Issyk-Kul Brand Shop - a store that sells natural, high quality handmade products made by local community, such as: honey (Kyrgyzstan is famous for its pure white honey and varieties of honey from Kyrgyz mountains), wool products (bookmarks, wallet, hat, shawl, doll, slippers, bags, etc.), various local fruit juices and jams made of sea buckthorn, barberry, raspberry, walnut, etc., soaps, lip balm, hand cream, paintings, various handcrafts, etc. You can try some of the products before deciding to purchase or not. The store commits to support the local communities with OVOP - One Village One Product concept - to produce, sell, and earn from their products sustainably. You can find more information about the shop here. 

Dinner at Dungan Family House - Karakol, Kyrgyzstan

4. Have dinner at Dungan family house, tasting the dishes that Chinese Muslim would eat on their daily life. We were given a private room where 7 of us could peacefully enjoy our meal. They served 9 different types of dishes plus laghman (handmade pulled noodle - similar with Chinese lamian) as the base to eat the dishes with. The owner's son served us the food personally, explained their cultures and traditions, also origins with us. He could speak a little Chinese too as he went to learn Chinese in China himself, so that he could communicate better with his guests (many Chinese or Chinese Asians guests came and dined at his house). It was a great experience and for us, we could finally have something Chinese in our food after almost a week of mostly Central Asia food on our menus. Hahaha... Something spicy and delicious :D

5. Visit Karakol local bazaar. Unfortunately it had closed by the time we reached Karakol and we did not have time to visit the next day as we still have many places to go. But if you have more days to visit, it will be a great experience to see how it looks like and what types of things they sell over there.

We continued our journey to Bokonbayevo village and on our way, we passed by many places, which I will cover next. Stay tune :)

Unforgettable Chinese New Year 2020

Last day of Chinese New Year

Today it marked the last day of Chinese New Year, which was also called Cap Go Meh (meaning the fifteenth lunar) or Yuan Xiao Jie 元宵节 (the Lantern Festival) or also known as Chinese Valentine's Day.

This year the atmosphere of the overall Chinese New Year was rather special and it was mainly due to the arrival of special guest from Wuhan, China - the Novel Coronavirus or nCoV- that spread not only to Chinese people or within China, but to any other nationalities and all over the world.

List of 33 confirmed cases and its relation up to 8 Feb 2020 (Pic source: CNA Channel News Asia)

Since Singapore was among the top countries often visited by Chinese people, whether it was for business, meetings, working, visiting, and so on, it was inevitable that the nCoV reached to us pretty soon.  This had caused a stir among Singaporean who rushed around trying to stock up masks, sanitizer, cleaning products as a way to prevent the spreading and maintain the personal hygiene.

Our Lohei or Prosperity Toss Platter from Chinatown Complex Singapore 

Yesterday my friends and I embraced ourselves to go to Chinatown Complex Hawker Centre in order to have our Lohei or Prosperity Toss celebration and dinner. Initially we were worried too to choose the place there because it was a well-known hawker visited by both local and tourists. But I thought that there was affordable and nice Yusheng there where I used to patronize years ago and I wanted to introduce it to my friends.

I was quite appalled when I saw no crowd. I mean, usually this place was crowded like hell! There would usually a plate of Yusheng ordered in every table and 'Huat ah' (meaning to welcome prosperity)  shouting would be heard one after another while tossing the mixed vegetables in the air).

With my Mala Partners ^_^

Even when we finished our dinner (around 8pm), the area was quiet. Many shops were closed too near the temple area. Souvenir shop seller complained to me that their sales were not even reaching S$500 on such Friday night as the result of nCoV.

Temporary ban visitor from China (Source: wikipedia. org)

From 1st Feb 23:59 our Singapore government had stopped anyone who had visited China for the past 14 days to enter, or transit through Singapore. Ahh..., no wonder lah why the tourist area became so quiet.

I also thought the MRT would be crowded and I would not get seat, but I was wrong. We managed to get seat and there were many empty seats on and off. When reaching home, I started checking my phone and receiving many pictures. Then only I realized where all the Singaporean went that night.

The DORSCON chart (Pic source: CNA Channel News Asia)

It was yesterday that the announcement of DORSCON alert were raised from Yellow to Orange. Many 'kiasu' (scared to lose) and 'kiasi' (scared to die) Singaporean were rushing down to supermarkets to hoard the basic necessity products, such as: rice, instant noodle, canned food, cleaning products, and so on. The supermarket website was also not functioning due to overwhelmed shoppers and not enough stocks.

Few photos circulated among social media while queuing at supermarket in Singapore

The photos of empty racks, super long queue, and people wearing funny stuffs were circulated around the social media, stirring panic not only within the country, but also affected our neighbor countries like Indonesia.

Today many Indonesian friends of mine sent me messages asking about the situation here. They were also receiving those photos circulated online and was wondering how Singapore had become like this while there was no single case up to now in such a huge country with more than 260 million citizens in Indonesia. They conveyed their worries towards my families and my safe being.

Wuhan Virus VS Kiasi Virus (Pic source: Facebook)

Even this Saturday morning when I walked to supermarket to see the situation myself, as early as 9.30 am, a super long queue had already been there. Everyone was having shopping cart full of things both at upper and bottom part of the cart. They stood there and were patiently waiting for their turn to pay. I saw many unattended carts and baskets too that were abandoned by shoppers who did not have patient to wait for their turn.

Non of our family members were hoarding stuffs like that, thankfully!!! Because we had stored just enough food for our daily necessities which I had bought during CNY promotion period, such as: 5 packs of instant noodles, 2 packs of egg noodles, 2 packs of 5 kg rice for the families of 5 at home. I considered it to be enough for the time being and truthfully I would not feast on instant noodle on my daily meal. I would rather buy vegetable from nearby supermarket and eat it with, just enough for our meal. Otherwise we could still purchase bread from the convenience shop.

Another picture distributed online (Pic source: Facebook)

And since I stopped working, I had a habit of taking simple meal in my everyday's life. Plus I believed in 'I eat to live rather than I live to eat.' So basically my hubby and I took this incident calmly and I could relax at home reading and sleeping rather than queuing at the supermarket.

So far I also had not worn any single mask even when going out. The only mask that I had was the 4-piece mask that our government distributed once per household (which apparently not enough for 5 of us, but eventually, we still had to feel grateful as not every government gave out the mask away to their citizen, ie. Hong Kong, no matter how little the number given was). And although I had the hand sanitizer, I never brought it with me as I had no habit in using it and believed more in the power of washing hand with soap or using wet tissue to clean hands when required.

There was no spray to kill bacteria too at home. The most we added on was adding a small cap of Dettol into our washing machine when washing clothes to kill the germs, that's all.

Full moon at Buddha Tooth Relic Temple - Singapore 070220

No one knew when this virus would stop spreading. In fact, there were still many people not yet coming back to Singapore due to the travel ban (including 30,000 Chinese national who held work permit here in Singapore). It was definitely affecting the economy (especially on tourism and airlines), which reminded many people of 2003 SARS outbreak.

For now we could only pray that we could overcome this storm peacefully and prayed hard that the situation would be under control. May all sentient beings be healthy and happy, free from suffering and the cause of suffering, life full of peace and joy. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu. 

Update news as Sunday 9 Feb 20 (Pic source: the Straits Times)

P.S This morning 9 Feb 20 when I woke up, 7 new cases were announced and it had added to a total 40 cases, and this time it even included the Taxi and private hire car drivers, which were worrying as many people were expected to be fetched in and out every day in their course of work.

However, do not let our guards down to prevent the virus by keeping up with the personal hygiene practice, staying at home more when necessary (instead of roaming around), taking care our health by eating healthy food, drinking more water, vitamin, honey (to increase immune system), and so on. Keep calm and stay away from rumour, which only added unnecessary fear and distress. Stay strong Singapore and let's join hand together to overcome this wave. Take care and good luck!!!

(Fyi, to read the latest Singapore news you could visit the MOH website, CNA or Channel News Asia, the Straits Times (Singapore local newspaper), and so on).

The same old (Obiang) me

I think we do agree that old people is generally old-fashioned, difficult to adapt with changes, having old-thinking, old-taste, conservative thinking, and so on. I do not regards myself as old yet, but I realized I have much of those characteristics in me. OMG!!!

Plain-looking face (no colourful make up), hair-pinned short hair style (you must have started imagined those Angay (grandma in Bhutanese language) or Apho (in Chinese language), no taste in clothing (comfortable and economic t-shirt batik rubber three-quarter pants - for daily summer wear; and some old style jacket for winter wear), simple sport shoes and/or slippers (no high-heels at all in my shoe rack), have been the alarming signs of so old-fashioned lady.

Miss Obiang look ^_^" (Pic source: Instagram rimareyka.writes)

The above top was my recent purchase to fight the cool weather and you know what??? Many grannies admired it after I wore it and even wanted to buy it for themselves. Hahaha... I don't know want to laugh or cry when they wanted it (same taste). Lol!!! :'D

Recently too, I met an ex-colleague who is much younger than me but is currently experiencing career-switch mid-life crisis. He wanted to change the job from operational type (he used to be Chef who worked on shift schedule, no days off on weekend and public holiday), to an office job (desk-bound and more regular office hours).

We were chatting over sushi lunch and I tried to advise him on the suitable job role that he could choose next. However, there was nothing suited him. Then I realized that my thinking was a bit conservative, too old-style to recommend him such job (although it matched with his education background and working experience). Perhaps after being jobless for few years in such modern metropolitan and fast-paced country, where many jobs have been replaced with automated machines everywhere, I felt myself becoming far away with reality world. Haiz....

Only from last night chatting conversation with someone I haven't met before but the person knew me from my blog and Instagram, I felt a bit relieved since the person told me that I still look young, even mistook me as college student. Hehe... :P Thank you again for the comment - let me took it as compliment :D

And for your info (not an excuse hahaha...), actually I am still the same old me. How I prefer my simple look (no make up), prefer having short hair (easier to take care), light and comfortable footwear, simple shirts and jeans or any other comfortable pants, and never really bother much about my look or appearance in the eye of others, especially when I travel overseas. To be in a place where nobody knows me, I had plenty of freedom to wear such an Obiang design hahahahaha... :P

Miss Obiang in full view :P

Here is the full picture of me that very day. Didn't I blend well in the environment? :P Hope I haven't yet reached that stage of old age yet despite how old fashioned my thinking was!!! :D

Same old me - back in 1997 (Tai Yuan, China)

And hope the above photo could prove the same old (Obiang) me, even when I was still a bit younger (back in 1997). I was wearing my grandma's oversize shirt, mom's pants, CD-man case sling bag, and China-made jacket on my travelling days :)

Happy Dragon Boat Festival!!!

This festival was originally coming from China. It fell on the fifth month and fifth day of lunar calendar date each year, which was sometimes also called as Double Fifth Festival. It's called Dragon Boat Festival as usually the day was celebrated with dragon boats racing. You could find more the history of it here.

Let's eat Bakcang! ^^

There was also another name called Dumpling Festival. Why? Because we usually ate the steamed triangle dumpling (called Bakcang or zong zi), filled with meat (usually pork meat), glutinous rice, with other variety of fillings depending on the regions, liking and preference.

Source: Google.com 

Nowadays people seldom made it themselves and resorted to buy (fast, easy, and convenient way), but of course, with such a high price, especially approaching the day itself. The normal bakcang cost SGD $3 per piece, sold at usual hawker center. And those sold in famous Chinese restaurant could charge the same thing at SGD $14.80 per piece, not yet those that offered a unique filings variety. E.g Chili crab dumpling from Golden Peony sold at SGD $28 per piece; Duck, fish maw, abalone dumpling from Xin Cuisine sold at SGD $38 per piece, and so on.

Dad was busy trying to make the eggs standing up this afternoon ^^

My mom told me to try to make the egg stand in vertical position at 12pm this afternoon (btw, today - 9th June- is the day for year 2016). So those who read this before 12pm, please try it at home and see if it works!) ^^

Duan Wu Jie Kuai Le!

And this year I'm very lucky as my Mom and aunts gave me the dumplings all the way from my hometown (as hubby finally came back home). I had tasted few different varieties as it was made by different people :) Thank you Ma for preparing it for us. Love you! Happy Dumpling Festival everyone!!! ^^

Beijing Itinerary - Day 4 Temple of Heaven

I still remembered the first time I visited this place back in year 1995. It was my first visit to Beijing together with my aunt, her mother-in-law and my cousins. It was during school holiday in summertime. I was dumbfounded when I looked into the magnificent structure in front of me. I saw it once before on the travel booklet but not knowing where exactly it was. I still felt like dreaming to witness that great creation on earth!!!

Temple of Heaven - 8th June 1997

From then onward, I visited the place again during my next stay and I purposely visited the place again before I went back home for good. It was a must visit place if you traveled to Beijing! It's a place where Emperors from the Ming and Qing Dynasty used to visit to offer their prayers for the good harvest. Read more of its history here. So it was in my list, a definitely place to visit and let my son awed in wonder too! :)

We were here finally! ^^

We took metro Line 5 to TianTanDongMen, where the east gate was located. The ticket cost CNY ¥30 (S$6.50) per person, included the entrance to 3 most important places to visit inside.

Places enjoyed most by local elderly :)

It was such a huge area surrounded by parks where local elderly loved visiting to meet friends, to play music instrument, to dance, to exercise, to gamble, to date, to find date for their children, what??? Did I say anything wrong? No, I didn't!

Seven-Star Stone Park - Find a loved one here! ^^

I saw it on TV years before saying that many parents worried that their son or daughter, due to their busy life pursuing their career, had no time in finding their loved one, and therefore, not married yet. So in the park above, they stood there chitchatting, displayed a piece of paper on the floor containing details and description about their son and daughter, such as: birth year, height, weight, education background, current occupation, healthy, had house to stay, etc., plus what kind of person they were looking for, not forgetting their contact number. I didn't know that I could find such thing in real life over there!

Love quote (Source: Google.com)

Hm... to find the right one wasn't easy, was it? It required fate and good karma from past lives. Even if it came, the period would also depending. Some met for short time, and some could remain for a lifetime. Wasn't it a mystery? :)

Temple of Heaven - 4th December 2015

My son and I continued walking and visited the three main areas as per shown above. It was at different places and we had to walk a lot as the distance was quite far from one place to another. That's the main characteristic of visiting places in China. Everything was so big and huge, and you needed strong legs to browse the place around. So if you would love to visit China, do it while you were still young, strong, and healthy! :)

Browsed the surrounding parks - Temple of Heaven 

We were blessed with a beautiful weather and clear blue sky! We continued walking and visiting the surrounded parks. Felt the peace and serenity that it offered. How wonderful it was, especially if you walked there with your loved one, side be side and holding hands together so you wouldn't fall and at the same time, you could enjoy the scenery around you. Many trees were there since hundred over years ago. It was still standing sturdy and texture was smooth.  When tired, we sat at the seat provided under the trees. I filled up my travel journal then chit chatted with my dear son :)

Blessing quote :)

I felt truly blessed la! Never thought that one day I could bring my son there and we spent a great bonding time together, just he and I :)

Christmas mood at KFC Beijing :)

We went back to our hostel to collect the bag and stopped by at KFC to have snack meal. Too bad the Doraemon toy promotion had over, otherwise I could bring some toys back as souvenir :P

Roadside local snack - Kao Leng Mian - Fried cold noodles

We took metro back to my friend's house. While waiting for her, I felt a bit hungry. There was a snack seller at nearby area and I decided to buy one portion to taste as I'd never eaten it before. Hmmm.... not bad. Hot food was always great on such cold winter night! 

Japanese curry rice with love :)

Back home, my friend prepared her delicious Japanese curry rice as requested by son. Haha... Lucky him being able to taste his favourite food even as far as in Beijing! Thank you Hong Mei for the food. We loved it so much! And that was how our fourth day in Beijing went by! :)

Beijing Itinerary - Day 3 YongHeGong or Lama Temple, GuoJiZian St, NanLuoGuXiang or South LuoGu Alley, roasted duck at QianMen

Sorry for a long pause regarding the Beijing itinerary in this blog ^^ Read about our day 1 here and day 2 here :)

It was such a beautiful sunny day! :) My son and I headed to YongHeGong 雍和宫 (Palace of Peace and Harmony) or Lama Temple as our first stop. It was a Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism temple, located conveniently under metro Line 2. The entrance fee cost CNY ¥25 (S$5.50) per person inclusive one box of joystick for us to pray.

YongHeGong or Lama Temple - Beijing

The temple was built in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty. The building structure was a mixture of Han Chinese and Tibetan style. It became the national centre of Lama administration (source: Wikipedia).

We visited every prayer altars available and offered our prayers there. It felt good being able to visit the place again. I used to come here once in a while during my school time back in 1996-97. Being far away from home, the sight of Buddha statue offered me comfort and a great deal of peacefulness inside my heart. I was glad that I could bring my son here :) Hope he felt the same! ^^

Lama Temple Youth Hostel :)

We checked in to a youth hostel nearby, called Lama Youth Hostel. My bestie recommended me this place. It located not far from metro station and many other scenic area around the temple. It too my son's first experience staying at youth hostel, a cheaper alternative accommodation when traveling abroad. We chose the room for two and it cost us CNY ¥220 (S$50) with toilet inside. The room was so so, but the heater worked well so we both could sleep comfortably that night :)

My favorite snack in Beijing - Jian Bing or scallions pancake

We put our bag inside the room and went out again. Our stomach had growled! We wanted to eat steamed dumpling at nearby area. However, it turned up to be the place for cooking lesson :P Luckily on our way, I found my favorite snack, the scallions pancake, and steamed meat bun to warm our stomach temporarily.

Guojizian and Juer Hutong - small alleys near YongHeGong Lama Temple

We continued walking and passed by small alleys at Guojizian St, where you could find Confusius Temple. The houses, cafés, and museum on the left and right of the alley were antique and beautiful. It's worth having a walk there as it brought us back to the life many years back. As we walked, it led us to a big street, called AnDingMen St. And there, we decided to have a proper lunch at Lao Beijing Restaurant :)

Our lunch at Lao Beijing Restaurant :)

Hm.... I managed to let Baobei trying the authentic ZhaJiang noodle (soya paste sauce noodles) plus JiaoZi (steamed dumpling) - both were the famous local Beijing delicacies :) Both dishes cost us CNY ¥56 (S$12).

While eating, I chit chatted with my son. I told him this trip would be my birthday present for him. One day, when he reached  30 years old, would it be possible that both of us be here again, sitting at the same seat and enjoying the same food. But by that time, it would be him the one who said, "Ma, this trip would be my birthday present for you," and he could only smile without agreeing. Lol! :P

Nan Luo Gu Xiang, Beijing - China

After lunch we continued walking to many other famous and well-preserved alley, still with traditional Chinese architecture in the area, and it led us to Nan Luo Gu Xiang - at DongCheng District.  It was a long stretch road with many shops and restaurants on its left and right.

Took rest and had coffee - Nan Luo Gu Xiang :)

Both of us walked and shopped until our legs were so tired! We decided to enter a café and took a rest there. Btw, the coffee price in Beijing didn't come cheap you know! It's price could fight with Starbucks in Singapore. E.g. this cup of cappuccino of mine cost CNY ¥30 (S$6.50) per glass and a normal cup of coffee cost CNY ¥25 (S$5.50).

Baobei with frosted cream above his lips ^^

In the evening we met up with my cousin. We were having the famous Beijing roasted duck together at Qian Men. The restaurant name was Si Ji Min Fu. According to her, this place was usually visited by her school mates as the price was reasonable, CNY ¥188 (S$40) per piece, the taste was equally delicious, and the duck bones could be deep fried and eaten there with a small charge. At other restaurants, the price per duck would usually cost above CNY ¥220 (S$50) and the guest could bring the bones back home or they would cook the soup using it and served it there after meal.

Si Ji Min Fu - Delicious roasted Beijing duck in Qian Men

Hmmm... True enough! It tasted delicious. We ordered one piece of duck for 3 of us with pancakes and condiments to be eaten together plus another meat dish. Nyummy!!! I could still remember its taste even now! :P Altogether we paid CNY ¥279 (S$60) for 3 of us (inclusive 1 big bottle of YanJing Beer - the local produced Beijing beer). ^^

The place was not so big but consisted of two storey. It was in the alley but easy to find, within walking distance from Qian Men metro station. When you saw Madame Tussauds building, there was an alley on the right. The restaurant was just within 20 meters walk. Well, people's taste bud might be different from one to another but for me I loved it and would come back for more! :)

So that was how we spent our 3rd day in Beijing. Food, sightseeing, prayer, coffee time, what a great combination to spend your day with. Try it yourself if you visit the city! :)