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!!! :)

It is not spring, but simply time to grow...

Favorite place to have breakfast or tea :)

As you have already known, there is no spring season in Singapore. We have only either hot weather or rainy day all year long. Since Covid-19 had been declared as pandemic by the WHO, we kept ourselves safe by staying mostly at home. One of the activities I love doing every morning is to prepare breakfast - of any kind. Be it Western style - from wraps, soup and salad, egg, sausage and hash-brown, sandwiches or Asian style like noodles, fried rice, dim sum, porridge, and so on. And all that, I love having it at my balcony.

It has a view of the blue sky and white or black clouds, depending on the weather. The position makes it protected from the direct sunshine. So even if I woke up late and have a late breakfast, the sun will not shine directly on me. Therefore, it is cooling and nice :)

Money plant (19.03 vs 25.04)

On the table I have put a pot of plant. It is called money plant. I bought it many years ago when I was still working, perhaps 7 to 8 years back, where I put it on my working table. It represents a meaning of good wealth luck :D See the photo above :) And as I eat or drink, I keep looking at it and see it growing - see the difference in one month's time. Beautiful, isn't it?

At the balcony there are little space where my hubby does the gardening. It is his hobby to plant something new from the seeds of fruit or vegetable that we eat. Oh, I am a tea drinker too - green tea and black tea. After finishing my tea, I will take out the tea leaves from the tea bag and spread it on top of the soil. Tea leaves are known to contain nutrients and minerals that promote healthy growth in plants - a good natural fertilizer.

Every time I will put it at different pots and as I have the meal there almost every day, without fail I will notice the growth process of the plants there and slowly develop the interest on it.

Chili plant (23.03 vs 25.04)

The above is the comparison of chili plant. See how tall it is now compared with a month ago. Too bad, no chili has grown yet, only flowers. I really can't wait to harvest it and cook it. Hahahaha.... :D

Now it is not spring here, but really the time for the plants to grow. The sun and rain are such a perfect combination to let them grow. Plus one more thing, a very important thing to let them grow beautifully. Do you know what it is??? Say positive and beautiful words to the plants - like 'I love you', 'You are beautiful', 'You are healthy and strong', etc. It really helps in making them growing wonderfully :)

Most important ingredients for growth - Love and positive words :)

Sometimes hubby just anyhow throw any seed into the soil. That is why he is often unsure what plants we are having even though the leaves have grown up tall. We can only know what it is until the fruits are appearing (pray for the fruits to come).

Plant we do not know what it is :P On growing process :)

Growing buds :)

Anyone knows what plant is this??? :D Looks like decorative plant

With spikey leaves. Is it papaya???

Don't know the name of the plant. I think it is more like decorative plant :D

Below are the rest of the plants we have at home :)

Tomato plants :)

Baby Aloe Vera :)

Baby pomegranate :)

Growing up baby leaves - still young and fresh green :P

The last but not the least - my home grown Shanghai Bok Choy (Chinese vegetable)

Hahaha... The last one was grown by me. This is one of my favorite vegetables as it is easy to cook with anything (especially with noodles). One day when cutting it, I thought of dumping it on the soil and trying my luck to see if it could grow. I saw it from Facebook or Youtube last time that usually people use water to grow it. But since there was empty space in one of the big pot, I thought of trying to put it there. I put 2 pieces but only one manages to grow.

One time after pressing the lime to be mixed with chili, I too took the lime seed and dumped it into one of the pots that looked empty. Hubby found it out and immediately removed it as he said he had put something else in it and it took time to grow. You know, sometimes he can be so possessive about his garden hahahahaha..... 

And since one of the Bok Choy grows successfully, it encourages me to try more and put it on empty space. When he saw it, again he complained and asked me not to overcrowd the plant in his pot. Hahahahahahaha..... 

Just for laugh (Pic source: Facebook.com)

Oh man, I wish we have more space to grow more plants in our house. With the extra space in balcony, we are lucky and grateful enough that we can grow it there. But sometimes we feel that it is never enough :P 

Anyway, I am not a passionate gardener like my hubby. Can say that this Bok Choy is the second plant I ever grew other than bean sprout that I did as an experiment during primary school time. Hahahahaha.... :P With this, I think I will let him grow it and just let me enjoy to view the beautiful results :D 

Life's greatest wealth is healthiness (Both physical and mental)

Edible Corona virus themed easter egg made by French Pastry Chef (Pic source: Google.com)

Two days ago WHO Director-General made the assessment that COVID-19 could be characterized as a pandemic. Pandemic is (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world. The virus outbreak has spread to date to 127 countries, affected over 134,000 people with almost 5,000 death cases (approx. 3.7% death cases). The death victims were mostly elderly and many had already had pre-existing conditions, such as: high blood pressure, heart disease, lung infection, diabetes, etc.

Yesterday our Singapore Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Hsien Loong, appeared on TV to brief us the update of the situation. He mentioned that Singapore is facing a serious situation and expecting for the spike number of COVID-19 cases. The situation is expected to continue for some time - a year, or maybe longer. However, the situation remains under control and Singapore will not raise the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level to Red (currently Orange).

"We are not locking down our city like the Chinese, South Koreans or Italians have done. What we are doing now is to plan ahead for some of the more stringent measures, try them out and prepare Singaporeans for when we actually need to implement them." 

And in today's news, Singapore has widen the travel restrictions to block entry from Italy, France, Spain, and Germany since there are currently many imported cases from people who traveled from these areas (in addition of previous travel restrictions from mainland China, Iran, northern Italy, and Republic of Korea). The imported cases came not only from Europe, but also from our neighborhood country, such as: Indonesia (but so far, not travel block from Indonesia yet).

Covid-19 figure update as on 13 Mar 2020 (Source: Channelnewsasia.com)

4 days ago I was still considering to continue with my long awaited travel plan to visit my friends in UK and France (to fly this April). I had to let it go this time after receiving message from my mom. Both she and my father were worried about my health if I insisted of going.

That time, the situation was not as bad as it is now. Yet, I respected their request as I knew that they loved and cared about my well being. I immediately informed my friends about the trip cancellation. My parents were even willing to bear the ticket money that I had paid, in case the airline was not able to give a refund.

However, on the same day, the airlines had come out with new policy regarding the re-booking and/ or travel cancellation. I made a phone call the day after and they told me that I could cancel my trip and to apply for the travel voucher (the amount paid for my ticket fare only - not included the luggage that was paid separately) that is valid for one year to any destination using the same airlines and their partners. At least I did not have to worry to lose my hard earned money to the drain - besides keeping myself safe, I still can go there to visit my friends and perhaps to visit my old school (or even join the school reunion that has also been postponed due to the Covid-19 - supposed to be held on May this year).

It seems like every country is unsafe to travel to for now, cannot even to think to go back to my hometown (Indonesia). And as our PM mentioned earlier, that this may continue for some time. Knowing my own health situation, it is better not to risk myself to travel around, even within Singapore itself, although it was mentioned though, that the majority of COVID-19 patients, "80 per cent of them", only experienced mild symptoms. But with SLE inside me, I really could not risk my health and being 'gei kiang' (Singlish means act smart).

Moreover, I had traveled to so many places for the past two years. Seemed like the Universe knew that this thing would come. Therefore, I was given the opportunity to have the travel marathon earlier. And so far, I only had this trip planned for year 2020 whereby in the past years I would have already had so many travel plans on hand. The more reason I have to feel grateful for all that happened to me.

Books borrowed recently from Singapore National Library (Pic source: Instagram rimareyka.writes)

Singapore is still fighting with the upcoming cases. School holiday is coming soon (16-20 March 2020) and I have told myself not to go out to crowded places much. To spend my time wisely at home, I have come out with plan with the aim of having good immune system for my body and good mental health so that I will not easily get contracted with the virus.

The plans are:
1. To wake up early every morning (as early as 5.30am)
2. To meditate twice a day (before sleeping and after waking up)
3. To read (self-improvement book in the morning and other book during other times - including before sleeping)
4. To write journal (especially after reading the self-improvement book)
5. To share my thought in this blog (hopefully more posts coming up)
6. To eat more nutritious food (home cooked food especially - more vegetable and fruits)
7. To drink honey once a day
8. To cook and have dessert that will help in keeping the body healthy e.g. green bean soup, apple/pear soup, bird nest occasionally, etc.
9. To reach 10,000 steps daily (it forces me to move my body up - which I can do it even inside the house) - at same time getting points that can be redeemed with supermarket voucher :D
10. To lift my both legs up before sleeping for 20 minutes (while reading) - the article said it gives a lot of benefits to the circulatory system plus improves the digestive system and quality of sleep.
11. To communicate with my family members and friends more often as life is truly unpredictable and we do not know when we can meet them again
12. To spend the money wisely (as economic faces down turn and jobs become uncertain)
13. To avoid crowded place (nearby area is fine as long precautionary measure is taken) but resistant towards good sale, offer, and promotion are appreciated :P

14 Pedoman Hidup Manusia or 14 Guidance of Human Life - (Pic source: Google.com)

Hopefully I can truly spend my time wisely today onward. You may say I am becoming 'kiasi' (scared to die), but it is not the case. I just want to treasure the health that I have right now. As you can see from the point no. 8 above, "Life's greatest wealth is healthiness." And from the recent Covid-19 outbreak, many people have realized the importance of the health very much. As no matter how rich you are materially, without good health, you will never be able to live life happily and enjoy it to the fullest. So, keep our mind positive in current situation and focus on the good and positive things always. Jia you everyone!!! You can do it!!! :)

Happiness is in a journey

How time flies! Three months had passed since the beginning of the year 2018 and I had visited few places and spent valuable time with dear friends and my loved ones. Spring had started in the four-season countries, while in Singapore, it had been raining at any time of the day for the past one week.

Perfect time for reading and sipping tea with biscuits :)

It was rather a perfect time to read a book, to sip a cup of hot tea or coffee accompanied with delicious biscuits, and to snuggle under my Doraemon blanket. However, the rain had deterred me from catching my favorite physical activities, such as: morning walk and cycling. Since I had difficult time to wake up early in the morning lately, I could only go for cycling in evening time, and only when the weather permitted, just like yesterday.

After ensuring the sky was bright enough and no rain, I took the bicycle out from home. Glasses were worn to protect my eyes from the wind, sand, and dust. Hair was clipped and tied to a pony tail. Waist pouch was clipped to secure my mobile phone. A string bag was packed behind my back filled with water bottle and a small wallet made of clothes. Both ears were plugged and English songs were played continuously on my ears. Geared well, I started cycling once I reached the lift downstairs - to my usual destination.

My reflections from the mirror :D

The sky was half bright and half cloudy, the color was just like the inverted kueh talam ubi. Therefore, no expectation to see the sunset. The air was very cooling though, very pleasant. It was good that not many people took the same route as mine. Usually it was very crowded during weekend, but I saw many had preferred sitting down, picnic-ing, and chit chatting with their friends and/ or families along the seaside while catching fish.

Many thoughts were played on my head when cycling. Like just now, I was thinking how people chose to spend their evening on weekend and how I spent mine. It was completely two different things. They had accompany, sat down, and relaxed while I would rather cycling, moving my both legs ups and downs, filling my lungs with fresh cooling air, and sweating my body up - alone.

Cycling made me feeling free like a bird (Instagram: Rimareyka.writes)

Cycling had never failed in giving me a sense of freedom - especially when cycling alone. I could cycle as fast as I wanted, sing loudly the song that I played on my phone, shout out loud at the descended road, express my hearts out, smile and laugh while recollecting beautiful memories from the past and feeling grateful for all things happened in my life, collect inspiration to be written into my blog, and I could even cry when remembering the sad and awful incidents in my life. People might think that I was crazy doing all that at one journey, ha-ha... But with my speed, people would hardly notice it though! ;)

The sky was getting very dark at the road ahead but it did not deter me from cycling. It even started drizzling but I kept going. I refused to take the U-turn or to avoid the storm. It was just like the life that I went through. Despite knowing clearly that the road ahead might not be smooth, full of obstacles and challenges, I would not go back to the past or give up on moving on. Because by facing the difficulties ahead - the life challenges - only then I had the opportunity to get and learn something new, and even - God knew it well - find my happiness ahead. Just like people said, rainbow came only after the rain.

Let it rain, baby! You are not alone (Instagram: Rimareyka.writes)

True enough, after some time, it was raining. Slowly, it got heavier and I had no choice but to stop when the splatter got fuller and painful. I saw a shelter and decided to stay under it for a while. Soon after, many cyclists took the same shelter standing up together. Despite feeling shattered with wet and coldness under the heavy rain, I was feeling good. Good because I was not alone. Good because it only showed that many were facing the same challenges in their life journey and together we could wait until the storm had over, or braced ourselves to get wetter and sick if we chose to keep going. Nevertheless, we were sure not alone.

Beautiful night view after the rain - Punggol Sunrise Bridge

In a while, rain stopped. One by one, people left the shelter, and so did I. To my surprise, in just less than 100 meters away from where I stood before, the ground was dry and showed no sign of rain. I felt that the incident was clearly a sign for me to learn from the nature and life itself. I continued cycling, going another one big round while collecting a source of inspiration - a sign for me to update this barren blog - to share with others what I went through and learned that evening, which were: not to take the bad things too hard and good things for granted. To brave yourself and keep walking forward. No one said it was easy, but it would be worth it.

I kept cycling and suddenly my favorite song below was tuned on my playlist:

"Underneath the Sky" 

by Cameron Ernst

Like a low sitting fog at the break of day

Let it fade, let it fade

Like a hold of a frost on a window pane

Let it all melt away

I see it now so clearly where I couldn't see before

Finally now it was worth the wait

I hear my heartbeat

Feel my wings take flight

Everything is golden underneath this sky

Underneath this sky (2x)

I can jump, I can soar, and I'm not afraid

Let the wind hit my face

I can take on the clouds, they're no longer gray

Take 'em on any day

I see it now so clearly where I couldn't see before

Finally now it was worth the wait

I hear my heartbeat

Feel my wings take flight

Everything is golden underneath this sky

Underneath this sky (4x)

Look beyond at the horizon

And remember the day

This was the day yeah

Keep your eyes there

There's nothing like it

I was born to be brave

Forever brave

I hear my heartbeat

Feel my wings take flight

Everything is golden underneath this sky

I hear my heartbeat

Feel my wings take flight

Everything is golden underneath this sky

Underneath this sky (4x)

Beautiful full moon on 15th Feb lunar calendar - 31st March 2018

"Wooohoooooo......." I shouted again on the descended road. Thank SB for everything!!! You never failed in supporting and encouraging me facing the challenges in life. You even pampered me with the beautiful moon that I found before exiting the park. Thank you, thank you, and thank you for everything!!! :)

Journey to Merak and Sakteng: Day 5 - Sakteng to Mongar and Back to Bumthang :)

Beautiful Sakteng, Bhutan :)

The fifth day of our journey: Going back all the way to Mongar

We finally reached the end of our trekking journey. It's our fifth day since we left Bumthang. We got up at 4 am since we planned to leave Sakteng at 5 am. Just nice that the home-stay owner - Dikpa - planned to leave from Sakteng to Trashigang with his fellow friends. The night before he asked us to go together with them since they would arrange vehicle from the nearest vehicle road, and drive from there to Trashigang, which later on, they even drove all the way to Mongar.

The trace left from King's visit to Sakteng, Bhutan

It was such a beautiful morning. No sun and no rain. Perfect!! :) At least for me. K and I left the place first. From where we stayed, we walked to the right side, and went all the way up, passing by the small place housing few prayer wheels, until the view of the Sakteng slowly diminished. We had to bid goodbye to that lovely place and it would sure be missed.

Bid goodbye to Sakteng, Bhutan

For me, the terrain was really beautiful. I felt as if I was not in Bhutan. We passed by few more walls with prayer wheels where we could convey our prayers for the safe journey, and slowly entered to narrower pathway.

Beautiful nature path :)

Ohhh.... I loved this pathway so much. Although the road was not smooth (more like stones pathway), but you could see such beautiful scenery on your left and right, such as the red and white color Rhododendron, river streams, etc.

White Rhododendron :)

Beautiful morning mist :)

The morning mist added the already beautiful forest view :) The air was cool and fresh!!!

More prayer wheels on the way :)

We stopped sometimes and turned the prayer wheels when we saw it :)

Beautiful river streams :)

The river streams were so natural. Its sound was serene and peaceful. The view was just like what you often saw in magazine :)

Loved this walkway very much!!! Falling in love with it :)

I wished I could stay there so that I could go for morning walk like that whenever I wanted to. Oh my.... I fell in love with this place so much!!! :)

Many giant rocks on our way :)

They caught up with us so fast!!! :)

After a while Dikpa and his two friends managed to catch up with us. Hahaha... You could not compare my speed and their speed. They walked very fast as they were used to it :) We asked them to take over us as I took longer time since my both toes were paining from the strenuous hike days before.

Vehicle road in the process - Sakteng, Bhutan

There was road making process in the area too. In the future the vehicle would be able to pass through from Sakteng. That way, the trekking tour business would be greatly affected. Because otherwise, people usually needed one to two days to trek from Sakteng to Phongmey.

Our last stop after 2.5 hours walked from Sakteng, Bhutan

After 2.5 hours of walk, we finally reached the place where vehicle road was available. We waited there for some time until the Bolero arrived. We put our bags behind and sat inside. Many villagers took ride with no fee collected by the driver. How nice he was!!! :) 2.5 hours later, after passing by Joenkhar Teng, Phongmey, and Radi village, we were back to where we were from, Rangjung. It amazed us how we recalled back the day when we first started our journey, with no single clue on how to go to Merak.

Our way from Rangjung back to Trashigang, Bhutan

We stopped at Rangjung for a while before continuing our journey to Trashigang, and reached in about an hour time. Before having lunch break, the driver asked us if we wanted to continue our journey to Mongar since they changed their plan and headed to that direction. Since it would shorten our journey, we agreed and joined them back to Mongar. For that we paid a total of Nu 600 per pax.

Had our packed lunch plus desserts and tea at Trashigang town, Bhutan :)

Trashigang town reminded me of my visit with Luzee almost two years ago. I brought K to the place where we had dessert, just behind the big Mani Dungkhor in the center of the town. We ordered two cakes with two cups of milk tea and revealed our packed lunch there. We took a rest and visited toilet before continuing our journey. At 1.30 pm we left the Trashigang town.

Say 'Hi' to Mr Frog!!! :D

And as usual, we passed by the cute Mr Frog on our way back from Trashigang to Mongar :)

A beautiful soul at Mongar, Bhutan :)

We reached Mongar town at 5 pm. While K went around asking for hotel's fare, I contacted Luzee's adopted sister, Kezang, who was currently teaching in Mongar. On my previous stay in Mongar, we also stayed at her rented house, however, she was not around. She was going somewhere and left the empty house for us to stay. So finally this time, I met her in person. She was still so kind offering both of us to stay at her rented house. Not only that, she also prepared us a complete and delicious dinner and breakfast herself. Wow!!! I was so touched by her kindness. She was one beautiful soul that I would never forget. Thank you Kezang for your wonderful hospitality to us. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!! May Buddha bless you always and shall we meet again one day!!! :)

End of journey celebration at Phuntsho Pizza, Bumthang. Yeahhhh!!! :)

So this would be the end of our journey. We went back to Bumthang the day after by bus. It took us a whole day to reach. Once we reached Bumthang, I dragged K to Phuntsho Pizza and we ordered large size of Spicy Mixed Pizza, only for two of us. Hahahaha... I definitely missed the taste of Pizza there. And as celebration, we also ordered my favorite Druk 11 for both of us. Cheersss K!!! Thank you very much for being my accompany for this wonderful journey. You're always the best!!! Thank you for everything you'd done for me. Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!! May Buddha bless you and your families always too!!! Love from Singapore :)