2012 Year End Trip @ Beijing Day 1

I did not realize I have been back from my China trip for a month. Yet, I still haven't write anything on Beijing (If la, anyone wants to read it). Have been working day and night, even on weekends and holidays. T.T FML.


On the Christmas Eve day, we took the intercity express leaving Tianjin to Beijing. That was after I got serious diarrhea and started to develop fever. The weather was so cold that I thought I was going to faint on our way to Beijing. After reaching the station, we took a bus and walked a distance to the hotel. We stayed in Hanting Express also, 天壇店. I think I fainted in the hotel before dinner and I slept through the Christmas Eve's night. It was supposed a happening night. We thought of going out to the town to see if there is any Christmas decors. T___T Pity the BF that he had to stay in the room, watched TV while I was still fainted.


My fever had not gone away on the next morning. However, I insisted to go out for a walk. It would be wasted if I just stayed in the hotel room for the rest of my holiday. So I took some aspirins and charcoal pills.   It was a beautiful morning. The place we stayed could see the view of The Temple of Heaven (天壇), freaking nice view.

Fantastic view from the hotel. It will be very nice during Spring I guess.

Our destination of the day was the Tiananmen Square (天安門廣場) and Forbidden City (故宮) of course.

Oh hai, Mao Ze Dong!

Did not really have anything for breakfast as their food are really oily. Scared scared. There was a stretch of shops at the street next to the place we stayed. Quite happening in the morning.... and full of.... spits... =.=!!!

Random street located beside the hotel.

We took the subway to Tiananmen Square after breakfast. It was sunny and super duper cold at the same time. I always hope that this can happen in Malaysia. My colleague always complaining that she is burned when she goes out for lunch with us. >.<"

The stray doggies were chilling~ XD

Since it was Christmas Day (and holiday), the square was freaking crowded. All I saw was humanzzz. A lot of humanzzzz. -.-"

If someone rolled down, I think he/she would be stamped to death. O.O

Behind the wall of Tiananmen is the Forbidden City. The entrance fee to it is RMB40 per person. The whole Forbidden City was very huge. We did not manage to visit all places as I was still a little bit drowsy. We spent about two hours there including our lunch time.

I could not open my eyes. -.-

Our plan was to linger around the place until sunset and we will watch sunset at Jingshan Park (景山). We heard that the view of Forbidden City from the park is amazing.

The palace that we always saw in Chinese dramas. XD

However, plan does not always go smoothly. :( While we were at the Imperial Garden (御花園), almost at the exit to Jingshan, my diarrhea stroke again thanks to the freaking oily lunch. I only ate like half of the portion and then my stomach was upset again. T___T

The Imperial Garden. Nothing to see in Winter. T.T

We had to go back to the hotel to rest again before I really bombed the whole Forbidden City. LOL. Frankly, I was upset that I could not go up to Jingshan but I really don't want ended up bombing the park before I could even see the sunset. XD


The BF insisted that I should rest at the hotel as I had not completely recovered yet. But I thought that we had gone so far, I did not want us just watch TV in the room. -.-" So I asked if we could go somewhere and I suggested to go to The Place (世貿天街). By the time we finished dinner, it was already almost 9pm. If I am not mistaken, the subways close at 10++pm. So we rushed over just to snap a few photos.

Walked very far before reaching. >.<

It was a short street decorated with Christmas stuffs. It has a big screen on top of the street. I called it the street with "Big TV" because I did not know what it was called. It houses a number of luxury brand shops and eateries.

Merry Christmas! From "Big TV"~

It was nicely lit and we spent roughly 30 minutes there before running back to the train station, so that we wont miss the last train.

Nice lights~

It was still considered a not-bad-day. Got to see Tiananmen, Forbidden City (Although could not stay until sunset) and The Place. Moreover, we did have a great dinner at the street near our hotel. :D

2012 Year End Trip @ Tianjin

I had bought flight tickets from Air Asia two years back (I mean 2011, it is already 2013 and I always forgot :P) to Tianjin. Air Asia was still flying to Tianjin back then. I remember the time for the flights I chose was pretty nice. Who knows Air Asia stopped their Tianjin route and flies directly to Beijing instead. The timings of their flights to Beijing are freaking weird. We ended up departed at around 7pm and reached Beijing International Airport at 1++am. wtf. How were we going to reach the city at that kind of funny time. Air Asia, F U. We ended up sleeping at the airport until 6am when the Airport Express started to operate.

At airport. Look at the bald uncle sleeping behind. Lol.

I felt so shitty the next day. I could not get to sleep in the plane. I did not really sleep at the airport too. We were not the only ones. I saw a lot of Malaysians were camping at the airport. -.-" Air Asia, F U for making me felt like a zombie. Let's continue. We took the express to one of the MRT stations to board an intercity express train directly to Tianjin. Not bad, it took us around 30 minutes to reached Beijing South Station.

Me and the new bullet intercity train. :D

We took a bus from the station to 衛津路 where the hotel we were staying located. We stayed in Hanting Express, a hotel chain that we used to stay at during our visit in Hangzhou/Shanghai. The prices are quite reasonable and the rooms are acceptable. Nothing too fancy though. We chose the Big Bedroom. The bed there is very comfy, compared to the one we stayed in Beijing later on. >.<"

Comfy bed!

After got washed up, we took a bus to 濱江道, which is a street with a lot of shopping complexes and shops. The most happening place in Tianjin I supposed. It was freaking cold and the wind was killing me hardly. Lol. So I felt shitty + sick. Haha. I did get to buy a thicker Winter wear at one of the complexes when we went in to avoid the cold wind. Luckily I bought it, else I would have cold to death on a Tianjin street. =.="

Every time I want to take photo, there will be someone kacau. =.="

We walked across the street as the BF promised to show me a Pet Market. Not that I support those Pet Market but I just want to see their pets. Lol. On the way to our destination, there were a lot of stalls along the street, selling food and merchandises. I even saw some stalls selling fishes and puppies. OMG Why do you guys sell puppies like that? >o<"

A random street.

Btw, saw this small girl playing with a Pekingese puppy. Too cute. They look similar. Haha.

Cute

There were a lot of shops selling hamsters and chinchillas. The Roborovski hamsters there are very cheap at only RMB4. I bought my hamsters at RM19.90 each. You guys so high class. Lol. Their Robo has slight different face from ours. They have smaller ears and eyes. Lol Chinese Roborovski. They are super cute. XD

Aiyo. Why so cute?

That night we walked around the hotel area. The BF said he used to stay around there when he studied in Tianjin. It was too cold that I gave up halfway and we walked back to the hotel with some snacks. I was not used to the cold weather yet. I felt so uncomfortable. T.T Fast forward to next day. We walked to a nearby shop early in the morning for breakfast. I think it was around 7am. O.o We purposely woke up that early because the BF said he wanted to eat the local breakfast. Chinese get up so freaking early. =.=" Anyway, even the sparrows there are so round during winter.

Round round.

We then took a bus to 鼓樓 (Gu Lou. Lol. Direct translate). It an antique street that sells souvenirs/arts/food, where the shops did not open until around 10am. Zzzz. We reached there right after breakfast, which was around 8am. We lingered around the street and became frozen meat. >.<" It was so suffering and we hid in any shops that we found opened. E.g. 7-11. Haha. We even stopped by a restaurant from our second breakfast of the day.

Some shops were opened after our second breakfast. Most of the shops were selling clay dolls, chinese brush, the gourd (葫蘆) and weird feather dusters. Lol. First time seeing such a big and such a small feather dusters. Haha.

See those small ones, so funny.

I came across this shop where there was this very cool white dog standing by the door from inside. It patiently standing there still. When I walked closer, it wagged its tail without changing expression. Lol. So cute. Then I saw its master went into the shop from the outside and it happily ran back into the shop still wagging tail. Wow, the dog knew how to look after the shop while its master was away. Salute. I want such a dog~ XD

The dog. Not me.

We then walked over to 文化街 (The Culture Street), just some walking distance from 鼓樓. It is a place similar to 鼓樓, a merrier and bigger version though. There were more people there than in 鼓樓. More stalls. Still selling similar stuffs.

We bought some food back and rested at hotel before going to the BF's university for a visit in the evening. Their university is quite huge. Reminds me of 流星花園 (Meteor Garden, that movie.) Lol. We had quite an awesome dinner near the university and I ended up diarrhea the next morning. That was the day we needed to travel back to Beijing. Oh ya, I got fever after the intensive diarrhea too. FML.

Adios 2012!

I think I have been abandoning my blog again. Haha. I am so sorry as things had got very busy all this while. Anyway, it is the last day of 2012. How was your year? It has been not so bad to me. Of course, good and bad things did happen. We should let the past be the past and focus on the year ahead. It will be a challenging year. I am all-in, looking forward for the arrival of 2013. :D Before that, let me recap my 2012 on this very last holy day. Lol.


First of all, I got myself a smartphone. It was my new year resolution to get one as things will be easier for me. Camera, the Internet etc all in one. So I got myself a Samsung Galaxy Note right after the Chinese New Year. I was very proud of it, until I saw the pink version came out six months after I bought it. o.O And Galaxy Note 2 was released two months after that. What the.... -.-"

After godzilla years, I went to Genting Highlands during the Chinese New Year again, for the Doraemon World event. It was freaking packed, just like how China is. It was even hard to find a place to sit quietly.

Then, my old blog was closed due to the shutdown of the blog domain. I should have chosen Blogspot from the very first place. All my own posts and photos. =.= Anyway, I opened this new blog again and I was hardly maintaining it. Haha. I did not write as much as I used to be. Btw, thanks for still reading this. LOL.

On around April, my old company relocated to Cyberjaya. I drove 70++km a day, to and from the new office. My car was not going to sustain long. So I quit. Lol.

Left that old job after three years of service and accepted the new challenge. New kind of environment with a bunch of new incredible people. So much for me to learn but I strive to excel in this job.

I cut my super long straight hair that I have kept for ten years. It was some ad-hoc mood. I think it was too long and dry. I need a fresh look. Some people called me Chibi Maruko Chan, the Japanese anime character. Now I am trying to keep it long again. Butt itchy.

I developed an affection with dresses. I felt I want to be in dresses so much that I bought sooooo many dresses in one go. Most of them are asymmetric dresses. It all started from the moment I saw a Caucasian girl in a very pretty asymmetric dress. She looked totally awesome. *envy* Haha.

Around September, my Grandma fell ill. I am so glad that I managed to take some time off to fly back to Sabah to visit her. Few weeks after that, she passed away. I flew back again to attend her funeral on a weekend. She had been a great lady, to the family. Hope she is doing well up there. :)

Grandma was not the only one who left us. My hamster that I have been rearing for more than 2 years left me for the Rainbow bridge as well. He was old and ill too. It was a relieve that he did not need to suffer anymore but I truly miss him. My other hamster is of the same age as well. I pray for his good health in the coming year. :)

I have traveled to a few places this year. Quite an accomplishment for me. I took flights until I feel phobia of them now, plus those flights back to Sabah for Grandma. I do not want to take any flight anytime soon. >.<" Right after I left my previous job, I went for a short weekend getaway with my Bestie to Singapore. The last time I was there was 2006. Wow. Met some friends there and had fun in the USS and Marina Bay Sands. Short, rush, tiring but nice trip.

On October, I finally stepped onto the land of Siem Reap after thinking about it since I was in the College. It was a fun trip. I miss the places there. I saw the Angkor Wat and I will be back definitely. I am so glad that I went. :D

Just last week, I went to Beijing/Tianjin with the BF. It was an exhausted trip due to the dumbo AirA*** decided to change the flight route from Tianjin to Beijing. The timing of the flights were so weird that we needed to sleep in the airport. Moreover, due to the super cold weather, I got very ill during the trip. Nevertheless, I visited a lot of places despite my illnesses. Lol. Salute myself.

Not forgetting, I own a Christmas sock for the first time. Thanks to my colleague, Ivy, whom prepared the gift and I got it for the gift exchange session. She is a nice girl. Lol. I like the sock.

I think those are all the highlights happened to me this year. Thanks to those who have treated me well throughout the year. Pray for a happy and healthy year ahead for myself and everyone. Good luck please come to us. Happy New Year! XD

Siem Reap Day 3

It was raining almost for the whole day on our last day at Siem Reap, really from the time we opened our eyes. :( Breakfast at hotel was OK. Since it's complimentary, I have nothing to complain. :D Had cornflakes + muesli + buns + croissant + coffee. Lol~ Typical kiasu here. XD

Yummy breakfast.

Although it was raining, we tried our luck to walk to the Old Market which is located around the pub street too.

The rain got heavier when we almost reached the market. =.=" Nothing much there as it looks like a local market for the Khmer to buy their supplies, like any of our local market. Moreover, it was super pack probably because it was a Sunday.

In the Old Market, scary.

We went to a cafe at the Pub Street to wait for the rain to stop. I think we sat there for one hour and it was still drizzling.

Their fresh spring rolls were disasterous. They put in parsley which I hated the most! >.<

 There was this tuk-tuk driver, aiming at us. He stopped his vehicle right in front of the cafe, waiting for us to leave and he really waited for one hour! o.O He is such a patient fella but too bad we walked back to the hotel. He must be disappointed because he wasted one hour just in hope of earning that USD1. I felt bad~

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day!

As it was nothing much, we went back to the hotel in the hope that the rain will stop soon. As we wished, it stopped! once we stepped into the hotel. =.=" When we wanted to step out again, it rained. It got very heavy this time that we decided to put on the raincoats. T.T

Luckily I got these useful raincoats last minute at Guardian the day before the trip. :p

We got back to Pub Street for lunch after my afternoon nap. Lol~ Eating some expensive and not-so-nice Khmer food. I prefer the food in Malaysia. :p

Lunch again! o.O

We had earlier booked for the ATV Quad Ride tour with the hotel. Check out their website here. We booked for a 2-hour ride that costed USD55 per person. They provide transportation to and back from their place, around 30 minutes tuk-tuk ride from the hotel.


Once reached their place, the owner started to brief us immediately on how to ride the ATV and some dos and don'ts. Each of us had a guide with us to go for a short round, to test if we are okay to ride the vehicle alone. Too bad, I was too chicken that the guide refused to let me alone. >.<"

Nice scenery, muddy roads.

It was not that bad to have someone to ride with me. At least the guide could chit chat with me in those two hours and he was very friendly. Additionally, he could tell me about some information about the places.

Me and the guide. He was carrying my pink backpack. XD

We went around the countryside, seeing mostly paddy fields. Very beautiful and peaceful green scenery. People still use buffaloes instead of machines to farm, so you can see buffaloes everywhere at the village.

Thinking of a way to pass through these buffaloes.

It rained all the while when we took the ride. We chose to ride in the afternoon the hope to see sunset at the rice fields but we already expected we would not be able to see it due to the weather. By 5pm, the sky was very dark and the rain got heavier and heavier than we needed to stop at a side to wear raincoats prepared by the guide.

See the dark sky?

It got too heavy at a point that we lost our moods to snap photos. All we wanted to do is to get back to their office as soon as possible because it was getting colder. T.T The roads were too muddy that my pants were all wet (due to the rain) and dirty. To me, the ride was really worth it and it will be perfect if it was not raining. A new experience to both of us. :)

Not bad huh? :D

It was just nice at 7:30pm when we finished cleaning ourselves up after the adventurous ride, time for dinner! We walked to the Pub Street again (I do not know how many times we went there but there was the only place where we could find expensive decent food). I already decided earlier to eat some exotic meat BBQs at a restaurant called Cambodian BBQ.

Easily found in the Pub Street.

The place was so packed. It provides some weird meats like the snake, crocodile, kangaroo (wtf?!), ostrich as well as some common ones. We ordered set which include pork, beef, squid, chicken, snake and crocodile, and topped them up with frog legs and fish. Both of the crocodile and snake meats were very chewy, I no like it. >.<"

Snakeeee~~~

And please be noted that after the session, you will smell like BBQ meat yourself too. =.=" I smelled like BBQ panther when I boarded the plane the next day as I wore back the same pants.

Us, the BBQ meat. -.-"

The hotel provided us transportation back to the airport the next morning. It was really a nice trip if it wasn't raining that much. Nice people and beautiful places. I think I will probably be returning some other time during the dyer season. :)

Our Air Asia's Expedia flight.