special day

ah yea.. today, 24th nov.. is oso a special day.. cuz

HAPPY BDAY MOM!!

=)

xi'an day 2 part 1! =D

so onto xi'an day2!! ahaha.. yea finally huh.. haha.. so we all woke up at a v v early time(to me) of ard 7am..prepared abit, grabbed our jackets(cuz its autumn then) and headed out for breakfast.. hahaha.. wanted to go 回民街to find some local breakfast goodies.. but end up after walking halfway we think its abit too far la.. so we all u-turned back and settled for breakfast at a small shop near our place.. ordered 豆腐脑, 油条, 豆浆 for breakfast(forgot to take pics for breakfast! >.<)

anw.. cui yichen met us at ard 830.. then he drove us to another nearby hotel to pick up the tour guide for the day.. yup.. we hired a tour guide since cui yichen is nt tt confident of explaining the history of the 兵马俑 and 华清池, which we will be gg later in the day, and gg there without knowing the history behind it is like going trying to eat laksa without chopsticks/forks.. ok la..u get the idea right.. hahaha.. picked up MJ(no, nt micheal jackson or micheal jordan.. but he's ma jun) our tour guide.. then we head over to 兵马俑.. 兵马俑 is out of the city.. ard 1.5hrs drive.. so cui yichen drove us there.. while i recovered the lack of sleep from the night b4..

and after 1.5 hrs of driving and fighting for parking space.. finally we reached.. 兵马俑!!

entrance

兵马俑has 3 different areas.. or they call it 3 different pits holding thousands of terracotta warriors.. 1st pit is the biggest and most complete of all, 2nd pit is the smallest but still a v impt pit to be discovered and the 3rd pit terracotta warriors are still being dug out as of today..

quite a plain outside, tts pit 2 if im nt wrong, 3rd pit of the terracotta warriors

pit 1, the biggest and most complete of the 3 pits

yes the outsides are obviously quite plain.. so after MJ's brief explanation..we walked/sqeezed into pit 1... and presenting.. pit 1's terracotta warriors!
the terracotta warriors are arranged in the same military stance tt 秦始皇used during war of cuz during his time... well obviously it has some degree of success if nt he would not had unified china would he? hehe

the vanguards.. the 1st in line of the battlefield.. so its said tt b4 battle they would drink wine, get timeselves really high/drunk and charge into the battlefield ala rambo, ARMOURLESS..

the main forces, hordes and hordes of them.. and rmb.. this is jus pit 1..

soldiers with horsies
pic of chui-ded terracotta warrior.. alot of the terracotta warriors are partially destroyed due to the peasant uprising then when 秦始皇died ... they destroyed alot of the warriors.. many of the dug up warriors are patched up by modern artists and archeologists.. there are of cuz some tt are too chui... or they might be chariots.. chariots are made of wood..and cannot survive for 2000yrs without rotting away.. so they end up looking chui-ded

rows of armies..

pic of me!!

the terracotta warriors are said to be carved out based on 秦始皇's actual army.. so each of the terracotta warriors have their own faces..and nt like molded from a single warrior like face...

zoomed in pic of the warriors.. notice the different faces and style..

after walking/squeezing ard in the 1st pit.. we moved on to the 2nd pit.. the 2nd pit is the smallest of all discovered pits... but also one of the most impt.. warriors here are arranged differently.. they arent facing out to the enemies.. rather they are facing each other... and alot seems to have no weapons.. so archeologists predicted that pit 2 is the hq of the army..

plenty of headless terracotta warriors

every pit has a guy holding onto some horsies...

so from pit 2 we proceeded on to pit 3.. the newest pit to be discovered.. the warriors are mostly buried save a small section of archers.. however there are a few terracotta warriors brought up to the platform for tourists to view.. and some exhibits too...

pit 3..largely uncovered pit..

the kneeling archer.. the most no defects terracotta warrior found to date..

then its the middle ranking general!

high ranking general which is supposed to hold onto a sword.. the sword is displayed elsewhere
and who says the koreans invented taekwondo? the qin dynasty ppl did! jus tt no one knew! but the evidence is here..on this guy named the standing archer...

i highlighted the v tkd points...(he's doing chil jang)

chromium plating is a technology lost after the qin dynasty.. they have chronium plated swords for high ranking generals in 200BC.. and the technology is jus redisovered in the 1900s.. amazing!

different types of melee weapons used back then...

bronze chariots..

this is called "拍马屁"

an umbrella holding stuff... notice the gear on top? yes.. qin dynasty ppl invented the 1st gears...

THATS ALL FOLKS!

so after walking ard in the exhibition hall.. we proceeded to have lunch.. lunch and 华清池 will be covered in the next ep.. so stay tuned!!

the "im getting older" day

well, i side track from xi'an abit hor.... hahahaha.. temporary side track only.. will update soon... cuz was busy with IA report, presentation, some slacking, tkd and other stuff.. hahaha.. but anw.....im typing this entry with a really red face courteosy of 2 cups of choya..(yes yes..i turn red v easily due to alcohol...hahahah)

gd thing i havent spewed rubbish to anyone yet.. then again.... i usually crap alot... so that can be considered rubbish... i guess? so does tt mean im drunk everyday? ahhahahaha... ok.. what i said earlier can be considered crap.. however well.. all the discoveries i made abt china earlier are true hor.. with extensive testing and experimenting.... so then i wasnt drunk.. but other times when i crap(or lame) with ppl im drunk..hahaha... but now seriously im red faced...

anw..... i jus wanna say a big thank you to everyone who wished me happy bday... sudd murphy oso wanted to join in the fun and some didnt receive my reply from msn.. but still yea... thanks alot alot for all those bday wishes... yea.. getting older.. but old is gold u know(ok..self 安慰)... hahahah... yup... well even ur bday thoughs/wishes are sent to over 3000 km away and im really happy abt it.. yup.. a big thank u again for those who send wishes, or even jus think a "happy bday" back in sunny singapore(ah yea..i miss the sun.. its roughly 12-15 degrees here now..haha)

of cuz..the xi'an trip will be updated soon..hehehe

xi'an day 1 =D

so its finally 30th sept!! and day 1 of the 西安trip!! hahaha.. ok la.. woke up v v early for once.. yea the earliest since the start of the golden week..cuz the flight to xi'an is ard like close to 1pm..ard there la as far as i rmb. so yea..woke up at 8am(cab is at 930am, agar 1.5hrs from my house to pudong airport) and jus kinda packed the last few like toiletries la, laptop, adaptor blablab..grabbed v simple breakfast(bread really) and waited for the cab to come... cab was alr booked by me but will fetch celest and her father 1st at motel 168 b4 coming to my apartment la..

then cab came..along with celest and her father.. ok so i kinda hopped on.. somehow...i think due to celest's really gd breakfast(of crabs again i think.. as far as i rmb), she became really high.. ok la..nt so much during the ride to airport.. but when reach airport tt time..ard like 1030am.. celest morphed into Crazy Girl!! well 1stly she jus started talking and laughing to herself.... 2ndly well..she jus like to somehow knock into ppl..oh yea.. no person she knew was spared... ok..kena knock here knock there... then i went to sms for help.. more like call for SOS lor.. then argh! celest saw what i was smsing... perfect..kena knocked even more.. T.T(with celest's continuous laughter..crazy or nt? u judge urself... =P)

anw since we were pretty early for the flight, we kinda went into some kopi restaurant to slack a while 1st.. and had a pretty ok choc cake...

anw the flight took ard 2.5hrs..(thankfully Crazy Girl alr has 0 mana and reverted back to celest who slept throughout the flight) took china airlines.. food served on board was.. soso la.. haha.. gd enough.. well actually celest alr arranged with her friend's friend called cui yichen(i hope i spelt his name right) to sort of be our tour guide in xi'an..best part is.. he has a car.. so most of our travelling ard xi'an is ard taken care of.. zai leh! hah

after a 1hr+ ride from xi'an's airport to our motel168, welcome to the city of xi'an!!

xi'an is actually an ancient city in which ard 12(i think) dynasties made this place their captial.. well for one reason that i can think of its cuz xi'an is roughly located in the center of china.. xi'an is nt as developed as shanghai..

and now to the 1st tourist attaction of the day.. the bell tower...

as u can see..the bell tower is for reporting time.. smth like a really big cuckoo clock... and it has been standing in xi'an for ard 600+yrs alr..

one of the bell tower's bell with cute girl

bell tower view at night

after that, we headed over to the drum tower... if the bell tower is like some huge clock that rings , then the drum tower is like the weather forecast man.. each different beat represents some kinda weather..

world largest drum

me with one of the drums..

beautiful night view from the drum tower

so after the day's touring of the bell and drum tower, its time for dinner!!! ahahaha.. headed over to 回民街 to have dinner... 回民街 is like a small eat street.. like picture 南京西路 in shanghai.. but like x10 the length... yea... 回民街 is pretty big.. and full of xi'an local delicacies + other delicacies.. 回民街 is full of like.. chinese muslims(yes..chinese ladies with tudongs, and guys with tt nt so sure what its called hat).. they are mostly from china states near russia...

cui yichen 1st brought us to this stall selling.. actually i oso dunno what its called.. hahaha.. but its smth like tutu queh... u know.. at the pasam malam kind... except bigger.. and the put it on sticks + put some sweet jam or peanuts for u..

anw..the streets were people mountain people sea(人山人海).. cuz its like 1 day b4 the national day+dinner time.. everyone coming out to makan until v late.. ahaha

next we were brought to this like bbq store... which sells smth like satay and some other stuff.. they sell u the food by like.. 1st chef cooks, waiter brings in the foodstuff chef cooks(usually in like at least a 100) then shouts at the top of his voice to ask who wants the food.. people will start asking the waiter to go to their table when they want the food... and so.. here are some tt we tried...

crazy girl: "spinning the 西安凉粉will make it taste better! =D"

西安凉粉.. abit like huge version of carrot cake..

big bbqed mutton

bbq beef stomach

plum juice to wash it all down

next we went to the 西安贾三灌汤包子馆, where they sell 汤包and other bao related stuff

really yummy 汤包.. full of soup and juicy meat..

八宝粥(8 gem porridge), sweet and sticky

八宝粥 + 凉拌面筋 (cold noodle salad)

not in picture( or the dish tt i forgot to take a pic of) is some 麻辣soup.... really really gd.... super gd in fact... one of my fav dishes.. hahaha

after the really huge meals, in the pretty cold night, we walked back home... to rest and get rdy for the next day.. in which we will visit 秦始皇's terracotta warriors... a must see for anyone who steps foot in 西安..

preparation for xi'an trip..

sunday, 28sept... again went out with celest and her father.. and what else can we do?? eat!! hahahaha.. well actually i settled breakfast myself... decided to walk to the nearby bao stall to grab myself some bao..which when i passed by last time cost like 2rmb(S$0.40)...cheap cheap..haha.. so yea... i woke up pretty early(9am) then jus walked to the bao stall..but super long queue la... mayb sunday..somemore all old folks.. prob i was the youngest there..=P.. anw... got myself a 鲜肉包 for 2rmb and..

yea..this stuff...whatever its called.. actually wanna ask the shopkeeper auntie what's its name but then..looking at the queue(which was mega long still), i nv ask lor... but the white stuff kinda taste abit like rice like tt..then inside got dao sha(red bean paste) and + the sweet raisins.. quite nice la... all for 1.5rmb($0.30) yea..gd enough breakfast..hahahaha

so after tt met celest and her father then went to 陆家嘴, to the super brand mall... walked ard quite abit..i mean..it takes time to cover like 10 stories in a big shopping center u know... then felt hungry...cuz its lunchtime liao..hahaha.. decided to go to the portugese hk store for lunch..

egg tarts 1st...

vege for healthy living

澳门炒饭 = super rox

china seafood curry rivaling muthu curry... ok la..nt really..but still tastes gd..

seafood in some white soup..which rox of cuz..

after the really really filling lunch, we went down to the supermarket to walk ard+ buy stuff... and.... hehehehe... got benefit! muhahaha..cuz celest's father bought some choya... of cuz within the few days left in shanghai sure cannot finish... so....hahaha.. of cuz the leftover he'll pass it to celest..in which..i benefit(sort of) as well..muahahahha... okok... nt like i alcoholic or what la.. but choya is nice to drink..hahaha..

anw after super brand mall, we all decided to check out a new place called 蓝村路.. mini tourist guide given to us by the gip office ppl wrote tt we have to go shanghai sci and tech museum and walk to 蓝村路.. so we followed the guide..took mrt to sci and tech museum..then asked the mrt staff on how to walk to 蓝村路... the mrt staff said walking to 蓝村路 v the far...take mrt to 蓝村路站and walk from there.... ok la..1st thing...prob we all nv open our eyes bigbig and see a 蓝村路站on the map..which end up in wasting abit of time... 2ndly..THE GUIDE SUX.. oh yea..of cuz the fault is 10% due to the 1st option(nv see station) and 90% on the 2nd one(I TRUSTED U SUCKY GIP GUIDE!! U WASTE ME TIME!! ARGHHHH!!)..

anw, 蓝村路 is in pudong.. quite a nt tt build up street..lots of small stalls selling clothes tog with pirated cds...yes..clothes and pirated cds..somehow the shopkeepers can sell them tog... the most pirate of the pirated shopkeepers sell imitation pirated brand clothes and pirated cds.. piraty enough man...anw..along the way... saw some 火锅shops.. looks gd... though too full to eat too much.. mayb next time.......

anw.. walked ard..then settled for a small stall selling noodles... ok la..try it out...eat too much gd food..need to try smaller stalls now...haha.. so i wanted to order some chicken/duck meat noodles or smth..cant rmb..but what i do rmb is the cashier told me dun have... then recommended me some (mutter words in high speed) noodles.. then i was like "huh, 什么面呢?请在说多一次" then cashier was "(mutter words in high speed) 面".. then i tot..ok la..she recommend shld be quite gd one... even if i cant hear what it is i try la huh.. so i told cashier..ok..give me tt 面..

end up i got noodles with a big piece of fatty meat in the center.. yea... really fat, full of fats, 80% fats meat...i shld have guessed that china ppl like oily stuff..of cuz she would recommend me fat meat noodles... perfect...... T.T.. well at least i gotta share some of the 酒酿丸子bought by celest..haha.. and after the fatty noodle meal, i headed back home liao...

monday,29th sept.... well i went to the same bao stall and ordered the same 鲜肉包 and the white raisin dao sha stuff.. then met celest and her father and went to 七浦路for some shopping... ok la..this time..walk ard only..nt really loot alot of stuff or train my bargaining skills... then had late lunch at ajisen..then headed back home earlier today...to take a break, and last min pack(for me) b4 we head for xi'an tml....

oh yea..and for dinner...

i had smth simple..

a KFC meal

=P