Chengdu trip 2nd day( 6/12/09)

After watching the beautiful scenery in Juizaigou, we left the place by plane and headed back to Chengdu. We met up with our next tour guide, xiao ling. She is quite pretty, with very big eyes and curly hair. We proceeded to the Tianzhu museum, where they show-case some exotic tianzhu which is believed to bless the person wearing with luck and wealth. Well, i jus look see look see, didnt buy anything as i do not believe in such things.

After lunch, we bused to the hakka old town. 85% of the people here are hakkas. But, im not, im a teochew. It's pretty interesting to visit this town to see their culture. The town looks quite old but it is refurbish not too long ago. We walked and stroll along the streets, bought some interesting goodies. I bought some deep-fried yellow fish with sichuan peppercorns. OMG, the chilli oil were gosh! It was oily but was tastyyyyyyy! THE DEEP-fried fish were mixed with sichuan chilli oil & peppercorns, producing a numbness to my tongue and lips... (my lips almost resemble a hotdog). Besides deep-fried fish, they also sell prawns, small little crabs and cocoons! I didnt dare to try the cocoons, despite it having high protein content.
Tonight's hotel: Meishan hotel.

I didnt like the breakfast spread. They have quite a variety but i only like the stewed pumpkin and the beancurd shred. The rest were either too spicy or reek of strong vinegar. Well, i managed to try a little of other stuff. The chinese here love the congee and mantou.

Finally touch down the Singapore Changi Airport.
The trip to Chengdu is definately worth it.
It was fun as i learnt the culture of the PRC there and made friends with our tour members.

Day 1:

4.5 hrs of flight to chengdu shuangliu airport. The weather was cold(15 degrees). We rushed to put on our sweaters and jackets to keep ourself warm. Chengdu temperature is temperamental, most of the time it rain and rain but we were lucky. Throughout the whole trip, chengdu is warm(the sun is out). We had to hurry down to catch the flight to Juizaigou after we touch down. Juizaigou is known for it's colourful water and the waterfalls. After we reached our destination, we had to take another 3 hrs to reach the tourist visitor centre. The journey there is definately tiring... as the road were uneven, many of our tour members vomited. The altitude of the mountain is 3000++ m high. Some people weould experience headaches, nausea and those with High blood pressure & Heart problems is at higher risk. We spent two nights at juizaigou. The climbing of the mountains under the cold temperature(7 degrees) is tiring... we had to climb 189 flights of steps just to see the beautiful colour of the lakes and water. Our tour guide there: Wang Mei.
She is a native there but her chinese is not too bad, i made friends with her and took a few photos with her too. The colours of the water and lakes were amazing, jus like a fairyland.

We watched the native cultural performance at night. Some of the photos were not uploaded.

Time flies, it's 1.5 mths since i stop working @ STS.
Tmr, i would be leaving s'pore to chengdu for holiday.
I noe mom is very excited abt it as she bought lots of things that are required for the trip such as stockings, socks....blah blah blah and kept packing her bag.
I wonder how am i going to adapt there, even though it's only 8 days.
The weather there is freezing cold(-12 degree celcius) and snowing. Our luggage is packed with all the winter clothings. I want to take lots and lots of photos to make up for the loss during my shanghai trip few yrs ago.

Today, i went to Pink Nutrideli @ clifford ctr for lunch. This is a cafe that provides healthy food and beverage. I ordered the olive Mad about veggie masala.($8.90). It is served with olive brown rice and french onion soup. The serving is huge. The masala vegetables consists of carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and leek cooked in a spicy masala gravy. The smell is very pungent and spicy. I think they added too much curry powder. The olive brown rice is quite fragrant, with bits of black olives in it. I idnt like the french onion soup as they have added too much pepper. Besides veggies, you can also opt for salmon steak, chicken... served with spaghetti/brown rice.

The svc here is friendly and the whole cafe is decorated in dim lights and pinkish colour which adds a little cheerful-ness.

It has been quite sometime since i visit geylang- the gourmet heaven.
I went to Ci Hang western and vegetarian food centre for lunch.
Today's brown rice set: budock pancake, green veggie and stewed pumpkin and veggie soup with wolfberry. Their food is not heavily seasoned therefore it is very healthy. They seldom deep-frie their food but steam, boil and blanche instead to preserve the nutrients. I like teh budock pancake as it taste quite special. I think they used mushrooms, budock, green peas to make this small pancake. The pumpkin is well stewed with wolfberries and mushroom. The pumpkin skin is left intact as the skin is quite healthy-fibre. The rice is cooked with some flaxseeds and leaves a frangrant smell. The use the short-grain brown rice thus it's easier to chew.

Besides serving food, they also sell vegetarian and organic supply. It looks more like a provision shop to me with lots of goods available.

I went to tekka market today as i knew there's one veg stall that sells some imported vegetables. You can get fresh herbs such as basil, dill, thyme, rosemary leaves here and prices are cheaper than cold storage. The stall name is CHIA'S VEGETABLE SUPPLY. The shop is quite evident so u wouldnt miss it.

After the grocery shopping, i went to 7 sensations. Today is the 15th day of the chinese lunar ten month thus it's good to have vegetarian food. I ordered the brown rice platter. Today's menu: simmered pumpkin with celery and black fungus and cucumber pickles. The presentation is very good, i like the pumpkin which is stewed till soft but not mushy and there were chunks of carrots and celery cooked in delicious and sweet broth. Shiok!

I also bought their home-made chilli made from enzyme. It is not sold in the market yet as the lady boss ''invent'' this after experimenting it many times.