Chongqing Hotpot

The whole tour group ended up in a Chongqing Hotpot restaurant once we arrive in Chongqing. Finally get to try out the actual stuff! My take on this... the soup is really spicy! The tongue actually numbs before you feel the spiciness all the way down to the stomach. The ones in Singapore are really not that spicy. This restaurant serves buffet style and the dishes they serves are very different too. There's the clotted duck blood, pork slices, fish balls, vegetables, liver, duck liver, duck everything! (Most of us don't take beef, so we decided to just skip it).


After dinner, the coach took us to the harbour where our cruise was already docked there. This was the first time I'm going for a cruise vacation. Very excited. I imagined that it will be something like the Superstar Virgo, Leo style. But when I say the size of the cruise ship, I was not that impressed. Very small. Supposed to be able to hold about 160-180 passengers. We had to carry our hand luggage and walk to the ship on this platform on top of fast flowing yellow river. Porters carried the rest of the suitcases to the ship. We rested on the ship for one night before the ship moves off from the harbour in the morning. 

ChengDu Lunch

We went to this restaurant for our lunch before proceeding to Chongqing. We were supposed to board the cruise ship in Chongqing that night. The restaurant serves traditional food and comes with name taken from 'the romance of three kingdoms'. The food was very good. Enjoyed it very much!


 

The Painted Faces Show (China ChengDu)

These were taken at the show - The Shadows Show. The last picture is the man who made these shadows of animals. I just think he's good.

Chinese Painted Faces

The pictures from the China trip continues....
These were taken at the ChengDu Cultural Theatre where the actors staged a variety of shows. There were acrobats, singing, dances and the most popular, the painted faces. Painted faces show was where the actors dressed up in tradition war costumes and changes their faces in split seconds. They change about 6-8 faces through the show. I tried to take pictures of them changing faces but I was just to slow. :-)


 

JiuZaiGou, China (Day 3) - JiuZaiGou

Today we start out JiuZaiGou tour after breakfast. Here's a brief summary of the place. "JiuZaiGou is known far and wide as a 'Fairyland'. The name came from nine Tibetan villages scattered thoughtout the valley. It's attraction lies in its simple, idyllic beauty; a fairyland, primitive and natural and still in its pristine state. With majestic and unrivelled emerald lakes, layered waterfalls, collorful forests, snow peaks and Tibetan folk villages, all blending in harmony with each other - it is nature's jewel set into the mountains."

JiuZaiGou, China (Day 2) - JiuZai Paradise Hotel

Finally arriving in JiuZaiGou, we checked into JiuZai Paradise ( 九寨天堂). The hotel is spectacular! You can see from the pictures below that the place is very big. There are like 7 blocks (1100 rooms) which span out like a fan from the lobby. The weather was lovely and cool. Temperature was at about 12 degrees celcius in the evening and drops to about 3-4 degrees celcius at night. Here's a link to the hotel. http://www.jiuzhaiparadise.com/

JiuZaiGou, China (Day 2) - Deity Pool

After lunch, we proceeded to this attraction called "Deity Pool" (神仙池）. Nice place to go to burn off whatever food we ate during lunch as there are lots of steps to climb! The place looks like the limestone pools at Pammukkale, Turkey. The difference is that the water over here is clear and crisp whereas the water in Pammukkale is murky white. You can see how clear it is on the third picture below.


This mineral water stream is supposed to do wonders. Just look at the long queue!
According to the tourguide, the water will rejuvenate oneself and help reduce high altitude sickness. The ice cold water seemed to work as I do not feel that tired and breathless after a drink. 

JiuZaiGou, China (Day 2) - Miao Xian to JiuZaiGou

Took this picture at DieXi Lake during a stopover towards JiuZaiGou on the second day. The lake which was located at about 2390m above sea level, was quite calm that day resulting in a mirror image view of the mountains surrounding it on the surface of the lake.
A typical house over at this part of China. Notice that the second floor of most of these houses do not have windows. Probably too expensive to install them.
Just before lunch, we ended up at a precious stones sale house. As this is the first stop of such shops, most of us bought something there. I decided to buy a pair of birds (I think they are love birds carved in stone) as wedding gifts for an old friend. I'm not too sure what sort of precious stones they are from but they are similar to the ones in the next picture carved into other animals.
This is the '师夫' who carved the pair of birds I bought.

NIE Investiture 2006

Our so-called NIE convocation...
Here are some pictures taken today of the DnT group of teachers. Some are not present. Gone taking pictures with the other friends...
Also have to thank the ad-hoc photographers who helped make these pictures possible! :-D


 

JiuZaiGou, China (Day 1) - Cheng Du to Miao Xian

Here's the start of some pictures from my China trip in June. We were on the way to JiuZaiGou when we stopped at the petrol kiosk for petrol and for us to make a toilet break. Some of us rushed over to the fruits stalls to take a look at what they are selling.

Waiter and waiteresses (it happens that they are cousins) at the traditional Szechuan meal restaurant. They were all dressed up in their traditional constumes and insisted that I take a picture for them...
Outside the hotel on the first night before we proceeded to JiuZaiGou on the second day. There were a row of shops just outside the hotel that we were staying selling almost similar stuffs like the 'TianZhu beads', scalves, ornaments and dried foodstuffs. The group went walking about and checking things out after our dinner at the restaurant. Nothing fancy that caught my eye. Ended going back to room after half hour. Truth is, we were all too tired after a day of flight, coach and walking...

Back! And started work.

Hi all,

I'm back from my trip. Lots of events happening at the same time. Didn't have time to update my blog. So paiseh... I've taken about 2000-2500 pictures during the China trip. Have to find time to screen and sort them out. I guess I will post the best ones little by little from time to time. In the meantime, it's back to work...


I've been real busy at work. No time to take a break. Anyway, will keep it short for now. Bye!!!