As I was alone

My daughter left home two weeks ago. I was down with fever, cough, sore throat and a mild asthma attack. I looked up for a doctor and was asked to put on antibiotics and medication to stop the cough and to relieve my asthma.
As I was staying alone at home, I caught the sight of an adorable praying mantis which flew into my house through the window panes. I brought it into my bedroom. It seems to have fellow feeling on me.
Oh, good grief! It came to accompany me during these silent, loneliest nights while I was sick on bed. I was lifted up by its presence. I spent a few nights dawdling with it. Look at the photos I have taken! Is it so adorable?
View Blog

Some Chinese Cuisines

Some Chinese Cuisines I had during my visit to China.
This is one of the dessert. The butter cream coated yam paste. The culinary art is awesome but the taste is so so...

What is this? It was served with porridge in hotel at Hangzhou. I was so curious, I thought it was a kind of edible escargot. I tried tapping with my spoon but it was soft. I got one and tried. Ceh, a kind of preserved veg called 'luo si cai'.

These are what we had for breakfast at most of the hotel in China.

A very famous cuisine in China ~ Salted water duck( 盐 水 鸭). Do you notice that the skin is still fledged? Yuk! Yuk!

I prefer roasted duck rather than salted water duck.

Hahaha, an erected "du ka"!

This fish from Xihu really tastes odd, it has the earthlike savour.

Sweet sour fish ~ more to Malaysian favour.

"Dong po rou" ~ succulent pork prepared in the clay pot is the favourite of our group.

Curry pork? Have you ever tried before? A lot leftover!

A pair of Yangcheng Lake Hairy Crabs ( 阳 澄 湖 大 闸 蟹)which cost rmb120. The tag marks the genuine crabs from Yangcheng Lake.
The hairy crabs in Yangcheng Lake near Shanghai are one of the most coveted Autumn delicacies for the Chinese. Since it was the beginning of winter, we were able to hunt for this delicacy. The hairy crabs are famous for the tender meat and tasty yolk (ovary and digestive glands). I devoured this pair. Wow, yummy! yummy!

Cool place...Wuzhen

Time flies... It has been half a month since I came back from China.

I took a 9D 8N tour to China~Hangzhou, Wuzhen, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi and Shanghai. Stories about the Qing Dynasty Emperor Qianlong"s visits to Jiangnan area disguised as a commoner are welly known. The places where Emperor Qianglong had sojourned are raised with graceful, refined weeping willow trees near the river bank.

The most impressive of all is the Wuzhen Village. Mandarin translation of the place "Wuzhen" is "Blackened Town". The houses are unique. The wood of the house is fumigated to avoid termites' feedstuff. All the houses are built with blackened wood. The stilts are standing on cement blocks so as the dampness of the earth would not wear away the wood. I noticed that all the wooden stilts are still in fine condition.

I have taken some photos at Wuzhen, so enjoy viewing.


The entrance of Wuzhen .


The street of Wuzhen ~ I am naughty, I peeped through the cranny hole and saw refrigerator, television, lazy chair... huh, a new modern furnished room!


Does this village look cool?


A cobbler found in the village.


Does this look like Kampung Air?


The water is still and the whole village is in stillness. I experienced a peace of mind here.


The weeping willow trees along the bank.