Hutong

okay, this is one the seafood fried rice we ordered which i had mentioned in my earlier post. Took this picture cause there is no seafood in it, well... not really, did found a prawn tail and very tiny bits of prawn meat.

I know my English is not good but it's quite fun when we try to spot the spelling mistake together with the kids.

While strolling along the lake, I was imaging it will be nice if my friends are here with me to chill out together. Think they will like it.

Starbucks~

The trishaw riders brought us to one of the courtyard residences (siheyuan). We paid 20 yuan to enter. This house was also one of the temporary stay for the Olympic athletes. You can also rent a room here, think its like 400 yuan.

Pubs, chill out places are everywhere. I like the lavender colour sofas on the second level.

Public toilets are everywhere at Hutong cause inside most of the courtyards or homes, there are no toilets inside.

Des went in, came out and took the camera and went in again. Haha, i told him its so clean, though it has no doors but it has dividers. Its nothing compare to the toilets i went to the rural part of Yunnan, Kunming or Jilin, where you have yo empty your bowel in a bucket filled of ... and dividers that are so low that when you squat, you can chat with your 'cubicle neighbour' beside you.

Hee! Baby was cute, he was even cuter when i see his back! See the 'xiao pi gu'! It's common to have a hole so it be more convenient to ... but its so cold...

We took this sign picture just in case we forgot where we park our car.

First week in Beijing - pictures

The Durian doesn't have any slight 'aroma' at all... pity..


Local's usual breakfast fare, Jian Bin. Hee, Des is not keen to have it. I bought one Cai Bin, contains vege like 'jiu cai' yesterday at Jin Ke Long supermarket near my place. Its nice when you warm it up in mircowave and eat it with Ketchup sauce!

The Place has the overhead digital screen, same as the one i saw at Las Vegas but bigger! Of course, its the world largest now. Will make a trip down during the evening time soon.

Arriving at Beijing. My luggages weigh 32kg, luckily i don't have to pay for the extra weight as the passengers in the plane was like 3/4 full.

First Week In Beijing

wet market

Went to a nice massage and foot reflexology place. This is the third time we went and Xiao Yan suggested cupping as Des has constant shoulder ache

Trying out the pressure cooker, my first time using the pressure cooker to cook.



28th Sept 08 (Sunday)

Arrived in Beijing at 11.20pm. Met Des at the gates at 12.30pm. Thought gave him a big hug when i see him but while i walked through the gate, seems to me that there is another friend with him, so I held back, shy mah..

Was like 15 degree for the weather.

Finally, get to see the apartment I'm going to stay in. Nice apartment but it will be better if there is a gym :P. My first thought was I'm going to make this home feel more like a home. No hangers, no carpets at the bathroom, no proper comforter or blanket, etc..

29the Sept 08 (Monday)

Went to 'The Place' with Des's colleague family. Their two daughters were so adorable.

Shop around and didn't buy anything, felt that the things are expensive. Ate lunch at a Macau restaurant.

I'm seem to be the only person wearing Birkenstock sandal... All are wearing covered shoes or boots...

Went Ikea in the late afternoon.

30th Sept 08 (Tuesday)

Thanks to the Lee Family and together we went to Hutong. Was the first time for all of us except that the 2 Lee's princess was their second time as their school had organised a trip before.

I been to Beijing 2-3 times but have not been to Hutong. Went to see the drum and bell tower but its a pity that it was close to visitors due to the murder of a tourist during the Olympics. Took a trishaw and went to a small ' si he yan'.

Lunch was at a 'Sambal' restaurant, Des's colleague thought that its the popular Malaysian restaurant, then realise that it was not, but with similar name. It was more of an Indian Thai food. Drinks was like 25 yuan, S$ 4 for a coke? No way! Lee's wife suggested we go out and buy drinks back, and we came back with 4 bottles of drinks at Y$19.

The food was bad except their chicken satay. The children and I was having fun trying to find or spot the prawn meat, seafood or pineapple in the so called 'seafood' fried rice and pineapple rice.

1st Oct 08 (Wednesday)

Went to Xidan but did not really went to all the malls. Trying to search for a pair of covered shoes as i have been wearing the sandals for past few days but to no avail, thinking i should be able to find a cheaper pair.

Most malls r having sale for a week due to the National Day. Clothes that are nice are out of my budget... Des finds it expensive too. Trench or winter coats he saw are like S$600 plus onwards and those that catch our eyes can cost S$1000 plus. Who says winter coat is cheaper here than Singapore??

Finally get a top which is on the 50% discoun rack and again Des seems to buy more things than me. I always tease him tat he claims to bring me to go shopping or I'm the one who want to go shopping but why is it every time he ends up with more shopping bags than me??

2nd Oct 08 (Thursday)

Went to the Solana shopping mall near our apartment. Was really big but still some shops are still not open yet as heard that its only open for a few months. Finally got a pair of knee length boots from Bata at 50% discount. Bata only okay.. and do not know why i still find it expensive.

For the past few evenings, we went to Carrefour and bought LOTS of stuff. As i said, my objective was to make this place feels more like a home. New bedsheets, pillows, comforter, pressure cooker, sauces for cooking, hairy crabs and blablabla.

Cooked curry chicken and hairy crabs. Happiest and satisfied diner - Des.

3rd Oct 08 (Friday)

With my efficient search, I suggested to Desmond to go Yashow Market and told him that this place states it has more affordable clothes and stuff.

Ha, and yeah, this the place for me, and Des did most of the bargaining and i just can't bargain as well as him. Again, Des bought many more things than me.

I keep persuading Des to eat where the locals eat, like i think the eatery shop beside a wet market seems not bad. Somehow, Des and also the Lee family prefer not to eat at those places. Guess i just have to go myself.

4th Oct 08 (Saturday)

Went to the wet market with the Lee couple. Lee's wife show me the usual stalls that she bought from. Was really happy to get to see all these fresh and wide variety of food.

5th Oct 08 (Sunday)

Cooked lunch and just hang around at home. Went to carrefour in the late afternoon and upon reaching, we blamed ourselves for forgetting to bring the recycled or carriers, as most places charge 10 cents for plastic bags.

Borrow big or not?

Borrow big to pay for your home? It may not be foolhardy
By Dennis Chan


Finding the best way to pay off a home loan
By Lorna Tan, Finance Correspondent
Mon, Aug 25, 2008The Straits Times

View from Apartment in Beijing

Des just sent me this picture. It's the view from his apartment he is staying right now.

Day 9 - 25-26 Sept 07

To Lucern.





Almost bought it!! Thank goodness i checked the price with Cheryl's hubby, which turns out that Singapore is cheaper.



Didn't know 'gao lak' eng name is Marroni~ Looks Atas Eh!

Next, Interlaken.

Taylor Made Burner Driver & Wood - Ladies - SOLD

Garage Sale!! Letting go at S$20.

Please self collect at Hougang Ave 7.

Garage Sale - Nike Golf Bag

Garage Sale! Letting go at $100.

Chic Metallic Silver Nike Ladies Golf Bag!

Light weight (3kg). Bought this bag from the first owner who used it only for 5-6 times before i started golf. I have not used it before and still in good condition.

Self collect at Hougang Ave 7.

Western Europe Drive 2007 - Day 5 - 22nd to 25th Sept

Picked up our rented car at Frankfurt Airport and stop along the way for a rest.

Driving through some small roads to get a different view

lucky to drive to the small road, beautiful houses and lots of flowers.

where's the mustard?

Erm, too free...

Tot of uploading some memorable pictures on the Europe trip last year in Sept. Too many pictures, will upload only a few from each day or places we drove to. It's a pity we loss quite a lot of pictures due to the memory card size being too big that the camera can't dl or something... So whatever pictures we took with the memory card are gone... places like Italy, Pisa, Venice, etc. Sigh.

Started from Day 5 cause i had only just arrived at Franfurt while Desmond was in Germany and Vienna for the first four days.

Website on recipes I always frequent

1. Let's get Wokking - Singaporean housewife's recipe ( food she prepare for her children look so cute! so creative.)
2. Open Source Food - Recipes created from food-lovers all over the world.
3. Eating China - Chinese food recipe
4. Channel 4 - featuring recipes on Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, etc.
5. Sweet Decadenze - also check out the others' flog link. I really love desserts...

Cher in Sg & China

Cher in Singapore & China.

Heh, just changed my url.

I keep changing and hope this is the last. Anyway none of my friends know about this blog. Heh its more for my 'convenience' like able to retrieve some stuff from my blog when i went over to Beijing.

Blog Title Change

Has just change my blog title from Over The Rainbow in Sg to Over the Rainbow in Sg & China.

Des has flew to Beijing two days ago. He is pretty busy and also quite stress. Its a new job, new environment, so i bet he is stress with so many unfamiliar things. For me, am really worry for his daily needs. Whether he can cope with ironing his shirts? Does the new apartment got mattress cover? Did he manage to get his daily morning dose of caffeine?

First day, he only sms me twice. Yesterday evening, another two sms. He has been invited to join his boss n colleagues for dinner for the past two days. Yesterday was home around 1 am plus.

Just converse with him in the msn, saying he finally have some time to buy daily necessities later after work.

Will catch him again in MSN later in the evening~

Best HDB Housing Loan Calculator

Think this is one of the best housing loan calculator i have found from the web. It allows you to know how much lesser interest you pay should you pay a lump sum of money in the middle of your loan period.

New Home @ Tanjong Pagar Plaza

Bought a 3-room HDB at Tanjong Pagar Plaza and has been busy refurnishing for the past month. Its only 59sqm, and nearly 40 years old flat. I have to get used to not having an attached toilet, have to be careful that curtains are wind down when i dress up in the room, be really careful with the long and heavy bamboo pole when i tried to dry the clothes under the sun and getting used of the weak water flow when i shower. And o yeah, the lift, corridor.. ha.. so many grumbles, but am now getting used to it and really like the place, our home.

Everything more or less are settled, got our last batch of furniture consist of a 2 door wardrobe and a queen size bed frame, mattress, pillows. This was requested by our tenant cause we leave a room empty so to furnish according to the tenant needs. Like whether the tenant wants to convert it to an office, kid's room or others.

Des and I both like the place, its really convenient and in fact i gain some weight cause there are just so many things or places to eat. Just one advertisement to advertise our unit for viewing on the weekends between 2-4pm, and it was rented out within a 2 hours of viewing. Actually, the day before, 2 prospective viewer came cause they cant make it on Saturday. First was a Japanese man who brought his translator along, second was an Indian PR. The Japanese man did not offer, guess he was not used to the HDB environment, the Indian PR offered 2 times, he really like to rent the place but the price he offered did not match our target.

Next day, 6 different groups came and view the house, almost all offered a price and then 3 groups starts to outbid each other.. almost all of them stayed for one hour plus or throughout. Initially we were worrying about the response and whether can we get out targeted rental rate cause of the slowing down of the property price. Well, it did match our target rental rate, we rented out to a nice Vietnamese lady. In fact, we can even rented out higher cause there is this Canadian guy who came last min, he likes the place but he wants to email the pictures he took to show his wife first and asked us to wait for him. However we decide not to wait for the Canadian guy ans as we feel bad for the other prospective tenants who waited for us to give a ready answer from 2-4pm and what if his wife do not like the place... Before the Canadian guy left, he said to Desmond, actually this unit can even fetch higher than the offer we got. Well, let's not be greedy since it hit our targeted price.

Will update some pictures later on so i can still get to see our house though we may not stay in it.

Dongpo Pork

Has been playing around with some dishes, decide to upload some recipe on blog for my easier reference when i go over to Beijing. My mum is good at cooking stewed pork belly, i have also tried doing it more to the Japanese style, making it sweeter. Think it just taste good when you have the pork belly cooked it for at least 3.5 hours.

first recipe from http://www.opensourcefood.com/people/wenwenzz/recipes/dongpo-pork-

Ingredients
600g pork belly
1 tbsp light soy sauce
3 cups oil for deep frying
2 stalks spring oinio
5 slices ginger
1 star anisseed
3 tbsp sugar (seasoning)
5 tbsp light soy sauce (seasoning)
150ml shaoxing wine (seasoning)
100g cooked green vege
1 tbsp corn flour mix with water, thickening

How to make Dongpo Pork 东坡肉 - by wenwenzz
A really good melt in mouth slow braised pork belly. It is named after a Song Dynasty poet, 苏东坡 《豬肉頌》
"黃州好豬肉，價賤如泥土。貴人不肯吃，貧人不解煮。慢著火，少著水，火候足時他自美。"
"Pork in Huangzhou is plentythere it costs utterly lowlyThe rich detest it; the poor fluff itslow the fire, hold the water, it comes alive when the time is right"

1. Boiled pork belly until half cooked. Marinade for 10 minutes. Deep fry until golden brown.


2. Arrange fried pork, the remaining ingredients and seasoning onto a steaming tray. Seal well with heat proof plastic wrapper and steam at high heat for 3 hours or until pork is tender.


3. Arrange vege on serving plate and top with dongpo pork. Reheat the gravy and thicken with corn flour water. Pour over pork and serve hot.

Second recipe (more time consuming but seems more 'authentic'), recipe can be found at http://www.eatingchina.com/recipes/dongpo-pork.htm

Okay, going to prepare coffee spare ribs now~ tata

Online Spree

Am preparing Hainanese Chicken Rice today, while waiting for the chicken to be simmer in 30 mins, decided to blog on baby Rambo and also the damage that had cost in a week of Internet shopping.

It all started a week ago while i was seeking out reviews on what are the good sheet mask available. Many rave on Xin Ji Mei Ren and my beauty diary mask which were not be able to get it in Singapore retail stores. Most buy it from online. They keep mentioning 'spree' buy on 'live journal' and i just cant understand where is this SPREE store at??

Surf on life journal, and more ??? there was. There's nothing. Finally... after several clicks and register to be a member.. then i realise wow there was so much stuff! Hundreds of people selling different stuff.

Face mask i will like to purchase was not available as the organiser closed the spree. Finally purchase Xin Ji Mei Ren mask from http://facecaremasks.blogspot.com/ . Luckily they are are having a promotion of $1.50 instead the usual $1.90. I later realise i got 10% discount too as i joined as member.

The mask was not bad, tried on the Arbutin, it brightens my face. I was hoping it to be better than Kitoho Kalani mask. KK mask was introduced by Novel, got it at $1.60 per piece as Novel bought 70 mask. Otherwise it be like $2-$3 a piece. KK mask, esp the Arbutin was good. It was better than Watson or Guardian's mask.

KK mask feels a little more concentrated and wetter than Xin Ji Mei Ren but both are equally good.

Yesterday, saw someone spreeing Xin Ji Mei Ren mask on livejournal, and i have ordered over 50 pieces and it was at $0.90 each!! Will bring some over to Beijing in Sept.

In a week, i have spent more than $300 bucks on my online items. I have receive a top @ $24.50 this morning and face mask i ordered earlier from Face Care.

Still have a bag, office dress, masks, primer and Benefit products on its way. All has acknowledge my payment except the bag, hopefully the bag seller got my order.

Now i realise why the term 'spree' and not 'sale'

Baby Rambo on his way!!

Clara msn me in the morning telling me she is in the hospital! I was so happy and asked her is she having frequent contraction. She said no, she admitted due to high blood pressure.

Raymond sms me later ' hopefully bb joining us for breakfast tomorrow. If everything goes smooth. Will update u guys then. Btw thank for concern.'

Induced pregnancy? Not sure, will check it out later~

Hee, so exciting!

Am married?

Heh, its been a long time...

More than a month has passed, my status has changed from Single to Married. Had a simple wedding lunch and solemnisation at My Humble House with over 20 close friends and family members. So simple that my friends thought of it as a lunch gathering.

After a few days of my ROM, my dad was telling me he was still wondering has his daughter got 'married off' cause he still sees me all the time. I told him, what's wrong with that? Better right? I still bring you all around to try out nice makan places and cooked.

Also we went for our HDB first appointment, second appt will be around end of June.

Des will be flying off to Beijing end of July and I will be joining him around in Sept. I like China a lot, so am looking forward on having an new environment ahead. Hope i can get a job there too.

Tibet: The Truth (oppression, monks, nuns... you're wrong)

Hitched

Just had nice steamboat with friends near Old Tiong Barhu market, Seng Poh Rd.

Soup base is quite nice, and some of friends actually hope fewer people will get to know this steamboat place so it be less crowded for us.

Am very happy for my friend, not that I'm happy that she finally attached but happy for her that she had found someone she loves and also knew she is going to be loved as well. Hee. Sweet~

This is not a friendly greeting

This is not a friendly greeting exchange. Cai Cai will bite the mini hamster if he has a chance. He did it to one of it... My mum and I admitted it was due to our negligence and being over confident that Cai Cai will not be able to reach it while we play with the pair on the dining table. Well, he did. He did a super pounce and bite one of them, I was screaming in shock while my mum quickly get it out of his mouth...

After 16 hours, the mini hamster died and my parents went down to bury it. Of cause, Cai Cai get a good scolding and beating from my mum and we are now very careful to keep the other hamster out of his reach.

Panerai GMT 88

Lovely~

Des's first Panerai and we hope there be more to come and the best part is I can wear it too! (the buckle can be shifted)

Though i hear or read about people collecting watches as an investments or hobby, it didn't really get on to me that watches can appreciate that much, some in a short time frame of 2-5 yrs.

In the past, the closest moment with these nice watches with names like IWC, Audemars Piguet, A.Lange & Sohne, Frank Muller are from the show cases outside The Hour Glass, Dickson or Cortina, and have never thought of going in. O yeah, one more close encounter where I tried on Rolex, Chopard and Piaget was in Switzerland and thank goodness I did a check with Cheryl's hubby who works in Dickson on the price of Rolex and Chopard; and realised that the price in Singapore are actually cheaper than Switzerland!

I was lucky to be at Alfred's shop last week and perhpas also at the right time unlike yesterday where we have to wait for almost an hour outside his shop. It was a small shop, okay a small small shop where you can probably sit only 4 pax max. But this wonder small shop has everything. Its like only half of a shop front at Far East Plaza but with goodies like Hermes Birkin & Kelly, Bottega Veneta, Prada, Marni or Zac Posen bags and blablabla...

Alfred's was really nice and bring out lots of watches and his babies for Des and me, but more for me to try on, though he knew i can't afford. Haha, guess was because of my 'wow' 'wow' look when he brought out the watches. We spend like 2 hours in there.

I will try my best to remember the brand of the watches my hand has touched on cause there are some brands i have not even hear of. Jaeger-Lecoultre Reverso, IWC AMG, A.Lange & Sohne, Bell & Ross, Rolex Cellini (my fav, blue face w diamonds), Maurice Lacroix, Vacheron Constantin, Cartier Santos/Pasha?, Panerai, Roger Dubuis, Corum and ... (can't rem). I doubt i can feel so many watches and some limited pieces at those 'atas' botique.

Plastic Surgery - Should I?

Almost read over 100 pages of discussion on Plastic Surgery on Singapore Expats Forum, thought the last thread now is at pg 567.

Quite interesting to have people sharing information on the procedures, comparison of surgeons from Singapore, JB, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, etc. Good thing to note is some of them shared their not so satisfied, worsen or failed nose job. Also people group together to go Korean for plastic surgery.

Envy Xiaxue got her free nose job from Dr Martin Huang, and just finish reading Balderdash's blog on several unflattering photos of Dawn Yang. When i first saw Dawn's picture, i think she was really quite pretty. However after a while, I'm amazed how her pose or smile never change, she is just like a doll and will kind of get tired after that.

I think i have lots of stuff need to be done, nose, jaw, eyes, breast... ha, never ending.

Plastic Surgery, maybe later i will surf how this 'plastic' term came about with transformation of the looks. I mean why not better terms or terms that sound nicer like 'Enhancing Surgery', 'prettier', 'evolution'.

Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation

I was surfing for recommendation on Laser Face Rejuvenation and i came upon this website by Parkway Aesthetic Clinic providing Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation, Hymen Restoration and er ..G-Spot Amplification??

Claimed to correct stress urinary incontinence and enhancement of sexual gratification. Urinary incontinence is a common problem that happens to women when their pelvic floor muscle weakens. One will loss a small amount of urine when you cough, sneeze or laugh.

Yes, i heard about hymen restoration and labioplasty, but Designer Labial Vaginoplasty... I thought of Valentino, Marc Jacobs, YSL, Anna Sui. I was thinking in the next few years, I'll be looking down at my girl friends in the sauna room and say.. o wow.. so nice, is this done by who n who..

No doubt it improves the life of the patient but the way it featured seems to be advertised more on beauty and improving sexual gratification than the medical treatment of urinary incontinence.

Well, think more money into the doc's pocket cause this should be another popular treatment soon, a very popular one.

A bowl of PLAIN porridge - $0.40

We were having teochew porridge along Serangoon Road, Des asked for his second bowl of porridge which rarely happens cause he has a small appetite.

While the server walks towards us with the bowl of plain porridge, i reached out to my wallet, '40 cents'. After paying him, i kind of pause for a while and recollect cause i was thinking to search for 20 cents to pay for the bowl of plain porridge. I turned to Des, ' wah very ex leh, tot porridge should be cheaper than rice.'

Wonder how much is it for a bowl of rice now?

Ziroco Thai Fashion

One of the top, behind is bare back.

Hmm.. Was at CentrePoint yesterday and my objective was to look for a ROM dress but in the end i blew a few hundreds at a tiny store, like 2 metres by 1 meters. Its that small... clothes piling up on the shelves and overloaded of clothes hanging on a less than a meter pole.

I didn't pay much attention to the few stores that clamp around at the atrium of Centrepoint but since i have almost finish walking through the whole centre point i though just browse through. Hmm, why so many people talking in Thai, ooo its a Thai fashion fair. Walked through and nothing caught by attention till my instinct tells me to check out this booth. Ooo.. one top not bad, $84 er.. okay but like pasar malam store leh, seems ex. Then i saw some catalogue on the shelves, only then i found some nice designs from the book or else is too messy to pick from the shelves.

The designer told me these clothes that was sold in Thailand was even more expensive, one particular dress i find it unique cost $170, original price he claim was $320. The brand was Ziroco, have a boutique at Paragon Bangkok and San Fransisco.

Bought 3 pieces in the end, one particular top i tried on has to be guided by the lady boss, even back home, it took me 5 mins to wore it right. Des was surprised at the $170 dress, he didn't imagine I will wear such revealing dress, er yeah when i tried it on, halter bare back, but it's a headache to think of what undergarment to go with it.. till now i cant seem to think of any that can fit that dress. Nvm, keep first.. :P

stress from property madness

17 March 08

hmm.. I gave cityview a miss last week. Has heard that even queue no close to 3000 was called up, wonder how is the take up rate now?

Anyway there's also some points we don't understand like applicants will not be able to collect their keys if they are unable to fulfill the eligibility conditions or have become ineligible. Means one of eligibility condition is to have under the $8k combined income rule?? Means we cant be promoted or gotta refuse promotion or salary incrememnt during this time? I dislike this $8k rule.. when can it change?

After looking and viewing resale flats for the past two weeks, think cityview 5 room for 700k is not too bad if one can afford. Cause new flats near amk, redhill mrt transacted at more than 600k. Shufu flats agent quote me $850k. Seems that HDB sellers now are getting much better deal than pte owners at this point of time. Telok Blangah flats shouting at much higher COV than any estate now. Belive that ppl who bought Pinnacle @ Duxton (HDB) at $400k, in another 5-8yrs can sure sell for $700k right, cause thats what flats at kim tiam and jalan membina are selling.

Offered two places but got outbidded.. stress, yesterday just offered one..hope this time can get it.

HDB resale buzz set to continue

HDB resale buzz set to continue

But increasing buyer resistance and and an expected surge in supply may take away some sheen, says EUGENE LIM

HDB resales prices accelerated their climb in the second half of 2007 for a full-year gain of 17.5 per cent, on the back of a strong economy, brighter job prospects and supply-demand factors.
The HDB Resale Price Index (RPI) rose 6.6 per cent in the third quarter and 5.7 per cent in Q4, after 1.3 per cent and 3 per cent increases for the first and second quarters.

The 17.5 per cent jump in resale prices last year was dramatic compared to just 2 per cent in 2006. But it was still much less than the 34.3 per cent surge seen in 1996. At 121.7 points, the RPI at Q4 2007 is just 11 per cent shy of the peak of 136.9 points recorded in Q4 1996. As the economy improved, more buyers were upgrading to larger flats. The government's target for an eventual population of 6.5 million has seen increasing numbers of permanent residents (PRs) in Singapore. The latter typically buy their HDB homes from the resale market as they do not qualify to buy new flats directly from the HDB.

http://forums.condosingapore.com/showthread.php?t=2175