Week 4 (2 feb @ 簋街)

Gui Jie 簋街 (aka Ghost Street)

in celebration of our first month in beijing, we went to guijie for steamboat. while some of the people had to work, the rest of us met up first to walk the streets of 簋街 and 鼓楼大街. here's some photos taken at the 钟楼 and 鼓楼! of us, happily practising our jumping skils:




after which, we went to a near-by cafe to slack abit, coz there was still two more hours to dinner time. the cafe is called Escape! i drank some hot chocolate, and read a book, titled "Catalput" or something. i shall go find the book and read it again in the near future...


went back to 簋街 around 7pm. it was pretty dark already, and the streets were lit up with neon lights, neon signboards and laterns... colours of all sorts!

the restaurant was quite popular, and table for 11 of us was not easy to get. we had reserved the table, and strolled down the street while waiting. the fragrance of the tasty, barbequed and steamboat food from the restaurants stirred my hunger! so hungry! yum-yum, the tasty fooooood! we returned back to outside of the restaurant, stood by the heater, waiting for our turn:


steamboat food! nice nice nice nice! neatly served plates of meat and vegetables for us to cook. costing only RMB45 = SGD9! and i like the 酸梅汤 served~ :)


group photo outside the restaurant! :)
happy 1st month in beijing!

Week 4 (1 feb @ Babela's Kitchen)

Babela's Kitchen 巴贝啦

located at 西直门 mrt is a shopping center established by Capital Retail, Singapore, called 嘉贸. the structure, design and the layout of the shopping mall is very similar to Singapore's, but the stores featured here are considered more high-end. the prices are steeper than those neighbourhood 成都小吃, but friday nights are meant for good dinners, so we came to 嘉贸 for dinner~

Babela's Kitchen is a beautifully furnished restaurant with pretty chandeliers, and warm lightings (like warm spotlights), serving decent spaghetti and other western food... we've got to wait about half an hour for a table for 5. the price is reasonable for the food we had and the ambience, so it's worth a second try...


babela's kitchen's menu had happy colours, that stimulate hunger! yum yum! oh, i like it's logo (see top right-hand corner). highlighted in red is the bacon caborona which i had ordered~ :P


pretty chandeliers



my cheeky roomie, playing with our horn-shaped calamari! so cute!!!


me and my roomie! :)


qinning, siewkee and lynette! :)


and a group photo! (gosh, my ugly hair!)

Week 3 (27 jan @ 北新桥)

on sunday, we went to 北新桥 in the evening, because lynette needs to buy some tea leaves from the famous 'tea house' there. it was recommended by her colleague. 北新桥 is located on new line 5 (五号线) of the 北京城铁! it is so new, that it replicates Singapore's NEL mrt stations - except that the signboards are predominantly written in Chinese language. below are some photos we had taken at that train station:







this is a stall selling beijingers' favourite 羊肉串!


and this is the posh-looking store where lynette bought two packets of nice smelling fresh jasmine tea leaves! packed in pretty tin cans. i'll definitely bring some back to Singapore! :)

Week 3 (26 jan @ 五道口服装批发市场)

we went to 五道口服装批发市场 successfully! and we shopped quite a bit! i boght 1 pair of pretty jeans (RMB100 - should have cut the price further!), 2 tops for (RMB75), 1 "long top" (RMB35), 1 belt (RMB22) and 1 pair of mittens (RMB10)!




at the pizza place, taken with alvin (小蔡 little vegetable)! us wearing my new mittens, and showing the victory sign! can you see it?


we went to ktv after our pizza~ and everyone was already really tired there. most of them catching some sleep during the first few songs... KTV was a bad idea afterall; because of all the lousy choice of songs songs and sound system! not to mention the terribly poor service! i was so damn angry, i made a scene at the KTV counter. **PMS!** they really annoyed me! we condemn that ktv, won't ever go back.

Week 3 (21 - 25 jan)

i made soup for my household this week! carrots, potatoes, corn and porkloins soup! ABC soup! so nice, sweet and tasty! i love it! (((:

Week 2 (20 jan @ 护国寺 & 后海)

this photo taken at 后海








at the "梅兰芳" museum, which was her home. it is a 寺和院, and in the past, only the rich people could afford to stay in them.



"Beijing Olympics: One World, One Dream"


a "lake" near-by our house was frozen and nicely covered with snow! we were all so excited to be able to walk confidently on the crozen lake!! took quite a number of photos here! So fun, so pretty! :)


and i was really leaping in the air (although even i thought it looks like i was "photoshop-ed" into the scenery)!




look at the contrast with the newer high-rise flats behind


we walked around the 胡同 near our home, before makig our way to take bus to 护国寺... 胡同 (hutongs) are the alleys of the really old and run-down houses of the very old times of beijing. in various parts of beijing, some of these hutongs are preserved, renovated and marked as tourist attractions. but nothing beats these ones that are still fully flavoured with the smell and sight of the olden days. it offers the better experience.

we spent the rest of the day walking around 护国寺 and 后海. visited a museum and also walked around many 胡同s, and took many photos with the olden-day achiectures of China...

Week 2 (19 jan @ 五道口 一品粥)

we went nearby 五道口城铁 for lunch. we ate at 一品粥！all together we had two pots of 粥 and some 小吃...


including some tasty 虾胶！

after the meal, we went to the nearby bookstore, called 光合作用 (its meaning is photosynthesis) to look around and buy some books and CDs. saw alot of 几米作品 there, cheaper than singapore! bet i'll get quite a number of them before heading back... i didn't get anything there, but it was quite enjoyable~ (: we shopped around 五道口城铁 for quite long; but our original agenda was to head down to 五道口批发市场. haha! so guess what? by the time we reach 五道口批发市场, it had closed for the day! at 6pm! haha!

Week 2 (18 jan @ 雅玛卡)

one big group photo at 雅玛卡! like a girl band eh? lols!


lynette and i took many many photos together while the other girls went to the washroom! wahaahahaha~ nice right? :D



i like this photo very much



my iced mocha


i met the other girls for dinner near our home on friday. after dinner we went to 雅玛卡 coffeehouse/pub. haha! very nice and cosy ambience~ like it there very much! i took alot of 自拍照片, because i really like the background colours and lightings.

Week 2 (14 jan - 18 jan)

my home-cooked lunch on friday


snowflakes really look like this~... the crystal-like structure!


and this photo is written and taken especially for my boy~ (:


i had to leave home, i MUST go out for lunch, MUST feel the snow, MUST have the snow flakes falling on my head and face... I WAS SOOOO HAPPY TO SEE SNOW!


it's thursday, 17 january 2008... and it SNOWED in beijing today! do you know how happy it is to see the streets covered with snow? it's a beautiful sight... everything covered in white fluffy snow~ (:


because i worked from home, i decided that i should cook - because i really wanted to eat something familiar. something home-cooked！tasty instant noodles (it is known as 方便面)~ i added chicken mid-wings, mushroom and vegetables. doesn't it look sumptuous?


picture of myself working from home! cosy!


me with my boss's niece, meisi! (:


on tuesday, i bought dark chocolate! so happy! i love dark chocolate! chocolates are extremely expensive here in beijing. ferraro rochers' are way too expensive, so doubt that i'll get to eat them this CNY. ): i bought this Nestle brand chocolate bar for RMB6.50 at the supermarket near my office. finished the bar within minutes. this is taken using my webcam inside the office! lol~ anyways, on this very day, i decided to ask my boss if i can work from home, and he agreed! :D such a happy day eh?

on monday, i bought a pair of leg warmers from the 五道口服装批发市场. it is the bugis street of singapore! lol~ but the things here are cheaper, definitely. and you get to bargain. my colleague brought me there during lunch time (because it is a walkable distance from my office). my colleague wanted to get a pair of leg warmers, which had a starting price of RMB15. i decided i should get a pair to. so for two pairs, my colleague bargained to a price of RMB16! that's like from RMB15/pair to RMB8/pair! X_X *i must really learn how to bargain!* the white sweater i bought last week cost me RMB60; my colleague said i could buy two of such here in 五道口服装批发市场. T_T