180 nights in beijing

Week 4 (2 feb @ 簋街)

2008-04-07T15:10:00.006+08:00

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)

2008-04-07T11:03:00.003+08:00

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)

2008-04-03T16:34:00.004+08:00

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)

2008-03-31T16:30:00.003+08:00

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)

2008-02-22T13:47:00.009+08:00

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)

2008-02-22T13:28:00.004+08:00

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)

2008-02-22T13:11:00.004+08:00

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)

2008-02-22T10:55:00.008+08:00

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

Week 1 (7 jan - 13 jan)

2008-02-18T15:23:00.008+08:00

on sunday, we went out for a while to the bank to start our savings account here in beijing. i bought a white sweater which i thought was prety sweet! (: but later in the night, i remembered that i have a white sweater in singapore which i got for my birthday from my nbs mates! so forgetful of me to buy another white sweater~

on saturday, 12 january, we went to the 全聚德烤鸭店！it is the most famous Peking duck restaurant in! Beijing, a well-known tourist attractipn. it was a stand-alone building with about 5 or 6 storeys, and the interior designing were of gold, and gold - but in a classy way. we had an extravagant 10-course meal, in this luxurious ambience. the dishes range from the duck's head to its feet, inclusive of all inner organs, the yummy fried duck heart, and the tasty duck soup! its peking duck's skin was thin and crispy, and its meat nice and tender! yum-yum~ unfortunately i did not bring my camera along to capture any photographs... i'll go ask around from other friends! on a whole, i think the meal was quite delicious (it must be), but the price we paid was in my opinion too far-fetched!! our meal cost RMB160 per person - and, yes i know it's only SGD32. but in beijing here RMB160 can pay for 20 big bowls of bakut noodles(RMB8)!!

**photo updates!**

大厨师在把烤鸭切片！

gip group photo at 全聚德烤鸭店!

gip group photo at 后海! or, rather, the gip people living in 潮阳区 only! *hmph!*

the stretch of pubs at 后海

after finishing 全聚德, we went to 后海 to chill out. it is like the clarke quay of singapore. we walked along the lake (not 海) for quite a while, enjoying the breeze and scenery... our group of about 10+ near 20 people (after being pestered by various 服务员 who wish to earn our money) finally settled at a pub, that featured some good chinese-pop singers. i didn't share in drinking the jack daniel's, nor did i order any beers or fruit juices. but i did drink a little of the jack daniel's mixed with coke / green tea, when we played a few games. barely drank though, because didn't lose often. hahaha~

the other gip people left quite early, leaving only 6 haidian girls and the 3 chaoyang guys. kaixuan, qinning and siewkee were at another pub, so there's only the 6 of us remaining! last 6 standing.

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occasionally, sunrise from our apartment's view can be really splendid... if on every weekday morning, we are greeted with such beautiful sunrise and sunshine, it would be very pleasant~

and on 7 january 2008 marks the bejinning of my professional attachment in beijing. above picture is of 方兴大厦, the building i work in - for the 22 weeks ahead.

Week 0 (1 jan - 6 jan)

2008-02-14T15:03:00.014+08:00

my family for the next six months~ (:

our first sunday, and we cooked our first proper dish! my favourite, "冬菇焖鸡"! my mother had cooked it for me on 31 december 2007 - kianhai was also around to try my mummy's cooking! :) she taught me how to cook it, and "TADA!" i succeeded! somemore we added these long beans and cooked them just right! very tasty! :D am i good, or am i good?

yoshinoya -looking and -tasting~, the priced about RMB23 for a set meal - this is considered expensive in comparison to other food in beijing. thankfully, a gym sales-promoter kindly offered his membership card to get discount for the meal. (:

taken at 西二旗 station, where 4 of the girls are working at. bought popcorn at this train station too~ tasty and cheap! (:

after a night of drinking (distilled water) at the other mates' place, 富丽城, we left in the morning for breakfast. and because girls like man in uniform, we took a photo with their condo's security guards before we left.

individual shots with our favourite 拔丝！

this is my favourite dessert in beijing! it's called 香蕉拔丝(basi)! it is fried bananas coated in sweet caramel! and it is named 拔丝 because when you pick up a piece while it is still hot, you would have to pull (拔) it a little as the pieces cling together. strips (丝) of the hot caramel is formed when it is dettach from the other pieces. you may dip the piece into the cold water before eating, so that it does not stick to your teeth (however, i prefer not to). it's simply tasty! and we can get real excited eating this - we call it sugar rush! apples and sweet potatoes also available. but i love the bananas. (:

this is taken near the cinema, against the very pretty purple wall!

the first meal we cooked! bacon, scramble eggs, and soup! served with bread!

our first dinner in beijing - the peking duck! at a restaurant very near our home~

our arrival to beijing! group photo taken on the way to NTU GIP Office.

at the airport: siew kee, myself, lynette, qinning!

we landed in beijing capital international airport in the morning of 2 january 2008!

welcome!

2008-02-14T13:39:00.002+08:00

hello all,

i know this blog came abit late. it's already 14 february (yes, happy valentnes day!(:) today that i'm going to begin my postings. since my arrival on 2 january, a full 6 weeks (42 days) has passed. i was struggling to make my beloved xanga blog work through the anonymous-surfing platform, but it did not work for a whole month; everytime i tried - it never fail to annoy me. so i guess that leaves me with no choice but to use blogspot. i'm really not used to it at all, it does irritate me often. i don't even know how to change the colours of this template. argh! i don't really like green you know...

but anyway, here goes~ welcome to 180nightsinbeijing.blogspot.com! enjoy reading about my life and happenings here in beijing! please drop comments anytime, and i'll try to set up my tagboard really soon. have fun!