Bangkok Trip During Thailand's Official Period of Mourning (Part I) 泰国国丧期间的曼谷旅行

Together with my hubby, we flew to Bangkok for a short getaway recently. Our Bangkok trip was booked months ago, we were going to attend the 70th anniversary celebration of Thailand Hainan Tan clan. The celebratory dinner was cancelled when Thailand's late King Bhumibol Adulyadej passed away on 13 October 2016 in Bangkok. Since we could not get a refund for our air tickets and accommodation, we decided to go ahead with our trip.

Taking the earliest morning flight out of Singapore, we arrived in Bangkok before 10 am. Feeling famished, we decided to have our breakfast in the city - in Terminal 21 Shopping Mall near our place of accommodation.

Delighted to find our favourite Santa Fe Steak House restaurant opened at 10 am on a Saturday. We ordered their promotion sets of Grilled Chicken Chop and Kurobuta Pork Chop Steak that came with soup and salad. This breakfast cost us less than S$16 (394 baht).

The basement level of Terminal 21 Shopping Mall is having a Thailand Food Fair, delighted to find lots of Thai food. We bought some snacks before checking into our hotel.

Contacted a Thai friend who came to bring us to pay tribute to His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol. The considerate guy brought us some black ribbons which is an acceptable way to mourn in lieu of black clothing.

Thailand is in an official period of mourning, it enters a year-long mourning period. To show respect for the feelings and sensitivities of the Thai people, we followed the mourning protocol and prepared sombre-coloured attire to wear in public places.

Next we went to Erawan Shrine to give offerings because it was four-faced Buddha's birthday week. There was also low key celebration for the famous shrine although many devotees came specially to celebrate the annual festival.

Our friend had to attend a function so we went for dinner by ourselves. We were attracted by this eatery's promo banner and ordered some dishes. Pleased with my order of delicious Pork Belly fried with bacon bits and basil, shared the appetising Grouper Soup and noodle with hubby. The deep fried chive dumplings' (65 baht) skin was thin and crispy, but hubby was not impressed with the filling. He finds it smelly. haha.....

Hot chrysanthemum tea for two was 100 baht, notice the distinct yellow colour compared to the very pale yellow chrysanthemum tea in Singapore? This dinner cost us 637 baht, includes 10% service charge (S$25.50).

After dinner, we used the Skywalk to get to Mahboonkong Shopping Mall (MBK) we brought some red bean cakes from Singapore for a friend Mr Soh who opens a gem stone jewellery shop there.

He was busy with a customer, so we gave him the cakes. In return, he gave us a box of yam cakes from Taiwan and gave me a good discount for a pair of jade ear-rings. We thanked him and took our leave.


本来我与先生去曼谷参加泰国海南陈氏公会70周年庆典, 但因泰王蒲眉蓬辞世而取消。这让我有更多时间拜访泰国的朋友, 还见了我的同乡长辈们和泰国学生们。这次还能挤出一点时间逛逛曼谷的名胜。

泰国国王蒲美蓬辞世, 我们前往悼念。在泰国的国丧期间, 为了尊重泰国的文化, 我们外出时尽量穿黑白或深色的衣服，以表哀悼。曼谷的购物中心和各个夜市，都正常接待游客。我们注意自己的言行，更避免谈论王室任何事务，以免惹祸上身。

每年11月9日就是四面佛神诞的大日子, 祈福还神的场面十分热闹。今年四面佛神诞仪式放低调, 先生与善信们到来诚心敬拜。

Terminal 21 购物中心地下层举行泰国美食展, 这些地道的泰式佳肴吸引了我驻足欣赏品尝, 让我惊喜连连。有几样泰国小吃给我留下难忘记忆。很可惜我怕行李超重, 不敢买太多, 回国后很后悔买太少! 呜呜 。。。

在Terminal 21 购物中心地下层的Santa Fe Steak House是连锁平价牛排店, 有各式美式口味的排餐。早餐吃黑猪肉猪扒, 好奢侈! 两份好吃的肉扒套餐花不到 S$16。

在Lee Cafe (Central World分店) 吃晚餐。这里吃的是中式泰菜，将中式口味混入泰菜。

石斑鱼汤加了柠檬汁, 好特别的味道, 汤好喝! 用猪油炒三层肉, 加培根和九层塔去炒, 然后淋在白饭上。我捞饭吃, 泰美味了! 韭菜饺的皮薄香脆, 韭菜太多, 我先生不喜欢吃。

Lee Cafe (Central World分店)
3rd Floor
Open Daily : 11.00-21.00 Tel 0-2646-1838

新加坡友人苏先生在 MBK 开了一家宝石首饰店。从新加坡带了豆沙饼去拜访他, 他送了我们一盒来自台湾的紫玉酥。我买了一对玉耳环, 他还给我特价。

Polo Jade
Mahboonkong Shopping Mall (MBK)
2C - 52/2
Open daily : 11 am to 9 pm

Batam Trip Day 2 巴淡岛旅游第2天

After a hectic first day in Batam, we were exhausted and woke up late the following morning. Our kinsmen had to hurry us to go for breakfast.

We were the last two hotel guests having breakfast at their coffee house. LOL ..... Batam time is one hour behind Singapore, their breakfast starts at Singapore time 6 am. They were going to close the breakfast counter and prepare for lunch buffet.

Fortunately we still have some time for a quick breakfast and there were chefs available to cook a bowl of steaming hot ayam mee soto (chicken noodle) or fry pancakes and omelettes. Our kinsmen kept us company while we ate.

After breakfast, a few of us spent some time taking pictures on the hotel terrace and lobby before our coach arrived to send us to the ferry terminal. It was a sunny and breezy morning, we could see the city in the distant. Nice to know there is an outdoor swimming pool below the hotel.

Our coach picked us up at 11 am. It was a short ride to the ferry terminal as there was no traffic jam. Our ferry would depart at 12.50 pm, we still had more than an hour to while away. Our kinsmen preferred to wait in the ferry terminal.

Hubby suggested going for A&W fast food as he misses the rootbeer float, waffle with ice cream and curly fries. So we crossed the connecting overhead bridge next to the Immigration Office at Batam Centre Ferry Terminal and arrived at Mega Mall Batam Center. The fast food restaurant is on the ground level.

Finally hubby has his fix of the fast food he was craving for. Since the closure of this fast food restaurant in Singapore, we could only taste their signature items when we are in Jakarta and Bangkok.

We went back to the ferry terminal after our meal as the shops in the mall were not tempting enough to make us shop. We checked in and needed to clear Immigration, but were horrified to see a loooong snaking queue with only 3 counters opened. Oops.... we had only 25 minutes before the ferry departs.

We were worried we might miss our ferry. Many people in the queue were fidgeting too. Nobody dared to complain nor make noise as there was a notice that says "Silent - no talking." We heard that visitors get fined for disobeying this rule.

Finally we cleared Immigration with only 5 minutes to board our ferry back to Singapore. We heaved a sigh of relief once we were on board the ferry. Our kinsmen were getting worried for us as they had to go through the long queue at Immigration too.

Farewell Batam! We will be back soon.

在巴淡岛度过忙碌的第一天 , 第二天睡到自然醒已经不早了。乡亲们开始担心, 打电话催我们去吃早餐。哈哈 。。。我们是团里的年轻人! 还好有点时间, 酒店餐厅要准备自助午餐了, 食物所剩不多, 快快拿了一些可以填饱肚子的。

吃过早餐, 就与两位乡亲们在酒店阳台欣赏风景, 还有拍照留作纪念。

上午11点，出发去码头, 酒店安排车送我们去。我们的船大概一点才开, 看看时间，还是很早。轮渡码头有一座连廊通向对面商场, 我先生提议去商场吃久违的A&W快餐。

乡亲们不去, 我们两通过高架天桥直达商场, 十分便利。在快餐店里吃完东西, 商场的店面都不能引发我的购物欲, 匆匆赶回轮渡码头。却没料到移民厅大排长龙, 只有三个人在工作。我们开始担心赶不上回家的轮渡。 幸好我们能顺利过关, 只剩五分钟就开船。

回家了！结束了两天一夜的巴淡岛之旅！

Hainan Batam Huiguan 9th Anniversary Dinner 巴淡岛海南会馆9周年晚宴

Together with members of Singapore Hainan Tan Clan, we attended Hainan Batam Huiguan's 9th anniversary dinner celebration in Batam.

It was held at the ballroom of Crown Vista Hotel with guests coming from various parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore filling up all the 100 tables.

We were given a table for ten. On our table was the auspicious Hainanese yi buah (glutinous rice cake with sweet coconut shred filling). There were two types of sweet fillings; coconut shreds and coarse peanut paste. We could help ourselves to the cans of assorted beverages and bottles of red wine placed on our table.

The first course of our dinner was a plate of fried mee sua (vermicelli). We were pleasantly surprised that the noodle dish was served first. The explanation given was : since it was the anniversary of the clan, the mee sua was served as a congratulatory dish.

Other dishes served were steamed white chicken, braised pork trotters with steamed buns, crab meat soup, smoked duck, fried prawn rolls, braised mushrooms with spinach, sweet and sour fish. Most of the dishes were delicious.

After the cake cutting ceremony, it was a karaoke session where participants have to donate a token amount of cash to sing on stage. I was fascinated when people walked up to the stage to give ang pows (red packets containing cash) to the singer.

I thought the singer would receive the cash but all the cash received was donated to the clan. I guess more than 100 million Rupiah was raised. It was a successful fund raising event.

The representative from our Singapore Hainan Tan Clan sang a Hainanese song and received much applause from the audience.

星期日, 新加坡海南陈氏公会受邀出席印尼巴淡岛海南会馆九周年会庆晚宴。我与8位海南宗亲们一早就搭渡轮前往巴淡岛。晚上的会庆宴会就在我们住宿的酒店楼上 - 新香格里拉酒楼。

一到现场我们就拍了团体照和个人照留念。我们的桌上摆了传统海南粿 - 薏粑, 有椰丝馅和花生馅两种。宗亲们可能饿了, 就先品尝薏粑。

除了当地乡亲之外，宾客中有来自印尼其他地区、新加坡、马来西亚等地的海南乡亲。

巴淡岛晚宴上菜的次序和新加坡不一样，第一道上桌的竟是炒面线。原来当晚是会馆九岁生日，所以得先吃面线庆祝。接下来的菜肴也很丰盛，有白斩鸡、酸甜鱼、虾枣、扣肉包夹元蹄、烟熏鸭、香菇炒蔬菜、蟹肉羹等等。饮料除了红酒、还有罐装凉茶、汽水、冬瓜茶、菊花茶、仙草水等！

宾客们一起唱生日歌祝贺巴淡岛海南会馆, 然后蛋糕切了都分给大家吃。

卡拉OK时间，嘉宾唱歌时, 宾客纷纷上台献红包。红包里面可是现金喔! 大家都把红包捐给巴淡岛海南会馆作为活动基金, 表现了乡亲们互助互爱的精神。

Batam 1-Day City Tour 巴淡岛一日城市游

Early Sunday morning, together with some elders, I boarded a ferry to Batam island, Indonesia. We were going to spend a night there as we would be attending the anniversary dinner of a Hainan community that night.

The journey from Singapore to Sekupang Ferry Terminal (located on the western side of Batam) is only 45 minutes. We booked a city tour. Together with another 9 mainland Chinese tourists, the 18 of us with 2 tour guides began our Batam trip with a 30-minute stop to the famous Maha Vihara Duta Maitreya Temple, Batam Centre.

It is a huge temple (flawlessly clean compound) dedicated to Maitreya Buddha (also known as the Laughing Buddha), and also has two halls dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy and Guan Gong. Scattered around the spacious temple ground are many stone sculptures of the Laughing Buddha. There are adorable statues of baby Maitreya Buddha carrying a Chinese zodiac animal, I snapped only a few photos due to time constraint.

The Maitreya Vegetarian Restaurant situated within the temple has an awesome and delicious spread of vegetarian dishes. Looking at the mouth-watering dishes, I would have loved to eat here but a seafood lunch was scheduled. Looks like I would have to come back for another visit with hubby.

An elder bought some vegetarian buns, some with coconut filling and some with peanut fillings to share with us. I like the fluffy bun with coconut filling (6000 Rupiah each). Maybe on my next trip, I will try the rest of the buns that have a variety of fillings.

After our temple visit, it was shopping time at various factories and fashion outlets. It seems that a tour to Batam is incomplete without buying the most popular and well known cake of Batam Island - the Kueh Lapis (layer cake).

Available in 4 flavors and costing 290,000 Rupiah each, my travel companions bought quite a few boxes to bring home. Although I love to eat the Prune Lapis and Mocha Lapis, I chose to avoid for health reasons.

We visited shops selling Indonesian coffee beans, chocolate (discovered the chocolate are manufactured in Malaysia, LOL), local products (crispies, snacks and Indonesian sambal chilli) and dried seafood.

There was a type of chilli paste called "Sambal Belacan Gila" (Insanely spicy), it was fiery hot and made hubby jumping mad. hahaha.....

Lunch was served at a Chinese seafood restaurant situated over a huge pond. This restaurant caters to tourists, the food wasn’t anything to shout about in terms of both quality and variety, I would not visit here if I am on my own free and easy tour.

After lunch, it was more shopping but my elderly travel companions and I chose to have naps on the coach, leaving the young mainlander tourists to shop and even went go-karting. haha.....

An hour later, the tour guide brought us to a massage parlour. Except for 3 elderly members, all of us went for either a full body massage or a foot reflexology. I didn't enjoy my "massage" because my masseur was not skilled and I felt she was merely applying baby oil on my body  -_-

My massage session, my masseur taking rests in between to go toilet and to wash hands, ended earlier than the rest. *sighs* After getting dressed, I walked over to the hawker stalls opposite the massage parlour and bought a delicious chicken curry puff (10,000 Rupiah each).

When every one has completed their massage sessions, we boarded the coach and those who were on a one-day tour package were sent to the ferry terminal for their journey back to Singapore. The rest of us who were staying overnight on Batam were sent to our respective hotels.

Our hotel was on a hill overlooking the city. Not in a convenient location, as there is no shopping malls and a lack of good transport network. Was told that it belongs to a fellow Hainanese kinsman and that it was renovated not too long ago. Our dinner invitation would be held at the ballroom of this hotel. We checked in to our room. It was clean and spacious. We washed up and changed before going to dinner with our elders.

At the time of traveling, 1 Singapore Dollar is roughly equivalent to 9,500 Indonesian Rupiah.


星期天清晨我与几位海南宗亲们搭渡轮出发去巴淡岛, 准备参加巴淡岛海南宗亲的周年晚宴。参加晚宴之前, 我们先来个城市游。星期天的人潮不多, 天气也不热, 我们这趟旅游还愉快。

我们和另外9名大陆旅客乘坐旅行车, 连同两名导游, 第一站参观了离巴淡岛轮渡中心非常近的天恩弥勒佛院。这里有很大的佛像，观音像和关公像。 寺院的后面是一家素食餐厅，供应的素食菜肴种类繁多。听说这里的素食好好吃, 我下次再来试试, 因为旅行社安排了海鲜午餐。

旅行社安排的行程相当紧凑, 由导游带领着光顾食品店、 衣服工厂店、 千层糕店、巧克力商店、干粮店、等等。

我这次重游巴淡岛, 去千层糕店都懒得尝，总算在干粮店能买点鱼饼、虾饼。大家几十万、几百万的花费, 绝对土豪！试吃印尼辣椒酱, 辣死人不偿命啊!!

终于逛完了购物点，吃午餐了! 怎么还是旅行团必到的团餐地点?！餐馆全部建筑在水上, 海鲜不新鲜, 只有辣椒酱好吃。 哈哈。。。

吃过午餐, 继续逛购物点。宗亲们在旅行车上睡午觉, 年轻的团友们都下车走走, 还玩了卡丁车。喜欢按摩的团友们, 导游介绍了按摩院。我预定了90分钟点全身按摩 (200,000印尼盾), 年轻的"按摩师"带我去荷兰! 付了钱让她涂油! 气死人!

终于到了酒店，我们住在远离市中心的山上酒店, 环境优美。房间虽然大, 但是交通不方便, 也没得购物, 晚上肚子饿附近没有卖吃的。

回房梳洗一番, 换了衣服就与宗亲们赴宴会。

Guanyin Temple @ Tanjung Balai Karimun 丹绒巴莱吉里汶的三仙娘宫

Together with a friend, we went to Tanjung Balai Karimun for a short weekend getaway. On the morning of the second day, we went to a local Goddess of Mercy (Guanyin) temple as it was celebrating Bodhisattva's Leaving Home Day.

The men paid S$2 for incense offerings and offered prayers to the deity. Several local residents dropped by to pray too. Seeing me sitting in a corner, the friendly locals came to chit-chat with me. They speak Teochew too.

A young mother came by with a few T-shirts of her young children. She requested the abbot to put an imprint on the back of the T-shirts. The abbot took a wooden seal, thumped it a few times on a pad of red ink and pressed it hard on the T-shirts, a square imprint with Chinese characters was formed.

I was feeling emotional as it was a familiar ritual which my mother used to do for us when we were in primary school. It is believed the T-shirts blessed by the deity would ensure young children would grow up safe and healthy.

After prayers, we were treated to a scrumptious home cooked vegetarian meal by the abbot of the temple. The locals were hospitable and kept piling us with food and beverages. They probably felt honoured to have overseas visitors ... or maybe because we are kakinang (same dialect group). hahaha....

在丹绒巴莱吉里汶游玩, 在当地的三仙娘宫拜拜时, 一位年轻的母亲带了几件她年幼子女的T恤, 要求三仙娘宫的住持在T恤的背面盖印章。

住持拿了一个木制的印章，轻轻在红墨垫拍打了几次就印在T恤上，形成方形印记。据说这么做会保佑小孩平安, 快高长大。

我小时候, 我母亲也是这样子在庙里为我和弟弟们祈福。

West Island, Sanya 三亚西岛

The car we hired arrived at our hotel around 11.30 am to pick us up. The enterprising young driver Xiao Yu was moonlighting on his day off.

I had wanted to go to Yalong Bay but Xiao Yu said it was not on the way to Nanshan Cultural Park. He suggested West Island (三亚西岛), Tian Ya Hai Jiao (三亚天涯海角) and Da Xiao Dong Tian caves (三亚大小洞天).

Not knowing where or what is West Island, we were dismayed to discover that we had to take a ferry to an island for sea sports..... and we were not dressed for it. Xiao Yu gave us one and a half hours to explore the island. *Huh!?*

Entrance ticket plus ferry per person is RMB160. -_-

It was a 15-minute ride by ferry. When we arrived at the island, our eyes brightened up. The crystal clear water and white sand!! Unfortunately we didn't bring along our swimming attire. We could buy them but the prices were exorbitant!

There is a tram to bring us round the island but we thought we could see more if we go on foot. Big mistake. There was a private resort where a huge bull statue was located, we were denied entry. We must pay for the tram ride if we want to take pictures of it. grrr.....

Since we did not have much time, we skipped visiting the statue. My brother-in-law wanted to try parasailing. After checking the prices, he passed. hahaha....

We watched some tourists learn scuba diving. It would be fun to try.... the water is so clean and clear. We seriously need a dip in the cool water. We settled for cut-throat ice-cream cones. *long sigh*

Everything costs money on this island.... be it taking pictures with a parrot, resting on a beach chair, sheltering from the hot sun under a beach umbrella etc.

West Island is not a must-visit. $$$$ fly.......

So we had a photo shoot by the beach ... with a busybody lifeguard giving suggestions. hahaha....

Very soon it was time to go, and it was jostling time with scores of Chinese visitors to board the ferry. Glad to land safely on the main land. Feeling exhausted and withered.

Sanya City 三亚市

We had spectacular views of Sanya River from our hotel room. The hotel was recommended by a friend when he visited Sanya last year.

We went out for an early dinner as we had skipped lunch. The bellboy gave us clear directions to a good Hainanese restaurant behind the hotel. I ordered sweet and sour fish, Wenchang chicken and braised brinjal with salted fish. The portions were too much for 3 of us, but they were delicious.

There was a chef from Bangalore flipping pratas. We had a chat with him. He works for two months at this restaurant and goes home for 3 months before returning. The poor guy speaks a little English and cannot converse in Mandarin. It must be lonely for him here and he was glad for our company as he flipped pratas non-stop.

Before we left, he gave us a scallion prata. We offered to pay as we were afraid it would affect his job. He just smiled and waved us goodbye. We were thankful for piping hot prata in Sanya. :)

After a good dinner, we took a stroll back to the hotel, taking in the sights of downtown Sanya city. We passed the 7-star Beauty Crown Hotel which has a record number of 6,668 rooms. The 9 unusual buildings look like beautiful tree structures. I regretted not crossing the road for a closer look.

Found an interesting book dispensing vending machine (24小时自助图书馆). Residents of Sanya can borrow up to 3 books for 15 days with their library cards.

We saw a tiny ice cream shop and went in for a yummy coconut ice cream.

It was dark when we emerged from the ice cream shop. We saw the bright lights on Sanya River and decided to explore it. I think we walked more than two kilometres, taking more than 2 hours to cover both sides of the river between two bridges.

We met many local residents dancing or playing chess during our walk. The river is clean and there was no unpleasant smell. It was a breezy night, so we were not perspiring much.

It was a tiring day, having walked a few kilometres. We had an early night.

The next morning, we decided to have breakfast at the dimsum restaurant located on the second level of our hotel. There was such a wide variety of dimsum to choose from. There was a cart displaying cooked blood curds and innards of cow, lamb and pig, We chose vegetarian Hainanese snacks which were delicious.

After our breakfast, we booked a car through the bellboy. For 300RMB we could select 3 places of interest (exclude entrance fees) to visit and the driver will send us to our final destination at Nanshan Cultural Zone before 6pm.  

Haikou To Sanya By Express Train - Photohunt

Photohunt theme - Yet

We had a long walk along the main road after dinner on the 2nd night in Haikou. We were looking for a massage parlour and found ourselves in another neighbourhood. Saw a dimsum restaurant and decided that would be our place of breakfast on the 3rd day.

The restaurant was crowded on a Sunday morning, fortunately we didn't have to queue. I took a look at the dimsum and found the portions too big. Before I placed my order, the waitress asked how many persons were eating. I told her two. She politely stopped me from ordering when I selected four types of dimsum. She suggested I finished the food first before placing more orders. Thankfully I didn't order much because we couldn't finished eating them, so I brought them back for the chambermaid.

My brother-in-law arrived around noon. As we didn't book the express train tickets in advance, we took a cab to Haikou East Railway Station to purchase the tickets. There were long queues for tickets, I managed to get the last 3 First-class seats (99.50 RMB each) on the 2 pm ride.

Realised we didn't have our lunch yet.

We had more than one hour before boarding time, we tried looking for a place to have lunch but there were only snacks available, I consoled the guys that we could buy packed meals (便当) on the train. I enjoyed my train trips in Taiwan because of such convenient and yummy meals (坐火车吃便当).

Journey to Sanya takes 2 and a half hours. The guys fell asleep on the train, skipping their lunch. I amused myself by taking photos of the villages we passed through.

We arrived safely at Sanya Railway Station around 4.30 pm. The weather was extremely hot. We joined the long queue for a cab to the city. There are buses to the city but we didn't know the location of our hotel.

The queue cleared slowly. Glad the cab driver knows where our hotel is located and promptly drove us to our destination. There was no need to bargain, he turned on his meter. :)

We reached our hotel in 15 minutes. The hotel receptionist and the bellboy were very helpful. They recommended some places to visit in Sanya city and pointed out the restaurants serving good food.

My charming guys got us two rooms with spectacular views of Sanya River!

Haikou Trip - Local Night Market and Street Food

We were looking for authentic Hainanese food and chanced upon a street which was lined with shops and street hawkers on both sides.

Armed with my list of Hainanese food to eat, I selected a small eatery that sells traditional Hainanese noodles (海南著名地方风味小吃抱罗粉 RMB8) and coconut milk dessert (海南清补凉 RMB8).

It was our first time tasting these food. The noodles (bee hoon) were yummy.... the thick gooey gravy tastes similar to our Singapore Hainanese beef noodle. There are beef, mutton and roasted pork to choose from, but only pork was available that evening. I didn't like the dessert as the coconut milk was too diluted, too many ingredients and too sweet. :P

As we were walking back to our hotel, we discovered many snacks which we had never seen before. Curious we bought small portions to taste and chatted with the friendly hawkers. My hubby had a good practice with his dialect.

dried foodstuff  

We bought some food for takeaway to our hotel. There were half a salt baked spring chicken (RMB6) and 4 quail eggs(RMB1 for 4); mini pineapple (RMB5 each); coconut roll (RMB5 for a slice) and one MacDonald's Darjeeling blended tea (RMB28 - can you believe this!? And the open-24-hours place was packed with customers!).

It was half past six in the evening and this local market was bustling with people. The street vendors were doing a brisk business as locals stopped by to buy vegetables, live seafood, meat or some ready-cooked food for dinner.

local zichar and street food

It is interesting to know that we could buy the ingredients and then popped into a nearby restaurant to request them to cook a meal at a nominal fee.

There were several fruit stalls selling a wide variety of fruits. I was fascinated with the huge mangoes. I bought one mango which weighed slightly more than 2 kg for only RMB22 from an elderly street hawker. The mango was so juicy and sweet. Reminded myself to buy a crate back home on our last day. hahaha....

Hainan Haikou Trip

Both my husband and I travelled to Hainan Island at the end of March for the Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day). It was our first visit to my late parent-in-laws' homeland, so we selected 3 cities to visit before going to our village for the ancestors worship.

from Singapore to our Haikou hotel

We took the early morning flight to Haikou. We met many Hainanese at both the airports, they were also visiting Hainan Island. The Wenchang Cultural Fair 2015 would be held on 2nd April, we should be seeing many of them there.

We arrived in Haikou around midday, temperature was 23 degree Celsius - love the cool weather. We had to  bargain with the driver. The airport taxis do not use meters. The trip from the airport to our hotel was initially RMB100 but the driver reduced it to RMB90 after he picked up another woman passenger on the way. It would be scary if he picked up strange men to ride with us. *shudders*

Mingzhu Plaza ..... bikes for hire 

Our hotel was recommended by my husband's friend who had stayed here last year when he came to Haikou. It was located in Meilan district amidst shopping malls, eateries; and easy access to public transport. We were famished after checking in the hotel and quickly went to a nearby mall for lunch. The Hong Kong cafe was a bad choice as the food was 5 times more expensive than a local eatery and not tasty. Ish.

We spent some time (actually 2 days.... LOL) looking for a SIM card but discovered that we had to furnish our passport particulars and subscribed for a package. Before returning to our country, we must go back to cancel our subscription or else we would incur debts. It was such a hassle, we gave up getting a SIM card in the end.

gifts for subscription packages

We spent some time exploring the area surrounding our hotel. We took a walk in a park, found a huge supermarket that sells a wide variety of products(WOW!!), checked out an IT mall and finally ended up in a large book store for two hours.

This is the airport bus from Meilan Airport to Haixiu Road, Haikou city. It costs RMB20 per trip. Found this money-saving opportunity and sent the pictures to my brother-in-law who would be arriving the following day. Ha.

It was evening time when we finally lugged the books I purchased back to our hotel. We showered and changed before heading out for dinner.

Not far from our hotel, we discovered a local market and street food.

Shantou Trip : Day 1

After years of talking about visiting my ancestral homeland in China, I finally made the trip. I went on a 4-day Chaoshan (潮汕四天游) trip in mid-October.

We left Singapore at 13:40 hours and reached Shantou around 6 in the evening. The sky was pitch black when we landed on Shantou’s tiny Waisha International Airport (汕头外砂机场), a former military airport. After clearing the customs, we boarded a coach to a famous restaurant chain in China for dinner.

On the coach, the tour guide gave each of us a tiny green bean biscuit(绿豆饼) to snack on. It was tasty so I placed an order for them  - 20 pieces for RMB25.

Until the 19th century, Shantou was only a small fishing village. It has a total population of over 5 million residents, is one of five special economic zones in China, and its commercial activities include it being the communication hub of south-east China. It is very rich in natural scenery, cultural relics, and folk customs.

We had a 14-course dinner. *burrrp*

It is usual to serve many dishes for a homecoming feast. I sampled every dish. I thought Teochew dishes are bland, these dishes were greasy and/or salty. I only like the braised goose liver, ginger chicken and Puning savoury noodles.

第一天晚宴 :
白灼活沙虾   飘香蚝仔烙   香煎韭菜粿    雀巢双珍宝   普宁炸豆腐
潮汕卤鹅肉   梅园沙姜鸡   清蒸多宝鱼    蒜蓉炒青菜   洋参炖珠鲍
普宁咸面线   潮汕卤鹅肝(全粉）

Desserts were overly sweet!
甜品 :  金玉满堂(糕烧番薯)
            白果芋泥

                                            orh luak (oyster omelette)

The oyster omelette (orh luak) is a famous Teochew dish but I wasn't impressed with the one served in this restaurant.

After dinner, we checked-in to our hotel. After my bath, I went across the street to buy bottled mineral water. Temperature that night was around 28 degree Celsius, I bought thick clothings which I didn't get to wear throughout this trip.