Johnson's Life in Dalian, China

JiuTouShan - LuShun (Beach)

2006-08-03T12:18:00.000+08:00

21st July. It was a fine weather in Dalian. My department at work organised a weekend trip for 40 of us to a beach in LuShun (30km from Dalian town). It is called JiuTouShan (Direct translation meaning 9 headed Mountain).

The view was great. The beach (Pebbly) was quite long and one end leads to this mountain.

The other end extends to this slope. There are a few fishing boats on this end. I guess some fishing families stays here.

Here is a closer look of the beech. It is not sand, they are small stones. The water is quite clean and quite clear too. It is also not too salty like those sea water in Malaysia.

My gang had lots of fun on the beach. But the water is really cold. It is probably around 18 degrees celcius. For the locals, it is nice and cooling. For me... Freezing !!!

That's a jelly fish on my head... It is not poisonous.

And.. As usual.. I take lots of pictures whenever I travel.

Very nice sunset. I used my 300mm Zoom lense to get the sun this huge.

And.. this is the Night Sky. Click to enlarge. You can see the Stars in the sky... Taken using long exposure time (30seconds)

Well.. It was a GREAT trip. At least.. the very first visit to the beach I have in Dalian..

Kingdom of Discovery - JinShiTan, Dalian

2006-07-17T12:45:00.000+08:00

Kingdoms of Discovery. Located at JinShiTan, just around 40 mins away from Dalian Town, a great place to spend your day on a "Disneyland" style themepark for You, Your Partner and Family.

I went on the Grand Opening day. July 16th 2006. ZhangZiYi herself was present to 'Open the Door' to the park. And.. Proudly.. I might be the FIRST Malaysian to step in the park too :) hehe.

Well, the effort for being the first in the park was not easy. Look at the CROWD !! (After reading the paper, it was mentioned that there were 50,000 visitors that day) The que was long. But hey, this is like a Malaysian Book Of Record moment.. "First Malaysian in Kingdom of Discovery"... heheh

Here are the tickets... Priced at RMB 160 per pax... You will gain access to every attraction in the park. (excluding food and sovenirs... that's how they earn money. duh)

The map !! As you can is, it is surrounding a Lake and something like an island in the middle. Well, I soon found out (At 9pm at night) what is the purpose of the island... The park itself is divided into 6 parts... Main Discovery Plaza, Castle Zone, Forest Zone, Factory Zone, Dessert Zone, Toon Town.. (Don't know the real names as they are in Chinese... But.. it sounds like that. (Enlarge the map above to have a closer look)

After waiting Outside for nearly an hour.. I am IN !.. First stop, Castle Zone. Where there are some 'Castle Themed' rides... Flying broomsticks (sound like Harry Potter), Haunted house.. (It was scary... not) and skill games (to win prizes... )

Wow... Castle town... Does feels like being in a castle. There are people dessing in Knight suits and Horses situated around the castle. It is kinda cool. I went in the Haunted House here. The Que was 1 hour long.. and the 'ride' was just 5 mins... It wasn't really scary actually.. My first 'ride' here.. and it was quite disappointing... :( sad..

This is what they call the Flying Broomstick. Do any part of it look like broomsticks ? Beside the fact that it can 'fly'. Anyway.. Malaysian folks, you can get this ride in Genting, Sunway Lagoon, Pesta Penang. Same thing. I manage to get on this ride at 8:30pm (no que at night), as the que for the ride is so long, I did not go up in the morning.

Some fair maids and handsome warriors dessing up to match the castle settings. They are all impressed of the horse.. not sure why..

This is the entrace to the Forest Zone from the Castle Zone. Here, you will find Forest related fun-rides, namely Venus Fly catcher, Tree Top Champion and some other (Check the map above).

This is one of the ride in the forest zone. If I am not wrong, this is called the Octopus in Penang Pesta back in Malaysia. What it does to to spin your carriage, while spinning around the arms, up and down... Very good ride if you never experience a major headache before. (Warning, no intake of food/drinks 4 hours before this ride... hahahah, joking)

This is the Tree Top Champion ride. 2 in a carriage, try to 'climb' up the 'tree' by tugging on the rope in the middle. 2 minutes ride. It is actually mechanical, you do not need to use force to climb it, as long as the machine detects that you are pulling on the rope, it will take you up. and when you let go, it will bring you down. (Tips, how to have fun? Go up and down as many times as you can in 2 mins.. I did 4 rounds.. can you beat that?) Anyway.. more fun for children, especially those below age of 40.

aha... That is the Island again. In the middle of the park. As I said, I soon found out what is it at 9pm that night. For now, keeping it as a secret from you all. No, it is not a place for us to visit using a boat. Hey, what is that behind there ? Roller coaster (on the right) and a tall tower (on the left)? That, is Factory Zone. The MOST adventurous place in this themepark I would say.

Roller Coaster !! They called it the Crazy Cobra. It moves at 80km per hour.. up and down the structure, spining, turning... This is the first time I saw a roller coaster THAT BIG. Anyway, it was closed until late in the evening. I did not have a chance to ride on it. But according to those who went up. IT WAS AWESOME !

My first ride in the Factory Zone is the "TeaCup". It is actually more for kids. Look at the girl (my colleague's daugther). I think she might be thinking :"Hey, Uncle. I think you are a bit too... erm... grown-up for this ?". Anyway, i regret going up that thing, I had a major headache after that. Can't stand straight for nearly 1 hour.

My next ride here was the "Fish Market" . I am not sure if the name is right, but this was painted on the side of the machine. Basicaly it is a Big boat with 2 rows of seats. You are practically tied down to the seats and the 'boat' will spin... Yes, spin to the front and to the back... Hanging you upside down, spinning at all vertical directions. My eyes nearly popped out of the eye sockets... The pressure was so high when you are hanging upside down with the force of the whole boat swinging down.

oh.. what's that ? In Disneyland, this is called the SPLASH MOUNTAIN. I see wet people everywhere. Some of them, because they where on the ride and some of them, because they were watching too close. See the picture above ? The next second, all those people on the stairs were all WET! hehehe...

This is our group picture, AFTER the ride. We are all WET, WET, WET.. It was kinda fun !

This is what happen if you did not get away fast enough on the Stairs and the bridge. I was taking a video with the water coming to get me here. To make it more dramatic, I stayed until the water was close enough, and guess that I deserve being wet. (I have the video, those interested, can get it from me.)

After being wet, I went to watch some stunt shows. It is a mixture of comedy and some action packed stunts. Car spinning 180, Bike flying on ramps. Very impressive setup.

Night came very quickly. And, for some reasons, my stupid compact camera refused to work. Anyway, the night scene was really nice.

The lights, fountains.. and much more. My camera died after this shot. I can't take anymore pictures after this... But luckily I still have a stupid camera phone..

ARGH ! The place is on FIRE ? No.. it was the fireworks.. It started at 9:00pm sharp.. and it lasted for nearly 20 minutes. HUGE fireworks that can only be seen on very large and important festivals. It was really beautiful. I only caught this using my Nokia 6125's built in camera.

Here are some fireworks picture taken using the Phone video. I cut them out to make this list of pictures.

Well, it was a GREAT experience. I really enjoyed it and will visit again in August. :)

Malaysian Food Product found in Dalian

2006-05-02T15:23:00.000+08:00

I was surprised to find some of these here.

Ayam brand can food. It says packed in GuangZhou but "Malaysian Product" in chinese. I was really really surprised :)

Roti Canai !!! .. Comes in packs and you can buy them from SuperMarket... You can have Roti Telur, Roti Ham, Roti Kosong... But no Curry to dip with... :) RM 1.00 per piece.

At least if I miss Malaysian food. I can try these out..

Back in Dalian... and Busy

2006-05-02T13:51:00.000+08:00

Hi All,

I did not have time to post since I came back to Dalian. Was so busy with work all day and night.

Some key highlights :
- From 20th April, I did not get to sleep for 40 hours due to a huge project launch.
- Partying in Dalian is fun! Will share with you all a Bar called ALICE BAR...
- Eat Eat Eat. I visited more eating places... Both High Class and Budget.

Well.. Will continue posting after the Golden Week in China.

What ? Don't know what is Golden Week ? Golden Week is a 1week holiday in China. Yes, 1 week from 1st May - 7th May. By right, everyone is off on holiday, to rest and be with family members.

For me, I am working in a Japan Office, so I follow the Japanese calendar. One thing nice is, They also have Golden Week.. from 3rd May - 7th May.

So... I will be off till then...

See you all later...

Marriage Proposal - 6th April

2006-04-17T10:09:00.000+08:00

Well, my Penang trip was a BLAST !

The largest thing that happens and made News in Penang was my Marriage Proposal to my Girlfriend. It made headlines to 8 major newspapers in Malaysia. Hahah. Let me fill you with some stories of Before the event, during and after.

BEFORE 0604

It was about 2 months ago, when I got this idea and started laying out the plans. But soon enough, I was too busy, I put that aside until the final 2 weeks.

The plan was to project a Video Clip of our love journey, add a video clip of me talking about it and propose. This clip will be projected in the Cinema. And since my company's 'GPTW' team is having a movie day. It will be a perfect timing to do so.

So I made arrangement with Mega Pavillion Cinema Bukit Jambul to work on the plans. With some fee, they will arranged it to be projected, control the crowd and call the media. (Well, good plan. I thought)

And so, it is ON. I went and got myself the Engagement ring from one of the oldest gold smith in Dalian. It's a Platinium Diamond ring. I know my Girfriend's finger size because I tested them using my own ring. So I wasn't too concerned.

Half of the video was created in Dalian before I go to bed each night. And the other half needs a video camera. I can only do that back in Penang.

3rd April. I am back in Penang. I started to work on the video only on the 4th, which is the same day I had to pass the complete video over to Mega Pavillion. I was so tense that day. (I took the day off). Luckily I manage to finish the video by 4pm. (The last few minutes was spent right out side of Mega Pavillion, burning into DVD dics.

ON 0604

The day has come. My girl friend and I was on leave. She did not realise that I have planned all these behind her. Eventhough on that day I recieved a lot of phone calls, confirming about the flowers, movie time and lots of last minute arrangement. I even had one Press Interview with me when I was at home, she was watching DVD downstairs while I did the interview upstairs. hahaha.

We went to Bukit Jambul Complex around 4:30pm. Took her around the complex until around 5:00pm. I was so nervous that I was feverish. Friends have gathered at the cinema.. and there where :O over 10 photographers and media crews. All on standby.

Exactly at 5:30pm, the Video Clip was projected. And everyone was cheering, camera's flashing...

You can get the Video here : www.johnsonlam.com/video/live_proposal_jl.wmv

It went well, She said YES... It went perfectly well..

AFTER 0604

I did not expect to see this news was so hot and it was published in 8 Major newspapers in Malaysia.

Beijing Part 3 - Food

2006-04-02T22:56:00.000+08:00

Every place will have their local food, specialties and attractions.

In Beijing, one of the most famous one is of course the Beijing Steamboat. The pot looks like this. It will contain the Charcoal in the middle of the pot. NOTHING at the base of the pot and you cool all these using the heat from the charcoal, boiling the soup around it.

This is one of the famous Steamboat restaurant in WangFuJin Street. This restaurant is even more special as it serves Halal food for Muslims. (Click to enlarge picture)

Just near the street is WangFuJin's and Beijing's most famous hawker street. You can walk along this near 1 mile row of stall and choose from the many variety of goodies to eat.

BBQ ? Well, it is more like Satay.. but with 'special' stuff. From bottom, you can see Pig's Liver, Then Chicken Heart, the brown one is Cocoon of some big bug and the top most are squids. Heheheh

Here's some good ones. These are little Chicken which are not hatch yet. It was taken out from the egg the last few days before it hatched and made into snacks. I did not taste any of these during this trip as Bird Flu is at large now. Kinda scared but curious at the same time.

(The white one in the middle) Frog on a stick anyone ? The one on the left looked like friend Worms... hahaha.. the one on the right are just harmless cuttlefish.

If you feel that is weird, look at these.... Dried Lizards on a tick.. and Starfish too. :) hehehe.

In Beijing, the most famous food of all will be the Beijing Roast Duck. Here is one of the restaurant. I did not enter for a few reasons : 1) Bird Flu (remember?) 2) I heard it is very expensive 3) 1 person would not be able to finish 1 duck alone. So... I did not tasted any in Beijing. But I sure did that in Dalian.

Well.. that's about all on my discovery of Beijing Food... I will be visiting Beijing again one day. This time.. I will make sure I catch the Great Wall of China :)

Anyway.. My next trip out of Dalian will be to QingTao in May. Will update those for you guys too.

Beijing Part 2 - Places of interest

2006-04-02T11:32:00.000+08:00

Places of interest in Beijing. I won't be posting all the places of interest. Only those I have seen during my Beijing trip. Will post pictures and explanation the best I could.

This is a Church located very near to my Hotel. I was surprised to see a huge church along WangFuJin Street. I went inside, it was huge and grand. Looked very old. Must have been here for hundreds of years.

One of the famous eating place one must visit is this. WangFuJin 'Little-Eating' Street. It is packed with stalls and places to get all the nice and famous local Beijing goodies.

From the inside of this little alley, you can go to places that sells food, souvenirs, beijing tradisional clothes and stuff like that. It is like 'Petaling Street' in KL. But not as hot, double the things to see and the walk way is much wider.

Anyway, from here, I walked to the Imperial Palace, Forbidden City. It is just 20 mins from here.

Along the way, you will pass by the Famous Beijing Hotel. Was established since 1900. Here's the website.. http://www.chinabeijinghotel.com.cn/eindex/fdjj.htm The inside is really nice.

Finally, I am here. Tian'an Men. The entrance to Forbidden City... There will be a fee of RMB 60 to get in. Then inside, you need at least 6 Hours to finish everything. Which I did not manage to do so.. and my legs nearly broken...

Here is the aerial view, The place is HUGE !!! One single building is the size of a Soccer field.

This is the main building in the forbidden city. Too bad it is closed for renovation. Actually almost 1/2 of the place is closed for renovation. So my trip was only 50% worth the money. But still, I can't finish visiting the whole place.

Anyway. this is something you really need to see in the Imperial Palace. STARBUCKS !!! Right in the middle of it ! hahaha. I was so surprised.

This is the view of Tian'an Men from right across the street of Tian'an Men. Notive the Flag ? Every morning, the flag will be raised and the national anthem will be sung. I did not manage to witness this event as I did not wake up early enough in the morning. Hahaha

This is Beijing's Government Office at night. This place displays the Beijing 2006 Olympics's countdown. A few hundred days to go.

Another thing very nice in Beijing. This is the car park indicator in a few car parks along the street. It shows the available parking lots in the car parks.

Okie.. I will be posting about Food in Beijing on the next post. Going off now...

Beijing Part 1 - Introduction

2006-04-01T23:28:00.000+08:00

Beijing, people always tell me. Beijing is China, China is Beijing (In chinese). If you go to China without visiting Beijing... You are missing a big part of your trip.

So, during my trip back to Malaysia, I decided to stop over in Beijing for 1 night. I took an early plane from Dalian to Beijing. Arrived at 10am in the morning of 1st April.

1st April.
I arrived in the Airport and took a Taxi right away to the heart of Beijing Town. It cost me RMB 100 to my hotel. Hotel name "Time Hotel" It is just a street away from WangFuJin Street. The most famous shopping street in Beijing. A must visit place. see the map below.

Look for Chao Yang Men. My hotel is at 'ao' of the lable. You can clearly see WangFuJin just next to it. Very easy for me to get there.

See the picture above ? At first, I don't know why people keep taking pictures of this SignBoard on the wall. Then I realise, it is the words "WangFuJin" in Chinese.

Another very important place to visit, is of course the Tian'an Men, Forbidden City and the Imperial Palace Museum. If you come to Beijing and you missed these, it is like going to Penang without tasting it's food.

That's me at Tian'an Men. I will post more about this in the later blogs.

There are a few places in Beijing one must visit. One of the most important one is the Great Wall of China. I did not have time to visit that during this trip. Will sure make it on my next.

Small scaled models of the palace. Picture taken from one of the Palace Museums. Kinda cool.

One thing about Beijing is, it is full of Bicycles. They have so many bikes on the road, until they have bike traffic lights.

And Bicycle parks to park your bike. Chargable fees...

Ok.. will post about places of interest next.

Mr Blogger on Holiday

2006-04-01T23:13:00.000+08:00

Hi All, I am on holiday from April 1st till April 10th. Will update my blog after I am back in Dalian. (Now posting this blog from KLIA Airport, 10th April, 11:30pm) My Flight delayed till 3am...

Here are the draft I will update you guys on.

- Beijing Part 1 (Intro)
- Beijing Part 2 (Places of Interest)
- Beijing Part 3 (Food)
- My mission in Penang

Then I will continue on my usual Dalian Blog.
Stay tuned.

"Thin Biscuit" Dinner

2006-03-30T12:10:00.000+08:00

'Thin Biscuit' direct translation from chinese which means "Popiah" over in Penang. Well, we are used to having popiah as a side dish in Penang. But here in Dalian, they have a restaurant to serve 'Thin Biscuit' as a main course !

Here is the shop name. It is actually quite close to my apartment. Just across the main road.

They server you Black Rice Tea when you enter the shop. This tea is brewed from Black Rice. It tasted a bit burnt. But quite nice actually.

Here comes dish number 1. Some been sprouts. "Taugeh" or Tou Ya (Dalian slang)
Some spring onions with prawns. The prawns are fried with the shells still on it. Very hard...
Some long beans...
And these are the 'Thin Biscuit'. We will later use this to 'bandage' the vegetables in it and eat it.

I complaint to me work mates that I am having lack of meat here in Dalian. So they ordered "Mutton Sticks" (which is more like penang satay). It smells so good and the taste... mmm... superb.

This is how you 'bandage' the vegetables in the 'Thin Biscuit'. Hahahaha

Sorry for all these Food Blogs these few times. I am so busy in the office. The only time I get to see Dalian is during meal times.... So for these few days.. FOOD FOOD FOOD !!!

Low Budget Lunch

2006-03-29T19:35:00.000+08:00

Today's blog will be very short. Not sure what to write about my Low Budget Lunch. Seeing is believing... Here.. Look at it for yourself.

This is RMB 5.00 (RM 2.50). This is a meal I have for lunch everyday near the office. For RMB 6.00 I can get 4 side dishes. As you can see, the above is only 3 side dishes. And the selection of side dish are always the same every day. 80% are vegetables.. the rest, a bit of meat.

Hmm... Everyone LOVES it... As these are the only food we can get around the office.. We have to stick with it... Sad eh ?

Now, you know why I need to spend more to eat something special at night... As my lunch is so sad...

Seafood Restaurant in XingHaiSquare

2006-03-28T13:24:00.000+08:00

Ever wanted to take a look how China Seafood looks like ? Well, I had a chance to taste some last night. (Camera Phone pictures again. Taken secretly as they don't allow picture to be taken on their 'products')

One thing really nice about Seafood restaurant in China, they labled the price properly, let you choose the product (FRESH) and they will cook them fresh.

Anyway, browsing through the selections. They seems to have a lot of variety. All types of clams, fresh fish, shells.... and....

HUK ?? What are these ? According to a work mate these are "Deep Sea - Ocean Worms". WORMS ?? Well, they are very alive.. swimming around in the bucket... Yewww.... I don't think I am gonna taste any of these.

The orders are keyed into these wireless device. I was really scared to take this pic.. Because from another angle, it looks like I am a pervert. A friend of mine from Xiamen (in pink) was making the order. I don't have a clue what to eat. Too many to select from...

Hmm Dinner was served. Scallops ! And it is HUGE. check the size of it compared to my plate.

Here is another nice one. Roasted Goat Rib. It smells so good and the meat is so tender.

hmm... Snails. I have tasted them in a Japanese restaurant before. And this time, it is even larger. Nearly 5 inch in length, these Water snails are boiled and served directly from the pot. They are so fresh, you can even taste the mud these things are wriggling in all day. Hehehe.

Did you notice the plate of goodies on the top right on the snail picture ? It is actually China's version of Roti Canai :D. They called it "Hand Tear Biscuit" Direct translated.

We also ordered Soup and we ate all these with Rice. I was actually quite full after all these. Darn, it is really good. I don't think I will come here alone as I sense the bill is really expensive. My friend from Xiamen paid for it. I did not even have a chance to split the bill.

Anyway... A good, fancy Seafood Experience...

Dalian's Japanese Set Meal. Bento.

2006-03-27T16:29:00.000+08:00

I love japanese food. In Malaysia, a set meal (bento) with Sashimi, rice, chawanmushi, miso shiru and udon will be quite expensive. Let me share with you the Bento here in Dalian. I went to one of the most expensive Japanese Restaurant here in Dalian. Just to try out the difference in Price. The restaurant is called "Kappo Shimizu"

As I can't take pictures in the restaurant. I took some using my Handphone to be able to show you guys. Do ignore the picture quality.

Here is the Bento set I ordered. It is written in Japanese, so I can't tell you what is the name. But it came with all these.
- Shashimi (The empty plate on the top right, out of the tray)
- Rice (bottom left)
- Tempura
- Miso Shiru (bottom right)
- Udon - Eel (Left)
- Chawanmushi (The tall cup)
- Fruits
- Pickled Vegetables
- Some seafood clamshells.

When I drink my Miso Shiru... Surprise !! It has a Crab in it ! Wow. This must be expensive !

And when I thought the surprise it over, A tray of assorted seafood came. Here is the picture of the Large Fish Roe (I ate 1/2 already). The tray came with Squid/Octopus strips and some vegetables.

And, the surprise is not over yet. The final part of the meal is a Steamboat. And these are the goodies in the steamboat :
- Huge Prawn
- Clams
- Mushroom
- Tofu
- Lots of Vegetables
- Noodles.

I was already so full. Can't really fit all these in my stomach anymore... So I tried to finish everything except for the Vegetables...

Finally.. the bill.... RMB 110 (RM 55) !!! Not bad huh :)

f-Pod Nano (China's Fake iPod Nano)

2006-03-27T08:56:00.000+08:00

I always wanted an iPod Nano. 4Gb of music space, super thin and lightweight. Power packed with a colour LCD for games, picture viewing and whole lots of fun. But at the price of RM 1k... It is not really kinda affordable.

Picture : Real iPod Nano from Apple

Well, anyway. My basic needs were just an MP3 player that is able to hold at least a few hours of music, looks cool and lightweight... and... CHEAP ! (I don't print money in China you know... )

Then, My dream came true.

Here is the look and feel of the Fake ipod nano. Looks the same, have the same metal back. The real iPod have a chrome back, this one is just a stainless steel. It is packed with 512MB. (White one is 256MB)

And the front panel, instead of Shiny black. The china one is matt-black. I think it looked cool in matt colour as it does not have finger print marks all over it. The earphone looks exactly like the real one from Apple too.

This is what you get when you buy the f-pod. The mp3 player, ear phones, Charger-USB, USB cable, Manual and CD with softwares.

Let's check out the functions. This is the menu. Don't expect it to look the same as Apple's menu. It has it's own menu and it is quite user friendly actually. I am a bit disappointed with the speed of the response. But it is kinda ok.

For music, it can play mp3, wma and a few other major audio. Sound quality is good and with one look, you can see the song that is playing, the EQ mode you are in battery status. Quite good. And the one I like most is the Reply function. You can choose A-B, which lets you select within a song, to mark a point the reply would start and stop. (Anywhere in the song, chorus, 2nd verse... anywhere you like).. And you can set how many times you want it to repeat too.. I'm Lovin It !!!

Next... This f-pod can play MP4 too ! It comes with a software for you to convert Almost ANYTHING to the AMV format to be uploaded to this f-pod. You can select parts of movies from VCD/DVD. Your favorite mp4 or wmv movies to be uploaded.

It is also packed with a Photo viewer. Letting you view pictures on the go. Just drop in your favorite pictures, and you can show off to your friends anytime, anywhere.

E-Book !!! I have just loaded my TXT version of Harry Potter 6 into this f-pod and I can read them anytime I want. But what is stupid is, you can launch E-book WHILE listening to mp3. Only 1 at the time. No multi tasking.

Last but not least. GAMES... You can play tetris on this little thing. It is kinda entertaining.. But then again.. No multitasking... :(

Other than all these features, there are the setting mode which allows you to choose from over 8 languages, LCD brightness, auto lights off time, auto off time and all that...

A good buy? For RMB 320. I would say YES !!!

My first home cook meal

2006-03-26T11:55:00.000+08:00

I woke up quite late on Sunday morning. So I guess I should just cook a simple meal before I go out.

First of all, let me intoduce to you a new member of my kitchen. A cute little rice cooker. It is only RMB 38 (RM 19) !!! Cheap, quality is not bad, and multi functional little rice cooker. It even comes with a steamer, I can now steam buns, bread and all the food I have frozen in my fridge.

I actually bought 2x McD Fillet O Fish and 2xApple Pie to be frozen. So that I can steam it for a quick meal. Heheheh.. Good Idea eh ?

Jeng jeng jeng.... This is my first, simple meal of porriage. (Don't laugh at me. I got nothing much to cook in my kitchen yet). I prepared the porriage with some bottled side dished. Salted Duck Egg, Fermented ToFu and Pickled Vegetables. Let's take a closer look at the bottled goodies.

On the left, Fermented ToFu and on the right, pickled mix vegetables. Let's take an even closer look of these...

Here is a piece of fermented tofu. It has some kinda smell actually. Some people hate it. But for me, as I have been eating this since young in Malaysia, I am used to it. Hmmm... it smells so good. And I tasted it later on, it is quite good. Superbly cheap here.. RMB 3.60 per bottle. (RM 1.80)

These are the pickled mixed vegetable in the bottle. It has lots of stuff : Cabbage, Lettuce, Peanuts, Carrot and some others I can't figure out. It is not too salty and it is surely a must for porriage.

So. What a sad lunch I had on Sunday morning. Will buy more stuff and have a healthier meal next time.

Traveling about in Dalian

2006-03-23T13:01:00.000+08:00

Traveling about it simple in Dalian. You can find all types of transportation options. When I say all types, i really mean all types. Even the taxi have 2 wheels, 3 wheels and 4 wheels category... See what I mean down here. (I reused some contents from my webpage www.johnsonlam.com )

Dalian is a very very busy city during rush hours. Cars are everywhere. And you can see Taxi almost everywhere. It cost around RMB 10 from my place to the Office.

This is the 2 wheel taxi. It will only cost RMB 2 from my place to the office. It is nice to take these during Summer or Autumn.. But during Winter/Spring. It's just too cold.

This is the 3 wheel taxi. It is only 20 cents cheaper than the normal 4 wheel taxi. I never took these before. I felt it is so unsafe running about in 3 wheels. And it is also slow and smells of engine oil.

This is their LightRail system. Electric powered. Fast, quiet and driven by lady. (Should be the safest) Only RMB 1 to get to office from my place. BUT. It is very very packed during rush hours. And, if there is a traffic jam on the track, the Train can't move. Hahah

This is the Prepaid card for All Public transport in Dalian. It is like Touch and Go.. You need need to BEEP on the Bus, Train or Taxi and your fare is automatically deducted from the system. Very efficient.

These are wooden restored tramps. I can use my card to pay for these too. It travels different route of the city. I can take these to the beach. Which I will do that much later one day.

These are trains I can take to go to Beijing, Korea and other places in China. I will also try to take one of these to Beijing somewhere around June. I heard that it is a 8 hour journey... Darn.

This one. I will never get a chance to ride in it. Married couples ride this long long long limo to their Wedding Lunch.. They seldom do dinner here. All lunch.

OK then. See ya later.

My Daily Breakfast Routine

2006-03-22T06:24:00.000+08:00

Breakfast... Every morning, I wake up at 6am here. At 6am, you can already see the sun and the sky is as bright as Malaysia at 8am. Anyway, just 3 days staying here, I already developed a routine. Share with you all here.

I walk into my Kitchen. Sigh. Here are the only items I have for now. I will put on the Pot with water and let it boil. (At the same time, I will go for my shower, brush my teeth and all that).

Here are the items in my fridge. I will stock up more when I have time to go shopping again. Here are the current items (Eggs, Beer, Gatorade, Blueberry Jam, Bread, sausage, Coke, Sprite).

Here is the items in my Food Cabinet. As usual, bachelor's best friends are Instant Noodles... hehehe.

These are the items I have for breakfast. (2X Eggs, 1 Cup of Ovaltine, 1 piece of bread and 1 Banana). This will last me from 7am - 11am. Where I have my lunch near Dell.

Ok then. Time to go to office.

Around my apartment

2006-03-21T13:14:00.000+08:00

Today, let me show you all around my apartment. I will take you on the road (downhill) to where I can find shops, food and also Transport to work.

Time to go out from this scary and dark stairs... and get outside...

Told you all my apartment is near to a FREE GYM. Hahahah... Here are the GYM set. Complete to give a good workout to every part of the body.

Take a closer look at the 'sets'. You can do Push Ups... Body Twisting... Bicep and Tricep workouts.... Sit ups... and Running... It is far more complete that those we have in Youth Park Penang...

But there is one problem. It is so cold !!!! Anyway, let's walk on.

I need to walk downhill thru this Heating Factory. I don't know the real term for this building/factory but basically what it does it during winter (or cold nights below 0 degrees celcius) This factory will burn Coal and boil a huge amount of liquid (I think is water) and these will be pumped in pipes to the apartments nearby to heat up the air. (Central Air Heater)... Something like that.

Here is another view of the Factory. This is provided by the government and I think we need to pay some fee... A small fee to keep warm during winter.. Kinda worth it as I heard it heats up the temp to nearly 30 degrees. (That's average malaysian weather). hahahah

After passing the factory, it is very near to the main road now. There are a lot of shops on both sides of the road. Hair Saloon, Food Stalls, RMB2 shop, Internet Cafe, Hardware shops.. and all types all stalls. It is really easy to get things at this part of the town.

Here are some stalls, selling magazines, Camera items, cheap stuff like key chain, torchlights, food (BBQ Meat, Buns, Fried stuff, cakes, fruits and so on)

Well, we are here at the Train station now (Like our LRT in Malaysia). Only RMB 1.00 (RM0.50) to get to anywhere. Very comfortable and affordable. Taxi to the office from here will be RMB 20.00 (RM 10.00).

Alright.. Going to office now..

Inside the Apartment

2006-03-20T10:41:00.000+08:00

Now, let's look inside the apartment.

This is the Floor Plan. You can see that it is very very small. (Click to enlarge)

This is what you see when you enter the house. Actually the toilet is on the left. But you don't notice it because when you step in and close the main door. It seems disappeared. You can see, on the right, that is the living room. And on the left that is the Bed room door and the kitchen door.

This is the living room. You can see a nice Sofa Bed (Snoopy and some Disney Charaters on the cover). A Cable TV with over 20 channels (All chinese.. But I watched F1 yesterday, LIVE). A foldable table that can expand to sit nearly 6 people comfortably. The view out of the window is nice too.

Here, you can see the Seaside. XingHaiPark's beach. It is just 5 mins walk down the road and across the mainroad. A huge park with nice garden leading to the beach. I will be there most of the time in Summer I think.

This is what it looks like if you stand near the window and look towards the main entrance. You can see the Toilet door left openned at the main entrance. The landlord also installed the telephone for me. I can then install ADSL to online everyday at home.

Here's my bedroom. A super-single bed (with new bed spread, pillow and blanket i bought in the mall). It has a nice view too and have a few built-in cabinets. A small desk for me to work on. But.. No chairs... Darn.

Right outside my bedroom is the Waching machine straight ahead and the kitchen door on the right. I have tested the washing machine washing the cloth I used to wipe the whole house. It worked really quietly. (Better than the one I have in Penang). But the water pressure is low, so it took some time to fill up the tub and wash.

Kitchen ! With a stove on the far left, an exhaust unit (very very strong) on the stove, few built in cabinets and a Fridge. The view out of the window is to another apartment across the alley. I stood there for a while and I saw most of the families are old elderly couples.

This is what you see when you step out of the kitchen. There's the door to the hall. And you can see a Huge Mirror on the wall of the walk way.

Well, at least we know that the mirros is working well.. ahhaha.

Last but not least. Something I really disappointed with. The Toilet/Bathroom. It is smaller than Genting's First World hotel's bathroom.

You can see, that's the toilet in the middle of the room and the shower is above your head.

There are no sink for you to brush your teeth or wash your face. So I have to brush my teeth in the Kitchen Sink instead !!!! And comb my hair in the hallway's mirror.

Well... That's the inside of my apartment in Dalian.

Next post, I will show you around the apartment. I will also include the pictures of a Free GYM located right beside my apartment. hahah :D

My apartment in Dalian

2006-03-20T09:59:00.000+08:00

I saw my apartment for the first time up close yesterday. I only saw the pictures taken inside and it looked cozy... Now, the truth is revealed.

This is how it looks like from The outside. 5 storeys high. Surrounded by old looking buildings and dead looking tree (Well, Spring just started, I bet in 2 months time, the trees will be all Greeny).

You enter the building from the back. Suddently, I have a really bad feeling about this. The surrounding is not really 'clean'. Dried leaves and branches everywhere. The cement is old and grey and the railings on the stairs is all rusted.

Argh.. I hate to be proven right this time. This is the stairs going up. Smells funky. Dried leaves can be seen on the stairs and the lighting is poor. Very dark and looks dangerous. I have to climb up to the 4th Floor... Where my unit is. And ironically, this building is also No 4. (Seems like lots of 4s in my life)

Here's another view of the dark, scary, smelly, ugly, slimy and windy stairs. The walls are unfinished and crude. The floor looks like it have not been sweeped since 40 years ago. And as usual, you can see people's belongings been stored on the public walkway.

Finally, at the 4th Floor... here is my unit. The one on the left. (Dark Brown metal door). I really looked bad from the outside...

But.. the surprise awaits you all in the inside... Check out my next blog :P

A new beginning... (again)

2006-03-20T08:53:00.000+08:00

Well... March 18th 2006.

A day to remember. It is the day I pack up and leave for China to start working in Dalian with a new Team in the office and stuff like that.

I have already secured an apartment near the office and Dalian town over in China with the help of a office mate. From the pictures she sent me, the apartment looks ok.. I will SURE to post the pictures and writings on the office in the later blogs for you to enjoy.

My flight to China is such :

Time - Flight # - Destination
2140 - MH1167 - Penang to KL
0140 - MH386 - KL to Shanghai
1050 - CZ6522 - Shanghai to Dalian

Depart from Penang @ 9:40pm.. and Arrive in Dalian at 1:00pm...
It is a super tiring 15 hours journey (6 hours was wasted in the Airport transfer)

I packed 1 LARGE luggage bag and a Large Box for my clothes and computer to be checked in.. and with me, I carry my camera bag and a backpack with my own notebook and some personal stuff. Kinda heavy and tiring.

The picture beside shows that my items are probably THROWN inside these containers..

I spent most of my time in the airport transfer hall reading "The Lost World - Jurassic Park" and watching the DVD "Catch me if you can" on my notebook. Time flies quite fast when you are "Busy"

Finally.. I arrived safely... and found out about the Airport Cargo service quality..

Here is my box after the 15 hours journey... It looks like a packed, seasoned, salted cabbage...

I warned the airport people about the contents and told them to have Fragile warning stickers all around it.. (Which they did... MAS stick 2 of them and China Airlines stick 4 of them)

Let's see if the items in the box survives the trip...

This is my notebook from the Box !!! Notice anything wrong? My LCD is CRACKED !!!

Well, I can't do anything. The Airport did warned me about this... I am really sad.. but only for a while until my sadness changed to horrified !!

How am I gonna tell my Boss ??? (Thank God this is my second notebook and I have my other notebook to use in the office.)

Oh well... What a GREAT START for my career in Dalian, China....

Next posting.. I will show you my nice Apartment....