Jamie Yeng no more in Mountain Hole

New Sandwich Combination

2010-01-09T23:39:00.009+08:00

If you've been following my posts, you'd probably remember I was all excited about BAWANG herbal shampoo from China, endorsed by Jackie Chan. It gives me real smooth, healthy and manageable hair.

Ever since I returned to Malaysia, I had been trying to find a replacement for it. I tried everything under the sun that claims to be all natural and chemical free. However, non is as good! Most shampoo gives you a nice, soft and shiny look after washing but eventually fade out the next day you wake up and look into the mirror. Nothing like BAWANG where your hair is really nourished and the goodness do stay on.

So you could imagine how excited and happy I was today when I found the familiar face of Jackie Chan bizarrely smiling at the hair care section of Watson's.

Bought it right away.

Yoohoo, Bad hair days will now by gones!

Another good buy of the day is the unusual black Bamboo Charcoal Bread @ Lavendar. I've been eyeing on them ever since they started selling it. Well, I decided to give it a try today (if not for the taste, at least the colour).

I proudly present to you Ying Yang Sandwich Combination!

How halloweenish!

The bamboo charcoal bread tastes like your usual soft bread. However, the sight of the colour really conjures one's wildest appetite!

Fillings:

1) Chopped straw mushrooms sauteed with French butter.

2) Sliced chestnuts

3) Good quality Kim Chi

4) Cheddar cheese

Now, not sure if you trust me if I were to tell you it's one of the best creation I've ever whisked up. Uberly delish and light enough for supper. Most importantly, it's very healthy. I bet you've never tried sandwich this way before!

Since we are on the topic of food, here's what I had for breakfast.

Sometimes, I do feel like opening a restaurant to share all my "creations"... I want to give you good food and good health.

It's been a while...

2010-01-04T02:57:00.005+08:00

Ive been following blogs from a few active female Singaporean celeb bloggers of late and they have inspired me to lift my lazy fingers to blog again.

Partly also due to the fact that Ive had a great night out with a few dear friends of mine to celebrate on my birthday eve. As usual, Ive had too much food and therefore too energetic to sleep.

As I laid on bed being too conscious about the new RM100-pillow I just conquered (aka purchased) wondering whether it will give me a good night sleep, at the same time, my mind was restless (in a good way) as an after effect of the repercussion from the first chapter of a book I was reading before calling it a night.

I was too inspired to sleep. I was in awe because how could an elite scientist could be thinking exactly what I believed and wanted to preach all these while and managed to get all research done, with strong support from authorities, concrete evidence sampling from many countries, write with simple English, with a passion to benefits all beings and subsequently published? and landed on my hands?? I mean, truth is usually NOT ACCEPTABLE in any account by the majority or any administration in power, be it health authority, publisher etc! He managed it all and got respected! All the reason why I should get my Phd now!

Moment like this is (awe-inspiring) hard to come by. It used to happen a lot while I was a student, esp. while in art school. I was always awe-inspired by things as insignificant as the movement of an insect or whiteness of a blank wall and thought they thought they same as me... weird eh? I would be so inspired and head filled with creativities and ideas that I had to jot down everything and start making art doggedly lest they will go away.

I will reveal more of this book in later posts.

For now, I just thought it'd be a great idea to start blogging again by commemorating the tough and unforgettable 2009 that is (major reason I was not blogging).

May you R.I.P and leave me alone.

Uniquely 2009

Barack Obama's presidency (we thought he won't make it pass 1st day)
Michael Jackson's death (no more great hits)
Tiger Wood's shocking sex life revelation (another proof that getting married early is not a good idea)
Britney Spear's come back (when we all thought she's a goner)
Adam Lambert sang Mad World (most divine entertaining moment televised in my opinion and almost bordering evil)
Malaysian Prime Minister pronounced "1Malaysia" vision (yet to see any sincerity and progress in abolishing biased policies against non-muslims). The problem is not races, it's religion!
Another level of bonding with my siblings (both deteriorated and elevated)
I learned to view from a parent's point of view (tried to be a better daughter)
I learned to not speak when in anxiety and anger (so that I won't regret later)
Discovered and fell in love with Zee Avi's music (very happy abt this)
Pavillion elevated as the no.1 hotspot in Golden Triangle making the area more happening
I enjoyed and sampled so many good food from good restaurants
Facebook eats up my life
I spent three quarter of 2009 in Bangkok imprisoned in 4-5 star hotel rooms and come to understand what "bird in a golden cage" means
I watched around 10 high quality porns (for work, OK!?)
Because of 14) I gained 5-6 freaking KGs
Met up with friends I haven't seen in years (and felt good)
Being misunderstood and defamed by my people I hold dear most
Realised that it is possible for one to meditate continuously for more than 2 years
By observing others, realised the danger of a pre-fixed mind possessed by those who BELIEVE what they know instead of what they come to know and how this can destroy ones life
Realised and been through that there really is only 8 kinds of sufferings in the world:

the 4 inevitables in human life (pain of birth, aging, sickness & death)
the stress and hardship of not getting what one seeks
the pain of parting with your loved ones
the anxiety being brought about by the 5 skandhah (material, feelings from the 5 senses, thoughts, actions, habits --- because the world is ever changing)
the aguish of meeting those that we do not like

Found my swagger in fashion
Bravely eliminated Taboos and lead a SENSIBLE and fearless life without all the nonsense
Realised how dangerous and deadly a JEALOUS, GREEDY & LOWLY EDUCATED fat woman can be (for she learnt all tricks from chinese dramas)
By observing others, realised how true is "祸从口出，病从口入" and will remind myself time and again abt this and guard my mouth as a SACRED temple for the rest of my life
Do not EVER believe in SWEET WORDS or offering of HEAVENLY enrollment because they say "You are the special one"

2010's Resolutio

BE HAPPY
to lose 3 KGs (find a decent boyfriend, blog more etc)
hire more people, esp for 'adult' department
visit Chris in Melbourne
spend CNY in the UK
complete another hotel project
realise listing the new company on stock exchange
after 7. can hire a driver
finish at least 5 medicine books
hang out more with friends in CHEAPER restaurants
cut down on facebooking
sort out my massive wardrobe
compose at least 1 song with my guitar
remember at least 2 birthdays complete with presents

Pondering Luck...

2009-10-15T01:33:00.001+08:00

I am writing this with tiny weenie bit of resentment and also in an attempt to let go of this incessant same piece of ~~shit~~ defilement that existed in my head which has been bothering me since beginning of year. i.e. unhappiness. I’ve finally decided it’s stupid and unnecessary and I wanted to be free. Free from the discontentment from being judged.

Recently, I have been judged and found pitiful that I am having extreme bad luck and now going through the lowest point in life (or so they thought) therefore it was concluded that I have lost all my senses, conscience and direction to life, despite 30 years of incessant education and self improvements, and have had hopelessly became a mannequin that is under control by some evil forces.

That’s not the worst comment I've ever heard in my life. Listening to harsh comments due to misconceptions and shallow minds are all part of EVERYONE’s life. I’ve heard it all. Especially for an eccentric person like me who always strives to be outright different. I was always being criticised for being nice and sweet to all. They say I am a slut because “she reads english books”. Haha! That’s really absurd. Well, back to the point. However, to be hearing this kind of comments coming from the people you thought trusted and understand you the most has the same impact of a ‘cultural shock’.

A very BIG question mark shoots up above one’s head following these 3 letters W H Y.

Yes, this BIG WHY? has been bothering for so long. WHY? the people I always find comforts in… can suddenly have a complete NEGATIVE understanding of me as if they have never known me before? I didn’t know, the belief in LUCK is so important that it can break a relationship just as bad as money matters. For the life of me, I’ve never thought that’s possible.

First of all, the question falls on: What is Luck? and why others assume luck can play such a role in determining one’s happiness and success. We all pretty much have an idea of what luck is. However, its very definition is as abstract as asking the innocent question : what is Love?

Don’t we all, for all of our entire life, been doggedly searching for the impossibility of true LOVE, GOOD LUCK and SUCCESS? Little do we ever think that they are all subjected to one’s understanding for the true meaning of life and what constitute happiness. Depends of your religion and upbringing, luck can generally be understood as the followings:

Luck is god's gift. Now, by god I mean, something you cannot control. Luck presents itself with no invitation, or rather it doesn't even show by invitation at all! ha!
Luck is your own doing. A good example of the own doing of bad luck is, you have very bad temper and pisses everyone's off. You don't get to share the cake, because nobody likes you. Eventually, your 'good luck' for enjoying a nice piece of Durian cake for the day is automatically disqualified. This is an example of man-made luck. Another example is one has no control of his/her own wicked mind. Or no, let’s say a person with a restless mind who’s rushing to a meeting with his mind all occupied about the argument last night with his girlfriend and at the same time trying to cross a road and has the ‘bad luck’ of being hit by a car. Is this bad luck? No, careless is not at all bad luck, OK???

Of course, the above 2 is too general an explanation to luck.

What I really do believe in is, there’s no such thing as luck. There’s only ‘the condition’.

Why?

Nature does work in a miraculous way, but certainly not in a random mini mine more way. There is a hidden formula beyond the comprehension of our 6-7 inches humanly brain, in any chance, that this formula is understood and mastered, we are already a free man and no longer under the governing of this rule, or so I thought.

There’s a bit of nature, a bit of your own doing and a bit of other people’s doing. That is what I understand as luck. I also believe, if you work really really really hard with all your might, all the time, and with a selfless heart and attained mindfulness, nature really does work together with you in harmony. Reason? That’s the chord that nature plays!

God whispers to you the moment your mum brought you to this world, here, this is the inventory (your body) and condition (your family) I give to you, carry on and pave our own path, I am busy.

Let’s forget about the question why god gives him more and less to you. This is the same stupid LOVE question. Just consider the fact that, did you use your inventory and condition the right way? And AHA, can you see now? The point is what is “the right way”!???

Play any deadly addictive Facebook Playfish apps, then you will know what I mean. Restaurant City, Country Story…etc. You have to take care of the game your own way. You can never die in these games… only how you sustain it. And there’s no way to judge, whether you are ‘dead’ in these games, only abandonment. And no one can say you are ‘dead’. Certainly, nobody can claim their restaurant is better than others none other then the voting of all other anonymous users (your friends are not allowed to vote for you).

There’s no absolute “right way” agreeable to all.

So, at the end of the day, what I wanted to say is to judge and assume others having BAD LUCK, or not enjoying good life, or not choosing the correct spouse, or has nothing in life, or any eye rolling regarding other’s people life based on limited understanding and firm grasp on the true nature of life or happiness, is as bad as saying “my restaurant in Facebook is better than yours.

I rest my case.

True genius shattles expectation...

2009-04-12T17:10:00.008+08:00

That's the comment given by Paula Abdul to Adam Lambert after his performance in week 9 of Americon Idol rocking the stage with his rendition of "Play that Funky Music". I was watching from 8TV across the globe from Malaysia. This week, he has Simon giving him a standing ovation for a touching "Mad World".

Have you ever wonder what would it be like to have the talent and charisma of Freddy Mercury, Elvis Presley and Mick Jagger all merged into 1 body? That's Adam Lambert. He is taking the stage to the best advantage, total self indulgence, showing off his talent and artistry in full power. Which artist in history has such opportunity to show off his talent week after week on TV to over millions of viewers? I once saw a photography contest excerpt that says "we are looking for photographs that make one couldn't comprehend how you managed to shoot it". That is the most common description of sublime in layman terms. It is something so wonderful it's beyond comprehension.
In Lambert case, one couldn't help but to be mesmerized and fall in love with his singing and performances. They are all unforgetable. He knows how to bring the meaning of a song and genre to it's fullest and made you like it even if it's not your cup of tea. If it's a rock song, he totally rocks it. If it's a sensual song, he melts your heart. Johnny Depp has this charisma in the movies and now there's Adam Lambert. Blowing the mind off every audiences.
It has reached a point where I had to visit americanidol.com, for the first time, and unawares, keep repeating his performances on and on and on. It's really magical how he could gain your total attention throughout the performance and for the life of me, how did he made me click "PLAY" so many times??? And how is it each song is so unforgetable in your head? It's so beautiful and bordering evil! And I don't know how to explain, I've never thought such talent could exist! Whether he wins or not, he's one extraordinary talent.

Visit http://www.americanidol.com/videos/season_8/performances/adam_lambert_mad_world and judge for yourself.

KL Taxi, Very Scary

2009-04-01T01:04:00.002+08:00

Read this from the STAR, a concern of which is has been something bothering for quite a while now... I wonder if we'll ever see the day when you get NICE taxi drivers????

Tuesday March 31, 2009

Losing battle against cabbies

PUTRAJAYA: The Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) has admitted that it was out of solutions in its war against rogue taxi drivers.

Board chairman Datuk Markiman Kobiran has likened the situation as a “war with no ending like the war between Israel and the Palestinians” despite continued measures to curb the menace.

“Until today, there is no absolute formula to solve this problem. Do we cancel their permits, step up on enforcement and urge passengers to be more proactive in making complaints? We have done all that. You tell me,” he told a press conference at the CVLB office yesterday.

Despite the increase in the number of errant taxi drivers, Markiman said the board was not giving up because it involved the country’s reputation.

In an undercover operation conducted by the board, only 15 of 627 taxis were found to be following regulations.

“Media reports on ‘samseng’ (rogue) taxis, drivers who refused to pick up passengers and those who overcharged were quite disappointing. Upon investigation, we found them all to be true,” he said.

Sixty JPJ (Road Transport Department) officers boarded 627 taxis in the Klang Valley this month and 612 taxi drivers were found guilty of various offences.

The operation also showed that a taxi driver committed on an average of three offences.

“An enforcement officer boarded a taxi from Pudu to a hotel early one morning. He was overcharged and at the end of the trip, the taxi driver told the officer that he ‘dah agak pegawai’ (could guess he was an officer). But yet, he overcharged the officer,” said Markiman.

During the operation, 432 taxi drivers did not use meters, 192 did not display their driver cards, 144 overcharged their passengers and 103 refused to pick up passengers.

A total of 502 taxi drivers were caught for not having driving licences, not wearing seat belts and driving recklessly.

“Five Pakistanis were found to be driving the taxis. We view this matter seriously as foreign nationals are not allowed to drive taxis. We will be calling the taxi operators to explain,” he said,

Markiman said it was important for the passengers to be more pro-active in reporting errant taxi drivers as it would help with enforcement.

Meanwhile, a taxi operator said undisciplined taxi drivers would not only tarnish their company’s name but also cause losses in income.

“The CVLB may cancel or suspend the licence of our taxi drivers if they keep committing offences,” she said.

She also said the company would seize the taxi or forfeit the driver’s deposit if it received too many complaints from passengers.

Happy Valentine's

2009-02-13T15:49:00.002+08:00

I was forwarded a wonderful flash which has Kelly Chen's beautiful A Lover's Concerto song embedded. I've put it up here. Go on, have yourself a soothing Valentine's, be it alone or with your darling. :) Hope you like it.

Grandma's Talent

2008-03-13T14:05:00.000+08:00

My grandma is about 85 years old. She's an all-rounder.

She's our family doctor.
When I was young, I live pretty much like a Jungle girl. We hung out in the forest, played in the rivers, climbed the trees, treasuring all the nuts and flowers and feathers and bones we found there, made certain trees our 'houses', ran away from turkeys, monkeys and wild boars, scared of crocodiles, tigers, pythons and elephants... ate as much durian and smelly stinky fruits as we like... In those times, nature is our best friend, our best source of medicine. Whenever we felt sick, grandma just had to go and pluck some wild leaves and we would try to chew our life away trying to get these deadly bitter greeny into our stomach, and then... you got cured. Just like that... magic.

Grandma's the best cook on earth.
I maybe biased, but the best fish I've ever tasted was cooked by grandma. The best Shark-Fin Soup I've ever tasted was made by grandma. The best Plum flavoured Sweet and Sour Roasted Duck was served by grandma. The best Hakka stew Pork with Yam, also by grandma. I'm most proud of her Zong Zi - bamboo wrapped glutinous rice dumplings. If you've ever witness her making a batch, you'll be found jaw-dropping. Because it's like magic. You see her start up everything, preparing the pork, mushrooms, chestnuts, salted egg etc, then the next ... err... what? She wrapped 30 of them. And... my god... the rice is so soft and tender and white... it's virtually the dumpling version of J.Co donuts!

Grandma's an artist.
She could just made anything with anything. Look at all these little birdy photos I put up. She made them... recently! She used to make for me, using bamboo, beautiful animal shaped lanterns to showcase to at the yearly Mooncake festival at school. She would decorate our homes with beautiful and unique red lanterns for new year using recycle Red-packets. She will just made anything out of anything.

Don't you think these are cute? :-)
I've always said I want to make an effort to learn all that I could from her... but... it's always the same lame excuse...too busy. I've better start negotiating with my ass now... coz it's really hard to get it to go do some meaningful things nowadays... ha!

Donut Power

2008-01-09T15:54:00.000+08:00

Okay, I didn't grow up eating donuts and it's never my favourite dessert. I'm not American.

I'm a cake girl, instead. I love cakes.
Or more specifically, soft and light sponge cake covered with simple and pretty butter cream.
Yes, those cheap and dainty common cakes that you can get for RM0.70 or RM1.20 from the roti(bread) van that comes around your housing area at 4pm. And I especially cannot resist those with a dot of red transparent sweet sweet jam. Ahhhhh... so nice. It's like eating a slice of heaven! They have the power to cheer me up when I'm really down. They can make me forget about my sorrows. They are my best friends. :-D

Anyway, I'm sure everyone in K.Lumpur who's visited the savvy newly opened Pavilion shopping mall has all been struck with awe how people are willing to queue up for at least 30min just to buy some... err... fried dough with sugar coating? (to please their girlfriends probably..)

I'm simply amazed by that. Can it be THAT good? Or is it the Simpson's movie that's creating all the craze? I've always wondered...

I mentioned this to my colleague, we wondered together. The queue is ALWAYS there. Even if it's the shop's closing time at 10pm. I told my colleague, I really wonder if it's that nice!

The very next day, my colleague presented me a box of suspiciously nicely packed box of J.Co Donuts on my table. Err... what's it, I asked...

It does have a J.Co Donuts & Coffee labeling on it. No, wait... it can't be.

Tada...!!

Oh, 6 dainty pastel-coloured cute looking donuts inside! I can't believe my colleague did that... I don't think my boy-friend would have been so nice....
My god, I just can't resist the one that's all covered in almond man... and the one that's oozing with cream/cheese...err... fat!

OKAY, they are too nice to just to be stared at and I gulped in without any delay! haha~

Oooooo....

Ahhhhhh...

Very nice and soft and it melts like a soft mashmallow. Emmmm... the cream/cheese/sugar is just... so baby nice.

Total satisfaction. I officially declare that, this food is for... angels!

Only if I don't have to queue for it!

Fishy Therapy

2007-11-06T11:56:00.000+08:00

Hmm... I haven't blogged for a while. My readers must have all ran away because of my... laziness. :)

Well, I'm busy!

But heck, I promise something nice for you today. They are some pictures I've been dying to show you.

Tada...!

It's what I call the ultimate pampering therapy where you get the tiny little soft sucking mouth of little fishy to 'kiss' on your dirty hands and feet. They just love your dead skin.

There's even a cute little fat tadpole... can you spot it?

Ya, this 'disgusting' treatment is discovered by my dad. He asked me to dump in my foot to his filthy little pond (which I reluctantly did so being total me and disgusting and weird and adventurous most of the time) and the next thing I know was I'm TOTALLY ADDICTED to it. It's so 'siok'!

You can just soak in any part of your body and they would just swamp in and take a feast out of your dead skin! I tell ya, it's a win-win situation. The fish get fed and you get cleaned... what's better than that?

Go ahead, try it out in your fish pond and share your joy with me!!!

Experiencing Tsunami as a Form of Entertainment?

2007-09-14T12:01:00.000+08:00

What would you do if the police told you a Tsumani is about to hit in your area? Would you stay in house? Move to a safer area? Hope that the warning is wrong?

Or would you:
Penangite A (talking to a friend) : Hey, there's a Tsunami tonight, wanna go and watch?

Penangite B : Okay, I'll bring some potato chips.

This is actually happening in Penang:

Heed tsunami warnings

PENANG: The police are disappointed with Penangites who ignored orders to stay clear of the promenades in Gurney Drive and Esplanade following a tsunami warning issued on Wednesday night.

“Heed our warning. It is for your own good. If a tsunami had really hit that night, those who lingered on could have been seriously injured or even lost their lives,” said George Town OCPD Asst Comm Azam Abd Hamid.

Unconcerned of danger: Many curious onlookers gathering
along the coastal area of Gurney Drive in Penang on Wednesday
night to look out for tsunamis.

Gurney Drive was among the areas here that were badly hit by the Dec 26, 2004, tsunami.

Waves reaching up to 3m pounded the promenade and left the place covered in silt, mud and debris then.

The other places badly hit were the southern coastal areas of Balik Pulau and the northern beaches from Teluk Bahang to Tanjung Tokong. A total of 52 people died in Penang as a result of the tsunami.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) lecturer Prof Koh Hock Lye said many Penangities were either not concerned or ill-informed of the danger of tsunamis.

He explained that tsunamis occurred in a series of waves and was not a single large wave as commonly perceived.

“The people must vacate when there is a tsunami warning. It is very dangerous because the waves often take hours to dissipate. That is why the tsunami warning in Indonesia was issued, withdrawn and reissued,” he added.

It's so Jaw Dropping I've Got to Share

2007-09-11T15:15:00.000+08:00

you've got male

New Rule: When 'Dating' Online, Add 20 Years, 100 Lbs. To Your Partner's Profile

In a bizarre, completely epic, seemingly made-for-the-big screen true story featured in Wired, a 45-year-old former Marine living in upstate New York named Thomas Montgomery visited gaming site Pogo with a fabricated identity: that of Tommy, an 18-year-old Marine about to be sent to Iraq. In a chat room, he met Jessi, an 17-year-old West Virginian girl, with whom he fell in love over IM. There were times when Tommy couldn't be online because he was "on duty" -- but that was really because Montgomery had a wife, two daughters and a job in a factory. Jessi, however, had more free time on her hands, so she would make video montages of herself for Tommy, set to Aerosmith power ballads. About eight months after they'd met online, Tommy proposed. Jessi accepted.

He sent her flowers; she sent him G-strings and dog-tags engraved "Tom & Jessi Always & Forever." Tommy told Jessi to send his mail to Thomas Montgomery, his "father."

Montgomery was consumed by his marathon online chats with Jessi. While at work, he didn't stop talking about her, telling colleagues that he planned to leave his wife and move to West Virginia. In the evening, he would chase his daughters off the computer, planting himself in front of the screen late into the night.

At some point, Montgomery's wife, Cindy, discovered some of the items Jessi had sent. "I cannot believe is that you are living out some bizarre fantasy -- as father and son," she wrote in a note to her husband. Cindy also wrote a letter to Jessi, enclosing a family photo and explaining that there was no "Tommy," only a 45-year-old man, his fantasies, his wife and two daughters (ages 14 and 16).

Jessi didn't know what to think, so she contacted a coworker Tommy had mentioned also frequented Pogo: Brian Barret. She wanted to know if Tommy was real or fake. Brian, 22, told Jessi the truth: Tommy didn't exist. But Brian and Jessi started messaging regularly. And that's when things took a turn for the worse. Brian boasted about IMing Jessi at work, and, not surprisingly, Montgomery started "acting erratic." And one day, as he was leaving work, someone shot Brian three times, killing him. Montgomery was charged with the murder, and while detectives were investigating, they also found Jessi's phone number on Brian's phone, so they contacted her.

"Jessi" turned out to be a 45-year-old mother of two who had used her daughter's screen name and pictures in all of the contact with Tommy and Brian.

There's several things to be learned from this story, among them that one should never, ever communicate with anyone in West Virgina, that no one left in the world, save Ashton Kutcher and The Girls Next Door, wants to have sex with people over 45, and that To Catch A Predator's Chris Hanson will probably have a job for all of eternity.

An IM Infatuation Turned to Romance. Then the Truth Came Out. [Wired]

I Can't Wait to Try

2007-09-06T11:40:00.000+08:00

I've never liked steak. It just very unappertising for me.

First off, it's too much meat. Secondly, very chewy. And... no taste.
Or it is just because I've never tasted a great steak before?

I StumbeUpon-ed this site: Jaden's Steamy Kitchen and she actually managed to made me drool and wanted to prepare a steak feast.

You should really try it out. I've added the link on the right as well.

Labeling your shoes

2007-09-03T14:20:00.000+08:00

It was a long weekend for Merdeka (Malaysia's National Day) celebration. Have you ever wondered what a suppressed artist, trained in one of the world's most crazy art schools, like Jamie, does in a non-crazy, non-exciting, all tudung and all commercial like money sucking satanic capitalist Kuala Lumpur over a 3 days' holiday? (Did I mention alone?)

Honestly, I've been doomed for quite a long while. Trying to act like a normal person and all that. But beneath this all cheerful and innocent looking face... the artist inside me is running amok. Why is everyone so... normal? Where are all the people who are like me?

And I'm not talking about ordinary stupid low-self esteem artists you know. I'm talking about highest of class affirmative and dynamic-forward-thinking-bordering-insanity-yet-not-a-little-trace-of-it kind of artists. You know, those who you fear and yet talent you cannot help but to marveled at. Think of terms like bizarre, genius, ahead of time, out of the box...etc

I think I'm too numb to even think what I should do next to revive the other side of me aka the truly normal me. I give myself 2 months. If the sky is not falling snow or money and if a drop dead gorgeous handsome, rich, intelligent, romantic and sexy Italian man (oh, must know how to cook) is not showing up at my door 8 more Sundays to come, I will choose either

a career as Samaritan : free consultation to meaningful and healthy lifestyle. What am I good at, you ask? Behold my friend, I'll show you the whole new hidden power and treasure of the unseen world nature has to offer. Role options: a nun or a weird and outstanding and super-geng (Cantonese) New Age medical Master. Woo hoo!
fulltime artist : pour my heart and soul in expressing intangible thoughts through visual and audio. To Wow the world. I know I can do it. (It's this damn swamp city that's oppressing me now...) Location choice: London or Australia. Total indulgence for myself, and total enlightenment for people who come to see my shows. :-)

Either one will not be too difficult in achieving monetary returns. I suppose. But before I could even think of doing such dramatic actions, here is a proof of my degree of insanity thusfar:

I labeled my shoes.

Only people who've been affected with madness would do that.

I've not drawn like a real person for sooooo loooooong. Way too many o's! I did the most insane thing by drawing my own footwear. And... if you like it, and as crazy as I am, here's a bit of Jamie/Yeng for your desktop:

Yeah, what a huge favour I've done to myself! Total satisfactory! :-)

BTW, like my shoes?

Photo blog

2007-08-21T16:28:00.000+08:00

I recently made a couple of trips down to Johor to visit a university and also to attend some events.

This is the banner I saw from a Biotech exhibition. My bro noticed the hilarious use of Malay and English together. See whether you can spot it.

While visiting a pilot plant, I was made to wear these:

which is REALLY nice I must admit. ;-)

And....
I saw these desperate banner for a closing down sale, literally!

Really 'cham', you know!

The dying recipe

2007-08-06T09:54:00.000+08:00

I've 'stumble upon' this website and it seems the herbs and spices for KFC aren't that complicated after all. You see, all things are there, it just a matter of formulation and how you make use of it, so true to Chinese concoction as well! The ability to mix and match herbs in the right proportion gives you the magic!

Please try it out and let me know how KFC it test. :-) (Of course, with the right pressure frying lah)

Straying cats?

2007-08-01T10:55:00.000+08:00

I recently returned from JB from a whole new experience trip that energized my blood and veins that I find my home being left un-care of. I am beginning to contemplate the idea of renting a small hotel room since all I need is a place to shower and spent the night...

Anyway, I return home to find there were cats living off my corridor! There is the father cat, mother cat and a little kitty cat.

Well, how do I know if they are one family? Coz the father is gray in colour, and the mum white with patches of ...er... orange and black fur... and the kitty is gray. Anyhow... they were meowing to me non-stop.

I went oh... so nice that there are actually people who welcome me home! And they say MEOW! Well, they are not exactly people, but... the nearest best thing to some moving organisms that can open the mouth and try to communicate to me loh.

I felt loved at first but soon realised it's food they are looking for, esp. the mother cat. Cheh, so much of me for feeling wanted. She went to my kitchen and tried to tell me that she wanted to eat my box of dried anchovies. She showed me the box then came round to my legs, then the box, then my legs... okay, I get it.

So I cooked something for her... of course with the dried anchovies, and little did I know, I'm already "in the running towards becoming America next Top Model"... ah?? oh, sorry, just a cat caterer. This is really what you call, once you start, you can't stop...

I became a cat cook, which is something I'm willing to do, for now! Coz... it's fun to try to cook up something healthy and natural for someone(...er... ok, cat). Gives whole new meaning to cooking!

Okay, I'm going too far off...

Well, I reckon the young kitty is too young to consume solid food and still relies on the mother for milk. So the next day I cooked something real nice for the mother hoping that my sweet heart and soul in cooking the meal could be transferred through the mother's body to her. These are the ingredient:

1) Dried Anchovies
2) Diced Carrot
3) Little dash of milk (cow)
4) Little chunks of whole meal bread
5) Tiny little bit of Bamboo salt
6) Tiny little teaspoon of Tuna fish (for smell)

So delicious, man!

The kitty cat is really dumb dumb, she doesn't know what the mum is doing. She just sat and watch her mum chews all the funny looking stuff.

Ey, you know, they say the innocent always gives the honest answer, probably the kitty cat knows that it's wiser not to put anything yeng cooked into her mouth. Great, that just reminded me of me bunch of misbehaving siblings...

I've heard, but didn't know it is actual

2007-07-12T13:32:00.000+08:00

You know, I've always heard that names of important muslims are freakin' long. I didn't know that is it actually thiiiiiiiiis long.

May I present you Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei:

Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Al-Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Almarhum Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien

Can he remember his own name?

Am I pregnant?

2007-06-19T10:46:00.000+08:00

We hear people using the word 'weird' all the time applying to a lot of things that are not necessarily weird. But last night, I had truely weird dreams.

I dreamt that I was lying on my bed being announced to the most unexpected news: I'm pregnant. There was the atmosphere of X'mas in the air, somehow. And while I was trying to figure out HOW and WHEN I was pregnanted, with all the smiling faces of my father, mother and friends around me, one of my aunties, while happily congratulated me, said this to my ear :"it's not by the man you thought you loved, it's the other one, you know"

What the heck is that supposed to mean? Isn't that a bit dramatic? And the most unexpected of unexpected news of all? While being dizzy and confused, I was drifted to another dream where I saw myself swiping my Credit Card guiltily to buy a really fine rectangular luxury watch with a dark blue face combined with gold accesories, in a super luxury multi-star graded hotel. I was wearing it and joined my companions for breakfast and, oh boy, against the majestic white roman like background (with white drapes and red and yellow florals) the buffet setup was like a supermarket. There were just far too many food and I am not exagerating if I say it was all the breakfast varieties you could have from all over the world. I went crazy collecting everything onto my plate and I think I almost lost my feet because of rounds and rounds of picking.

And you know what? The best part of all: I didn't get to eat any of them because while I was contemplating in front of the display of sausages and salami and etc, I heard a voice that whispered my name and then 'woala' I was transformed back to reality!

I woke up and saw the clock hanging on the wall proudly pronouncing that it's 8:50 a.m.

Ok, ok. I get it. Time to go to work!

*Boy, am I glad that I'm not pregnant!!!!!

Great Quote

2007-06-13T15:11:00.000+08:00

Here's one for all the hypocrites out there:

I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That's deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas?
- Jean Kerr

A story to share

2007-05-28T14:20:00.000+08:00

I heard this from a Korean friend and I don't know how true it is but it certainly is a beautiful story.

Apparently this story is told to every kid at school. Here it goes:

Long, long time ago, about 1500 years back, there exist a bright Queen who's the ruler of what now we call Korea. The story began with her looking at a painting and some plant seeds given as gifts from one of the many Kings from the neighbouring country - China. This King sent over a painting of a certain species of flower that indicate what the seeds would grow to look like. Our Queen looked at the painting and said that, this seed will bear flower that have no smell as she found that there's no bees or butterflies illustrated in the painting. She was right.

She also received a young plant from this King. She passed it to a temple for the monks to look after. As years go by, this plant did not grow into the height what we would normally categorise as tree and it's shorter than man. It's a small trea and that the leaves are the sizes of your nails, even smaller! One day, she visited the temple (must be like 10-20 years later) and saw the tree in the temple (still looking small). And she found that the monks in the temple, though over 60 years of age, looking fantastically young and have in possess the most good looking skin on their face.

Curiosity strikes and it was because, any gifts from the royal family had to be regarded as important properties, the monks were collecting fallen leaves from the small tree and had put them into the rice cooker to be cooked together with rice and served to all monks as a mean of appreciating the royal gift. And, woala!, those leaves are full of antioxidant (I guess) and Vit E that it preserved their youth! So, here you go, that's the story of the 1500 years old tea tree in Korea, which is still amazingly alive.

She then understood the meaning of this tea tree as a gift from the King, i.e. he wanted to marry her. She wrote a letter to the Chinese King and told him that she will keep him in her heart. I don't know why they didn't get married. But, after he died, she missed his so much, she constructed a temple to remember him by. Which, yes, is still in Korea.

What a beautiful story...

Where is Jamie aka Yeng?

2007-04-03T16:47:00.000+08:00

Is this blog over and done with?

Ladies and gentlemen, what a year it's been for me. First I parted my comfortable I.T. job, took 8 months' leave to do my practical in ShanDong, a some where that's no where on earth, striving hard to make friends with farmers and Chinese practitioners who's never seen anything beyond their mountains, got to meet foreigners from all over the world trying to find authentic China, try to save myself every time I cross a road, then I went back to tropical K.L. with all the smiling faces, welcoming neigbhours, with one thousand and one projects lining for me to start the engine, with one freaking dissertation to write, got flown to Bangkok for Chinese New Year, stayed there and ate buffet day and night for 2 weeks, got enough of CAs and CUPs, flown back to K.L. high fever for 1 week, contracted Dengue (ya, should really buy Jackpot already), got the whole world worried about me, the whole world chasing me to complete their projects, me in really bad mood, French Art Festival design needs finalisation, recovering now, not enough heamogoblin running around my body, cannot think much.

Hmm... that's what happened to me loh.

Mum's gone back to hometown, leaving me to survive in lonely K.L. I think will have a lot of Sushi tonight to make myself happy.

CheerS!

Jamie Yeng in Bangkok

2007-02-24T17:25:00.000+08:00

Only managed to stay in KL for 14 days and off I flew to Bangkok. CNY is not a happening thing here. Everyone chinese is hiding in their own little cozy home to enjoy the festival while Yeng stuffs herself to death with 3 buffet a day and emjoying Thai massage every alternative day. Oh... life is so boring... *smirk*

Back in Town...

2007-02-05T18:58:00.000+08:00

...in one piece, of course.

So much of Shandong, China. I had the hardest time leaving my Taiwanese and Australian buddies. Never ever shed a tear for friendship but I did for Shandong. It is not so much of the place, but the people you meet there: people of all walks of life from all over the world coming to China in search for authentic TCM experience and *TADA* got disappointed. This is absolutely some kind of experience.

I miss you all!

And... so much for the earthquake in Taiwan that caused major heavy traffic in China. I couldn't access to blogger.com and consequently me missing in action for a while. Don't worry! There are still a lot of interesting stories in my picture bucket. Will keep on blogging... after all, that's what single people do, don't they? lol

Oh, and since I couldn't keep up with the actual date to blog I've decided to post in real time. :-) I've yet to get a broadband connection in my apartment, so hopefully it could be done soonest. So, do expect more 'meat' to come. :-) Good night.

Found a photo!

2007-01-07T23:03:00.000+08:00

It's been a while since my junior makes her appearance on my blog. She's a nice girl. Well, I guess we're just as alone being the rare Southern species here. There are more people who can speak English here than Cantonese you know, let alone Malay. I'm gonna miss her company and all the free modelling making my monotomous photos less boring.

Just in case you are wondering if it's the wrong season, the photo's taken on 1st Oct. Yupe, it's 7th Jan today. And it's FREEZING cold. As I sit here blogging, the temp outside is chilling at -8 degree C. Damn nice! :p

Cheerio!

2007-01-05T00:36:00.000+08:00

I'm overwhelmed today by a lot of unexpected birthday greetings. Cakes, gifts, FREE nice food, lovely sms-es, touching e-cards and blog comments, good times, new friends, many versions of birthday songs + laughters. I feel blessed. Don't know what I did to deserve all that coz I am that heartless person that never ever remember birthdays. So...Thank You all. *kiss*

My colleagues from KL had sent me, so far, the best thing I've ever found in my inbox. I haven't felt so touched like that in a loooooong while since the demise of someone I really cared about. For that I did this:

Anyone who dares to comment on my rounded cheek and bookish glasses is guartanteed a good punch on your left chest when I'm back. :-p

Otherwise, I love you all. X X O

Tara!

Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2005

2006-09-30T23:09:00.000+08:00

Went to have nice dumplings again today and came home to find a lot of european looking people in military outfit performing on TV along some heart warming familiar tunes. What a refreshment! Some 3D features at last, after all these months of flat, wide, big, pale looking skulls.

I've heard of the grand Military Tattoo before but I've never been to one. So I was thankful they are showing on the Phoenix Channel and it's absolutely breathtakingly grand, outstanding and awesome. It's the performance of the highest standard combined with great endurance, strength, passion, freedom and hope all in the shadow of death.

The 2005 Tattoo celebrated the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of the Trafalgar, during the Napoleonic Wars, which saved England's ass from the French and Spanish, which gave us the 170-foot tall Nelson's column in Trafalgar Sq. (London), in the company of over 200 Royal Marine Bandsmen. It saw the largest gathering of pipes and drums in the event's history!

There were only a few memorable tv broadcasts that really stirred and touched me in the past. There was the wedding of Princess Diana in her fairy tale gown, and ironically her funeral where Elton John sang "Candle in the Wind" that made a hit instantly. Then there was the surreal TV war of 1991 Gulf War against Iraq, in which, a war was presented to the rest of the world LIVE that drove our French philosoper Baudrillard into concluding that it did not take place at all. Then came 9-11 with the Hollywood styled collapse of the twin towers, and, oh, don't forget the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics game opening and yes, of course the last performance of Freddie Mercury singing 'Barcelona' with Montserrat Caballé (how sad...). Now, the 2005 Tatto may not have such a great impact but heck, it was one of the finest gathering of world class soldiers who are also highly trained musicians I've ever seen in my life. Over 100 million people watch this event on their tv set, you know!

Well, the recent walk of millions in the streets of Taipei trying to persuade the thick skinned president to step down was also quite impressive. Gosh, I just don't know what's wrong with this Mr Chen Shui-Bian or Water Flat guy. Is he insane or what? Has he got no shame? Notice how sane and shame rhyme. You know I look up the meaning of FLAT from the dictionary, one of the meanings is having no depth or thickness. Right, that explains a lot, I guess. But seriously, I have no doubt in believing he's got the thickest facial skin a human being could possibily have that even bullets can't go through. The Guiness World Records should really take note.

Enough of the punk.

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo has a great site: http://www.edinburgh-tattoo.co.uk/tattoo-experience/castle.html

Their DVDs will make the best Christmas gifts, ever. I promise your friend/family will be thrilled. But, please must buy the 2005 one.

Acupressure

2006-09-29T10:57:00.000+08:00

I tried seed acupressure today. I asked a local PHD student to do it for me to regulate my liver and stomach coz I wasn't feeling too good after gotten drunk the other day.

I think it's kind of stylish to have little squarish stickers stuck on your ear!

It's quite tender and soring if you ask me. And yes, that's a playboy ear-ring.

Thumbs up for Yeng

2006-09-27T23:58:00.000+08:00

The International Education College, which is the body governing us Hong Kong, Taiwanese, Korean and all Chinese oversea students not from Ang Moh countries, are throwing us a Mooncake Festival Dinner Gathering.

Wow, me so excited. There will be FOOD! And, of course, the incessant supply of alcohol, my friend. No Shandong party is complete without all the people getting drunk. Seriously. No alcohol, no face.

Well, freaking number of dishes is well expected.

I started off quite decent. I know I shouldn't drink with an empty stomach and damn it I forgot to stuff my stomach with evening primrose oil and all the wonderful alcohol resistence things that I know.

People were eating away, but Yeng was crazily drinking away. She was too excited with all the free beer.

Somehow, I still remember the dish I liked the most for the night. It's all the things you can find in a pig. Blood, ear, instestine and etc. It's hot and spicy. It works just so well with the beer.

Well, half way through, we were asked to perform on stage.

It was junior's, Sammy, birthday. She's a Malaysian, so the rest of the Malaysians were asked to sing her birthday song and so we did in Cantonese coz it's exotic to our Mountain East friends.

I think I was pretty tipsy by then because for the life of me I cannot recall what we did afterward.

When we got down, it's more Gan Bei.

And more. Well, I was pretty drunk by now, because my face was bloated and sat laughing on my seat.

Tipsy classmates went on stage and sang more KTV.

I couldn't really walk on my way back.

Half way, my classmate called for help and a bunch of people turned up to carry me back. And I only wanted to sleep on the roadside.

When I got back to my room, the world is literally spinning around me and I threw up at least 3 times by now.

Beautiful Pearl, my Taiwanese friend, and ClockFullMoon, my other Taiwanese friend, gave me acupressure on my hand and feet that corresponds to my stomach and liver. Senior pastor PHD candidate friend brewed Pu Er tea for me. GlorifyYourAnchestor, my classmate, gave me acupuncture on one of my foot. When they all left, senior classmate stayed and running up and down putting on a hot towel and changing it frequently for 2 hours. My god, what nice hospitality!

Amazingly, I regained my sanity at 1 a.m.

The next morning, I remember I was constanly being slapped at while lying on my bed. And that I found a bite mark on my right shoulder. I don't know who carried me home. Whatever happened man?

That's it. No more alcohol for me.

Strong Shandong Han

2006-09-26T23:43:00.000+08:00

One of our dorm's mates is moving to a nearby apartment today. They've got the place, with 3 bedrooms, for 1300 yuan a month. Bloody cheap compared to my single room paying at 1200 yuan.

You've got to give an award to the movers here.

They are believably strong. They can carry a washing machine up to 6th floor, I mean, one man, on his back. And they use this amazing strong cloth to wrap as many things as they can and hoooosh! all the way up!

I know you can't really tell from the picture below, but he's attempting to carry 3 bloody huge suitcases.

Money doesn't come easy, my friend. You should be glad you don't have to earn your money this hard way.

-----------------------------------
Saw these cakes on display. I know it's all full of fat, but they are still americanly beautiful.

Advancing in Sneaking Tech

2006-09-25T13:07:00.000+08:00

I've told you before that we are only allowed 8 departments to explore during the course of our duration here. But the chinese are a weird bunch. They have this "saving face" value which is basically the stern foundation automatically imprinted in the DNA of EVERY single newly born in China that SAVING FACE is the 1st thing they learn before they know how to eat.

The Chinese will double every process with all the papers and writings and signatures you could ever think of. Even for a seemingly mundane things like paying for your purchase at a supermarket, which I'm just too lazy to explain. Despite of the paperworks and rules that say you should do this and that, you could however, not do what it told you to. If you request for some changes, they will tell you the rules and contracts stay the same, however, you are allowed to do whatever to your liking. Just so they have face. Are you following me?

For instance, though they say I can only go to a specific department at the designated month, the Aquarius in me couldn't care less and explore every bit of the hospital. And as long as you don't tell anyone about it, the university will quietly grant permission for you to do so. I followed my Taiwanese friend to the electrocardiogram (ECG) department and talked my way in "Hello, I'm from Malaysia and I wish to learn in this amazing department." and yes, foreigners are extraordinarily well received in Mountain East so I usually manage to barge in. :-)

I wonder how many of you know how a normal ECG should look like. Look at the graphs above.

This is an ECG of a crying baby. It's almost impossible get a good reading coz the action of applying all those electrodes on your chest feels really invading. So I understand why they have to cry so loud. But I always feel pityful for the younger ones for they are too young to be suffering from diseases. They should be busy enjoying their childhood. May all children be well and free of sickness.

If you wish to know more about how ECG reviews your heart condition read this.

Keeping a blog

2006-09-25T01:37:00.000+08:00

I am using StatCounter to get a good idea of who's reading my blog (so that I know how popular I'm...lol)

Here's my network of readers.

Pretty good, I think. And I can tell my siblings haven't visited my blog for quite a while or else they would have contributed 1 more little dots in Europe. And, ya, thanks for your support, my beloved bros and sis! :-/

It's fun to check up on the length of visit and how often a certain reader comes back. The most concentrated no. of readers comes from, of course, Kuala Lumpur. And specifically, my fellow colleagues. Cheers to you lot! :-)

There's a persistent reader from Canada, who is a fish, and one from Melbourne, who's a fan, and one from Taipei, who's as lovely as an angel, and one from Klang, who's a bean. It's been a great pleasure sharing my humble knowledge with you guys.

I also know the all wonderful and wise Tay is dropping off once in a while. My neighbour who's living opposite me is following my impish adventure. There's also 3 to 4 TCM classmates of mine who's reading intriquingly as to how I managed to relate and illustrate all the chinese stuff into English. And not to forget, my 2 special K.L friends: Anna and Mr Dragon Ball.

If you read my blog and I don't know who you are please do leave your comment together with your name. Nothing more I'd like to do than to make virtual friends over the net, especially one who appreciates my wicked sense of humour. :-)

I also find out that a lot of new visitors came through google search; through search of mostly chinese medicine related terms. My blog is listed at top of the list most of the time. So I'm glad to know that my effort is somehow worth it's while in the promotion and education of Chinese Medicine to the English world.

I came no.1 in "cordiceps bullshit" google search. Great.

And also on top of the list for 'bawang shampoo "jackie chan"' search. I should get endorsed for this. Seriously.

And I'm no.2 in "weak lung kidney meridien"

Other includes:
Summer grass, cordyceps "tong ren tang", INFLAMATION REMEDY CHI GONG LUNGS, and sheer magnitude+中

Well, that means, if you ever happen to forget my URL, there is always Google.com. :-)

A word of advise...

2006-09-24T12:06:00.000+08:00

...for vegetarians. Or rather... those Asian vegetarians.

I mean it in the sweetest and nicest way possible. Vegetarians should really try to learn to adapt to how the world is eating and what is REALLY healthy and what is not.

A vegetarian restaurant that serves no garlic, onion and chives

After my trip here in Shandong, I was exposed to a weird culture that's going on among our youngsters: being a vegetarian that does not eat all the plants and veggies. That is to say they refrain from the consumption of egg, onion, garlic and chives because they are considered to be the same as consuming meat.

Menu with all the wonderful chinese
names but have not a clue what they are

I'm an Aquarius at heart, meaning the most open minded horoscope that care the least about other people's business, but she's a great humanitarian as well, and having observed the pathetic hermitic lifes our young and innocent Chinese Buddhist boys are leading, I feel the need to express my views.

When you don't eat garlic or onion or chives or egg, you are automatically making life difficult for all the people around you. Unless your family members are doing the same as you are, you are basically shutting yourself off from the world.

First off, no one can invite you to their gatherings that involve eating. And then, when they do want to dine with you, they all have to go to a place that is suitable for you but not what they like to eat. And then, if they want to cook for you, they have to cook something else for you that they won't be eating. Think of cooking for a pet or a maid. And then, if you are lucky enough to get a girl-friend despite all the fussiness in your eating habit, she has to convert to your eating style as well.

The ONLY nice food in the
restaurant: caramelised mushroom

I have much respect for vegetarians. But I think you've got to be flexible in holding your beliefs. Making life difficult for people around you is not really the main point of being a vegetarian. And eating meat is not really a sinful thing. Please be wise and conduct a more thorough research on food, how to eat, basic physiology and what it means being around people before commiting yourself to something that's based entirely on what other people told you to be good. Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammed and Buddha were not vegetarians, at least I believe they are not. Do you want to know who's the FAMOUS vegetarian? It's Adolf Hitler. Ok, I think I'm over-doing it now. But you know my point.

Shutting yourself off from the world at the age of 20+ is the most absurd and pitiable thing in the world to do. I noticed that these guys don't have any friends. They don't know what's going on in the world. And if they do, they hate what's going on in the world. They don't know how to socialise and do not know how to deal with everyday's life issues that involves human beings. They think all the rest of the people are unsuperior. They hope everyone is kind, pretty, honest and a vegetarian. They are basically living in delusion. They don't have the correct view of the world! Do you think you can find happiness at all? On the contrary, you will get disappointed all the time because you are holding to a erroneous Utopia.

Now, if being a vegetarian doesn't make you any happier or wiser, I strongly recommend you to think twice the value in doing so. Having a 'clean' body but head's not levelled, that's just making things worse. That's exactly what you get while visiting all the ancient tourist spots in China, you are just looking at something that the Chinese think are great treasures but do not know what they really mean in actual.

Do not get me wrong. Being a vegetarian does have it bright sides. But you've got to be all educated to do so and it's pattern differentiated, wholy dependant on your body build and how well you are able to come up with the all healthy and suitable comsumption everyday. My main point being: do whatever you want but make sure it's beneficial in a wider scope and that you have a full understanding of it. Nothing gets on my nerves more than those that shut their own windows to the wonderful world of morning sunshine.

Again, I mean to express my views in the nicest and kindest way possible.

p/s There's another drawback on being a vegetarian: NO MORE CAKES. And that's unbearable.

Cooked today

2006-09-23T18:01:00.000+08:00

I cooked lunch today. It has been quite a while since I cook for people. Being one of the rare Hakka species around I bet a lot of people haven't tried the Hakka steamed aubergine/eggplant topped with minced meat fried with fermented yellow bean, so I conjured up such dish. :-p

For your info, most people here are either Hokkien or Montain Eastor, so... you know how special I am. And everytime I run into a historian here, they will start to illustrate enthusiatically that the Hakka were the original Chinese people. And that he/she is proud to know one... i.e. me. I'm like... there are lots of them in the South, my friend!!!! I have not an idea how original I am, but I know I'm special. :-)

Anyone misses my cooking? Oh boy, I think I long to be a chef. Or at least it's a good outlet for me to fullfil the artistic need to use my hand to create things.

Quite a nice day

2006-09-22T17:52:00.000+08:00

Went in for clinical practice in the morning. There was a patient with
多囊卵巢综合征（polycystic ovary syndrome, PCOS；Stein-Leventhal Syndrome；sclerocystic ovary disease）. Well, I'm not sure what is it exactly in english, but you get the idea. Basically, it's about female patients with high testosterone levels which, besides stimulate more hair body growth, acne, mood swings, it affects menstrual period. So, after years of medication, this young lady, aged 20 decided to stop all oral medication and give acupuncture a try. According to my physician, it can work. So I'd like to stick around and see the result.

Later off in the afternoon, one of the famous surgeons of the hospital bought me lunch. And he invited all his disciples. Hell, I'm so honoured.

And am I glad to tell you that, of all these lads there, so-called Shandong men, I managed to GAN BEI to everyone and not even in a single bit drunk. These guys are all dizzy fizzy after the meal. They were like "Yo, girls that are trained in London are really strong drinker! I surrender!"

Gee... you've got to be proud of your Malaysian friend here!!!!!

Later half of the afternoon I hang out with my Taiwanese buddies. We played baseball. It's fun. :-)

Later off, I took a little walk around the campus. There were a lot of people playing basketball. And the court is so BIG. There were more than 12 courts. And you keep hearing balls bouncing off the floor.

And this is the bit my friend. The talk of the day. DID YOU KNOW? Local students don't have bathroom of their own. They have to go to the public bathroom. And it's NOT open everyday.

It's only open 2 bloody days. It's not even the WHOLE day, it's only from 4:30 pm tp 7:00pm. Yes, that's your only chance to clean your filthy body.

No wonder I always find that they smell a bit funny. I thought I was being prejudice, but, my god, they only take bath 2 times a week. Even during Summer time! At bloody 42 degree C. I'm so glad I have the MONEY to enjoy as many bath as I like everyday. Cherish, my friend. Cherish what you have now.

What they keep in their rooms...

2006-09-21T17:38:00.000+08:00

is really out of the world.

I've been hearing bird chirping away everynow and then for a couple of days already but I couldn't be sure how's that possible.

So I knocked on my next door neighbour and yes, he's got 2 parots in his room!

How cute.

Beijing... day two

2006-09-17T16:06:00.000+08:00

Well, this is the 2nd day and also the last day in Beijing because we needed to head back to Jinan so that I don't miss work on Monday.

Our train is scheduled at 10p.m so we have plenty of time to hang around town. We had a horrible breakfast at the hotel. It was worse than my youngest brother's first attempt to cook. All the roti canai looking things are cold and hard, the rest of the stuff were either too salty or tasteless. Don't even mention colours or texture. I wouldn't even call them food.

On the other hand, Guo Yi Tang bought us a terrific lunch later on. One which I would refer to the BEST so far I've ever tried in China. And DAMN IT, my phone memory was full! I thought I've taken all the wonderful pictures of those unbelievably delicious and good looking food, later which I came home to find that I didn't have any single fxxking one saved! Do you know how much food they ordered for the 6 of us? It's 20 over dishes and EACH and EVERYONE of them was so amazingly delicious and delicate. Why didn't I bring my extra memory card???????

After the amazing treat of food, someone suggested we go to Yong He Gong 雍和宫, which is near where we were.

Well, that's the only picture of me for the day. And obviously someone doesn't want to be seen. So I have to fade him away and no, I don't look like Chan Miu Ying. Thank You!

So what is this Yong He Gong place? To tell you the truth, I don't really care and not in the slightest interested. If you ever want to visit China my friend, I suggest you go places that are more of a natural reserves or that is not a tourist attraction. Everything is so commercialised and hence soul-less in China now. You will just be paying to see some empty buildings with so-called nice architecture. I feel exasperated.

But if you really want to find out what Yong He Gong is, click on the photo below.

I have not a clue what this object is, but I guess it's an imitation of heaven or some sort. It's kind of beautiful so I thought I'll take a pic of it.

Yong He Gong claims with pride that they have the biggest carving of the Future Buddha using one big White Sandal Wood tree. It's pretty amazing though, if you ask me. One whole tree woh!

It's listed in the Guinness World Record standing at 26 metre.

And this is the buddha. It's obviously too high for me to even have a proper look at his upper abdominal. He's like a giant and I felt like hugging him. :-) He's the only thing in BJ I saw that's remotely touched my heart.

There were a lot of tourists and I wonder if they feel the same as I do about the whole China without a soul and being so empty kind of feeling. I feel sad for a country that was once one of the cradles of civilisation.

While I waited for my fellow companions, I notice there were a couple of old Ginkgo trees around and were all filled with cute vanilla coloured Gingko. How I wish I could steal some and have a try. So much for the legendary fruit and its leaf.

We went shopping for the later part of the day. My god, each shopping complex is so big I will never ever be able to browse through everything!

Everyone felt tired after the brief but exasperating shopping experience. Basically, it's hard to find anything fashionable unless your definition of fashion includes bad taste in colour scheme and mix-matching the jack union in everything in an attempt to make things look westernised.

Well, I, however, managed to buy myself a pair of girly suede boots.

Of all the colours, I chose pink. That's so unlike me, but I feel young and pretty now so I am going to do all the pink stuff I've missed when young. :-p hehe. Oh, it's only RMB180 by the way! What a bargain! That should keep me warm during the winter.

We went back to Wang Fu Jing to search for food. And came across a signage that says FOOD STREET. And there's nothing more Yeng/Jamie likes more than the word FOOD.

Again, there were so many choices that I had to make 2-3 rounds checking on everything single stall just to make sure I will be picking the best. I ended up having Korean Seafood Pancake but the Yun Nan Bamboo Rice is looking good.

After my satisfying meal. We took the public bus to got to the train station, which is near Wang Fu Jing. I'm thrilled because I get to sleep on one of those cool beds. There were 3 levels and we've all got the 2nd level.

The journey was about 6 hours and as cool and exciting as it looked, I couldn't sleep the whole night and was basically nerve breaking because there was this bloody fellow below me that snored so hard like a pig that he could have snored the whole China up. What karma do I owe him to deserve this?

That's it, I'm gonna take the plane next time.

Beijing... day one (night)

2006-09-16T23:59:00.000+08:00

After visiting Guo Yi Tang 国医堂，we head back to the FREE accommodation provided by them.

It's a 3 star hotel and a double bedded room is priced at RMB 480. Crazy. And, it looks a bit middle eastern if you ask me. But nice overall because it's free.

We chit-chatted a bit and slept for about 20 minutes after which we went out to explore Beiijing at night.

We took the public transport and I'm well too impressed by their buses. It's like 3 buses being connected into 1. It's bloody long.

Then we took the underground tubes. It's kind of complicated because a lot of reading is required.

Here you go, Chinese underground tube.

We arrived at the Forbidden City. Of course, it's already closed by this time of day. But it's beautiful.

Then we went to the famous Wang Fu Jing, the chinese equivalent of London's Oxford Street I believe.

And, friend, do you miss me? I must say I don't look like myself in this photo.

Hidden in Wang Fu Jing is the famous Gourmet Street. Unfortunately, my batt went flat so I couldn't share all the fantastic food here. But if you ever visit Beijing, please do not forget to drop by this food haven.

Beijing... still bloody day one

2006-09-16T23:38:00.000+08:00

Well, we are still in the Museum of Chinese Medicine. And sorry I took so long to continue coz, err... you know, the same excuse.

Anyhow, I found a shocking fact about the average lifespan of the chinese in the 40's, it's only up 30 year old!

Can u imagine that after going through all the hardship of life and then bang! time's up! Good lord, that's really saddening.

We later visited the famous Guo Yi Tang 国医堂。I really don't know much about it but apparently it's as prestigious as the Tong Ren Tang 同仁堂。It seems that Guo Yi Tang is famous for it's treatment and Tong Ren Tang for it's medicine. So I really don't know, these are just local opinion. I don't give much care to other people's opinions when it comes to quality and taste. You've got to find out yourself you know. Whenever people tell me the most sold out things are the best, I always reply sarcastically: "Yupe, Proton is also a no.1 selling car in M'sia." Say, The Bodyshop and L'Occitane. Most people will tell you The Bodyshop is much more famous than L'Occitane. But heck, if you ask me, L'Occitane deserves much better fame than The Bodyshop. Fame and popularity aren't the best way to judge the quality of things, my friend.

Having said that, I'm well impressed by all the TCM doctors available at Guo Yi Tang. My eyeballs almost popped out when I read their brief CVs.

I cannot believe my eyes when I read that this TCM doc's family has already passed down more than 19 generations of TCM knowledge. He's the 20th generation. The sheer magnitude of that shivers me. I wonder if he's like... very very good?

Guo Yi Tang is beautifully decorated with the expected ambience of a classic high class chinese wooden carving sort of style, which of course, irritates my local PHD seniors. You'd be surprised to hear that the younger generations here LOATHE anything traditional. I was going all excited and complimented how beautiful the place is and this PHD candidate went "Yuck, so old fashion, it's not modern at all." In chinese, of course.

Remember not so long ago I sprained my ankle? I was telling my local classmates that I couldn't be possibly walking in the rain because that will worsen it, and they gave me a look that will no doubt be on my top 10 list of the Most Unpleasant Experience in China. "Yeng, that is absolute bullshit." I was like.... HUH??? Didn't they like study it? It was like one of the most important concepts of Wind-Cold and Dampness attack. Du Hou Ji Sheng Tang 独活寄生汤 is such good an example that has been formulated to deal with these kind of conditions. I'm flabbergasted.

We also visited their other branch which is much bigger.

It's really intriquing how you can mix classical chinese furnishing with people in white coats. I like it. It's so... new age. :-) See pictures below.

Nice? What is an ideal interior design for a TCM hospital? any comments?

Beijing... still day one

2006-09-16T19:47:00.000+08:00

You should have known by now why I am so pious about TCM (Traditonal Chinese Medicine). How can one not be intriqued by all the peculiar herbs and the subtle power they hold that can work magic on you? It's a knock-out!

Brass Acupuncture Man

We are still at the Museum of Chinese Medicine. Cordiceps, no 't', an overly famous herb in Malaysia, which is, on the contrary, rarely used in China. In fact, I've never seen it used in our hospital. Somehow, most of the Tibetan herbs are not favourite items here. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the chinese lack the concept of BU 补, you know, replendish, compared to us in the South and that, they are not as rich. I made some herbal soup for dinner the other day and my local classmate thought I was crazy, "why are you putting medicine in your soup?"

These are cordiceps. Well, fake ones. Note: cordiceps should be spelled without t, sorry my mistake.

So how do you differentiate real and 'pirated' cordiceps?

Well, before that I need to educate you on the arousing interesting story of Cordyseps.

It's real name is Cordyceps Sinensis (CS). CS is acutally a fungus that invades the underground caterpillar of ghost moth. It devours scarily on the host tissue overtime and eventually replacing the caterpillar body with fungal tissue. Thus, the shape of CS looks like some kind of caterpillar. Now, this is how you differentiate the real and fake ones. Once it's consumed its host entirely, it would have, by this time, grown a usually columnar fruiting body that reaches the surface and releases spores. So the CS that we use for medical pupose is really the carcass of a caterpillar and the fruiting body of CS.

Get it?

Other names for CS include: Chinese Caterpillar Fungus, Cordyceps Sinensis Mushroom. And the most interesting one, of course, is its chinese name. Well, the chinese way of saying and naming things gets things accross in a more pictorial way. It's called Winter-worm, Summer-Grass 冬虫夏草 Dong Chong Xia Cao. As mentioned above the fruiting body (fungus) and the worm (caterpillar) are used together. And it's been observed that the caterpillar gets invaded in winter and by the time it's summer, it's turned into some kind of decomposed dung. So, it's a winter worm that turns into grass in summer. Because it's both an animal and a plant, it's believe to hold special medical properties that could balance Yin and Yang. Imagine how cheese, wine, beer and soy-sauce are made. All these super nutritious food are being comsumed by some kind of fungus, you know. It's been known to most chinese housewives that it can restore energy, promote longevity, stimulate the immune system, and to improve quality of life. Now you know why your mum nags you to drink her cordyceps soup. Ancient records claim that it is beneficial for the heart, circulatory system, liver, kidneys, respiratory system, and sex organs. In modern medicine, it's been widely used to relieve asthma, increase lung function, boost libido and sexual function, and improve athletic performance. HOW COOL IS THAT?

In short, CS a perfect immune booster. Having said that, it's NOT MEANT for fit and healthy people. Please do not feed your healthy kids immune booster, that includes all the vitamin tablets etc. I beg you. That will be against the golden rule of TCM, i.e. balancing of Yin and Yang. Always stick to the rule that too much of anything is never good for you.

Well, except cakes. :-p

The next interesting I want to show you is Pumpkin Seeds, NAN GUA ZI 南瓜子. It's sweet, and belongs to the Large Intestine and Stomach Meridians. And guess what it can do? It can expel parasites (tape worms, round worms, schistosomiasis), alleviate stomach pain. Ya, don't you ever look down on pumpkin, my friend. And no, don't you ever dare throw away all your pumpkin seeds again.

Gosh, that's a lot to say for today. Err... and I'm tired. I reckon I need some Winter-worm, Summer-Grass. :-)

I'll leave the rest for the next posting.
Till then, good night!

Saya Pergi Ke Beijing - Hari Pertama

2006-09-16T11:32:00.000+08:00

HELLO, WORLD! I'M BACK!

I owe it to you to explain that I do not update on the actual date. Err... nope, what I mean is, I could be writing on 8th Nov for a 16th Sept's blog entry. I intend to archive my activities in Jinan as a diary entry. Of course, one which I didn't write on the actual day itself. :-) So you get it now? Me not lazy, me only being confusing. CHEERS!

Ya, I pergi ke Beijing hari ini (16th Sept). Bukannya I tak pernah pergi ke kota besar ini, tetapi ini betul betul satu travel experience yang saya tidak akan lupa.

For a start, I don't know why I feel like writing in Malay, maybe I was thinking about my siblings... we speak a mixture of English, Malay, Hakka, Cantonese and Mandarin. Weird, aren't we?
Y:"Ah Moi, mana itu buku saya?" (Malay)
S:"How I know, you always DAI TAO HA." (English + Canton)
Y:"BU YAO ZHE YANG JIANG WO LAH." (Mandarin)
S:"NGM DI DAO AH, cari sendiri." (Hakka + Malay)
Y:"HAO SHOI AYO, BONG NGAI CHIM LAH." (Hakka)

Sometimes, I truely marvel the special language we speak.

Anyhow, back to Beijing. :-)

I made a trip to Beijing to visit Beijing University of CTM and Guo Yi Tang 国医堂 (a well established TCM medical centre.) This would be my first time travelling in chinese railway system. I've told myself not to expect anything too high a standard just in case I'll be complaining too much in my blog again. But really, it wasn't too bad. The trip to Beijing, from Jinan, took about 4 hours. And the sight of railway station just made me miss London thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much.

We've got the so-called cushioned seats. Not too bad, I'd say, it just that I was relieved that my mum didn't give me a butt too big. Anyhow, can you spot those people standing at the far end in the picture above? Yes, those poor people... have to stand all the way to beijing. You see, in China, if you didn't book your ticket early enough, you'll end up paying for the same price as others BUT without a seat.

This charming guy has got no seat as well. But he's not all so unhappy. For he found some weird accents and was interested in what we think of China and thus he joined in our stupid conversations and had the greatest time standing all the way to Beijing.

Maybe I'm just dumb but I really cannot comprehend why people need to take the train where air transport is a much more comfortable and efficient choice in terms of speed. The arguement always goes that, if you take the train you can see the beautiful scenery along the way. Err... HELLO, there's no beautiful scenery whatsoever OK! Just a vast of dried grassland and some unattractive rivers along the way. I'm as bored as a poo wrapped in cellophane...

And if you try to tell me taking train is more economical, try to think of the precious hours that you lost on rail.

We arrived at Beijing at 11:30 a.m. and was overwhelmed by the massive crowd blocking the exit.

And we were welcomed by a 'high profile personnel' of 国医堂 with the usual freaking eat-until-you-drop welcoming meal. Ya, all these for only 4 of us. Good lord. For the first time, I felt damn guilty for not being able to finish all the food. In China, you've got to learn to appreciated the phrase the more the merrier; i.e. it's not always the more the merrier!

After the torturing meal, we were escorted to Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, where they were celebrating their 50th anniversary.

Doesn't look as impressive as I've anticipated, but I was damn excited when I visited their Museum of Chinese Medicine.

They've got all the amazing herbs on display. And one couldn't help but to wonder how on earth our anchestors had come to know the detailed medical property of all these naturally found entities. I have high regards to tradition and antient wisdom that has passed down to us for they've walked thousands of year. The magnitude of that is undeniably beckoning.

Calculus of the gasto-intestinal tract or the urinary bladder of horse is the first on display. Once again, one really had to be marvelled by how chinese name things. It's called MA BAO - treasure found in a horse. Well, it's not everyday one can find such a BALL inside a horse. A true treasure indeed. And holy cow, this is really huge. What could a horse has possibly eaten that made it to produce such a huge calculus? Imagine the pain of carrying such a stone inside you. I know our curious Sook Fan must be blinking her eyes with all the question marks now. Alright, horse's calculus is used for ..............

Damn it! ok, I admit it. I don't know. I've never used it before. But I did find something from the incredible invention of the 20th Century: the internet - Horse Calculus is used mainly for mental illnesses. And it's claimed to be effective in cases where your body is infested with EXTREME HEAT. Ya, highly recommended for all the single people out there... haha... just KIDDING.

It's also being used to 行血、消肿、益肾, aid blood circulation to reduce inflamation or water retention and, what am I not surprised, also good for your kidney.

So, next time when your friend goes a bit nutty you can tell him/her: "Hey, you need a bit of horse calculus."

You've heard this FIRST on jamieyeng.blogspot.com.

*smug*

And then we've got the dog calculus, called the GOU BAO - treasure found in a dog. It's a mystery how the chinese come to find stuff from sick animals to be useful. But all in all, animal's calculus seem to have the same COOLING property that can calm your YANG. And here's an article I found about it:

狗宝是狗的胃结石、膀胱结石和胆结石。天然狗宝由蛔虫带入大肠杆菌进入狗胆道形成；异物狗宝由异物在胆囊中形成；胆固醇狗宝因胆液中胆固醇过剩形成。
　　“狗宝”与“马宝”、牛黄齐名，合称“中药三宝”。“中药三宝”在祖国医学发展史上占有极其重要的地位，是祖国中医药宝库中的三朵绚丽多彩的花朵。
　　狗宝性平，味甘咸，有降逆气、开郁结、清疳积、解疮毒和止痛经等作用，能清心开窍、镇肝熄风，主治噎嗝反胃、胸胁胀痛、胸脯腹胀、痈疽疔疮等症。狗宝的化学成分复杂，至今尚未完全弄清，已知者为胆红素、胆酸、碳酸钙、碳酸镁和磷酸钙，及多种有机酸和多种活性酶等。
　　随着中医药走向世界，“中药三宝”成为供不应求的“热门货”，于是假冒伪劣品应运而生，很有必要学习真伪狗宝鉴别法。
　　真品狗宝呈类圆球形或卵圆形，大小不一，一般直径在1.5～5cm，表面粗糙，并有多数类圆形突起，表面灰白色或灰黑色，略有光泽；断面有同心环状层纹，偶见细小杂物包裹，其间，近中心部较疏松。质重，坚实而细腻，以指甲划之可留痕迹。嚼之有粉性而无砂粒感，气微腥，味微苦。狗宝以白色、细腻、指甲划之可留痕迹、断面有层纹者为佳品。
　　伪品有以水泥为原料制成的，外表不光滑，全无光泽，断面全无同心环状层纹，更无包裹杂物；略取干粉末，滴加盐酸，则有大量气泡（为二氧化碳）产生；指甲划之不显痕迹，更无气腥味苦之感觉。

资料来源：中国中医药报

And TADA: deer penis. Ain't it loooooong? And don't you tell me that you can't guess what it's use for. You don't really deserve to be reading my blog if you can't. I mean it. *SMUG*

Oh, the poo poo of some kind of flying mammal, as well. :-) Well, well, it's widely used as a pain killer especially for chest pain. I'm sorry, I found something in Chinese again:

五灵脂五灵脂是哺乳纲、鼯鼠科动物复齿鼯鼠等的粪便。“灵脂”与“凝脂”二字同音。李时珍释其名曰：“其粪名五灵脂者,谓状如凝脂而受五行之气也”。鼯鼠形如松鼠,比松鼠略大。体长2030 cm,体重250～400 g。鼯鼠头宽,吻部较短,眼大而圆,背部毛呈灰黄褐色,腹部毛色较浅,前后肢之间有皮膜相连。在我国,鼯鼠主要分布在河北、陕西、四川、云南和西藏等地, 生活在长有松柏的峭壁石洞或石缝中。窝的形状如鸟巢。鼯鼠白天躲匿在窝内睡觉,清晨或夜间出来活动,善攀援,能滑翔。五灵脂具有活血、化瘀、止痛的功效, 主治胸胁刺痛、跌扑肿痛和蛇虫咬伤等症。

Anyhow, I'm just trying to illustrate that, do not take things around you for granted. No matter how insignicant it may look. Even dung!

Snake penises are served on the table as well! Now, I know what's coming. Don't ask is deer penis better or snake penis. I don't know. Maybe Makas does. Or his father, Faiz. Argghh, just don't ask me.

And this weird looking thing is a plant that's good for people who lack YANG.

Aha, the ever famous legendary 天山雪莲 from Tibet! I've no idea why this wilted SNOW LUTOS is so famous, but I can imagine that if you happen to find such a big flower among all the snow, it must be some sort of rare species for it survives in the coldest climate. It must be full of YANG. A nice picture of it and some of the myths that goes with it can be found here in chinese.

To be continued...

Heads up!

2006-09-15T09:03:00.000+08:00

It recently strikes me that it is unrealistic to update my blog everyday. To do so, I either have to give up my beauty sleep or read a couple of pages less off my precious TCM books. So, err, please forgive me if you are one of those who stops by everynow and then to read my mumbo jumbo and somehow got disappointed because you don't get the everyday dose of whimsical treatment. :-)

I guarantee you fancier adventures to come, I've conquered a tough mountain, been to Beijing, celebrated Moon Cake festival in true student style, befriended some Ang Moh friends, played baseball with Taiwanese chaps, got really drunk and being carried home, gotten fat etc.

It's just that God has not created enough time in a day for me to blog.

You know what I mean.

So, be patient ah. Like the old saying, really appreciate yours stopping by to my cyber space.

Cheers!

Chinese Herbs As Food

2006-09-14T14:20:00.000+08:00

I have special food as lunch today. It's Dwarf Lilyturf tuber and Balloon Flower root. They are , in chinese, 麦冬 and 桔梗.

You know, it's so delicious and healthy that I can't think of any reason why I should not start a chain restaurant doing so. Prevention is better than cure, you know. And what's better than healthy food? Imagine creating new recipes everyday with all the fresh cool chinese herbs.

Customer asks: "What's the dish of the day?"
Yeng the boss: " We have Duke of Argyll's Tea Tree's Berry Pork Chop."
Customer gets interested with snobbish dish name :"Oh, how's it like?"
Yeng the boss: "It's fried pork chop prepared with chrysanthemum batter, topped with wolfberries gravy with a dash of eucommia bark wine."
Customer's pupils widen:"Oh, is it good for me?"
Yeng announces proudly:"Yes, it's a great dish for your eye, and a good tonic for your liver, plus ehem enhances your ..eh.. manhood, it's also full of vit C."
Customer: "Isn't fried pork chop a bit heaty?"
Yeng the boss:"No at all. We have chrysanthemum and woflberries to calm it down."

Ok, yes yes, I know I have to finish my degree first but heck, I really wish I can cook cool food like this. How about a chinese herbs party eh?

Wolfberry is the fruit of Duke of Argyll's Tea Tree by the way.

Anyway, back to my lunch. It's thrilling for me because I seldom have fresh chinese herbs as meal. It's so much better than the dried and bitter version. Dwaft Lilyturf tuber is juicy and crunchy. Fried with pig kidney, it's a great combination that will do good to your kidney and bladder. It can nourish the lack of Yin and invigorate the kidney meridien. And because the kidney meridien plays an important role in aging consuming small amount of Dwaft Lilyturf tuber from time to time could maintain your youth! :-)

This beautiful perennial is Balloon Flower. The Japanese loves it. Anyone who likes origami would know how to make one. AndI was really surprised when I first found out that the famous chinese herbs 桔梗 is actually the root of this plant!

And guess what. This widely found plant is really precious and I believe I'll be condemned to hell if I don't start sharing with you what it can do.

But hang on, how do I tell you the wonder of of this plant in plain non-ancient TCM language?
That's a lot of effort for me you know. Without pay some MORE! Somehow, we Hakka are just a little impaired when it comes to linguistic ability... err... maybe it's not a Hakka problem. Sometimes I wonder why I work so hard for things that offer no monetary returns. For instance, practising in a hospital in the middle of nowhere that requires me to pay USD 300 a month that offer not even the slightest sight of a handsome doctor... or maintaining a blog that I have not a tad clue if the readers could understand.

Anyhow, to sum it up, the root of balloon flower is widely used in respiratory diseases: pus, cough, fever, soar throat etc. It aids digestion and can lower blood sugar and cholesterol level. That's from WM point of will, of course. In TCM, it's famous for its SHIPPING ability. Ha! Nope, not very good at translation, but, as hocus pocus as this may sound the root of balloon flower is a boat among herbs that can carry the QI of other herbs to the upper half of your body. There are also lines of soldiers, nurses, magic mushroom, moisturisers, door knobs, drainer, etc in the chinese herbs inventory, each with its unique character and function to save your life or rather, to maintain your essence. You just got to explore and get to know them well. It's fun isn' t it? If you like playing strategic computer games, you'll like TCM. No laughing matter.

It really is not bad as food also. Slice into thin slices and you can pan fry with almost anything that's not too strong coloured. Try chicken, egg, white fish, sweet peas, cucumber or cabbage. It's crunchy and moist. Or try some cool recipes here (chinese website).

This guy even made an omelette with the leaves!

But, remember, do not eat pork the same day you eat it. Pork will somehow... neutrulise it.

What are you waiting for? Go start diggin' in your garden now! ha!

When Orange is not Red

2006-09-11T01:26:00.000+08:00

*Warning: long post!

Hey, did I forget to tell you that I'm in the Acupuncture Department this month?

Acupuncure. Eh. The ever famous treatment that links the 'outside' world to Traditional Chinese Medicine. For many people the first thing that comes to mind when TCM is mentioned would be acupuncture. That's the biggest misconception I found while working with the Institute of Medical Research last year during a pilot survey project to get to know all the practising TCM physicians in Klang Valley, err... that's in Malaysia. They've put an equal sign to TCM and Acupunture.

IQ Test for you.

Statement:
TCM is Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Acupuncture is poking needles on specific points on your body according to TCM theories to cure diseases.
TCM is not acupuncture.
Acupucture is TCM.

Question:
Acupuncure equals TCM
True of false?

It's sad really.

Acupuncture is effective as a treatment, but there's a whole lot more going on under the unbrella of TCM. Acupuncture is only a part of it, well, apparently, the famous one. And it also concerns me that a lot of western docs try to learn to poke without learning the foundamental theories of Yin Yang and the concept of the 12 Meridiens in which the acupuncture points are located. And, the one thing that you must remember is: TCM doesn't see internal organs as independent entity, when a specific term of an organ name is mentioned, e.g. SPLEEN, it really means the Tai Yin Pi Jin, 太阴脾经, or the Meridien of the Most Concentration of Yin (if I have translated properly). And then the whole networking and special functions of Qi, for instance, what it governs in this meridien, and the relationship of SPLEEN to other organs/meridiens also come into consideration. In SPLEEN's case, it's a meridien of the earth, it's twin brother is STOMACH, its mama is HEART, and its son is LUNG(s), and so forth.

So my point being, when a patient comes to you for treatment, in this case, you've diagnosed a poor SPLEEN, you'll have to start to consider all of the above and then, to prescripe where to poke! Meaning, did its twin brother play an important role in curing this disease? Or was it the mama that's causing the problem? Oh, was it the Qi of the SPLEEN that's weak or that it's been working too hard? After all these basic detective work, there comes the fixing/solution. That means, you've got to know ALL the points (or map of your body) very well in order to activate the right mechanism. Imagine the meridiens as a kind of air piping system, each runs and connects to different parts of your body, some huge, some small, and the air moves in certain direction, and there's also temperature in this piping system ETC. This invisible map, my friend, is where you work the miracle. The needle is your spanner, that allows you to gauge the pressure of the air. Sounds a bit like a mechanic, eh? ALL the other TCM treatments work about the same, using this invisible map. It's just a matter of what works best in what condition and what you are good at. See, some people are good at using spanner and some are good at mixing up solutions (herbs) or some are good with their hands ( Tui Na) yadda-yadda-yadda.

Ooooo, enough is said, don't want to be accused of being another flibbertigibbetty. Jesus, dare I say, I could be the 1st in the history of the world to illustrate TCM in such an artistic and westernised point of view. (And, ah... there goes my beauty sleep for the night.)

I may be being a bit overly critical here but, hmm, learning acupucnture without knowing all these is a bit like cooks that do not know all the tastes of his herbs and spices. Well, you can always argue the 'love your wife instead of understand her' husband-survival statement, but, let's not go too far lah.

Anyhow, there are many physicians on duty and it's hard to choose from whom I should learn, or rather, to work for. My Taiwanese friend recommended me a rather young physician that has worked in London for 2 years, focusing on treatment helping people to quit smoking (why does the name Faiz suddenly come into mind? ), and travels to Japan from time to time.

So, ah! a physician who's been exposed to 2 extreme cultures! Well, at least geographically. Not bad. So I decided to visit him. I must say, it was kind of boring at first. Reason being, unlike back in K.L., we are not allowed to do any 'poking'.

We are allowed, however, to connect the electronic device that stimulates the needles though. You see... this device is to replace human acupunture Kung Fu - each acupuncturist is supposed to pratice this kung fu to apply certain kind of movement and vibration to the needle to command the Qi (err... the sensitivity to gauging the air pressure in the piping system?). In an ideal world, you are supposed to find an acupuncturist that has mastered this kung fu, but, err, in an ideal world, that is.

Think about computer and human brain. Is computer more superior than human brain? If not, why are we still using it?

I find that the most popular treatment here is Bell's Palsy - a condition in which one side of the face becomes paralysed. My colleague was saying that because the population here is huge, the number of cases seems exaggerating, but half of the patients here in the acupuncture department are of this condition. I don't recall any patient as such while practising back in K.L for the last 3.5 years. Apparently, they seem to share the common cause: been out on a breezy day, face blown directly by air-con or cold air while travelling in car, or after consuming really cold drinks or food that is defined as very Yin in TCM sense. And the most common symptom is a pain on the lower ear of the affected side.

It's an interesting disease and recovery is good. Maybe a good subject for my dissertation? But, really, touch wood, I hope NONE OF US would have to go through this traumatic experience of not being able to control half of our face.

-----------------------------------------------

Anyway, I had pig heart soup today. Ya, the heart of a pig.
Quite an interesting texure I must say.

Tara!

What Am I Up to Recently

2006-09-09T00:01:00.000+08:00

Hello, all! So sorry for the hiatus, been 'busy' lah! :-) Can't be stucked to blogging all the time and forget about studying, right?

And, Ah Fan! I'll get back to all your questions later, just bear with me!

Well, today we put my RMB 120 steam iron to test. It's something I've been looking all over while staying in K.L. because I've got piles and piles of clothes to iron every weekend. The closest I could find was around RM800 and it's huge. So I was really glad that China has a household version and cheap!

Well, it was fast to prove China made products are still a long way to go before compared to international standard. First off, it's always the issue of QC. And they use the cheapest material possible making it not durable. The steam iron was a good idea but a tough cookie to use. It's just too much effort! I give it a 5 out of 10.

And we had something new cooked by our local classmate. You've got to love all the pumkins, potatoes and sweet potatoes here in Mountain East. Coz they are damn cheap and nice. Now I understand why my professor kept all the pumkins underneath his bed while visiting K.L., because he missed home!

This local dish is highly recommended by our Taiwanese friend. Apparently it's a very popular comfort meal here. It's called the Goose Bumps Pumkin Soup. Ya, that's the WEIRDEST name ever given to a dish. Man, it just too weird. You've got to give 2 thumbs up for the Chinese for their creativity. But it proves to be one of the easiest meal to prepare.

1. Cut half a pumkin (enough for 4 people) and cut into dices or shapes to your own liking
2. To make the goose bumps, mix flour with a little bit of water to make a dough and use your finger to nib into small pieces about half the size of your thumb, or smaller.
2. Add a little oil (preferably olive oil or red palm oil) to your wok and make scrambled like egg with 3 eggs.
3. Put scrambled egg aside and fry finely chopped shallots, garlic and dried shrimps (or any spices like cumin or marinated spicy and salty veggie) for half a min in a burning hot wok.
4. Add in diced pumkin and fry for about 2-5 min
5. Add stock/water and goose bumps and cook for 15 min, or until pumkin becomes tender
6. Add salt, pepper, sesame oil to taste
7. Add in egg and aromatic herbs and serve

Disgusting or not? ha!

We also had our own version of Sour Shredded Potato, fried with sweet vinegar and dried chillie. Crunchy! Me love it.

My Favourite Artist

2006-09-07T00:06:00.000+08:00

Nai Der, my secondary school mate, forwarded me an email sometimes back with these attachements:

I was surprised that quality artwork as such get circulated round the internet... meaning, most people mostly circulate long known boring facts or HOAXES that rarely intellectually stimulating.

But this one is different. It's my cup of tea.
And I thought how can I not know where these artpieces are from.
I'm supposed to know the art world through and through.

And I thought it looked familiar, too.

So I checked my buddies, while back in Tanjong Rambutan, i.e. Goldsmiths College, from our online graduation exhibition website. And specially checked my favourite buddy: Peter Callesen.

Yo! It's his work lah!

Now... this guy is my FAVOURITE artist of all time. Not only is he a friendly and down to earth Danish, he's an outstanding artist with the kind of brain power and imagination that I can only dream of. Most importantly, his works are very Alice-In-Wonderland like. Very similar to my art pieces as well... hehe

And I'm so proud to tell you he's my course mate while back in Tanjong Rambutan.

I was there when he acted KING and constructed his dream castle

I was there when he acted the ugly duckling with oversized duck feet that couldn't get his cake

I was there when he acted jukebox

The best yet was when he tried to act sailor and sail on a handmade giant sized paper boat in Denmark
I love all his creations. I wonder if he still remember me, the fat and smiley girl back then? haha

The Fuss about KTV

2006-09-06T20:44:00.000+08:00

I beg your pardon for all the inferior photo quality here as we took them in extreme low light condition. But hey I went to KTV!

I've like never been to the KTV since ... *retrieving data inside sophisticated goldfish-like structured memory storage* ... yes, the ice-age.

Wow, have I gone nuts? Really, I was asking myself the same question over and over again on the way to this Mountain East KTV lounge. I've got to confess, I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to KTV entertainment. It's so... low class. At best, it's only an ego satisfying toy for the vocally impaired who could not make their way to the glittering stage. I really despise the idea of singing to the TV with instructed lyrics and faux-music orchestrated by some dizzy electronic devices. Err... hang on, am I inviting nasty comments in now for the KTV fans? I know. So... err.. that's just my 'honest' opinion. :-)

Anyhow, you see, they say it's the company that counts. And so I went, with my buddies. Don't be such a snob lah, for once.

The place is quite pack full given that it's a Wednesday afternoon. Yes, I skipped work. And customers come from all walks of life, e.g. rich aunties, teenagers + police officers in uniform! What the F.

It's cheap too. Room for 4 costed RMB 35 for about 4 hours. And everyone was really excited as if they are going to perform to an audience. *shakes head*

They are virtually tonnes of chinese pop songs loaded in the system. I really do not give a damn man. First off, they don't have any of my favourite Calypso king - Harry Belafonte songs for me to sing all the coconut and banana. Ok, I can do with no tropical fruits, but, heck, they don't even have the lovely yellow bird that sits on the banana tree. Damn. That's not fair.

Ok lah, they DO have all the sweety tunes of The Carpenters like Please, Mr Postman! etc. Aiyo, do I really want to beg the postman? And I don't like all the pathetic heartbroken sad tear jerkers, that's SO unlike me. And... what's wrong with all the people who like to sing these songs? Life is sad enough! Aren't we supposed to have FUN in KTV? Why do they jsut have to make people feel sad listening to sorrowful songs in a small room with dimmed lighting and all that? Talk about indulgence. Ya, you must be wondering what I sang in the end... TARA! stupid Jambalaya and alike, which really SUITS me I must say. Haha. I would have gone for Guantanamera if it wouldn't for the fact that the system didn't have it. Something is seriously wrong with the idea of buying music from a tv set to sing stupid songs. Terribly wrong. Get a life, I will say.

All in all, my buddies were certainly having the greatest time of all singing all the chinese pop songs while I amused myself with silly-dilly acts.

No, I still don't have special liking to singing to the square box.
And yes, now I know why people say it's the thought that counts when they received gifts that they don't want. Because at the end of the day, after a KTV session, it's not the songs but the company that counts.

But just so you know KTV also happens to be:

drugs or psychotropic /s k -tr pk, -tr p k/ substances (that) are chemicals that alter brain function, resulting in temporary changes in perception, mood, consciousness, or behaviour. Extreme use may have permanent effects on the brain. Such drugs are often used for recreational and spiritual purposes, as well as in medicine, especially for treating neurological and psychological illnesses.

Err... you've been warned. :-p

Ear Acupuncture

2006-09-05T03:25:00.000+08:00

I've mastered the technique of sneeking into lectures, meetings and doctors' office better than anything ever since I arrived in Mountain East.

We are special you see. Well, officially, our batch is here to do our so-called practical (without pay). And the academic administration really sucks compared to the UK higher education system. All the subjects and lecturers are really good but the chinese are just going nowhere with structural teaching trying too hard to categorise ancient wisdom with the wrong kind of perspective from... err... the west. If you get the saying love your wife instead of trying to understand her you will know what I mean. You do know what I mean, right?

The coffee is great, but the saucer and the cup that hold it is pathetic.

I'm still sneeking into the 乡镇医师 (physicians from smaller states) lectures from time to time. And am I glad that I managed to sneek into something I didn't learn in Malaysia: Aricular Acupuncture aka Ear Acupuncture.

The lecturer started off with a rather interesting topic of how your ear can reveal a lot about yourself, i.e. health + personality. I'd really love to tell you all that but that would require a lot of effrot from me to illustrate them in diagrams due to the lacking of my linguistic ability. What's more, I'm sure I'll be sending you off to dreamland again when I start talking about all the Yin and Yang thingy, wouldn't I? Well, I think you should at least know that one of the insteresting facts about your ear is that it is a smaller upside down fetus version of your body.

So, there you go, something your biology teacher missed. :-)

There are a lot more correspondent points scattered around the visible baby. For instance, your endoctrinal system, thyroid, etc.

Ear Acupuncure is indeed simply about treating the correspondent part of the body represented on your ear, either using needle, laser or applying pressure; though seed acupressure is more popular.

But first off, besides memorising over 120 points, you'll need to learn how to diagnose it.

There's a whole mature system of diagnosing diseases by checking on the colour and changes on your ear. For instance, you can find out if a person is having trouble sleeping by checking on the 神门 shenmen acupunture point. An obvious red line could be observed. I've tried it out already, guaranteed accurate.

A complete list of what and how of aricular acupuncture can be found here or 这里。For full ear anatomy click here. 推荐书：黄丽春的《耳穴诊断治疗学》

For those who moan inceasantly about how boring life is, I highly recommend taking up aricular acupuncture. Reason: it's way too interesting not to learn. If this still couldn't spark your enthusiasm, I give up.

-+@+-+#+-+@+-+#+-+@+-+#+-+@+-

This is what we had for lunch, by the way.

One of the most delicious homecook meals we ever had here.

Now, is this enough to convert you into a vegetarian? :-)

Something to do...

2006-09-04T20:26:00.000+08:00

Poking Day

2006-09-03T23:48:00.000+08:00

It's fun at the ENT department again.

It's just too fun not to bring your friends.

Other students were surprised as to why I go to the hospital on Sundays, I told them that ENT is so fun it's like a workshop where all the mechanics try to fix parts. Something like that. As it requires the usage of many specific tools.

That seems like a good way to put it as I manage to bring in more and more people to follow me to the practical! :-) Which really makes our physician happy!

Everyone enjoys peek-and-poke this time of week. It just is heck a lot of fun what you can see from people's private holes. :-D

Look how intriqued they are!

And see what we found this inside a 9 year old today.

This is HUGE.

And sorry for spoiling your apetite for the day.

Haha!

Short post today, spent too much time chit-chatting today. :-) Good night.

First Day In Hell

2006-09-03T19:49:00.000+08:00

The mention of hell in the previous post reminded me of this play by Rowan Atkinson aka Mr. Bean.

Enjoy.

*********************************************

Hello, nice to see you all again.

As the more perceptive of you have probably realized by now - this is
hell, and I am the Devil. Good evening. You can call me Toby, if you
like. We try and keep things informal down here, as well as infernal.

Now, you're all here for eternity, which I hardly need tell you is a
sod of a long time, so you get to know everyone pretty well by the
end, but for now I'll have to split you up into groups.

Are there any questions?

No, I'm afraid we don't have any toilets, if you'd read your bible you
would have seen that it was damnation without relief. So, I'm afraid
if you didn't go before you came then you're not going to enjoy
yourself very much, but then, I believe that's the general idea.

Right, let's split you up then.

Can you all hear me? CAN YOU HEAR ME AT THE RACK?

Off we go...

Murderers, over here. Looters and pillagers - over there please,
thieves if you could join them, and Estate Agents.

Fornicators, if you could step forward - My God there are a lot of
you. Could I split you up into adulterers and the rest? Adulterers if
you could just form a line in front of that small guillotine there.

AMERICANS, are you here? I'm sorry about this, apparently God had some
fracas with your founding fathers and damned the entire race into
perpetuity. He sends particular condolences to the Mormons who He
realizes put in a lot of work.

The Iranians, I'm afraid, couldn't be with us - someone's been holding
them in purgatory for the last 9 months.

Sodomites, over there against the wall.

Atheists, over here please. You must be feeling a right bunch of
charlies.

Christians, ah yes, I'm afraid the Jews were right.

Moonies, maniacs, marite eaters, male models, masochists, mass
murderers and masseurs, if you could take a pew at the back - with the
Methodists that is.

Now, you're the lot who used to kill whales, is that right? Ah, yes, I
must remember - I've got some strips to tear off you bastards later.

Everyone who saw Monty Pythons' "Life Of Brian", I'm afraid He can't
take a joke after all.

Alright now, one final thing - we're trying to implement some sort of
exchange scheme with the God, or Cliff as we know him. Some of you
will spend a decade in heaven and we're having some angels down here.
Now, I hardly need tell you that you will be expected to behave in an
exemplary manner, so, I hope you will do the exact opposite - tear off
their wings, use their haloes for frisbee practice, that sort of
thing.

Well, I have to go now, but Jezzlebeth here will show you the ropes,
chains, and electrodes.

Selecting Down Jacket Again

2006-09-02T20:49:00.000+08:00

I was constantly being reminded by those around me how important a down filled jacket 羽绒服 is for Mountain East winter. The thing is, I've spent most of my years in the UK and I don't remember freezing to near death because I didn't own one. I really doubt that it's a necessity at all.

But my Malaysian colleagues keep on asking if I've got one already prepared for winter yet and whenever I announce proudly how I'm all prepared with my old BRANDED European winter clothing, they go "Oh, ya, you know winter better than we do." And that somehow defeats my confidence a little and consequently gears me into deep pondering IF I really do know winter well enough... Latitude wise, UK is just about as north as Shandong above the equator, so the weather should be similar? No? What do you mean no?

To make it worse, my Taiwanese friends keep giving detailed account of how horrible winter could be with description of the wicked wind that knows how to drill into your skin through your sophisticatedly woven fabric and that no boots are ever high enough to keep the 3 feet deep snow from getting your feet wet.

Sure or not? I know Mountain East is a peculiar place, but how wicked can winter be? Jesus!

And whenever I tell my lecturers that I will be staying here till Spring time, their pupils dilate as if there's not enough light and then go bling bling like a diamond as if I'm the rare brave little southern girl they've not seen for years and go "You do realize you are going to spend your winter here, don't you?"

What is that supposed to mean?

Heck, I'm starting to have second thought. (Ok, you guys win!) I recon since down filled jackets are so incredibly cheap here I might as well just buy one. Just in case.

So, we visited the Jinan People's Market Stock Company Limited, the main supplier of down filled jacket for the whole freaking 20 million population here. Again.

It has got to be quite a popular place because they are a lot of people selling by the road side.

Lots of seasonal fruits for sale. Er, too lazy to try out. Those in the middle are fresh dates.

Total respect for this guy. I couldn't even write like that with my so-called skilled hand.

These professional tailor can mend anything you could think of.

It was quite exasperating seeking through hundreds and hundreds of jackets that looked exactly the same only to be distinguished from the randomly tinted colour that are so bad taste that would no doubt have no problem promoting the upward mechanism of vomiting when you are not up to the weather.

Anyhow, I ended up buying this and a matching handbag from nearby Etam, as well. Boy, how did that happen? Yuck, I hate the chocolate. See, this is what happens when you are FORCED to buy something you ain't want.

Anyhow, while I went to the cashier to pay for my bill, these 2 appeared to be having a little fun by themselves.

============================

There's Mountain East 山东, and, naturally, Mountain West 山西. No joke. I just came to know there's another piece of peculiar land called Mountain West sitting right next to the province of Mountain East when my Taiwanese friend brought me to this Mountain West Noodle Shop.

Gee... I wonder what people are like there. Anyhow, not a bad start by trying out there food first.

It was really nothing different only that they put 4 different kind of stir-fried toppings on top of the noodle with thick sauce, i.e. stewed pork with potato, fried egg with tomato, leafy veggie and oopsforgotwhatelse.

I ordered the one made with green peas. ERr.... too soft for me, no like.

This one is nice because the noodle is al-dente. Got strength and texture. I learnt that delectable noodles should be in long round strands not weird irregular pieces. So, ya, from now on stick to stranded noodle.

Do You Know?

2006-08-28T19:16:00.000+08:00

My sister is michievous and there's no better word to describe her.
I MSNed with her today in our usual true Hakka-English style looking for my bro and below is a typical example of why I recon she is so:

YengSwift says:

Ah Moi

YengSwift says:

Is Ah Zai there

belinda says:

gone to town

belinda says:

why ah

YengSwift says:

want to ask him something loh

YengSwift says:

will be Back soon ah?

belinda says:

dont know oh

YengSwift says:

yo....

belinda says:

maybe gua

belinda says:

how i know? i am not his stomach worm

YengSwift says:

you should

YengSwift says:

you SMELL him Everyday

YengSwift says:

living under the same roof

belinda says:

then?

YengSwift says:

you even know his underwear's colour

YengSwift says:

hahaha

belinda says:

u know what the insects in your room think or not

YengSwift says:

wah

YengSwift says:

sounds like a great quote!

YengSwift says:

I want to put that on my blog

belinda says:
choi

ENT Day

2006-08-27T21:15:00.000+08:00

One of the most exciting parts of ENT day (my usual Sunday morning schedule) is Tonsillectomy 扁桃体切除术, a small operation to remove infected tonsils; where white spots or white/grey coating are found covering the tonsils. Or Tonsillitis in short.

What are the symptoms of tonsillitis?
Sore throat
Tonsils look redder or more swollen than usual
White spots or white/grey coating over the tonsils
Enlarged glands in the neck
Difficulty or pain swallowing
Fever
Bad breath
Difficulty breathing sometimes, especially in children.
Irritable children
Ear ache

It is most common among toddlers and you should start suspecting when your kids have difficulty eating or snore really loud during sleep.

I really do admire the courage of these kids because we use a traditional technique called Diathermy, I think, an instrument that is being heated to a temperature of about 100°C and then to burn and scrap off the infected/swollen area. The heated instrument cuts away the tonsils and, no, there's no pain! But you've got to be really brave to see that thing being heated up and then put into your throat. And they have to do it like at least 3 times.

No, I won't do that even for 200 USD.

For people who get blocked nose, sneezing and flu all the time... like at least 3-5 times a year, despite advices to refrain from taking antibiotics or vitamin tablets, we give them special medicine to stick on some effective acupuncture points which help to activate the defense system in your body for better protection against bacterea and viruses.

It's quite a popular treament here in Mountain East and Uncle colleague seems to be getting the hang of it now.

I tried out a famous restaurant today recommended by our local students which they claim to be the best in town for dumplings. I'm all sceptical for I've tried more than 2 months of dumplings here in all sorts of places and no, there's no nice dumpling whatsoever in Mountain East.

But heck, since a PHD candidate is nice enough to buy me dinner tonight, why not.

The menu is quite impressive though, with all sorts of perculiar stuffing. There's even Mantis Prawn stuffing.

Cucumber Dumplings

He ordered 2 vegetaran dumplings and 1 meat. 3两 of Cucumber, 3两 of Tomato and 3两 of Green Pepper and Meat dumplings. And I was like thinking if this guy is crazy or wat. That's about 9 两 of dumplings. Err... 1 两 = 50 gram, so 9 两 is about 450 gram. Are you following me? No?

So how many exactly, you ask. Ok lah, 3两 give you 18 dumplings, alright? That would make it 54 freaking dumplings.

Green Pepper and Minced Meat Dumplings

Yo, but I didn't regret it. Because they really were the best dumplings ever. And now I know what makes a dumpling delicious. Yes, OBVIOUSLY, it's the skin and what you stuff inside.

Tomato Dumplings - the best! Chinese Ravioli! ha!

Because I've been eating the same freaking traditional Chinese Chives and Minced Meat 韭菜肉 Dumpling all these while I didn't know there are better version out there! And meat dumplings prove to be a wrong formula, it's too lame, no texture and smell horrible. On the other hand, all the vegetarian dumplings taste like a master piece of artwork that you couldn't help but to gulp and gulp non-stop like a hamster.

Yes, my friend, dumpling stuffing has to be veggie (choose your own) mixed with green bean noodle, black fungus and scrambled egg. Forget the Ajinomoto, ok.

Do not ever attempt to put minced meat. You'll lose the contrasting texture of the soft outer skin and crunchy stuffing. Your tongue likes being massaged too you know.

:-)

Death as a Question

2006-08-27T20:46:00.000+08:00

Some of you've written to me expressing how you feel envious of me seemingly being so happy and free roaming around this remote and unknown city called Mountain East disguised as a 20 something.

Indeed, I feel nothing but fun and younger being a student again. I sleep like a baby and put all sorts of edible into my mouth of which our expects would categorise as being unhealthy. I eat full cream ice-cream 3 times a week and while licking away the delicious sinful melting fat I show off my unshameful wicked grin and gasp "Oh, so nice!" and not giving a damn of the unbecoming of my waist line. I jump up and down and shout like a kid with my mates. I wear brightly coloured t-shirt with fashionable jeans and trainers, tie my hair a pony, tell silly jokes and laugh with all my heart not worrying about my shoe size, do all the silly-dilly things and yet no one will chastise or laugh at me.

I enjoy flirting with innocent boys and see their cheeks turn pink. Boy, they are such babies. I like saying hello loud-loud and smile big-big to all the strangers in the streets and see them get surprised and then smile back using their long forgotten facial muscles.

Well, it just seems that being able to do silly things contributes a lot to the meaning of happiness loh. Ha! But, really, despite all the laughters, what I like most about being here is that I get to interact with the locals and they get me set into pondering mode a lot. Mountain East people are SOME kind of species that's nothing like the ordinary capitalists you'd meet from the British colonies.

They do everything with a clear motive. Well, motive may not be an appropriate term, but you know what I mean. And that motive has to either something to do with money or one's status in society. There's no such thing as a hobby or out-of-interest. There's no such thing as being soulful or romantic or to feel connected to nature. There's not such thing as enjoying a cup of nicely brewed coffee with a generously cut of cheese cake sitting by the road side. No such thing as, come let me buy you lunch today. No such thing as let's have BBQ party tonight. In short, China feels like a land without a soul.

It is cold here, my friend
Even the thermometre insists it's 38 degree C.

They think like E.T. if you ask me, and vice versus. And it's somehow thrilling. Imagine living among the population of 90 million (Mountain East alone, not the whole China) and none that you can connect with. Wah, that's so... Truman Show like... err... maybe not. But it's one heck of thrills.

Their take on life is pretty simple. To them, one is either alive or dead. If you happen to be alive, then you've got to strive for money and gain a favourable position in society to make your family proud. In order to achieve that one must go through the process of getting educated, learn English, be smart, get a job working for the gov, earn the cash, get a status, get the 'stars' lining up on your shoulder, get married young, stick to one partner, have kids (oops, kid) and, err, finablly, say bye bye to the world. And now, if you are dead, that's it, gone. No soul, no heaven or hell. No al-mighty God waiting to judge you. If you are dead, you are dead. The bubble bursted, like it never existed.

And somehow, this kind of philosophy reflects greatly on ... err... they way they look. Squarish face, tiny eyes and no expressions. Don't ask me how.

Do you know how dangerous it is to think there's nothing at all after death? That gives me the creeps. Not because I'm scared of death, but it is so because if one allows him/herself to accept that nothing will happen after death, can you imagine how such self will behave in his/her time being alive. What kind of acts and deeds such person would permit his/her own self?

You know what I mean? There's no hell, so I can just do about any evil deeds as I like as long as the police won't find me. Yes, there's no feeling whatsoever after death, I can just about kill myself now if I'm suffering from all the mistreatment life has bestowed upon me. That's it, that will be the end of my suffering. Oh, there's nothing after death, why don't we just start to rid the world of all the bad breeds then the world will be nice and perfect with all the good people left behind?

Hmm.... ya, I hate that person so much, and since he won't feel a thing being dead, why don't I just kill him so that I can feel happier without his existence.

Err... I'm not a linguist. But do you get what I mean?

I'm not suggesting that everyone ought to have a religion but, heck, isn't the question of death one of the biggest question marks ever since the day you were born? I think it's pretty important everyone does a research and study on his/her own to find out what it is that exactly announced yours being here, yours given such a body, brain power, to feel and roam this world and what is there for you when your time is up.

Start looking before it's too late, my friend.

Out We Go!

2006-08-26T13:02:00.000+08:00

Yoo hoo! Today we are going to try out another Brazilian Churrasco restaurant nearby. It's a buffet lunch that's only RMB35 per head. No ++, ok? No catch! No need to add another 15% of this and that. :-)

My Taiwanese friend gets all dressed up coz she really enjoys hanging out with us. Uncle colleague was in eye candy treatment! Bird gazing is a hobby shared by man of all ages. Just put a bird in front of them, and their eyes are so fixed that they won't even noticed that you've microwaved his buttock. ha!

Yes, you can microwave someone's buttock.

We took the 1 Yuan bus and woala, arrived in no time. Gosh, it looks like a theme park.

The nice thing about Mountain East restaurants (proper ones lah) is that they have all the money to dump into the grand concept and decorate it like a 5 star hotel and give you the best food and cost only like a peanut. Incredible. Me loving it!

We get incessant supply of freshly brewed beer in green, red, yellow and black. I like the black the most though there's no kick. But, aiya, don't complain too much lah. Mathieu, my French boss, who's younger than I, and quite handsome also, was telling me I'm starting to sound like a China-Chinese grandma that complains all the time.

Where got?
*_*

See, soo much food! Just for RMB35. That's like RM 17.50.

They even serve fresh oyster and raw salmon.

Needless to say, all sorts of exotic meat come and go like it's God's birthday party. Yes, eat all you like, my children.

Took 3 waitresses to get the right shot for us. Ey, remember which one is Jamie Yeng or not.

All cakes in Mountain East looks alike. I'm starting to suspect there's a Bill Gate equivalent of cake maker in Mountain East that monopolises the cake market here.

My favourite of the night is Dragon Fruit and Banana salad. Never thought of a combination as such could work so well together. It's the perfect demonstration of Yin and Yang working in perfect harmony. Yin = Dragon Fruit, and Yang = Banana. Ey, do you also know that PERFECT is a kind of flower that has both functional stamens and pistils? Yes, both functional male and female organs! See... PER-fekt! Me not simply throwing out Yin and Yang theory with no basis one.

All in all, this restaurant is a much better one than the last because of the food quality though variety is lesser.

We visited the flower distributors that is situated right next to the restaurant. Lilies are everywhere and they are cheap. We are looking at RMB 3 for a stalk with 2 flower buds. It's so cheap I don't even want to look at it!

Another picture-whoring photo. I thought it's too nice not to be shared. :-) Ey, still no bid?

Uncle colleague was such a gentlemen. He bought me a bouquet of pink roses, with a vase some more. And that's my friend using my Toshiba.

Why Does it Have to be So Complicated?

2006-08-25T23:02:00.000+08:00

I can finally make a trip on my own out of the campus today.

But it is to pay my daunting school fees that is going to leave me poor from now on.

Yes, I'll be eating only sweet potatoes from now on. And yes, and I know you won't even shed a tear!

Jagung and Sweet Potato: Solution for the poor.

Because there's no trading between Chinese Yuan and Malaysian Ringgit, my mum had to, from Malaysia, Telegraphic Transfer me the school fees, i.e. my hard earned blood and sweat money, from RM to USD to HQ of Bank of China in Mountain East. To do that, I bloody first need to go and open an account in China Bank because no bloody other bank can receive and convert USD to Yuan for me, so I was told.

Why bloody you ask?
Because I bloody have no idea what the officer at the counter says most of the time, let alone spelling the address of my university. When the instructed TT arrives, I have to go to the HQ of Bank of China to convert the USD to Yuan and then withdraw the stake of 4 inches high of money and carry it, virtually in great fear, to a nearby bank called the China Construction Bank to dump them in there. And then, finally, make a trip back to the campus and pay the school fees at one of the China Construction Bank's branches.

Gosh, why does it have to be so complicated?
It's not like I'm using the money to do something unlawful, am I?
I merely want to study how to use leaves and branches and some roots or maybe some funny insects, ok lah also some other funny things, as medicine and poke people all over with some needles and then heat them up with some burning sticks, that's not so dangerous, is it?

Anyhow, guess who attended to me at the Bank of China today?

It's an officer called Fong Yen Yen. Ok lah, to be exact, it's Fang Yan Yan. She was basically yelling in joy when she found out that I'm from Malaysia and carry the same surname as her.
"Look, this customer is from Malaysia!"
"Oh, she's a Fang too!"

That's the first SMILING cashier/front desk officer/receptionist/waitress (insert all sorts of servicing occupation) I've ever met in the course of 3 months staying in Mountain East that do not need me to
initiate a joke
be super polite
be extra-ordinarily nice and charming
be ALL SMILEY
to make her/him smiles back at me.

That's the magic of bearing a unique surname, I tell you.

*shakes head*

Tired.

Good night!

Lonely Buddy

2006-08-24T23:04:00.000+08:00

It is another home alone day

I am taking a walk around the school campus
to feel the air
to see the clouds
to greet the sun

In a better mood, though.

It's breezy
Weather is starting to turn cool
Autumn is around the corner

I like gently breezy air
It is uplifting
It orchestrates the most wonderful soothing music
when brushed against the leaves of trees
decorated with rattling branches
and with the sight of falling leaves

Reminds me of the song Lifted by Lighthouse Family

It makes you feel loved when it caresses your face with its gently touch
It is invisible
But you know it is there

So are angels and all unseen living beings

Whenever you feel down, my friend
Talk a walk and feel the wind
I promise it will take good care of you

But the sound of a sheep bleating interrupts
It is from within the campus
I seek for it for it is calling out for me

Oh there he is
Poor little sheep
that has not got a name

He bleats with all his heart

My apology for not speaking your language
I cannot even untie you

But I will be your friend
You are not alone
For none of us is

The World is Full of Gigantic Things

2006-08-23T22:29:00.000+08:00

Hello, all. Today is a happier day because I got to be out whole day. So smooch, kiss kiss to all of you. :-)

I recon you've seen enough of my elephant tuff and just in case, just, that anyone misses me too much, I asked junior to take a photo of me with one of the physicians from a smaller town during our Tui Na 推拿 lecture so that I can post me face here. :-)

Ya, I know my eyes are small. But you know what they say about people with smaller eyes... they are wiser, more loyal and trustful! :-)

I have great respect to my Tui Na lecturer for she's the no.2 女中豪杰 I met in Shandong. Look at the face of the guy! And she's pregnant!

After the lecture, we went for lunch somewhere near the school and passed by a lelong shop and found this huge skirt.

I don't know if anyone can hold it nicely around her waist but let's hope no one does.

Later in the afternoon, I got to ride on a motorbike for the 3rd time. And, woala, the Cake Fairy's Guild is being really kind to me as to grant my wish to be 'escorted' by a cool hunk. Damn cool! He's from Taiwan and has just completed his master d in TCM.

I went along with my buddies to take a look at his apartment. They plan to move out from the hostel and rent it. (So sad...)

Mr Giant is huge and cool. But his cat is even cooler!

Can u see how tall he is???

My god! That's a huge furry cat! Junior was in awe.

Dont' you just love snowy white cat? I think Faiz will love it/him/her.

The thing about cutie cats are they leave their fur everywhere. Mr. Giant passed junior a roller that's supposedly to clean all the left-over fur, which is quite useful, I think.

Mosquito Buzz

2006-08-21T21:28:00.000+08:00

How many times can a person be driven nuts within 4-day time?

As if being punished to sitting on my arse doing bugger all whole day is not enough, there is a mosquito in my room that will soon buzz me to death.

SOME parent of the opposite sex once told me that God created Eve to distract Adam from being too competitive to Him. And all mighty brilliant God just knew what the exact ingredients needed to put in Eve to distract Adam, i.e. protuding breasts, smaller waist line, rounder bottom, and the ability to bother persistently with trivial complaints or drive-you-nuts questions that no one has an answer to.

For instance, do you love me?

Yes, I'm no Adam. BUT I DON'T LIKE BEING NAGGED AT AND I DON'T LIKE ANSWERING SENSELESS QUESTIONS.

"Have you taken your shower? It's already 9:15pm, you know"
"Did you use hot water to take your shower?"
"Where are you going today? Lecture or pratical?"
"Which lecturer? What's the discussion topic? Who is going with you?"
"Who just called you? What did you talk about?"

Repeat ALL randomly at anytime of the day.

I must say, this is some mosquito.

I took rounds and rounds of walk around the campus with my elephant tuff (ya, thanks bro) just to escape the mosquito BUZZ. And I found this funny looking motorbike. Ya, Adidas. There you go.

I guess my Taiwanese friend took pity on me. She offer me a motorbike trip again today to go to the nearby hypermarket. Yeah, motorbike ride, the next best thing to cake!

A mother trying to park her electronic bicycle.

Saw some imported alcohol on display in the hypermarket. I wonder if Faiz and Makas know whether it's cheaper or more expensive here compared to K.L.? Divide price tag by 2 to convert to Malaysian Ringgit.

I really like dish washing detergent in China because they are made of the most unexpected ingredients: garlic, papaya and ginger. And yes, they SMELL GOOD!

And hey, got some challenge for you guys today. Can you tell what these are?

Are they Ping Pong (table tennis) balls?

And what are these?

And these?

That's it for the day, me really no mood with all the nagging.

There Goes My Virginity - for Motorbike Ride

2006-08-20T19:39:00.000+08:00

As you all know, I must have done something horribly wrong in my past life that somehow prolificated at this moment in life that made me being punished to sitting on my arse doing bugger all whole day for 9 freaking days.

And I think my friends are picking up hints and could sense that the level of sanity in me is descenting in a rather dangerously rapid manner that

the fear of real wacko Yeng overpowering the usually nice and charming Yeng is starting to grow
the fear of the gradual change of my eye colour surrounded with bloating blood vessels is starting to grow
the fear of some unknown disgusting worms crawling out of my ears and nose is starting to grow
and that the fear of finding suspicious dead bodies of cute little animals being brutally murdered and trees being stripped to bodak in the school compound is staring to grow.

Fearing for her life as being the closest to me, my junior bought me a piece of nice chocolate cake in an attempt to control the dropping-dangerously-sanity-level of mine. Well, I've got to admint, it does help a lot.

Ya, while I struggle to enjoy my pathetic tiny piece of cake sitting on my arse. She ignored and enjoyed herself with my never ending supply of games loaded in my toshiba.

The effort of controlling real wacko Yeng is taken over by my Taiwanese friend around evening time. She borrowed Mr Pro's motorbike and.... YOO HOO!!! I got to ride on a motorbike for the first time in my life!

Isn't a motorbike ride the coolest/most thrilling/best thing in life?
I don't know about you, but if you ask me, it's way better than making babies and endulging in chocolate. I also believe that the word COOL is originally used to describe motorbike rides.

It's so thrilling to drift in the wind and be able to stroke tree branches growing overhead along the way. It's nice to smile at pedastrians alike while on your motorbike. They smile back at you!
It's also nice to just cut in and out and jump in traffic queues.

It feels so F R E E.

It's WICKED!

That's it, I want a boy-friend with a cool motorbike. I want it so much I shall relate my idea to the Guild of Handsome Young Hunk with Sexy Motorbike to try to match make cool Cake Fairy like myself. :-)

Great plan.

We stopped at a so-called Chinese fast food chain store. No, they don't serve chinese burger here. It's basically the normal economy rice we get in Malaysia during lunch hour. Food not so delicious.

All in all, today's a SUPER HAPPY DAY, no dead bodies of cute little animals shall be found tomolo. Motorbike ride has just saved the world.

Peace.

Bonding Day

2006-08-19T10:06:00.000+08:00

Because of my bloody forlon injured foot, I got to do a lot of bonding with my girl friends.

Today we had vegetarian dinner together.

I cooked this weird looking rice. That's a date, or Joo-joo-bee (no, didn't manage to get the donkey to hide it), also not a cockcroach, just in case you're curious. I'm sorry, you've just got to be prepared for weird looking food if you want Yeng to cook.

One of the coolest things of living in Mountain East is that I get to be a healthy vegetarian. Why so? The farmers here are too poor to buy insecticides! So we eat a lot of sweet and juicy vegetable everyday which are just as nice eaten raw.

There's just no way I can eat like this in K.L. No way!

Can You Stay in a Single Room Alone?

2006-08-18T09:44:00.000+08:00

Oh, no! My privacy is being invaded!

Our Malaysian PHD candidates arrived. And I couldn't understand for goodness sake why one of them... already a professional physician, a mother of 2, and a grown up who's WAY older than I am, cannot stay in a room assigned to her alone by herself.

She said that she's never slept alone before and that she's scared. I really cannot comprehend a statement like that. Is there such a thing as 'too scared to stay in a room all by myself'? Whatever happened to Feminism? This is the 21st Century, ok? Or is it a Chinese thing again?

Anyhow, being the ANGEL that I am, lest I'll loose my cake fairy license, I nodded my head to her request to share my room with her for 40 days.

Now, here's another thing I don't understand about myself. I've never shared a room with other people in my life before except my mum, my grandma, or my sis. Why do I need to say yes when I really wanted to say no? Typical woman??? Oh... the cake fairy license.. ok ok.

I've got a feeling this could be the starting of a long horrible nightmares. I hope the Cake Fairy's Guild appreciate my commitment and endurance!

Yet Another Boring Day

2006-08-16T09:25:00.000+08:00

It is just me or what
I just don't like pears in China
They are tasteless

Or was it because I'm so damn depressed by staying at home sitting on my arse doing bugger all for too long that I'm not only starting to loose muscles on my arse but my tastebud and sanity.

I then decided to try this funny thing called DONKEY HIDE from my Taiwanese friend. I seriously have no idea why they call it that. Why did the donkey want to hide the sweet jujube? For all that I know hidden JOO-joo-bee is quite delicious and good for women. So, if you have got a donkey at home, try ask him to get on busy hiding all your JOO-joo-bees. You wife will love you more. Don't say I never share.

*for the rigid lot, punk intended*

Later at night, my Malaysian colleague came and passed me a pack of patches that's made of capsicum for me to stick onto my ankle supposedly to promote blood circulation, a gift from one of the senior nurses at the hospital. Yo, so nice, didn't know I've got a fan at the hospital. Way better than a bouquet of flower eh?

Another Boring Day

2006-08-15T08:33:00.000+08:00

I couldn't go to the hospital for my practical so I went to attend the lecture for the kampung doctors. Boy, today's topic is so boring and the lecturer spoke in some unknown chinese language that sounded like a perfect lullaby. I wasn't hypnotised but he put my junior straight to dreamland.

After the lecture, diligent Mr Pro came to check on my ankle and change bandage.

I'm starting to looking forward to him coming because it somehow made me feel that the more he came the sooner I shall regain recovery. And, of course, who doesn't like being mollycoddled by a pro masseur? Fri-sa-mo!

Rainy Day and Home Alone

2006-08-14T20:40:00.000+08:00

Mr Pro condemned me for walking around with my injured ankle that wasted his effort. So I was sentenced to staying at home whole day sitting on my arse doing bugger all AGAIN.

To make it worse, heaven started pouring its natural miracle that comprises 2 part of hydrogen and 1 part of oxygen until it's so much that it overflooded the roads in front of the univ.

Raining... and home alone... how depressing!

It's lunch time, so I hopped, literally, to the kitchen planning to make healthy instant noodle.

Then I saw this strange lady cooking there. Who the heck is she? Doesn't look like a student to me at all.

Oh, she cooks for these Korean kids that are here for summer holiday to learn Chinese. Lucky bastards! I miss home cooked food!

Second treatment

2006-08-13T22:08:00.000+08:00

Mr Pro came again to check on my ankle.

Can tell he's dissappointed in me because I wasn't supposed to walk so much last night. hehe.

I admit there's some degree of guilt in me but I didn't regret going out last night. For the price of cake, I'm willing to do anything.

I love his homemade medicine. Smells really awesome.

Like the 1st time, he did some handling/Tui Na to my muscles and ligament. Boy, it felt good.
I was telling my Dad (who pretends he's not worried but is actually damn worried):
Me: You know, he is very good, push push and urut urut, very siok
Dad: Don't push so high up lah!
Me: ......

Mr Pro in action.

I like the Taiwanese bandage, feels very comfortable and it's got nice buckles! Makes me look like a professional patient! ahaha

Couldn't Stand It!

2006-08-13T20:45:00.000+08:00

I sneaked out. Couldn't stand staying at home (in my room) and sitting on my arse doing bugger all whole day (says my bro).

Why did I have to sprain my ankle? Why?

Driving me nuts!

The only thing that could possibly cheer me up at shitty moment like this, even it's already way passed going-out-at-night-time, is a nice mixture of flour and eggs beaten together and then hopped in an oven and leave it there at 180 degree C for 40 minute and then cover it with a thick fattening layer of the part of milk that contains the butterfat.

Alright, I admit it, I'm a cakeholic. I'm appying for my cake fairy license, remember?

And am I glad, someone exists, like my junior, was so happened to be craving for CAKE, as well, though not so much for the part of milk that contains the butterfat.

So off I went, feeling desperate to be freed from the 4 white walls that surrounded me for the past 24 hours while I was doing bugger all whole day, ignoring my injured ankle, walking like a pathetic crab, looking for cake in late night Mountain East at 11p.m., not even in the slightess fear of being kidnapped by the legendary Mountain East Hulk
that claimed to be appearing at this hour
that has a special liking to pretty girls like myself.

Found a high class hotel that has a 24hour cafe but gee... they don't serve cakes. Didn't they know it's a lot of effort for me to walk all the way there?

And what kind of crappy hotel is it that doesn't serve cake? Personally, they should make hotel like this ILLEGAL.

Anyhow, luckily they've got this japanese cafe down the road. But that's another 10 min for me for what would be like 5 normally. And my ankle was starting to hurt because of poor blood circulation rooting from the fact that I was too desperate for cake and had lost all senses in logical thinking thus resulting in my wearing a pair of trainer. Grrr..... why did I have to sprained my ankle? Why? Why? So annoying.

There were some challenging steps towards the last 40 feet to the Jap cafe so I waited there like a hungry ghost, or more precisely a hungry CAKE ghost, while my junior went in to check if they sell cakes

So junior went inside to flip the menu abit hoping to spot some cakes
Yes, she came out signalling the wonderful sign of CAKE!

If you have x-rayed eye, like Superman, of which is unlikely, coz I there's only one Superman, and he happens to be my friend, you could literally see my heart growing flowers at that moment. Cake! Cake! Cake!

I went in and couldn't help drooling at the western menu. And they do have cakes, but only 2 pathetic kinds.

And many types of coffees.

Didn't want to drink coffeee so late.

So we went for the Cheese Cake.
It looks like it's being taken out from the menu straight away. :-) It's pretty alright. Yo... don't be fooled. It was the most h o r r i b l e cheese cake I've ever tasted in my life. It's so dry it's like eating sponge bloody soaking all the moist in my mouth. Could literally call it tongue resentfully bad. Costed RMB 15 somemore!

Since I'm such a visual animal, like man, I was already contented just by looking. So by purely looking at a pretty cake, though it's not delactable, calmed 50% of my anxiety (same as what pretty ladies with nice bodies do to man even though those ladies don't necessarily have nice personality, know what I mean?). Well, though sexy smell of manly sweat or chocolate with high percentage of quality cocoa can do the same for me. :-)

Being the usual hungry ghosts that we are, we tried the Fettucini, our FIRST PASTA in Shandong. Yum, yum... I'm so happy. Oh, I wish I can have Italian everyday here. Why do they have to be so expensive leh? This dish costed us RMB 35.

The hungry ghost in me turned loose and I went CRAZY holding a menu with pictures of western food all over it, eventhough it's already way past 12 midnight, I flipped the menu again and again and ordered another dish, which is the roasted chicken sandwich.

Surprisingly, it's very very good. Toast is thick, chicken meat is thick and oozing with juice... can you guys donate some money ah? I want to eat Western food everyday! >_<

Playing Patient Today

2006-08-12T14:59:00.000+08:00

The rescue team arrived today to treat pitiful Yeng.

The best part of working in a hospital is you get to know who is the pro and who's not. And the pro who came to rescue me is a Taiwanese junior who specialises in ortopedic.

He brought 3 yellow looking herbs and pounded them, mixed with honey and a bit of water. Smell WONDERFUL! The process of making herbal remedy can really turn me on. I'm bloody weird.

He then did some 牵拉 'adjustment' to my foot plus some urut. Compliment to his very good skills as it's very comfortable and precise.

You see, when you sprained your ankle, contrary to general belief, DO NOT EVER MASSAGE IT FOR TOO LONG or you will regret later. Apply once only in a short precise manner in order to adjust the linings.

Then he applied the herbs on it. Yo, the herbs are refreshingly COOLING and yet SPICY. The smell is just so nice I'm already high.
Mr Pro also told me that I have got VERY WEAK TENDONS. He shook his head and said "Something's wrong with you."
My other friend said I'm 肝肾亏虚!

It basically means I'm an OLD LADY.

Geeeee... Enough of people telling me I'm an old lady ok?

*Can hear mischievous sister laughing already*

Well, I am asked not to walk for 2 days which really spoils my weekend.
I was planning to visit the local pub tonight!!!!
No going to the ENT department tomolo!
No tuition with cutie kids tomolo!!!!
I'm DOOMED!

Just so you know, things not to eat when you sprained your ankle:
1) Bamboo Shots
2) Mango
3) Banana
4) Fungus

Well, I was told not to eat these anyway.

Oh dear.... I will be stucked in my room for 2 days... wanna cry already... :-(

Sprained My Ankle, Poor Me!

2006-08-11T21:10:00.000+08:00

I sneaked into a lecture conducted for working doctors today. Boy, it's good because they get all the TOP notch professors! I'm such a book worm I find attending lectures is way much better than being in the out-patient dept.

Was planning to have nice steamed chicken wrapped in lotus leaf tonight, but I bloody went to sprain my left ankle on my way to the restaurant because I was talking, laughing and walking at the same time.

I SPRAINED MY ANKLE!

Don't want to talk and hahaha and walk at the same time ANYMORE.

Damn serious >_<

My friend gave me an ice pack, THANK GOD!

But can't do anything till it's after 24 hours, after which I can apply massage, acupuncture and medicine.

Anyhow, that would mean STAYING AT HOME WHOLE DAY tomolo.

My CUTE junior from Malaysia, who's very kind, and I guess, pity me, bought take-away for dinner so we had a GIRLS night IN watching Korean Drama. hoho

She bought some noodle loh. It's Mountain East soup noodle, soup base is not like those from the South - thick and rich. So so lah.

But I like the Finger Nailed Steamed Dumplings.

Nibbed using fingernails! Very dainty! And soft soft one!

How I wish I can share with you! :-)

Buying Herbs

2006-08-10T11:26:00.000+08:00

Because I want to look young and beautiful
I've decided to try out an interesting concoction recommended by my friend that I never thought in my life could be used for facial treatment.

So I asked my junior to take me to the cheapest chinese herbalist in town
and yes
it's really happening here

I went to the herbs section and told them what I want.

Can u spot me in my ALL CHINESE MADE attire?

They are extremely busy and have to be swift. I always wonder how they memorise the exact location of each herbs considering that all drawers look alike.

This lady is serving me and don't you think my herbs look nice and dainty?

I also prescribed myself this unique flower for my facial wash which is normally used for blocked nose.

Look like mice, don't they?

Purchasing in China is funny and annoying. You don't buy things off the counter where you find the product, you've got to go to the cashier to make the payment first then walk back to the original counter to get your stuff and the cashier NEVER says hello, thank you or look at you.

My junior was making faces because she's just found out that she's up for sale in my blog and no one has put a bid. Haha! No lah, she's just mischeivous, that's all.

Then we took the bus home and oh my it's this lady driver again!!!!!

I have no discrimination whatsoever towards ladies drivers but she is just pure annoying for she drives like there's NO PASSANGER in the bus, ok?

Steer here and there suddenly, sneak into the pedestrian walk way, drives along the OPPOSITE lane, break suddenly

This is not F1 Grand Prix, ok????

Met-an-Angel Day

2006-08-08T10:15:00.000+08:00

Today I played sneaking again and joined the round of the wards in the tumour department.

And I have no regrets.

I was literally touched because I met an angel - the Chief Physician.

Dare I say, other than my parents and siblings, I've never met such a angelic person before in my entire life that's so loving, giving, patience, thoughtful, intelligent and endurance.

Her voice is like a beautiful piece of musical instrument, and she carries herself gently as if there's no weight.

She speaks with the most calming and cheerful manner that patients couldn't resist but to adore her. Even the most unhappy soul and stubborn sorrow can be melted with the touch of her hands.

I've never seen so many smiling patients in other rounds.

I really want to be like her.

This is what I had for lunch. I'm not sure what it's called in English, but my best shot of translation would be Wild Veggie. Not only do I like its colour, but it's aromatic. I kept thinking it's basil but it also looks something like Paku-Pakis:

Anyone knows?

Then it's shopping time in the local pasar in the afternoon.
I like veggie here because they are fat fat and cheap cheap.

蒜薹 - Garlic stem

Mountain East people love veggie more than meat so they sell/buy veggie in huge big bulk.

丝瓜-Chinese Okra or loofah

The loofahs here look a little different than the one we have in the South.

Then we found this purple looking corn. Uncle colleague's like so excited as if he's found gold. He told me its texture's a bit like glutinous rice when cooked.

Hmm... but I don't think it'll like it loh.

Not sure whether it's seasonal or what but the whole pasar is selling a lot of lotus.

My favourite veggie of all time is their red pepper! I like the vibrant red and it's very sweet. I fry it with everything! Best for Spanish Paela.

I asked this auntie to pose for me with her goose feather fan and she's so happy thinking she's going to appear in some cool and sexy magazine I work for. haha!

And this is Chinese Yam -山药, that I've mention before。I still think it's difficult to cook.

Uncle colleague bought some lotus leaves.

I was like: What are you going to do with them?
Uncle colleague: Make soup.
Confused Yeng: Can meh?
Uncle colleague: Me though got gray hair but still full of YANG and hot hot inside. Need to calm myself down abit.
Yeng: LOL!

Lots-of-Activity Day

2006-08-06T22:06:00.000+08:00

I was browsing all the snapshots for the day and was surprised to find that I did so many things today. Wow, didn't know my energy levels have such potential!

Gosh, I just love being a full-time student again!

We have to attend lectures on weekends. And today's ElectroCardioGram (ECG) lecture is conducted by a local young lecturer/teacher. He's quite nice though I didn't like him throwing back annoying/stupid/down grading/narrow-minded questions at me when I ask him questions about reading ECG. For instance:

Me: Teacher, could you explain why this ECG look XXX?
Teacher: Why do you need to know? Just master those that I taught you.
Me: *Showing unsatisfactory expression*
Teacher: What use is it to know so much?
Me: ... *Want to secretly kill him*

How so chinese!

Anyhow, no blog is complete without some nice picture-whoring photos! And this is my junior from Malaysia. She's up for biding from RMB 400. Closing date end of Oct 2006. *Punk intended and YES she reads my blog*

Since it's not so NICE to NOT JOIN my malaysian colleagues for lunch after the morning class together, me and my junior had lunch with them and why am I not surprised again that they ordered those FREAKING same dishes again that made me want to commit suicide.

So I was kind of happy when they ordered this:

Shandong version of Malaysian La-la. I was eating this the whole time with my boring bowl of white rice.
Poor me.
Apa boleh buat if NONE of my readers are kind enough to donate money for me to go dine in Western restaurants?

To cheer myself up a little, I went shopping briefly at the so-called high street areas near my campus and found this marvellous shop.

They sell high graded

artistic Italian styled decorating pieces for export. To have been devoided of anything visually western for 57 days, it's really an eye candy for me.
I wanted to buy everything in that shop.
I really wanted to!
I guess being dead broke has got some degree of advantages: I don't need to spend at all.

Anyhow, I started my first tuition class. Yes, I'm now officially a Kopi-O English tuition teacher in Mountain East. It's so easy, I just need to correct their pronunciation! That's it!

But, boy, I must say, contrary to general belief, the English standard here is amazingly high. Even higher than us Malaysian, ok! No exaggeration.

It was REAL fun teaching TRADITIONAL CHINESE students. Very responsive and motivated. I don't have to tell them when to clean the black board (filled with my made up bollocks) and drink is being served automatically to clear my throat. How siok!

Kids roam around town like this in Mountain East.

After an exciting afternoon teaching English for the first time, and with the few extra pocket money I've made, I've decided to treat myself a nice expensive and awesome WESTERN food.

More Mountain East kids roaming around town. So dangerous.

Tada, this is where I had my dinner!
Do you know HOW LONG I've been longing to eat some proper western food, do you?

We had some really nice salad made of mash potato and all kinds of fresh vegetable.

And ordered some steak which costed us RMB 30.

Then a Mountain East version pizza that taste nothing like an Italian pizza but it's alright because it's way much better than no pizza.

We even went for dessert after that!

What an eventful day!

My Shandong Buddy

2006-08-05T23:03:00.000+08:00

The university conducts short courses for distance learning students, who are working professions, once in a while, and they were conducting one for this summer so I sneaked into their lectures thinking to make my USD465 per month of expenses worth its while.

It is here, while attending Medical Imaging lecture, that I got to know my first Mountain East buddy.

She's from Yan Tai 烟台, another city in Shandong. (Ya, I know you must be asking where the heck is that... I will educate you a bit on my next blog, ok?)

I regconised her straight away as someone not from Jinan because she's so lady-like and doesn't speak like an annoying horn. In fact, she's exactly like one of those typical nice and traditional chinese girls that you see from chinese costume dramas. She is very intelligent, self-ascertained and stand guards her own tradition. I like friends like that... knows her culture well, not ashamed to be old fashion and still pretty much ignorant about the poisoning darts of capitalism.

She's already 27 and a practising physician at her local hospital and carries a cool classic name : Yang Fei Fei 杨飞飞 though she thought my name is a lot cooler.

Yang Fei Fei's dorm

Anyhow, I guess Yang Fei Fei and I clicked a bit because we're both non-local and feeling LONELY in a weird place as such. But, largely, on my side, it's due to 2 reasons:

I want to feel a chinese girl. I want to get in touch with my chinese side! I want to be the chinese girl that I never got to be!
Yang Fei Fei thinks like someone who's from 2000 years ago that have accidently got on a time machine and travelled here and that she somehow lost her original ancient outfit. She's so disconnected from the rest of the modern world! It's like I've found E.T and she befriended me! The thought of hanging out with an ancient human being who's lost in time just THRILLS me!

Breathtakingly beautiful chinese ancient wooden string instrument - GuQin

Being the ancient girl that she is, Yang Fei Fei told me that she wanted to pick up playing 古琴 GuQin, a beautiful piece of ancient musical instrument. I've heard about the mystical sound of GuQin and the important role it played in many major historical events, but I've never seen one in real life before, and since I like antiquity so much I went shopping to look for one with her.

College students having a session at a music shop

We visited a few music shops, but none of them have GuQin. And I was constantly confused by another popular wooden stringed instrument, GuZheng 古筝。

I kept telling Yang Fei Fei: There, that's a GuQin!
Yang Fei Fei will go: No, Yeng! That's a GuZheng!
Yeng: Oh, soli soli.

GuZheng 古筝

Yang Fei Fei enquires with the shop owners most of the time in some language I can never pick up. (They always sound like arguing to me.) Somehow I've got a feeling those shop owners don't know what she's talking about and that even more so makes me suspiciously conclude that she's really not from our time.

There are also some other really nice chinese musical instruments.
How I hope I can play ALL OF THEM.
I'm especially hooked on wind instruments.

Musical instruments are cheaper here in China.

Reminds me of one of my other out-of-the-world cool Malaysian classmates that can play this cute wind instrument made with HuLu - bottle gourd/calabash.

Yo, very cute oh!

Anyhow, we failed to find GuQin because no one knows what we are talking about, and I really think it DOES NOT EXIST anymore. The shop owners don't seem to know this instrument and they suggest us to have it custom made. Wah, where got money to buy one big chunk of nice hard wood to make one woh! Gee... not to mention the workmanship!

Yang Fei Fei says she's just gonna pick up QuZheng. Poor ancient girl.

Normal Thursday Loh

2006-08-03T12:19:00.000+08:00

I am hanging out with a post-grad that looks like my ex-colleague George Fonseka.

He's very nice, and such a china-pure-and-blur-blur-boy.

He took me and uncle colleague to the 'training' classes for post-grads and we watched 'movie' together.

Haha, no lah, it's those basic knowlegde of servicing in the hospital.

The 'movie' finished early. So I got the chance to explore a bit of the hospital and see how it's like while I was hiding inside the physician's office all the time and I noticed queues are never ending.

Alright, found the CT scan room. This li'tle girl's scared, so the mum was asked to go in. I always find CT scan amazing, every bit of your body is being sliced. Can see blood vessels, fluid, bones and organs according to density adjustment, called the windowing technology. It really amazes me and I like looking at CT scans it makes me feel like playing... *forgot*... you know the book where you are supposed to find that a guy among thousands of people?

Forget it...

I had dinner with my uncle colleague. We tried out this little shop that sells chinese burger and noodle with 肉汁 - stewed meat?

Ya, MEAT! My favourite food. :-)

I like noodles in Mountain East, so I ordered the 肉汁汤面 which really is Soup Noodle. I love the soup coz it's boiled using LOTS of meat with 40 over kinds of herbs for long hours. The layer of oil just SO TURN ME ON. So sweet and juicy, can feel the nutrients being sucked in through my stomach and instestines. I love soup, I love soup!

How to Beat Them

2006-08-02T12:18:00.000+08:00

I was having my lunch today and saw 2 lads ordered these:

They didn't finished what they ordered. You would have thought they didn't eat much, in fact, they'd finished quite a lot considering the fact that all dishes came like mountain high.

These food issues are bothering me like a white worm squirming in my head.

Why do they eat so much? Why do they have to order so much? Why are they SO RICH?

Further investigation needed.

Somehow, I was pondering on the issue of how to conquer a nation with huge appetite that loves salt and trumpety voice that speaks with the velocity of 100mph.

I have come to the conclusion that it is rooted to FOOD and SALT.

Large amount of FOOD enter huge stomach
= digests more (than us)
= gets more energy (than us)
= can talk loud and fast (than us)

SALT ( arguably raises blood pressure )
= enter already energetic body
= promote faster blood cirulcation
= even more energetic
= talk even louder and faster

See... that's how they do it.

All you need to do to take down this nation is to starve them and devoid them of salt!
I'm so ready to do it, just to prove my point!

Exploring the Wards

2006-08-01T20:59:00.000+08:00

My uncle colleage has got a professor look with his grayed hair. In TCM, having coloured hair (due to old age) and looked mature is very important. They regard OLD as being GENG - good.

But that kind of make me want to be a TCM doc that's not old and mature yet very GENG next time. I want to be the fun filled and YOUNG doc.

Anyway, so my uncle colleague gets respected everywhere he goes in the hospital. And since he's so nice, he brought me to the in-patient ward to learn more.

I had breakfast with the rest of the colleagues today. And... they EAT soy-bean soup and some steamed dough.

My god. So healthy meh? Something new to me. The soybean has no added sugar whatsoever, it's just the natural taste of bean. Not too bad though. Sure a healthy start for the day, I thought.

It's a busy ward. Today is 大查房 where chief physicians make the rounds of the wards. We attended the endocrinology round which was TOUGH because the chief physician kept asking "Can our classmate here from Malaysia explain to us as to why we use this and this herbs for this condition?"

Yo, so pressurising!
Got the whole weight of Malaysia on my shouders!

After the rounds, all the post-grads get busy writing medical reports concluding what's being discussed and what treatments are being used in the rounds.

There's only one word to describe the atmosphere: SOLEMN

Writing medical records are serious stuff. Can hear people get scolded all the time for being careless. I don't want to write medical records... so BORING and SCARY!

So I was there the whole day reading all the records and learnt so much!
Better than a library!

I kind of lost appetite after the visit to in-patient department
because I was OVER EXCITED
because I get a good confident boost that TCM really do work miracles.

Patients get recovered and sometimes almost instantly. You get to hear patients praise and smile at the chief physician of how they feel better after talking chinese herbs compared to WM.

This is what someone who's over excited eat for dinner: Mountain East BAO.

Makes happy soup with big dates to boost liver function.

And... FATTY orange cheese cake to make me feel high for the rest of the night.
He he he

Must get some more cake!

Then I chatted with my family till late night.
Mum is cute, still pretty much a kid at heart.
They say there's a kid inside every man, gee, I say same to women.

There there is my Dr Bro. He went and bloody slept on CUTE and SWEET sister like me. Can see his stomach raises and drops the whole night. So bizzare! That's internet for you.

Menthol Keeps Me Awake

2006-07-31T05:52:00.001+08:00

I was 'lecturing' my Dad how dangerous it is that he tries all kinds of unknown medicines people recommend him; even strangers.

But I'm nothing better. I try everything even people don't recommend me to.

I'm just GREEDY.

And I get my instant Karma.

My young boy colleague was inhaling *cough* ladies Menthol. I'm NO inhaler of anything, ok? But the packaging was SO NICELY designed it looks like a CHANNEL. I couldn't resist anything that's professional designed, ok?

So I was tempted.

He lets me inhaled some. Yo... so nice one! Got Ginseng some more! Very smooth and soothing.

I was intoxicated, instantly.

Then I asked for some more. Everytime he litted up one stick I ask for a puff.

I think I took about 6 puffs.

And then what happened????

I was so high, I couldn't sleep the whole night! And stupid me, I forgot that I can't take nicotine. I can't even take coffee after 3pm or else I will end up super high for the night.

My blood was running so high until my bowel movement excellerates like ROCKET and all my shit reached the moon already.

My blood was running so high until I feel so HOT.

My blood was running so high I managed to put up 5 blogs in one night.

What the rocket!

Super Sunday, Again!

2006-07-30T23:59:00.000+08:00

According to the Lunar calendar tomolo is the 7th day of the 7th month making it the day our ancient lovers, a princess who's skilled in weaving and an orphaned cowherd, meet annually. Yes, it is the Chinese Valentine's Day.

Surprisingly, it's a happening day in China and they are celebrating in big scale.

My colleague together with his visiting girlfriend went to the BRIDGE where families gathered to try match make their sons and daughters by putting up curriculum vitae on the lovers noticeboard.

My colleague and his gf were captured and appeared on the local night time newspaper!

Such a loving couple! :-)

I wanted to go and match make myself, too, for the sake of *cough* a news worthy blog entry. Too bad, it was raining like cats and dogs when I was ready to leave. So... no chance for your friend, me.
My prince charming could be waiting there, you know! Darn!

My other SINGLE colleagues and I heard that there's a Cantonese restaurant somewhere in town. So we decided to try it out.

You may think Cantonese food is nothing special but WAIT TILL you've trapped here in Mountain East like me for 2 months eating the same freaking salty and soaked in thick sauce stir-fried food everyday.

I want something SWEET! I want real SOUP!

Yeah, got soup! It's Wax Gourd (or Winter Melon, White Gourd) and Chicken! Yoohoo...! Well, though my mum's one is better but it's better than nothing loh.

Other than the Hakka Stewed Fatty Pork with salted veggie, the rest are just so-so.
Though fried 菜心 Chinese Flowering Cabbage is nice because it's hard to get in Mountain East.

My colleagues all gulped 2 bowls of rice. And this guy is still eating even though there's nothing left on the table! Really can tell how horrible food is here that we are so HUNGRY for Southern food.

So what do SINGLE people do on Valentine's eve?

We go to romantic cafes and order romantic food. :->
Well, I wanted desserts anyway.

See, they have swinging chairs in this cafe. So siok! Can swing swing while enjoying your romantic drinks and desserts.

Some people play chess while hanging out in the cafe. What a nice past time.

I was really excited they serve waffle, but they go and funnily call it the muffin. That sounds funny and nope... not going to order something RMB22 and don't know whether it'll come looking like a muffin or waffle.

I ordered these instead:

Mochi! Glutinous rice desserts! Quite nice.

Also ordered Lavender Fresh Milk. Yes, that'll be my favourite drink from now on. Smells so good and milk is thick! Make one yourself, ladies, boil NICE and FRESH milk with aromatic herbs (not too long)! Sure makes you feel good and sleep well. Take my word.

This is an awesome night... complete with lover's plum. How I wish my prince charming was here, too!

Fake DVD-R

2006-07-30T23:48:00.000+08:00

I was asked to copy some reading material for my colleagues
He passed me a pack of DVD-Rs of 10 that he bought here in Jinan which costed about RMB 18 (so cheap)

At the speed of 8X, my laptop usually takes 10 minutes the MAX to burn a DVD.

But it's taking FOREVER with his discs.

And my DVD burner software kept telling me that there are fingerprints on the discs and it couldn't complete the burn.

So I checked.

Yo, got scratched! How can a newly bought DVR-r get scratched so fast?

Then I checked the rest. Wah... so scary!
The aluminium coating is incomplete!
Absolutely NO quality control!

It's Sony, you know!
5 out of the 10 are defective!

But somehow I've got a feeling is FAKE Sony.

What do you think, James and Charlie?

Student Styled Party

2006-07-29T13:25:00.000+08:00

We had student styled aka refugee styled party at one of the junior's room.

We are quite well equiped using utensils left for us from last badge, but I never get to use them!

Gosh, haven't had party like this since... *retrieving memory* ... since... Concord!
Gone were the days when Yeen Li and I have boiled cabbage in Sook Fan's room chewin' the fat and talked about special anatomical features of the male of the species.

I like being in Mountain East because I am easily passed as a 25 and under and get courted by young cute innocent boys. Yo, way to go, Yeng! (ha!)

We have Stir-fried bittergourd with salted egg 苦瓜炒咸蛋, Stir-fried tofu with spicy fermented beans 麻婆豆腐 and... can't remember all the rest.

Juniors are cute because they haven't really been exposed to the complication of working in a 8-5 corporate environment with back stabbers or go getters nor do they get to hear the ugliest words that is ever to be uttered about them.

In other words, they are fat meat that's yet to be chopped!

This one is nice to chop

They are always amazed with my 'Gulliver's Travel' stories while back in the UK studying with people from Tanjong Rambutan in the disguise of artists making funny pieces of artwork. Needless to say, I absolutely enjoy it when they give me the perplexed and the is-she-for-real-or-what look. haha

I like messing with people's head with TRUE facts. It's the highest level of mindblogging technique and I'm not even trying! I just tell them the TRUTH and they will be lost in their own little self-acclaimed politically correct comprehension of the world.

See, if you don't look at things from different perspectives and grasps the whole idea of how all things are inter-connected, you're gonna be messed about by people like me. I hanged out with residents of Tanjong Rambutan for 4 years, remember? Playing ground of how far sanity/insanity can go.

Sometimes, I can be such a brat.

Can be such an angle also lah, if you are nice to me. hehe

God Saves Mountain East Food and Fake Palm Reader

2006-07-28T22:34:00.000+08:00

We ran out of things to order for lunch.

It's either my colleagues don't like my kind of food or I don't like theirs, so we had to resort to things like POTATO, which is quite UNIVERSAL.

So shameful.
I can't live anymore on Chinese food!
Can someone PLEASE SAVE ME
from all the white rice and stir-fried food.

P L E A S E ?

Can die now.

Mountain East people like to sell things like this by the road side. This girl is selling some kind of plants.

Not interested.

I persuaded my colleague to take a palm reading which is only 5 Yuan.
Cheap right?
Maybe she's a real master, who knows?

I thought I'm going get some amusement listening to someone's life story but HECK I couldn't make out what she's mumbling about. But I did hear her said that he will have ONE marriage only in this life. Ya, how informative!

He was asked to draw 3 bamboo sticks from a metal bottle.
And he so happened to draw the so-called auspicious ones.
One was the God of Prosperity. So good huh?

Just while we were praising how lucky he was some policemen came patrolling and she quickly ran away.

Ah? It's illegal! Haha!

But just seconds after the police patrol car is gone, she came back and got hold of us and asked for her pay. When we gave her 5 Yuan, she's not satisfied.

Cheater: It costed 6.50 Yuan
Me: What? Didn't you say 5 Yuan just now?
Cheater: @#$)_#$%^*_% (Some unknown mandarin)
Me: ha?
Colleagues: ha?
Cheater: *Looks angry* @#$$#%$^*#$ (Some more unknown mandarin)
Me: *Blur blur* What oh?
Cheater: You drew the God of Prosperity, that costed 1.50 Yuan
Me + Colleagues: What the XXXX!
Me + Colleagues: 神棍！Cheater!

Lunch in Mountain East

2006-07-28T12:26:00.000+08:00

Did I tell you that Mountain East people talk like HORNs and have the appetite of some massive CROCODILEs?

They talk so loud sometimes I couldn't make out whether they are scolding me or just being loud. I blame the salt.

Whenever I take my lunch, I always busy-the-body and look around what they order here not because I've no idea what to order, it's because I want to see HOW FAR they go in ordering the number of dishes.

When they eat, they order like there's no tomolo.

I know you can't really tell the MAGNITUDE of those dishes from the picture because my camera tend to concave things that's near it, thus making those further away smaller.

But I can tell you, this family of Dad and Mum plus kiddy ordered

3 MOUNTAINS and 1 LAKE

That's a VERY HUGH BOWL of soup.

These are what me and my colleague order:

Only 2 tiny bowls of rice and a plate of tofu (not even a mountain)

Of course, the tofu is again BLOODY salty

We couldn't finish our rice, and only finished half the tofu.

So really, we finished 1 bowl of rice and half a plate of tofu only.

NOW......

Our family of 2 and a half finished everything!

And that's considered VERY little compared to most of the other ones that I've seen, you know.

And not only do Mountain East people have stomachs beyond the pale, they can really drink during lunch hour.

Now you tell me, how are we Malaysians going to compete with them (mainland Chinese) when we couldn't even beat them in TALKING and EATING? Their stomachs are BIGGER! Their voice is louder! And they talk faster!

A man may be proud of his big balls (or shoe size, ha!) and a woman her cup size. What does/can a nation as a whole be proud of?

It's the STOMACH and SPEAKER size!

Buying Liquor

2006-07-27T22:07:00.000+08:00

As usual, I woke up late for work coz I chatted too much last night.

Damn MSN Messenger!

This is what I had for breakfast on my way to the hospital. Ya, Mountain East burger. It's Fried Green Pepper with Beef invading my nose with strong Star Anise smell. Nice though.

Normal day at the out-patient department today.

I hanged out with uncle colleague for lunch and he wanted to buy nice liqour for one of our professors, so I went along.

We found a small liqour shop by the roadside near our hospital. They seem to be selling things cheaper here than most supermarkets.

They have quite a selection of cigarettes with really WEIRD designed packaging. I was really surprised at how expensive these grass are...

They can go as high as RMB 500. I wonder what they put inside. Can someone enlighten me a bit.

Saw this beautiful gift pack. Isn't it nice to pour alcohol from an animal looking bottle? Makes you feel like you are in a cartoon.

Uncle is looking for 茅台酒 -Mao Tai Liquor. I have not a clue why this liquor is so famous. And apparently it has to come from the province of Gui - 贵州. I found this from the net:

Worldwide, most people will have heard of Maotai Jiu, a strong colorless liquor originating in Maotai in Guizhou Province. It has a production history of over 200 years, made from wheat and sorghum with a unique distilling process that involves seven iterations of the brewing cycle. This is the drink generally served in China to visiting dignitaries. Most famously, it played a supporting role in Chinese-U.S. negotiations leading up to the signing of the Shanghai Communiqué of 1972, with Henry Kissinger reported to have jested, “After a dinner of mao-tai and Peking duck, I'll sign anything.”

Quite impressive hoh? Mao Tai is as good as Peking duck! I want to try, too! Yo, speaking of Peking duck, I'm drooling already... gonna dream of it tonight. :-p

But there just no way I can buy it!
The one that has least percentage of alcohol is already 38%.

Then the one that Mountain East people normally drink is 42%.

And, as a gift, it can go up to 53%.

But still not as freaky as the 60% one. (Well, this is not a Mao Tai lah)

How to buy? The alcohol content is just WAY TO HIGH ok.

Most of my friends know that I can really drink and I've only got drunk once only during my psycodelic years in London.

I want to stress again: I can really drink. But I must say... I have to raise my WHITE FLAG to Mountain East drunkards.

This is how tough Mountain East lady drink:

With poise one!

This is how losers drink:

Like KIDS.

Trumpet Creeper

2006-07-24T19:12:00.000+08:00

I ventured to the Endocrinology Out-patient Dept today. There were Dr Cool, and also his cool patients.

Dr Cool is young at heart, easy-going and specialises on diabetes, both hypo and hyper thyroidism, hari lost and acne.

We've got a lot of young ladies with acne and thyroidism. And they are anxious and impatient. So I get to see all the UGLY sides of women when they are anxious and impatient which FORCED me to conclude that women are REALLY naggy, touchy, loud and IRRITABLE.

*Shaking head shamelessly*

You really got to be as cool as Dr Cool to handle patients like that. ME? Maybe not.

Dr Cool has special transportation arranged by the hospital to escort him to work. He is so nice as to give us a ride home most of the time! :-)

.....................................................................................................

This is Chinese Trumpet creeper -- Ling Xiao 凌霄
Scientific name: Campsis Glandiflora

Ling Xiao is very beautiful and a much loved flower. Pedals are big and the colour is attractive. I bet you wouldn't have bet that the flower is used as a herb for toning blood!

I label it as a lady's herb. Becuase it belongs to the liver and heart (pericardum) meridien. Especially useful for period problem related to 'blood clot'.

Combined with other similar herbs, it's useful for injuries that are orthopedical related, too. Just boil them together and add some rice wine and use it on your sprained ankle etc.

For our doctors, here are some more readings:

Blood tonic; Carminative; Diuretic; Febrifuge; Women's complaints.

The flowers and the whole plant are

blood tonic
carminative- inducing the expulsion of gas from the stomach and intestines,
depurative - purify the humors (body fluid, blood etc)
diuretic and
febrifuge - reduce fever

They are used in the treatment of women's complaints. A decoction of the flowers is used to correct menstrual disorders, rheumatoid pains, traumatic injuries, difficult urination, pruritis and oozing dermaphytoses.

Lost Your Voice Day

2006-07-23T21:34:00.000+08:00

Today is Sunday, again.
It's my favourite day of the week because I get to go to the E.N.T.department or Otolaryngology (pronounced oh/toe/lair/in/goll/oh/jee) to poke into people's ear and nose and get to meet cute children of Mountain East.

Because I woke up late, I left home without breakfast.
As a result, I resorted to buying Mountain East bread by the road side.

Yo... so nice. :-)
Shao Bing is sold by weight. The 3 pieces she's preparing for me costs about RMB2.20

When I got to my teacher's office, my colleagues were already in action. And it seemed today was a Lost Your Voice Day as there were a lot of patients of this sort.

The lady in the picture couldn't speak for quite a while and we suspected there's something wrong with her vocal cord.

We performed the fibre-optic nasal endoscope on her. The tiny camera went through her nose then down to her throat.

When we found the vocal cord, we saw red spots and a small polyp.
Err... a polyp is a mass of tissue that develops on/protrudes from a mucous membrane.

So, 声带息肉(Polyp of Vocal Cord) it is! Yo, the software that they use for the operation of the fibre-optic camera is so user-friendly and advanced. Virtually no flaw! So I printed out the report for the patient.

We recommended her to have it removed.
What.
The polyp lah not the vocal cord.

Then there's this lady who lost her voice for 3 days.
We checked 'everything' and just hadn't a clue what's wrong with her.
She didn't eat anything heaty or has not got polyp growing from her vocal cord...
We scratched our head and feel exasperated.

Only after quite some time did she tell us that she's been very sad and had been crying for 3 freaking days continuously because a relative just passed away.

Yo... that's something new to me. But I don't think the crying did a lot of harm, it was her EMOTION that some how disfunctioned her voice.

But in any case, my friend, no good crying for 3 days ok?

After the excitement in the morning I feel like being unhealthy and went to McDonald's.

But only when I was staring at their menu above the counter that I realised how I'm sick and tired of fast food already.
I did try out the unique Yam Pie though, which was almost as good as the Banana Pie in KL.

Roaming Around Town (Part ii)

2006-07-22T21:22:00.000+08:00

After the long walk underground, we finally 'surfaced' to upper ground.
And we ended up at somewhere what the literally translation would be Grand View Garden.

They say it's a happening night market woh.

Wah, no bad. I long for ancient architecture, that's my kind of trance, which is REALLY LACKING in Mountain East.

And while my Malaysian colleagues were engaged in a healthcare equipment shops (ya, those slimming belts again), I found a Chinese Tea Shop.
How can you not taste tea when in China?
So I dragged them and try out some teas.
The intern told us that the best tea would be this green tea called Mao Feng.

Really not bad! And cheap! RMB 10 only for one WHOLE pack!
That's what I called chinese tea. But Green Tea is not really suitable for my body, so I went for the classic: Tie Guan Yin 铁观音- and you can translate it to be Iron Goddess of Mercy - which is really the best of Oolong tea because of the wonderful taste it leaves on your tongue and throat after drinking.

Even better than KISSING!

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about Tie Guan Yin, but just too lazy, so I found from the net this entry on the legend of Die Guan Yin:

As is the custom in China, people will give offerings for Guan Yin at the statue ... and that it is blessed by her. I've also heard that it was originally made by monks at a temple dedicated to GuanYin.

By far the most sensible explanation for the name I've heard though, is that "Tie Guan Yin", is actually an idiom-slang that was at one time used in the tea industry. The idiom in that case would mean "As heavy as an Iron statue of GuanYin". Apparently this statue was a standardized unit of measure at an important tea trading point. It would be used to measure certain quantities of tea for accuracy. Since many teas are much more bulky than others, and some are very dense, weight is the only method of measuring tea accurately. In the world of Oolongs, the higher quality of tea is more dense than the cheaper teas. So one poud of high quality tea would look like a much smaller amount. So if you were a tea salesman, and were selling a diminutive-looking bag of tea to someone who was questioning it's quality, you could say "no! it's as heavy as an Iron statue of Guan Yin!" to let them know it's just a very high quality tea, that is very dense. Over time, the name just came to mean "the highest grade of Oolong".

For Chinese readers who are more of a Romantic sorts, here is one of the many legends of Iron Goddes of Mercy tea:

铁观音原产安溪县西坪镇, 已有200多年的历史,关于铁观音品种的由来, 在安溪还留传着这样一个故事, 相传, 清乾隆年间. 安溪西坪上尧茶农魏饮制得一手好茶, 他每日晨昏泡茶三杯供奉观音菩萨, 十年从不间断,可见礼佛之诚.一夜,魏饮梦见在山崖上有一株透发兰花香味的茶树, 正想采摘时,一阵狗吠把好梦惊醒. 第二天果然在崖石上发现了一株与梦中一模一样的茶树. 于是采下一些芽叶, 带回家中,精心制作. 制成之后茶味甘醇鲜爽, 精神为之一振. 魏认为这是茶之王, 就把这株茶挖回家进行繁殖. 几年之后, 茶树长得枝叶茂盛.因为此茶美如观音重如铁, 又是观音托梦所获,就叫它"铁观音". 从此铁观音就名扬天下. 铁观音是乌龙茶的极品, 其品质特征是: 茶条郑曲, 肥壮圆结, 沉重匀整, 色泽砂绿, 整体形状似晴蜓头, 螺旋体,青蛙腿. 冲泡后汤色多黄浓艳似琥珀, 有天然馥郁的兰花香, 滋味醇厚甘鲜, 回甘悠久, 俗称有"音韵". 茶音高而持久, 可谓"七泡有余香".

More reading of tea in chinese can be found here.

Engraved with picture of ancient tea experts competing with each other.

The shop assistant told us Selangor Pewter tea holder is the best container for storing tea! Something to feel proud of being a Malaysian, finally.
This one is about RMB 500-800. Liddat oso can?

We walked around a bit and found all sorts of EXOTIC food with CREATIVE FUNNY NAMES that you can NEVER find in Malaysia.

Fried Donkey Bun for you my friend.
Eee... I don't want.

Roasted Deer Meat.
Ok, not so weird lah.

Even-the-Dog-Not-Like Bun.
What the heck is that?

This is even better.... the Hong Kong Peeing Beef Ball.

Holy mother of earth, you tell me, how can meat ball pee?

This is where Mountain East people enjoy all the beef pee and dog-also-no-like food.
But I'm such a snob, I want to dine in this:

Haha... for some unknown reasons, Mountain East people tend to think us Malaysians are rich. But we didn't end up sitting there, or else everything else would have added up to RMB 1000, or more.

We settled for a more humble setting and ordered:

I think it's the stem part of Garlic (which is very SWEET) fried with meat. Surprisingly refreshing. Never tried this before.

Tada... Fried Fresh Chinese Yam! ( In Chinese: 淮山 or 山药. )
You know this is one of those mystery herbs that your mum uses to boil soup!
I feel flowers blooming in my heart when I eat something that's food and at the same time a chinese herb that we prescribe for patients.

Send me to cloud no.9 straigth away.
I do get high over weird things.

For those of you who are going to ask me what Chinese Yam is, click this link http://www.foodsnherbs.com/new_page_49.htm

Strong recommendation for Sook Fan and Nai Der. :-)

Yo, I just L O V E tofu in Mountain East.
It's got texture.
Not all soft and smooth like those in KL.
No CHARACTER!

How can a meal with my Malaysian colleagues be complete without the usual torture of ordering the SAME FREAKING kind of dishes leh.

After my satisfying meal.
Saw this brilliant translation on my way home:
Millionare = 米力乃 (Mi Nai Li)

So, to recap:
Yeng gets high over
1) Ancient architecture
2) Herbs that are also food

*I can see people rolling their eyes already*

Roaming Around Town (Part i)

2006-07-22T20:32:00.000+08:00

Note: Long entry with lots of pictures. Please be patient with the long downloading. :-)

My Malaysian colleagues told me that it's cheaper to buy Winter outfits during Summer. And according to the locals, we should really get the 羽绒服 - DOWN/FEATHER FILLED JACKET, which is more than enough to stand the average -8°C (worst -17°C ) and windy winter days.

Feeling excited, off we went to the 济南人民商场 - "Jinan People's Stock Company" (duh? Engrish again, I say) with 3 of my Malaysian colleagues.

We had lunch first at Mc Donald's.

I tried something different called the Triangle Wrap.
Ya very horny! Suit me though... hoho

Not bad and piping hot! Though the BBQ sauce has too much black pepper. Too heaty for vulnerable me.

Then off we went to the down jacket market.
I've never ever seen down filled jacket this cheap before in my whole freaking life.

You can choose last year's fashion - which costs around RMB 300++ (with feathers around the hood)
Or the year before last - RMB 100 ++ (no feathers around the hood)
Or the >3 years - less than RMB 100

The thing is... there's no way you can tell whether it's last year's or fashion more than 5 years ago as they all looked OLD FASHION to me.

Worse still, they all LOOK THE SAME. The colour selections are just out-of-the-world weird. The only thing you can choose is whether you want feather aroun the hood or not.

So it's no surprise that I COULDN'T FIND ONE THAT I LIKE!

Teletubbies one not bad? Got a horn on the head one.

I think I'll just keep my fingers crossed hoping that my UK winter wear I brought can tahan the freezing and windy weather here.

Then we went to the nearby departmental store and tried out some fitness equipment - the popular slimming belt.

They cost about RMB700. I like it. Very comfortable. :-)

Aiyo, wrong place lah!

Mosquito net is a must have bedroom item in China. There are many nice selections that can really make your bed looks like a princess' slumber.

My mum said that sleeping inside a mosquito net with air-con on is one hell of a pleasure, no need to cover yourself with blanket.

Then we went to an underground market... well, it's literally underground. It was a long TUNNEL ok... easily 1000 shops inside.

First was the fashion shops. Well, mostly for the lower class, though they are NOT even near cheap.

And I realised RED is never old fashion in China.

About RMB40 plus for a t-shirt. (Money sucker!)

Fashion sense in Mountain East falls into 3 categories:
1. Samseng teenager look with WEIRD hairdo
2. Very old fashion nenek look.
3. Ladylike sixties look.

Jesus, I know my sister will say "Suit you loh!". But I NO like, ok?

I've always like Bom-Bom head, but since most teenagers here got Bom-Bom head, it kind of put me off already. :-p

Looks like Sungei Wang hoh?

The ladies wear section is SO LOOOOONG we walked until our legs couldn't tahan.

And then we went to the part where they sell girls' hair accesories.

Even SCARIER!
SO MANY OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More and more!

Can make your own "hair decoration" here.

They are really not cheap. Most are above RMB30.

Nice cats that never pee or scratch your sofa.

To be continued...