Hubby left for work at 7am and I got up from bed at 9am for the sake of getting food aka breakfast in my tummy before they closes at 10.30am then back to my room and do some work, blog a little, chat a little before the Hubby came home back at 3pm. Off we go to Hutong Village.

Hutong Village is considered one of the very popular tourist attraction in Beijing. This is where you are able to catch a glimpse of the local daily lifestyle. It is impossible to cover Hutong on foot even thought some houses have been demolished to make way for modernized development. However, some have been conserved and is possible to take an organized tour on a pedicab or rent a bicycle. Or maybe a tour guide if you have the budget.

Hutong in Mandarin is “residential alley” and Beijing was once over-run with neighborhoods of them, boasting the true flavors of the Chinese and the city.

However, over the last decade, Beijing has been modernizing, and Hutongs have been disappearing in favor for ring roads, high rises and stadiums catering to the Olympic games.

A city once crowded with streams of bicycles, is now characterized by swarms of traffic at all hours of the day and a thick, haze!

However, that day the sky was super clear. No haze at all!

We stop by a chinese tea house for the tea ceremony. This is another new that I’ve learnt during my trip. In some part of brewing chinese tea, brewed tea was poured into the thimble-shaped fragrance cup (see picture below). Place the small teacup over the thimble and then turn them upside down very quickly. This is how the tea was served to us.

Gently remove the fragrance cup and allow the tea to inhabit the small cup. Put the fragrance cup between your palm and roll them. Now, appreciate the fragrant by sniffing the fragrance cup. You’ll be surprised at how strong the aroma is from this tiny cup. Interesting isn’t it?

Moving on after getting outselves warm in the tea house as the weather outside is about 6 Celsius.

Emperor/Empress costumes on rental for studio photography

From across the road, I spotted ‘tang (sweets) hulu’. When I was a child, I used to see this sweets in Chinese drama and told myself that one day, if I ever see this, no matter how much or in what situation, I must savor this once. And lo and behold, I yelled, “STOP!!!!” I rush down from my pedicab and get myself one at RMB4 (RM2).

The fruits is actually cored fresh red dates coated with harden sugar syrup. Traditionally Tang Hulu used to be Hawthorn (shan zha) but nowadays fresh fruits has been used. I’ve tried the hawthorn version. They doesn’t taste as good as red dates.

And if you think RMB4 is cheap, the next day a street vendor sold it at RMB1 per stick and another vendor out beat him by shouting RMB1 for 2 sticks!!! And I go, “sucks!”

The gate building is the only thing that we can see along the Hutongs. Chinese people used to try to protect their privacy from being intruded by strangers. You don’t simply go inside their courtyard.

The Hutong tour guide telling us that we are going to visit this particular family…. and a reminder to be respectful and behave after all, this is their home.

According to the tour guide, during season month, they grew vegetables and fruits like grapes, tomatoes, loofah, etc. I’m sure it will be a beautiful sight.

Another part of their house. They are the 5th generation staying in this house. It may look quite run down but over the years, they did some renovation on the interior like using gas stove (with cooker hob somemore!), cement flooring, etc… and I go, “chehhhhh”.

The house owner showed us a few skills like Chinese calligraphy writing using water and written on the floor with a very huge Chinese brush. The toy that I am holding is called ‘cher ling’ or Chinese Yo-Yo. Sorry for the bad picture. It was taken under low lighting.

As we were leaving the place about 5.30pm, the sun started to set. This is the most beautiful sun that I’ve captured so far. The amazing thing is, I saw this type of sun every evening while I was in Beijing.

Night life had begun in Hutong. There are lots of pub that catered for kwai low tourist.

We settled for dinner nearby. I was already not feeling like myself during dinner and thought that I was merely tired and at the same time my tummy felt like having gastric. The next morning, I woke up with a series of diarrhoea. Was purging every 5 minutes and was bed ridden for the whole day. There goes my Day 3 in Beijing. No photo of Day 3 then and we shall proceed to Day 4.

More photos in my Facebook.

Beijing is a place that you can DIY. There are few pointers tho. Make sure the hotel that you are staying is near to a subway station. Most of the tourist attraction is accessible by Beijing Subway and I mean they are really convenient cos the train stop right at those places.

We stayed at The Westin Chaoyang. The Liangmahe station is right outside our Hotel. And I mean they are really right outside. So convenient can die! Each trip cost RMB2 (RM1) no matter where you go. This is the most affordable public transport ever. Trains arrive every 3 minutes interval. However, be prepared with the horrendous passengers even during mid day working hours. Sometimes I wonder if they don’t have to work.

Our first stop is to visit the Forbidden City. We get down from Tian’anmen. We didn’t quite expect to see the crowd like this 🙁 . Inside the Forbidden City is worst!

My 4 year old after seeing Chairman Mao’s picture and she said, “Mummy! I know this place.”

“How did you know?”

“Yes, this one is pai-pai (prayer) wan.”

LOL! She could either mean that the picture is someone who has deceased or the place is a temple. But dem crappy la. I don’t understand why or what purpose does it serve to have the picture doing there.

It is impossible to stop and take a good photo cos these people kept on walking and they will just bump you from the back. Very irritating thing would be people walking past through your camera cos they just couldn’t care less. These are the two that that I have to bear throughout my stay in Beijing. The common sight would be people spitting and also blowing their nose on the floor. *sigh…. Sometimes I saw young boy doing that too. *double sigh….

We was at Forbidden City for less than an hour before turning back.

This is the entrance and exit to Forbidden City. Opposite is Tian’anmen Square. We decided to give it a miss cos it is just a square with lots and lots of people (don’t know what they do/see there).

We was told that during summer, local will flock to the square to fly some kite there. Should be a very beautiful sight. Note the long queue that is forming out there making a bee line to the entrance?

You know what, most local kids have rosy cheek but I doubt that is frost bite. Still, they look super cute! We took the train back to the hotel and decided to look for food. We just walk blindly and came to this frozen river.

Finally we found a row of eateries and decided to try the most uncommon food. Something that we don’t get to eat back home.

These are handmade oven bake bread equivalent to our Foochow kompiang minus the crunchy texture. Make a slit on the centre and you can choose between pork or duck breast meat. The pork belly was cook in lots of herbs that tasted like bak kut teh, diced together with fresh green chilies. I prefer the duck breast meat version. The meat was so tender and they basically melt in your mouth! They was so good, we had 4 pcs of the bread. Very satisfying lunch!

Dinner was at some unknown place organized by Daddy’s company.

Cold dish – Fresh turnip with blueberry jam

Purely vegetarian dish. They are fried tofu and the top is seaweed that makes them looks like fish fingers. Gravy was pumpkin cream. Very ho chiak lor!

I’m a Flexitarian so I kinda skip this dish. Beef is not my liking.

The restaurant provide some shows too like Chinese acrobats, magic show, etc… the one that caught my attention was Changing Mask. This is my first time watching it. I have heard a lot about Changing Mask and finally had the chance to see one.

Very entertaining as that man is able to change mask in a quick 2 seconds. Must be some trick la.

After dinner, we went to the Bird’s Nest.

The weather at night was about -2C and the strong wind does not spare us any mercy. I was well clothe but the other guys was yelling at me asking me to be quick. Pe.lea.se.la!

The Water Cube at night.

I go about snapping and chatting and when I turn around, the Water Cube is gone! Awesome isn’t it? They switched off the lights and now I have both pictures taken with and without lights.

Shot this pix while walking back to the car park. The reflection on the lamp post looks like fireworks in the river.

That wrapped up for Day 1.  Time to sit back and relax while enjoying my favourite Korean drama on the 48″ flatscreen and what’s more?  It was mounted on plasma mount!   Cool yea? Watch out this space for Day 2.

p/s:  There are more photos in my Facebook or even more more photos in my laptop.  Who’s interested to see la?

I can’t help but to bad mouth MAS one more time cos I really beh kam muan at them. If we cancel the flight, we have to pay penalty. But when they cancel the flight, what do we get? NOTHING! Instead of leaving on 26th 9.30am flight we have to leave on the 25th to Singapore by Silk Air, therefore, catching Singapore Airline flight at 1.15am. So wasting our time, right?

We managed to settle the kids when they came home from school at 7pm before rushing off to the airport. Prince is as usual, purring at Daddy while Daddy was showering him. One word that cracked us up was when Prince said, “…. but Daddy, you must buy me surprise from Beijing, ok?” Mengada betul budak tu. The one I really have difficulty leaving behind is Baby Princess. She has been down with food poisoning 2 days ago – vomiting, dirrhoea and now catching a fever. Really felt bad to leave her with my Parents. That is why I was so mad at MAS cos we have to waste our time with all those transit in Singapore.

“Yi Lu Suen Fong” – Have A Safe Journey

Before we left home, my Dad gave us an angpow each. Really touch my heart. Initally, he refused to accept the allowance I gave to him but I insisted and shoved them in his pocket. In return, he gave us a blessing. What’s more can I ask for *snif*

Hubby was driving at 160km/h as we was running really late (1.5hr before check in time) and we took only 20mins to arrived KLIA. I know this is nothing to be proud off. He kept on saying, “It’s not me la, it’s the car!” Asif!

I have to tolerate Daddy’s numorous phone calls as this is his working trip actually. Took this in KLIA while waiting for the Aerotrain to arrive.

Upon reaching Changi Airport for our transit to Beijing:

You think he is still alive?

Flight was good. I wish it was a longer flight as 6 hours journey is too short for a nap.

Sunrise in Beijing Airport the moment we touch down. Typical China man get up from their seat while the plane was still taxing.

Coming to this best part where the hotel was supposed to send a Limo to pick up Daddy. There wasn’t anyone seen at the airport so Daddy called the hotel and was told they wasn’t informed of our reschedule flight. (Now you know why I kept on badmouth MAS!) Partly was because of some miscommunication somewhere between the hotel & his Sexi Secretary too. But we was told there are someone at the airport picking up some hotel guest and ask us to look out for placard 39 Dragon. No one insight. We was at a total lost and finally when there was fewer passenger in the airport, we spotted a guy holding this:

39 Zhong = centre. So Daddy just tried his luck and bingo! He is picking up guests to The Westin Hotel. We are still puzzle with the placard. What is 39 Zhong? He checked his notes again and our name is not in his list as he is here to pick up 14 passagers that is arriving in another 20mins. How can that be? Since he is heading to the same hotel, we might as well wait for him to hitch a hike. That was a good one hour before Daddy’s handphone rang and was told the Hotel Limo has arrived to pick him up. Woot! You see la, he always complain of work but to me, he is treated like a King whenever he travels for business. Limo wor. This is my first time sitting in a LIMO! And Woot….

What a pampers! Free thing wor, take la. I took the 2 mineral water as I like the unique bottles and also the Evian face spray for my hydrated skin. I’m not fond of mints and I’m so kind to leave them some granny smiths apple. kekeke…. In my heart I keep on thinking, “Dang, he get pampered on his working trip and I have to suffer at home. Life is so unfair!” Not only that, the driver was accompanied by a hotel staff that kept on apologizing to us and they was so sorry to make us waited for an hour in the airport. They moment she said they are upgrading our room to Executive Suit, I have to tahan not to smile so cunningly. Hence why I get to blog for free now and even dine at their Executive Lounge. *cough* Don’t even get me started on their bathroom fixtures. Sparkle like a diamond and they had a big shower head called ‘Rainforest’ shower. Go imagine that!

You think this is the ending? Not yet. Read on. At about 3pm, the event manager, Alice came to our room to deliver personally some meeting stuff to Daddy and once again she apologize to us. She asked me to choose anywhere that I’d like to go and the hotel Limo will chauffeured me around during Daddy’s absence (meeting la). NO WAY! First of all, I am too shy with strangers and secondly they have given us such a warm hospitality that I am too shy to accept. Since she insisted, I told her that I’ll like to go to The Great Wall of China. That is the only place that we have to hook up with the hotel tour as the journey is about 1 hour from the place we was staying and cost us about RMB800 (RM400) per person. Now I managed to get them for free. Why not right? I think The Westin Beijing, Chaoyang deserved a mentioned here. This hotel is also where George Bush was staying during the 2008 Olympic Game.

This wrap up some rambling before the tour kicks off. And today I learn a new word. Winter clothes is ‘tong tien yi’ and not ‘lern yi’. You don’t ask for cold clothes right? *sigh… so embarassing can die!

If you ask me what is my resolution, one of them would be conquering all the places listed as the 7 Wonders of the World. Impromptu, I have been to Grand Canyon, USA during my Vegas vacations in 2006 and Angkor Wat, Cambodia (nominee) when I won a photo contest organized by www.asiayak.com in 2007  . The place that I very much want to conquer now or in near future is The Great Wall of China before I get older and can’t walk the wall collapse and also The Great Pyramid of Giza.  To cross out another country on my list will be none the less, *drum rolling*…..

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Holy cow! I didn’t know we need to get a China Visa. If I were to book my own flight, I will surely get stranded in the airport. Good thing we book the tickets via a tour agent and finally I get my Visa done at RM40.00. Unlike US Visa, China Visa is only valid for one month and for one miserable entry only. Boohoo!

For the above shots, I have to tried about 12 times before getting that result – a very deep bokeh so that I do not have to mosaic any info in the pix. Isn’t it a very beautiful Great Wall? 😉

Day Two –
4am – Ship reach Langkawi (Can you imagine the ship sail for 12 hours?)
8am – Passenger is allowed to disembark in Langkawi
12noon – Ship sail again to SG

Today is Day Three –
4pm – Ship reach SG (Can you imagine the ship sail for 28 hours!!!)
4pm – Passenger is allowed to disembark in SG.
7pm – Ship sail back to Port Klang

We have been sailing since the day before at 12noon and today when we woke up, the ship is still sailing to our destination i.e. Singapore. Morning breakfast as usual then it is free at leisure. Actually, everyday is free at leisure. LOL. Since today is our last day on the Cruise, we make sure we camwhore kau-kau. Pictures during breakfast with my Youngest Sister.

We called ourself the ‘Lone Ranger’. She is 7 years my junior, single and still available 😉 . We have each other’s company through out the whole journey. We eat together. Loitering together. Sleep together. Share the same interest in photography. Own the same dSLR model. It was a great experience all together. The first time we went for a holiday together about 2 years ago, (to Siem Reap) I already knew we can get along and has been looking forward to more photography outing together.

I recalled an incident that happened last night during dinner. You know those guy that goes round with a camera taking pictures of you and then put them up for sales? We was tempted to buy a few photographs taken during our boarding with their Cruise mascot that cost us a whopping S$10 (RM24.00). And when the guy came up to us again during dinner in the pretext to take our photographs, we pakat that we should make goofy faces so that the pictures will turned out ugly and that will put us off from buying. And guess what?

The pictures turned out to be so cute! Aiyah. Did we buy that print? No, we did not. They was cute but doesn’t show any sentimental value for remembrance. Nothing like the mascot. You know, at one glance people is able to tell that the pics was taken on a Cruise. We still laugh over the incident.

After breakfast, we joined the crew for games. Remember I mentioned earlier in Day 1 post? You will bored yourself to death if you do not want to participate in any of their program that is meant to kill time catered specially for us. Most important thing is we all have fun. Winning is secondary.

We stayed on for Bingo. No one win the jackpot. The couple that won the consolation of S$400 bought a total of 15 pcs Bingo luck (S$12.50 for 3 pcs of Bingo luck). BIL bought 9 pcs Bingo altogether. On the first night, he left only one digit before striking the bingo. This is pure luck!

More camwhore coming up:

One of the foreigner voluntered to help us took this shot. I mean he really opened his mouth to volunteer. We don’t see any harm to it so we just agreed. You know, harm? Something like “once you pass him the camera, he will run away with it”? That harm?

As usual, my camera was set on multiple shots. Altogether, we had 5 same sequel of this pose and the last one is of us cracking up!

I know, the shuttle sound sometimes is quite therapeutic. I love to hear them too. lol.

My knight and me *ahem*

Some scene that we saw from deck 10th.

Not sure what they are doing but we saw the man leap over to our moving cruise. Dem keng cau like some scene we saw on teevee.

Wanted to switch my camera mode to try some panning shot. And if I do that, they might be gone by the time I press all those buttons. Next time maybe.

We really are killing time on Day 3.

The cruise dock at 4pm in Harbour Front Singapore. Not much shopping can be done since my 6 months old Niece had a high fever and I have to help to look for pharmacy -.-‘

I left my own kids at home and thought I can have fun shopping. Manatau, kena jaga anak orang lain pulak. They have Doctor on board for a fee of S$26 but my Sis was too stingy to pay for it. Now you know why travel medical insurance comes in handy. While for my Parents, they met up with my Uncle and Aunty in Starbucks for a chat. I am so glad about that as they will sure get bored following me running around the mall. I didn’t managed to find a pharmacy but got some Cool Pad gel instead for the baby. I really want to get my stuff but all this running around in the big mall is hampering me. We have to get back to the ship again at 7pm again. Time really flies when come to shopping.

After dinner, we watched some show again called the Singing Bees. Really cracked us up big time. Too much to elaborate here. Since this is the final night, they have program running till late like a disco party or the Wild Wild West party thingy. We won something at last. We took home 3 medals courtesy of Star Cruises souvenir item. All thanks to my Sisters hardship while I just sit there watching and laugh my ass off. That’s all for the night after supper at 12am ish.

Day 4 – Cruise was sailing the day before at 4pm and reached Port Klang at 10am the next morning. Back to the ground where I stepped. Called Daddy at 10am ish and he goes, “What! Reach home so early ah?”

I was awaken rudely by a ringing tone. Obviously it is not my mobile phone. I hurriedly stood up and make my way towards the sound. As I was half awaken and still blur, I lost my balance and fell on my bum. I realised one side of my leg is numb. NO WONDER I CAN’T WALK! So I limp to the cabin’s phone and it was my MOM on the other line. Gosh! It was a morning call! And it was 6.30am!!!

The itinerary was like this:

Day One –
12 to 2pm – Gate open for boarding.
4pm – Ship sail to Langkawi

Toay is Day Two –
4am – Ship reach Langkawi (Can you imagine the ship sail for 12 hours?)
8am – Passenger is allowed to disembark in Langkawi
12noon – Ship sail again to SG

Day Three –
4pm – Ship reach SG (Can you imagine the ship sail for 28 hours!!!)
4pm – Passenger is allowed to disembark in SG.
7pm – Ship sail back to Port Klang

Day Four –
10am – Ship reach Port Klang

So where were we? Ok, day 2 and my leg was numb. I tried to continue my sleep but can’t cos the air conditioning compressor is humming. Since my MOM was so excited to disembark from the ship, I woke my other Sisters. They took ages to get ready so I told them I make my way first to meet my Mom who was already waiting at the restaurant. It was like 7am? While on my way, I spotted the sunrise!

I am not a morning person. This is probably my 2nd time taking shots of sunrise (1st time was Angkor Wat’s trip). The beauty of sunrise is the soft blue effect they created in the morning compare. I walk about the ship and ended at the bow (front of the ship).

They are so beautiful. It’s a restricted area so I just stood at where I was allowed, took few more shots then proceed to meet my parents for breakfast before we disembark from the ship. The rest of the people was wondering how come I left the room first but last to reach the restaurant. *hehe…During disembarkment, you can either pay a large small sum of money to join some tours organized by the Cruise or you can DIY yourself or just stay on board. Activities on board still carry on like usual. We just walk about Awana Morto Malai Hotel just across the jetty to kill time. What else can we do?

Lots of camwhoring of course! This is the only photo I shot of my Parents together.

Youngest Sis (6th) and Nephew (5th Sis’s Son)

2nd Sister with her 6mths old Daughter. The last time I saw the Baby when she was only 1mth old. Time flies.

Ahem, ah then hor… I ended up buying a straw hat from Awana Porto Malai’s souvenir shop at RM33.90 and we was having so much fun and lots of crazy moments again.

Jonathan, the floor dirty or not???

Advertising for Magnolia ice-cream

5th Sis idea to go in the rubbish bin. Yes, it’s a bin!

The worker came out yelling at us from the cafe. So hillarious we almost die laughing.

Too much gila-gila liao. I have whole lots of camwhoring pics in my hard drive. Too paiseh to show all. Let’s tone down a bit. Some serious shot.

Yoga Pose – Inverted prayer.

We spent about 2 hours out under the hot sun and later decided to go back to the cruise. Mom was holding a magazine over her head as a shield from the blazing sun and said, “Look at my hat. I don’t have to pay a single cent for it.” O.o don’t la char me like this, Ma.

While walking back to the jetty, this two is the last photo of the day cos after which…..

…after this shot….

… my niece hat flew away and in a nick of time, I stretched out my hand to grab it only to realized I was holding my spectacle with that same hand. Now that I’ve grabbed hold of her hat but dropped my RM200.00 spectacle into the sea! Can you imagine how I felt that time? I really want to cry! I really want to turn back the clock! I really regretted my act! I walk silently back to the cruise, back to my cabin and buried my head under the pillow. And for the whole day, I was not in a mood for photography. Heck, I’ve forgotten what I did on the 2nd day. Now you know why photographs is so important.

Night life on board is quite fixed. After dinner, we catched a show at 9pm, there after adjouned to the open deck at deck 10th. Just lazying around, crack some jokes, admire the full moon, on our way back to the cabin, we dropped by the casinos, inhale some nicotine cos we are the tech savvy people we only play at the best casino online. *cough* The next day we will repeat the same thing all over again. I can say that life is slow and stress free on board. Love that. The most amazing thing is today, we are going to sail across the ocean for 28 hours before reaching our destination and still we felt like we are not sitting on a moving ship at all. Amazing isn’t it?

More camwhore in Day 3. Stay tune!

I signed up for Superstar Libra Cruise way back in June when they are running their ‘Buy 1 Free 1’ campaign at RM2,240 for 2 adults. Since my Mom has been influence by relatives talking about Cruises for the past 2 years, I jump on this opportunity to bring my Parents for a holiday without my kids tagging along so that I do not have to juggle between being a filial daughter and a responsible Mom.

All these while, we have heard good and bad reviews about Cruises. I’m not taking side on any of them till I have my hands on it. Initially, my Mom wanted to try the big ship i.e. Superstar Virgo but the boarding has to be in Singapore which means that we will need to take a bus ride to Singapore and board the Cruise from there.

And since Mom has been poison many times by her relatives/friends, her mind is set on Superstar Virgo. If you must know, my Mom is the type that get car sick most of the time. I have to convince her a few times before she agrees on Libra.

View of the cabin right at the entrance

We took the 2nd best category room even thought they are slightly more expensive for the sake of comfort. I want my Parents to go home with sweet memories and not grudges. Still, the cabin is as big as a bird cage and the bed?

The width is as wide as the size of the pillow. How pathetic! Can you imagine what it is like in the lower category cabin? Don’t even get me started on the toilet. The attached bathroom is as wide as my shoulder width cos each time I shower, my elbow will brush against the shower curtain. *yikes. And the wash basin and the toilet bowl is all about the same. Good thing I have a petite size so it is not much problem to me.

The advantage of smaller cruise is that you do not have to walk too far to your destination.

Right after we dropped off our luggages in the cabin, we went to the highest deck that is deck 9th and 10th.

If you are the type that doesn’t play mahjong, doesn’t gamble in casino, doesn’t swim, doesn’t play board game, doesn’t like to join activities on board, doesn’t like to do anything and the only thing you want to do is eat and sleep, I would suggest you to stay home. Really!

My Dad is all of the above. All he does is eat, sleep, watch Wah Lai Toi and probably joined us for a little night show and walk around in the casino for 10 minutes. That’s all about it. Dad knows how to play mahjong but none of us that went, play mahjong. 🙁 . The only mahjong I play is on the internet.

Kids probably spent the whole day dipping in the pool. Now you know why I decided to cruise alone. Either I have to play ‘lifeguard’ to my kids or I would have neglect my Parents. I can’t say, “Ma, I bring you go holiday” but in the end when my Mom is there I go, “Ma, help me jaga my camera. I go take a dip with the kids.” Plus… plus hor, my ‘good friend’ came and visit me. Aiseh. Really cannot dip.

View at the 10th deck.

Cruise to some is heaven for food. If you are planning to go for Cruise, this is what you do. Don’t even bother to take your breakfast or lunch. If the boarding gate open at 12pm (cruise depart at 4pm only), go ahead and board the Cruise. From that minute, food are free flow. Eat all you can eat!

There are 3 restaurants for you to choose from – Oriental, Western or International buffet. Five meals a day and the only meal we skipped is the supper which starts at 11pm except on our last day where we went for the Wild Wild West party till late. Now you can see why I need to diet again.

Oh, before I forget, once you step on board, all transaction is by Singapore Dollar. The boarding card is basically used to swipe almost everything on board – entrance to your cabin, the restaurant, on board purchases and disembarkment.

Jazzmint reckon I took many sunrise/sunset pics throughout my 4 days on board. Sad to say, I managed to take once (only) on sunset and the sunrise next morning. Our meal time always clashes with the sunset and since I am not the morning person, I don’t even bother about sunrise.

On our first day, show starts at 7.15pm and the next show is at 9pm. Being the kiasu Malaysian, we went for the first show so that we do not have to join the crowd that comes in after their dinner. Which means some of us have to had our dinner at 6pm and whoever finish their meal can help us to book the seat at the lounge. Being the kiasu me (again! since I got no kids ma), I volunteer to leave the restaurant at 6.45pm. That is how I spotted the sunset. While the rest of my family members happily chomping food, I was happily snapping photos. And I don’t even care if we have to sit at the back of the hall during the show! I know I was so irresponsible but photography come first in this case. *ahem* I told myself I still have day 2 & 3 of sunset to shoot but sad to say there are always something that crop up.

By the time I finished taking pictures, one of my BIL is already at the lounge. haha! The shows is pretty entertaining. A bit of singing & dancing.

I learn a new thing from my youngest Sister this time. Fyi, both of is using Canon 400D. Auto mode for WB makes the stage pic looks crappy. We switched to ‘florescent’ and viola! Chun to max!

The last two performance is quite hilarious but contained a bit of 18SX. LOL Performance is by the cabin crews from various department. They are so talented!

A performance by Goldie from Philippines. He is really beautiful even in real life! You know what I mean. They are cabin crews during the days but turned into a stage performers during the night. Now, this Goldie and another guy was performing to this song from Christina Aguilera. The lyrics contained something ‘mirror’. It’s quite a famous number. The following pictures is quite obscene. Proceed at your own risk.

Now, Goldie sees another reflection in the mirror and is trying to challenge his reflection like taking off his clothes *ahem*, removing his bra *wolf whistle*, doing the break dance and they even do the cartwheel. So darn funny can die! To me it is hilarious but to my Mom, she finds it quite embarrassing especially when we have foreigners watching. Well, you know… low class performance. It take one humor to accept another. That’s all I can say.

It’s Goldie again in another performance. Look at that tummy. Beats mine anytime! If the one on the stage is me, you probably will be staring at a woman carrying a spare tyre dancing. All of them can dance very well. Very entertaining.

Every night at 9pm we never failed to sit in the lounge watching shows. Well, like I said before, you either stay in the cabin and bored yourself to death, or you find an entertainment on board and enjoy yourself.

Another performance to the song titled “Macho Man”. They are fully clothes and ah huh, they went topless again. It’s free show, so who cares! Unless if you don’t mind paying for the Topless Broadway show at SGD35. The performance is by the real Broadway dancers and not cabin crews.

On the way out of the lounge, Janet (youngest) wants to be part of the Macho Man *rolling eye*.

Julia (2nd Sis) follow suit.

Yours truly and Julie (5th Sis) cannot tahan ade. We all wants to be part of the Macho Man!

For the last 3 days everyday after shows we all gather at deck 10th. Just laying on the lazy chair, feel the breeze blowing. Heck, we almost forgotten we are on a moving ship until we look down at the sea! Seriously, we can’t feel anything at all. And once in a while, I love to gazed down looking at the wave created by the moving ship. It is so amazing. Sailing across the ocean, almost 22 hours everyday and still we felt nothing at all.

Everything that I did, it always reminds me of the kids at home. For example the Wii Game competition, I knew my Prince will love that. And all the art and craft, the hip hop dancing workshop, etc. I vowed to myself, in 5 years time, I will have another trip with the kids. This time, it will be Superstar Virgo. And every night before I sleep, I’ll go thru all the beautiful pictures I took of other people’s children and the tears starts rolling down and I’ll cry myself to sleep.

Wah lau eh, not so serious la! LOL! This only happen on the first night as I couldn’t get any telecommunication signer. Miss the Daddy and kids so ma sob a bit lor. A bit only la. So big already still cry meh. Sot!

More to come after this post. Watch out for this space. Over and out.

Other than awesome pictures I took in Morib with my new Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8, now I have to nurse a very itchy legs from the darn sandflies bite. But I reckon, no pain no gain. I don’t even mind all the red patches on my ankles after seeing the shots that I took (asif!).

My Sister, Julie and me each cook a little food but we always ended up with too much food. From my sister’s kitchen, she whipped out baked chicken wings, baby potatoes & broccoli salads, fresh fruits and drinks. From my kitchen, I need to finished up the Vietnamese spring roll skin before they really expired! For finger food, we had inari and guacamole as the dipped for nachos.

Kids as usual, dashed out to the beach. The midday sun is too direct and harsh. They are bad for photography as they created lots of shadowy pictures. Composition and angle has to be right then. As for the above picture, I am learning to take cloudy sky. aitelyu, my sifu hor, very selfish wan. I asked him for the tips so many times but he purposely ignore me. What type of sifu is that! The correct sky would have more obvious cottony clouds. I am somewhere there but still need more improvement.

I have fallen in love with the new Tammy aka Tamron.

Notice the shadow on Prince face? This is what I meant by direct-harsh-sun-bad-for-photography. Thank you.

None of us swim cos the water is too murky.

You know how some babies will put sands in their mouth? I was surprised as how well Jonathan, my nephew behaved. This is the first time he sat on the beach without crying. Fyi, he is a cry baby before that.

Little Jonathan is on Swim Diaper. Cute la.

Did I tell you Jonathan is a cry baby?

Hmm… I think I did not.

Jonathan is a cry baby! *duck from Sis flying pots and pans*

Ahem! I can’t resist myself from yoga’ing. Everywhere I go I always have lots of yoga’ing idea. I was in Wheel pose and Eldest Princess is in Cobra. I know the outfit is so wrong. But who on earth goes to a beach in yoga outfit? That is crazy right?

It’s the sky that I want to show off! And that too, the back bend pose.

It’s the sky again. And yes, I know. Cute baby.

Same thing again. Don’t get me started on the sky. I just love it! And yes, the baby too 🙄

Don’t worry. This is the last pic on sky and the baby. Nice wat. Kekeke, I know la. Syok sendiri only.

This is so funny I just can’t stop laughing! *rolling-on-floor-laughing-out-loud*

Taking photos of sunset can be rewarding. At these times of day when the sun is lower in the sky, sunlight travels through more atmosphere to reach the earth. As a result, colors are warmer, richer and often vibrant.

It’s vital when photographing the sun not to stare at it too long through the lens. You can damage your eyes as well as your camera.

Correct me if I am wrong. I think this is another version of dancer pose. Not very sure myself. Standing pigeon.

End of the picnic. Everyone started whining and was scratching non stop including yours truly. I have red patches all over my ankle and tight now. So you think the pain is worth it?

We was driving thru Singapore’s Chinatown and I saw many other things that interest me like the antique shops and some very nice and old shop lot great for photography.  We do not have time to walkabout in Chinatown plus with 3 kiddos in tow, I don’t think they are interested to walk the miles.

I saw this very lovely yellow windows and ordered BIL to stop the car by the curb while I ran down to take same quick shots.

Let me ask you guys a religious question especially for those who is a Protestant. Will you as a blogger or journalist enter a Buddhist Temple or Hindu Kuil or even a Catholic Church on the pretext of photography?

Well, my answer is yes. Hubby is a Buddhist and I am a Christian. As a wife, I still respect my spouse and his believe. And as a wife, it is a victory for me as my spouse never forbid me or our children to believe in my believe. Thanks God we never had any disagreement on religious matter even after we had children and never did once, my spouse trying to stop my kids from attending Sunday School and why should I forbid them from entering a Temple?

Anyway, we are there to look-see-look-see and not praying to their God and most of the time, I am outside the prayer compound.

Not going to go too deep into religious matter as it is always the most sensitive issue. Let’s put it this way. You can be holy all you want but doesn’t mean that I have to follow suit. It is not you who is here to judge, but God, during the judgement day.

I’m not much a religious person myself but at least I don’t act holy and yet bitch people like there is no tomorrow. Who is making the biggest sin here? If taking photographs in a temple or even taking up Yoga is a sin, might as well I go and rob or steal, right?

Errr…. I think I better stop now. Ok. No more religious talk. Let’s get back to the pictures I shoot around the Temple compound.

BIL was joking about this photo. Both the Brother looks like modeling for a travel agent company advertising some tours to Tibet. kekeke… or rather, they looks like the below:

Oh sorry ya, this is the April edition. *kakakka….

Pillars

I love the follow 4 pictures on the oil candle. Spot the bokeh in the background.

The best lens to create a bokeh is by using 50mm f1.8

We did not plan for the temple visit. We was having breakfast at the nearby hawker center and BIL said it is a nice temple. I just follow whatever they suggest. Since I was in spaghetti top and shorts, the temple caregiver makes me put on the sarong and a shawl before I could enter the compound. I kinda like the outfit after that. lol.