Jin Yuan Restaurant @ Charming Hotel, Zhuhai

A few nights back Eric and I were in Zhuhai to have dinner with his colleague.
Charming Hotel is located right outside the Gongbei Bordergate...once you get out of the China immigration, you'll see the hotel on the left.
Take the elevator up to Jin Yuan Restaurant.

Appetizer tasted like pig's stomach soup. The lotus roots has a nice bite to it and it's yummy.

First time I'm trying a corn drink. It's hot and tasted like well...corn. The texture is smooth and not too thick which is quite nice.

One fish for each person at the table...

...'cause the fish is only as big as my bowl

Mantis prawn with lots of fried garlic

Mui choy kau yuk (pork belly with mushy vege)

One crab per person too as it's only as big as my fist.

Not much meat but lots of eggs in the crab and it's yellow. Normally I don't eat crab eggs but this one is pretty yummy.

Looks like normal stir fry vege but the secret is...it's fried using pork oil =P This is how a healthy dish become super sinful.

Deep fried carrot cake stuffed with meat dessert which was too chewy for my liking.

Mango pudding with evaporated milk. Me likey mango =)

Deep fried durian ball turned out pretty good. The skin was oily but the durian filling has a creamy bitter after taste.

Recently, Eric's sister was in Macau and she was craving for some exotic dish.

We went searching for the shop and found it near St. Paul's Ruin.

It's a tiny shop with just a few tables and that's the chef in the one man kitchen.

Guess what's in this bowl of dark starchy soup?

This is snake meat soup =D

The taste of ginger overwhelmed my tastebuds and it made me wonder if it's to mask some weird smell of snake meat. The snake meat itself didn't taste weird ('cause all I could taste and smell was the ginger lar) but the texture was extremely rough and dry. Kinda like overnight chilled old chicken breast meat. If you're in Macau and feel like having some snake for snack time...this is the place.

Meet Goofy the toy Poodle. He's so cute isn't he? Goofy is Joe's doggy and we met him when Joe invited us over to his house for dinner last night.

So much food for just 5 people. I almost fell asleep on the couch after dinner...

Goofy joined Eric and I on the couch and took a liking to Eric's hand...*lick lick lick*

He even held on to Eric's thumb to to keep it steady...so cute <3

And more cuteness....

Braxton at 5 months old! He's so heavy already and so friendly*hugs*

The weather in Macau is super depressing.

Cold and wet the whole day =(

Will be super duper busy for the next few days and the I shall be in shorts again!

Whale & Guppies

We crossed the border to Zhuhai again to do some shopping and eating. As things are way cheaper there, it's worth the trouble going through immigration.

First stop was lunch at Whale Restaurant. It's one of our favourite restaurant to eat it. It's packed as usual for lunch but luckily we managed to get a table.

I love roast suckling pig. This one is not too bad. The skin is crispy and tasty. Wish they have a better sauce to go with it and a bigger portion!

I didn't like the spring rolls. The skin is too thick for me and very oily.

This is China's version of "char siew chee cheong fun" The sauce is served separately. Looks so unappetizing doesn't it? Drench it with sauce and it's ain't too bad.

These are not your normal egg tarts. These are bird's nest egg tarts. See those jelly like stuffs? That's the bird's nest. First time I ever heard of such a dim sum. But this is China...anything also can happen.

The tart tasted ok to me. Nothing special at all besides the blob of bird's nest. Eric said it tasted "cheap". I know people can feel 'cheap', things can look 'cheap'...but first time I'm hearing food tasted 'cheap'. Well...there's a first time for everything =)

I have high expectations for this small butter pau.

But was extremely disappointed =( The filling was thick, dry and too sweet. It was supposed to be runny and oozing a yellow yummy paste. And the pau's skin is so hard when it's supposed to be fluffy. Don't ever order this. Definitely a first and the last.

Obviously we had more dishes but it's just a repeat of what we normally order. As usual we had the pigeons (which is a must-have), scrimp dumplings, chicken feet and pork ribs.

When we're done with lunch...time to buy some stuffs. Specifically....more yarn. So that I can knit more scarfs. I know...even Eric thinks so. I'm so overdoing the knitting thingy. But I can't seem to stop as my list of people to knit for keeps getting longer 0_o.

Laden with many balls of yarn, we then move on to food shopping. How can we not when the things in Zhuhai is half the price of what is being sold in Macau?

After much walking around...time for a drink at a cafe facing a super busy main road where car honks are never ending.

The menu is good for a laugh. Luckily they're serving "Fillet Steat" and not "Fillet Teat" =P

They also serve Bacow Sandwiches, Jam Woffles and also Toast with Ga Yan(I'm wondering if they mispelled kaya)

Eric's iced milk tea and Mum's Lemon Coke. Yup...we're having iced drink while sitting outside during winter. I know...we're a weird family.

This is my Iced Magic Coffee. The only magical thing about this drink is that it only appeared in front of me 30 minutes after ordering. Apparently...they are really busy -_- Well...I was pissed off and asked the waitress as how is it possible that they delivered Eric's and Mum's drink 20 minutes already but mine is still pending? She started to repeat the story about how busy they are and there's not even an apology. Crappy service.

Relaxing after my magical coffee arrived. I really like my scarf =)

Update on our guppies. We got them some greenies and some flooring. As if their home is not small enough, we decided to do a little renovation for them.

New plants and pebbles to play with. It looks kinda funny right with the plant above the water? Or maybe we could just say it's artistically revamped =P

I think the guppies like the new additions to their aquarium.

Baby guppies have grown quite a bit since they came into the big scary world. When we first put the plant into their container, they were all hiding in a corner and avoided it. I was telling Eric maybe it's not such a good idea...

I think the plant is scaring them...maybe should take it out...

*looks worriedly at babies*

They haven't seen a plant before since they were born. Of course scared lar -_-

After a little while...the babies were happily playing hide and seek =) They even camouflage very well with the pebbles.

We only have 7 guppies babies left as one died earlier. We also have one baby who kinda lost his tail and swimming weirdly.

I'm really crossing my fingers they'll be able to grow up and not die...so I'm feeding them lots.

Mum thinks the other female is pregnant...maybe we'll have more babies soon =)

Windows Of The World, Shenzhen, China

Besides enjoying ice creams in Shenzhen, we managed to visit the famous Windows Of The World.

We stayed in Louhu so we took the metro which only cost RMB5 from Guomao Station all the way to Shijiezhichuang Station. Once you get of the metro...you'll be greeted by the Eiffel Tower.

It was so sunny that day at Windows Of The World. How is it possible to be cold and sunny at the same time 0_o

At the Japanese garden...filled with fake Sakura tree =(

You can even visit traditional Japanese houses but first you gotta understand what the notice is trying to tell you =P

For RMB5, you'll get a packet of food to feed the carps...word of advise...they'll never get full!

Beautiful Taj Mahal...too bad the apartments at the background spoilt the view.Mum hiding under a big tree to escape the hot sun

I look so small in this picture...

Having our cool 3D glasses on for a show. I think it's called Underwater Exploration or something like that. Beware as your chair will shake and you get sprayed with water(hopefully it's clean)...oh...and also tickled by rats 0_o (yes..I screamed)

Visited some Egyptian ruins.

I found an admire who can't wait to give me a kiss...I obliged =P

Sat on a camel. It wasn't easy...Eric had to sit on the camel's hump. I bet it hurts =P

Mini Niagara Falls with the Eiffel tower peeking from the back

I love this pic I took of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro while the sun was setting. Hopefully I can visit the real one someday.

Eiffel Tower at night with a big chandelier hanging like tits ;P

Mini Paris Triumphal Arch. The real one is many many times bigger according to Eric. After Googling it up...I agree. I want to see the real one now.

If you're planning to visit Windows Of The World, you have to be prepared for loads of walking. Of course you can rent a motorized scooter but that's gonna cost of a bit of money.

There are so many structures to visit and some are quite disappointing(very fake tulips in Holland) and some are totally beautiful(Taj Mahal).

Nope...no Petronas Twin Towers there. That was the first thing Mum asked me to find actually. So patriotic =)

All in all, it's quite a boring place...unless you're really interested in such miniatures. They could really improve on the place if they want to attract more tourist...such as proof read their sign boards, have more guards on duty to stop people from spitting and last but not least...have proper restaurants.

Yes...food is very important to us =D