My camera phone gallery [long post]

As the Holiday comes to an end, I thought I should post some snapshots of what I did during this holiday, as captured on my camera phone.


I enjoyed 3 scoops of Ben&Jerry ice cream (2 scoops + 1 complimentary)

I entered Changi Terminal 3 for the first time. And in several years, I took Singapore Airlines flights, even as gas prices are at all time highs...

and I met with the A380. Currently, SIA is the only commercial airline with 4 in their arsenal.

Then I flew to Shanghai with my Dad & Bro (on a B777-200, not the spanking new A380), where we were fetched by my dad's business partner to Yuyao, Ningbo, ZheJiang, or in Chinese, 余姚，宁波市，浙江省。

There, we ate some berries,

and we saw this decor at our hotel. very interesting decor...

Then we went to eat. We saw this on the table. Notice, even the cups glasses come in S, M, and L.

and they served up this. See if you (or your heart) can take this. Seriously and literally, this is not for the faint of heart. My bro and I estimates that this contains 2599KJ (yes, 2599000J) of energy, mostly as saturated fats. (Apparently, the locals told us that Mao loved to eat this as a luxury item, and when the people were facing famine, he stopped eating this dish, saying "If I were to indulge while the people suffer, then I'm letting them down." What a leader!)

Then we went to see a glass factory which makes glass bottles for perfumes and stuff. Not talking too much about this. Just take note of the molten glass depicted as orange pixels in the background in this picture, and the long cooling vent in the right. there's a conveyer belt in this vent which cools the bottles as it goes through really slowly.

From Yuyao, we went to Hangzhou by car, to catch a flight to Guangzhou. Unfortunately for us, the weather was bad, and visibility is low, so our flight was delayed. but thank God, we flew anyway, and everything was safe and sound, even though I was squeezed on the plane because my seat couldn't recline, while the guy in front of me reclined back all the way. It's domestic flights! They use really small and old Airbus A320s!

At Guangzhou, we ate at a restaurant that probably won't make PETA happy. They serve crocodile meat, snake meat, stone fish, shark's fins, abalone, and (soft shell) turtles amongst other things. Didn't take a photo there, because I felt really sad for the creatures being cooked up (literally) there.

Then, from glam food, to "why you'll love being a vegan" food. We ate at this place called "知青第一村", which loosely translates to a village where knowledge of the greens takes first priority. This actually refers to the Mao era. And seriously, that place means it. When you go there, you'll be greeted by an old building, probably from the 50s. The people there dress up in Communist green shirts with a red armband on their right. (the shoes don't really match, though. some of them wear blue Converse canvas shoes.) When you enter the building, you'll be greeted by the sound of the national anthem being played over their radio, then you'll see propaganda posters and pantings depicting Mao ZeDong, Sun Yat Sen, Deng ZePing, and the communist workers. They even have a horse breeding area!

Now, earlier on, I told you you'll be happy to be a vegan here. Why? Well, let's start with the appetisers...

If you thought I kid you by photoshopping a little chicken, well, no. This is exactly what they serve. They serve you around 15 of them in a tray. How do you eat them? Oh, you think you just peel the meat from the bones, right? WRONG. You bite the whole thing. Yes. the WHOLE thing. from the brain matter to the bones in the wings, and even the beak. And the scary thing: Its skull is hard but chewy on the outside, and rubbery on the inside.

Normally, I don't take photos when I eat, so I took a photo of the leftovers for you to figure out what's on the dining table before the munching begins. A hint: it's just one hotplate with meats cooked in a soup, kinda like those Seoul Garden buffets with the soup. Minus the "choice" and variety of the buffet.

Want some answers? Well, the most prominent one in this picture will be the snake ribs. Yes, there was snake meat being served. Aside from that, there's some bird I couldn't even describe, especally after seeing its beak in the hotplate. But I guess snake meat is nothing to Chinese people, eh?

Here's another pic of the place's decorations. See the propaganda messages?

And with that, we have come to the end of the Chinese trip. Let me leave you with this photo of the place where the wacky food and propaganda occured.

Oh, by the way, last day, we ate breakfast at the hotel where we stayed (they didn't have complimentary breakfast). It's the HNA Guanzhou Central Hotel, or 广州中央大酒店。We ate dim sum for 3 people, and we paid only RMB78. I'm not going to calculate the SGD for you, but this is actually considered expensive for yum cha. But I did enjoy the breakfast. And the price, compared to Singapore... well, you be the verdict.

UPDATE: Found a Review for 知青第一村 [in Chinese.] and the same page translated into English.