Receiving Day

Source: tranquilitydujour

I have been wanting to post this on my blog, so let me post it today. All of you must be wondering what the title means. Hahaha... :D

It is simple though. Receiving day is the day when I receive things from people. What things?

Well, it can be many things, a gift from the heart. And usually I receive it from my friends or families, from here (Singapore) or outside Singapore (overseas).

It is just so coincidence that on that particular day, more than one people give me the things, as if all of them have agreed in advance to send me something on the same day.

It happened so many times and it often brings me wonder :)

I am very lucky and feel very grateful for many of very close and good friends (wherever they are, many are staying overseas). But at times, I feel a bit lonely, as I do not have many friends as I was not born and grow up here in Singapore (luckily my dear hubby always reminds me that good quality friends are better than quantity).

Those who stay faraway, I am very lucky to have friends who are equally grateful for having each other and treasure our friendship. We always have each other in our thought. Despite long distance, we often keep in touch through chatting apps and messengers. 

And whenever someone - friends, colleagues, friend's friend, relatives, family members - are coming over to Singapore and vice versa, we would send something to each other, and usually it is something from our own country, or something that the other party will love to have.

But the thought itself, has already been a blessing for me. Many of them treat me even like a family. I am very very grateful and thankful, to you know who you are, in case you read this :) 

Thank you for everyone's love. Love you all ❤️ 

And yes, that receiving day, really make my heart fill with so many gratitude, for everything in life. Then I would feel, at least I am not lonely. Someone else think of me. And I hope that all of them is blessed with good health and lots of happiness in their lives, and wish that we could meet each other again in person :)

Do you also often have receiving day in your life too?? :)))

Travelling

Courtesy of: Travel Thoughts PH

 

I first traveled out of my home country at the age of 11. I was very lucky indeed being to travel in such a young age, not only to one, but 3 countries (Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan) and transit in Singapore (first time touching my feet there). But before that, I had been travelling all around the islands where I lived in car with my parents and siblings, and domestic plane or even boat to my father's hometown.

Then I studied overseas as young as eighteen and to further country when I was twenty. While on school holiday, I traveled mostly by trains to other cities and neighboring countries. Sometimes, it took me three flights and trip more than 24 hours to reach the other side of the world, to cut cost (the more you transits, the cheaper your flight is).

Since my late 20s, after diagnosed with SLE, I started to travel to countries I wanted to visit. First on the list, was Tibet. But sometimes, fate led me to countries I even had never heard before - so many of them - thanks to my parents who led me visiting them as they brought me along as their company. Countries like Bhutan and Nepal, Iceland, Baltic countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia), Russia, and so on.

Fate brought me to explore India. My dream to meet Dalai Lama has not come true yet. It has been years since my failed attempt, and until now, I still have not made them realized yet. But the company had brought me to Buddha pilgrimage places - I had been dreamed visiting them since my middle school time. Not only that. I also managed to explore Sikkim, including Gangtok, Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and visited many Tibetan temples.

Through good friend, I managed to visit Sri Lanka (never ever thought visiting the country before), Vietnam, Thailand (the Golden Triangle), Myanmar, West America (LA, Las Vegas, SF). Later on, I managed to make my dream came true by visiting UK, Central Europe (Hungary, Slovakia, Czech), back to my school in Switzerland, and second visit to Denmark and Sweden.

Later on, I started touring with group tour to places that were more convenient to go with the tour group, such as: Balkan countries (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Slovenia, plus Venice in Italy), Mongolia, Central Asia - the five -Tans (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan), and recently to the East America and Canada.

I never count how many countries I ever visited but I think it should have been more than 50 countries. And it does not stop here. As long as my feet, body, mind, leave, and wallet allows, I will still travel and explore to visit other parts of the world. 

The job has made the travel slow, but it allows me to earn and save the money to travel. With the mercy of my Boss, it allowed me to spend time with family too apart from days taken for traveling. 

There are still a lot of country I have not visited yet. But I hope, one day, I will able to visit all of them, one at a time, slowly, but sure :D

Talking with stranger

We're just strangers with some memories

Many people do not like to talk with the stranger. Especially these days, when scammers are everywhere trying to empty your bank account.

Let me share you about my story. 

I am an introvert. But since I often go out alone, travel alone, eat alone, shop alone, even often work alone, I realize that I have been talking more often to strangers these days. Sometime I even find it myself bizarre why I was doing it. Hahaha... :D

Well, let me share with you some of the occasions on why I talked with them.

My hubby works even on weekend. So I usually spend one of the weekend alone. One day I cycled to the newly opened hawker center in my neighborhood area. It was my first time visiting it and not knowing on what to eat. I ordered food based on my craving plus teh tarik, and managed to get a two-seat table in that crowded place.

I was sitting alone. But since the place was really crowded, one lady asked if she could sit on the empty seat next to me. I said, "sure!" almost immediately. Because, why not? 

She was wearing apron and carrying lunch box plus water bottle filled with various Chinese herbs. Just by seeing her, I knew that she must be one of the staffs working there, going to have her lunch break.

Well, I am an observant freak. Hahaha... :P I often observe people in my quietness. I also like to read people's body language.

At first she took her mobile phone, scrolling, listening and sending voice message. It is very common to see people having their meal and focusing their eyes on mobile phone, as a sign that they do not want to be disturbed, which I do myself occasionally too. 

Then soon after, she kept her phone into her pocket and started focusing on the steamed brown color bun, which was filled with vegetable, ham and egg in the middle, some kind of Chinese burger, but I was 100% sure that it was not sold anywhere in Singapore, which means, it was handmade.

I saw her eating and her minds seemed just occupied with some little thought but nothing serious or big in particular. Her eyes were blank and looking at afar, seemed not to any particular thing. 

Then I guessed, it would be no harm to make a small talk with her, just to let her forget about her daily chores for a while, and answer them just as herself truly.

So I started the conversation by asking if she was working in one of the stalls here.

By appearance, she looked older than me (like in her 50s, with ahjumma style hair and dressing, a bit plump, and not too old). She was a bit surprised that stranger asked her questions, but soon, I could feel she became feeling relaxed and responsive well to my questions. Especially when we came from a similar background.

We both were coming not from Singapore, but have stayed for many years and settled down here. We were married with one kid. 

From our conversation, I managed to know where she lived (not in detail, of course), when she started moving house in this area, how old was her son, which school he studied, which year, what major, what he liked doing at home, at what age he came to Singapore, whom she married with, where she worked (current and previous job), how long, what she did, nationalities of the current bosses, etc.

It was raining so I did not have to rush as I needed the rain to stop before I continued cycling, while  her lunch break would take around 45 minutes to an hour. 

The person looked approachable and I wanted to know how they felt (at that point of time) about their lives here in Singapore.

I mean, Singapore is such a small country but so many people have come here, to study, to work, to get married, to retire, and so on. There is no harm in finding out about other people's lives, not having particular reason in it. Just out of my curiosity.

Stranger talks :D

Another time I chatted with stranger was when I was queuing to check in for my flight. This time, a young Chinese lady, a student, who was having a short holiday, wanted to continue her vacation in Hong Kong. 

We were chatting high and low, up and down. She was so eager in sharing about her life. She studied in Beijing and I told her I used to study there too. When she asked me when, I told her that it was almost two decades ago.

She was shocked!!! She thought I was in her age from the way I dressed, talked, laughed. And when I told her my son was in 20s, she was even surprised!!! Hahahaha.... she must be shocked that all that while, she was talking with ahjumma, and not a young student like her :D Lucky for her that by then, we had reached to the check-in counter. After that, we both went to our way separately. :D

Since I work only with my Boss, I often go for lunch by myself. And I found out that I would chat with a stranger who share the table with me. Sometimes, I asked them how much they paid for the food that they purchased. Sometimes, I asked whether their food nice or not, whether it was worth buying or not. 

Sometimes, when queuing for the food, when there was a 1-for-1 promotion, I even shared the promotion with the stranger who was standing behind me. First, I checked with her first if she wanted to buy 1 or 2. When she said 1, then I would ask if she wanted to share the 1-for-1 promotion with me and we shared the cost. Since it was half price, of course she said yes.

Later on, after she paid be through Paynow, I would be able to see the name. When the name seemed like Indonesian name, I would ask if she was from there and more chat would continue until we both received our order and leave in separate way.

Quote by Aristotle ("Man is a social animal.")

When I was travelling alone in Shanghai, I went to the Shanghai restaurant selling the famous Michelin Xiao Long Bao shop. There were few dishes I wanted to try. But if I ordered too many, for sure I could not finish them. I ordered two dishes and took my seat. 

After ordering, one lady who queue behind me, came to the same direction towards my table. Since she was alone, I offered her to share the table with me.

Then we started to talk. I mean, I started the conversation. Hahaha... 

From there, I knew that she was Japanese, coming to Shanghai for short holiday, and travelled alone, just like me. We talked until our food came. She only ordered 1 basket of xiao long bao. So, since I ordered two dishes and could not finish, I asked her if she wanted to share my dumpling soup. 

She must have read the food review before coming too and was willing to try. So, it was great. We could share more dishes and not let the food wasted.

There were more occasions talking with stranger. When travelling, I liked talking with the Grab driver (especially on the long journey). Most of them were local and knew the country really well. That was why many Singaporean taxi driver was famous for being chatty while driving their passengers (although many were complaining about the government :D).

I talked to stranger while shopping at supermarket too. While picking fruits, choosing vegetables, and so on. Sometimes I could get one tip or two on how to choose a good quality of food. Which or where to buy, and so on.

Talking to stranger. They were not necessarily becoming a friend, but it could fill some part of your time and share your life with others, so they not becoming lonely or feeling alone. 

It does not mean I become a busybody or kaypoh too. Because for me, it was all just a 'hi' and 'bye' thing, a passing through moments that became memories in seconds. A reminder for myself, that I was not alone. Who knows what you do might help the other party one day.

Anyway, just wanted to share this bits and parts of my life with you here. If you also have an experience talking with stranger like me, and love doing it, you can share it in the comment here as well.

L I F E

Keep going!!! (Pic source: Google.com)

Recently I watched the Korean drama titled 'The Haunted Palace'. One of the character was Gang Cheol, the ancient serpent spirit (Imoogi) that fell into the earth and after more than hundred years later, he inserted his spirit inside the human body that had just passed away. 

Only after he entered into the human body, he then could feel the five senses that we human have, such as: taste, smell, hear, touch, and see. When he was living as the dragon spirit, he did not feel these five senses so in the drama, he seemed overreacting when he first time tasted the plain porridge as a human being. His mind was jumping around, and so happy with it. He was even craving to taste more food that human usually has, and his favorite was the traditional Korean confectionary (hangwa), which also included the pumpkin taffy (yeot).

Then slowly, his other senses like see and touch, made his heart beating so fast, which then he realized that he had fallen in love with Yeo-Ri, whose body he needed in order for him to ascend to the Heaven. This feeling struck him in awe and he often cursed the human who felt all these senses. Because of it, many times human did something wrong (like enjoying being drunk and eating too much which caused harm to the body or sickness, killing people out of greed or jealousy, raping, and so on).

With only these scenes, it struck me as well because as a human being, these five senses have been part of our way of living and I could imagine how Gang Cheol felt. It was like, being a human but having those senses separated from the body. He did not think much about sadness, happiness, and so on because he lived with different purposes in life and being focus with it.  

Do what you can :) (Pic source: Google.com)

As someone who has lived more than forty years, sometimes I would have wondered how I had lived in the past. Moments, memories, emotions, all of it came and went like a jigsaw puzzle, flying around in corner of my brain. Hardship, sadness, anger, feeling constraint, wild dreams, jealousy, wonder, happiness, freedom, boredom, joyful, curiosity, motivated, dejected, disappointed, resentful, amused, empowered, revenge, and so on. 

Every decision, every move, every action, every plan, was all made at those moments of living, which had now become memories, good and bad. Regrets were there too. But all of those had built the person inside me. 

Sometimes, I wondered, how was me in the previous life, or who was I before becoming a human in this life? All the people I had met, what were our relations in the past? Of course, it did not really matter. What mattered was how we met and interacted again at this present lives. 

But now, growing up, this process of looking back, had told me one thing - if you only realized, everything was related with those senses, those feelings, those emotions. If only we could tell ourselves that it was nothing more than that, if only we could stop these emotions from appearing in our heart (those that I mentioned earlier), if we could delete our feelings just like imagining ourselves to erase those emotions with eraser from our heart and made it blank, feeling nothing anymore, then we human, should not have problems in life anymore. Should we?

But of course, it was easier to say and done. Things that had to happen to us (resulting from our past and present karma), still had to happen. And only by experiencing it ourselves, or learning the mistakes from others, then we could decide if we want to pursue the matter still or avoid it or let it go.

Only when it happened to us, then we could understand how people felt when it happened to them. Anxiety, feeling depressed, isolation, and so on. If we could avoid it, then it was good. But if not, do not give up. It was not the end of the world. 

I mean, every human being carried different life's journey. Fate, luck, love happened differently to everyone. Not even twin carried the same life and fate. 

Be kind as you can (Pic source: Google.com)

Our realization to be a better human being is important. And try to strive our best to bring happiness to others. If can not, at least be the eraser to remove their sadness. Be there for them, listen to their feelings and thought, are more than enough. 

Also, take good care of our health from now. It is never too late to start. Eat healthily, drink responsibly, exercise regularly, listen to motivational talk, read self-help book, walk with natural surrounding, see sunrise and sunset, and so on. 

I wish everyone of you a wonderful day, life full of gratitude of what you have, blessed with good health - both physically and mentally, and have positive mind and attitude towards life ahead!!! Take care and talk to you again! :)

Places to eat in Shanghai :)

Below are some of the good food to eat in Shanghai, if you happen have a chance to visit Shanghai one day :)

Shanghai food:

 1. Lai Lai Xiao Long - 莱莱小笼 (Michelin)

Lailai Xiao Long - Must eat the crab and meat xiao long bao :)

Address: Huangpu, Tianjin Road No.504

Recommended food: crab and meat xiao long bao (soup dumpling) 8 pcs/basket - CNY46, ginger with vinegar (to enhance the depth of the xiao long bao flavor - CNY1 per small plate), fried pork cutlet - CNY25, crab and shrimp Wonton soup 8 pcs/bowl - CNY55. 

Open 8am-9.30pm. I was second in queue around 7.40am. Before, there was nobody. But once the queue was formed, it was getting longer, longer, and longer. You need to come early (slightly around or before 7.30am) to avoid longer waiting time. 

2. Xiao Shao Xing - 小绍兴

Xiao Shao Xing - Sliced boiled chicken or baizhanji :)

Address: Huangpu, Yunnan South Rd No. 69

Recommended food: sliced boiled cold chicken or baizhanji - CNY55 per500g or CNY77 for half chicken, scallion oil noodle - CNY8/bowl, and chicken congee - CNY3. 

The chicken dish may look simple but it is prepared with superior quality compared to ordinary poultry. It is served with dipping sauce.

It is a traditional brand food street shop (government owned) and has been there for a long time. If you prefer something to eat that is simpler and healthier, this is the place to go. My local Shanghai friend brought me here. It was perfect to have it with Qingdao beer :D

3. Da Hu Chun - 大壶春

Address: Huangpu, 11 Sichuan Rd (South) and many other branches.

Recommended food: pan fried pork buns - CNY11 for 4 pcs or small pans one - CNY39 for 10 pcs.

4. Xiao Yang's Sheng Jian or pan fried bun - 小杨生煎

Address: Hongyi Plaza 299 Nanjing Rd E or 178 Ningbo Rd and many other branches.

Recommended food: Xiao Yang pan fried pork buns - CNY13 for 4 pcs. If you want to try more choices, you can choose the 3 flavor in 1 plate (pork meat, prawn mala, and vegetables) - CNY24.50 for 6pcs. 

Personally, I like both the pork bun and prawn mala fillings. It is very juicy and tasty. Bite a little hole on the soft part of the skin, and slurp the juice before biting the big flesh, otherwise you will burst the whole juice out and become a waste :D I did not have a chance to visit Da Hu Chun and managed to try the 3 flavor pan fried bun here at Xiao Yang. It was good. You can add some sauce and chili oil provided by the restaurant.

Xiao Yang's and Xiesanbao combo - Must eat both :)

5. Xie San Bao - 蟹叁宝上海 

Address: Huangpu, Tianjin Road No.513 and many other branches

Recommended food: crab roe noodle, crab roe rice, crab roe porridge. I paid CNY103 for takeaway the crab roe noodle (inclusive of the warmer bag, plastic container and cutlery). It was better to eat it at the restaurant. They give two small side dishes (black fungus - really nice! and very salty beans - not to my liking) plus vinegar to be eaten with the noodle. 

I bought takeaway because my hotel is very near from this restaurant (only 3 minutes walk) so the noodle was still warm and the crab roe was still hot when I had it. It was not cheap but I really love the taste. The noodle was thin type, portion was just nice for me as I also takeaway 6 pieces of the Xiao Yang pan fried bun back to hotel. If I just had to eat it alone, perhaps I would order rice to make my stomach fuller. 

There are plenty of restaurants in Shanghai that sell the crab roe noodle. I chose this because it was the nearest from my hotel and it ended up good enough. Plus the staff who took my order was very good and friendly. She asked me not to go anywhere after ordering because it would be ready very fast (since I ordered noodle and had to be eaten fast to prevent soggy). The order really came in about 5 minutes time.

6. Shucaiji Sheng Jian - 舒菜记 生煎菜饭 

Address: Huangpu, 49 Yunnan Rd (Middle) and many other branches

Recommended food: pan fried pork buns - CNY10 for 4 pcs and vegetarian fried rice - CNY15 per plate.

7. Xian De Lai Chop Nian Gao -  鲜得来

Xian De Lai Pork Chop and Nian Gao or rice cake :)

Address: Huangpu, Yunnan South Rd No. 36

Recommended food: fried pork cutlet with 4 pieces of nian gao (rice cake) and soup (with 2 pieces of kind of yong dou fu items) - CNY23 per set.

This is also government operated and owned restaurant. That is why it sells the food with a very affordable prices. According to my local Shanghai friend, this local food was not that popular until one of the Chinese TV drama was taken at this restaurant. Since then, the sales was boosting up and everyone wanted to try the food.

FYI, pour the Xian De Lai soy sauce into your pork cutlet before eating to add the flavor. Not many people know this. Only local Shanghai people know about it :D

8. Wei Xiang Zhai Noodle Restaurant - 味香斋面点 (Michelin)

Address: Huangbu, Hubei Rd No. 151

Recommended food: sesame sauce noodle with scallion  - CNY14 per portion and beef broth - CNY10 per bowl.

Too bad my days were too short in Shanghai. The food here looks so delicious. Maybe one day when I visit Shanghai again, I will drop by and dine here.

9. Jia Jia Tang Bao - 佳家汤包

Address: Huangpu, Huanghe Rd No. 127

Recommended food: pork meat xiao long bao (soup dumpling) 12 pcs/basket - CNY23, scallion oil noddle - CNY12, dry crab roe noodle with soup set - CNY89, 

10. Huxi Lao Nong Tang Pork Liver Noodle - 沪西老弄堂面馆 

Address: Guang dong Rd, No. 500

Recommended food: clam and pig liver noodle - CNY38, large intestine noodle - CNY34, fried pork cutlet - CNY18.

If I have a chance to visit Shanghai again, I will definitely visit this shop!!! A must visit spot for pork liver noodle lover :)

Shanghai snacks/sweets:

1.Shen Dacheng - 沈大成

Shen Dacheng - tasty and sweet green red bean rice ball qingtuan :)

Address: 636 Nanjing Rd (East) - the only Branch that make the fresh one.

Recommended food: shuang niang tuan (双酿团) - CNY5, jin tuan (金团) - CNY5, tiaotou gao (条头糕) - CNY4 and red bean qingtuan (青团) - CNY5 or egg yolk with pork floss qingtuan- CNY8. All is made of glutinous rice. 

2. Shanghai Hongkou Gaotuan Foodstuff Factory - 虹口糕团 

Address: Jingan Nanjing West Rd No. 969 (Tongli Commercial Building F B1)

Recommended food: glutinous rice cakes wrapped with sesame and youtiao 全家福 - CNY10

3. Park Hotel Deli - 国际饭店西饼屋

Park Hotel Deli - famous butterfly (sweet and savory) cookies. Perfect for gifts back home :)

Address: Huangpu, Huanghe Rd No. 28

Recommended food: the original sweet - CNY32 and cheese savory butterfly cookies - CNY35

Got to know about this from my local Shanghai friend. He was the one who recommended me to buy this when I mentioned about the butterfly pastry. The queue was crazy. It took him 70 minutes starting from the + Junction traffic light until the ordering place. He was kindly queueing on my behalf as I had to go back to hotel to pack and check out :D Both flavor are delicious. Each has its unique strength. Worth queueing for!!! :) Fyi, you can smell the fragrant butter while queueing from a far :D

4. Panyongxing Cake - 潘甬兴糕点

Address: Jingan Wujiang Rd No. 269

Recommended food: Tiaotou cake, peppermint cake, mugwort rice cake, citrus cake or juhonggao, Handmade糍毛球 (sticky rice balls), 酒酿糕 osmanthus (fermented rice cake);小米糕 (millet cake) and黑米糕 (black rice cake).

Western Bakery in Shanghai:

It has been a trend these days with the upcoming western bakeries in Shanghai. People post at TikTok bringing awareness of these bakeries that not only having wide variety of breads and cakes, but also have Instragammable outlook. Brands like Butterful and Cremorous, Amamlon Bakery Town, Fascino or Fengshengli, the Bakehouse Grand Liz, Pompi Tiramisu, etc. like what you can see at the photo below. All these can be found near West Nanjing Rd metro.

You can also found good cafes and beverage shops like Birdie Cup Coffee or Xiaoniaobei, Manner Coffee, Chagee Bawang Chaji, Goolden, Tims Tianhao Coffee, and so on.

Birdie cup coffee - Nice one :)

And you can find many at other places too, good place to take a break after walking or shopping too much. Hahahaha.... :P Also the best place to chit chat with old friends :)

Manner Coffee

Since I only had 3 days 2 nights stay in Shanghai, I tried those that I could not find in Singapore. So I had to miss Luckin coffee and Chagee although it was much cheaper than in Singapore :D 

There are many more food establishments that you can visit during your stay in Shanghai. I only covered a few here since I had a short visit this time. But I hope, it could help you for your next visit there. Hope you can enjoy the Shanghai delicacies as I did. Happy eating!!! :)