Tag Archives: holiday

Summer Beach Holiday

Posted on by
Reply

The best way to enjoy the summer is to go to beach and enjoy the sun. UK actually has a lot of beaches and sea-side towns, because it is a big island surrounding the sea. Since we are living in Yorkshire, Scarborough in North Yorkshire is the best holiday beach destination.

We drove 2 hours to reach Scarborough. My first impression of it was ” wow, my god, it was so stunning pretty”. We walked alone the beach, and saw that people were sunbathing, kids were making castles in the beach. It was an amazing to relax and be with your family.

You can easily buy any sea food such as lobster or big crabs for under £5. I forgot to buy one when we were back home. We ate really fresh cod fish and chip for lunch. The fish meat was so tasty and fresh, and I who was grown up by the coastal city girl, could tell the difference from sea fish and normal fish.

John said while we were in Scarborough, we could also visit Robin Hood Bay and Whitby. Robin Hood Bay is even smaller than Scarborough, just a small coastal village. Luckily we saw some dance performances of old village tradition. It was amazing and fun to experience.

Whitby like Scarborough is so pretty and felt like you were living in fairy Tale story. All the houses and colourful roofs, boats and yachts  did look like Scandinavia style, don’t you think? I did feel like I was in another country rather than in the UK. It was very different of architectures and atmosphere. I did enjoy North Yorkshire so much – peaceful, quite, good quality of life.  However, it properly might be a little bit bored for young people.

We drove back home from Whitby through North Yorkshire Moors, and it was so pretty inside the moors. It felt like we were in some forests and so stunning beautiful. The weather was hot with blue sky all day long, that’s why we got some amazing pictures.

You should see all the pictures we took in Scarborough beach and Whitby, and I am sure you will fall in love with them.

Christmas Day

Posted on by
Reply

I think we did pretty good on Christmas food even though it was our first time to cook Christmas dinner. The food was very tasty and nothing went wrong, so I was very pleased with them. Then we watched some movies and went to have a walk in the park. In boxing day, we went out in Westfield, but it was so crowed, so we went to have a walk in Holland park. To be honest, we did eat so much food and I am a little bit sick of food or eating out, which is unusual for me, because I am always in love with food. (was it sound too weird?) It did remind of me so much like the Chinese New Year – family and food.

I do think I need to on diet soon. But overall, I am quite happy with this Christmas holiday. I forgot to mention that I was so excited to receive so many Christmas gifts. 2010 is coming as well as our big day. Afterwards, we will move into new house hopefully in February. Hope everything is going smoothly and well. Wish everyone had a good Christmas.

我想今年的圣诞过的还是不错，虽然是我们第1次煮圣诞大餐，但一切都准备的紧紧有条。食物十分美味，我十分满足我们的烹饪技术。圣诞当天我们吃了大餐然后就去公园散步。晚上看这电影渡过，好像就像我们的中国新年吃吃喝喝然后无所事事。Boxing Day我们去商场逛街吃饭，啊？实在太多人购减价货品，我们就走了，去另一个公园散步。圣诞实在吃太多东西了，现在看到食物再美味，或想到出去吃饭都怕。

我想是时候减肥了，总而言之，这个圣诞过得还是乐姿姿的。我们的大子日即将到来，过年后我们还要搬去新的房子，希望一切顺利和开心。祝福大家也有个美好的圣诞节。

Shantou – relax, food & family

Posted on by
4

shantou

Back to Shantou

The most important thing in Shantou is to see my niece – Sissy. I remember she was born for a week then I left Shantou, and now she is 14 months and learning how to walk and talk. She is incredible smart and adorable.

Mum and Dad are very happy to see me being home, especially Mum, she always cooks so many food, and I don’t even need to get out of the house. I love our new house in central of Shantou with enormous rooms and space for niece to play. Actually I do very little at home, basically just relax, eat food, help Mum do some house work, and then spend time with niece ( I enjoy being a babysitter. )

However, I haven’t seen much of my Shantou friends. Some of them are in Guangzhou or Shenzhen, or most of them are married and expecting a child.

Though sometimes I got bored in Shantou, maybe because I am so used to the busy life in metropolitan cites or maybe I don’t realise I am in holiday.

I can’t believe that it will be ended soon with few days. The irony thing is that I quite look forward back to London, to have my own life back, moreover I do miss John a lot. Anyway, John and I will be back to China together soon in next few months.

I always love my home town no matter where I am.

回到汕头最重要的事情就是看我侄女－希希。记得我走之前她才刚出生1周，现在也有14个月，高高的个子，还在学走路和说话。她真的太聪明和可爱的，每次看到她会放电的大眼睛，任何人都忍不住爱上她，想亲她一口。

爸妈蛮高兴我回来的，特别是老妈子，整天买这墩那的给我吃，让我其实不用出门天天有好东西吃，也让我少吃了很多汕头的小吃。我蛮喜欢爸妈的新房子的，空间很大，给希希整天跑来跑去玩个够。其实在汕头主要还是休息，吃东西和帮老妈子打扫下房子，但最多是做希希的玩伴和保姆，我真开心能陪她这么常时间，以后不晓得她还认得我不？

但这次我却少走亲戚和朋友了，有些在外头，有些也结婚生孩子，大家有了家庭，出来的机会就少很多。虽然有时候会觉得在汕头蛮无聊的，也许我习惯了大都市的生活，或许我忘记了我在度假中，当你忙碌总想有休息的时间，休息的时候想忙碌点什么，这就是人生啊。

觉得无法相信很快就要结束我的假期。实际上我蛮期待回去过自己的生活，重要的是我蛮想念约翰的！但我们过年时候2人一起再回来吧。无论身在何处，我都是爱我家和汕头。

Winter Holiday – Christmas in Beijing

Posted on by
2

Beijing Trip 2007

We always planned to visit Beijing, but never had the opportunity. Finally, this Christmas, we had a Beijing trip (and before the 2008 Olympics too).

We arrived in Beijing at 4 PM with a heavy foggy sunset. Beijing has winter trees that look just like Christmas trees. The temperature was -3. I haven’t been to Northern China before so I had no idea what the cold weather felt. I quickly found out that it was really dry and cold and you could feel your hands becoming numb when not wearing gloves.

Our itinerary was: first day to Great Wall, second day to Summer Palace, third day to Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and maybe Heaven of Temple. We had very little time to visit these symbolic Beijing attractions.

Great Wall

Our original plan was to visit Mu Tian Yu instead of Ba Da Ling, but we decided that Ba Da Ling fitted better with our schedule. I was very surprised at how difficult the transport is in Beijing, even for a Chinese speaker. There are no directions or signs to show you how to get to popular destinations. From research on the internet we took the subway to Ji Shui Tang and then went to find the 919 bus. This simple task took a lot longer than it should as, upon leaving the station, there was no indication of where to find the bus. We headed in one direction chosen at random and came across seven 919 buses, each going in different directions. I wonder how foreigners will handle this!

Luckily for us we had a beautiful clear day with blue sky and sunshine. The Wall itself was full of tourists, as expected, but we chose to walk in the opposite direction to the crowds. The walk is very tough and steep, and it is really breath-taking to see how long the wall is and how magnificent it looks. Every step reminded me of old stories about the wall’s builders.

We walked one hour on the Great Wall before returning to Beijing to see the Yong He Gong Temple.

Continue reading →

Summer Holiday

Posted on by
Reply

Carmen in KL

Singapore

We went to Singapore and Malaysia for a summer holiday in July. We decided to stay in Singapore for three days and visited my old friend Bu Duo, who I haven’t seen for 10 years. Singapore has a very convenient metro system. We checked in Hangout Hotel which is located in Little India near Mt. Emily. Singapore is very expensive, just like Hong Kong. I think I needed to pay five times what I need to pay in Guangzhou. Our hotel was a boutique hotel for young back-packers, and had a very strong Ikea style. The price wasn’t bad (especially not compared to other hotels in Singapore), with a quiet location. The room was very small, but the hotel made up for it in other areas.

Bu Duo took us to Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay – in the first night and we ate the delicious and famous Singaporean ‘spicy crab’. It was the tastiest crab I’ve ever eaten. After dinner, we walked around the Esplanade (outside looks like a huge durian) and went to see the Merlion. The next day we spent the whole day in Sentosa, which was a small island. We visited Underwater World, rode on the Luge, and saw the dolphin show. Later we met with Bu Duo again and had a Thai dinner. We got tired for walking around all day and bought a ticket to see the “Transformers” movie.

Singapore is extremely clean and pretty. The city is full of energy and is very lively. It has some similarities with HK, but less people and more cleaner. I guess shopping in Singapore is more expensive than HK, although everyday expenses are like HK. I found so many cooking ingredients and imported foods in Singapore. I would like to live in Singapore!

Malaysia and Langkawi

When we arrived in Langkawi we rented a car from a company in the airport. We got a great deal for five days rental, totalling about 30RM a day! John drove of course; I was helping with directions.

We stayed in Tanjung Sanctuary hotel, which is a beautiful resort with a private beach. The hotel room was huge and we booked one with a sea view, right down by the beach. It’s so easy with the rental car and we enjoyed the freedom to explore different places in Langkawi. I am so familiar with the roads of this island even now. We went to see different waterfalls, the cable car, and went on a mangrove and snorkelling trip. The cable car was exciting and scary at the same time, with break-taking views from the top. The rest of the days we just relaxed and enjoyed the beach.

Continue reading →

Thailand Trip

Posted on by
Reply

thailand

We planed to travel in Thailand by ourselves in May Pubic holiday. We booked the Air Asia Airline from Macao to Bangkok. Air Asia is cheap for the backpack traveler.

First destination: Bangkok

Bangkok known to the locals as Krungthep (City of Angels) is the rapidly beating heart of Thailand. Despite being just over 200 years old, it houses 8 million people and has all the facilities that a modern capital requires.

Here you will find the Grand Palace and the floating market, as well as the infamous Khao San road, and many other seedier tourist delights.
Bangkok suffers from major traffic problems, and journeys can (and often will) take much longer than the distance would have you believe. To alleviate this, Bangkok constructed the Expressway, cutting straight through the city. Additionally, there is the Skytrain, an overhead metro system, as well as an underground metro system.

There is another transportation is called Tuk Tuk. They will offer you a very good deal about travel in Bangkok; but it turned out they drive you to visit a tailor, a jeweller, or a restaurant. Just completely ignore TukTuk; take a taxi and save yourself any hassle.
Without sounding intimidating, you do need to apply a lot of common sense in Bangkok or the whole Thailand. As a tourist you will be a prime target for small-time scams, cons, and rip-offs. This is I didn’t enjoy the transportation in Bangkok. You couldn’t trust anyone at all. Who knows anyone came to talk to you and being nice to you, it turned out they all want you to visit the jeweler shop…

The Grand Palace

The Grand Palace, home of the King for nearly two centuries, is probably Bangkok’s number one tourist destination and a required visit for everyone. It is a vast and intoxicating mixture of temples, shrines, palaces, and heavily jewelled and painted architecture.
A visit here is well worth the 250 baht entrance fee. It’s more than just a mere Kodak-moment, and you’ll likely spend the first 10 minutes walking around in astonishment at the sheer variety and quantity of sights.

Continue reading →