.....times of refreshing.....

The last time I went to China was two years ago where I toured the Jiangnam area which consisted of cities like Hangzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai. Well, I was back to China again in 2017 and this time I was at the southern part. Well, it's not as cold as the northern area but it's still cold to our standards, temperature ranging from 15 Celsius to 20 Celsius. The good thing I can ditch away by inner heat trap wear and a long sleeve tshirt will do.

This trip covered Macau, Zhuhai, Foshan, Shunde and Guangzhou which are all located in the Guangdong area and I was there for 6 days and 5 nights. It's pretty short as usually, my year end trips will last at least 8 days. LOL. The best thing about this trip is I am at a cantonese speaking locality and I never felt so much at home. In fact, some thought I am a native there! muahahahahaha...

After a stressful time at the Senai International Airport where the check-in kiosks were down and the lack of manpower at the AirAsia counters which added more woes to it, we were forced to queue for almost 2 hours, which means the flight was delayed 2 hours. I guess both the airport management and the AirAsia ticketing crew should have some backup plan and not let things just move on 'naturally'. Luckily, the flight took 3 hours and 45 mins and we were there by noon. Macau International was under renovation then and there was not much to see there. I love the cool air once I got down from the plane.

The first itinerary was visiting the Venetian Casino, which is one of the biggest casino there. Somehow this place is super crowded even on a Wednesday and I don't really like it there. It's just an eye-opener for me to visit such a huge casino with lots of folks around. And, I love the Pork Ribs Bun! (No pic here as I was too hungry then...hahah)

One of the wings of the Venetian

I am glad we are off to another itinerary and we were taken sight-seeing around the city. It was a beautiful place with modern and old buildings, and an expensive place especially the hotel. We have a nice cantonese speaking tour guide who entertained us and most of us , tourists, have a good time talking cantonese with her.

Shopping at Koi Kee confectionary

One of the best itinerary was to shop at Macau's various confectionery and biscuits shops, especially those with a long history. My kid loves their almond cookies and we did bought a lot!

The 15th century Ma Zhu temple

A relaxing spot near the temple

A peaceful old street near the temple

Glimpse of the Macau life

Then, we were brought along some old streets in Macau where there was an old temple sitting there, which was a tourism spot. I love seeing these old buildings, it's so much like HongKong.

Old Apartments

 

Old streets

Crowded apartments (up and below)

An old Catholic graveyard

A typical signboard in Macau, still can see lots of Portuguese words there

This almost took us one day and the last itinerary for the day was none other than visiting the Ruins of St.Paul's. Well, as the tour guide said, if you didn't visit this itinerary, you missed out a big part of Macau.

The majestic Gate

Family wefie ... it's so crowded there

Looking down from St Paul Ruins ..

We were rushing off to Zhuhai after that in order to avoid the rush hour, which is after working hours. We still needed to cross over the CIQ to China, though it's just passing by both CIQs under one building. It's so unlike JB-SG custom where you needed to cross the strait. We were slightly late and there were lots of human traffic there. I gotta watch over my family closely.

The crowded Zhuhai CIQ...look at the mountains of folks!!

And, we were in China, waiting to check-in to our hotel and dinner. It was a cold night too!

This was last Sunday and I am already on vacation in Guangzhou and Macau now. I will blog about my retreat when I am back next week. Oh... I really have craving for Korean food lately, no thanks to the Korean drama and I pestered my wifey to go back to Hong Dae in Taman Permas Jaya, JB, which served great Korean cuisines.

It was quiet at 3pm , come 6pm, it's super crowded!!

Up and below, varieties of korean dishes

Miso seafood soup... My kid loves it. It carried some spicyness but it's great tasting. It's slightly different from the Japanese variety.

And my favourite Korean Ginseng Soup... I can finish the entire bowl.

Here's one of the better places for Korean food in JB! Will come back again! Have a good weekend!

I blogged about  plantar fasciitis in my last post and I have been suffering from it for the past two years. Well, I am still not too sure what are the treatments except taking anti-inflammation and painkillers, which GP always prescribe, but I guess rest from running might help. And, getting good apparels like wearing good cushioning shoes too. In fact, I think it all started after a half-marathon run and later, I wore a pair of shoes with poor cushioning for a week long trip.

Here's an excerpt from wiki on the disorder -

Plantar fasciitis is a disorder that results in pain in the heel and bottom of the foot.^[1] The pain is usually most severe with the first steps of the day or following a period of rest.^[3] Pain is also frequently brought on by bending the foot and toes up towards the shin and may be worsened by a tight Achilles tendon.^[3][2] The condition typically comes on slowly.^[2] In about a third of people both legs are affected.^[1]

I am trying acupunture later and see how it goes. Btw, I got these from my contractor who also sold sports apparel.

A recovery compression sock wore after a workout

It's pretty tight and I shouldn't wash it too often as it will loosen very soon

Recovery after a run

The socks seems help as I felt the pain eased after wearing it for a few days but it also helps by wearing a good cushioning shoes. It did come back again especially when I wore my old running shoes and I have since discarded it. And, of  late, I shop for a new shoes and got a Brooks Glycerin 14, a recommendation from a seasoned runner. I will blog on my experience with the shoes later.


I will work on the recovery as a full marathon is still on my bucket list. Oh.. I love Korean Ginseng Soup lately and got my fix in Seoul Garden Hot Pot.


Have a good week!

I have cut down on my running since early this year after suffering from plantar facittis, or simply heels pain, for almost two years. In fact, my doctor asked me to do a short run once a week only and don't participate in anymore running events till my heels fully recovered. Well, rest did help as the pain went away especially when I never run for 4-5 days but it came back when I started running. However, I still do short runs of 2KM at the treadmill for two times per week and an outdoor run of 5KM weekly. I am actually getting lazy to run after never run for more than 5KM except the half-marathon which I did in last April. Thus, the 5KM run did at least push me to run and catch some fresh air though sometimes I walk a bit and usually, took a breather after the halfway mark of 2.5KM. This is a far cry from those days when I did 10KM-15KM weekly back then! Sigh!

The good thing is after the 5KM weekly run with my friends, we usually rewarded ourselves with some good food nearby. Yes, the calories we burned were quickly compensated back ! LOL.

One of our favourite eateries is Restaurant Ayam Penyet President, located in Sports Hub, Singapore. Besides ayam penyet, they also offered a lot of Indonesian cuisines.

Catfish (Lele Pesmol)

Ayam Penyet

Gado-gado

Satay

Tahu Telur

The food is the reward for the 5KM run...LOL. Anyway, I intend to re-train myself again. I miss those running days! :)

The rainy season has started and I do look forward to it as the days are cooler and I sweat lesser in the morning while going to work. Of course, I dreaded floods in many parts of the country and I pray that the affected areas stay dry soon and folks will go back to their normal lives. Back to my post, since it's been raining lately, I decided to go for something warm this evening and Korean Ginseng Chicken soup comes to my mind. I was at Seoul Garden Hotpot in Northpoint Shopping mall, Singapore.

free flow kim chi, spicy radish and onions

Hot Ginseng chicken soup

I didn't workout this evening after doing weights and ran consecutively for three evenings. Thus, it's time to wind down a bit for the weekend and warm myself up too with a bowl of nutritious chicken soup. And, time to plan for next year for my goals as well as my year end holidays!! I think I also need to plan how to improve my earnings with my blog! :)

Have a good week!

My little princess enjoying the relaxing and quiet ambiance.

An Aglio Olio for my son who shared with my wifey as he always love plain pasta.

A nasi lemak with fried chicken cutlet for me. Oooh... I'm getting fat! :(

A serving of waffles while delighted my little princess.

And not forgetting my Americano.

Have a great week!

Oh... I been bogged down by a toothache in one of my upper molar,  and have been in and out of my 'atas' dentist clinic  for four times, in a month.The first time he didn't do anything but subscribed medicines to me as there was an infection in my tooth, where some nerves seems got infected. After taken the meds, the pain seems gone but I went back a week later and facing a probable extraction which was diagnosed earlier and that kept me tense for a week. Anyway, I praise God that a filling will do after he took an X-ray and that was great news as I don't have to lose an important tooth. However, he added a root canal is a better treatment for me. The filling seems to be a temporary solution although the pain is gone.  So, after 2 weeks, I decided to go back for the root canal and the days leading up to the treatment was quite tense. Anyway, Praise God again that the procedure was almost painless. However, after the treatment and with the anesthetic wore off, there was some disxomfort and I decided to go back for my final treatment, which is to close up the tooth with permanent fillings. It was really a month of dental blues!! And that 'atas' dentist doesn’t come cheap, though he did a superb job !

I was hooked to Korean dramas lately, thanks to my wifey who has been chasing every episodes found on TV! I was not a fan before this but after watching some episodes of Doctor's Crush, somehow I find it entertaining with pretty actresses and cute actors, and I am spending more and more time on K-drama. Now, I understand why aunties and ladies love it, the stories are always romantic in nature, the guys were good-looking and acted gentlemanly while the ladies are gorgeous and mostly girls-next-door type. Added with a nice storyline, it makes a feel good drama compared to those serious and or blood-gore type. I am watching Hospital Ship now online.

And, after seeing many food scenes too, I had a craving of Korean food and ended up in a new restaurant, in Permas Jaya, JB,  Hong Dae. I always like Korean Ginseng Chicken soup which is the only Korean dish that I knew, besides kim chi and bibimpap.

My favourite Ginseng Chicken Soup

Miso seafood soup for my wifey

Assortment of Korean small dishes

We just ordered the above for the three of us, as my kid attended a birthday party. It's enough for us especially there are so many small dishes for us which can be top-up.

Now, time to go back to the mushy Korean dramas.....