Showing posts with label Chinese Food. Show all posts

Rafting at Siming Mountain

Friday, July 17th:
This was a busy day, but in a good way. We finished work at 5pm again, and we went to the swimming  pool altogether. It was such a good feeling to have a late night swim after work. The pools were also not very crowded during that time of the day either.
When we got hungry, we decided to go to Wanda Plaza. While we were desperately searching for a restaurant, we realized that most were closing. We were lucky though, because one fish restaurant was open, and the food was truly delicious <3



Saturday, July 18th:
That day, Hailey, Geet and me went to the swimming pool again, but this time we went during the day, since it was our days off. We stayed a long time again, and only went back before dinner time. We all took a shower, then cooked dinner together, pasta with some delicious vegetable sauce. After dinner, we went to KTV, and this time it was a bigger one. We had a lot of fun again, of course :D Everyone came, Nicole and Veronica as well. And Nicole had a cute little surprise for me. She gave me a selfmade phone case as a belated birthday gift. That was so nice! I didn't even expect her to give me something. On top of that, it was something handmade. I felt so flattered and appreciative of her.



We stayed a long time at the KTV and only at almost 1am we left to go home. We needed the rest, because we wanted to go rafting the next day.



Sunday, July 19th:
That day, we all met at the apartment in the morning. Harry's friend Levan and his girlfriend also came. It was a long car ride, because it was at the Siming Mountain. So before we set off we had lunch at a little restaurant.
After that, we got back on theroad quickly, and when we finally arrived at the rafting place after a looooong car ride, we all got ready for the rafting. We had hats and safety vests and decided at once to take pictures.

After taking group selfies, we arrived at the place where we could take the boats. However, there was no one, and there weren't enough boats, so we waited. During that, Hailey started a water fight, which got a bit out of control. I was a bit anxious of the rafting at first, because I imagined it to be like a wild white water rafting with high waves, so I was a bit worried.
Soon, more people were coming and some of the workers slid down a few boats. We quickly grabbed some and sat inside. Mitch and me were sharing one. I have never paddled before, so Mitch mostly did the biggest job of paddling.
It was a fun ride, but the rafting part was way too short.
Still, we were soaking wet until we arrived at the end. Stupid me forgot to bring some fresh clothes. I just brought a cardigan, but no pants and no towel. Hailey lent me her towel and Veronica lent me her skirt. Only I can be so lucky. Still, it fit and I was dry. The ride back home was very relaxing. The sun was just setting, Frank Ocean was on and everyone was in a chilled, sleepy mood.
When we arrived at the apartment, we ordered pizza. A perfect end to an adventurous day :D

China Travels: Birthday in China

Saturday, July 4th:
That day was my birthday, but I didn't have many expectations from that day, because I had to work. At lunch time we went to the dongbei restaurant and Harry joined us, too. Surprisingly, he got me a little gift, a leather bracelet. Since I didn't expect anything on that day, especially not gifts, because I have only known all the people for only 4 weeks, it was a nice surprise.

Anyway, when we got back from the restaurant something more surprising happened. We were in the office and Ana was suddenly pushing my head down under the table, so that I couldn't see what was going on outside the door. Then Josie, Geet and Veronica came in, one of them was holding a cake with candles and the other one a buquet of flowers. This was such a cute surprise. I didn't reckon they would bake a cake for me or suprise me at work with that. It was really a cute thought. After that surprise, work didn't feel that bad anymore. Plus, I saw that I had my next weekend off, which made me even happier.

After work, Geet and me decided to go to Wanda Plaza to meet Nicole and have a nice dinner.
In Wanda Plaza, when we met up with Nicole we selected a nice restaurant which was called The Drunken Corner. I don't know why it had such a name but the food was really good.










After dinner, Nicole bought us something that looked like Creme Brulee, and it tasted amazingly gooooood!!



As soon as our stomachs were filled with delicious food, we looked around the shops a little bit, one of them Miniso, and Nicole and Geet immediately fell in love with that shop as well.
When we were finished with shopping, Harry texted us and asked if we wanted to get a drink at 19 number. We agreed so we met up with him. There, we tried to play some old vintage Video Games, but it didn't work as properly as we wished it would :'D



It was a calm and relaxed evening which was my first birthday in China and I couldn't have wished for a more blissful evening, although some of the others were missing.
At the end of the day, we all got home safely.

China Travels: Mini Food Diary

Thursday, June 25th: Dumpling Day

That day, I woke up early to help Nicole, Ana, Geet and Hailey making chinese dumplings, called Jaozi. Nicole cooked some more tasty dishes while the rest of us prepared the dumplings. I have already made dumplings before at university with my calligraphy class and it was a lot of fun and the results were delicious. This time it was even better if that is possible.


The other dishes that nicole cooked from the top left to the top right: cucumbers, an eggplant dish, tofu and mushroom dish, eggs and tomatos and a sellery dish. She also cooked a vegetable soup which was soooo goood! 

 I at so many dumplings and I loved the eggplant dish.
After that successful lunch, most of us had to head to work.

Saturday, June 27th: Sushi Day

After work that day, we decided to get Sushi at the mall called Wanda Plaza. Ana and Veronica would go out with a former student of theirs for dinner, so it was only Geet, Hailey, Josie, Harry, Mitch, and me. First, we went to Starbucks because Josie was craving a tea and most of us were not that hungry yet. When Harry arrived soon, we went inside the mall and looked for the sushi restaurant called Yisushi. It looked really nice inside and the sushi dishes we ordered were mostly delicious, except for some strange ones which were also the most expensive ones.












After dinner we thought to go somewhere to play Billard but the others didn't want to so we went to the apartment and played some games: a card game, 'Who am I', and another fun game which I forgot the name of.
Just late in the evening, we called it a day.

Sunday, June 28th: Hong Kong Restaurant

That day, I had my day off. At 5pm, we wanted to meet the others and go to a restaurant called Grandma's Home which was recommended by the others for a long time. It is in a mall called Hi5, so we had to take the bus there. After Geet, Hailey and Mitch finished work, we met and went there. When we arrived there, we found out that they were booked out, so we decided to go to another restaurant and we chose a Hong Kong place since it was cheaper than the rest. Surprisingly, the food there was quite delicious.

These were some amazing tasting sesame balls *o* they had black sesame paste inside

Some kind of sushi dumplings


Noodles with beef. So delish



Vegetables

This beef with vegetables tasted very good as well


These were some kind of sweet buns. So good!

This is how the black sesame balls look like on the inside. For some people it might be creepy or disgusting because it is black, but black sesame is very healthy and so tasty as well. I love it.

After dinner, we strolled around the mall. A lot was going on, children performing and competitions. We found out that the mall was celebrating its anniversary. Then, Geet and Hailey saw a huge cake that should be be given to the people for free so they rushed downstairs to get in line. In the meantime, Ana brought me to a shop called mjstyle that sold totoro pillows *o* They were only 49 rmb which is about 7€. I was really happy about that since my bed looked a bit boring.

My totoro pillow and me
After we left the shop, we met the others again. Geet and Hailey were sick of waiting so we decided to leave the mall. Harry and Josie recommendedto go to the lake nearby. We agreed and walked there. It was already dark outside, and when we arrived at the lake there was almost no one except for some fishermen and a few couples. We walked around the lake which was a bit creepy. There were no lights and we heard a lot of dogs barking. After that incident in Shaoxing we were still a bit creeped out by dogs in China.
Anyway, I was personally happy when our little tour around the lake was over. After that, we all returned home and slept well.