Guangzhou: Posh airport hotel & Chen Clan Academy

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We checked into Pullman Guangzhou airport hotel, which was literally 10 minutes walk from Baiyun Airport! This is the view from our room, Pullman's garden and the airport terminal. We were that close!

 Since we were staying at the airport hotel, we took a many train rides into the city. Every day, we spent at about 3 hours travelling. Yes, very tiring!

There were so many people in the train (okay, I know it's China), but it's really quite mad. I took a quick shot of all of us train passengers, and this is non-peak hour. I really cannot imagine peak hour!

 I've been to Beijing a couple years back, so I was mentally prepared to face this amount of people at one time. But for first-timers to China like Bryan, he was completely thrown back hehe!


 I'd so rather chill in the room and eat breakfast all day :P

We don't really get to stay in fanciful hotels, like Pullman, during travels (budget, budget!), so I quite enjoyed our stay here ;)



The only historical building we checked out was Chen Clan Academy. Apparently it was a home of a very rich man of Guangzhou in the earlier days. There were many carvings, artworks, pottery and engraving preserved from the dynasties, around the house.



But what I most enjoyed about Chen Clan Academy were the corridors and courtyards. Very serene and quaint! How I wished they served some nice tea with yummy Chinese treats in the relaxing courtyards :)



That would be awesome, wouldn't it? :)

The engagement surprise!

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Wanted to blog about Guangzhou first, but THIS happened!!! All my girlfriends were asking me how did it happened, so here goes part of the story :)


I was sleeping and recuperating from our Boracay trip (it was 8AM on a Sunday morning!!!) when Bryan woke up and went out of the room. I thought it was quite odd. He started slamming the room doors so I was quite pissed off because it was waking me up, but I didn't care much, I was too tired! (I found out later that he kept the ring in his sister's room, hence all the doors slamming)

The next thing I knew, he went on his knees next to the bed, asking me something about surprises. I didn't reply him LOL. I must have looked quite horrible too, as I was sleeping face down with hair covering my face!!!

Then he opened the jewellery box and asked me if I will marry him. I faintly saw the diamond on the ring, and asked him 'Whose ring is that?'

T_________T

See, Bryan? This is the response you get because you prank your girlfriend too much!

But, yes, I agreed to put that beautiful 'compressed pebble' on my finger after he convinced me that the ring was for me ;) 

I wanted to keep this entire thing hush-hush for a week or two, but not knowing that Bryan had already changed my relationship status on Facebook... all when I was still trying to make sense of what's happening. OMG!


LOL good one Facebook! I love that picture. It shows Bryan's personality perfectly ;)

Darling, the past 6 years have been such a rollercoaster ride, but I'm sure it was those experiences that took us to where we are today. Thank you for everything! I'm definitely looking forward to ROCK N' ROLL the rest of my life with you ;)

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, TAIWAN. December 2010

This is going to be awesome! I'm engaged to my cheeky bestfriend :)

Langkawi : Top-rated restaurants...

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...as suggested by Trip Advisor!

Before we got on the plane for Langkawi, both Bryan and I decided that we're going to have lots of Western  cuisine (or anything else, besides Malaysian food!). The one that he really wanted to go was this Turkish restaurant in Pantai Cenang, because he read good reviews about it! I'm sorry the restaurant's name totally slipped my mind for now, and I can't google for it too T___T. If I recall it, I'll let you know ;)

There weren't many patrons when we arrived, so I was a little doubtful. But the moment our appetizer came, I was quite surprised :D

That mushy thing above was our appetizer! It's called Babaganuc (mashed up eggplant with virgin olive oil and magical herbs) and it came with a couple of home made Pide bread. OMG, so smooth, creamy and heavenly!


 Our happy faces!

 Then came our main course. We decided to share something (because we arrived at 4PM). That being said, no wonder there weren't many patrons. Who eats at 4PM??

Below is the Paticlan Kebab! It's basically roasted eggplant with chicken meat, tomatoes and really spicy green chillies. The meat was not too bad, but the entire dish was mediocre. Perhaps I'll try another kebab the next round ;)

The last night before we left Langkawi, we went to a restaurant which had even better reviews - Mangoes Bar & Grill. If I'm not mistaken, it was rated the best restaurant in Langkawi by Trip advisor earlier this year! It was rather difficult to locate this place, very easily missed! They're located behind housing estates, and their sign board is on a small plank of wood, up on the wall of their neighbour (at the back of their restaurant!).

Loved the ambience! We ordered chicken liver pate (again!), I had lamb chops and Bryan had the Aussie burger.

The burger was tall, mighty and yummy, so it made the boy a very happy camper that night! The owner, Michelle, was very lovely and friendly too. Her story about opening Mangoes - She was a school teacher in Melbourne (her home), and she loved to sail. So one day, she sailed all the way from Melbourne to Langkawi, and decided she love to live in this island! So she anchored her boat, called Langkawi her home, and opened a restaurant with her partner!

 Isn't that a life to live?!

 I wish one day, I will own a yacht (or rent one, regardless!) and sail somewhere exotic to plonk myself there for retirement too :)

Langkawi : Beach breakfast & Spanish dinner

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During holidays, we rarely made it for breakfast every morning, because we'd wake up past 10AM. Even if we set our alarm the night before, and made promises to each other that we'd wake up at 9AM for breakfast, it still rarely happens :P 

But for this trip, we made sure we woke up for breakfast!!! That's because we found another (more awesome) breakfast station. During the second night of our trip, one kind waitress at the coffee house told us about this special second breakfast area =O

It's at the beach restaurant, a further walk from the reception and coffee house area! I love it here! You order your food on a la carte basis (so good, the food's hot!) and you get to enjoy the sea breeze and hear the waves while having breakfast :)

My eggs benedict, waffles with butter, and nasi lemak, a la carte ;)


For dinner, we spent a couple of nights the Perdana Quay. I like this place, because here's a row of Western dining restaurants, all facing the quay. The yacht, night lights and slow music makes the whole mood rather romantic!

We had Spanish tapas and paella dinner one night. The meal came with a some tapas (fried calamari, stewed beef, marinated mushrooms and garlic prawns), seafood paella and chicken liver pate! 

I found my LOVE for chicken liver pate this trip! I had a few more rounds of it after that night.


Dipping home made bread into the chicken liver pate. So good! If you ever dine here, make sure you order the pate.


Just before we finished dinner, I found this white kitty snuggling under my sofa seat! So cute ;)





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