Most of the time, I prefer smaller shoppings malls than mega ones. Parking is easier and no need to walk for miles just to reach the wash room >.<
So, I quite like Paya Lebar Square. Same floor as Green Dot, we found Mediterranean Thai at the corner.
Almost fully occupied, we were lucky to get a table.
Ice - Thai Tea S$3.50
Plain water charged at S$0.20
Olive Fried Rice S$9.80
Tom Yam Seafood Soup (clear) S$13.80
Super value for money! There were so much ingredients that I was afraid they weren't making any profit lolxx....
Carbonara Pasta S$13.80
Beside pastas, they have pizza too. I find this a pocket-friendly place for family dining especially with children. It's halah, so not a bad choice for casual nom nom with friends too.
I had read some negative reviews, but our experience was pleasant from the service to food quality.
The room was a bit unusual, the basin and vanity counter was located right behind the main door.
The rest room with only WC and shower, wash hands outside lolxx...
2 super singles with a balcony.
View from the balcony at 6.30pm.
And this was how it's like in the morning.
Resort's buffet breakfast.
Not bad and it's a relieve, no more of jail bird's metal plates, decent porcelin plates and bowls,
Drank porridge instead of tea or coffee.
Survival Tip #5: Bring your own beverage. They don't have milo and their coffee simply not our taste. If you need coffee like opium to keep alive awake, must pack along.
As said on the previous post, this was where we bought frozen pears to eat for supper. Also a pair of grey ski pants for myself which I wore throughout. It was too long for me (being short is not my fault), not exactly flattering but was warmer and more comfortable than my fleece tights.
We went to watch our tour mates ski at this largest ski resort in China.
Either stupid or no affinity with skiing, previously I took 30mins to wear the ski boots, another 30mins to walk out and up the slope; 1 min to slide and fall down, another 10mins to get up. Skiing is just not for me sia >.<
We sat at the window and wished we could bring the horse in.
I couldn't tell whether it's cold or not :(
It's just too comfortable staying indoor, until other tour mates dragged us out for professional photoshot, heehee......
Stepping out into -25 degrees was no joke.
I was very grateful to this tour mate who took many beautiful and memorable pics for us, and learnt some tricks from him.
Survival Tip #6: Camera care. All my tour mates' DSRL cameras survived. They hardly die off. My digital camera totally cannot make outdoor, it would just auto shut down.
While we didn't manage to get a proper camera cover for winter, a neck warmer works pretty well with a stick on heat pack. Lens got water condense from outdoors to indoors due to warmer temperature. I had read that there are many ways to lessen the water condense. For myself, I just keep the camera in my camera bag with silica gel before entering indoors. My camera came back to Singapore safe and sound.
When I saw these 3 photos, I was like..... MY TRIP IS SO WORTH IT!!!
After the photoshot, our hands were numbed and I have a photo proof it:
My tour mate landed her hand on my breast instead of arm and I didn't feel a thing, neither did she have any feelings, waaahaaahaaaa..... The person who took this photo was none other than my blind hubby lah sia lolxx...
When we went back to our room and realized that we didn't close the balcony door properly.
Luckily wind wasn't too strong else the whole room would be snowed lolxx..
We actually squat there to "examine" the snow closely. They looked like salt.
After this fun filled morning, we were on the road again, heading to Snow Village (双峰林场，又名雪乡).
One of our tour mate left a bottle a mineral water in the bus and overnight it was all ice.
Survival Tip #6: Must bring thermal flask. In fact, all it took was about 30mins for water to turn into ice, that was in the bus, couldn't imagine outside. So a thermal flask is very important. You may hate hot drinks in Singapore, but I guarantee you will love it to death in Harbin. Bring along your thermal flask to every restaurant and rest points you visit, you'll get to fill them up at no charge.
Lunch was very very happening at this place.
The wooden house looked lovely.
Inside was clean and cozy too.
Our table with big stoves beneath. We were all so excited for this special dinning experience!
Stew pots!
Balls of dough were pressed onto the side of the pot.
We before we knew what was happening the room was filled with smoke.
So bad that we had to evacuate.
What happened was the exhaust that serves to suck out the fumes was out of order which had never happened before. It was a pity that we couldn't enjoy the stews on the table.
I also found out that wood was used, which explains why the smoke was so thick.
Another room was arranged for us, the stews were cooked and send on the table.
It was quite a spread.
The scenery outside was like a painting....
Put it this way, where snow is, beauty is.
Chicken with black fungus stew.
Pork ribs with salted veg stew.
Long beans with pork belly stew.
Potatoes with lean meat stew.
Pork Jelly
Pork tongue, I know it's hard to convince, but this was really nice, not "powdery" like liver.
DIY veg wraps.
Steam buns.
Stew fish with tofu.
Mix stew with corn buns.
This restaurant had amazing toilet: "Couple WC" in one cubicle.
Couple can hold hands while listening to the rhythm of the flowing urine water and smell each other's poo poo... -___-||| Only in China lolxx.... Laugh until can die sia.
After lunch we moved on to freezing ourselves on horse sledge through some forest.
Survival Tip #7: Don't sit in front! This is despicable, but you wouldn't be sorry. Sitting at the front row means that you will be totally and entirely expose to the cold wind. Cold wind is like knife blades arh I tell you.... Sit in the middle or last row, half the coldness will be blocked by the seats.
The ride was bumpy which made it exciting. Hubby held me tight while I took this short video, else I would be bumped off the the sledge lolxx...
Nothing much, just playing with fire crackers which I had seen before, so I wasn't amused. But this photo of my Mr running for his life after lighting up the fire cracker was funny, heeheehee...
This was a bandits' cave which I was too lazy to go in.
Tower thermometer: -19 degrees.
Thaw and selfie on bus.
After a short ride we reached this White Birch Forest trek costed us RMB350. It's freaking expensive, our Universal Studio also don't cost this much.
Being a filming site for 爸爸去哪儿 couldn't justify the absurd entrance fee.
Snow was everywhere, seriously 扑天盖地 (covered sky, blanket land).
This is a colored photo, not black and white >.<
The strong wind was blowing, not sure how I looked like, but this was how frozen my Mr was lolxx...
White butt deers called 狍子 only found in this region. They are really cute and often called silly, but I think they are just too friendly in nature.
I had never seen so much snow in my whole life, very unreal, but the cold was for real. During that time, all I want was to get up back into the bus ASAP >.<
Bandits Nest
All went back to the bus with either 2 balls of mucus at the nostrils or 2 nice vertical streams of them. If I happened to pull down my mask to take photos, I'll just wipe them off with my gloves, else I licked them up if they reached my lips. I am not to sure if others did want I do, but I didn't see any of my tour mates took tissue and wipe slowly.
We made it to Snow Village (双峰林场又名雪乡) at around 5pm, yes it's completely dark already.
Getting in was..... urrrg... Gantry worst than woodlands checkpoint sia.
Times like this, we were very thankful to have our tour guides with us.
Snow Village (双峰林场又名雪乡) is a very special destination. Something I can really brag about since nobody (among my friends) been to this place. You will find out what's so special about this place in my next post ^.^
