26th December 2009

This day will be one of the best moments for my family. Today was set as the day for my sister's Guo Da Li ceremony and my dad's birthday. 2 happy events happened at 1 day. I was appointed by sis to take some photos during the Guo Da Li ceremony. Guo Da Li is a ceremony where both parents handed the dowry before the wedding day. Bride's family will prepare the traditional ang pau for the groom and his parents, new beddings for the newly weds bedroom, wedding lamp, sweets, clothes for groom and others. My brother-in-law's parents reached our place around 7 something in the morning. They also brought over some ang pau, 2 bottles of VSOP, a pair of candles and jostick for prayers, oranges, wedding biscuits and others. I created some collages using new technique I learnt from photoshop. More photos in flickr. Enjoy!

Today was dad's birthday as well! We brought a cake for him to celebrate with my second aunt which came over to enjoy the jovial ceremony. Dad was happy with the cake hehe... Yum Yum ^_^

Jiu Zai Gou -extraordinary landscape

As promise that I'll update my blog regarding Jiu Zai Gou this weekend, although it's closed to the ending of the long weekend. Below are some of my favourite shots that I came across. Jiu Zai Gou is best to be visited during September and October, during the autumn season. The colourful leaves of autumn ranging from green, yellow, orange and brown. We were fortunate as the days before we reached, it was raining. The sun greeted us happily that faithful morning. The view was spectacular not letting us down with such long flight to reached to the mountain.

During the flight from Cheng Du to Jiu Zai Gou, the trip was tiring as our flight was delay due to the heavy mist and it's a norm to the local that the flight is expected to be delayed. We were waiting in the plane for nearly an hour before take off. The flight was bumpy due to the unstable air pressure, but the view from the plane was magnificent. Jiu Zai Gou is famous for its breathtaking landscape, gigantic waterfalls and mirror image of the landscape through it's colourful water which contributes by different minerals beneath. Jiu Zai Gou mainly populated by tibetans. Their colourful culture and totally different taste of food really is a new experience. Pst* they drink a lot as well! Truly heart warming and friendly people.

View from plane




Landscape in Jiu Zai Gou

More photos of the trip in my flickr.

My Birthday

Thanks everyone for the cake, card and warm wishes!

Hugs from Valerie

Harvest In Cafe

Yesterday, I went to try this cafe in town. I saw this cafe intro in a floggers, lingzie. The place was packed with diners due to the long holiday I guess. But the hunt to get to the place is quite difficult as I'm no local. It took me several rounds to get to the place. The below is the map to the place. The cafe offer set lunch and set dinner which comes with a soup, main course, appetizer and drink. With the place so packed, and I was alone, I was seated in front of the entrace to the toilet. :( Not very strategic place but I was there for the food. Got cross my mind to go during my birthday but didn't get further information from the blog before that.

I ordered grilled almond fish which was recommended by lingzie, the rest of the recommendation was either fried, chicken or spicy food. I was in favored of fish that night. That night's soup was cabbage, carrot & ham soup which is the first time I came across this combination. The taste was acceptable and quite unique. The service was quite good although the cafe was packed with diners. The grilled fish was good with the combination of almonds with egg coated fish. The side dish for the main course was boiled vegetables with a pinch of salt as to escalate the sweetness of the vegetables. Lastly, the dessert has 2 selections of cake & ice-cream or jelly & ice-cream. As I'm not a big fan of cheese cake, I opted for the jelly & ice-cream. The price is quite reasonable at RM19.80 for the set. The main course is around Rm13.90 with additional RM4.90 to turn it to a set.

I find the place quite soothing and a nice place to gather with friends. :)

Exterior of the cafe






Interior


The food...






Map

To get to the place, you have to go along Jalan Burmah till you see Jalan Arraton (dunno spell correctly or not) hehe. Then you first left junction will be Jalan Irrawaddi. Go straight till you see Jalan Chow Thye then you can find parking. Harvest In Cafe is just at the corner. Just a reminder, Jalan Chow Thye is a one way street, you can't enter through Jalan Burmah. It's best if you can reserve before heading to gurrantee a seat.


Opening hours: 11.00-3.30pm, 6pm-10pm.
Closed on Sundays. Closed for Dinner on Tuesdays.
Tel: 04-226 1718. Strictly Pork free.

Jhy Chiann & Kun Sen's Wedding Reception

Last weekend had a chance to go back Melaka for my primary schoolmate Jhy Chiann's wedding reception. I'm glad that she gave me a chance to have a small gathering with other schoolmates. It seems ages to get to meet them. We have a chance to chit-chat and enjoy the atmosphere as well as celebrating Jhy Chiann's happiest moments. This was my first wedding reception to join in the photographers pool to take some photos. I added some additional shadow and highlights to create a different feeling of the photos.

Some of the ballroom decorations

Ji Mui and Dinner Registration












Primary school mates






Bride and Groom