Saturday, 5 January 2008

Back2 =)

Whoever who didn't read Back=) post please read that first k? Wouldn't want you to get lost reading this one...

It is now 3.17am in the morning and I am still up! Sorry Kar Wai.. hehe.. I know I told you I'll sleep at 3. The reason I am still up is because I am not sleepy, and that would be because I woke up at 5.30pm today, and that would be because I slept at 10am this morning, and that would be because I was watching a HongKong drama the whole night before. The show was good, I don't regret the lack of sleep. Though I probably will if this causes wrinkles =P Speaking of which, do you know what my mum gave to me as my first present of my 19th birthday?? ANTI-WRINKLE EYE CREAM!! Sigh... old age should be made more appealing, then a lot of money would not be wasted and could go into more worthy causes. I can hear people saying, "hey you can choose not to spend that money you know!" I know I know~

Okay back to the China tour. I apologise, I forgot about the tomb, the last place we visited in Shenyang before leaving.
-On the morning of the 26th, we visited some tomb belonging to some emperor-wasn't really paying attention as it was so poetically beautiful around. And cold. Very very cold.


The tomb(the ground), in which the guy was buried. If you take their word for it. The guide said no one's ever checked to see if his body was inside! The tree just happens to grow on the tomb. The tree looks as though it could touch heaven. The tomb is actually a big hill, but I was more interested in the tree... hehe..

Next stop after Shenyang-Jilin吉林!
-We arrived on the night of the 26th at Jilin from Shenyang and had this huge dinner called 三套碗, which means 3 Types of Bowls- which means we get our dishes served in 3 different sizes of bowls. LOL. This time, we had 29 dishes, also to be eaten by 9 people. Needless to say, we didn't make much headway, especially since the food was... ummm.. pretty bad, to be honest.

-Early morning on the 27th, we went to the Meteorite Museum. Apparently the world's biggest known meteorite fell on Jilin on 8th March 1976- weighing a total of 1770kg! It was well protected though, enveloped in a glass case but we were allowed to stretch our hands towards it. Its magnetic(? Physics experts help me out here!!) field is so strong that you can feel a tingling sensation at the tips of your fingers! And a strange coolness pervades your fingers as well! Here's the meteorite with my parents:
Oh yes, and when this meteorite fell, it didn't fall alone. It was a shower of meteorites that fell, so for 10 yuan you can go and touch the second largest one *rolls eyes*. Tourist gimmick. But we fell for it all the same =P
How did the meteorite feel like? Well, it felt like a normal piece of rock. No tingling sensation. Nothing. Maybe because it was smaller. Ah well...

There was also a fake Wu Song 雾凇 forest there, since the guide said it STILL wasn't cold enough for the real Wu Song to be formed. By the way, wu song basically means song trees coated with ice. Very very pretty. This is the only teenage girl on the trip, who's the same age! Meet En Hui!
And here's her brother, Ban Lim who's two years older than us.
Oh yes... and the reason I know that the real wu song is really pretty is because- I saw it the day before, on the way from Shenyang to Jilin, when we were just entering Jilin. Guess the day before was colder. Here's the REAL Wu Song. Though I don't think the photo really does justice to its beauty.

-Now, the deer farm. Most people know that deer's antlers are prized for their medicinal properties, but do you know how they get the deer's antlers?? In the wee hours of the morning, when the deer is still asleep, they suddenly make lots of noise by clanging the gong and blowing trumpets to scare the deer awake. And we all know that in a scare our body's "fight or flight" reflex takes over. So the deer, being a herbivore, chooses flight. All the blood rushes to its antlers, and being groggy from the lack of sleep, it does not run very fast and BANG! No it's not killed. But it is tranquillized(I think) and its antlers cut off, bloodily, since there's so much blood in the antlers. That's how they get fresh antlers apparently. Quite cruel, but who am I to criticise, since I'm not a vegetarian. Ah well, at least we didn't buy any of it. We were, however, forced to walk through the whole deer farm, and MAN, did it STINK!!! Not so much from their poop, but from their FOOD! Say hello to the deers:
Check out the stumps on his head!
This lucky one has his antlers intact because there are only a few types of deers which have antlers with medicinal properties. But we know what that means- his ancestors must've lost their antlers.
The farm also breeds wolves for their fur. Which, I have to admit, feels really good and warm. But I didn't buy =)
And... if you didn't notice- Jilin's EVEN colder than Shenyang. Thick layer of snow EVERYWHERE! I like this scene.
And this one. I like botak trees... hehe... this is the entrance to the farm by the way.
And one more botak tree. It's just sooooo... I can't describe how it makes me feel...
Again, as usual, night fell early and we retired after dinner. Getting fat~

-On the morning of the 28th, we visited the SongHua River side. The coolest thing about this river is that even though the temperature is wayyy below zero celcius, the water doesn't freeze, not even the surface of it. The city of Jilin is particularly known for her beauty in winter, and she owes her beauty mainly to this river, because Jilin is surrounded by mountains on all 4 sides, and by water(from this river) on 3 sides (四面环山,三面临水). Another cool thing about the river is that its lined with Song trees on both sides- I don't know what song is in english, sorry! Words can't describe the beauty we saw that morning, so I'll let the photos speak, though bear in mind that seriously, these photos only depict about 40% the beauty of the real thing.

I believe I can fly~

Remember this poem? The poet was writing about the SongHua River=) Too bad it wasn't night when we came.
Ah... another city down. The 28th hasn't ended yet though but we travel to another city after this. Plus it's getting more difficult to blog about the tour for some reason. So I shall only cover one city this time. Anyway, as I mentioned, I sacrificed my sleep for drama last night, and one of the actors said this to the actress-

"让我们之间只有以后,没有最后, 好吗?”

I melted.

But they still broke up.

Guess I have a very low melting point.

And... it's 6am. I shall turn in now. Hope you've enjoyed reading this as much I have writing it.

4 comments:

Li Hong said...

("让我们之间只有以后,没有最后, 好吗?”

I melted.

But they still broke up.

Guess I have a very low melting point. )



ROFL!!(hope u rmb what that stands for =p)

Rachel said...

I didn't =)

But why L for??

isabella said...

hahahah lOLZ. same here li hong. XD

L stands for laugh lah gurl!

eventhough got pics. i still have a hard time readign through wat u written.

and boy. yours is a lot m ore detailed than mine!!! SALUTE!!!

Rachel said...

Haha... I know that stands for laugh tink dear... I'm asking why laugh...

Why is it hard to read? Still too boring?