Something worth “chirping” about

It all started with a comment on my friend’s Facebook wall:

Aldhyan (A): Hey, you guys wanna try some special pizza? Had it twice. I’m super free tomorrow.

Jenica (J): Sure! I don’t have anything on tomorrow. Where is the place?

Me: I’m free too, where is the place?

A: Vij’s Rangoli.

Me: Oooohhh! That’s a pretty renown Indian restaurant in Vancouver!

J: How do you know about the restaurant?

Me: It’s always on those food mags and newspapers food column.

Me: BTW Aldhyan, pizza in an Indian place???

A: Yup they’ve got a very interesting pizza. Must go and try it!

Me: Are you talking about their naan pizza? I’m looking at their menu now.

J: I don’t see it on the menu.

A: It IS on the menu. Must read carefully.

Me: *Gasp* The 1 w/ crickets???

J: Oh! I found it. *scream in horror*

A: Yup, that’s their special pizza. I ate it twice. Sooo good. You guys die die must try.

J: Lol die die must try.

Me: Ok I trust you.

J: Just close your eyes and eat it. Everything will taste good.

Me: Must bring camera to record that glorious moment. Oh ya, how did u know abt the cricket pizza btw?

A: Heard it from my prof last term, and don’t worry, no antennae or legs.

Me: Lol I’m not afraid at all. BRING IT ON! I can chow down those creepy crawlies any time.

J: Wait and see tomorrow. Who back out, who pay the bill.

A+me: Deal!

So off we went to Vij’s Rangoli.

Vij’s. I’ve encountered this name from numerous newspapers, Vancouver food blogs and also restaurant review websites since I set foot in Vancouver about 2 years ago. From what I’ve read, many complain that the price does not equate well to the portion served, despite having an overall pleasant journey on the taste buds. I’ve been wanting to try it out, but most of my friends are simply not interested.

So, today is the day.

Arrived around 1pm in front of the restaurant. Vij’s Rangoli is like a “spin-off” of Vij’s; compared to its elegant fine dining brother next door, Vij’s Rangoli has a more lively and casual atmosphere. I didn’t expect the restaurant to be so tiny; the inside of the restaurant can only accommodate up to ~25 people at most, excluding the few tables in the patio (who the hell wanna sit outdoor when the weather is so effin’ cold???). The interior of the restaurant also struck me as awkward; the restaurant doubles as a mini-market where customers can get the cough*overpriced*cough prepackaged food or condiments that are made in-house with no preservatives added (as they claimed). First you see the cashier on your immediate left corner when you enter, and then a few glass-windowed commercial refrigerators arranged side by side along the left wall; a few wooden racks filled with spices for sale in front of the refrigerators when you look straight; and lastly the rest of the space is the dining area. Because it was rush hour when I arrived, I had to wait for seats. There wasn’t any waiting chairs for the customers so I stood near the cashier. The place is so small that I had to make way for the people coming in and out of the restaurant and also dodge away from busy waiters that were on their way to serve food to the customers. My friends arrived a few minutes later and we waited for about 10 minutes until we got seated.

We were seated at a table that’s obviously only just right for 2 people. We were very sure that the table would not fit all of our dishes, not to mention our plates and glasses. We were all set to get the cricket pizza, and we took a moment to look for another 2 dishes since Aldhyan told us that the portion is pretty small and there were 3 growling stomachs waiting to be fed. One of the waiters took down our order and he was like,”Ah so you guys are having the cricket naan pizza? Excellent choice! I can tell you that you won’t regret eating it.” With this comment, our biological electrons instantaneously leaped from the ground state to the excite state.

Packed with hungry diners.

Before we got our food, I tried to ask one of the waitresses whether we could switch to a bigger table. The Asian waitress, rose her tone and replied that “the restaurant is very full and it’s IMPOSSIBLE to move you to another table. You will have to deal with it” in an arrogant and impatient manner with a face that says “I don’t give a F***. You customers are not always right”, and then walked away swiftly, which made the 3 of us raised our eyebrows. WHAT. THE. HELL. What kind of attitude is that??? Did I step onto your tail or something?  I’ve asked you nicely and I even gave you a sweet smile!

The only space that we had.

But moments later, the waiter who took our order told us that there’s a larger table and moved us there. So much better. His attitude was a total 180-degree of the Asian waitress that’s so full of herself. Whatever. We were not going to let some four-feet-nine banana spoil our day.

Jenica, the shark lol.

Oh I’m so totally gonna get bricked when she sees the caption haha!

Fine dining?

Apparently B&W photography adds a mysterious vibe to the simplest things in life. Shall delve more deeply into B&W!

Fun lighting!

I was so happy that our seats were facing a giant window. Needed the lighting for shooting scrumptious food.

As we were chatting and laughing hysterically at nothing, our food arrived.

Behold, the legendary Naan “Pizza” with Roasted Crickets and Paneer!

Chirp chirp.

From afar, the pizza looks like any other pizza out there. From a passer-by’s point of view, the “black stuff” looks like black beans and the like.

Looks very appetizing, doesn’t it? Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

A closer shot.

Does it creep you out now? *hears scream in horror* lol

Say aaahhhhhh~~~

Aldhyan’s 3rd time chowing down the chirping critters. This guy loves his crickets!

Satisfied.

Jenica was nervous about the crickets before the pizza arrived. But look at her now!

I was really excited when the pizza was served. I thought I was gonna be hesitant when taking my first bite, but to my surprise, I shoved the pizza into my mouth right after I picked it up. Probably too hungry to care haha!

Going......

Going......

Gone!

The taste. Hmmm, where should I begin? Biting off a small piece was fairly easy, which means that the naan is not too hard or overly chewy. The paneer (i.e. Indian fresh cheese) is similar to cottage cheese, except that it’s not salty; the soft texture does not stick to your teeth during mastication. The naan is coated with a layer of yellowish-brown lentil and tomato curry, which gives some spiciness to the pizza, but I secretly wished that it could be more spicy. And as for the crickets…they were damn delicious! They’re roasted with some spices (I’m pretty sure that one of them is cumin) to a near-charred state. They provided the extra crunch to the pizza that’s moistened with the sauce, almost similar to adding rice crispies onto your pizza.

I ate the crickets by themselves and I was really surprised by their unique taste. No it was not repulsive. No the texture did not throw me off. The first thing that came to my mind was, the taste was somewhat familiar to me, as if I’ve had it somewhere. Then I immediately thought of the dried shrimps (虾米) in Malaysia that we use to make sambal udang. The Chinese also use these dried shrimps to make the XO sauce. The crickets have some sort of umami flavour, but not as distinct as that in the dried shrimps. They also have a hint of grassy taste and they are lightly salted. I think I’ve discovered my new-found favourite.

All of the tables in the dining area is arranged in a close proximity from one to the other. While we were busy assaulting the cricket pizza, we could see the diners who sat beside us were peeping at the pizza with a slightly scrunched face from the corner of our eyes. It was so obvious that they were disgusted lol. When all 3 of us acknowledge that the diners were looking at us and our pizza, we purposely became so vocal in praising the taste of the pizza and evaluated the sensory aspects of the crickets in an over-the-top fashion, just to cause annoyance from the diners. Not surprisingly, bugs are not everyone’s favourite, especially when it’s one of the ingredients in your food.

And not to forget about the other dishes that we had:

Tamarind and yogurt marinated grilled natural chicken.

We ordered this as we thought it sets itself apart from the others in the menu. But I was quite disappointed with this dish when I tried it. The sprouts salad was too salty for my liking, I couldn’t even take a second bite of it. The naan was quite hard to be bitten off and it was pretty chewy, compared to the naan used in the pizza. Maybe it was because the naan pizza were in the oven longer? I like the curry that came with it though; it was not too runny, had a chock full of spices in it and it was somewhat sour. I don’t know why but it reminded me of tom yum, even though I knew that their tastes are worlds apart. I like to banjir or “flood” my basmati rice and the naan with the curry, just like how we do it with the roti canai in Malaysia lol. It’s a Malaysian thing.

As for the chicken, there wasn’t anything special about it. The chicken tastes like tandoori chicken, and it was too dry (the burnt bits are the telltale sign). Isn’t the yogurt supposed to moistened the chicken for a bit? And also, isn’t the tamarind supposed to give a sweet and sour taste to the chicken? I didn’t taste that in the chicken. Sure the chicken was flavoured with a dash of spices, but sadly it still came to me as bland. A letdown indeed. :/

Goat and jackfruit in creamy curry.

We ordered this cos we saw the word “jackfruit” in the menu. Jackfruit is a tropical fruit that is wildly cultivated in South East Asia and India. It has a fleshy and starchy texture and it can be eaten raw when ripen. Like the King of Fruit, it also exudes a distinct smell that’s easily distinguishable when one holds it closely to his nose. I have a fond memory of jackfruit as my house has a lot of jackfruit trees nearby. It’s nice to bump into it again, especially in Vancouver where tropical fruits are so exclusive. My cousin had jackfruits when she was in Hawaii and she fell in love with it ever since. She knew that there are lots of jackfruit trees around my house in Malaysia and she constantly asks me to bombard her with jackfruits when she visits Malaysia haha!

Ah, this is more like it! Let’s start with the coconut and cabbage salad. Again, the salad is too salty. What’s with the immense love for salt when it comes to salad??? It makes me ponder. Also, I’m pretty sure that they scrapped the coconut flesh out from an older coconut as the flesh was harder and crunchier. The flesh of a young coconut is softer. Oh I miss the coconuts that I had in Bangkok! TT

As the name has suggested, the curry is indeed creamy. It’s thick, rich and has a consistency that can almost pass as a condiment. It has all the spices you need for curry, and the spiciness is just about right. It tastes really good when you banjir your naan/rice with it. The taste of this curry is really different from the taste of the curry in the tamarind chicken dish. The goat meat was cooked to perfection and it absorbed the flavour of the curry really well. It was tender and easily sheared with your teeth.

Using jackfruit as an ingredient in the Malaysiann cuisine is not as common as that in Indonesia, so the idea of including it in the curry was very interesting. It puzzled me when I found that the jackfruit used in the curry was not sweet at all. My Indonesian friends explained that only the young fruit is used for cooking as it has a texture simulates chicken meat and there’s no sweetness associated to it. Oooo now I get it! The jackfruit did have a meaty texture. Intriguing. I wonder how it will taste like if a sweet ripen jackfruit is used instead; will it taste better with the subtle sweetness? Or will it give a weird taste in the case where the sweetness is totally altered into some other taste when the jackfruit is cooked? I wonder……

Tiny tiny bubbles.

We were still not that full after devouring everything. The desserts on the menu didn’t interest us, so we foot the bill and headed to downtown for cheesecakes.

The bill.

* * *

We took the bus to downtown and walked to Trees Organic. Of all the cheesecakes that I’ve had in Vancouver, theirs is by far, THE BEST.

We arrived there around 3.15pm. The café was very full and the line at the cashier was ridiculous. But luckily, we got some seats right after we’ve ordered.

Oh yeeaaahhhh.

Far back from left: Mocha cheesecake and The Sin cheesecake. Front: Apple Crumble cheesecake (mine). Drink: apple cider.

I love how the staff in the café would decorate the plate that contains the cheesecake slice.

Apple Crumble cheesecake.

I’ve been here countless times and I’ve tried almost all of their cheesecakes. The Apple Crumble one is their featured cheesecake of the month and it was selling like hot cakes, so I just had to try it. Well, appearance wise, the real thing was far from what is being advertised on their posters. It wasn’t packed with the apple chunks like they’ve described, but nevertheless, you can still taste the softened apple chunks that are cooked with a dash of cinnamon amidst the rich and sinful combo of the buttery crumble, the creamy cheesecake filling and the sub-crunchy digestive biscuit base. Eating it with the cream and the caramel sauce is just lovely. It’s heavenly. In fact, all of their cheesecakes are divine. I love this place so much that whenever I made new friends through dining and gatherings, I would always drag them along to this place for desserts. And since then all of them are now hooked with this place thanks to me. Maybe the owner of Trees Organic should consider giving me some commission since I am constantly introducing new customers to them haha!

By far, my all-time favourite is their chocolate orange cheesecake that I had last year. It is not always on the menu and you can only get it in certain time. Every time I went to Trees Organic, I prayed hard that they’ll have the chocolate orange cheesecake in their glass fridge, but my prayer is yet to be answered lol. Oh please please please have that in your fridge! *puppydogface*

Until next time folks!

East Is East!

Ah, time to have a short break  after one hell of a term! AND, Xmas is just around the corner! Woohoo!

As my friend Manjeet has said,”‘Tis the season to pig out and let it loose!” I have to agree with her on that. Since school has started I haven’t been eating out that often because I was literally drowning in the sea of reports, projects, presentations, quizzes, assignments and exams. I’ve been so damn guai (i.e. being a good kid) for nearly 3 months; I cooked most of the time, and my friends got so annoyed at me because I was always complaining about carrying 2 full bags of groceries from the Safeway at MacDonald Street (I prefer to go there as it has more choices than the one at Sasamat Street) to my dorm. It’s an 8-minute walk from my dorm to the bus loop plus a 15-minute bus trip ONE WAY. I was always half-dead when I reached my doorstep after the grocery trip lol.

Anyway, I was craving for Indian food for a while now and Manjeet came out with this brilliant idea of going to an South Asian restaurant called East Is East. I said her idea was “brilliant” because it came at the right time, but most importantly, that place serves seriously good South Asian food. She always mentioned this place to me but I’d yet to try that place out. I immediately jumped for it when she and Renata asked me to go there today.

It was freezing out there because of the chilly wind even though it wasn’t snowing. We got off the 99 B-Line at Alma Street and walked for a few blocks, and scurried our way into the restaurant as we could no longer stand the cold. East Is East shares the same shop unit with Silk ‘N Spice; judging from their website, I can safely assume that both restaurants have the same owner.

Layout of the restaurant, and a glimpse of our lovely Renata

It was only 4-ish in the evening by the time we got there but darkness was already looming in. The restaurant was very dimly-lit, but I kinda like the romantic and sultry ambiance that the place emanates. The interior is synonymous with those South Asian dens. On one side the wall is clad in Persian carpets with motifs, while you can see monotone floral wallpaper on the opposite wall. The space is furnished with dark wooden tables with the height that reaches your knees along with cushioned benches.

We were given with a menu pretty quickly as soon as we sat down on our benches. I wanted everything on their menu because I was starving at that point. Famished even! It’s a good thing that I’ve done a little bit of research on the menu before going there (how typical of me!), so I made my decision in a jiffy. A waitress served us glasses of water and took our order. We also got shots of their darjeeling masala chai for free! Sweet!

Darjeeling masala chai in a cute expresso cup.

I was surprised by the level of sweetness in their chai. I was expecting it to be very very sweet like those in Starbucks. Oh wait, maybe I shouldn’t have done the comparison since the chai in Starbucks is not even legit.  Ahem. With the sweetness aside, I was quite disappointed with the watered-down spice in the chai because I prefer it with a hefty amount of spice. It also had some bitterness/astringency associated with the sweetness, which was new to me. Manjeet explained that might be because of the darjeeling they used.

We didn’t have to wait very long for our food. There were merely any customers during that time. Certainly the best time to go to a restaurant if you want quick service and full attention from the waiters/waitresses.

Silk Route Feast (with mango butternut squash and chicken masala).

I went for their signature tasting menu called the “Silk Route Feast”. I got to choose any 2 of the dishes under the Feast section that comes with dhal soup, salad, boulani, roti, garlic pickle, Afghan and basmati rice. I chose mango butternut squash and chicken masala, and I  tell you, I didn’t have any regret at all ‘cos the dishes were SO GOOD! The mango butternut squash is a vegan dish cooked with coconut milk, curry leaves, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, while the masala chicken dish is…well, masala chicken haha. I love the play of spice in my tongue while devouring the dishes. The sweet mango and the tender butternut squash blended so well with the spices. The chicken was cut to the right size (delicate bite-size) and it absorbed the masala well. Everything went perfectly with the Afghan and basmati rice.

The boulani (Afghan leek pancake) is, shall I say, the “distant cousin” of the Chinese scallion pancake (葱油饼). The texture is quite similar to the Chinese counterpart, only that it’s slightly soggy. I ate it with herb yogurt after dunking it into the dhal, pretty satisfied with it. The roti on the other hand, is splendid! It’s by far the best roti I’ve ever tasted since coming to Vancouver. It’s firm, somewhat flaky and gives you the smooth “sandy” mouthfeel which I love. I also ate it with dhal and herb yogurt. Heavenly, I tell you.

The only letdown of the Feast was the salad. It’s your typical garden salad with chunks of beets and chicory and other greens which I don’t remember drizzled in balsamic vinegar. The salad was blah and I had to eat it with some spicy mango chutney and tamarind chutney to sort of “revive” the taste, otherwise I wouldn’t touch it anymore after the 1st tasting. Also, maybe I’m used to the thick dhal that we have in Malaysia, I find the dhal here is too runny for my liking. The runny-ness makes it to be classified as a “soup”. Oh in addition, it doesn’t have a “full” burst of spice when you shove it into your mouth. Meh.

I was pretty full by the time I licked off the last bit of my mango butternut squash from my spoon lol. BUT, there’s always room for desserts!

Nutty Gypsy.

I wanted their “Eastern Shakes” because all of these shakes have combination that is unconventional. Daring even! I went for the Nutty Gypsy ‘cos I had never tried nuts and chocolate blended into a shake before. I mean, I’ve had nutty chocolate bars but they aren’t my favourite. :/ But since both of them are in a shake, it couldn’t be as bad right?

Upon taking my first sip, I immediately fell in love with it. Oooohh it was ridiculously DELICIOUS! It has frozen yogurt and organic milk, nicely blended with mixed nuts and chocolate (I believe it’s chocolate syrup ‘cos the drink is quite sweet), fused with a dash of cinnamon and cardamom. The concoction is seriously an elixir from heaven. The mixed nuts include bits of pistachio, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts. Frothy, thick and crunchy. Yummehhh. Maybe I should try blending this at home since I kinda know what are the ingredients that they used. We’ll see.

Think that’s it? Think again.

BAM!!!

Kir.

I seriously pigged my heart out. Both Renata and Manjeet stared at me in disbelief when I was running through the “Eastern Desserts” section on the back of the menu lol. Whaaattt??? I was curious about the desserts that they have!

Anyway, I ordered the kir (or kheer) after some “careful consideration” lol. I was undecided between the kir and Easter Ecstasy. I was initially inclined towards Eastern Ecstasy as it has the kir and the gulab jaman, meaning that I could get the best of both worlds. But Manjeet warned me about the sweetness of the gulab jaman is no joke and she knew where my sweetness tolerance is at. So at the end of the day I went for the kir, which is rice pudding with some pistachio and rosewater. And my decision turned out to be the correct choice.

I was expecting the rice pudding to be uber sweet (a preconception formed after living in Vancouver for a while) but I was wrong. It has the right amount of sweetness, and the rice pudding is very creamy, unlike the Jell-O rice pudding which has a firm, gelatinous texture. Yet, your tongue can still feel the soften rice grains in the pudding, along with the crunchy pistachio bits. The mild fragrance from the rosewater lingers in your palate after you’ve swallowed the pudding; it makes me feel felicitous with sheer euphoria.

The 3 of us were walking like fat penguins after the feast haha! I think I went overboard with the amount of food, but I was thoroughly satisfied.

Thanks Manjeet and Renata for bringing me there!

Flashback: 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver (Part 2)

Yay! Finally, it’s Part 2!

Jom jalan-jalan! (continued)

So we had a blast in the year 2010 Chinese New Year. Both of my cousins and their families came all the way from Seattle to celebrate CNY with us. Boy, it sure was noisy at my aunt’s house lol! They went back on the 3rd day of CNY, so my uncle, aunt and I went to walk around Granville Island since there were some Olympics events going on there.

After having dim sum for brunch, we went straight ahead for Granville Island.

Hot ride.

Saw this in my cousin’s apartment car park. Cadillac, I think?

Granville Island Public Market.

All the high-rise condos across the inlet.

Granville Bridge.

The House of Switzerland was set up for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. This Swiss guest centre featured a variety of Swiss chocolates and cheese for public sample. The centre was also used as a fan-meeting place for die-hard sport fans to meet their favourite Swiss athletes.

The House of Switzerland.

We saw a long lineup in one of the door in the House of Switzerland. My aunt heard from a woman in the line saying that the Swiss are giving off free pins to the people who line up. So, without any hesitation (and with a kiasu mentality instilled in most Chinese people), my aunt and uncle quickly dragged me along to queue up without asking what the line was really for. We were in the line for about 20 minutes until I couldn’t stand waiting and asked the guy in front of me what’s the deal for the queue. He told me that the Swiss were giving out free beer and THAT was what they were queuing for.  WTH. All the waiting for nothing, but at least I got a cute Swiss pin while queuing.

We left the queue and ended up taking pictures around the guest centre.

Happy couple lol.

It was very crowded in Granville Island. Well, it was pretty sunny, after all. We walked around the market to “see see look look”. That includes salivating over the food in the glass display lol.

Crowded patio.

I wonder if the patio will collapse if it is that crowded everyday.

Sight-seeing bus with a Samsung-sponsored Olympics ad.

We went to downtown to walk around. I took my aunt and uncle up to the 2nd floor of the Future Shop and  Winners building to check out the awesome view of the crowded intersection that I discovered.

Still that crowded.

The couple was like “Holy moley!!!” when they looked out the windows.

Zoomed in.

They stood out so much.

Welcome world!

We then left the building and walked towards Robson Square.

Looks like an overflowing vomit haha.

At Robson Square.

And then we saw this:

What ON EARTH is that???

A yeti!

Finally we went to the Hyatt Regency Hotel to check out the Korea House. On the newspapers, it boasted an array of  “fascinating” high-tech showcases that would definitely “wow the crowd”. We had high expectations and we couldn’t wait to go inside to take a look.

But, the real thing was really just a small event room with slide shows on the walls and some booths with TV showing the Korean culture virtually. Very blah. The only thing that was interesting was the multi-touch table. It was like giant iPad where you could drag windows around and type on it.

The giant iPad predecessor?

The booth lady helped us to take a picture using a Samsung camera that was attached to the giant tablet with a USB cord. We could use the tablet to send the picture to whoever we want. I have to admit, it was pretty cool.

* * * * * *

A few days later, I went to Richmond to check out the Richmond O Zone with a friend.

It was all dark and gloomy that day, with light drizzle of rain trickling down our faces. But there was still a queue at the entrance of the Richmond O Zone.

The Richmond O Zone.

After we went in, to our left were the stalls selling Olympics stuff. We saw a very long lineup not far away from the entrance.

Never-ending line.

Guess what they were lining up for?

The Heineken House.

I was thinking to explore the Heineken House, the virtual tour in the promo vid looks really good and tempting. But after seeing the impatient faces in the line, I gave up on the idea. It became one of the  hottest party pit during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics at night, with DJs and artists flown in from Holland. There were also a Food Plaza and an Olympic Club inside the Heineken House. I think that the Dutch were giving out free Heineken beer to the public on that day, or else the lineup couldn’t have been that ridiculous. I mean, who doesn’t love free beer? AND, it was freakin’ Heineken, one of the top beer brands in the world.

There were a handful of booths and tents in the Richmond O Zone. We went around to take a look.

The Coca-Cola booth.

The Coca-Cola booth had a 3D display of can recycling and that was it. What? No free Coke??? *sad face*

BCLC 2010 Winter Games Dome.

There were a lot of people in the BCLC tent, especially kids. We peeked inside and quickly became disinterested after finding out that most of the stuff in the tent were simulations of the different winter sports. Kids loved it though. In case you are wondering, BCLC stands for British Columbia Lottery Corporation.

The O Zone main stage.

There wasn’t any band playing at the stage when we were there. Bad timing.

Outdoor skating track.

The outdoor skating track was half the size of a 400m running track. The outdoor temperature was cold enough to prevent the ice from melting away (we were freezing!). Not many people skated on that day as it was raining.

Icy.

Without warning, the drizzle suddenly became a heavy downpour. My friend and I didn’t bring our umbrellas and quickly took shelter in one of the unused booths. We waited for a while for the rain to stop, but no, it became heavier. We had no choice but to buy each of us an umbrella from an Olympics gift shop nearby. It was freakin’ CAD25 man! Super expensive for a small umbrella!

One of the attractions in the Richmond O Zone was the ICE GATE. I didn’t really know what it was and was eager to see it; it was quite a walk from where we were since everything was so spread-out in the Richmond O Zone.

Saw this near the ICE GATE:

Rolls freakin' Royce.

What is this? It’s pretty obvious.

An aircraft engine!

I didn’t know that the luxury car brand produces engines for aviation purposes! So cool!

Massive.

Saw this tree bark covered with writings in ink in one of the tents near the Rolls Royce engine:

Permitted vandalism?

There was a 60-foot Inniskillin Wines tasting bar for wine lovers. Although alcohol was also featured, it wasn’t as crowded as the Heineken House though. Perhaps the Inniskillin is for people with class AND monehhhh? *doing the money gesture*

Inniskillin ice sculpture.

The ICE GATE, which was the work of Canadian artist Gord Halloran, was presented by Inniskillin Wines. I was expecting something VERY big since the thing was called the “ICE GATE”. When I saw the real thing, I had a huge “Oh, cheeeehhhhh” moment. You Malaysians will definitely know what I mean.

The ICE GATE.

It was……not that big. It was no more than a few pieces of ice, painted in different colours, kept in a giant clear-walled refrigerator. On the Inniskillin website, it says that “the painted ice will evolve over time as it melts and refreezes”. I didn’t see the so-called “evolution”. Maybe I had to glue my eyes to the art piece the whole time so that I wouldn’t miss the moment where it decreased by 1 cubic centimetre that would give a barely noticeable change to the original?

Is it evolving?

Hmmm, the ICE GATE was quite pretty, but not breathtaking enough. I think it might look more impressive at night where the colours would be more vivid with the help of the lighting. I was being critical. Blame the shitty weather.

Sigh. Why does Vancouver have to rain so much???

Part 3 coming up soon!

 

*Insert Your Own Title*

Hey there! How’s everyone doing lately?

Eeewww, what’s up with this disgusting sudden burst of cheeriness and perkiness? LOL.

Just got back from my UK+Paris+Amsterdam trip a few days ago. Man, my system crashed so hard after the 2-week whirlwind of fun. I felt so freakin’ energetic during the whole trip and wanted to see as many things as possible as if I was afraid that I would miss some of the must-sees. Oh all the walking……

Anyway, I’m in the midst of packing (Malaysia here I come!) and sorting out all the pics that I’ve taken in my trip (effin’ 1500++ of them!), so I won’t be able to post anything related to that (yes, I’m still working on my Olympic post don’t worry!).

I feel like posting about the one of the magazine photoshoots that I like, so here you go! Oh and regarding the title, I’m too lazy to think of any, so yeah. Hehe.

This is the photoshoot for Vogue Girl (Korea) September 2010 issue with Kim Soo Hyun. He starred in a 2011 Korean drama called “Dream High” (click here for Kim Soo Hyun’s bio). Just discovered him last year while wasting my otherwise-productive time on Allkpop (damn you, Allkpop!). The website was delivering the news of this photoshoot at that time.

Kim Soo Hyun.

Man, this guy is totally my type! Tall, statuesque, chiseled profile, with a healthy-looking complexion and alluring eyes with a touch of mischief.

Spacing out...

The pose is somewhat awkward, but I’ll let him pass this one haha.

"I'm in a hurry but I'll still give you this smoldering stare!"

Death-inducing puppy dog stare.

I have a weakness for puppy dog stare. No wonder I like Song Seung Hyun and Won Bin, while Choikang Changmin is my bias in TVXQ.

Look at his arms! *Slurp*

"I'm killing you softly with my gaze."

Yes I’m pushing the daisies now looking at his gaze. The black leather jacket boldly spells “H-U-N-K-A-L-I-C-I-O-U-S B-A-D B-O-Y”!

Smokin'!

Love the unruly hair. Love the shirt too. I’m totally lost in his stare right now…

And now, brace yourselves for the ultimate all-kill……

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh *pulling out my hair*

He’s playing innocent while killing you with his six-pack. Guilty as not charged.

Seriously I will do anything that you can think of to that hunk. Why are you so sexy??? 왜 (Why)??? And why is there no guys like him exist in Vancouver??? 왜???

I feel like transforming into a werewolf when the full moon comes. Watch out, Kim Soo Hyun. Oowwwwwwoooooooooo……

Pervy much? No, it’s just human nature. I bet guys will go gay for a hunk like this. Just sayin’.

Until next time!

Picture credits: As tagged.

It’s Dim Sum Sunday!

Note: I know it’s what, Thursday now. I’ve actually finished the draft of this post on Sunday, but needed to do something to the pics before posting them.

Ah, it’s Sunday……the last day to recharge and rejuvenate yourself before being hit by the Monday blues and exhaust yourself in work; the day when devout Christians go to the church to cleanse their souls; the day when the Brits are licking off the meat juice after devouring their Sunday roasts.

OR, Sunday is just an awesome day to be lazy and do nothing at all, just like what Bruno Mars has suggested. (Hands of the pants please!)

My alarm clock rang, I got up pretty early in the morning. Was a little bit pissed as I was on a beauty Z’s deficit. BUT, after thinking about my purpose of waking up early today, I was immediately pumped and became hyperactive as in I was on a sugar high.

It’s Dim Sum Day baby!

Oh yeeeaaaahhhh! Being a Chinese Cantonese and all,  dim sum (Traditional: 點心  Modern: 点心) always has a special place in my heart. My fondness for dim sum grew as I became older.  Me and my family pretty much adore the culture of yum cha (Traditional: 飲茶  Modern: 饮茶); apart from being a great dining experience for young and old, yum cha also provides an opportunity for Chinese families to spend quality time together. Having a great time with your friends and family while enjoying good food, what more can you ask for?

We took the Canada Line (SkyTrain) to Aberdeen station where the restaurant, Red Star Seafood Restaurant (鸿星海鲜酒家) is in that vicinity. The restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of President Plaza (统一广场), right above the food court. We were there at 10am and it was already a full house. There were only 2 families waiting in the queue, but thank goodness we booked a table a day before.

Upon entering the restaurant, we were a little agape looking at the grandiose interior filled with hungry patrons, but a waiter immediately led us to a labyrinth-like passage that leads to another smaller confined area with only a few tables (but still classy). It was not as crowded as the other area, but I knew all of us felt grateful of being away from all the hustle and bustle to a more quiet and intimate place.

A look at the interior (with my aunt as the model XD).

Red Star has a wide selection of dim sum, which is always a good thing as it increases the chance of trying out unusual stuff that you can’t get in other dim sum places. Me and my family are self-proclaimed foodies, so as my uncle and his family. We skipped a bunch of usual stuff like siew mai (烧卖) and steamed pork bun (叉烧包) and straightaway checked-off the boxes for stuff that are unique.

The restaurant's menu (with a playful 'V' sign from my uncle).

For a table of 4, I think we “over-ordered” our food……

Never-ending list.

The rule of thumb of going to a dim sum place is to always bring 2 or more people along, so that each of you can order more stuff to try.

Jasmine tea (香片).

What’s yum cha without any tea to accompany with???

Our food came almost immediately upon ordering. Unlike any other meals, the desserts or sweets come at the same time with the savoury stuff. However, I’ll always satisfy my sweet tooth last.

Deep-fried yam puff with minced pork, shrimp and mushroom (蜂巢炸芋角).

I was craving for this for like, forever. It came in 4, which is perfect for 4 people. “蜂巢炸芋角” literally means “honey comb deep-fried yam puff”. They call it that way as the outer shell resembles the honey comb. I bet the chef who prepared this must be very experienced as it requires immense skill to make the outer layer to look like that.

I could feel the weight in my hand when picking up the yam puff, which was a sign of having a full stuffing inside, and it didn’t disappoint:

Salivating.

The shell was delicately crispy. The “shreds” of the outer shell melted in your mouth fairly quickly after it came into contact with your saliva. The filling was mushy (mashed yam) and juicy, the taste was superb; not too salty and not too watered down either. By far, the best yam puffs that I’ve ever had.

Glutinous rice with chicken in lotus leaves (荷香瑶柱珍珠鸡).

Ah yes, the lo mai gai (糯米鸡). Red Star gave a fancy name to it, but the ingredients are more or less the same as the ordinary one, except that this one has scallop in it.

Ooh la la...

I love it when lo mai gai is steamed with lotus leaf because a unique fragrant is infused into the glutinous rice, which increases my appetite. The stickiness of the rice was just right and each grain of rice could be distinctively separated. There were pieces of chicken, a few slices of Chinese sausage (腊肠), shredded scallop and an egg yolk inside the rice. It was damn delicious!

Chinese donuts in steamed rice roll with pork floss and mustard greens (榨菜肉松炸两).

Damn. That’s a long English title for this dish. My aunt is a big fan of Chinese donuts in steamed rice roll or za leung (炸两). In other dim sum places, za leung is only served without the pork floss and mustard greens. Kudos to Red Star for being creative in giving a twist to an ordinary dish. Before eating your za leung, it is recommended to drizzle some sweet soy sauce onto it. Then, feel free to dab it with hoisin sauce (海鲜酱) and sesame-peanut sauce, just the way the Cantonese like it. The Chinese donuts (or yao za guai (油炸鬼)) were crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, an indicator of freshness. The steamed rice roll (or cheung fun (肠粉)) was very soft. When the two combined, it was a match made in heaven. On top of that, the pork floss added a little zing to the dish too.

Teochew style steamed dumpling (潮式蒸粉果).

This is one of our favourite dish to order in a dim sum place.

The filling in the dumpling.

Fun guo (粉果) is similar to har gao (虾饺) or shrimp dumpling, but the former uses dried shrimps, ground pork, garlic chives, mushroom bits, chopped peanuts, chopped bamboo shoots and dried radish as its filling, whereas har gao only has seasoned shrimp in it. The types of flour used in the wrapper of  fun guo also differ from that of har gao. Red Star’s fun guo was really tasty; the wrapper was not too tenacious but chewy, and the thickness was spot on. The filling was très yummy; very flavourful but not too salty and oily. The chopped peanuts, bamboo shoots and dried radish were really crunchy too.

The bulging har gao (鸿星虾饺皇).

Look at these babies! So damn fat (size-wise) and they look like they are about to burst in your face! One thing I noticed about the har gao in all dim sum places in Vancouver/Richmond are gargantuan, humongous, *insert other adjectives for big size*! They are nothing like the wimpy little tong yuen-like (汤圆) har gao back in Malaysia. No siree!

My har gao on my dirty plate.

Took off the wrapper just to let you guys see how huge the shrimp was. The shrimp was very fresh and so freakin’ tender. The juice squirted everywhere inside my mouth when I was chewing on it, and that proves how succulent the shrimp was. I ate the wrapper separately and to my surprise, it had absorbed the flavour from the seasoned shrimp, so it wasn’t bland or tasteless. It was really well-cooked and not too thick. I dislike eating the skin that tastes like uncooked flour dough.

Fish cake wrapped in steamed rice roll (特色鱼茸粉肠).

This is a very creative dish by Red Star. The presentation was quite nice and I don’t think other restaurants that have this on their menu. It looks like za leung from the outside, but when you actually put it into your mouth, it’s a totally different story.

Ouuuhhhh......

At first I thought the layer beneath the wrapper was like yao za guai, until I took the first bite. It was actually a layer of crispy tofu skin. I think the chef first pan-fried the fish cake and garlic chives mix, wrapped the cooked mix with the tofu skin, deep-fried it, then wrapped it with the rice roll, and finally steamed the whole thing. Wow, it sure took the chef a lot of effort in preparing this! This dish uses the same types of sauce as the za leung: soy sauce and sesame-peanut sauce. The softness of the rice roll, then the crispness of the tofu skin and lastly, the chewy fish cake were what my mouth experienced. Excellent combo. Definitely recommended.

Carp porridge with century egg and parsley (芫茜皮蛋鲫鱼片粥).

My cousin was craving for porridge so she ordered this. She ordered a small but we were shocked when the porridge arrived. The “small” is actually the “large” in Malaysia haha! It was pretty good, light and not too salty. The carp was very fresh, and the porridge was not too diluted and quite smooth too. I like it when the porridge is cooked with the century egg. There was no sign of the parsley though.

Now for the stuff that I didn’t eat……

Steamed beef tendon in special sauce (酱汁蒸牛筋).

Beef tendon is… not exactly my thing. You see, I very seldom eat the internal part of an animal (tendons, ligaments, intestines, kidneys etc). Heck, I don’t even eat the skin of a chicken (not liking the texture). It’s not like I despise or have a mounting abhorrence for those, it’s just that the texture is……weird IMO. So yeah.

I ate the konjac beneath the tendon instead. It was tasteless. I think the konjac didn’t absorb the sauce very well.

Chicken feet steamed with fermented black beans (豉汁蒸凤爪), with my cousin's hand!

Again, I don’t eat bird’s feet. I must say, the chicken feet were exceptionally large in Red Star.

There was another dish that I didn’t try because I couldn’t stuff any of the savoury food into my stomach anymore (such a shame!). It was steamed pork ribs with garlic (金蒜蒸排骨). My aunt and uncle said it was delicious. Just realized that I forgot to take a pic of it too. Too bad.

Now moving on to the sweet stuff!

Lychee and osmanthus jelly (荔枝桂花糕).

My cousin always get this whenever we were out for dim sum. Other places don’t have lychee in the jelly. It wasn’t too sweet and it had a very light osmanthus taste. When I took a whiff of it, I couldn’t smell the osmanthus, instead it gave a distinctive gelatin smell which I put me off. Hence, I only took a bite of it.

Sweet sticky pancake (家乡甜薄罉).

At first I thought it was like the deep-fried red bean paste pancake (豆沙锅饼) that I used to have in Malaysia. Boy I was wrong. Since these pancakes were made of glutinous rice flour, it was hard to pick a slice up as they tend to stick to the plate.

A closer look.

It wasn’t as oily like the red bean paste pancake since it was pan-fried. There was sugar sprinkled onto the pancake; there were chopped peanuts and coconuts shreds inside the pancake. The pancake was sticky and chewy. I had something similar to this before (can’t remember its name). I quite like it.

Durian puffs (飘香榴莲酥)!

Durian puffs have got to be one of ma’ favourite things in this world!

All hail the King of fruit!

The 1st time I had durian puffs was around 2 years ago, in VANCOUVER. Never had these in Malaysia before, which is funny because durian is native to Malaysia. I only grew to like durian when I hit puberty lol. My mom is a HUGE fan of durian. She can have only durian and white rice for 3 meals a day! That is crazy.

OMG, the durian puffs from Red Star were sooooo good! The pastry shell was very crispy. The durian filling was still steamy HOT. The feeling that I’ve got when I put them into my mouth, letting the flavour of the sweet, mushy durian paste “assaulting” my taste buds was INEXPLICABLE! Pure happiness!

Salted egg yolk custard and coconut buns (椰香流沙包).

The buns had a very even milky surface. They were about the size of my palm.

So, how were they like inside?

BAM!

Oh, the golden-yellow was gorgeous! Love the colour. So vivid. When I sorta peeled it open, the filling was in semi-solid state and was about to ooze out from the inside. The sweetness of the custard wasn’t over the top, with a hint of coconut taste. The original version of this bun has no shredded coconut in it. I was glad that the filling wasn’t too runny or clumpy, just the way I love it. The skin was pretty soft and fluffy too. I wouldn’t say that the buns were great, as I had better elsewhere, but, they were perfectly decent.

Ugh, after the feast my digestive system pretty much switched off and couldn’t ingest anything anymore. However, I was VERY satisfied with the meal. The food was really good, and, judging by the quality and aesthetic value of everything we had,  I can conclude that the dim sum sifu (chefs) actually prepared the dim sum by putting in their heart.

As for the service, it was fast and efficient. The waiters were attentive and polite, and they changed our dirty plates frequently (a very rare occasion in a dim sum restaurant).

By the time we left, there was a long queue of people waiting to be seated. I wonder if it’s only because of today is Mothers’ Day, or they’re always this busy.

The restaurant.

Pic above: Was my cousin still hungry after a huge-ass meal?

Until next time folks!

A double treat!

Heeeeyyyyyy yaaaaa……

This is so out of the blue.

I’m back again for the nth time. I’m tired of not keeping up with blogging for such a long time (again) and I’m tired of apologizing for breaking promises (again!). Am I back for good now? Well, I’m not sure either. Every time the school term starts I’ll be hooked up with studying, assignments, reports etc. But what I can tell you is that I shall keep this blog as I think I’m kinda attached to it. Having that said, I’ll try my very best to update this blog.

I’ve just finished my finals a few days ago, so I’m practically free now. I shut out all communications for 2 weeks until the finals were over. Well, I needed to do that as my exam schedule sucked big time. All 5 exams in 4 consecutive days WTF, and there were 2 on the last day. Seriously I thought I was gonna lose all my sanity right after my last paper, but thank goodness I didn’t lol!

I think I’ll be OK with FNH309, FNH313 and BIOC300, but I can’t say the same for PHYS101 and MICB202. PHYS101 (Physics) was really tough; all the pass years that I did didn’t seem to help. MICB202 on the other hand, is rote memorization and I was pretty sick on the day of that exam (for the last 2 days of the exam to be exact), and I don’t think I studied enough for the final. I have a strong feeling that I will have to re-take that course in my 3rd year. TT

Did some photography around campus on Monday. I didn’t take any pictures when the cherry blossoms bloomed in April last year because my finals ended quite late. So this year I took the opportunity to immortalized the beauty of sakura. Plus, it was such a beautiful day!

University Boulevard and East Mall.

The cherry blossoms are blooming so beautifully.

The 2 cherry blossom trees in front of the UBC Bookstore.

The bookstore.

Looking up!

The Chemistry and Physics Building from the bookstore.

Intersection at University Blvd and East Mall.

It’s funny that while the sakura are blooming happily, the is still no sign of leafy green coming out of the twigs and branches in other trees.

From the bookstore.

Pathway along Main Mall.

The pathway and the trees in the picture reminds me of a Chinese poem by Ma Zhi-yuan (马致远) from the Yuan dynasty:

“枯藤老树昏鸦，小桥流水人家，古道西风瘦马。夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯。”    –《天净沙 秋思》

The poet basically expressed his loneliness and sadness for being away from home through the poem. The time setting of the poem is an evening in autumn, but it’s spring now and it was a sunny afternoon lol.

A naked tree.

Henry Angus Bldg (Sauder School of Business).

The old Chemistry Bldg.

Our old Chem bldg looks like one of those historical buildings in London. I like the architecture of it though.

I walked along Main Mall until I reached the north end of the campus. Was expecting vibrant flowers and evergreens to flourish in the Rose Garden but realized that it isn’t the time yet.

The Rose Garden.

This part of the campus was pretty deserted during the finals.

Main Mall.

Bluish purple hyacinth.

Used black and white mode to shoot the picture below. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out, but it would have been better if I used a wide-angle lens to shoot it. *sending a BIG hint to my parents now hehe*

Flag Pole Plaza near the Rose Garden.

Took an “artistic” shot of myself. No wait, my shadow.

Hello!

Lol kinda emo-looking.

Walked along Crescent Road until I saw another cherry blossom tree beside the C. K. Choi Bldg on West Mall.

Another sakura tree spotted!

The right colour. The right moment. The right tree.

Fallen.

Headed south along West Mall. I didn’t know that there are so many cherry blossom trees in UBC!

Sakura along University Blvd (between West Mall and Lower Mall).

Saw this plant opposite the cherry blossoms. Not sure what it’s called, but the flowers are just as graceful.

Reaching for the sky.

I walked further down until I was in front of Place Vanier, and was delighted by what I saw.

Two rows of cherry blossoms in full bloom!

Road to heaven.

In B&W.

樱花还真能让人心花怒放。它把我考试后的乌云给散开了！

完全陶醉在其美景中。

Was totally enchanted.

I know that in Japan, people practice this tradition called “hanami (花見)” when the sakura bloom in spring. Friends and families do picnic together or just drink alcohol whilst admiring the cherry blossoms. Hmmm, I wanna experience that if I am to visit my friends in Japan, or maybe I can just do it in Vancouver instead, provided if it doesn’t rain THAT MUCH during the season. Gah, I hate the rain in Vancouver!!!

Spread of the pale pink petals.

Before going back to Gage, I visited Totem Park, well, only wandered near it for a while. The last time I was there was last September, when I had my Emerging Leaders Commencement. The new buildings in TP are almost done now and will be in use this Fall.

Brand new TP buildings.

I like the design of the new buildings. So modern and expensive-looking haha! They make the 6 TP houses look so ancient and rundown. I wonder what are the names of these new blocks.

Note to myself: Must do a full photography of UBC when I got myself a new DSLR.

Flashback: 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver (Part 1)

Apuh. This is such an overdue post. Finally, you all can have a chance to get the “insights” on all the events, happenings and highlights of the 2010 Winter Olympics that took place in Vancouver last February!

I was so lucky to be part of the celebration, even though I wasn’t able to attend any of the games or to volunteer in the Olympics related events. People from all around the world flocked to this city not only to support the athletes from their home countries, but also to enjoy the 2-week whirlwind of fun.

Seriously, if you were in Vancouver or anywhere near Vancouver during the Olympic period, had the time and leisure to go to and be part of the celebration with all tourists and Vancouverites, but you didn’t just because you had “more important stuff to do” or “not interested”, you are either a) stupid, b) a patient with some kind of social phobia or c) …… THERE’S JUST SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU!!!

Like, come on! It’s not like your city is gonna host another Olympic  in 20 or 30 years time. You probably only have 1 chance to witness and be part of the Olympics that is hosted by your city first hand throughout your life. Like I said, I was really lucky to be part of it; it probably was my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I sure grabbed onto it really tightly. I enjoyed every freakin’ moment of it!

OK, enough with all the yakking, let’s start!

Torch relay

Every Olympic has a torch relay, Vancouver 2010 was no exception. The Olympic flame originated from Ancient Olympia, Greece (the first ever Olympics were held here). The flame is carried by a torch from Greece to the host city of the games. I had the opportunity to witness the torch relay as UBC was part of the route for the relay one day before the opening ceremony (11th February 2010)! Me and my friends waited for the torch somewhere along Main Mall, but we moved to the front of the Biological Sciences building to look what was all the ruckus going on at the intersection (our gepoh nature haha). It seemed like there was a group of anti-Olympics students protesting. There were police officers controlling the group, other people eventually filled up that area (people were gepoh too =_=), causing us to lose the spot that we originally had.

Despite being almost soaking wet because of the drizzle, we were all so excited and busy setting up our cameras so that we could immortalize the glorious moment of the Olympic flame being passed in UBC. When the volunteers received the alert on the arrival of the flame, the protesters seemed to sensed that the torch was coming and there was a slight commotion, causing the policemen to guard up and forcefully “pushed” the crowd to the side of the road.

Policeman at work.

Wet and crowded.

Protesters.

At around 6.20pm, the torch finally came. There were fire engines, police cars, police bikes, Vancouver 2010 vans and other vehicles roaming over Main Mall to clear the road for the torch bearer (very 大阵仗). One of fire engines pulled out the honk all of the sudden wth, which made me jumped for a bit.

Fire truck.

Vancouver 2010 van.

I saw the torch bearer at the corner of my eye, got my camera ready and was on a standby mode. People were cheering their lungs out and clapping like crazy. But somehow, when the torch bearer was running towards me, I couldn’t manage to snap a good picture of him, until he went pass me. He was running very fast, in just a blink of an eye, the guy was gone. !@#$%^&* My friends didn’t get the pictures either. I remember seeing the dimmed flame on the white, slender torch. The torch bearer (not sure what’s his name) was in a crisp white Vancouver 2010 rain suit. He looked somewhat irritated and impatient to me, because he didn’t smile and give a friendly wave to the crowd. Hmm, probably the camera wasn’t rolling? Or he was just pissed because it was raining like there was no tomorrow.

Anyway, there was a Main Celebration Site in our school (near the UBC Aquatic Centre) with concerts and interactive booths. The crowd dispersed and flocked to the site. It was like a giant party hole with people (and parasols) everywhere.

Time to parteeehhh!

Free concert.

Wasn’t interested in the concert though, didn’t know any of the indie (I think) bands (someofthemsinglikemoaninganimals O.O).

Imitated moon???

Took this picture in front of the UBC bookstore. I wanted to take one home!

That sums up the “exciting” torch relay happening in UBC!

*Gah, I hate taking pictures at night using my camera. Need to invest in one that takes good pics under low light condition.*

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Olympics took place in Vancouver BC Place. I watched the live broadcast on the tiny “belly” TV at the Totem Haida lounge with my floor mates.

The ceremony lasted for 3 effin’ hours…but I survived it haha! The highlights of the whole ceremony are: a snowboarder boarded through the winter white Olympic rings (what a way to do a grand entrance!),  Nikki Yanofsky singing the Canadian national anthem (powerful voice for a 16-year old, but hate her rendition of  ’O  Canada’), celebration dance presented by the Canadian Aborigines, opening duet by fellow Canadian singers Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado (obvious lip-synching, Bryan Adams nearly forgot his 1st line), the semi-transparent ‘ice’ Totem poles in the middle of the stadium, presentation of the migration of the world to Canada (quite metaphoric, don’t really know how to put it in words :/), modern dance, singings and so on.

Watch the entire opening ceremony here.

The whole ceremony was pretty impressive; virtual floor graphics, cool lightings and hologram displays, beautiful ceiling layout (but it reminds me too much of the ceiling layout in TVXQ’s ‘Tonight” MV). The only fail that had marred the supposed-to-be-perfect ceremony was that towards the climax of the ceremony i.e. the lighting up of the indoor cauldron, one of the Totem poles couldn’t rise up due to technical difficulties, leaving one of the torch bearers in an awkward situation. :/

You might be confused when I said the cauldron is indoors. Well before the end of the opening ceremony, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) kept the location of the cauldron a secret. Viewers and people who attended the opening ceremony thought that the “cauldron” was the one in BC Place when the torch bearers lit it up. But no one had expected that the REAL cauldron is near the Vancouver Convention Centre at Waterfront. After the indoor cauldron had been lighted, one of the torch bearers, Wayne Gretzky jogged off from the stadium towards the real outdoor cauldron and lit it (watch here).

Jom jalan-jalan!

Me and my friend went around downtown Vancouver to immerse ourselves in the Olympic mood and check out all the Olympic-related happenings.

The first thing we did was to take a look at one of the symbols of the Olympics: the cauldron.

Long long queue.

It was 11 something in the morning. You can see the people lining up to see the cauldron.

Walking along Waterfront.

We were uber excited when we inched towards the cauldron.

"There it is! There it is!"

It was all fenced up as VANOC didn’t want people, especially the anti-Olympics crew to vandalize it. So we could just look at it from afar through the metal gates. People were literally pouring into the site. It was like the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), only that the “holy grail” was the flame on some 5, no wait, 4 and a half giant shiny sticks.

Overcrowded.

More people.

We moved with the crowd towards the cauldron. People were thrilled when gazing at the structure.

2-legged terrestrials everywhere.

An artistic attempt.

The cauldron is the exact replica of the one in BC Place. I’m not sure who designed it. I had a sheer disappointment as the cauldron looked nicer on TV during nigh time. Under a bright sunny day, the cauldron looks like some poles wrapped with aluminum foil, not really a neat design, and looks kinda cheap too. I know that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. But really, VANOC? Was that the best you could do?

A closer look.

Nevertheless, we still took pictures with it. What is the Olympics without a cauldron?

Peace!

Yeah I looked happy alright.

A closer take.

Visitors could go up the roof of the one-story lookout beside the cauldron to get nearer to the Olympic flame.

Long queue also.

Line for the lookout.

A volunteer greeting the visitors.

A view from the cauldron.

After we were done with all the photo-taking, we went for a walk at Harbour Green Park near the cauldron.

The park.

Again with the peace sign.

I’m so bad at posing for pictures……

We could see the Olympic rings from the park.

White Olympic rings.

A view from the park.

Feel like jumping into the water lol.

You can see the infamous Stanley Park from the park.

Stanley Park.

We walked along the path and passed a place for yachts.

"Sampan-sampan" orang kaya hahaha!

Floating "houses"???

Man, there are so many rich peeps in Vancouver! If  I ever have a limitless supply of moolah I’m definitely getting myself a yacht like the one below, sipping Perrier-Jouët and savouring caviar on it. I shall name it “Le Carmen”. XD

Mine mine mine!

Another park.

On a mail drop box.

We then walked to the busiest street in Vancouver: Robson Street.

Crocs mascot.

I feel like punching the mascot. Not sure why.

The Olympics is one of those occasions for the citizens of the host country to showoff their unbeatable pride and overflowing patriotism. The maple leaf flag suddenly became the trend of the moment as compassionate Canadians flaunted the red-and-white on their body and face to show their utmost support to their home country. It wouldn’t be a surprise if you saw the cars with a Canadian plate were painted red and white all over or there was a Canadian flag hanging out of the car windows. Those were nothing. Now brace yourself for the most hardcore stuff that you’re gonna see in your life……

BAAAAAMMMMM!!!

I know, so hardcore right?

The "sexy back" of awesome.

I bet that bug had attracted countless eyeballs from the moment the owner took it out for a ride. You probably won’t see something like this again for the rest of your life!

It looks disgusting or geli and yet interesting. I really want to know what was the owner thinking when he worked on his masterpiece.

The front.

If there was ever a prize for being the most patriotic Canadian, that honour should go to the bug’s owner. It’s sooooooo Canadian!

Give that prize to the owner already!!!

Not sure who the owner is and where was he/she at that time. The bug was parked in front of Starbucks at Robson and Thurlow. He probably was chillin’ inside Starbucks and beaming with pride when he saw people surrounding his ride.

One last photo of the bug.

The middle segment of Robson St. was barricaded, so people can walked on the 2-lane without worrying being hit by a car or the No. 5 Robson bus. The street was really crowded.

Jaywalking but we don't care!

"欢迎" or welcome from Sumi, Quatchi and Miga.

At Robson and Burrard.

Near Robson Square.

Chillin' on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Visitor Centre (info booth).

Giant Vancouver 2010 ad.

Shoes hanging from the overhead wires.

Never before Downtown Vancouver was as crowded and lively like this. I felt like I was in the wrong city or something. Seeing visitors flocking into Vancouver made me exited and pumped up!

A sea of people.

"Flooded".

One of the attractions in Downtown Vancouver was the Ziptrek. Visitors could glide 6 stories above the ground for 170 metres in the air from the Robson Square law court, without having to pay a single cent. Thinking of manning up to give this extreme activity a try? Easy! Be sure to wake up at 4 in the morning and queue for 5 hours with the other enthusiasts under the chilly temperature of 3^oC. No big deal.

Zipline tower.

They only let 2 visitors to do the zipline in every run. We watched a few pairs in action *my neck hurt* and most of them glided smoothly until they reached the destination, except for this pair:

Flying fox 1: "Told ya we shouldn't have ordered the Double Quarters with extra fries." Flying fox 2: "FML."

Those 2 stopped in the middle of the wires and couldn’t glide further till the end lol. They hung in mid-air for like 15 minutes until a “rescuer” glided over to pull them back to the tower one at a time. Definitely a mortified moment for those 2, but it was a good show for the rest of us down there haha!

Robson Square.

At Robson and Howe.

Buildings in the heart of Downtown Vancouver.

There were lots of street performers along Robson St. Never wanna miss a single moment to make quick money when there’s a crowd!

Cowgirl bronze "statue".

That lady did a pretty good job.

The busiest segment of Granville Street was blocked too. Performers could showcase their “talents” along the street and the crowd formed circles around them.

At Robson and Granville.

The Chinese New Year and the 2010 Vancouver Olympics happened at the same time, so there was this event called the “LunarFest” taking place on Granville Street. There was nothing much about it, just some lanterns made by school kids and a few art pieces displayed on the street.

Lanterns on fake trees.

A dragon.

Fishy fish fish!

I wanna put that in my house!

???

Uuhhh, some kinda deformed roosters?

Vulture-human hybrid.

And my personal favourite:

Now that's what I call ART.

We went into Sears department store and saw this:

"Pin your home country!"

We just had to do this. So……

A proud Sarawakian here!

After that, we were out of Sears, back to Robson and Howe.

At Robson and Howe.

That building with the humongous Canadian flag is Crowne Plaza Hotel at West Georgia. You could immediately spot it from a few blocks away. It was under construction at that time. Who knew that you could use the giant flag made of cardboard to cover the construction and show off your everlasting love for your country at the same time? Killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Clever, eh?

And another.

Love the contrast among the colours.

I spy a NBC News truck!

Crowne Plaza is actually facing the Vancouver Art Museum. Love the decor with pretty peonies on it.

Vancouver Art Museum.

The museum's fountain. Filthy.

The same Vancouver 2010 ad on TD building.

Pretty cherry blossom tree.

Visitors around me.

Old-timer bobsled.

Digital countdown clock.

CTV News live coverage booth.

We walked along West Georgia until we reached the West End. Saw these bronze statues near English Bay.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The display is called “A-Mazing Laughter” by a Chinese artist Yue Minjun (岳敏君). All of his works feature the same kind of emotion, which is the cross between a grin and a grimace. He looks exactly the same like the statues here.

Totally towering over me.

The sun emitted a golden ray before dusk loomed in. English Bay looks absolutely stunning and picturesque in the evening.

English Bay.

Million- dollar apartments.

Calmness and serenity.

A shot further.

Inukshuk.

I’ve gotta say, the Inukshuk looks like one of the autobots in Transformers, only that it’s made of huge rocks. And they even put a pair of giant Olympics signature mittens on it too.

Back view with better lighting.

One last glimpse of the sun before it disappeared.

As dusk approached, we decided to go back to Granville St. to check it out before going back to our home.

Olympic grafitti on the pedestrian pavement.

As expected, Granville St. was as busy as ever.

Granville St. at night.

We kinda walked aimlessly by following the crowd. Before we knew it, we were back at Robson Square.

Robson and Howe at night.

The roof of Robson Square underground ice-skating.

Visitors all over the place.

Busy busy busy.

There were still people doing the zipline at night. I bet the view was lovely from up there.

Zipline tower at night.

The whole Robson Square was really beautiful with all the lights and decorations.

Robson Square underground skating rink.

There was a guy doing stand-up comedy in front of the rink at that time. We found ourselves a seat at the stairs to watch him perform.

"Step right up folks!"

The guy was pretty funny. He even did some juggling too.

"Meh, these folks are so easy to be entertained."

We went back to Granville St. after the show was over.

Walking towards Granville St.

It was hockey night and Canada was competing against Switzerland. The CTV News live broadcast booth in front of Sears was surrounded by hyper ice hockey fans who were in their Team Canada hockey jersey. They cheered loudly and waved their maple leaf flags vigorously whenever the Canucks scored a puck. The Canucks won by 3-2.

"Go Canucks Go!"

Canadians sure are full of confidence.

The darker the night, the more people flocking into Granville.

The street that never sleeps, well, during the Olympics that was.

Me and my friend wondered if we could see Granville St. from the 2nd floor of the Future Shop and Winners building that is situated conveniently between Robson and Granville. So we went inside the building and got to the 2nd floor. We were awed by what we saw.

Check out the intersection!

Along Robson St.

Granville.

Amazing, eh?

Stay tuned for Part 2!

And here she is……

What? And update from moi? After……3 months???

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

Hello again ya’ll. I’m back to the blogosphere…for the second time. 好耐冇見。

Man. I suck at keeping promises, don’t I? Sooooo sooooowwwweeeeeeeeee *sniffles*

I’ve just finished all of my finals yesterday. Can’t believe that I’m done with my 1st term of my 2nd year in UBC! Time really flies, in just a blink of an eye. I kid you not.

During the start of the term, I was thinking, “Hmm, now I can relax a bit after maxing out my course credits in my 1st year, since I’m taking ONLY 3 courses this term…” My foot.

I still worked my ass off this term. Even though I had the rest of the day off after 9am for Mondays and Wednesdays (an hour of Biochemistry 300), I still couldn’t loosen up since my lovely (note the sarcasm) LFS 250 was getting in the way. That is a 6-credit course, from 2-6pm every Tuesday and Thursday. Yes, 4 hours straight for each class. Bloody brutal. Oh, and I had Physics 100 (I still don’t get what does Physics have to do with Food and Nutritional Sciences???) from 8-9.30am every Tuesday and Thursday.

Biochemistry 300 has the least amount of work; all we had to do was to attend the 1-hour lecture on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and sit for the 2 exams in this term. It spans over 2 terms since it’s a 6-credit course, and it has no assignments, quizzes, reports, presentations or whatsoever. The prof is downright AWESOME!!! You can really see that he really loves his job as he’s so enthusiastic while getting information across, and he’s so hyper while explaining things! He makes the supposedly super boring class soooo interesting, and that has engaged us, making us wanna learn more.

BUT *deng deng deng*, there’s a twist. We only have 4 exams in the entire school year, each weighing 25%, and THEY. ARE. INSANELY. HARD. I was in borderline pass in my 1st exam (my fault), and I just did the 2nd one last Wednesday. Man, I studied really hard on that one, so hopefully it’ll boost up my mark. *keeping fingers crossed*

So there was Physics 100. It was OK; a lecture on every Tuesday and Thursday, a pre-lecture quiz due on every Monday, an online assignment due every Friday night, a lab and tutorial (total of 3 hours) on every Friday morning, a midterm and a final. Had to do this course since I don’t have Grade 12 Physics. The prof is fine. Tall, lanky guy with a thick German accent. Oh oh, and we had to do a poster session for our final project, high-school style. My group was awesome, very committed and we got things done on time.

Now as for LFS 250…… Where should I start? Oh… It’s a B.I.T.C.H. OK lah, maybe calling it a “bitch” is a bit too harsh; all the profs and TAs are nice, helpful and uber friendly. But still, I dislike that course.

Because of that course, I couldn’t take more than 3 courses in Term 1 as it clashed with those that I wanted to take. Because of that course, I had to commit most of my time in doing all the assigned works (group and individual) and it had left me unable to pay more attention to my Biochemistry. Because of that course, my social life was affected and that explicitly explains why I still don’t have a boyfriend till now. Wait, scratch that, that is a bit far-stretched hehe.

Every week we had an average of 3 or more assigned readings (each with at least 10 pages with fonts that are killing your eyes) to do. We had 3 group presentations on 3 of the assigned readings, a major presentation on a final project, 2 journals with 6 entries each (an assignment that tests on our understandings on the clips that we’ve watched in class, lectures and all of the readings), a midterm critical review on a book with 200++ pages, a dairy system report with a giant poster (collaborative, but tiring) and a major report with 20 over pages on our final project (again it’s collaborative, but it was a pain…). Almost everyday we had meetings for discussions, super time-consuming and demanding.

As I’ve always told my friends in my LFS 250 class, “LFS 250 really sucks the life outta me!!!“

The readings are certainly not my cup of tea; I was nearly bored to death while reading them, but I had no choice. My team mates for this course are awesome peeps, with just 1 or 2 that are not as “driven” like the majority of us. Frustrations aside, we did great in our work.

Haiya. It’s all over now, I should be happy and contented as I’ve survived my 1st half of my 2nd year! Woohoo!

* * *

Guess I shall leave you guys with one of my favourite pics from SNSD or Girls’ Generation:

Hyoyeon for LG Chocolate.

Woot~~~ She’s FIERCE!!!

Hyoyeon is my favourite SNSD member. She has caught my eye since SNSD debuted with “Into the New World” back in 2007. She was blond back then, and she showcased her powerful dancing skills in the MV for “Into the New World”, which immediately won my heart. At first I thought she was Eurasian or something because her facial features are so different from the other girls.

Sadly, the media tend to put more spotlight on other SNSD members like Taeyeon, Jessica and Yoona (geez, Yoona is soooo overrated!), while the netizens dubbed her as the “ugly duckling” of the group. Personally, I think she looks really pretty. I really hate the fact that she has on average less than 5 seconds of solo moment in all the SNSD MVs and live performances. So sad! She only has like 1 line in all of the songs. I think that’s quite unfair as she can really sing, perhaps not as skilled as Taeyeon or Jessica or Seohyun, but she has a lovely voice! Sigh, she’s so underrated. Go Hyo Go!!!

Fin.

P.S. I just remembered that I still haven’t made a post on my 2010 Winter Olympics experience, which is long overdue. *headtable*

Marulilu Café, Vancouver

Hmmm, seems like I nearly broke my promise, didn’t I?

I soon learned that the cafés here are actually the Western equivalence to the kopitiam in Malaysia the very first day I stepped onto the Vancouver pavement. Caffé Latte is the fancier counterpart of our humble kopi-C. Starbucks Tazo Chai Tea Latte is to my Lipton teh-C served in the 88 Food Centre that is located near the Police Camp in Miri. Espresso is the high-end version of kopi-O-gau, but without looking like a cup of black ink. And, Iced Caffé Mocha is like the much, much more cheaper……Neslo-beng (Neslo = Nescafe coffee + Milo, beng = iced)?

These cafés are abundant in the whole Vancouver. Italian cafés, home-grown Canadian cafés chains, French coffee shops etc. You can find maybe 20 of them or more in one street, and the good ol’ Starbucks are always around the corner in every 2 blocks when you need to fulfill your morning caffeine fix in order to survive through all those boring lectures.

So, you asked, “Marulilu……sounds so…Japanese…..No, no, how can there be a Japanese café in a city where Starbucks and Blenz are dominating the coffee culture???”

You, my friend, are right in the first part. It is a Japanese café. Operated by Japanese staff and sells katsu-don, okonomiyaki and Japanese style breakfast. And, Marulilu is not the only Japanese café in town.

The store front.

I first discovered this quaint little cafe when I was on the 99 B-Line bus that goes along West Broadway. The sign of the cafe is really hard to be missed as it stands out since the name is spelled out in 3D, and it has a white and clean background. Furthermore, it’s just opposite to the freakin’ Broadway-City Hall skytrain station.

I went there with a friend for brunch. My friend is a huge fan of Japanese cuisine and she’ll try anything that has a Japanese name associated with it haha!

It wasn’t crowded in the cafe. We were greeted warmly by the cashier in Japanese once we pushed open the door. I like the interior of the cafe; the main theme is dark coffee bean brown that goes really well with the beige coloured wall. The decor is not over the top, but it still gives a charming aura, simple but not boring. There are a few modern art pieces and a mirror (which I adore) hanging on the wall, accompanied by the dark willow decorative branches.

Just charming.

The counter is just in front of the main door. It was kind of messy as there were a lot of stuff in that tiny little space.

The menu board.

The menu board is behind the counter. All of the words are written nicely and neatly on the old school blackboard with coloured chalks. You just have to stare at the board to choose what you want without referring to any menu booklet. It’s really convenient. I think that this kind of menu board is a trend among the cafés here.

Looking out of the window.

After we had ordered, we sat at the table near the counter. The chair is super comfy! I like their floor to ceiling windows as the cafe can capture a maximum amount of sunlight that adds to brightness, which is great for photographing food.

The service was prompt. Our food arrived after 10 minutes.

Iced matcha latte.

My friend ordered a glass of iced matcha latte. Love the colour of the whole thing. I took a sip. It was really good! It tastes nothing like the sugar-laced iced green tea latte that is sold at Starbucks. That is pure yuck! Even if you told the Starbucks staff to make your green tea latte non-sweet, you still can taste the sweetness in your drink as, I suspect, that the green tea powder is pre-mixed with sugar. I just can’t stand how sugary most Starbucks drinks are. Simply terrible.

OK back to the iced matcha latte. It was just lovely. It wasn’t sweet at all (syrup was provided if you need it) and they used real matcha powder. If I’m not mistaken, they used 1% or maybe 2% milk because, as a frequent skim milk drinker, the milk in the latte was definitely not as “diluted” as skim milk, but not too creamy like the homogenized milk either. I believe that this is the authentic Japanese green tea latte which is the same as the one sold in Japan itself, or perhaps very close to the real thing.

My café jelly latte.

I was all “oohs” and “aahs” when my drink arrived. The jelly looks like grass jelly (凉粉), but lighter in colour and more transparent. It does remind me of the kind of dessert that me and my family always have during Chinese New Year (grass jelly eaten with evaporated milk and canned fruits plus a scoop of vanilla ice-cream yum!). I was a wee bit annoyed about there wasn’t a spoon for me to eat the jelly, so I just used my straw to suck the jelly up into my mouth. To my surprise, the coffee jelly isn’t as firm as I expected it to be; it was really soft and it broke down into smaller fragments in order to go through the straw. The jelly wasn’t sweet at all, and the coffee taste was not too strong. Again I think they were using 1% milk. The whole thing had no sweetness in it, you could add syrup according to your taste. Me likey!

And within 5 minutes, our food is served.

Japanese style breakfast.

My friend had the Japanese style breakfast (brunch, to be exact hehe) set. Everything except the miso soup had no salt in it. The cooked salmon was OK, and the Japanese omelette was quite bland. We were surprised that the tofu was actually quite warm and fresh as we were expecting the straight-out-of-the-fridge one. It was very soft and smooth. For me, the tofu was the only thing I like in that breakfast set. :0

Okonomiyaki (Kansai style).

Aaaahhhh……My food was here. It’s basically cross between seafood pancake and omelette. I was taken aback by the size of my okonomiyaki as I thought that it was too much for my little stomach. They were very generous in the the fillings; eggs, shrimps, squids, octopus, cabbage, green onions and cheese! Topped with Kewpie mayonnaise, katsuobushi (dried shaved bonito fish), aonori (seaweed flakes), okonomiyaki sauce and picked ginger (not sure why it is pink), the whole thing was heavenly. It was so so good! I couldn’t stop eating it until I nearly licked the plate clean hahaha! Thank goodness the waitress provided me extra okonomiyaki sauce as it wasn’t enough on the okonomiyaki itself.

I was quite full after I finished my okonomiyaki. But, there is always room for dessert!

Lemon cheesecake.

Mmmmm, cheesecake! It was served last after our main course. I was a bit disappointed by its size.  It has a strong lemony taste, and I think that it was a tad too sweet for me. I could see grated lemon skin at the yellow-brown bottom, and the base was made of crushed graham biscuits. I could taste a little bit of shredded coconut at the cheesecake base. Not the best lemon cheesecake around, but it’s still above average. It could have been better if they reduced the sugar so that the sweetness is not overwhelming.

Overall, Marulilu Café makes the cut. Its location is really strategic as the Broadway-City Hall station is just right across.

Would I go back again? Yes, especially when I need my matcha latte fix and am craving for some delicious okonomiyaki.

Moved!

OMG! OMG! OMG!

I’m so excited right now because……I’ve moved into my new dorm!!!

It’s a quad in the South Tower of Walter H. Gage residence and I’m on the 14th floor!!! There are 6 rooms in a unit and 4 units on a floor. AND, there are 2 elevators *yayayayayay*!!!

My room door.

And it’s not even the main door of the unit! It is operated by a VingCard and you need to key in your first 4 digits of your student number to unlock it. The same goes the lock at my main door. How cool is that? The room doors in Totem Park the old-fashioned lock and key kind. I feel like I’m in a whole new level as compared to those First Years who are living in Totem Park or Vanier hahahahha!

First day of moving in.

I got a welcome package with brochures that include moving in FAQs and advice on how to live in harmony with your unit mates. I love the lanyard they have for this year; royal blue! So classy! On the lanyard there’s my VingCard, my U-Pass (a transit pass that rocks your socks off, UBC and SFU students are soooo pampered by this), my mailbox key, a couple of mini discount cards for food outlets and a bunch of keys to my aunt’s place just in case I wanna go back to stay overnight. (What’s a U-Pass you asked? Click here for more info).

Lucky number 3!

Yup, that’s my room number. My room is actually situated beside the kitchen area.

I’m in the midst of unpacking my stuff, so my room is a HUGE mess.

A mess hole.

My uh...bed?

EVERYTHING is EVERYWHERE. I swear, I’ve tried my best to bring as little stuff as I can, but at the end of the day I still need a lot of space keeping them.

Luckily, this place has tonnes of shelves and so much space.  It’s A LOT (mark the bold and capitalized words) bigger than my little Totem cubicle. I felt pitiful for myself when I remember myself sleeping + studying + eating + doing pilate in that tiny little shithole for 8 months! So freakin’ kelian man!

The closet.

This closet is freakin’s huge! I can put 2 pieces of my luggage, a comforter, a few pairs of shoes and lots of clothing in it (WHICH gives me an excellent excuse to buy more clothes hehehe).

Side shelves.

In case you’re wondering, I do mat pilate. And yes, I still play badminton.

Study area.

YEEESSSSS!!! More shelves for my brick-heavy textbooks and there’s a study lamp! I love it when my study table is located beside the window as I can get the maximum amount of natural light when studying during the day.

A view of my whole (almost) room.

I stood on the edge of my bed while taking this photo. There’s an extra cabinet for my other stuff. And that cute mini fridge is the one I had from last year.

Another shot.

The size is not the only reason why I love my room so much.

BEHOLD……

Gorgeous.

This is what I can see from my room. It’s freakin’ gorgeous! My room is facing the mountains, which is the north, and the sea, which is the Strait of Georgia.

Pretty pretty blue sky!

If you’re feeling down from homesick or stressed out from schoolwork, just look out the window, and you’ll immediately feel exhilarated and pumped up as if you’ve found a whole new point of living in this ghastly world. Hmmm, maybe it would be a great room for people with depression or something…

The North Tower.

The only thing is this North tower is partially obstructing my awesome view, but since my window is big, I’m not complaining.

Looking downwards.

The huge-ass window.

And it gets better when dusk approaches…

Waaaaaa......

And another:

Zoomed in.

Simply breathtaking. Jealous leh?

So from now onwards, whenever I enjoy the sunset from my room I’ll definitely develop an ‘urge’ (don’t know how to say this in English, but what I wanna express is “雅兴” in Chinese) to recite a famous poem《登乐游原》, which is about sunset by a famous Chinese poet named Li Shang Yin (李商隐):

李商隐《登乐游原》

向晚意不适，

驱车登古原。

夕阳无限好，

只是近黄昏。

Generally, it means even though the sunset is breathtakingly beautiful, it’s still only temporary and this wonderful scenery ends in just a blink of an eye. The poem advises us to appreciate whatever good thing that we encounter as sooner or later it will come to an end before you know it. (Please forgive me if you think that I did a bad job in translating…I did my best…)

I was supposed to stay in the unit opposite to my current one before moving in. That room also has an awesome view. It’s facing south, so you can see the whole campus and the sea. There aren’t any taller buildings that block the view, so basically what you get are a flat surface with houses and shorter buildings all over and the sea at your right that is boundless (“一望无际” in Chinese). Don’t ask me why did I switch my room. Long story.

OK, I have to continue with my unpacking now. Later guys!

(If you’re interested in learning more about UBC student housings, just follow this link).

Note: I wrote this on Sunday, but I forgot to publish it because I was too engrossed in the amazing view and I couldn’t get over the fact that my room is just too awesome. I know, I’m rubbing it in your face……muahahaha!