Entry 04.05.2026

I spent the long weekend going about different supermarkets in town .... buying cooking oil here ... buying fresh fish and veges there ... buying dry kitchen ingredients elsewhere .... heh ... 

I also got a hair cut! My hair had gotten long and unruly. But I never knew where to go to get it cut since my favourite hairstylist, Peter, had stopped working. Sigh. I tried the expensive salons, but I was never quite satisfied with their services. Sometimes the hairstylists even commented with disdain about the poor state of my hair. I stopped going to one such high-end salons because I refused to pay a huge sum for them to criticise my hair.  In contrast, I tried the very cheap salons, but I was not satisfied either because the hair did not feel right either afterwards. Though my hair was straight and of medium length, it was not easy to get the right blend of layers so that it fell naturally. Only Peter did it so well, cutting it layer by layer till it had the right length and volume to look and feel good. Sigh .... 

So the other day, I just walked into one random hair salon at the mall I always frequent and got my hair cut. It was good because I did not need to make an appointment, I did not have to wait, and I got my hair chopped off to my desired length. The hairstylist was polite and friendly and did not say anything nasty. The price was affordable ... but the result ... I would say was so-so. At least it was now shortened, and washing and drying it would be faster. 

Besides that, I also rewatched Pursuit of Jade with Mom. This C-drama trended so much on my social media feed, so I decided to watch it. After the second episode, I binge watched the whole thing over 4 days .... it's quite entertaining, heh. But Mom was really slow. She could only manage 2 or 3 episodes in a day. So I accompanied her, watching the second time. Lol. 

Hmn ... first of all, I think the show is visually stunning, especially the aesthetics of Lin An village which feels so idyllic. And the snow scenes transformed the village into a dreamlike setting. I suppose it's necessary because the serenity of the village landscape will be used to provide a contrast with the harsh landscape at the war zones and the stuffiness of the palaces later on. It is necessary to justify why our leads want to return to Lin An at the end of the drama. 

It is of course visually stunning as well because of the 2 leads - Zhang Ling He and Tian Xi Wei are well-paired. Both are so good-looking! Zhang Ling He is strikingly handsome and so pleasant to see on screen. He has this vulnerability, yet exudes quiet charisma. Meanwhile, Tian Xi Wei is not only beautiful, she is so expressive and lively and is a joy to watch. They both indeed make the characters believable, and I am emotionally invested in their love story, which I find endearing and sweet. Of course, I question how such a small woman can be portrayed as someone having such brute strength ....  but oh well ... heh ... I'll just let myself enjoy the story. Lol. 

Other than that, I find the political chaos a bit confusing. I think the screenplay or the execution of that part of the drama is a bit unclear .... or at least ... difficult to make clear of. Moreover, I also find it difficult to distinguish the faces of the other actors who are not the leads .... lol .... 

Well, it's not all the time that I find a C-drama engaging .... so when there is one that is fun to watch, but I'll just let myself enjoy the story and the visuals ... I'd always thought that Zhang Ling He was handsome but it's my first time watching him in a drama. As for Tian Xi Wei, I didn't know her existence till the Pursuit of Jade. Heh. 

The eats over the weekend .... hmn ... I was not sure where to go and I ended up going back to the same places to eat ... 

Cantonese Kueh Tiaw, RM8

This was from Song Corner; the noodles had wok hei ... it was quite yum! 

I normally go to Song Corner for the toast ... I think they sell the best quality toast in town. I also enjoyed the chicken and egg sandwich, RM6.50 which tasted like McMuffin but of course, the quality is much better! Song Corner also had a Smile Popiah stall ... it was expensive at RM5 per roll, but the popiah was also yummy. I had forgotten to take a photographs of all those food. Heh .... 

Laksa, RM8 

Kolo mee, RM6

The laksa and kolo mee are from Hong Kong Pau Cafe (小霸王) at Jalan Padungan. The cafe is newly-renovated, and they sold pastries at reasonable prices. The laksa used to be very yum; my late Dad had often enjoyed his laksa here. But that day, the laksa was so bland! I was so disappointed, and quite angry too as I hadn't eaten such lousy laksa for a long time. The kolo mee was alright, though. 

Lontong

My colleagues decided to cook lontong at work today ... they prepped everything at home, and then brought the ingredients to the office. With just an electric rice cooker, the vegetable broth was ready in 30 minutes. The rest of us, of course, contributed by merely bringing food items like drinks, cakes, agar jelly and fruits. Homemade lontong was indeed really yummy! Today's breakfast was indeed special! 

Entry 30.04.2026

Last day of the month! For the past 5 weeks, Mom and I engaged a contractor to paint the exterior of the house. He did not charge us a lot, but his services were far from professional! Mom and I were both drained by the end of the job. 

First, his workmanship was terrible. The paint was crooked at places where it should be straight, he dripped paint all over the floor, and splattered and stained the windows. His hands stained our sofa, the grills, our slippers ... everywhere! He left the rubbish on the roof and in our backyard .... Mom and I were horrified and we had to constantly supervise him to make sure he cleared the backyard and the house of the rubbish like he promised. We also nagged him to clean up the stains all over the house before we paid him. 

Well, sharing eats round the town these days .... 

RM5, very good kolomee from Jit Yang Cafe at Green Road

There are 2 stalls selling kolo mee here, this is from the one next to the porridge stall is yummy and portion is good 

Kueh chap, RM14 from Petanak Market 

Big portion and lots of ingredients. the broth has that plain soy-sauce flavour

Chicken chop, RM15 from Steak House at Petanak Market

I waited a lvery ong time for this order ... the portion was generous and the meat was well-marinated ... 

Spicy Pan Mee, RM8

This was from Nine + Nine Cafe at Green Heights, the noodle were too saucy and could have been tastier ... but at least I liked the generous amount of ingredients the dish came with ....

Popiah, RM4.50 

Also from Nine + Nine, the coffee was ok but the popiah was mere ordinary ... 

RM4 kolo mee from Onn Food Corner, Green Road 

Not so tasty but the portion was also huge

RM3 chicken rice from Onn Food Corner! So cheap! 

My friend ate this. I'd try this next time! 

Rollinia Fruit

This was from my friend's backyard, it had the texture of soursop. When ripe, the fruit was sweet and sour. It was very pleasant to eat! 

Nasi Gepuk

This was from Depo Kitchen, only RM9 because of the offer from Grab

Nasi Lemak Ayam Berempah, RM18

This was tasty also, from Madam Tang's 

This cute jelly was tasty! I ate 4! 

It was probably homemade ..... a special order .... 

This was from Loong Siang Yen, RM6

I did not eat this because I was in a hurry that morning; and there was a long queue for the noodles; the lady whom we shared a table with ate this .... 

Ding Bian Hu, RM6

Also from Loong Siang Yen ... the flour paste is clumpy but at least the soup was tasty ... 

Kolo Mee, RM5 from Yong Kwang Cafe

This was from the shop on the left ... I have always enjoyed this kolo mee but sometimes the portion is very little ...

Kolo Mee, RM6

This was definitely yummy! From Sin Lian Shin at Green Road ... 

Looking forward to enjoy the long weekend at home! Happy Labour Day! 

Day 9 - Harbin - Changsha - Kul - Kuch

It was a long day, I would start flying today and reach home only tomorrow .... 

Leaven drink ... 

It's a fermented drink that tasted like liquid bread ... we got it for free from the Ironpot restaurant the day before ... I took a sip ... and didn't like it ... 

We only left the hotel at 9 am. Our flight to Changsha, Hunan Province CZ6930 would only depart at 2.00 pm. My friends at beef noodles at the airport ... but I couldn't stomach any. So I skipped lunch. 

Meal on board ... 

At Changsha Huanghua International Airport, we had ice-cream and stinky tofu .... 

So yummy! 

Next, we got on the plane CZ5049 and flew to KUL. The flight departed at 9.15 pm ... and we reached KUL at about 2.10 am .... 

I remember enjoying this pasta dish ... I ate everything! 

We collected our luggage and checked in for our final flight which would only fly at 7.30 am in the morning. I slept on the bench at KLIA for a while and finally it was time to fly home .... 

Bro and family picked me up in Kuching .... 

Day 8 - Harbin Northeast Tiger Forest Park

Today's weather was great! It was not that cold. Today was our last sightseeing day at Harbin. 

The first stop was the Siberian Tiger Park. a place where breeding and conservation of Siberian Tigers takes place. We went for a tiger safari, where we were driven in a bus all over the park to look at tigers in their habitats. We also saw lions! 

After the tiger park, we went to Sun Island for the 37th International Snow Sculpture Art Expo. Some sculptures were up already, but some were still in the process of being sculpted ... 

Not only the sculptures, we also enjoyed strolling among the trees here .... There was a huge snowman at the entrance where it was mandatory for us to take photos! 

Mr. Snowman, completed on 9 Dec 2025

It stands at 20 metres tall and crafted from 4000 cubic metres of snow

Next we went to see ice swimming at Dejia Wharf on Songhua River ... We managed to see 3 persons swimming in ice-cold water ... brrr .... We also enjoyed taking photos of the snow sculptures, particularly Fuwa, the snowman .... 

Fuwa, the snowman was completed on 24 Dec 2025

He was 26 metres tall ... 

Lunch was Dongbei Ironpot stew .... 

We had 2 pots of stew, and each pot had biscuits accompanying it. I didn't find the stew to be extraordinarily distinctive in flavour. Lunch also came with hawthorn sticks ... 

Hawthorn sticks

These were the best hawthorn sticks I had ever eaten! I finished mine cause they were so yummy! 

The crust was crisp yet not sweet. And when you bite into the fruit, they were sweet and tangy and fresh! I hadn't had such great hawthorn sticks before! 

We then went to a mall ... hmn .... I can't remember the name .... but we merely browsed a short while. There was a Pop Mart store there ... and I bought my first Labubu blind box. 

Harbin Giant Snowman

I had seen this every time I opened Rednote .... so I was glad to see it in person; 19-metres high this year .... and it was a crowd puller! 

Dinner at Central Street

We had a rotating hotpot dinner ... I enjoyed this meal so much though I could not eat much ... 

There were so much ingredients! It took 15 minutes for a round to complete ... 

After dinner, we sneaked into a shop selling Russian confectionery .... I bought 4 packets of waffles and a packet of chocolate candy .... 

My first Labubu blind box ...

I was disappointed ... ;P 

Entry 15.04.2026

Breakfast with the gang after a few days of break .... 

Kolo Mee at Mui Chin ... 

Sigh. I did a really stupid thing yesterday. I locked my car keys and my phone in my car boot. I could not open the boot after that, so I lost access to my car. I had to hitch a ride home from my colleague, take my spare key, and then took a grab car back to my workplace to get my car. Only then was I able to drive the car back home.

Gawd. I felt so stupid. 

My office is on the first floor of Block D. Every day, when I come to work, I have to climb up to the first floor of Block A to clock in. That's where the admin office is. So every day, before I leave work, I have climb up again to the first floor of Block A to clock out. 

So we often bring all our bags to drop them in the car at the parking lot in order to reduce the number of times we have to climb up and down the stairs. And yesterday, I had 3 bags. 

Bag 1 - Laptop and Ipad. 

Bag 2 - Miscellanous items

Bag 3 - Handbag 

It's customary for us ladies to bring many bags to work. 

So I was going to leave work already. I opened the boot of my car, dropped in 2 bags and closed the boot. Then I went to the ladies'. Whilst there, I realised that I had put the wrong bag in my car boot. So I went back to my car .... and only then I realised that I could not open the boot anymore. 

So silly! I was so angry at myself, but at least, I was very calm about the whole thing. It was not the end of the world. I just needed to access my spare car key in order to open the car door. 

I saw that my colleague's car was still there at the parking area. We stayed in the same housing area. So I seeked her out to help me ... and of course she gladly dropped me at my house on her way home. Luckily mom was home because I did not have my house keys too. They were in the car! 

Mom opened the door for me. "You are getting old," she said. 

After a brief explanation, I quickly grabbed my spare car key. I had to borrow Mom's phone to call for an e-hailing ride. 

The car came in a few minutes and I was driven back to my workplace .... and as soon as I got down the car, I pressed the 'open' button of the smartkey and it instantly opened. Urgh! So mad! 

 

Day 7 - Harbin Grand Theatre, Volga Manor, Chinese Baroque Street, Central Street, Songhua RIver and St Sophia Cathedral

The weather was fine that morning .... 

We dropped by the Harbin Grand Theatre, snapped a few photos. It's one of the most recognisable building in Harbin. I took at photo of the building, but I was more interested in the small field in front of the theatre, where I could take photos of the snow and the trees ... lol ...

 

And then went to Volga Manor. I like Volga Manor ... it's so spacious, the architecture was so uniquely Russian ... and I liked the landscaped grounds .... In the cool weather, it was just so pleasant to stroll around the area .... 

Next was a stop at the Chinese Baroque Street .... I suppose that if we were to walk along the street, we would better appreciate the architecture and the atmosphere ... but we merely stopped here at the in front of this building and there was .... nothing to see ... 

We went to the Central Street next, where it was mandatory to eat an ice-cream .... 

Modern 1906 ice-cream .... 

It was not as creamy and milky as I had expected; hmn ... not a very memorable taste ...

My friend had told me to bite into the ice-cream and not let it stick to my lips.

From the Central Street, we walked to the Songhua River bridge ... there was a large recreational area where people enjoyed winter activities .... 

After that, we went to eat dinner at this buffet bbq restaurant .... I hardly enjoyed the meal ... it was just so tiring to cook the food by myself .... 

Finally, we stopped at St. Sophia Cathedral, a church built in 1907, and a landmark of Harbin. 

So many pretty young men and women took photos in costumes here ..... it was very amusing to see. We headed back to the hotel after this last stop. I honestly enjoyed the night drive through Harbin back to the hotel at Songbei, since the buildings were light up very beautifully and colourfully lit up!