Friday, November 23, 2007

Tribal Fushion anyone?


Well, went for my first experience of "Tribal Fushion Belly Dance Workshop". Sounds interesting eh? The workshop started from 10am till 6pm in the afternoon. Was really tired, interesting and fun too. It was worth it, love the experience. The whole experience kind of inspires me and I suddenly become more aware of all the moves I have learnt in my routine classes. It is another version of belly dance which I may venture into if I could get the correct muscle to work well. For now, maybe stick to the basic first. Hah....

Our beutiful instructor Sharon Kihara, came from San Francisco, America. She is also one of the Belly Dance superstar that I met. (Well, I attended Kaeshi's workshop too! She is also one of the superstar from New York.) Her moves are so slick and enchanting, wish I could dance a little bit like her. Well, we all did one of her Tribal Fusion Choreographies, and we did some warm-ups which is good. It is all to stretch and loosen our muscles and all, quite interesting fact to know for me who does not do any sort of Yoga, or Pilates..... hmmm... maybe I should.
Any of you interested to see her dance?

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Beijing Exotic Food Market - Day 1

This is the so-called "Wang Fu Jing", which is an old well. The above picture is the seal of the well whereby there is a description mention about when it was sealed up. These days it is 'Wang Fu Jin Street' which is a popular tourist destination. This street has lots of famous restaurants and old shops dated almost more than 100 years old.
Yummy Shanghai Small Dragon Bun - "Xiao Lung Bao". Every Autumn, the prosperous crab is in season, so that is why they are promoting this delicious 'Crabby Lung Bao'! This is just around the corner of "Wang Fu Jin street", this is the Famous night exotic food market, whereby there are lots of various food available here. If you are an adventurous foodie, do come along here and tastes those delicious exotic food, I'm sure it taste better than those in 'Fear Factor' series!
Centipede anyone? They come in sticks and they are grilled..... like BBQ!
Grilled Grasshopper please...... they come in 3 per stick. Crunchy!
Well, well... well..... look here is the grill scorpion. They are tiny scorpions, so the poison isn't too bad I guess! So, if you feel hungry in the night after shopping in "Wang Fu Jin Street", feel free to drop by this night food market!



Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Japanese Tea Ceremony

Went over to the annual Sakura Charity Sale in Penang, whereby it is a charity event that sells Japanese handicrafts. There are other events for adults and kids as well. There is a cultural show, Ikebana demonstration, Japanese Tea Ceremony, Japanese food, Second-hand store, etc.
Well, I was interested in the Japanese Tea ceremony event, so I give it a try. The setting above with tatami, some kind of kettle etc. was initially an indoor tea ceremony set up - inside a temple / shrine / house. A tea lady will politely bow and prepare the tea for the guests.
The tea ritual is interesting because starting from the preparation of tea until the end when the guest drink the Macha, every step or move has a meaning and order to it. Every single move is necessary and there is not a single unwanted gesture at all.
The guest will have a sweet cake to taste first before drinking the Macha. The "Macha" is different from "Ocha" because there is some froth in it whereby you can taste the actual taste of the tea.
Above here, the picture also shows the "Tea picnic set" for the Autumn season. There is a box which can keep all the tools to prepare the tea. So this set allows one to enjoy the "Macha" wherever they wish. There is actually a special Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter individual set. Marvelous isn't it?

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Beijing Here I Come! - Day1

A visit to Beijing was an interesting and valuable experience for me. As an individual who is interested in culture and traditional aspects of live, this trip had actually inspire lots of thoughts into my understanding of the Chinese culture and values.


The picture here shows the "Temple of Heaven". A wonderful architecture.... the whole building is made of wood except the roof tiles, then again there are no nails on this building and particularly unique due to its beams and columns are all made of each individual tree trunk, also all are similar in sizes, and height. Wonderful isn't it? When we arrive that day, it was raining in this autumn season. Funny thing is , beijing having a morning shower is like rarely happened at all. So you can see the sky here is so blue and beautiful! That's how I manage to capture a good picture without any enhancement!


The purpose of this temple is that it was used to pray the gods in heaven and also to pray the forefathers of the emperor. So this is actually where the emperor pray centuries ago......

As you see, no one else was allowed to pray here except the emperor!

This picture is taken outside of the temple of heaven whereby there is a huge park/garden that most people of Beijing, China come to relax and having their leisure time during mornings and evenings.... there will be different groups of people having their choir singing, some dancing, some playing games, chess... etc. Most of them are old folks who hangs out and "lepak" along the long corridors that leads you to the Temple. This corridor is about 5 meters wide and over 300 meters long.

Here's a small group of ladies doing thier singing cum acting, well there are lots of people there actually watching them.... telling me about Chinese being shy in public?!?!!

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails