Spain & Portugal

Spain and Portugal

Spain and Portugal, located in the Iberian Peninsula, are beautiful countries consisting of major cities alongside quaint medieval towns. Throughout our travels we saw grand cathedrals, palaces and beautiful scenery.

The beautiful Royal Palace:

 

The old town of Toledo consists of narrow, cobbled lanes, of buildings with ornate doorways and facades decorated with unusual painted effects.

The Alhambra in Granada was built by the 14^th century Moorish rulers of Spain. With its intricately carved columns, colourful mosaics and beautiful gardens it certainly deserves its UNESCO world heritage listing.

 

View of the city of Granada from the Alhambra:

 

Lisbon – the capital of Portugal is a city of impressive buildings, statues and fountains. Not as grand as Madrid, but it has an atmosphere that is lively and welcoming.

Views of Lisbon from a lookout at the top of the Santa Justa elevator:

Picturesque seaside town of Caiscais:

 

The town of Fatima in Portugal is famous for visions of Mary in 1917. It is now a huge centre for religious tourism with an enormous modern church built alongside the more traditional basilica. 

Beijing - The capital of China

Many people mislead that Shanghai is the capital of China since it is the largest city and it is the financial and commercial centre in China. However, the capital of China is Beijing instead Shanghai. Although Beijing is not as large as Shanghai, It is renowned for its palace, temples, and the Great Wall. All of these are full of historical values and irreplaceable. 

The Tiananmen Square is one of the representative building in China. It has great cultural significance as it was the site of several important events in Chinese history.

The Forbidden City was the Chinese palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. The emperor lived in here. The building was full of art and culture. Just like the scene we saw in movie and films.

Mutianyu Great Wall used to serve as the northern barrier defending the capital. Many education textbook mentioned that many many people were died here building the Great Wall since they had no food to eat and they couldnt take any rest for build this. So many Chinese said that the Great Wall was built of blood, the blood from the slaves.

Remember Beijing was the holder for the 2008 Olympics? This is the National Aquatics Centre, also called Water Cube. The government built it in order to held the swimming competitions. The government spent 10.2 billion to build it. After the Olympics, the building turn half of its interior into a water park.

Next to the Water Cube is the National Stadium. The design for this building is base on the bird nest. It is also for holding the Olympics games.

Today was a great day. I am a Chinese and this is my first time to go to the capital of my country. Before the trip, i didn't even interested in the history of my country. But after i visited all of these building, i really felt that Chinese history is very deep and long lasting.... 

Japan In The Heart of Malaysia

I LOVE Japan and I also love Malaysia. When you cannot afford a trip to Japan, the best cheat code is to travel to Malaysia and find small Japanese bits and pieces and call it a trip. Malaysia is filled with many multicultural influences. Whether it be dramas, food or fashion, Japanese culture can always be found everywhere around the world. Especially in Malaysia.

There are many Japanese restaurants found in Malaysia.

Pepperlunch is an extremely popular Japanese food chain restaurant all around the world. It is popular for food served on a hot sizzling plate and cooks while its on it. This popular foodchain can be found in Malaysia's MidValley's food court or in Pavillion. For just RM9.90 (about roughly AUD3.30) you can eat pepperlunch served along with Miso soup.

One of my favourite Japanese restaurant in Malaysia is Pasta Zanmai. It also has a sister restaurant called Sushi Zanmai. Pasta Zanmai offers many different dishes ranging from pasta to rice. It seems to have a touch of a modern taste with its traditional food, example the pasta with salmon.

Pasta with Salmon 

Don 

WAGYU! (if i remember correctly >_<;;)

Like many counties with a Chinatown, there is a specific place in Malaysia where you can find a touch of Tokyo. As you walk up to the toppest level of Pavilion in Jalan Bukit Bintang, a big red lantern greets you with the word "Tokyo". This place brings you to a whole new place as it is different from the rest of the shopping centre.

They have their own "Tokyo Street". 

The interior design in this area of the shopping centre replicates stores from Japan. One of my favourite stores in Tokyo Street is where they sell milk tea. In a store like this, you can even find Okinawa milk tea with pearls!!

Not only is Malaysia filled with many Japanese restaurants and beverage stores, big Japanese companies are also dominant. There are many big Japanese supermarkets and retail chain stores like Isetan, Jusco and Daiso opened in Malaysia. Isetan and Jusco also offer many fresh sushi in their supermarkets. And the most popular dollar shop, Daiso sells all items for just RM5 storewide. They offer high quality Japanese products at a very cheap price. Sometimes I just go in the store and look around. Its so tempting to not buy anything before leaving the store!! I always feel like I always need to end up something. haha impulsive shopping perhaps ?

Japanese anime is very popular. There are shops they sell collective figurines. 

Sakae Sushi offers Genmaicha. 

Japanese Harajuku crepes are popular. In 1Utama near the cinemas there is a crepe store called Shimino. I guess this as close as it gets to Japan right ? 

I love how they present their food at Sakae Sushi. Especially placing the noodles on a wooden bucket sort of thing. It really gives you a glimpse of what traditional Japanese food is like. I ordered cha soba noodles. (Green tea noodles) You dip it in the sauce given as you eat it.

Towards the end of my trip in Malaysia, I have almost tried most of the big Japanese food chain stores. May I dare to say, this is probably my 8th - 11th time eating sushi ?!?! Actually I wasn't dining in a sushi train store but at Shogun - Saisaki Japanese Buffet Restaurant. This place offered really good customer service and the sushi area is always constantly replaced with new ones! This buffet offered from tempura to sashimi to soup and to a few noodle dishes.

Interior design. Lanterns, lanterns and more lanterns.

Towards the last few days of my trip, we went out to eat Japanese food again. Of course in Malaysia, we tried as much Malaysian and Chinese cuisine as we did as Japanese. As a Japanese food lover, it is just so hard to resist not trying the Japanese food because back in Sydney it would be so rare to find Cha Soba! Of course, with Australian money conversion, it is so cheap to dine in and eat! As we were pleased with Pasta Zanmai, we tried Sushi Zanmai this time.

Cha Soba

Yakisoba

Udon

And of course, Sushi!!!

Dining in Malaysia is so convenient. There are an infinity range of restaurants to try. With many different cultures influencing fans and young teens of Malaysia, it is amazing to see how much Malaysia has to offer. Although the food may not taste as authentic, having a glimpse to taste and experience Japanese culture in Malaysia is amazing as it has so much to offer. 

Macau - tourism attraction and gambling

 

Macau, a very small city located across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong, cannot very underestimate. Compare to HK, it is more visible colonial history since it was ruled by Portugal at earlier time. Besides, Macau has an advantage over HK on behave of tourist attractions. It is the gambling industries. Macau government open the gambling licenses and the gambling revenue is the main sources to boost the economy. Macau is vest known as Asia's largest destination for gambling taking in even more revenue than Las Vegas.

Nearly all the hotel in Macau has casino. If you feel you do not have luck in a hotel, just go to another hotel for gambling. Travelling is very convenience in Macau since it is a very small city. In every hotel, there are shuttle bus travel across hotels and it is free of charge. This is one of the most attractive point for gambler.

Besides gamblings, there are also historical buildings in Macau.

This is called 'Ruins of St.Paul's Cathedral. It is the front door of the church since 1580. However the church was burnt during the second world war. The front door was restored by the government afterwards to respect those die in the war.

This is called 'St, Domingo's Church'. It was built by a Spainsh in 1587. The propose for this building is to enshrine St. Domingo.

Cuisine

Since Macau was ruled by Portugal at a earlier time, the food in Macau has a little bit Portuguese culture.

 This is a fried pork bread. Extremely Yummy! This dish is very simply but you cant find a better one outside Macau. The bread is very crispy and the pork is welled marinated.  Its very delicious.

This is the Portuguese Egg Tart. The appearance is very attraction and it tastes sweet. 

The crab soup is one of the representative too. The process and method of making the crab soup in Macau is different from those in China and HK. For my own opinion, I think the soup in China is better :P