Dodges and Burns

I admit. I am not someone who is tall. In fact, I am the shortest guy among my friends. But I am not complaining.

I am writing this because it is a topic that came up when I was chatting with a friend (in a jokingly way but it gave me an impulse to write this post).

Okay, without delay. Here is a list of 8 reasons why being short is good.

1. Look younger (own experience)
2. Longer life
3. Lower centre of gravity => more balance/stabil physically
4. Better brain
5. Closer to any money on the floor
6. Less likely to hit your head on things
7. More agility (own experience)
8. Easier to hide or squeeze into small place

I am sure there are more reason why being short is good. I will put it in if you could suggest to me.

And to end this particular post, here is a list of people that put their name in history but at the same time, short:

1. Beethoven
2. Mel Brooks
3. Michael J. Fox
4. Danny DeVito
5. Buckminster Fuller (inventor of the geodesic dome)
6. Truman Capote
7. Ghandi
8. Nikita Khrushchev
9. Keats
10. Picasso
11. Prince
12. Paul Simon
13. Princess Leia
14. Dolly Parton
15. Joan of Arc

Okay… so, if you think you are short, what is the big deal? Embrace yourself. Maximize your potential with it.

East Lake is one of the three famous lake of Zhejiang Province, together with West Lake of Hangzhou and South Lake of Jiaxing. The only one missing is North Lake (sorry for the bad joke). What makes it different is that this East Lake is actually a man-made lake. And with a wonderful combination of a hill, grottoes, stone bridges, it might pass for a miniature landscape. A must-try for those visiting this lake is the ride on the aquatic taxi that brings one around the lake, reaching to place that is inaccessible by walking. It also has a hill that one can climb which I was told would give a beautiful panorama view of the surrounding.

The photo above is taken during last weekend’s Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2011. It was the last day of the event and I was there in the evening. Thanks to Rachel, Alice, Penny and Elaine for informing and reminding me of the event, I decided to go in the last minutes. This is the second time I went to the hot air balloon fiesta (the first was last year but it was not an fruitful outing for me at that time).

The photo above was taken when the balloonists were preparing their hot air balloons for their final flight. I was on the other side of the field when I noticed the striking colour of the balloons. I snapped alot of the photos and this is one of the best that I got.

As I have seen many other photos of the event taken by others, I want my photos to be somewhat different. In the end, I decided to process it into HDR photos using Photomatix Pro. The result is definitely something that I am proud of. Hope you enjoy it as well…

Lanting, Shaoxing is one of the place that I have visited during my first trip to China. Lanting Pavilion is a sacred place among Chinese calligraphers whereby a master calligrapher of the old days, Wang Xizhi, and his friends drink and cleanse away evil influences on the third day of the third lunar month in 353. Lanting Pavilion and its surrounding is also a very beautiful place. It has a river and a lake (photo above) and not to mention, several beautiful pavilions in the area, thus a beautiful place to visit.

Tianyi Square, Ningbo

Ningbo may not be high on a tourist list of place to travel in China but if you have time to spare, it actually have some very nice attraction of its own.

Ningbo is situated south of Shanghai. It is about 3 hours of bus ride from Shanghai if the bus use Hangzhou Bay Bridge (the longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world – 35.673 km long).

Tianyi Square is the biggest multi-function square in China, surrounded by 22 different buildings with a European style. In the central part, there is an open area covering 350,000 square meters and a water area covering 6000 square meters which includes pools and fountain.

Tianyi Square and the surrounding is definitely a shopping haven with an almost endless number of shops to cater to all needs.

Nearby, there is a cathedral which is worth a look as well…

Hefang Street is another one of Hangzhou’s attraction.

The original street has been destroyed and the restoration work makes it as what you can see today. This is THE place to go if you want to buy souvenirs. This is also the place where you go to find snack. Food hunter like me would find that this place is like a heaven with the many choice to choose from.

The arch of Hefang Street

The beginning of Hefang Street

A word of cautious is that this ancient street is super popular with tourists and at times, it can be overwhelming crowded. I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to be there when it has been raining for the whole day, making the number of people found there lesser than usual.

Laughing Buddha

The street has all kind of shops; tea shops, sword shop and even soap shop apart from the usual souvenirs shop or restaurants.

Statues of the past

There are many statues located all over which I believe has been placed there to make the place even more appealing.

Satay Stall

The above stall is one of the many stall available at Hefang Street. It sell the pork stick below and I would says it taste really nice. I tried the pork satay in Malacca but this is definitely alot better than that.

Pork Sticks

Wu Da Lang Stall

The above stall sell two type of Wu Dalang biscuit, one using normal sesame seed while the other used black sesame seed. These biscuits are prepared well in advance and when you want it, the guy would actually heat it up using some traditional heater in the middle of the stall.

Wu Da Lang Bing

Wu Da Lang Biscuit with sesame seed

Wu Da Lang Biscuit with black sesame seed

I prefer the one with the normal sesame seed as it taste more sweet. The one with the black sesame seed taste more salty.

Another must try would be the dragon whiskers candy.

Dragon Whiskers Candy

The people selling this claimed that the dragon whiskers Candy actually originated from this particular street. Do you believe?

So, that is for now. As I have not been to all the attraction of Hangzhou, I am planning to go there again next year. I believe I shall include Suzhou in the list as well. Anyone interested?