Travel

The day after, we woke up super early to get some breakfast! We had our second beef noodles! Basically, Zhaodong is a Muslim city, so anywhere you go, you’ll have no trouble finding Halal food and apparently, Beef Noodles is like, what Nasi Lemak is to us. Everywhere you go, the stalls will confirm plus chop plus stamp serve Beef Noodles. Although so far, I’ve tasted Beef Noodles from about, 5 different stalls there and they all taste DIFFERENT! Really! It’s like, they all have their own special sikret recipe that distinguishes them from the other stalls.

For this second one, the noodles were different. Sort of like Maggi Mee and they had no pickled vegetables but more minced meat! If I remember correctly, this one was much spicier than the one before.

Me and my scandalicious Anisah huhuhu.

They had like, 40 of these dim sums steaming outside of the shop. My gosh, what a sight. We were all so hungry so we ordered both heheh greedy. See the piping hot smoke coming from it? Yes, it was really hot and the filling was super yummy. Beef and some dunno what veggies. Sedap gilz.

Our favourite bakery! Whenever we were at Zhaodong, we will surely, surely buy something at this bakery. Usually I’ll get the Portuguese Egg Tarts and the Egg Custard. Plus, a packet of this crunchy bread biscuit thingy I don’t know how to describe but it was really good! I bought lots of it but accidentally left it behind at Yang Tzai Village. Silly me -.-At first, I was dubious about street food. But ala, just eat la. Its not always that you get to taste China street food heheh.

So then, we made our way to the village. The 7 of us in a small van and boy, was it such a bumpy ride! I was seated beside the window and er, there was no window so the wind (and dust) blew right into my face. Though the view was certainly worth it. Rows after rows of agricultural farming, definitely amazing.

From a distance away, we could already see that the villagers actually gathered to welcome us!!!! We all felt super touched to the point that we wanted to tear up! I mean, the weather was scorching hot and the little kids were just standing there, waiting for us and when our van drove past them, they all kept saying Assalamualaikum, repetitively @_@ Not only the little kids, the elderly were there too. Super touching to the max.

HAHAHHAA OKAY the story behind this toilet shot. Okay, when we were back in SG, our leader and co leader told us that we’d have to do our business in some dodgy gross toilet with no water and all. I was really really really prepared for the worst. I brought a million wet wipes, I think. I even devised a plan to really cut down on my meals so I won’t have to visit the toilet HAHAHAHAHA. To be honest, I’m the kind of person who can sleep anywhere. No bed, ok. Sleep on the ground, ok. BUT TOILET, CANNOT ANYHOW.

So yeah, when we entered our “hostel”, OMGOSH I saw the toilet and I jumped up and down with Anisah. HAHAHAHA. Damn funny seh like never see toilet before. Not any normal toilet eh, there was even a rain shower AND WATER HEATER. In my entire life, I’ve never felt happier to see a toilet. Seriously. HAHAHAHAHA. Ya, I just rambled two paragraphs on the washroom.

After all of us arrived, we walked down the steep slopes (eh sumpah tak bedek damn steep the kind you feel like anytime you gonna slip and fall off the cliff HAHA drama) of the village to the local mosque! The kids study in a classroom there so we decided to pay a visit to the classroom that we were going to use for the next 9 days.

When I first saw the classroom, my heart sank. Really. In picture, it looks quite okay. But the truth is, it was dark, super dusty and there was a funny smell. Immediately, I felt so thankful. Alhamdulillah, I was given the chance to study in a clean environment and then, even with such an environment, I felt so lazy to go to school. These kids go to school everyday, going down the steep slopes and walk from super far away. Ah, such is life.

When I saw this super cute kid, I thought of my bestfriend, Aini. HAHA cos she loves Apples!

The Imam’s two daughters. So cute. I realise that the people there usually just let their children wander off on their own. Even with the steep slopes and sudden cliffs and all, somehow the toddlers there kind of know where they shouldn’t go. Street smart.

Our first group shot right infront of the newly built school!

Our first meal there! AHHHH it was so niceeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. There was a huge spread of food but then it was our first time using chopsticks to eat rice. So ya, can you imagine, I think rice flew everywhere huhu.