Beijing 2024 - 3D Paint Kit from Beijing

 

This post is about how the paint kit turned out! I was excited to try it. It's a 3D painting, and I wanted to see how good it was. So here goes!

It was pretty cool that they guide you in how to paint the painting. It's all in chinese, and I think there is even a video clip to show you how to paint it. But sometimes, as like those paint-by-number kit, you don't really have to follow the instructions fully. Just let your creative juice flow!

What the kit looked like with all the content inside. It's a pretty small painting.

I like the saying on this. Creating things does make me feel happy! If I don't create things for a long time, I get pretty agitated. Create includes blogging, cooking, art and craft, or just producing something. I don't know how to explain it, but when you keep on consuming things, you feel like your life is pretty useless. At least that is how I felt. I needed to produce things to feel alive. I also need to pick up on new music from time to time to feel like I am still alive and relevant. I hate not liking any new songs, it makes me feel somehow like I'm left behind, old, and jaded. So yes, I do still listen to new songs. Even without radio, it is amazing how I discover different genre of music from instagram or YouTube. I think people should always stay relevant, whether in technology, news, and the arts. 

Painting half way. I did enjoyed it a lot.

The end product. I actually felt that I did a very good job, especially with the shading and shadows. 

My own art corner at home. How pretty! 

Lighting up my life daily :) There is always sunshine in my home in Penang :)  Above is the desk in my bedroom. In 2025, I also got an even smaller paint kit, also of Van Gogh. This time, it's the painting Starry Starry Night. I look forward to painting it as I will be back for 3 weeks soon. 

This is the end of my Beijing trip post. I may take a break from blogging for a while. The number of trips I'm making are now overshadowing my blog load! So much back log to clear! I don't even know what I should blog next! I have my 2024 Japan trip, and for 2025 the list of trips to blog includes: Scotland, Central Danang, Shanghai/Suzhou/Hangzhou, and by the time this post in published, the Balkans! Oh my goodness! At this rate, I can never hope to catch up! But I guess that is a good problem :)  

Beijing 2024 - Souvenirs and Snacks from Beijing

 

This post is all about the cool stuff I got from my trip to Beijing. Whenever I travel, I usually like to get perishable stuff so that they don't clutter my house. But seriously, they still do sometimes. Above is the white tea I got from a tea merchant in Shanghai. The tea came in a tin and cost around 10sgd. Inside are 10 packets of sealed white tea leaves. I like how it's sold this way. The tea was pretty nice. And the small green book you see there, it's a book of Tea! I got it from a bookstore, and it's pretty cheap, maybe just 2sgd book? But it looked so cool, and it does contain content about tea culture and appreciation. 

Proof of purchase and origin of the white tea.

I also got a box of cool cakes from Niu Jie supermarket. So I guess that makes the cakes Halal.

I knew these were going to be sweet and bean paste taste, but I still got them anyway cause look at them! Aren't they pretty? They weren't too expensive either for a whole box. I figure worst case I could have them for breakfast or tea time snacks daily. They look so pretty!

I also got these snow crisp snacks and red date snacks. I bought a big bag, so I'm not distributing them to smaller portion to share with my relatives and friend as token from my trip. 

And this is how I enjoy these snacks. I love these so much I bought another 3 packets on my recently trip to China. This coming Christmas, I will also attempt to try making these on my own. I mean, if I love them so much and spent to much money on them, might as well try making them on my own and see how it goes. Will update here if successful! 

Mooncakes from Shanghai. It was easy to eat these for breakfast or tea, or even supper. As long as you eat only one per time, it was pretty manageable. The tea also helps washed down the sweetness of the taste. 

I think these are mixed nuts mooncake with preserved ham. They were pretty cheap at the supermarket in Shanghai. 

What they looked like inside. 

Lol, I ate so much mooncake, of different shapes and sizes!

Practically can last a month!

I guess this is how I extend the feeling of my trip. It's always nice to eat something from the country you've visited. It lets you go back to that time and place, and for your to remember the wonderful time you had there :) It's a sensory experience as well. And since it's food, you can't say it's a waste of money cause it act as a meal in your daily life at home too :P

Yeah, just excuses to indulged :P

And lastly, my husband got me this paint kit I really wanted. I saw it in a KKV shop in Penang, but they didn't have the one I wanted with the gold frame. KKV is a China shop, so when we were there, we still couldn't find the shop, but we did manage to find it online. And the great thing about China is, you could buy anything online and have it deliver to you within the day, or rather, within 30mins sometimes! So my husband got me this as a present, along with the white tea which I wanted :)  Thank you hubby!

Beijing 2024 - Breakfast and Transit at Changi Sunflower Airport

 

Our flight back, transiting in Changi Airport before continuing on home to Penang, lol. After going so long without Nanyang style coffee, we decided to exit the gate and have a very local breakfast.

Ah, I miss nasi lemak and all it's spices! Along with our kaya toast and soft boiled eggs. A very satisfying Singapore breakfast! Although also very expensive! Lol.

We also finally had the time to go see all the Sunflower deco around the airport. We didn't have time on our way to China as our flight was delayed for almost an hour. So now, our task was to run around the airport to view all the sunflowers! We covered T1 to T3, but was too lazy to take a bus to T4, lol. 

I would say some of the deco was pretty impressive!

Since it was early morning, it was nice going around when the airport was quite empty. I love real sunflowers. Actually, I love real flowers more than fake ones. And sunflowers are special, cause I love Vincent Van Gogh. So it's extra special.

Wefie with a giant Sunflower!

Look how big those real ones are! The flower is as big as my face!

After the chaos of China, or any country really, it is always so relaxing to be back in Singapore where everything is clean, safe, and orderly. I say this even when I am coming back from Malaysia, especially JB. The moment I enter the immigration area, I knew I could let my guards down. 

Husband, fooling around at the airport.

Me with all the sunflowers behind me :)  It was a good trip!

Beijing 2024 - Dinner at Beijing Airport and Flight Back

 

We spend so much time at the airport that we had time for tea and dinner before even being able to check in for our flight. Since it would probably be our last meal in China, I wanted to try some sour vegetables soup again for my last meal. I saw an affordable shop nearby so I suggested that we have our dinner there.

38yuan for a meal, roughly 7sgd? Kinda expensive, but that's what airport food is like for you. At this stage, my husband has finished all his cash, so I had to use my remaining cash for our dinner. 

Above was what  he ordered. He has always been a pork person.

And here is mine. The soup wasn't as tasty as the one I had downtown in Shanghai, but I guess it was better than nothing. This was one of the more budget cafe. The rest of the eating places was more restaurant graded area. 

around 7pm or so, I think we were allowed to check in, and finally made in into the departure area after clearing custom and immigration. Inside the departure area, it was again, pretty futuristic. However, since our flight was almost midnight, the aircon did shut down at 10pm, and most of the shops were closed. Some people had to resort to eating instant noodles for their dinner. So in some sense, I was grade we ate before coming in. And although the place looked spotless with carpet flooring, do take note that it may not be as clean as it looked. We saw a well suited gentlemen actually split on the carpet floor at the departure gate as if it was the most natural thing to do. Yes, in China, spitting is pretty common..... 

Finally on our flight back to Singapore! We flew SQ, so we got a nice dinner after midnight, lol. 

Bye bye China! Until next time. This trip was in September 2024. I went back again alone in September 2025 to meet my friend there, as well as visit another friend from Shanghai. What a wonderful trip, visiting Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou. I never imagined that China would ever be one of my favourite places to visit, like ever, in my life! At it stood now, I have been to China the same number of time as I have been to India! So next year, I can actually feel more Chinese again after my visit to Xian. I hope my friend won't 'fly me airplane' again next year!

Beijing 2024 - Headed to Beijing Airport For Flight Home

 

Sigh. Time to leave Beijing. After collecting our luggage from the hutong hotel, we made our way to the nearest metro station to take the metro to the airport. We had plenty of time. 

Arriving at the airport, above is what the outside looked like.

Here is another view. So far every airport in China looked futuristic and new. But don't be fooled too early. Some things could still be improved. Like for example, there is actually no aircon at the check in counter area in this airport. At during the afternoon evening sun, it can get pretty hot inside! Even after checking in and going to the departure gates, there are aircon inside the departure gates area, but only till 10pm! Yup, they shut off the aircon at 10pm......

Still, it does looked pretty on the outside. 

We had a lot of time outside while waiting to check in. So I walked around and round the airport and it's three levels a few time.

There were some food places and a large massage area on the 3rd floor, that's where you see this beautiful light up temple like place was. 

I went and see the marble dragons at the arrival hall too. I saw it during arrival, but when you arrive at a place, you're always in a hurry to get going. So now that I am departing, I have more time to wander around and take in the details of the airport. 

So many white dragons!

Lalala

Tea break, some camel milk candy anyone? 

Beef pie?

Not too bad to munch away time.