Winter Hike @ Mount Hua in Xian, Shaanxi.

It was the most unforgettable experience in my whole life to climb the Mount Hua (Huashan) in Xian. It is the scariest of the 5 Sacred Mountains in the whole of China for its steepest altitudes. The scenery was awesome and breathtaking as we climbed higher and got closer to heavens!

These mountains have several peaks at the North, South, East and West directions with the highest at 7,070 feet!!!!!! (2155 meters) Yes, we reached the top and screamed our jubilant lungs out!

Our tour guide and driver picked us up from the Citadines Hotel at 8:00am and drove some 120 kilometers to a town near Huayin at the East of Xian. Here, we took the special bus that traveled on the most bumpy roads to the Cable Car Station. If I was pregnant, I could have gotten instant miscarriage on the bus!

The Cable Car Station was at the bottom of the white rocky mountains. We were lucky as the sky was clear and it just snowed the day before otherwise they will not allow us to visit. It is subject to daily weather conditions during Winter in Xian.

We jumped into the moving cable car and it brought us up very high to the peak of a smaller mountain.

The view was lovely at every direction. I would pause and admire them like priceless paintings! We could only admire such panoramic scenery in China.

 

Here is the map showing the various peaks of all directions. Most of the hikers would try to climb all of them. It was very tough to cross-climb from peak to peak.Crazy!

 

The steps were short and narrow which were extremely dangerous as it was a 2-Way traffic for hikers! As we all know, many folks are selfish and rudest beings who loved to shove & push others!

Many couples and love birds bought padlocks and clamped them everywhere! You could see hundreds of thousands of padlocks with messages. They would throw their keys into the wildness after tying them with red cloths. Do you think it works?

I think the padlocks would add more pressure to the relationships! It is like tying yourself down. I would prefer to allow my honey to breathe and live freely & happily! I believe that Good Marriages are sometimes arranged by the Heavens.

Along the route up, there are many small shrines of different Taosim deities. I offered my respects to all and put in small donations to bless us to have a safe journey up the Mount Hua.

As we climbed along for many hours, the beautiful scenery was simply breathtaking and heavenly. I was hoping to see some fairies flying above.

Most treks were very tough and not for the weak ones. You have to pull yourself upwards by tugging at their rusty chains. Many people slipped and sprained their ankles. We bought new shoes just for this trip to climb.

As we got higher, it was getting colder at Minus 5 degrees with snow everywhere. The snow melted in many areas and formed ice!!! IT WAS SO DANGEROUS!

My wife has the fighter's spirit who loves any type of adventures, She dragged me up to Mount Kinabalu and now lured me up to Mount Hua. This one was tougher than climbing Mount Kinabalu so many times!!! It was too cold and I could hardly breathe. I wanted to bury myself in the snow and die.

I was grumbling non stop and my wife just ignored me & went up ahead so proudly and happily like a small girl. She told the tour guide to watch over me. I nagged at him like a grandma all the way up as he always lied to me that the peak was just around the corner! All bullshits!

See what I mean??? There was ice everywhere and it was SO SLIPPERY! Many people fell flat and hurt their backs. It was so scary and my balls nearly dropped down many times.

 I could still smile and posed like "No Sweat".

I stopped grumbling when I saw so many tough old men who had to earn a miserable living. They had to carry heavy loads like bricks, gas cylinders and provisions up every day. They were paid very little like MYR20 per trip! MY GOODNESS!

They are building a nice shrine at another peak. The workers had to shoulder carry up every single brick, tiles and cement bags!!!! I have stopped complaining about my life now.

As we almost reached the top, the scenery became so calm and peaceful to see the mountains faraway. Many pine trees stood alone for centuries braving the 4 seasons all year long. This beautiful tree is 300 years old. Many other trees were well over 600 years old!

There was an old bell that stood at the edge of the rocky cliff. Many people stood there dangerously to pose for photographs.

 It was almost evening and the heavy mists enveloped the mountains faraway like a Chinese Brush Painting!

Look at the dangerous paths that only the brave hearts could endure for hours! One wrong move and you could fall below & DIE!!!!

I looked behind at the crowd who were SO SCARED!!!! It was so cold and windy to walk on the rugged tracks. We had to hold dearly for our lives to allow others to pass from opposite directions! If you slipped off, you would fall thousands of feet below & DIE!!!!!!!!

YAY! We managed to reach the TOP OF THE WORLD in China. The feeling was fantastic and I am always proud that my wife has always pushed me all the way! Oh man, I sound so sissy! LOL.

It was time to climb down. My spirit went limp and my limbs went numb! Anay collapsed on the granite bench! I was dying to soak inside the hot spa that night to nurse my 100% body aches after reaching 7000 feet. Why did Bosco soak himself when he had no aches?

Look at the very slippery ice paths all the way down the slopes. It was getting colder and colder towards late evening as the melted snow started to frost again! Many people hurriedly walked down to catch the last cable cars. THEY FELL FLAT like pancakes! Ouch!

 I walked slowly down like a happy grandma to admire the sunset scenery! Awww! I love this photo!

Wanna laugh? Scroll BELOW!

I was surprised that China still has very filthy & dirty toilets up in the mountains. They could not build the flushing systems up there so you could just poo into the hole. OMYGAWD! There were so many chunks of fresh brownies everywhere! Look at the photo below. See the light in between his legs??? Your poo will just roll out to nowhere!!!! They placed plastic buckets in the middle of the toilets and all the men just had to pee openly into the buckets! They would smoke happily and held their willy to pee while chit chatting and faced each other!!! Goodness - AMAZING CHINA MEN!

Winter in Xian - Terracotta Warriors & Horses

It has been my wife's dream to visit "The Silk Road" in China where the ancient traders used to ply and where Buddhism was first preached. I had planned this trip for some years and decided that it would be much cheaper to travel on our own instead of joining the tour. It was so relaxing and hassle-free. We started off with the ancient capital of Xian which is in the Shaanxi Province. Next year onwards, we hope to visit other towns along "The Silk Road" like Dunhuang, Urumqi, Inner Mongolia and others.

It was our first time flying a Chinese plane as it was the cheapest and only airlines to reach Xian with stopover in Guangzhou. The KL-Guangzhou's plane was only a 737! Goodness, my balls! All others were Airbus, so okay, free-balls! Their snack food were served in paper boxes with an orange inside! LOL. Dinner meals were proper and complete in typical trays. I saw with my own eyes how those stewardess were very rude to China's passengers! It seemed to be acceptable culture!

We hired a male personal tour guide Tom Liang, online before the trip with a private chauffeur car! The car was big & comfortable and I felt like an Emperor! We visited the most famous historical site first and it was the Terracotta Warriors & Horses Museum. It was built with huge roofs over the 3 giant pits where tourists could walk around the sides to view at the sites below. It was freezing Winter and the best time to visit Xian. You will have no chance to snap nice photos if you visit during other seasons. It would be very crowded with people!

The figures, dating from 3rd century BC, were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers in Lintong district. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses.

Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits near by First Emperor Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. The above photo is the Pit No. 1.

The above photos are Pit No. 2 & 3. I just posted a small section of the whole large pits. All the soldier statues were badly smashed & destroyed by enemies in later years and had to be fixed back one by one. They have not finished them since 1974! I could write many paragraphs about the warriors and their history but not here as you could google them.

There were altogether 13 dynasties during the reign of Xian being the first capital of China. Almost everything was naturally greyish and brownish during the ancient days. It was during the Tang Dynasty when colours were being used in everything from buildings, figurines and clothings. Our tour guide Tom Liang was extremely patient and shared all his valuable knowledge of Xian with us. He could converse in both both Mandarin & English fluently. Somehow I think it was better to express the history in Mandarin language.

 

It was the begining of Winter and we experienced the temp from 8 degrees Celcius down to Minus 5 degrees at the peak of Huashan Mountains. We ate our first typical Xian Dishes for lunch and the bill was less than RM25.It was delicious and nice.

The Kyoto Imperial Palace

Do you know the interesting facts that KYOTO was once the ancient capital of Japan? When it was moved the the present one, the name changed from KYO--TO to TO--KYO.

Our Japan trip was quite hectic as we tried to cover as many places possible in 1 week. The trip to The Kyoto Imperial Palace was the most relaxing as we were too early and had to wait for a few hours for the gate to open for the next limited visitors' session. 

This palace grounds is very huge in rectangular shape that measures 1.7km X 0.7km with many buildings inside the enclosure. It was first built in the year 794 and it was destroyed & rebuilt all together 8 times!

The Entrance Arches and High Walls of the Palace.

So we slowly walked outside the gardens and perimeter of the ancient palace. We had lunch at the cafe and lazed under the Pine Tree forest. It was lovely to smell really fresh Pine Trees.

I collected many dried Pine Cones from the Palace Grounds!!! Feng Shui Expert - Lilian Too often advised that we should collect the soil from very wealthy people's homes but I collected many Pine Cones from the palace grounds!!! Hope I will become someone very powerful and rich soon.

We stood by the side's disused gate for a photograph shoot and their sensor alarm triggered off. The whole bloody policemen can running out and whistled to shoo us off like Dogs!!! Woof!

We saw a small shrine outside the palace and went inside to pay our respects. The Japanese culture often have these little pieces of woods to write your wishes to hang up.

There was a hairy caterpillar hanging itself and many men took lazy naps in this park. They wore office suits and hid themselves there. If you cannot find your work staff at work, try to look for them at the KL or Taiping Lake Gardens or Penang's Botanical Gardens!

 We had little time left and decided to dance around the trees!! This special photo is dedicated to the world's famous & most talented blogger SK0617 who never failed to tease me and wife to run around the trees!

This lady was the appointed official tour guide who spoke the most beautiful American-English I ever heard from an Asian individual.

 Entrance to the palace's Main Building inside - Shishinden Hall For State Ceremonies.

 

The middle right photo shows the Main Building where the Emperor lived and slept. The Empress had her own separate building which was closed to visitors.

 

 

Close up of the Emperor's retreat area inside his palace. The Princess below lives with me in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

  

They have so many beautiful and neat gardens complete with free form lakes and bridges that would be a haven for lovers. The Japanese are so creative in landscaping and pruning bonsai miniature trees! Does the heavens look like this? I want to be there!

 

 The building that houses the Emperor's library with private court yards. Ahem Ahem.

 

 Heavens Is A Place On Earth.

I Am Moving House

I have been living in in this area for over 10 years and I want a change so badly! I have both good and very weird neighbours who love to gossip. When one neighbour heard that I was going to climb Mount Kinabalu 2 years ago, news spread like wildfire till the houses on my right and back rows knew about it. Further up behind, you will find a big round and nice auspicious Feng-Shui enhanced house of Tan Sri Liew Kee Sin (SP Setia Group) and next 2 roads away is Dato Seri Chan Kong Choy's house! Sounds so glam??? No, my house is just a miserable old one that measures only 24' X 100' and has inner courtyard! Those are very old antique houses that have courtyards where you could dry your laundry or create indoor gardens. My house is a multi leveled 2 1/2 storey type with high extremely high ceilings! My bedroom's attached bathroom has a ceiling that measures up to 20 feet! 

Recently, I had a shock of my life when aliens started attacking my house. My tummy turned upside down and puked when I saw mushrooms growing for the 3rd time by the cracks on the 3rd level of my house!!

 HORRORS!!!

 In the morning, it was like ahem ahem....yiaks!

 OMG!!! It greeted me Good Afternoon!

They can grow so fast within hours and overnight. The house is so damp and full of moisture! The ventilation is too good and airy. Does that means mushrooms must grow indoors?? I think I should consider opening a Twilight's Mushroom Farm!

Thank goodness, I am moving next month! Good bye Mushrooms!!

I want to be nearer to my parents and my office. Guess where I will be moving to?

 

I will be living close by to Ahem Simple Prince! He should open his Ahem-Burger stall by then!

We definitely need good and professional movers who know how to love and respect all our precious furniture and household items. You should trust this well known company in Melbourne ~ MAN WITH A VAN

Japanese Public Bath House

OSAKA - SENTO Experience

This post is about the eye opener I had in Japan, getting naked with soooo many men! Oh my goodness, I had never seen so many steamed sausages in boiled water tubs in my life. Muahahahaha!!!...

When I was a student in States, I lived and hung out with only Korean & Japanese students who also became room mates. I heard so much about their heavenly bathing rituals in Korea and Japan which is a daily routine like brushing our teeth. We need to join them in order to understand this bathing rituals which I must confess now that it was truly a very good experience. I overcame all the shyness right away as no one will look at your willy!

In Osaka, we bought the very special '2-Day Pass' which allowed anyone to take unlimited trips on the subway trains and visit any 36 different tourist places for FREE!!! It costs only 2,000 Yen (Less than RM80 / US$23) for the pass and it saved so much money knowing that each train ride will cost over RM10 and entrance tickets to sightseeing places will usually be over RM20-30 per entry. I could not visit all the places and merely covered like 8 places in 2 days! I picked one visit to their so called 'Hot Springs' which is illustrated below, using all borrowed photos!! 

PHOTOGRAPHY & TATTOO-BODIES ARE STRICTLY NOT ALLOWED INSIDE ANY HOT SPRINGS OR PUBLIC BATH HOUSES! (They don't allow tattoos as only the Yakuza gangsters will have these tattoos! Sorry, even if you have small cute tattoos on your neck, legs or arms, they will throw you out)

The Japanese culture is pretty unique and beautiful when one understands them well. They love bathing in the Spas and soak inside the warm mineral water pools at the many Hot Springs. They call it 'Sento' which is more like a luxury public bath Spa in the cities all over Japan whereas 'Onsen' is the traditional Hot Spring resorts located in country sides or near mountains where natural hot springs are available with rich minerals from the under ground. Now I understand why they have nice porcelain and spotless white skin with all the frequent mineral baths and healthier food. If the Japanese eat Goreng Pisangs and Nasi Lemak everyday, they may look oily like us!

One night after a very tiring day walking over 10km, I visited this Hot Springs Spa which was listed in the '2-day Pass'. It is a 'Sento' which is located on the roof top of this actual building.

 

Every Hot Springs Spa will have typical standard facilities and layout, like this vending machine where you just pay your entrance ticket which costs about RM35 to enter. Another vending machine will provide you shavers, combs, creams, gels or whatsoever toiletries you need for a small sum. I went in FREE as the '2-Day Pass' entitled  me a complimentary visit. The Japanese tourism authority is so generous to offer such packages to lure me. I will be visiting Japan again soon!

All the bathing and soaking areas have separate sections for Male (Blue) and Female (Red). You will be given a wrist-key to proceed to the locker area. You have to remove all your clothes and keep them inside the locker before entering the shower area.

You have to sit on the small stool with all the other naked men and towel scrub yourself with the bath foam, shampoo and conditioner provided at your cubicle. No one will look at you and it is not polite to stare at others too.

The luxurious Sento Spa which I went to, had similar cubicles like the above without partitions in between. All the hotels and Spas in Japan seem to use only 'Shiseido Brand' toiletries and the quality was really Super Excellent!

On the female section, everything will be the same in layout and my honey took a while to get used to the sights of Amazon bushes everywhere in the Watermelon farm. Ha ha ha!

After you have washed your whole body clean without any traces of soap, you proceed to parade stark nakedly wet to the hot and icy cold water pools of jacuzzi which is located in the interior section. They have digital temperature readings to show you, how hot each jacuzzi pool was. I loved the jacuzzi very much as the water jets were the STRONGEST I had ever enjoyed. It was really massaging any part of your body really hard and very strong. You can choose to 'massage' your feet soles, back, sides, tummy,  neck or even assholes!!! Wow! Shiok! The guys will move from hots pools to mineral pools and luke warm pools before submerging inside the Icy Cold Water pool for few seconds. They will go back to the hot and warm pools again, repeating the routine as per one's desire. My tired and aching body was instantly rejuvenated to Heavens! That was the best relaxation to remove stress and my skin looked brand new! I will definitely live to 100 years old in Japan.

This photo was the actual shot taken of the Spa I visited, where they created lovely landscaping in the open air. They have lovely green plants & waterfalls around the spas and jacuzzi pools with different small hot water tubs to soak in pairs and gaze the skies! They also have big wooden lanais where many men would lie and sleep like naked baby dolphins!! Many young fathers brought their young and infant sons along to bathe & have fun. I even spotted one huge sized Sumo wrestler who came and jumped into the pool! The water overflowed and I just giggled! What a sight!

Bathing and soaking in these 'Onsen' or 'Sento' pools are so popular with the Japanese folks for centuries and you can find thousands of such Sento havens throughout the country, usually located inside designated buildings or roof tops. I also saw many groups of friends and working colleagues who patronized that spa to relax and chat happily. If they open one in Malaysia, I will organize a Bloggers' Party there! Voila!

I visited the same spa twice and was surprised that more Japanese men in suit attires patronized that place near midnight hours. They smelled of alcohol and heavy nicotine with worn stressed facial looks that needed a good soak in the pools. The most shocking thing was the spa did provide quick massage services which were done by ladies who are clothed, inside the men's area! The naked men just walked bravely around her as if she does not exist! Not me, I hid my willy with the given small towel when I walked passed her! This haven will sure give the tired office workers a good bath and revitalization before they sleep! How nice!

 KYOTO - SENTO Experience

When I toured Kyoto, I decided to try their smaller traditional bath houses which does not have any frills or luxuries. The weather was cold and nice to dip inside the hot jacuzzis. It costs only RM4.00 to enter one which was located in some tiny dark lanes in downtown Kyoto. It was so old fashioned with wooden lockers that used wooden latches as locks!! Inside the lockers, you need to pull out a rattan-cane basket to put your belongings! Smaller sentos are usually operated by retired old couples or the owners themselves. They are friendlier and will politely guide you to the locker area.

 

Everything was small inside like the above photo with worn out floor tiles and furniture. I was told by a good friend who studied in Tokyo that he had to bathe there every night as his tiny studio apartment had no bathing shower facility at all except a squatting toilet. What a humble experience he had and today this friend owns a well known chain of watch shops in Malaysia.

 

I learned a lot about the Japanese culture and loved it.

All the above photos were borrowed for illustration purposes only and will be removed if the owner feels that his copyrights had been violated.

*****

Osaka Day 1 - Shitennoji Temple

I am sorry it took me ages to upload my Japan trip's photos to share as we all shot over 2,000 photos in total! Japan is the best country I have ever visited in my life as their history, environment, people and amazing culture is indeed very rich and truly unique. I will hopefully be visiting again soon as we only spent less than RM2,500 each for entire 8 days trip to Osaka, Kyoto and Nara!! Seeing is Believing!

Yes, that was LESS THAN RM2,500 instead of forking out over RM8,000 to join our specialized "Apple-Orange" Tour Agency! My expenses included return air-ticket, all the hotels, train rides, 3 daily meals and multiple baths at Hot-Springs! We all shopped like crazy women broke loose from Hell and that is additional expenses. Their country's tourism has dipped badly due to the earthquake & Sendai's disaster which drove most hotel operators to offer rock bottom rates at 70-80% discounts which was less than RM200 per night for comfortable 3-4 STAR hotels, not kidding!

Ahem! That's the handsome ME looking excited after touching down at Osaka's Kansai International Airport which is the only floating airport in the world that was built on a huge man-made island! I was truly impressed at the sight of their flood-lit runway in the sea from the aeroplane's window. Upon landing, we all took a high speed train from Kansai airport which raced its way to downtown Osaka and we quickly headed to the famous Ramen noodles stall in Namba, Osaka. We had to pay our orders into the vending machine before the young chefs would serve you. It was a cold Spring night and the hot soupy Ramen was really delicious with generous pieces of sliced pork! I stood by the pavement and ate hungrily like all the Japanese guys did.

That night we all slept at a 3 Star hotel in the happening Shinsaibashi area. The room was cozy and small which is a typical standard size in Japan. Next morning, we walked around the clean and spotless streets, breathing the very cool & refreshing Spring air. All the manhole covers are lovely with individual designs and names of every district. Thousands of folks rode bicycles everywhere along the specially paved cycling lanes where pedestrians walked on too. They have neat rows of parking racks for bicycles all over the country (see photo above). We walked a lot daily to save taxi fares after getting off the trains. I estimated that we walked between 10km to 20km by foot every day until I looked trimmed & burnt off 3kgs! That first day, we headed to the ancient Shitennoji Temple.

This spacious temple has very old statues and paintings inside where photography was strictly forbidden! It was founded by Prince Shotoku in year 593 and the Shintenno-ji is believed to be the oldest Buddhist temple in entire Japan. It is said that the Four Heavenly Kings enshrined in Shintennoji which eventually led Prince Shotoku to a victory against the Monobe who opposed the idea of adopting Buddhism.

 This is the serene looking deity or saint's statue which the Japanese visitors would bow deeply with respect for minutes. Alas, I didn't carry note pad like our seasoned traveling blogger William who never failed to jot down all details and names to share! I should cart him along my future trips!

Look at my honey, jumping like a bird taking flight. She had many crazy photos showing her in 'planking' or jumping poses everywhere, raising the Japanese eyebrows!

The surrounding compound was spaciously clean and neat with their famous patterned lines of pebble stones.

I learnt that the Japanese regarded deep orange as their auspicious colors whereas the Chinese would prefer bright red colors instead.

There were many stalls outside the perimeter of Shitennoji Temple where the folks were selling art wares, paintings and offered services like massages, face paintings as well as snack & beverages.

Caring For My Aged Parents

Ever since my aged parents migrated to KL city, they have been living comfortably in my brother's home. They do miss leaving all their social friends behind to spend their remaining years being around us. They have to visit doctors in various hospitals on weekly basis and that's where I have my duty as a son to fetch them around. My older siblings are in overseas. They often felt very lonely with the new environment here but that's part and parcel of life. Many of their friends and relatives of their age are no longer around too. I started to rekindle my relationship as a son with them after the gap when I went overseas. I treasure these moments and opportunity to pamper them as much as I could.



I have changed a lot after so many hospital visits with my parents. I got to see so many helpless, sickly patients including traumatic ones besides occasional prisoners being brought in too. They came in handcuffs feeling down and embarrassed in public view. I do feel sorry for them.

My mother has knee problems which weakens her mobility. She receives her weekly injections from the surgeon which is followed up by proper exercise immediately. The injections cost RM800 each time and the physiotherapy sessions cost RM149 per hour! That costs a bomb on monthly totals but it has helped her and improved her mobility. I am happy for that no matter how small improvements shown.

I realized the great importance for us to keep our bodies healthy. We need to eat well, sleep well and indulge in proper exercises everyday. Being sickly and helpless is a very sad matter for older patients. Not every aged parents will be able to have their loved ones to tend and care for their needs during their final journey in life.

Spare some thoughts today and listen to your body.
We must love ourselves always!