Hong Kong

Some photos from my previous Hong Kong trip.

Thean Hou Temple

The Thean Hou Temple (天后宫) is a landmark six-tiered Chinese temple. It is located on a land atop Robson Heights along Lorong Bellamy, overlooking Jalan Syed Putra (Federal Highway). It was completed in 1987 and officially opened in 1989. The property belongs to and is run by the Selangor & Federal Territory Hainan Association (Persatuan Hainan Selangor & Wilayah Persekutuan). This temple, built by the Hainanese community living in Kuala Lumpur is dedicated to Goddess Tian Hou (The Heavenly Mother).



I was there in Feb 2008, it was during Chinese New Year. Of cause my reason there was not because of Chinese New Year, but to attend my brother registration ceremony. The whole temple was decorated and full with red lantern. This made the temple looks so grand. After the ceremony of the registration, we walked upstairs to make a pray.

The prayer hall houses 3 altars, each with a sculpture of one deity or goddess. As one enters the prayer hall, the altar on the right is dedicated to Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. Tian Hou is in the centre while Shui Wei Sheng Niang (the Goddess of the Waterfront) is at the left. In the middle of the hall and between the altars are two pairs of Kau Cim oracles that can be used by visitors.



Despite the dedication to Tian Hou, worship of Guan Yin (or "Guan Shi-Yin") is a recurrent theme at the Thean Hou Temple.

English Garden, Munich

The Munich English Garden is a huge park which stretches alongside the river Isar from almost the very center to the northernmost rim of the city. The park covers 3.73 square kilometers which makes it the largest city park in Europe and larger than New York's Central Park (3.4 square kilometers).

When I was there, it was summer time. The weather was good, and there were a lot people went for sun bathing.

English Garden is really a great place for recreation. River, field, grass, sunshine...... a natural place for resting and enjoying. After a whole day walking in Munich city, I was abit tired. I lied down on the field, looking around and taking photos.



After few minutes resting, I continued my journey. I came to the Japanese Tea House. The Japanese Tea House and Chinese Tower in the park are landmarks in their own right, the Tea House being a gift from Japan's emperor. The Chinese Tower is a restaurant and beer garden which serves mainly German cuisine. However, I was not able to see the Chinese Tower, maybe I was not walking deep into English Garden enough.



The scenery around Japanese Tea House was really good. But since it was Sunday, the tea house was not opened for tourist to visit it. However, it was enough for us to just taking photos around it. There are swan, ducks swimming on the lake.

After taking all the photos, I ended my journey in English Garden.

Chinese New Year Eve

We are celebrating Chinese New Year now!!! During the eve of Chinese New Year, as usual, after our reunion dinner with family, we went to Jonker Street to make the first pray in Cheng Hoon Teng. It was crowded (people mountain people sea :p). No hesitation, when we first step in Cheng Hoon Teng, we started to squize with people.

Besides praying in Cheng Hoon Teng, of cause we took a walk around jonker walk. The whole street was decorated in red colour to celebrate Chinese New Year. The atmostphere was so good, we were totally in Chinese New Year mood already! We didn't joined the count down here, as when we reached here, it was around 1am already (this is to avoid the crowd).



After that, we continued our celebration. We went to a friend's house. Doing what? I think all of us will know it :p

Munich City Tour 2

Continued with previous post......

After visiting several places, we decided to have our lunch first. We came to a restaurant (actually is similar to a hawker center). We choose a Italian food stall. I have ordered a pizza. The portion was big (always too big for us), the taste was good also. I tried my best to finish the pizza, oopss, I was too full to finish up the whole pizza.



After our lunch, we just walked around the city and went to the Deutches Museum. That's all I spent my first whole day in Munich.

Munich City Tour

Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria and a Gamma World City. There are, in fact, three locations in Bavaria known as "München" - the one referred to as "Munich", one northeast of Nuremberg, and one north of Passau. Munich is located on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps.

Munich is Germany's third largest city after Berlin and Hamburg. The city has a population of 1.35 million and the Munich Metropolitan Region is home to around 4,65 million people.

When the first time I was in Munich, it was in May. It was end of spring and the starting of summer day. The weather and temperature was 'not stable' as it would sometimes hot and sometimes cold.

I arrived the Munich airport around 10am in the morning, after taking a train to Derag hotel, it was around 11am. Right after checkin to the hotel, I followed my colleagues to have a city tour around Munich.



The first place we went of course was Marienplatz, it is the center of the whole city. Our tour will start from Marienplatz. It was so coincidence that when we arrived there, the tower clock was just starting to sound (it was 12pm sharp). It was crowded by people looking at the clock.

After that, we came to a tower, we walk up to have a look on the whole city view. It was really great to see the Munich view here.



After that, we took a walk around Marienplatz and Karlplatz. This was the first time I been to Europe, so everything was new to me, the lifestyle, people, buildings..... Because it was Sunday, all the shops were not opened, except restaurant. So, I was not able to visit or buy anything in any shops.



We came to the most famous beer garden in Munich, Hofbraushaus. It was a very typical beer garden in Germany, and it has the best beer in Munich. I didn't take any beer here at this time, but I did come again after that, and had 1 litre of weis beer. It was great, I love the beer here.

to be continued......

Horse Museum

Horse Museum, another exciting trip in Regensburg. I was brought by my colleague, who is staying in Regensburg, to this special museum. I never been to such kind of museum and I was so curiosity to know how is the museum when I was on the way there.

After taking my lunch in a restaurant, i was sitting in my colleague's husband's car. He is really a fast driver. He drove by more than 220 km/h speed towards our destination. I can never drive in this speed in my country, as our maximum speed is just 110km/h.

Since I was in the speeding car, it just took a while to reach the Horse Museum. The first thing I saw when i stepped into the museum was several traditional house buildings in Germany. This is the first time I saw these types of buildings.

The whole building is built from woods and soil. Yes, it uses soil to build up the wall. The outlook of the house is quite nice.



After had a look on the houses, we came to a field, which crowded with people and horses!!! On the way, we might see horses passed by us.

We ended up this trip by having a beer before going our from the museum. Actually we did not finish visiting this museum, there are quite some parts we didn't go due to not enough time. The day came to evening, and its time for us to say goodbye to the horses.

Regensburg

In September 2007, I was in Munich and was having a business trip over there. I had few weekends to have some sight seeing around Germany. It was a good chance that my colleague, who is a German, planned to bring me to visit the other colleague who is staying in Regensburg. I was so glad about this arrangement as I may have a free trip to Regensburg.

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate. The large medieval center of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In the early morning, my colleague driving to my hotel to pick me up to Regensburg. I was staying in Grassbrunn during that time. We take around 2 hours journey to reach Regensburg.

From far away, I already able to see the Dom. The Dom (Cathedral) is a very interesting example of pure German Gothic and counts as the main work of Gothic architecture in Bavaria. It was founded in 1275 and completed in 1634, with the exception of the towers, which were finished in 1869. The interior contains numerous interesting monuments, including one of Peter Vischer's masterpieces. Adjoining the cloisters are two chapels of earlier date than the cathedral itself, one of which, known as the old cathedral, goes back perhaps to the 8th century. The official choir for the liturgical music at St Peter's Cathedral are the famous Regensburger Domspatzen.



As it was Sunday morning, I was not able to go in for a visit because praying is going on in the church. I took some photos of the Dom, and found out there is a sun clock on the wall. It was very interesting. However, it was too complicated for me to understand how to read the exact time from the clock.

It was a sunny day and its really a good weather, we took a walk around the whole city before visiting my colleague.

I love the buildings here, it is full of different attractive colors. All the colors combination are so nice.



The Stone Bridge, built 1135–1146, is a highlight of medieval bridge building. The knights of the 2nd and 3rd crusade used it to cross the Danube on their way to the Holy Land.

Regens River

In the afternoon, we walked back to the Dom and took a visit into it. It is really a very nice church.

It was a great trip to Regensburg. After that, we continued our journey to the Horse Museum.

萨尔茨堡 Salzburg

萨尔茨堡（Salzburg），是奥地利共和国萨尔茨堡州的首府，人口约15万，是继维也纳、格拉茨和林茨之后的奥地利第四大城市。萨尔茨堡位于奥地利的西部，是阿尔卑斯山脉的门庭，城市的建筑风格以巴洛克为主，城市的历史相当悠久，是一个有着传奇历史和迷人风情的古老山城。萨尔茨堡更是著名音乐家莫扎特（Mozart）的家乡，电影《音乐之声》的拍摄地，是奥地利最美丽的城市。

在２００7年９月，我乘搭了火车由德国到萨尔茨堡这古老的城市一日游。在清晨我就从火车站出发了，车程大约４小时，一个漫长的旅途。

迷人风情的古老山城

一到达萨尔茨堡中心，莫扎特的肖象就在一个广场的正中间。接着就是古老风貌的建筑物。

莫扎特

在这只卖一种巧克力，＂莫扎特巧克力＂。红彤彤的包装，非常抢眼，就连整间店铺都红彤彤的喜气洋洋。


萨尔茨堡城内巴洛克式的建筑风格具有独特的魅力，主要代表是萨尔茨堡天主教堂和米哈贝尔花园。萨尔茨堡大教堂重建于1614年至1628年，是阿尔卑斯山北侧的第一座巴洛克式教堂，圣彼得修道院是德语区内的第一座修道院。诺恩贝尔格的贝内迪克汀嫩修女院是全世界现存历史最悠久的女修道院。

萨尔茨堡大教堂

萨尔茨堡到处都有人表演音乐，个个表演都很吸引人，而且还有销售各自的专辑。以下第二张照片当中的音乐家，是几个表演中最吸引我的一个，他用手碰触一个个玻璃杯，奏出动听的音乐。



在这欧洲的古老城市，竟然给我看见以下这张照片：

这＂麻将＂两个字让我傻眼......