..... of food and drinks on The Silk Road

Of course, Chinese food predominates The Silk Road and there is little difference from those available at home. So, Yours Sincerely wants to blog about the food that I find interesting. Lamb is the main meat eaten all along The Silk Road, and its also happens to be Y S' favourite.

Huge chunks of lamp are being cut, heavily seasoned with spices and skewed through long bamboo sticks to be barbecued over slow fire. The aroma is very inviting and the taste is mouth-watering. Y S can make a do with 10 to 20 sticks in one sitting !

This is their giant nun bread which is heavily laced with sesame seeds. O la la when warm and moist and could be a little dry and dull when cold. 5 Yuans (RM2.50) per piece.


This is sort of rolled up "koeyteow" in black sauce.

This man is busy preparing "Ramen" or literally translated as "Pulled Noodles." It is served with spicy and oily lamp stew. Another O la la.

This is where the giant lamb " satays" are barbecued. There is a flat tray of spices for you to lace the "satay" with if you want it to be more spicy.

This happens to be the largest barbecue pit in Urumuqi or China. It can barbecue 10 lambs at one go. You can imagine the "lamby" aroma in the air. Enough to make you salivate. ( You see, the Chinese have to be the longest, tallestt and biggest in almost everything after the last Olympic !!!)

Of course, the proof is in the eating. Y S has a go with a lamb's hind leg and down it with Chinese beer. This is the BEST way to taste berbacued lamb. Hmmm !!! Never had so much and good before. O la la.

This nearly broke someone's teeth. This is camel's meat cooked among polished river pebbles. So, the darker pieces are not mushrooms but pebbles. They are heated and then used to cook the meat. A novelty !

Y S found this pieces of cakes along the Muslim Street of Xi An. They look like slices of melons and taste like jelly.

This is another delicious snack which tastes like persimmon found at the Muslim Street of Xi An.

Orchards abound all along The Silk Road. Grapes, oranges, apples and melons are in abundance and cheap.

This is "Ramen" prepared in a 5-star restaurant. Btw the one Y S had by the road side tasted better.
Y S had a go with all sorts of Chinese beer which is cheaper that Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola. This is astrange beer for Muslims in Uurumugi.

More beer all along The Silk Road.

More and more beer as you go along.

When you travel eat strange and exotic food.

Live and see the other side of the globe.

.... of tranportation on "The Silk Road"

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) has always been enthralled by the travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler who managed an overland caravan journey from Venice to the courts of the Mongol Emperor in China.

Images of the "ships of the desert" , the hardy, faithful and docile camels never fail to capture one's imagination when talking about "The Silk Road." Y S only wishes to highlight extraordinary, interesting and enthralling aspects of the journey which Y S experienced since factual expositions can be found all over the travel sites of the inter-net, like the Lonely Planet.


A big portion of The Silk Road now is traveled over road like this. Our coach overtook and was overtaken by countless over-laden lorries. The over-taking margin between vehicles is in inches !

Some parts of The Silk Roads are completely covered by the sand of the Gobi Desert.

Btw the the ladies are not mountain trekking but climbing over a ridge to ...............relieve themselves !!! You see, there is no toilet facilities all along the way. Somehow, the coach driver through experience could locate spots where these ladies could be shielded from the passing vechiles. As for the men....we....just........ let go by the road side. Well, in a way, we are helping to water some of the shrubs by the road side. LOL

The Chinese diesel train, disappointingly not the elevated ones that travel to Tibet, is part of the transportation on The Silk Route. The over-night 700km journey from Xi An to Lan Zhou in a cabin has just enough space for 4 travelers and could be quite claustrophobic for some. For those who are prudent and highly polished, they may not even dare to f a r t for it takes some time for the effect to dissipate in such an enclosed area and all the more in such cool and air-thin atmosphere. LOL

Y S and Better Half shared a cabin with another friendly couple. Somehow a small space becomes cozier with good people. Nobody snored, perhaps nobody dared to sleep and snore.

The donkey cart trip is to the noble ruins of Gaochong, the ancient Uyghur capital in the Gobi Desert.

This is the horse ride in the steppe grassland Kelawucheng Mountains. The Kazaks still live here with their herds of sheep, cattle and horses.

This is the cruise on a glacier lake, Heavenly Lake , in the Tianshan Mountains, 115 kilometres of Urumuqi. 1980 meters above sea level and is hemmed in by the towering snow-capped Bagda Peak. The water is emerald and crystal clear. Captivating scenery!

The camel transport is to the oasis at The Crescent Lake, south of Dunhuang city, in the Gobi Desert.

This is an ancient raft made of whole dried sheep skin whose body content has been "excavated" and human lung-blown into shape to float on the Hwang Ho River, "The Sorrow of China,"at Lan Zhuo. They still smell 'sheepy." It can easily take 6 passengers and can traverse white waters.
Without a few internal air transits in China, The Silk Road could be arduous. Of course, one isn't that eager to repeat the return journey so a flight from Urumuqi to Canton is very welcoming - 6 hour flight compared to 4 or 5 day dusty road trip plus 2 or 3 hotel overnights.

The numerous transportation makes The Silk Road interesting.

...... Hols begins when travelling is done

This is Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) on the last leg of transit flights from Canton to Penang after 12 days of "official" work : ungodly hours of morning calls; flight transit after transit ; long hours of coach riding; hours of lectures from the various tour guides; many more hours of sales talks and enticements from greedy Chinese sales people; several captivating cultural shows; a multitude of awesome scenery; countless meals of exotic food; a sea of endearing faces; countless opening and closing of luggage and the list is unending. Phew ! Finally, it is home sweet home. Y S has to thank the Almighty for the safe journey all the way.

"The Silk Road" will be blogged in stages.

Holidays begins when traveling ends.

........ of working or holidaying

This blog takes a short rest. Yours Sincerely ( Y S )and better half are working again on an expedition along Marco Polo's "Silk Route " in north-west China. Most people think that traveling is hectic , especially on an organised tour. You see, they wake you up very early in the morning, stuff breakfast into your system and off you go to see places. You are only back again at the hotel at 7 or 8 pm for dinner and you have to send yourself off to bed early to generate energy for the following day's itinerary. This goes on for 10 or 12 days. So, when you come home, you need another holiday to get over the other holiday.

As for the retirees, Y S thinks that they have their holidays well and good when they are not traveling, i.e. when they are at home; no alarm clock to wake them up and, of course, no clock in or clock out of their working days. So, everyday is then a holiday until they start to pack their bags and travel. Then, they are subjected to a timetable, a routine or an itinerary. So, they are working until they come home for their holiday.

" All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go .......... " Till after my work ........ Take care. GBU.

.... of staying in LOVE

LOVE is another 4-lettered word which has misled, confused, complicated, motivated, built and destroyed, in fact you can substitute any verb you can think of.

Some say it is blind. Others say they are drawn into it. Still many claim to have fallen into it. Many more have fallen out of it. Some say it happens at first sight. Some could not sleep, others could not eat because of it. Of course, almost all agree that they got married because of it. FALLING IN LOVE IS EASY, BUT STAYING IN LOVE IS SOMETHING VERY SPECIAL.

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) attended the 45th Wedding Anniversary of a friend. 45 years is a huge amount of time devoted to ONE person and vice versa. What keep them going on ? What is the recipe of a long, fruitful and joyful marriage? What keeps the luster or radiance in a marriage when there are mountains of files in the divorce courts?

The secret, if it is a secret at all, is to keep falling in love again and again .............................
................................................. ( continue reading ) ................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................................................
with the same woman or man !!!

Many have failed in their matrimony for the simple fact that they want a perfect wife or husband without realizing that being the right person is even more important.

Love at first sight is easy to understand. It is when two people have been looking at each other for nearly a lifetime that it becomes a miracle ! The middle and end years of marriage are even more critical. In the early years, spouses want each other and in the late years, they need each other. "Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without. " James C. Dobson.

Y S' favourite writer, Agatha Christie, once said that an archeologist is the best husband any woman can have. The older she is, the more he is interested in her ! LOL

... of one forgotten by God

Chain-smoking whisky drinker marks 100th birthday

Arthur Langran celebrated his 100th birthday drinking pints of ale with his family and friends

A lifelong chain-smoker has celebrated reaching his 100th birthday - despite puffing his way through nearly 300,000 fags.

Hard-living Arthur Langran has smoked at least 10 cigarettes a day since the age of 20.

The father-of-two also religiously drinks a dram of Macallan single malt Scotch whiskey every evening before getting into bed.

Arthur, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in Britain celebrated his 100th birthday drinking pints of ale with his family and friends at his local pub - The George - in Hintlesham, Suffolk, which is run by his youngest son John, 57 on Sept 8.

He said: "I always say the secret is doing things you’re not told to do."

"I have been smoking since I was 20 and I still enjoy it, and a pipe. I have a whiskey every night."

"I also like reading the papers and doing crosswords with the help of my son John."

Arthur’s eldest son Peter, 62, revealed that doctors have told his father to keep smoking.

He added: "Dad has smoked roll-ups since he was 20-years-old and more recently used a pipe."

"These days he rolls himself five or six a day but used to smoke more and has his pipe once in the morning and once in the afternoon."

"He has a small single malt whiskey every night. He’s been doing that ever since he was elderly."

"He’s had a tough old life. He was an orphan, had a terrible time living and working in Canada and was blown up by a grenade in the war."

"The doctor has said its not worth getting him to give up the cigarettes. He’s still in good health despite the smoking and still mobile and gets up stairs whenever he wants."

Arthur was born an orphan and sent to Canada by National Children Homes when he was just 14 years old to work as a farmhand.

He returned to Britain in 1940 when he was 30-years-old so he could join the Army and fight Hitler and the Nazis in the Second World War.

It was also the same year that he smoked his first cigarette, shortly after signing up with the Suffolk Regiment.

He was married to Ivy who sadly died in 2000.
Source:swns.com

Published Sept 25 2010

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) is baffled by this piece of news. This is certainly one fella forgotten by God

So, does abstinence from tobacco and liquor always pay ?

Liquor is still satan's urine and tobacco smoke is still satan's fart.

...... of beauty and women

Yours Sincerely ( Y S ) used to presume that a beautiful wife is not the sole possession of her husband, beloved or not. Wherever she went, heads turned and eyes ogled. While some husbands might feel proud and share the glory of their prized possession which attracted so much attention and praises, but others might feel some degree of lost as if their coveted possession wore out a little with each gaze and ogling. Yet, there were others who did not appreciate what they already had and kept coveting their neighbour's supposedly greener lawn. Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we are not the ones to judge. And beauty may be skin deep, yet ugliness goes right to the bone.

What is beauty in a woman ? Sophia Loren once said that " Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief she is beautiful." It is a sort of bloom on a woman. If you have it you don't need to have anything else; and if you don't have it, it doesn't much matter what else you have. Of course, the cosmetic and fashion conglomerates would deny it to their dying breath for they have lied to the fairer sex all this while by suggesting that if you don't have it they can provide it. Use this brand and wear that brand !!! Well, fashion itself is a form of ugliness and it has to be changed very often. By the way, even cosmetic surgeons have jumped onto the band wagon. Cut this out, add this on, suck that out and inject this in !!!

They say that plain women know more about men than beautiful ones do. But beautiful women don't need to know about men. It is the men who have to know about beautiful women. The whole trouble is due to the fact that in every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty. And many have been made slaves !!!

Well, Y S likes what Sloan Wilson once said, " The definition of a beautiful woman is one who loves me." And there is a difference between beauty and charm. A beautiful woman is one I notice. A charming woman is one who notices me. LOL

Everything beautiful has its moment and then passes away so they claim. But what is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful.

Let us be good so that we can be beautiful .............