My World Tues - Children & Wishing Tree

Last Sunday my friends and I had a fulfilling moment helping out at the Young Buddhist Association Malaysia (YBAM) booth at the Shah Alam Buddhist Association in Bukit Rimah, Shah Alam. Our role was to get subscribers for YBAM's quarterly publication called Eastern Horizon.

Coincidentally our booth was just in front of the Wesak Wishing Tree. Thus, we also took the opportunity to encourage devotees to write their Wesak wishes on a card (in the form of a heart shape, similar to the leaves of a Bodhi Tree). When the Sunday School students finish class, our booth was surrounded by adorable children. I can't resist approaching them and encouraging them to write their wishes on those paper Bodhi leaves and hang them on the tree.

The children are naturally pure in thoughts. They wished for their parents to be happy, their sisters/brothers to be well, that they will grow tall and healthy and even that they will love their parents, and some older ones who are in Standard 6 (examination year) wish they would score 7As in their exam at the end of the year!

I had a really good time chatting with the children and hanging up their leaves for them! The children bring so much joy to me. And we even met some old friends. It was such a meaningful moment, well-spent!

This is a posting for My World Tuesday meme. More photos of lives around the world can be viewed at that portal. Do visit it!

My Curry Chicken

May 1st holiday is coming to an end. Today is the final day! Will have to wait till Oct 1st for another long holiday such as this ...duh....that means 5 months of wait!!! Grrrrrh........

I took the opportunity of being at home on a Monday (yah when all back in Malaysia are busy working!!) to cook curry chicken for lunch! It's my first major cooking session for a meal in Shanghai.

Ingredients:
=========

• Chicken


• A1 Indian Curry Past for Seafood (which I brought back from Malaysia during CNY holiday)


• Potatoes


• Brinjal


• Coconut drink (substitute for coconut milk and cheaper. Only cost RMB2.90 as compared to a can of coconut milk from Thailand which costs RMB12.00)


• Cinnamon stick
  
• Star anise

As the curry paste is all ready to cook, it saved me a lot of time and trouble from preparing the "rempah". No need to peel, slice and cut onions, garlic and chillies.

It was so simple. Just put everything into the wok and voila! In 20 mins, I have a wok of delicious Chicken Curry!!

It went very well with my "Pad Thai" - fried thai koay teow ~ left over from last night's dinner at Mah Boon Krong. The koay teow was so oily and I only managed to consume half of what I packed. The other half would be for dinner tonight. So not bad, huh. A plate of RMB32 koay teow for 3 meals. Which means I only spend RMB11 per meal!!

May 1st Holiday

Ever ride a bike in Shanghai? I did!!

During this May 1st holiday, it's my best opportunity to take my bike out for rides around town. So far I have covered Xintiandi, The Bund and Yu Yuan trails. Next I hope to go to Century Park in Pudong. And later on join a local cycling group and try to cover as many miles as possible on weekends.....who knows may help me to lose some weight and at the same time I will discover more of Shanghai!

My trails were:

1. ZhiZhaoJu Lu (制造局路) -> ZhaoZhou Lu （赵州路）-> Jinan Lu (济南路）-> TaipingQiao Park (太平桥公园）-
This is the park near to Xintiandi.

2. Fuxing Lu （复兴路）-> Zhonghua Lu （中华路）-> Renmin Lu （人民路）-> Jinling Lu （金陵路）->
The Bund （外滩）-> Fuzhou Lu （福州路）-> Guangdong Lu （广东路）-> Xizhang Nan Lu (西藏南路）


3. ZhiZhaoJu Lu (制造局路) -> ZhaoZhou Lu （赵州路）-> Fuxing Lu （复兴路）-> Henan Nan Lu （河南南路）-> Central Fangbang Lu （方浜中路）-> YuYuan （豫园）

I usually don't have a clue which road to take. Use my instinct and from time to time, stop by the road to ask other fellow cyclist or traders along the street to guide me. It has been fun seeing Shanghai on my bike.

I hope to see more of Shanghai during my stay here!!!

Wesak Day in Shanghai

Wesak Day is not of any significance to the Shanghainese. It is just another Full Moon Day. Shanghaineses visit temple to offer prayers as usual.

I started my day by doing a puja in my apartment. It's the first time I had a proper prayer after I had my altar set up. Feel at peace to start the day with chanting the suttas. I pray that my beloved ones and myself would be bless with good health, happiness and abundance. I pray that they would receive these blessings every day of their lives.

In the afternoon, I catch the No. 43 Bus to XuJiaHui. From there I catch a cab to Longhua Temple. Traffic leading to the temple was heavy as there was a temple fest ongoing. The temple fest was more like a fun fair back home. There were booth for games, food; fortune tellers lining up the sidewalk. There was even a puppet story-teller, dressed in ancient Chinese costume, even came with a pigtail hat.

Longhua Temple is a Mahayana Temple. I found many nice, big Buddha and Guan Yin statues here. Captured many photos of them which I hope to use to design my graphics. I can't find serenity in the temple as it is crowded with people burning bunches of incense. But I felt a sense of celebration ~ a different kind of Wesak celebration away from home.

Spring has Arrived!!!

Spring has arrived in Shanghai!!!

We took the opportunity to visit Nanhui to check out the tulip garden & peach blossoms there!

Look at the colourful flowers that are so beautiful! Flowers can really brighten up one's spirit. Like children, we were hopping around, so glad to be surrounded by the multi-coloured flowers.

Coincidentally Roxanne and Huay Chen were in town. My friend, Sabrina was our guide and she

helped to arrange the trip for us. We took a cab from Longyang Subway Station and it took us 45 mins and cost us RMB140. I got the food and fruits to keep us going! We had a picnic at the tulips park where we sat by the lake, across the windmills and surrounded by multi-colored tulips.

I just love spring. The fresh air. The warm sun. The cool breeze! That's SPRING to me!