Banana Cakes In Ringha
April 19th, 2008
i know i said a while ago i’d put up pictures of my trip to Ringha / Shangri La and also of the local food we had in Kunming, but i’ve decided not to. there is only a simple reason behind it, but i know that once i start ranting, i will probably say more than i should and the result will be an excessively long and largely irrelevant post about a topic that doesn’t deserve more than a few words. so… no :)
okay here’s just one food picture from Kunming:
this is a little shop in town that sells flour buns filled with different kinds of stuffing. everyone in the vicinity seemed to be eating one, and so i really wanted one too, but when we got to the shop we didn’t know how to read the chinese signs :( and the staff couldn’t speak english! the only board we (actually, Martian) could read was the one that says ‘peanut’, so that’s the one we got. and it was really good, too :D
now… can someone please read out the rest of the boards to me? pleeeeease! so i know what other types of buns i missed out on! yes lah i know i’m damn banana please dont laugh at me :(
and here’s ONE picture from Ringha.. because it’s too beautiful a place to not have any photos of it at all :
this is what we woke up to every morning in Ringha. they don’t call this place Shangri La for nothing.. :)
sigh. i really want to share the Ringha pictures. i spent so much time there trying to capture the perfect pictures, i can’t not put them up. haiyah whatever lah right? i don’t know why i’m being so angry also. wusaaaaaa. inner peace. righto. so here are some of my favourite pictures from Ringha :
#1 the river behind our hotel, taken on the first day when it hadn’t snowed yet
#2 sheep!! there are lots of mountain animals roaming around the area. there’s a particular abundance of yak, the butter from which is used for lots of things, including cooking, making candles and making.. tea. yeah. yak butter tea O_O
#3 snow at night :) this was right after dinner on our first night, and when the hotel staff told us it was snowing, we both ran squealing into the night. okay lah maybe just me :( all Martian did was laugh at me
#4 part of our really, really nice room. we stayed at the Banyan Tree :) our room is one of the most gorgeous rooms i’ve ever stayed in - it’s like a Tibetan-style mountain lodge!! all the rooms have 2 floors with 2 bedrooms, and the *entire* bottom floor is the bathroom and the changing room. the bathtub is especially cool - it’s right in the middle of the open bathroom floor, and is of the wooden Japanese tub kind. really nice to soak in amidst the freezing weather! the resort is very cozy and has lovely, authentic Tibetan decor - lacquered furniture, woven carpets, dark wood paneling and all. yes i’m trying very hard not to gush :| and you know what.. all the rooms in the resort actually used to be YAK STABLES where the farmer lived on the top floor, before the land was bought over and converted into a resort. such clever preservation.
#5 hot ginger tea: Ringha’s cure for anything at all. altitude sickness? have some ginger tea. fatigue? drink ginger tea. nausea? ginger tea. headache? ginger tea. foot pains? ginger tea. sexual disinterest? yup you guessed it, ginger tea. it’s actually very nice and tastes like tong yuen soup, but with more body to it. both Martian and i love this tea :) i really wish i’d asked them for the recipe; i don’t think it’s as simple as boiling ginger and brown sugar!
#6 Martian playing with the telescope that we never figured out how to use
#7 isn’t Ringha beautiful. sigh. i can only imagine how gorgeous it looks in the summer.
#8 hahaha a cute kid with rosy cheeks that i managed to coerce into giving me a picture when we visited town, which was a long bumpy car ride away from the hotel. check out his cell phone!
#9 me trying to taste snowflakes
#10 :)
#11 ya ya this is Martian trying to be funny… he didn’t realize that he kept stepping on all this horse and yak poo, which i had noticed and cleverly maneuvered away from. sigh baby, study and work so hard also no use if you donno how to avoid yak shit :\
#12 you see!!!!!!!! this is him desecrating perfectly pretty snow by wiping his poo-covered shoes on the snow :( beauty destroyer :(
#13 the resort’s lobby and Martian’s green umbrella
#14 and this is my favourite photo of all :D on the resort grounds, there is this looooong path of stones that leads to one of the resort’s buildings. we were snapping some photos on this path when i looked down and noticed one particular stone that said… banana cake. hahahaha i started laughing like crazy and i kept looking around the resort to find if there were anymore stones that had cake names on them, but no more :(
okay that’s it for pictures :) the Ringha and Kunming trip was one that i really enjoyed. but. oh well.
i’m now in Starbucks Mont Kiara studying with Eeyang again. again!!!!! he has realized that he cannot study with anyone other than me, you see. anyway it’s good to be back here in my SPM hangout. i remember how i used to come here all the time with Waimin during our SPM preparation period cos it was the only Starbucks that opened 24/7.
Mont Kiara.. such memories. missing scrunchies, space invasion, cookies and creme ice cream, The Shining, black see-through curtains, rarely-used kitchens, sharing stories, a thousand bucks left on top of the television… i only wish i could go back to that time. i’d have so much fun; in the midst of all my sulks, i’d have a secret smile.
57 Comments Add your own
1. nana | April 19th, 2008 at 11:07 am
what happened between you and martian? : (
2. chm | April 19th, 2008 at 11:12 am
haha…clever martian… the place is jus so cool… especially ur room n da snow at nite… teenage lolita’s blog really made me so damn sad i needed ice cream 2 undepress myself….
3. chm | April 19th, 2008 at 11:12 am
n thank god i aint drinkin ginger tea… hate ginger…
4. kei | April 19th, 2008 at 11:21 am
omg i love studying at starbucks montkiara too but soo expensive i think the dude knows me already cuz i order one ice blended and stay for 3-4 hours -_-
5. sara | April 19th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Flavours from L-R: *blank plank*, Beef,Fragrant Mushroom, Scallion, Peanut, *blank plank*, Mung Bean, Fragrant Yam, Corn, Spicy Veg, Glutinous Rice and Tau Sar…
you should’ve tried all of them! the flavours are so yummylicious~~~~
6. natalie | April 19th, 2008 at 11:49 am
i thought the previous emo posts were about u and martian breaking up… were they not? o.O
7. Tricia | April 19th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Finally Ringha pics! :)
awww..love the style of your hotel room..seems so so so comfy…ginger tea..nice! whoa~ pic #10 is a very nice pic indeed..hehe…
Actually, you and martian should tapao all the flour buns in kunming…at least can try all of them coz they seem yummy.. :)
8. sweatlee | April 19th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
eh ask me ask me i can read chinese!! erm beef..meat..something something..peanut..2 yuan, 1.5 yuan haih fail =(
9. Anonymous | April 19th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
haha. u hv missed out beef,mushroom,green bean,red bean, yam, corn, spicy vege, waaa…so many delicious flavour! yum yum..
u shud hv just pick any of them!
so jealous of you all…your hotel room shud be very expensive wan!
10. Gin | April 19th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
T____________________T
11. sheon | April 19th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
the tubs from Centre to Right says : Beef, meat floss. far left cannot read.
wow..the view is….wow. and wow is an understatement. if i get a gf, thats the first overseas trip i’m taking her.
cya at starbuck mont kiara!!!
12. Michelle | April 19th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I want my room to look just like that. =D
13. entwined | April 19th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
omg. the room is gorgeous! and ringha looks very beautiful and serene :)
14. Yappy | April 19th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Picture #3 looks like a painting. Life imitating art… Ringha is so beautiful and so… peaceful. Don’t you just know how to have fun? Haha… :)))
I guess there’s a starbucks for every teenager. :) Mine was starbucks subang jaya. I wish it’s 24/7 so I won’t be forced to go back when they’re closing. It’s autumn in australia now. The weather is a perfect excuse for a cuppa. :D
15. iamdoryfish | April 19th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Pink pau, im a banana as well :P So, can’t help you on the reading. :( As for you and M, I hope you can cope with it. Time will heal
16. k0k | April 19th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
All is not well in paradise huh?
I suppose I ought not mention, or ask after whatever it is that you kept talking about obliquely. But I read somewhere that when girl keeps doing that, she is really bursting to… well… burst. Whatever it is - like you said - just inner-peace the lot of it all away.
Martian can’t read chinese either o_0?
17. hui wen | April 19th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Wow, the lodge you stayed in looks GORGEOUSSSS!! Is it frightfully expensive? I couldn’t find the rates on the website you provided. :(
18. Jeff from LA | April 19th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
What an amazing place. I always love places where people still live simply and close to nature. That room you guys stayed in also looks amazing.
Studying with Eeyang? What are you studying? Unless you already know what you want to major in, I have no idea how you can study before getting to college.
19. zachary | April 19th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
eh, would u mind to tell us roughly how much it costs for staying in that resort? n err.. how much 4 da trip? flight, transport etc.. wondering how u guys communicate since both of u so banana.. but u can speak mandarin rite? then juz ask that bun seller la.. durr~~ “a banana gal saw a banana cake stone” y didn’t u take a bite on that stone? maybe it do taste like a banana cake.. ha! *not funnie at all* -.-”
20. michellesy | April 19th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Are you OK babe? 0____0
You just sounded a little distraught a few posts back and now you say you’re angry. So, yeah, angry + distraught does not = a happy Su Ann in my opinion =(
*Hugs* to make you feel better, even if there’s nothing I can actually do to help.
But as for your post, Ringha is just so beautiful! And serene - I think it’s because it’s blanketed in snow. I do wonder what it looks like during other times of the year?
I was squinting at the signs to try and translate them, and then realised a few people had done a kick ass job, so I stopped haha! But yes, what a great selection of flavours - knowing me and the bottomless pit I call my stomach, I would probably have wanted to sample them all -__________-
And wtf, banana cake stone wtf. Random wtf.
21. singaporean | April 19th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
hope everything will be fine between you two soon. you’re such a sweet couple, don’t let it go to waste.
and the trip looks expensivveee. you lucky girl.
22. yip | April 20th, 2008 at 12:02 am
is martian a banker?
23. pinkpau | April 20th, 2008 at 2:53 am
nana : ah where do i start :)
chm : why is martian smart :( he’s not smart because he kept stepping on yak poo! yes ringha is gorgeous. haha why does teenage lolita depress you? eh ginger tea very nice wannn
kei : 3-4 hours is fine.. haha my friend waimin and i used to stay at starbucks mkiara from 6pm till 6am, then we’d go home when the taxi fares remove their midnight surcharge. hahaha
sara : OMG glutinous rice…!!!!! i really should have bought more back =( thank you for the fantastic translation!
natalie : hmm! i’m not sure what you’re getting at..?
tricia : i actually have so many more ringha pics that i really wanted to put up. but now i dont want to anymore. sigh. and yessss we should have tapaoed!!!!!!!
sweatlee : nvm at least you can speak french!! *optimistic
anonymous : yes i should have just picked summore right :( but we were both so full from lunch. donno why we never thought of tapao-ing back
gin : why you T___T
sheon : i didnt see you there also!!
michelle : eh it’s very nice :) you should check out the pictures at the hotel website
entwined : it really is a very gorgeous place :) one of my friends who’s been there says it’s even more beautiful in the summer
yappy : haha starbucks subang jaya!! i was just there today while waiting for Eeyang to finish his exam. the SS15 one, right? i love autumn :)
iamdoryfish : thank you for your well wishes :)
k0k : no he cant, haha! not much, at least. he can read a little bit more than i can.
hui wen : ya it was quite expensive :( let me ask martian to leave a comment here regarding the cost :)
jeff : i’m not studying, HE is! he just needs someone beside him to smack him when he gets distracted, you see :P
zachary : martian handled all our accounts.. let me ask him to leave you a comment here regarding the cost of the trip :) haha it was SO DIFFICULT to communicate with the locals in china ok!!
michellesy : i’m not distraught, just angry :) but yes feeling much better, thank you my dear *hugs* apparently ringha looks really gorgeous in the summer as well. haha thank you for mentioning the banana cake stone!!!! no one cared to mention it even though it’s so funny :(
singaporean : thank you for your well wishes :) you are very kind. i dont like to waste, either. sigh
yip : yes :) how did you know?
24. sheon | April 20th, 2008 at 3:22 am
well, it could happen at any time at all!!
but one thing for sure, cya at pyramid!!! muahahahaa……i’m so excited!!!
25. sie | April 20th, 2008 at 5:17 am
OMG! You have just sold Ringha to me!!!
*add to to-go list
Love the kid at photo 8th :D :D so adorable
26. foreverjas | April 20th, 2008 at 7:52 am
hope everything okay =) come penang lahhh. hehe ^^ u leavin in august? all the best ! i’m leavin to aus in july i think. hopefully! waiting for the scholarship. tell u har, i’m goin with my bf, and my parents dunno !!! =.=|||
27. chm | April 20th, 2008 at 9:52 am
readin her story so full of angst just saddens me 2 the max…. i really cant tahan ginger lar lol…
28. george | April 20th, 2008 at 11:47 am
did you steal the banana stone?? haha
29. vvens | April 20th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
ehh the banana cake stone is very cute. if i get to decorate my house garden next time, *ahahahahaha* i will steal that idea ;p
30. Gin | April 20th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
i T____T because i wanna go also but i know i cannot go T______T
31. mIcheLLe | April 20th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
why on earth is there a banana cake stone in a place like Ringha!!!! did YOU draw on the stone and pretend that you found it HOR!!!!
32. Chen Chow | April 20th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Great that you get to have a holiday at such nice places! Am sure you would have a lot more chances to go holz when u r studying in US…
Really miss those long hols that I have during those fall break, thanksgiving break, winter break, spring break and summer break.. :)
How I wish these days, I would still get chances to go holz..
When u r in US, don’t forget to check out Vegas, San Fran, Hollywood, Niagara, Orlando, Miami, Washington, Boston, NYC besides your lovely Philly (I miss attending conferences at wharton and also visit places like Penn Landing, Liberty Bell etc…)
Oh yeah, how I can forget the lovely Ithaca. :) The scenery there won’t lose Ringha too, except that it is not a holiday resort and don’t have those cosy suites. :)
33. Yappy | April 20th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Haha… yup, starbucks SS15. Lotsa memories there, starbucks and around that area too. I used to study in TCSJ. :)
34. reader | April 20th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
will it be snowing in ringha in july too? HAHAHAHA
35. Je'Dakota | April 20th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Pinkpau, I think I know what’s going on…
I’m going through somethin kinda similar with my other half at the moment as well, and it’s been dragin’ me down.
Anyway, hope it gets better for the both of us.
Sick of them going too far, and forgetting to care.
36. JEDAKOTA - Dakota’s&hellip | April 20th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
[...] still freezing cold, the fire has gone out and my sister and her kids left. I just recently read Su Anns post about the Shangri la she went to, and it really disturbed me. I mean, the pictures of the snow and all of the cold weather made me [...]
37. Je'Dakota | April 20th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
p.s Just wrote about you in my blog, hope you don’t mind.
38. Jia Meei | April 20th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I love your travelling posts ’cause all the photos you post up are gorgeous and so descriptive! Gives me options to choose from when I finally do travel :p
And I don’t know what’s going on but whatever it is I wish you luck :)
39. iamthewitch | April 20th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
The pictures are lovely… Thank you for sharing them with us! And I can’t read chinese as well! Except for the word Beef in the boards. :S Ginger tea will release air from your body, no? :)
40. shazzy | April 21st, 2008 at 12:29 am
u r very lucky..always get a chance 2 go 2 a nice place..im really jealous lor..how can i find bf like urs ? ;p
41. Chareli | April 21st, 2008 at 12:56 am
the place is super gorgeous!
banyan trees will never fail you lah. everything of theirs is so amazing.
HAHA YAK SHIT!
after that, did martian smell gooooooood or GOOD ? XD
42. cc | April 21st, 2008 at 3:26 am
ringha is soooooooo beautiful!!!!
and the banana cake stone is indeed very random… like… why did anyone care to write on a stone and why “banana cake”? lol
43. pinkpau | April 21st, 2008 at 5:41 am
sheon : i ended up not going.. i assumed that it wasn’t going to be as successful as the pavilion freeze :\ how was it though?
sie : glad i did :D it’s a beautiful place. do visit the surrounding cities like kunming if you can. we missed out on dali and lijiang, apparently those two places are must-sees as well :)
foreverjas : you are so naughty!!
chm : but she’s happy :) and she likes her job.
george : nooooo how could i deprive other visitors of the humour the banana cake stone brings :D
vvens : cute right!! i think martian was quite annoyed cos i kept looking around the hotel to see if there were anymore stones. i thought it was like an Easter holiday surprise. hahaha. eh i want to visit this house that you will decorate :D sure damn nice wan
gin : dont be angsty T___T ask fugz!!
michelle : i didnt i swear i didnt T____T
chen chow : you got no time to go for holidays cos you’re such a busy person!! yessss i cant wait for all those roadtrips and visiting friends in other statesssss :)
yappy : so did i! study in tcsj, i mean :) what did you do there? SAM?
reader : nope! it will be summer then
je dakota : ahh we shall drown our sorrows in ginger tea! :( significant others who dont know how to take care of us are undeserving of our awesome love :(
jia meei : thank youuu so much :)
iamthewitch : you are most welcome! hahaha does ginger tea really release air??? i havent felt the symptoms yet..
shazzy : all you have to do is be cute :P whenever i ask martian why he loves me he always says it’s cos i’m cute. as if there’s nothing else about me to love :( am i not smart?? am i not witty and funny?? am i not incredibly awesome?!?! *emo
chareli : hahaha i couldnt smell cos i had a blocked nose. but martian himself could smell his shoes and he said it was soooo bad hahahaha damn stupid wan lah he
cc : NO IDEA HAHA i wish i knew :D the hotel staff didnt know where it came from either, but when we asked the GM, she just nonchalantly said that some of them thought the stones in that walkway looked like a banana cake.. so they wrote ‘banana cake’ on one of the stones.. o_O
44. Je'Dakota | April 21st, 2008 at 7:16 am
Pinkpau: Yeah, completely. Do you ever feel like it’s a drag? Like no matter how much love you express, they still linger in that “don’t know” state. Sometimes I feel down like you, and especially because out other half are always distant.
It’s like you want to choke them with love, but they don’t know how to give it back.
Neglected.
45. pinkpau | April 21st, 2008 at 7:22 am
je dakota : ahh.. it seems we dont have the same problem :) but i will give you many hugs nevertheless *hugs*
46. Cute-dog-deprived commenter | April 21st, 2008 at 7:26 am
the dog is so cute
47. foreverjas | April 21st, 2008 at 7:53 am
where got notti ???!!! =P @.@
48. foreverjas | April 21st, 2008 at 7:56 am
i owez check out your blog on my hp! ! ! =)
49. sheon | April 21st, 2008 at 9:37 am
no wonder lar…i was looking high and low for you! i was with kellster smack in the centre of attention. hahaha…..dunno why, ppl just kept coming to our ‘group’ for photos and stuff.
the freeze was pretty fun. but……i would have preferred a less publicised one……like….more like a flash mob punya style. that’ll be more fun.
but, i saw sooo many WTF faces, especially by the uncles-aunties. it was sooo hilarious.
50. Je'Dakota | April 21st, 2008 at 10:42 am
lol… I mean like…
Hard to explain.
You wana be near them? But… They have something less important to do, that isn’t THAT important?
51. Yappy | April 21st, 2008 at 10:57 am
Nope, i studied a-levels. i was darren yap’s classmate in pm4. Haha… Is this world small or we taylorians are everywhere? :p i met taylorians when i was working part-time in msia and now in aus, i met several taylorians too. Lolzzz…. :)
52. FV | April 21st, 2008 at 11:58 am
hey pinkpau
nice blog u have here.
is the mont k starbucks open 24/7?
53. Simon Seow | April 21st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
wtf? yak shit!
54. aya | April 21st, 2008 at 6:37 pm
hey hun, nice pics. what camera model did you use to take those pics?
55. entwined | April 21st, 2008 at 11:31 pm
i hate the ginger soup that comes with the tong yuen, and my bf likes it, so he always drinks it….and FARTS in the car on the way home T______T. luckily odourless wan or else i’ll cekik him. :/ so yes, ginger induces flatulence, at least in my bf :P
56. Eve | April 21st, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I love the photo that shows the contrast between dead branches and fresh snow. :)
57. WP | April 24th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Oh gosh…banana again?! Don’t call yourself a banana, pinkpau (you’re a pau! :P) the languages you speak (or read) are a product of circumstances more than anything. The people who call other people bananas should be thankful they speak Chinese (or Mandarin, as it usually is the case) instead of laughing at others who didn’t have the chance to learn.
Really wonder why there is “banana cake” written on that stone, btw :P
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