朱家角

Brother in law went to play golf with his friend today... and he dropped me at 朱家角.... 

The first thing I accomplished after I arrived at the front entrance... I made a great entrance...  I took a really ugly fall and got this not so nice booboo...

Then I got up and kept on going.... 8-O lol 

Free Internet Access

On my way to Shanghai from Seoul through Incheon airport... free internet acess---

国立民俗博物馆 (National folk museum of Koren)

Sitting down for the first time since I don't know how long ago... free internet acess at the Media Room of 国立民俗博物馆 (National folk museum of Koren)...

Second Day in Seoul

Found free internet access at the tourist information center by 仁寺洞(인사동)

On my way to walk to 景福宮 (경복궁)

漢城 is 首爾? 8-O lol

I have been looking up info about 首爾 (Seoul) for the past week or so...

Last night, this name came to my mind... 漢城...

Uhmmmm...

How come I don't see the city 漢城 in the official tourism website of Korea?

I wonder how far 漢城 is since it seemed to be the only Korean city I was aware of when I was growing up...

So I decided to google the word "漢城"....

漢城 is 首爾... Seoul is Seoul? 8-O lol

Stupid does... stupid does... apparently, the name has been changed since 2005.... 8-O lol

京畿道 水原市 Suwon

Don't know whether I would be able to make it... 水原華城[UNESCO世界文化遺產] 수원 화성

水原華城[UNESCO世界文化遺產]
수원 화성 [유네스코 세계문화유산]

Another day trip maybe?

So they say... subway is the cheapest way to get to 水原市 from Seoul...

仁川 Incheon

仁川 Seems to be a big sea port...

Maybe I will check it out....

What is to see in 仁川...

仁川大橋 (인천대교)

仁川大橋 (인천대교)

Or maybe...

getting onto one of them little islands... such as 席毛島

席毛島

I think I will to ask Korean...


http://big5chinese.visitkorea.or.kr/cht/SI/SI_CH_2_1_1_1.jsp?areaCode=2

首爾 Seoul

I think I might go checking out these two palaces or one of them... 景福宮 (경복궁) or 昌德宮

景福宮

昌德宮

Maybe take a little walk here... 仁寺洞(인사동)

仁寺洞(인사동)

Checking out some old buildings maybe.... 南山谷韓屋村

南山谷韓屋村

In addition, if weather and time permits, maybe I will take a walk along 清溪川

清溪川

 

With suggested route: 路線1: 清溪川廣場~五間水橋 2.7km,
清溪廣場→廣通橋(復原)→三一橋→水標橋→黎明橋→五間水橋
路線2: 古山子橋~五間水橋2.6km,
古山子橋→清溪川文化館→兩水橋→清澈川橋→五水間橋

Should be enough for a day trip or two right?

享受免費乘坐南山傾斜型透明電梯

http://tchinese.seoul.go.kr/gtk/news/news_view.php?idx=10910

3號隧道入口↔ 南山纜車間，供遊客免費使用

        首爾市的傾斜型透明電梯 -“南山翱樂美”（登南山的意思）。該電梯往返於南山3號隧道竣工紀念塔廣場和纜車乘車區。該傾斜電梯的外壁由透明的玻璃制成，可從電梯內部俯視整個首爾市。並且，從明洞站與會賢洞等地，也可以很方便地前往N首爾塔遊覽。

        首爾市有關人士稱“自首爾市設置傾斜型透明電梯以來，減少了殘疾人與遊客，到纜車乘車區時，需要先爬傾斜面很陡的樓梯，再前往到南山的不便，而我們認爲這就是遊客大幅增加的主要原因”。他又說“我們將會繼續努力不懈，力求提高南山的可接近性”。

南山纜車交通路線

• 4號線明洞站(4號出口)→ 盤浦路(往3號隧道方向前往)→ 南山傾斜型透明電梯"翱樂美"→ 纜車(大約590米高, 約需12分鐘)
  ※ 明洞站(1號出口) → 小波路 → 比搭乘纜車(大約1,200米高, 約需22分鐘)時，可以縮短10分鐘
• 4號線會賢站(1號出口)→ 會賢地下購物中心(6號出口)→ 盤浦路(往3號隧道方向前往 → 南山傾斜型透明電梯"翱樂美"→ 纜車(大約790米高, 約需15分鐘)
• 公共汽車交通路線
  

  - 前往市政府的方向 : 在盤浦路“南山3號隧道停車站”下車 → 南山傾斜型透明電梯"翱樂美" (大約180米高)

  - 前往江南的方向 : 在盤浦路“南山3號隧道停車站”下車 → 利用地下車到前往 → 南山傾斜型透明電梯"翱樂美" (大約210米高) ※ 路線 : 幹線公共汽車143, 401, 406, 505, 社區公共汽車7013(A, B)

Sleep

According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The worst thing in the world is to try to sleep and not to."

I second the opinion.

In recent times, I have been trying to find alternatives to sleeping pills since I am not too big a pill popper.

Amongst the things I have tried out so far, I found the Body Shop Deep Sleep Body Moisturizer to work really well in helping me sleep.  Apparently, the Chamomile essential oil is helpful in putting me to sleep.







As I was talking my walk today, I found out that the Deep Sleep Starter Kit is on discount, 50% off, and find it an excellent buy as a gift.

Of course, different things work for different people and, for the same person, the same thing might work differently at different times.  Would be interesting to see whether it works for my friends.

Mari Vanna in NYC

Took a tour on the East side today and came across Restaurant Mari Vanna, a Russian restaurant/cafe somewhere next to President Roosevelt birth place.

So I sat there sipping my mango tea on a sunny memorial day afternoon... surrounded by nice deco and friendly people...

I even tried out one of their beef pastry....

http://www.marivanna.ru/

Dandelion

I might have seen them selling dandelion in the supermarket; however, I might not have eaten it before....  Then, the other day, as part of my new life's adventure into cooking... I picked it up from the supermarket....

The recipe I used was something like... extra virgin olive oil, pressed garlic, some herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary), salt and pepper... chopped red onion and a whole lot of dandelion leaves...

The outcome... a huge bowl of dandelion green.... sauteed... rather than boiled.... (wow high tech for me!  considering I spent the majority of the past 15 years cooking via bring everything to a boil together)

I was all excited until I took the first bite...

OMG... bitter is the only thing I could think of... 8-O lol

At that point, I finally came closer to understand what is means...唖子吃黄蓮... 8-X (so is the story of my life especially at this time... 8-O lol sigh)

Anyways, I stood there staring at the huge bowl da bitter green.  Who could I blame it on?  I brought it forth myself.

Since I don't waste food, that extremely bitter thing.... one bite at a time... I finished the whole bowl....

All that I could say...

Well, so they say...

Dandelion is good for your health within moderation... bitter, for instance, is believed to help detoxing and good for liver... http://health.howstuffworks.com/dandelion-herbal-remedies.htm

The second day, I tried to cook Dandelion again... this time, I added some vinegar to season the dish and... interestingly, it did cut the bitter taste down big time. 

When I cooked it for the 3rd time, I actually simply boiled it with other vegetables... the water might have diluted whatever constitutes the bitter taste.... It didn't taste all that bitter at all...

By the way, in the above article, the author mentioned that you can also add ingredients such as mushroom and kyle if you are trying to prepare a sauteed dish.  I think I will try this out today and see whether it makes it more edible.

Gnocchi alla Romana

My friend cooked me some Gnocchi alla Romana yesterday...

I thought all gnocchi are made of potato... ended up... this is made of the thing called semolina.... something with the texture of couscous....

Really Yum yum... except for... really rich at the same time...

Following is a recipe I found online... http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9306/gnocchi-alla-romana

Mineral oil

I've never heard of the thing called "Mineral oil" until a few weeks ago...

To mineral oil or not to mineral oil... Is mineral oil really all that bad? 8-O


http://thebeautybrains.com/2006/11/28/the-top-5-myths-about-mineral-oil-part-1/

Das Parfum

Before I went out today, I decided that this is the Chanel N. 19 Parfum day....

Interesting, I just learned that the Perfume version of it (which is what I have) has been discontinued in the US all together...  The picture in the right is what my Parfum looks like...

Apparently, Chanel No. 19 includes "notes of galbanum, hyacinth, neroli, bergamot, jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, iris, vetiver, sandalwood, leather, musk."  With 5 of the bolded scents that are known to enhance sleep, although I like this perfume, I don't think I can sleep with it...

What you can get in the US market today are Eau De Parfum Spray and Eau de Toilette spray...

After extensive googling, I did find somewhere over the Internet someone still selling N 19 Parfum... Yes... not Eau de anything but das Parfum itself...

What is the difference?  Unfortunately, I don't really know scents enough...

But if you ask me whether I like the smell... Of course, why would I put something on me that I can not stand?

How does it make me feel when I have on No. 19?  Feel like a million bucks... 8-O lol

One thing I am sure is that... I guess... one is readily to be bought in the shops... 8-O oops... At the same time, I think I am gonna go put this baby of mine in the safety box and stop using it... 8-O lol

Aromatherapy and Essential oil

Since I cut down on smoking to two cigarettes a day, I have dived in to my vanity venture....

In recent times, I have been pondering in trying out aromatherapy products that might help me sleep and keep me calm... Several products I have seriously considered...  The Body Shop Deep Sleep or Divine Calm essential Oil, l'occitane lavender oil or Aveda's lavender scented oil.

All of a sudden, two days ago, this thought came to my head... my lungs are not feeling too good nowadays and they might need some help.

Unfortunately, neither the Body Shop and l'occitane have essential oils for herbs known to help the respiratory system.

Aveda does have readily applicable scented oils based for different herbs. Unfortunately, we couldn't quite figure out which oils to use to handle both sleeping/calming and respiratory system issues.

Taken the suggestion I was given, I went to Whole Body in Whole Food and found myself the alternative....


I went ahead and got myself the blended essential oil called Breathe Easier by Wyndmere.  This oil contains:  Ocimum basilicum (Basil) essential oil, Melaleuca viridiflora (Niaouli) essential oil, Eucalyptus globulus (Eucalyptus) essential oil, Pinus sylvestris (Pine) essential oil, Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) essential oil, Lavandula vera (Lavender) essential oil, Cedrus atlantica (Cedarwood) essential oil.

Granted, I could have gone ahead and gotten essential oil from all herbs known to help the respiratory system and sleeping/relaxing.  Unfortunately, first, I have no idea which herbs to use and, second, I don't really want to break my bank account with my initial trial with "essential oil" related experimentation... think about it... 13- 15 dollars a bottle in the store...

I also got myself a bottle of carrier oil (wow... technical term) so that I can make my own scented oil.... (OMG... I never would have thought that the day would come especially when it was not until this week when the concept of making your own scented body product was first introduced to me...)

This morning, for the first time in my life, I mixed some of the grape seed oil naturally enriched with vitamin E (8-O God, I am reading too many labels on them bottles 8-O lol) and a drop or so of the essential oil and message it into what I considered as the "lung" area... with the wish that the ingredients could really be absorbed through the skin and help my lungs to get rid of the cigarette residues.

Does it really help?

Can't quite tell you since this is the second day.

My gut feeling says, though, that... it actually might have helped since it feels as if my lungs have been trying harder to clear things out... of course... whether it is related to the use of essential oil or not...

And... as long as I don't go over board and as long as it doesn't hurt...

Amazon Associates thing

Having fun trying out the Amazon Associates gadget....

Trial size

Something that's been puzzling me recently.... a big question... why aren't more things come in trial size since how would you know whether the products really work unless you try it out in vitro?  Moreover, sometimes products might work for you for a while and, all of a sudden, it stops to work...

If I thought I had commitment phobia before, I didn't know commitment phobia.... 8-O lol

The lips of mine

Having been a chimney for almost 15 or 20 years... my dear lips are definitely not in a really good shape...  As a result, I think any product that could help to rescue my lips could be accounted for as good product.

So I woke up last Sunday... I think... deciding to go look for products that exfoliate lips... 8-O

So as I was taking my daily walk, I stopped by stores selling beauty products....

I did find some relevant products that day at the Sephora store and tried them out as well...

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15: With this product, you don't feel anything being "exfoliated" at all.  Rather, in theory, if I remember correctly, it works by nourishing the generation of new cells and softening the dead cells so that it would be easier to get rid of the dead cells.  I like it, though, it makes your lips feel nice right after the application.  The nice lady I spoke with gave me the lip gross to test out... gotta say... make me feel nice... psychological only or not....

For the time being, if I were to settle for one product... this might be the one...

Kiss Me Exfoliating Lip Scrub:  This exfoliator is sugar-based... sort of like... you rub sugar-based ingredients on your lips kind of experience.... and, well, it tastes pretty good... 8-O lol It does feel like it works pretty well after the trial run.

Apparently, Clarins also has a product called Clarins Extra-Firming Lip and Contour Gentle Exfoliator.  I only had the chance to try it on my hand but not on my lips, though... therefore, can't quite tell you how well it works for me.

One thing interesting I learned so far... a lot of these exfoliating products are sugar-based.... Never knew that sugar could be used for cosmetic purposes.... pretty ignorant, I know.... 8-O lol

Still search for that one for me.... so many lip exfoliators in the sea.... how many are available for a trial kiss? 8-O lol

Body exfoliation

The concept of body exfoliation never really came to my mind until 2-3 months ago... around the same time when I all of a sudden started to pay attention to skin care for the body.

The only body exfoliators I have used so far are both products of St. Ives.

More specifically, the Oatmeal and Shea Butter was the first one I used.  I loved it because it... smells like cookies.... and... I would also smell like cookies after shower... 8-O lol

The only body exfoliators I have used so far are both products of St. Ives.

More specifically, the Oatmeal and Shea Butter was the first one I used.  I loved it because it... smells like cookies.... and... I would also smell like cookies after shower... 8-O lol

The current product I am using is "Mineral Therapy" body polish. Got it on discount from Walgreen for 5 dollars plus changes.... The last place I found St. Ives body polish on discount is at Walgreen yesterday... 5 dollar something for a jar of Mineral Therapy body polish...

Does it work for me?  I guess... the skin does feel softer afterwards.... psychological or not....

Waiting for some other products to go on discount to test them out... 8-O lol

Beauty is but skin deep

They say beauty is but skin deep. 

This is why nowadays I am trying out all different kinds of exfoliator from head to toe...

Since beauty is but skin deep... let me get rid of my dead skin...

Products I have tried out so far for...

Morning Scare

I hate to look into the mirror right after I wake up (8-O 8-X scary picture...)

The skin on my often looks sort of dry with them apparently not so enlarged pores looking all standing out... not to mention the hair that would go in all direction... etc.

I have to say that the Revitalift Night cream is one of the product that really keep your skin moistured even over night...  The only thing I don't quite like about this product is that... it feels a bit too heavy for me...

At the same time, maybe it is not yet the product I need...




Another product that seems to work pretty well overnight is the phase two treatment for the Regenerist 14 day Skin Intervention kit...

Free Lip Gloss Causes Allergic Reactions For Some - cbs5.com

Some people apparently can get allergic reaction from Sephora Lip Gloss...

Free Lip Gloss Causes Allergic Reactions For Some - cbs5.com