Sarawak Kolo Mee and Char Siew Wanton Mee @ Malaysia Boleh! (Bugis Junction) [Singapore]

With so many food establishments to choose from, it's hard to believe that we opted for lunch at the air-conditioned Malaysia Boleh! food court instead. Reasons; the variety and the weather was insanely hot! 

Before deciding what to have; this publicity poster caught our attention, and it immediately activated the craving for noodles, specifically wanton me for me. 

So, both my mom and I decided to get the noodles from the stall which was supposedly known for its Chilli Pan Mian. Funny thing was; our mind was set on their new dishes on the menu, and not their namesake dish! 

Ice Kopi - aside from the new items on the publicity poster, my eyes were also drawn to the offer of S$1.50 for ice kopi / teh with the purchase of any of the new items; super worth it! And in the hot weather I mentioned earlier; an absolute godsend. 

Waiting for the pager to beep! 

In less than ten minutes, I collected our lunch for the day. A serving of Sarawak kolo mee and anotehr serving of char siew wanton mee! 

Char Siew Wanton Mee - let's go with one of the noodles I would occasionally crave for, even though I prefer the white version, instead of this darker version which is the norm for Malaysian style wanton mee. 

As expected, the sweetness can get a bit cloying after but I do enjoy the slurpy texture from the thin strand noodles! Shall talk more about the char siew later which was also included in the sarawak kolo mee. 

Sarawak Kolo Mee - fried wanton and the minced meat were both forgettable 

(can totally do without them). Char siew was surprisingly not bad; thick cut, not overly fatty with caramelized edges. Yum yum.

Noodles for the kolo mee were thicker with a chewier bite, albeit coated smoothly with oil that was more sinful, and more delicious than the wanton mee, sans the sweetness. 

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Cleaned up the dishes!

Address

200 Victoria Street, #03-30,

Bugis Junction, Malaysia Boleh!,

Singapore 188021

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Ice Kopi - S$1.50

Sarawak Kolo Mee - S$6.00

Char Siew Wanton Mee - S$6.00

Anhui China Huizhou Culture Museum (安徽中国徽州文化博物馆) & Unofficial "Shopping Stop" @ Huangshan in China

Visiting the museums is part and parcel of any tour packages and it's no exception for our 8-day tour to Huangshan in China; bringing us to the Anhui China Huizhou Culture Museum.

Huizhou culture is a very interesting topic; as the name Huizhou suggests, it's a state yet not officially a state in China, given that it's straddled between three different provinces, Anhui, Jiangxi and Zhejiang! 

Primarily situated in the Anhui province, across six counties, the Huizhou culture was most prominent during the Ming and Qing dynasties, even though I was totally ignorant of what it was before my visit. 

The one playing the most important role in promoting this Huizhou culture would be the hui merchants, said to be the "most powerful and important business group during the Ming and Qing dynasties. This was totally new to me as I had assumed the Jiangnan area would be the key commercial district, especially during the Qing dynasty.

Thing about Huizhou people was more on their tenacity as the areas they were residing were known to be hilly, with insufficient food yet with a large population; hence, many would venture out and do business. 

This resulted in many men leaving their hometowns and families behind, so that they could carve a living for their loved ones back home. The above teary scene scene was also included in the Cultural Show for the Huizhou Culture that we caught the day before. 

Scenes of the businesses managed by the Hui merchants; according to the information plaques, their family background was often poor but given their tenacity, many eventually elevated in wealthy merchants. Major trade include the tea, lumber and the monopoly of salt. 

Women played an extremely important role in the Huizhou culture as many would stay back in their hometowns when the husbands would venture out to do trade for a long period of time. Said to be special among ancient Chinese women, Huizhou women were known to "have all good Chinese traditions, mild and competent, delicate appearance with a strong mind". 

There's a standard display of furniture for the main hall of a typical Huizhou house. Man would always sit on the right, and the placement of mirror, clock and vases have symbolic meanings; like mirror for calm and composed (心平气和), clock for lifelong peace (终身平安) and vase for safe and sound (平平安安).

Huizhou was also known for producing academic scholars in ancient China; one particular county, Xiuning, is even known as the zhuangyuan (ranked number one amongst the scholars who passed the imperial exams held every 3 years) county as 19 came from that county between 1217 and 1880; the most in the country. 

I thought we were done with the museum visit but no; we were brought to another area outside the main building, apparently for a better understanding of Huizhou intangible cultural heritage.

My eyes were drawn to this waterway with overgrown bushes filled with yellow flowers. 

The building but instead of going through the main door, we entered via the side door. It also didn't escape my eyes that most visitors at the main building didn't follow us, and that to me, would be fishy.

After a short introduction on Huizhou intangible cultural heritage, including some famous individuals known for their skills in making wooden statues from sandalwood, and ink slabs; we were brought to a section where we can buy them. I was like; wait, didn't I sign up for non shopping stop?! To be fair, absolutely no pressure for us to buy, but it's still a waste of my precious time. 

p.s. didn't take photographs as we weren't allowed to. Oh well, best way for us not to take evidence and complain to CTC Travel about it. Should I still file a complaint then since I was explicit when I signed up, no such commissioned based shopping stop! 

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Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency

徽秀黄山演艺城 - Cultural Show for the Huizhou Culture @ Huangshan in China

One of the things about tour packages to China, purchased in Singapore, would be the compulsory extra tours (usually about 4-5) that would cost an additional RMB 700 per person. Some can be quite boring although you might be blessed with pretty good ones too. 

This particular one to the Huangshan Performing Arts City (黄山演艺城) falls to the latter category even though I have had my initial doubt as I have watched a number of cultural shows in China, and most were, forgettable.

First and foremost, let's step in for that impressionable lobby of the "city". 

The decors were captivating, and dad was more than willing to be the model for photo-taking. Given the incessant rain we faced that day, being indoors did make our mood better! 

Pity there were other people lining up to take photographs, and we were quickly ushered to the entrance gantry after our tour guide collected the tickets.

And I can understand the urgency right after we stepped in! The place is called a city as there were other activities within, including mini shows. Sadly, as we were quite late, there was already a big crowd, and me being short means I can't see much anyway.

So, I took the opportunity to explore.

Good times don't last as the final mini show ended shortly after. 

Above was the main stage where the mini shows were held earlier.

And once again, we were shepherded to the main performance hall even though there were so much to see! Well, when it comes to tour packages, there were other tour mates; hence, we can't really OTOT. 

By the sides of the entrance to the performance hall, two streets that reminded me of Old Hongkong / Shanghai; it would have been nice to come earlier, and maybe shop / dine as the shops seemed to have closed for the day. 

Now, before we start the performance; I guess it would be good to have some basic information about Huizhou. It's a distinctive regional culture that I had not heard of before this trip, with a spoken dialect and said to "flourished during the Ming and Qing dynasties". So prominent it was that it has its own cuisine, architecture, arts and merchant group.

Entering the large performance hall with a massive stage, and large LED walls that were all the norm nowadays. I had my first encounter of them in 2019, on our eight days' Guizhou trip, and were in awe then.

Four types of seats like luxury, premium, moving and normal. Ours would be the normal one that cost  RMB 188 per person; however, we were pretty close to the stage on the second row, just that we were on the side. 

Before the show begins, here're two performers to hype things up a little bit! And one of the things getting all of us excited would be the throwing of free things! 

I was one of the lucky ones!

But why lollipop!? Very sweet leh. 

And what's with this robot lion!?

Give us a real dog dressed as a lion instead! 

The start of the show, and my mouth was already wide open. The amount of LEDs used was a lot more than the show I caught at Guizhou, and they were movable and combinable, creating a visual treat that kept us hooked. 

Starting Act - with the wide, center LED panel that gave us a short description of what it was all about. For foreigners, please be assured that aside from Chinese, the description would be translated into Korean and English too.

This act was about the legendary Yellow Emperor, "who was believed to have practiced alchemy and gained immortality" at Huangshan; hence, making the region famous. 

There were acrobatic performances above us and one thing I thought was strange that even though the male performers looked like they were half naked, with pumped up abs; they were instead wearing clothes with abs imprinted! 

First Act - said to be based on a poem by Li Bai, who was known to be the "best and most important poets of the Tang dynasty, and even in the whole of Chinese poetry." I do agree as the only Chinese poem I know is from Li Bai, and it's called Quiet Night Thought (静夜思).

Anyway, this act was said to be the love between a mortal dong yong and the 7th fairy on Huangshan, which there was one problem; I can't seem to find the poem by Li Bai mentioning about this even though it is indeed a "classic Chinese legend about a dutiful mortal man, a celestial goddess, and their forbidden romance".

There were acrobatics involved, common for such shows in China, and performances could be brought even closer to the audience, making us work by turning our heads! 

What I was most shocked was the immense flexibility of the stage; it could be filled up with water so quickly, and before you knew it, a boat would be rowed along the whole stretch! And remember I mentioned about the moving type of seat? 

The seats in the centre front, could be moved to the sides, when the need arises for the act to have a center platform elevated to bring the main stars closer to the audience! Boy, glad we weren't given the moving seats as I might get motion sickness with the occasional moving! And yes, Dong Yong and the seventh fairy did get together.

Second Act - given that the area is densely populated, many of the young men of Huizhou would venture out to trade so that the families can survive. Livelihood was badly affected at the end of the Ming dynasty, when natural disaster struck, resulting in even the women striking out of the region to make a living. 

Hope for the survival of the families back in Huizhou, some survived, some died. And a moment of sadness when loved ones at home heard the news that someone dear had passed away. p.s. on a funnier note, they brought in real donkeys that served as couriers for the goods and there was an impressive scene of a flood! 

Third Act - the Huizhou merchants going into the palace during the Qing Dynasty, presenting gifts to the Emperor, and opera performances. Given that it's a palace setting, everything was just gold and resplendent! 

More photographs, and I am wondering seriously, how does the plumbing work with so much water gushing out, and the mechanics of the stage going up and down? Curiosity on how it looks like underneath the stage! 

Fourth Act - talked about the faithfulness of the Huizhou women, who would patiently wait for the physical return of their husbands, even if it takes years. Nowadays with high speed trains and aeroplanes, I guess the wait could be very much shortened. 

As you can see, many people were recording the show! Although I do take videos as well, it's really a short snippet to let viewers have a sneak preview of what to expect. I would still strongly recommend watching the show, with your own eyes, at Huangshan Performing Arts City.

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Finale where every performers would come together! It was said that there were over a 100 performers and most were "are graduates of professional art schools, with a significant proportion being special effects and acrobatic performers". Wow! 

On our end way out.

The "show" continued outside Huangshan Performing Arts City, with a "bonfire" and members of the public, and audience, participating in the activity of dancing around the fire, in the cold!  Not for us Singapore tourists as we can't wait to go back and rest in the comfort of our hotel room. 

The video montage for your viewing pleasure! 

Actual Ticket Pricing

As above.

Click HERE for our 8 Days Huangshan, Tunxi, Yixian, Wuyuan, Mount Qiyun, Thousand-Island Lake, Hangzhou Tour Package to China via CTC Travel Agency