Funny Engrish t-shirt.

Phat Dong T-shirt

It’s now 22nd of December again, time for having tong yuen together with family…I have been rolling tong yuen the night before every year, but until few years back, we didn’t do that already…we just took tong yuen, cooked, from my grandma, and from my auntie. Fast, simple, and easy…

Do not think that December is only festive season for the Western, the Chinese has an important day to celebrate too, three days before christmas, the Winter Dongzhi Festival! Some Chinese believe that this day is more important than any other days as a famous phrase is always spoken, ‘dongzhi is more significant than new year’, which means this festival is more important than chinese new year.

Images of different colours of tong yuen obtained from internet:

However, this festival is celebrated at low scale not only in Malaysia, but also in China. China even having tong yuen as the symbol of Lantern (Mooncake) Festival and not of this Dongzhi Festival. Everything is kept at low profile, and only the family reunion is prioritized here, which is kinda good too.

Some even said that after DongZhi, our age should be added with another year…means, now that I’m 18 based on western, 19 based on chinese, and 20 after dongzhi festival…oh my god! 20 years old already…crazy!

Time to enjoy the hot and delicious tong yuen…even tong yuen nowadays have so many fancy colours and flavours like peanut, red bean, etc…have you eat tong yuen today? If not, grab a bowl now…for those in China, freezing under the cold weather, tong yuen would be nice to warm up your body…I like to eat tong yuen..but not too much, if not, the stomach would be very full…

Anyway, wishing all Chinese around the world, Happy Winter Dongzhi Festival!

Fire tore through a 10,000-square-meter warehouse in Hanoi on December 19, causing billions of dong worth of damage.

A warehouse caught fire in Hanoi on December 19 destroying hundreds of goods.(Photo:Tuoi Tre)

The 10-hour blaze broke out at 1am in the warehouse at 20/165 Cau Giay street, where goods from several companies were being stored for the Tet holiday.

No injuries were reported, though hundreds of products including confectionaries, tea, milk, and tobacco were destroyed.

Twenty fire trucks arrived on the scene but the blaze was not brought under control until around 10am the next morning.

According to officials, the fire started at a hotel’s warehouse next door and quickly spread.

According to some reports, the blaze may have been caused by an electrical problem.

Nearby houses were reportedly unaffected by the incident.
 
Police have launched an investigation into the case.

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Ở miền nam Việt Nam, một năm chỉ có hai mùa mưa nắng.

Có phải vì vậy, mà có thể cảm nhận được cả hương vị của mùa đông lẫn mùa xuân trong cùng một khoảng thời gian, ở cùng một khoảng không gian.

Sáng, nắng chưa kịp lên.

Se thắt.

Đủ cho ai phong phanh quần jeans áo sơ mi phải tê tái.

Mặt trời mọc, một cặp bướm nhỏ vàng ươm lượn quanh quấn quýt.

Đủ cho kẻ bận rộn xa quê giật mình nhớ cái ấm áp của ngày tết năm nào.

Hoa dại nở thành những chấm trắng li ti trên thảm cỏ mướt.

Đẹp.

Đủ cho kẻ lạnh lùng chùng lòng một chút, để cười.

Sương, chưa kịp tan, chùng chình, lành lạnh.

Đủ dâng lên một chút bâng khuâng, tiếc nuối.

Mờ mịt, vấp ngã, đau.

Đủ cho ai đó tuổi 18 phải trưởng thành.

Dong Fang

Submitted by: SkyKing56 via Engrish Funny Submissions

My Disney cravings have finally been fulfilled!
Dong and I mingled with the tourists at the Magic Kingdom for the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas event. I don’t even know where to begin… so much to talk about…

If it’s been a while since you’ve visited a Disney park– like me– then ”The Christmas Party” (as every employee called it) is a great way to get back into the groove. During my Sunday visit, it was CROWDED (AHH, pack on the Purell) but the longest time I waited in a line was 15 minutes. All the cool attractions were open to experience, there’s free snacks, a Christmas atmosphere… AND the tickets are cheaper ($53 for Florida residents!)

ATTRACTIONS
True, not ALL the Magic Kingdom attractions are open for the Party… but a good 90% of them showed some Pyra love. And since your Party ticket gets you into the park 3 hours BEFORE the actual party (starting 7pm), Dong and I used those 3 hours to waltz through the attractions that wouldn’t be available later– and that is TRUE intelligence at work.

Driving cars through the Tomorrowland Speedway attraction

There was the good ‘ol Disney rides where you entered various cart forms that took you through scenes of Disney movies. Although I enjoyed riding the movies, I had to admit it felt a little dated. Perhaps this was my Universal Studios-spoiled-self spilling through… but I kept thinking “this ride would be better if…” And I’m not talking grand roller coaster schemes, but simple additions and styles in the animatronics used. These rides are mostly good for remembering movies of the past.

The three mountains– Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and Thunder Mountain– were definitely fun… but once again my theme park-spoiled-self also realized that each of these fun rides were like smaller versions of other rides I’ve experienced. Perhaps not so thrilling, but the three mountains were definitely FUN! I also noticed that Space Mountain now housed a new queue line were guests could mess with interactive screens while waiting in the long lines– but we were lucky because there was no lines so Dong and I merely looked longingly at the screens. Next time dear interactive screens, you will be ours!

CHRISTMAS PARTY STUFF
As soon as 7pm hit, Dong and I ran to experience theme parks at its best– FREE Christmas snacks. Restaurants throughout the park converted to hand out hot chocolate, cookies, apple juice and slices while planted candy cane signs declared the complimentary goodies. I passed families holding trays piled with hot chocolate and cookies. My own small stomach was satisfied with the three times we visited the complimentary snack sites (along with some fries I bought)– more $$ saved!

FREE hot chocolate and Cinderella's Castle-- overdose.

YES! Along with experiencing about 90% of the attractions, we also experienced the Christmas parade (It’s freakin’ Disney! Parades are in the DNA), Christmas fireworks (was there a good place to watch these? Still nice, but too many hands in the air trying to take pictures) and a Christmas show in the Tomorrowland. Perhaps it’s because Dong and I managed to stuff ourselves with every Disney goodness in a short period of time that I also wished we could’ve slowed down and just inch through– like grandpas using wheelchairs in a bird-filled park. Still… we had an AWESOME TIME! I totally recommend Disney newbies to use the Christmas party to inch your way back into childhood fun.

Dong and I visited the Magic Kingdom on December 6– a Sunday. Check out our adventure by clicking on the pics. True– looking at the pictures will be result in a colleciton of “Huuuuhhhh?” but read the descriptions and THEN you’ll feel like you’re following our trip.

…with this new holiday video from the Henson Company:

Ding dong,

-Shady

This has been an extremely difficult year for Ms. Flameboi. Sexy and red, with a prominant butt, my Ford Focus has been my driving companion for more than five years. Unfortunately, a string of bad luck also accompanied Ms. Flameboi in 2009 as her windshield split in two, she was suddenly forced to drive all the way to Atlanta, her tire decided to burst into pieces in ghetto Ybor City, and she became ill-tempered once and scraped another car. And recently, a mysterious brown liquid invaded the backseat’s floor (and it’s not oil or soda… hmm)

Today, in an effort to appease her, I brought her to Dong’s house which is like a mini spa for all automobiles. There, Ms. Flameboi was to receive a bath and massage. Thinking she was in good hands, I went to clean the kitchen. Dong returned shortly saying he locked my keys inside my car. Even worse, the keys were in the ignition and the engine was still running. Ms. Flameboi apparently didn’t enjoy Dong as he tried to herd her into the garage. As soon as he turned the engine on, he stepped outside– not even fully closing the door– and Ms. Flameboi kicked him out.

God bless, I belonged to AAA– the Association of Automobile owners who don’t know Anything. The locksmith arrived within 10 minutes and Ms. Flameboi immediately allowed him to touch her.

So now I sit here, watching my favorite driving companion finish her massage and inspection without a protest– perhaps it’s because I am now nearby that she is more tempermental. Although her latest trip to the doctor revealed a healthy body, I still worry for those oddities in life that lead to bumps in the road. Either way, Ms. Flameboi is still my army tank, my chariot, and my go-cart from point A to point B… and Hondas and Toyotas can eat my exhaust.

BCDST is one of the best dining experiences in my arsenal of jaw dropping, mouth watering, incredibly tasty and tummy satisfying meals. There are a plethora of positive characteristics with this establishment and really nothing negative to say which is why Buk’s IS the most popular Korean restaurant in the city. Yeah I said it.  

This quaint little restaurant specializes in their rendition of Sundubu Jjigae (pronounced chee-gay), a Korean stew containing the softest tofu within a 1000 mile radius. I will religiously order the #3 – Kimchi Soon Tofu because I am an absolute kimchi whore. The stew is made with items such as beef, pork, vegetables, kimchi, tofu and gochujang (fermented pepper paste) among other delicious ingredients.

The bowl of jjigae will arrive to your table between 6-9min after you order bubbling with heat, seriously, it is literally boiling away when it hits the table in front of you shooting love-steam up your nasal passage. This is your cue to crack the egg that was placed on your table with the condiments into your soup, the boiling stew will cook the egg for you with ease.  

Buk’s stew/broth has a similar effect on me like that of Pho Tienh Thanh’s pho broth. I honestly feel so charged up and empowered after consuming it I feel like scooping up a manhole cover and launching it into space. It is that good.

In addition to the Sundubu you are presented with purple rice and 3 types of banchan (Korean side dishes). The rice is a glutinous rice and when it is unmilled it can produce purple and or black grains. It is served hot in a stone pot and although it is tasty, it is definitely more visually pleasing. The banchan really floors me because they are always so tasty and so much fresher than most Korean establishments I dine at. The kimchi (fermented/seasoned cabbage) is arguably the best I have ever had in the city, I would assume it’s made in house. Same goes for the Kongnamul (cold boiled bean sprouts w/ sesame oil and other seasonings) and the shredded pickled daikon.

A beauty of this restaurant is their limited menu, there are only 9 items. I feel that every restaurant should have a menu similar to Buk’s because how can one restaurant make over a dozen perfect dishes? Each and every restaurant should specialize in one genre of cuisine and do it as perfectly as possible. Buk’s limited menu ensures you that you will be ordering a quality dish, it’s as though their menu is a listing of their “house specials” when really that’s just their actual menu.

In addition to the ideal menu the staff are courteous and efficient and it is so important to be courteous, it has the potential to make or break a meal for me. Price-wise it is one of the best deals in town, you can change your life for under $10 a meal.

Well played Buk, well played.

EAT IT

There was little sign of the festive spirit at Santa’s grotto at the Knocknagoney shopping centre in east Belfast…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: spring shopping. The blog is also related to: shopping sites.

The Dong Nai River, which provides water for countless households in the southern region, has become extremely polluted in recent years. Unregulated dumping of household and industrial wastewater into the river is the main cause for the contamination.

Tan Van, a branch of the Dong Nai River, is extremely polluted (Photo: SGGP)

Sai Gon Giai Phong recently carried out an inspection at areas where wastewater is poured into the river such as Suoi Cai Stream, a confluence of the Nhum Stream in Binh Duong Province and Xuan Truong Stream in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thu Duc District. The water here was found to be seriously polluted.

Tran Cong Tuan, a resident in Thu Duc District who lives near the Suoi Cai Stream, said that recently the water had given off a foul smell.

Ten years ago, the river sometimes changed to a muddy color, but now it turns a variety of shades including red, violet and green, he said.

Traveling along the river’s upper reaches, reporters said they had difficulty breathing because of the foul stench of feces and garbage, which surrounded the water and floated in it.

Several industrial zones (IZs) and export processing zones (EPZs) as well as pig-breeding farms that lack treatment systems, are responsible for the river’s pollution.

The water is black at a branch of the river where Tham Luong, Ben Cat, Vam Thuat and Nuoc Len canals travel through several inner districts of HCMC and empty into the Sai Gon River.

Around Thi Tinh, a branch of the Sai Gon River, the water is yellow and gives off a terrible smell.

Responsibility shirked

Since 2005, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has held many meetings with12 provincial leaders to find solutions to save the river, but decisive action remains to be seen.

Deputy Minister Tran Hong Ha said that development projects combined with a lack of environmental protection has led to the pollution of the river.

The Dong Nai River system receives wastewater from the cities and provinces of HCM City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Lam Dong, Dac Lac, Dac Nong, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, Tay Ninh and Long An.

Since the river runs through so many areas, no one has stepped up to take responsibility, said Mr Ha.

According to the ministry’s statistics, the river also receives wastewater from around 70 IZs and EPZs.

Of these, 15 are located in HCMC, 16 each are in the neighboring provinces of Dong Nai and Binh Duong, three each are in Long An and Binh Phuoc provinces, and one is in Tay Ninh.

The river receives 1.73 million cubic meters daily of household wastewater and 1.54 million cubic meters of industrial wastewater.

The above statistics do not include wastewater from tens of thousands of industrial production units outside the IZs.

According to research carried out by the ministry, the river’s lower area is the most polluted.

At some places like Phu Cuong, Binh Phuoc, and Phu An in HCM City, microorganism levels are 168 times higher than the permitted level.

In particular, a 10-kilometer section of brown-black water in the Thi Vai River valley is completely “dead.” The dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) is below 0.5mg/liter, making it unable to support any aquatic life.

Environmental experts say authorities must act quickly to save the river and the water it provides for the region’s citizens.

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it was just 4 days ago that I know through a friend that Tae Yang’s Wedding Dress was on FunX Xtips, week 47. &guessWhuut!!~~ ofcours he’s still in the list,, but he moved from the nr 9 spot to THE nr 3 spot!!~~ yeaHh!~~ howGREAT is thatt?! xd
just checkITout yourself~~
&from around the 100 votes to more than 800 VOTES~~ FULLstars xD

,,let’s fully support Tae Yang’s Wedding Dress ’till the end!!~~

Der er ren nostalgi når det i disse dage er 40 år siden Danmarks Radio begyndte at sende fodbold fra England hver lørdag. Jeg kan af gode grunde ikke huske starten på sendingen, men kan huske mange lørdage, hvor man sad klistret til skærmen fra lørdag klokken 16, hvor alle kampe startede.

Hele stuen fra dengang dukker op, sammen med det sort/hvide fjernsyn. I gemmerne fandt jeg et billede fra maj 1973 som min bror tog efter en pokalfinale med Liverpool. På billede kan man ikke se meget af hvad der forgår på skærmen.

I 1974 kom der farve-tv i hjemmet. Det var lige ført VM i Vesttyskland. At komme i skole og fortælle vi havde fået farvefjernsyn var en stor ting.

Det blev til mange timer foran fjernsynet med kampe om lørdagen. Det var det eneste fodbold som var at se i ugen, ud over landskampe og nogen gange Europa cup som blev sendt forskudt.

Jeg var dog træt af de altid skulle sende Wolverhamton. I 1978 blev der sendt det som skulle vise sig at være tipskampen over alle. Det var opgøret mellem Manchester U og West Brommich med Cunningham og Reidgies. En kamp som endte 3-5.

Fra 1980erne og fremad var der andre ting som også fik interesse. Uskylden meldte sig og lørdag skulle man byen, men man kunne man jo godt bruge tipslørdag til opvarmning. Der var vist nogle lørdag hvor man ikke nåede så lang efter engang dong. Der var en del gange, hvor der blev brølet knælende med hoved ned i toiletkummen i stedet.

As most people know by now, Copenhagen will host the climate meeting Cop15 in December.
It has been around for a while and the time is closing in! – will Obama join? will the different politicians take any decisions? Will the African nations be heard? Will Nepenthes save the threes and WWF save the pandas or polar bears?
The questions are many and only time will tell. Or what?

The other day I watched a board discussion hosting: Knud Pedersen, Vice president at Dong Energi, among others. He presented Dong´s strategy to become a more CO2 neutral company. During the next 30 years the will shift the figures from: 15% CO2 neutral energy and 85% Goal driven energy – to 85% CO2 neutral energy and 15% energy containing CO2 emissions. This is a pretty hardcore strategy to become a Co2 friendly company. If the companies are ready to deal with the climate issue, and the politicians are too, then why are we talking about the fact that there might not happen anything during Cop15? if it all is just one big scam and get-together, then why even bother having it? What is the energy concumtion of hosting that meeting gonna cost compared to how much it will safe?

There are many things that I am curious to see in December!
Kadaver have been in contact with a broad perspective of people dealing with small events, happenings, campaigns, conferences, exhibitions etc. A lot of things are going to go down at the same time, and most of it is extremely interesting.
Then there is also the whole aspect of all the travelers coming to Copenhagen to stay during Cop15. The hotels has been booked for quite a while now and great initiatives like: New Life Copenhagen has been established in order to host people from a grassroots level too. the Couchsurfing network is heated and a broad specter of activists are preparing for December.

The Demonstration on December 12th, is estimated to have approximately 60.000 participant! All yelling for climate change! If you know of any great initiatives thats gonna happen, then feel free to drop a comment or an email. Then we will post it here on the blog for others to see and participate.

I am exited like if it was christmas…

/Søren

The US dollar continued to rise November 24, reaching VND19,770 on the black market, up VND200 on Monday, following the increased inter-bank rate of the State Bank of Viet Nam.

The central bank yesterday added an additional 3 dong to the inter-bank rate, bringing it to VND17,030 per dollar. So far this year, the dollar on the banking market has appreciated about 5.18 per cent against the dong.

However, many foreign exchange dealers on Ha Trung and Tran Nhan Tong streets said there was no sign of an immediate rush for the dollar.

Responding to a rumor that many people had-withdrawn savings to buy dollars, Governor Nguyen.Van Giau told Viet Nam News that: “Commercial banks have reported it is not correct. Deposit accounts at banks remain unaffected.”

Shortage of dollars

The dollar rise was blamed on a shortage on the market. Mr. Giau explained that this was the result of the global recession making the major sources of dollars, including exports, foreign direct investment, remittances and tourism shrivel, thereby reducing supplies.

Governor Giau confirmed that the central bank had prepared an additional dollar supply to ease tensions. However, details about the plan was not disclosed.

Vu Thanh Tu Anh, Research Director at the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Ho Chi Minh City, suggested Viet Nam should hasten the equitisation of State owned enterprises to attract foreign capital from abroad, and thereby introducing more dollars into the domestic economy.

“That solution seems to be the best way to solve the forex question at this time because it can cool the forex market and accelerate the equitisation of state owned sector – both of which Viet Nam wants,” he said.

On the precious metal market, gold yesterday steadily hovered around VND28.4-28.6 million (US$1,450) per tael.

Compared to prices on Monday, the buying price was up VND200,000-300,000 per tael but the selling price remained pretty much unchanged. People remained cautious with their trading decisions.

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But will this dinosaur place survive?

An underwater themed bar complete with a moving, animatronic octopus overhead

But I was there to eat. One step inside and I felt like a kid– Let me jump on that dino’s neck! It was a correct guess that the owners of T-Rex are also the masterminds behind the Rainforest Cafe. Because of how many families had been lured inside, Dong and I received a small tour of the place as we went to a table near the back. Along the way I could see that the large dining space was divided by themes. The bar was neon blue and had a large octopus hanging above with tentacles that twitched. Near the kitchen were brown boulders and faux fire raging above. There was a jungle… then I saw an ice cavern that glowed.

“Ice! Ice! Ice!” I yelled, grabbed my Chinese man, and pointed. And luck emerged as our hostess seated us there. The ice cavern surrounded our table and even extended above our heads. A soft blue light glowed beneath each ice surface that softly changed colors. However cool that sounds, it got annoying as the hour went by– especially when our food came. I don’t like seeing my food reflect different colors. And being the same creators behind the Rainforest Cafe, naturally, there had to be a show every 20 minutes. In this prehistoric version, no gorillas and elephants sang. Rather, a meteor shower began in the boulder room, the dinosaurs would freak out, and our ice cavern would start rapidly changing colors. Very amusing, but hard to stomach if you sat in our area.

The food? How can a T-Rex restaurant not have something called a “Jurassic Burger?” (Lol) On the other hand, there were enough cutesy dino names in the menu… but nothing cutesy about the price. Come on, this is Downtown Disney after all. Entrees were $12 – 25. I took a fish sandwich that was slightly dry, but the fries were surprisingly juicy and crispy. Dong’s mahi mahi platter with rice tasted much better– moist and seasoned right. I decided to add on a tropical cotton-tini. I wondered how a martini could be made with cotton candy, but then our waitress showed up with a martini glass stuffed with a large cotton candy. Then she shook up my drink, and I watched as the cotton candy magically disolved in my alcohol. Anything with that much sugar had to be yummy– and it was. And I got to keep the shaker!

T-Rex will survive. Any restaurant located near Disney with life-size versions of kids’ toys is bound to do good. Will I return? Not unless I take out my college tuition and use it for food. Then again, it’s not like there’s any food place located within 10 miles of the theme parks with cheaper prices. But I definitely recommend stepping inside, if only to jump on a dino’s neck and watch a meteor shower crash into an ice cave.

Hello to all the mindless inhabitants of this planet who read this blog!
And hello to Disney World! I’m planning on visiting Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas in a few weeks and I’m still in the planning mode. So to everyone out there who’ve been to the event (or know someone who has) I would like to know, which is the best night to visit??

Please keep in mind:
- I am a Florida native who has passes to the Busch parks and Universal parks, so I am VERY spoiled (or blessed) b/c I don’t wait in any lines– b/c I know that I can always visit again during off-seasons. Bwahahah, I am very, very spoiled. I don’t want to wait 30 minutes behind jolly good British tourists to see many dolls singing “It’s a Small World After All.” So if possible I don’t want to go when it’s too busy.
- I have a very flexible schedule and can go any day of the week. Did I mention that I have no life?
- I want to try and do and see EVERYTHING! Yes, that includes rubbing elbows with Mickey Mouse, taking pictures inside every gift shop, and dancing onstage during every show.
- And I don’t have to drag 10 other people with me and wait while they use the bathroom. It’s just me and Dong.

Oh yeah… and does anyone have any tips? Anything that will help make this “MVMC” first-timer’s experience more memorable?

Please help me out! Thanks everyone!