CHINA ITP (15TH FEB - 2ND APR 2008)
AFT TRYING UNSUCCESSFULLY FOR SO SO SO MANY TIMES, I FINALLY MANAGED TO UPLOAD THIS POST!!! 3 CHEERS TO MY STUBBORNESS PERSEVERENCE & DETERMINATION!! WOOHOO~
this is a really really outdated entry.. n there r sooo many pics my laggy blog will prob lag even more aft tonight. many a times i wanted to give up blogging abt my china trip (it has been a freaking 1.5 mths already!) but i somehow wanted to document the fun times i had in case i ever want to walk down memory lane n re-read these entries.
btw, it took a wk of sleeping waaaay aft 2am to complete all the uploads n more than a mth typing n aligning the html. zzz. blogger shld seriously consider upgrading itself!!!
welcome to the land of my ancestors - CHINA!!!
the land where we spend money like water - blame it on the indulgent mother n v attractive SGD-RMB exchange rate! heee.
tired but excited faces at 6am at changi airport terminal 3.
szeying: thank goodness we stay in tampines!!!
our first taste of "unique" translation... ALIENS! *faints*
the original chinese sign.. wai guo ren meaning foreigners. =X
my first time away frm hm.. n though having alot of familiar faces did help alleviate some of the home-sickness, i did miss my mama n some ppl back hm so much i cldn't fall asleep until i hear their voices over the line. ahhh, the wonders of auto-roam. =D
first stop, tian an men square.. the backdrop of many china news programmes. i suppose its among the most recognisable sites in beijing.
gate of heavenly peace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_an_men
mao zedong, the leader of the communist party still hangs high n visible on the wall despite him having passed on quite awhile ago.. n the slogans on either side of his face actually scream for the unity of the chinese ppl.
messages like these r often found on public buildings n technically speaking, everywhere in china. brainwash? u decide.. haha.
the area of tian an men can house 1 million ppl n is often used for big rallies n occasions. imagine a quarter of sg's population standing here?!? 0_o"
TERRORIST!!!! eileen is waiting to prey on unsuspecting tourists..
saidhappy unsuspecting tourists..
kisses for my dear cheeleng! *muackies*
the entrance into the forbidden city - palace lah!!
the forbidden city was hm to the emperors frm mid-ming to the end of the qing dynasty.. tts nearly 500 yrs of royal family history!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_city
servants on either side r supposed to lift the emperor's sedan as they ascend those steps so tt he is always riding on top of the carved dragons. i guess simple red carpets wasn't as 'hip' in the 1400s.
the yellow umbrella wld be where the emperor sits when he holds court n makes decisions based on the observations of his many advisors.
the golden throne.
tourguide: all these big urns hv to be always filled with water in case of fire where servants line up to pass buckets of water down the line towards the source of fire.
a pretty slow n inefficient way if u ask me. no wonder during the olden days, ppl always die in fire. =P
[frm left: tififi, cheeleng n me!]
look! ceyang is tying cheeleng's shoelace! n he even had to bend down... awwww...
i thought it was rather amusing to see babies carried in chicken baskets..
frozen water under the bridge..
we probably look stupid with our fascination with frozen waters but in hot s'pore, we'll nv see such a basic scientific "liquid turns to solid" phenomenon anywhere outside a refrigerator! suaku..
as warned, the chefs (even those in classy restaurants), are very generous with salt...
posing with the waitress in the gege outfit..
speaking of food, bing tang cao mei (sugared strawberries) r my ultimate fav! =D however, as winter turned to spring, food vendors stopped selling these sticks of sugary goodness simply bcoz the honey syrup will not stay hard for long in warm weather. poo poo!!
the mostly frozen beihai lake was so so so scenic!
kudos to their conservation efforts!
as china is facing an aging population, many old ppl find themselves v free to juggle balls in parks, dance to folk songs or more interestingly, vandalise the floor with their caligraphy. each wrd is written in water n once dried, will disappear. this way, the elderly can keep their mind active w/o actually wasting ink n paper.
the indigenious brushes...
this bottle of water acts as ink for the painter..
the rock arrangement at summer palace where the emperor n his family comes to stay during the summer mths.. kinda like a holiday villa or something. *envious*
the big guard dog is tamed by eileen, the v talented circus ringleader! wahahahaha!!
[frm outer most: ming jun, leonard, baoxin, jia di, hanming, cheeleng, tiffany, me, sze ying]
ducks swimming in the unfrozen part of the water..
ACT CUTE PIKACHU EARMUFFS!!!!!
eagerly trying out our new china numbers.. i sent 3 smses back to sg (mama, papa n junhong) n i cld get replies!!! a new no. with prepaid card value of 50 yuan only costs us 80 yuan (S$16) but receiving n dialing overseas use up the moolah like damn fast. zzz...
dragon girl with dragon wall!
say cheeeese!
when in china, do as the chinese do..... =P
our first taste of chinese culture took place with tea n performances at lao she teahouse. some of the more interesting acts were the body contortionists, hot wushu guys, teapot juggling, face-changing n comedians.
its FULLHOUSE on a wkday!!
our hotel for the whole of wk 1.
i shared a rm with jess n it was a blast having ur frens as neighbours n u cld pop over at whim. this is one of the main things i miss aft returning hm..
our fav golden mushroom n mutton kebabs! they cost abt 20 cents each n taste soooo gd we can't seem to hv enough of it! *sinful*
yummy yum yum! MIDNIGHT SUPPER!!! who cares abt calories man?!
instead of "gentle reminder", the translation reads "sweet hint".. seriously, they shld hire me to do their translations. this is in a hotel with international tourists for crying outloud!
erm... no prizes for guessing wat 'services' r provided. lol.
cold n dry temperature gives szeying static in her hair..
some form of porcelain with intricate designs lah.. didn't buy any though. they were pricey!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloisonne
the olympic countdown up to the seconds!
close up view of the electronic board...
the newly-built olympic stadium.. a special chemical has also been added to the moat around the stadium to prevent the freezing of the water.. looks like the esplanade w/o all the spikes hor??
beijing-ers are avid book readers n bookshops are aplenty.
pigging out is loveee!!! esp when the food comes frm these rd-side stalls which r not just gd in taste but excellent in value too!
but of course, wat is china w/o all the funny food? apparently earthworms taste like prawns n centipede tastes like chicken.. i didn't dare try though. *scaredy-cat*
temple of heaven! i think tis is one of the most majestic places we hv been to.. afterall this is where the emperor pays respect to the heavens. so its like a really really impt place or something. haha. tt sounded bimbotic!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Tan
for every grp photo, we hv to smile for tt many cameras.
"LELONG LELONG, CAMERAS FOR SALE!"
the guys!!!
[back rom, frm left: hanming, jia di, junsheng, yong quan, qin yi, fang yi, chay boon, frederic, ceyang, leonard, george]
[front row, frm left: yong whee, jeremy, ming jun, novin, liang chuan]
the girls!!!
[back row, frm left: liyin, baoxin, dilys, sze ying, shermaine, lisi, mei shuyan, jess, me, shiau ting, huili, lina, xinyi]
[front row, frm left: yen leng, huiping, pei yi, dawn, cairong, tiffany, cheeleng, ching yean, kamae, eileen, malissa]
photos, photos, photos!!!
lining up according to height.. do re mi fa so~
[frm left: lisi, mei shyuan, jess, me, szeying, cairong, cheeleng, eileen, tiffany, hanming, ceyang]
doesn't ming jun look like a model??? i think he is like abt 1.9m ba...
after a while, the history lessons did get kinda boring.. *yawns*
nxt stop, kong miao!! usually students come here to pray for last min intelligence before big papers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kong_Miao
the legendary kong zi (confucius)! the author of many chinese smarty-pants stuff lah..
DING! cheeleng n me r enlightened!!
when there was still the imperial examinations where scholars study to become officials (which indirectly meant their whole family line wld live a life of luxury for the rest of their lives), the names of those who made it wld be carved on these stone statues.
there wld only be 1 stature per i-dunno-how-many-yrs. but we all kinda went mad searching for our surnames. i guess the chua family, like me, wasn't a v smart bunch of ppl. wahahaha!!
on the temple grounds...
non-recyclable refuse are called 'organism'?????
moving on, we visited a museum whose exhibits didn't really interest us so we spent the time playing chess n drinking tea instead...
these r tiny tiny essays written by scholars attempting to cheat in the imperial examinations. the wrds r smaller than rice grains! *salute*
but of course, wat is a trip to beijing w/o trying the famous peking duck??
the secret to these delicious birds lie in the mistreat of the duck itself. frm birth, the ducks hv a tube inserted right down their throats n they r force-fed 24 hrs a day with zero exercise. within a wk, the young duck wld be fat enough for a gd meal w/o the toughness of an old duck's meat.
imagine nv ever getting to see outside the factory walls?!?! ok, moral lessons aside, peking duck r nicey nice though they can be a tad too oily..
on our own, we found tis humble eatery alongside our hotel..
the duck served here is waaay better than the ones served in the earlier fancy restaurant the tourguide brought us to... n the cute thing is they serve apple slices to compliment the duck in popiah skin. sweeet!
in the beginning, some of us actually tot the apple were ginger slices n didn't dare to try them. heeee.
waitress (in chinese of course!): do ur wan the ya jia zi?
someone: of course!!
little did we noe ya jia zi actually meant duck carcass.
the hotel serves sub-standard breakfast with WARM ORANGE JUICE!! so on one morning, jess, mei shuyan, lisi n i made our way down to mac (we actually didn't get lost!!).. banana pie is extremely sweet n though the breakfast cost only S$3, i felt tt it wasn't as nice as those back hm n i had alot of prob reading the menu.
n like every sch trip.. there muz be educational touring as well. the above is a yoghurt factory. the biggest cultured milk producer in china, yili..
another industrial visit to the coca-cola factory n they gave us free drinks!
junsheng drunk on coke?
coke delivery anyone??
S.H.E is BIG in china!!!
always coca-cola~
eileen: i wan one wanton mee.
cheeleng: ?!?!?!?!?!?
grp photo on the great wall!!!
"point there!!!!"
naturally, the instructions didn't quite flow through to the first row.. n we all ended up looking quite lost.
the only man-made structure visible frm the moon!! n its so loooong we only managed to scale the mutianyu part of it. apparently frm wikipedia, the mutianyu portion is of the largest scale n best quality. it lasted since 1404!!! with state-of-the-art technology, the modern day contractors shld be ashamed of themselves!
anyway, we took a cablecar for abt 1/3 of the journey n climbed the remaining part all by ourselves.. it was more of a mental than physical challenge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_wall_of_china
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutianyu
"once intended to ward of enemy attacks, today, it brings together the people of the world..."
its sheer size n how it skillfully snakes its way across the mountains marvels me. but needless to say, alot of lives were spent building this wall n legend believes their skulls were buried underneath so the wall wouldn't collaspe. how tt cld help i seriously hv no idea.
one of the greatest love stories of all time (besides liang shan bo n zhu li ye) was abt how a woman cried down the great wall for the demise of her husband who had been sent to build it a couple of days aft their wedding.
we r flying w/o wings!!!
guards? approach with caution.
i see, i see, i see... ehh, i see rocks.
to get to sit there, i had to slowly bal my way there n it wasn't easy hor!
my china clique - ceyang, hanming, eileen, cairong, tiffany, cheeleng, szeying!
I LOVE YOU PEOPLE TO BITS!!! except when u make fun of me then i dun love u anymore. wahahahaha! =)
scary to lean hor! the wind was v strong when u get to the edge of the wall..
"i'm on the top of the world looking..."
we reach the top!!! *victory*
on the way, there were touts trying to make a quick buck.. i tot mao zedong's little red bk only existed in my history text. lol.
the main reason for tis shot is not tiff, cl or sy but rather the wordings on the back of the cablecar window..
"president william j. clinton took this car down the great wall on 18th feb 1995"
some other cars hv the names of other famous ppl..
visited a mixed hot spring.. but it being mixed, we didn't feel comfortable going in so it was foot massage (shiok!) n chess for us. shy shy ma.. haha.
at night there was an ice-skating performance n a little of an ah gua show with a caucasian man in skimpy clothes. ewww... they also had an indian speaking chinese. multi-racial hur?
one of the first shopping centres we visited to buy winter wear n boots for those lacking in them.. its my first taste of how bargaining is done in china. the tourguide said we shld start frm 50% of the quoted price but as i came to realise later, paying abt 10% was more than enough. zzzz.
n bargaining can get pretty fierce when ur a noob like me. shopkeepers virtually stuff goods into my bag or try to physically drag me into their shops. in one instance they played tug-of-war with both my arms. it was cheeleng n szeying vs china woman! *scary*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
departing beijing, we nxt toured suzhou where half of our population wld remain for the bulk of the adventure.
suzhou's no. 1 chinese restaurant. a place we wun dare to show face ever again.. its true we 'yam seng' 3 times which was kinda more than necessary but their locals actually threw tissue balls at us. talk abt uncouth! tsk tsk.
having reached suzhou, we hung around for a couple of days in places where the suzhou ppl wld frequent during their working period.. this is szeying n i at guan qian jie, the shopping street adjacent to their motel n in the background r the v cute n famous olympic fuwas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Olympics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuwa
during the student immersion prog, not only did we hv to sit through 3 hr long CHINESE business lectures tt prompty put us all to slp, the journal team had to present some show thingy for their students. waste my time! with my attrocious chinese, thankfully i had ceyang n hanming as emcees to hold the fort.
being the journal team leader is the worse poo poo tis trip cld present me.. haiz.
visited some river-side walk tt really looks v s'pore to me.. haha. no wonder they say the industrial park is the biggest sg-china collaboration. even the houses n signboards were replicas of those found here.
the humble administrators garden was far frm 'humble'.. it fact it looked so posh n not to mention the excellent fengshui incorporated into each n every nook n cranny.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Administrator%27s_Garden
one of the many dainty pavillions.
PINK CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN FULL BLOOM! so pretty can?!
pretty flowers how can dun take photo???
close-up of the pink flowers.. i exceptionally adore tis shade of pink. not too wild n not too mild.. nice nice!
the white variety.
shhhh... i'm meditating! fangyi (middle guy) looks kinda like tianhock only with shorter hair doesn't he??
though there wasn't falling snow, we did see snow...
ceyang n hanming at tiger hill..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Hill%2C_Suzhou
the nicest photo out of thousands i took.. quite style right? managed to fiddle with the settings to sharpen the background. haha.. its kinda like china's leaning tower of pisa.
erm..........
well, if u can't exactly walk on water, tis wld suffice..
the reflections.. preeeeety!
was on the bus travelling past tis i-dunno-wat-place but alot of newly weds were posing for their wedding photos here. its really quite beautiful actually..
one of my v fav things abt china is tt fireworks can be lighted by anyone, anywhere! so on our last night before the suzhou n shanghai ppl seperate, we lighted up a bunch of fireworks n firecrackers.. plus, it so happened to be on the 15th day of cny so it was a nice noise to hv. welcome the new yr with a bang ma..
the fireworks we lighted was the normal type.. no fancy shapes or glitters i usually see during national day or new yr countdowns. but somehow bcoz of the close proximity, it was the most breathtaking fireworks i hv ever seen. =)
the suzhou girls...
[frm left: mei shuyan, jess, eileen, malissa]
the suzhou guys...
[frm left: junsheng, jeremy, ceyang, hanming]
i tot their shirts were rather cute.. as in with their personalised faces n all.. but with those "extremely confident" wrds, i highly doubt they dare wld wear them in public. 0_o"
our first stop upon reaching shanghai, cheng huang miao/yu yuan is a tourist attraction cum sprawling shopping arena... the stuff they sell range frm tradditional snacks to cute stationery. n tis place has the most expensive street food in the whole of china! i say tis bcoz 10 yuan can only buy me 1 soup bao n tt is ex by china standards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_Huang_Miao
china = tea, alot of tea.
munching as usual...
[frm left: eileen, hanming, cairong, ceyang, xinyi, szeying]
tis big bear only cost S$12!!!!! i wanted to carry it hm only i cld imagine han lih lih's pissed off face n mama's ur-rm-already-has-too-many-fluffy-animals face.
we visited here quite a few times during our 5 wks in shanghai.. personally, i found the night visits nicer. =)
look at all the lighting? like some movie hor??
my hm with burger for 5 wks.. we shared a rm at motel 168 n tis was the perpetual mess we had. kinda shocked both weiming n junhong when we webcam. haha.. didn't dare to show mommy though. can predict her blood pressure rising. heeee.
we actually tied a raffia string frm the curtain rod to the lamp to hang our formal wear - they eventually all ended up in a pile on the chair though. anyway, my bed is the inner one n cairong's is the outer one so mine is was just tt teensy bit neater. haha.
considering the mess, it wasn't surprising tt rats came. oops. red wine pocky, fancy gem biscuits, oreos, kit kats n all the human food we had were rat-tainted. yucks!
the last straw was when it attacked my brand new pkt of hershley kisses. strawberry flavour somemore! tis time, its personal!! so we made a fuss, changed rm a couple of times n put a mousetrap under my bed. tt pesky, greedy rodent is going DOWN!!!!
in my frustration, i cld even write a letter to stick on the toilet door for the benefit of v forgetful cleaners.. i wrote it in my cmi chinese hor!
ocbc shanghai, operations dept. i was in the bank reconciliation dept doing bank recons. like duh?! alot of the heads here were singaporeans so i found life pretty easy.. as in we cld speak eng n stuff. haha.. szeying was my colleague/lunch mate/talk crap partner/alarm clock. thanks babe! i wldn't hv survived w/o u!!
i even had my own acc with the company.. n only i can unlock my com. lol.
tis is actually the high-rise buildings in the financial district area but the main reason for tis pic is the kite flying during early morn peak hr.. i tot it was really awesome tt ppl there live for themselves unlike singaporeans who tend to be overly concious on how others perceive them..
my first mani done on one of the wkend getaways to suzhou.. only 10 bucks!
these hand-drawn flowers r really intricate with leaves n gold trimmings.. cost $30 though. but still cheaper then s'pore lah. they even give 4 free crystals!
on one of the occassions, we went out with betty (our supervisor) aft wrk to shop for hps. did u noe even in established departmental stores, bargaining still happens? wow.. anyway, she treated us to steamboat dinner which she warned was super spicy. however, by our standards, it was so-so only.. haha. shanghainese really can't tahan hot bcoz even mac dun give out chilli sauce!
seafood pasta for 9 yuan (S$1.80) n its among the most expensive dishes on the menu. btw, tis is a not bad restaurant with service staff n nice ambience. plus, no china restaurant charges gst or service charge. everything is nett price n wat u see is wat u get. tt is something i really miss abt tt place...
60 yuan gives u 8 min of high-speed fun... a tad pricey though...
supper at rdside stores hv become a bad habit for us. but for 80 cents, we can get a decent portion (serves 2) of fried rice or noodles.. kinda got used to paying such dirt cheap prices i couldn't really adapt once i got back to sg.
george, tiffany, xinyi, szeying, cheeleng n i at the yatch club.. *feeling elitist*
aft the dinner, we took a 2 yuan cruise down the bund to take in the night view. unfortunately due to energy conservation efforts, we didn't get to see all the lights in its full glory. *sulks*
the oriental pearl tower.. the lights at night make it really pretty dun u think? the laser lights change colour ever so often lighting up the whole night sky. =)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_Pearl_Tower
george is a happy man!
our excited faces...
shopping being a girl's fav past-time... introducing, our fav shopping paradise! dun be deceived by its less than impressive exterior. qi pu lu sells such a range of clothes n fake stuff tt cld turn any girl into a giggling mess of pure delight. not forgetting all the hidden backdoors n shelves tt hide the grade A fakes. whoo~
furthermore, as long as u proj an image of a person with spending power, u'll find urself swamp with "bodyguards" (some of them r quite cute) to guide u around the mall, help u bargain, find ur lost frens, etc. i suppose they do get a cut out of the amt i spend ba.
I LOVE LOVE SHOPPING!!!!!
shopping is a form of exercise n it keeps me warm! i even had to take out my winter stuff..
but like everywhere else, there r still quirky signs.
even more funny translation.
HAHAHAHAHA!
our fav hangout aft wrk each day is at people's sq coz its sorta the central n nearest to our motel. there is tis big shopping centre called raffles city n its run by capitaland.. so the layout is exactly like those in sg with breadtalk n basement food stalls.. there is also an underpass linked to the mrt - something like citylink mall...
we cld draw self-portraits. the real or cartoon versions..
or twist out our chi names with wire...
in the linkway, there is tis whole beauty street where i had my hair extensions done.. they r really shrewed biz ppl.. for example in the beginning, they told me i only needed 100 strands of hair. aft they finished the 100 strands which was obviously not enough, i had no choice but to complete 250 strands - at additional costs! bcoz i can't possibly wlk away frm the shop with half a head of hair only right?!
anyway, those hair didn't last v long so i paid S$80 for a few wks of vanity. =(
n who said only girls can do extensions??? ceyang ended up with a long plait!
cairong n i also tried eye extensions only hers looked more dolly than mine.. but, if u ever wanna try, dun do it in china coz they use lousy glue tt hurts ur own real lashes n can't be removed easily when they become crooked n messy.
the nails are quite worthwhile though...those acrylic n extensions although expensive r no where near sg's exhorbitant rates!
n it pays to hv an indulgent uncle to treat ur frens n urself to a nice meal aft having lived on a tight budget for quite some time.
he even got the chef to deco my dessert plate for me! isn't it sweet?
n since uncle jason wld be flying hm the nxt morn, i got to send some of my dirty clothes n purchases back hm!
common meals were not a v shabby affair either.... han lih lih took all the shanghai peeps for a hotel buffet not once but...
TWICE! the second time being aft wrk n we all had to find our own way there frm our respective offices.. quite a diff task for a direction idiot like me.
strawberries + marshmallow + chocolate sauce = heaven!
san guo yan yi was filmed here... n i got to wear princess costumes n take pretty pictures!
jess, mei shuyan, lisi in bridal costumes..
the view frm on top of some tower...
"no no, u muz give an orgasmic face!"
[frm left: hanming, ceyang, yong quan, george, ming jun]
george n his girls... woohoo~
[frm left: jess, xinyi, tiffany, george, cheeleng, me, szeying]
visited the silk factory where we were taught now to differentiate between genuine n synthetic silk. apparently if u burn fake silk there will be black smoke n real silk can tahan direct flame longer. =P
1) little boy plays happily with his sword.
2) big jie jie xinyi approaches him.
3) muahahahaha! she stole the precious ying tian jian!
see how gleeful she is?! no wonder when we were at shangrila, the staff tot she was under 12 n offered her the child buffet rate. lol.
the best hotel we lived in was in hangzhou.. great hearty breakfast too!
alot of china's sightseeing destinations revolved around lakes, flowers n caves!!!
some caves were used for filming purposes. others were used to pray to some deity.
the tiger was carved into the mountain side...
n the beast ROARS!
erm, if i'm not mistaken, tis was our 10 hr drive to wuxi... but the backside pain was v worthwhile. =)
lisi, mei shuyuan, shiau ting, malissa, kame, dilys against the wind.. =D
me: oh my! the ocean!!
someone: tis a lake lah! aiyo, nv pay attn to the tourguide lor!
introducing taihu lake. tis lake itself is 10 times the size of s'pore..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taihu_Lake
ehhh.. a rock?
hanming n ceyang in their own martial arts film...
cruising down a canel.. the shophouses which we pass by r real hms.
[frm left: jess, me, xinyi, tiffany, szeying, cheeleng, ceyang]
our whole clique at the dye factory...
shot 1!!!
shot 2 - we just can't resist pinching george!!!
eileen n her signature smirk face again...
gold plates with name engraving... i bought ting ting's gd luck charm frm tis place..
xinyi n the big sweet potato... nice, warm breakfast!
YOUNG AT HEART!!! whee~
hanming is feeling horny... plus, he is easily satisfied. *dots*
aft a day out with the dearies, i left to meet mommy's colleague's nieces for dinner at tis authentic shanghai restaurant tt costs over 1000 yuan for 4 ppl... the food served here is by far v different frm those the tourguide introduced.
anyway, i tink kristine n annie were such sweet ppl when aft casually mentioning i wanted to mail postcards back hm but had prob finding stamps, they prompty delivered 12 stamps to my hotel the v nxt day. efficient!
the nxt time the suzhou ppl came to shanghai for a visit, we brought them for drinks at xin tian di, the night haven of china... a pricey one at tt.
i dun see the pt of a 'smoking zone' when ppl smoke everywhere even in air-conditioned malls n cabs!
on one of our wkend trips to yet another park, some of us decided to give touring a miss n find our own forms of leisure... though we sorta got ripped by paying for speed boat rides to tao hua dao only to realise we needed seperate admission tickets which those boatmen conveniently forgot to mention previously!
of course there r times where we shanghai ppl took the 36 min train ride into suzhou for the wkend.. on the train, u meet all sorts of chinese ppl. like those who hogs ur seat when they didn't pay or even those cute little dining cars or sleeping quarters for longer rides..
but bcoz tis tickets r slightly more pricely - i think we took quite a decent class - we didn't hv to squeeze with hordes of ppl unlike in the metro (shanghai's mrt system).
the suzhou darlings took hospitality to another level when they woke up bright n early to come pick us frm the station.. hanming was even dear enough to indulge tiff n me when we wanted to ride one of these funny little motorcycles. hahaha..
its quite scary actually to be weaving among traffic a barely half the height of a bus.
it was happy faces n tons of hugs n grettings tt awaited us when the two sides met. tis particular trip to suzhou caused some of us to get into trouble with the teacher in-charge.. but lets just say all the struggles were worthwhile.
chocolates r lovely.. but when u do them on ur own, frm scratch, it makes them all the more lovelier! =D
happy us~
szeying, me george, ceyang, cheeleng n hanming anxious to begin!
heavy concentration... the choc muz flow smoothly with no bubbles trapped wor!
ceyang's painfully crafted zodiac animals... didn't expect him to hv a such a steady hand..
3 cheers for chocolates!!!!! ^^
the filmsite for many action films including the forbidden kingdom.. tis site hires the entire neighbouring village for the extras in its shows. i noe the middle two pics in the collage r the same but i did tis in the middle of the night so yups. =P
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hengdian_World_Studios
one of the performance.. FLOOD!!
THE BIGGEST CAMPFIRE EVER!!! =D
"old street" at tunxi.
old fashion dumpling making...
dragon beard candy..
fermented beancurd.. smelly! cheeleng n george's fav though.
close-up on the mouldy tofu! those black bits r the decayed parts.. *gross*
eileen n her wang cai whose pet phrase is "wa-lao-eh"!! lolx.
waiting for the cable car up half of huang shan. we were not yet expecting the sheer height of the mountain..
up, up n away......
well, its not as simple as it looks...
the nearly vertical side!
climbing tis mountain is no easy task. took abt 3hrs to conquer all n no wonder the hotels up there r doing such a roaring biz coz ppl who climb all the way up there will be too exhausted to climb back down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huangshan_Mountains
announcing the arrival of the empress dowager! lol. but i bet those poor labourers r really underpaid for carrying a fat old woman up the mountain. zzz.
ceyang at jeremy at 1864m altitude.
tis ball frm afar looked like a fishball. closer, it looked like a tennis ball.. then, soccer ball. now, WAHHHHH!! its quite cool tt we all used tis as a motivation to walk towards... coz it really feels great when u see the ball getting bigger.
like the great wall, tis was more of a mental rather than physical challenge.
SUCCESS with medals to prove it!!!!! =)
[frm left: george, tiffany, leonard, me, szeying, xinyi, cheeleng]
being at the peak is apparently not enough for hanming tt he hv to climb on top of a shop! hehe.
ceyang's big butt! wahahahaha!!
locks of love~!
couples engrave their names to the locks n chain them on tis passage forever. sweeeet...
the pinecone i picked up for my dear seashell-picker back hm. but the tourguide sorta hinted it wld decay once back in warm sg.. so here's juz a picture of it tgt with my pretty nails!
trust us humans to litter on every of nature's wonders. sighs.
the clique! *smiles*
us girls with the tourguide who was also frm the anhui province, huangshan area lah.
[frm left: qiling, burger, me, huishen, tourguide, szeying, cheater leen!!] =P
myself n cheeleng.. i think i look v girl girl here so i posted it. no significant other reason. lol.
evidence of the attrocious rm rates! the rm resembles a really small chalet only lor.. but the massage services we engaged (at additional costs; of course) was pretty solid but they had to go demand for tips. =(
one last shot before jess, me, cheeleng, mingjun n george headed downhill. it was a v windy morning n cold too! coz i rmbr seeing falling ice.
aft leaving our final tour destination, the troop of us headed back for one last night in shanghai.. here, we took a more luxurious liner to cruise down the bund more affectionately known as wai tan. sadly to say, the lights were still not at its full glory but the shanghai city skyline is something i hv really come to fall in love with. *emo* =(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund
as the day coincided with april fool's day (which so happen to be darling cheeleng's 19th bdae), she got songs n presents while still sailing. for a sailor, i wld think she felt pretty awesome.
the birthday girl looking quite pleased. :)
but of course we did celebrate for her beforehand lah.. can't possibly celebrate the passing of a yr w/o a cake right?!
tis really big choc cake was bought out of the shanghai common fund.. actually we celebrated quite a few other bdaes (like jess, meishyuan, yong quan n ching yean during march) but i happen to not hv photos.. =(
our own mini celebration for cheeleng on the last day of wrk with miniature cakes frm breadtalk.
us with sb's deputy director n our shanghai in-charge, ms han lih lih.
all 15 banking n financial students involved in tis itp. lects hv been alot more fun now tt there r more familiar faces sitting around. =)
fangyi n mingjun lifting fredric.
george proves to be more of a challenge requiring the combined strength of 6 men. hehe.
the oriental pearl in the day standing at a height of 1535 ft, its the 2nd tallest building in the area.. a little known fact is tt its actually not juz a tourist attraction but a television station too.
tis shot was taken using the 3.2 megapixel camera of my darling n73 which makes my current w910i seem all the more lacking. zzz. *sulk sulk*
look at all the parked cars!
the view frm the 250+ floor.
the wax museum on the ground floor of the oriental pearl tower.. in my hasty walk through it, its actually pretty impressive. only we were in quite a rush to do last min shopping (we only had 1 hr) so no pics were taken.
needless to say, these r our ultimate past-times. gosh, i sure am missing those days where every, single night is fun-filled n eventful. =D
xiao long baos n gyozas!! i bet i cld nv ever get tired of them..
dinner aft a hard day's wrk!! we know how to reward ourselves lor.. =)
[frm left: tiffany, me, xinyi]
tis whole bento set with us having our own BIG tatami room costs only 6 sing dollars.. though its ex to an average china worker, it was pretty much our daily standard of meals. lol.
look at how much i ordered?!?! n i still rmbr feeling sick tt day..
cheeleng n her whooper! come to think of it, fastfood here is really pricey. sometimes they even cost more than classy eateries... esp yoshinoya! dun even hv student meal lor!!
soon it was time to pack up n head hm.. due to our massive spending sprees, we found ourselves in a mad rush to buy ziploc bags frm watsons (tiff's fav shop ever!!) to squeeze in all our unfolded old clothes plus quite a no. of new ones.
had to rely on george's weight to eliminate all the air in quite a few instances.. so who said kilos served no purpose?? lol.
its like magic!! ;P
at shanghai's pudong airport waiting to check-in..
i was pretty surprised SIA didn't hv a connecting bridge thingy.. but getting to the plane via minibus n climbing up the emergency stairs was quite cool. haha. but it was quite embarrasing when the angmo behind me said in broken chinese...
"zhe shi ni de di yi ci ma?" (is tis ur first time?)
arghhh!!! *throw face*
upon touching down at changi, the whole family was waiting for me... n i had a bouquet of the most pretty pink roses ever!! *touched*
notice the bright red disney bag?? its big enough to hide even myself n its prob the type immigrant workers use to cross the border. lol. thank goodness it didn't burst lor!
mama really knows me best! i'll always be tt flower-type girl so my bf better not be stingy. hehehe..
tis trip has been nothing short of memorable.. n other than maturing n making tons of new frens, the entire experience has been exhilerating. n though the chinese ppl hv proved their reputation of being rude n coarse, their determination n eagerness to prove themselves hv left me in awe. someday soon, i'm going back to shanghai. anyone interested?? =P
signing off now..
xoxo, joy.
this is a really really outdated entry.. n there r sooo many pics my laggy blog will prob lag even more aft tonight. many a times i wanted to give up blogging abt my china trip (it has been a freaking 1.5 mths already!) but i somehow wanted to document the fun times i had in case i ever want to walk down memory lane n re-read these entries.
btw, it took a wk of sleeping waaaay aft 2am to complete all the uploads n more than a mth typing n aligning the html. zzz. blogger shld seriously consider upgrading itself!!!
welcome to the land of my ancestors - CHINA!!!
the land where we spend money like water - blame it on the indulgent mother n v attractive SGD-RMB exchange rate! heee.
tired but excited faces at 6am at changi airport terminal 3.
szeying: thank goodness we stay in tampines!!!
our first taste of "unique" translation... ALIENS! *faints*
the original chinese sign.. wai guo ren meaning foreigners. =X
my first time away frm hm.. n though having alot of familiar faces did help alleviate some of the home-sickness, i did miss my mama n some ppl back hm so much i cldn't fall asleep until i hear their voices over the line. ahhh, the wonders of auto-roam. =D
first stop, tian an men square.. the backdrop of many china news programmes. i suppose its among the most recognisable sites in beijing.
gate of heavenly peace
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_an_men
mao zedong, the leader of the communist party still hangs high n visible on the wall despite him having passed on quite awhile ago.. n the slogans on either side of his face actually scream for the unity of the chinese ppl.
messages like these r often found on public buildings n technically speaking, everywhere in china. brainwash? u decide.. haha.
the area of tian an men can house 1 million ppl n is often used for big rallies n occasions. imagine a quarter of sg's population standing here?!? 0_o"
TERRORIST!!!! eileen is waiting to prey on unsuspecting tourists..
said
kisses for my dear cheeleng! *muackies*
the entrance into the forbidden city - palace lah!!
the forbidden city was hm to the emperors frm mid-ming to the end of the qing dynasty.. tts nearly 500 yrs of royal family history!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_city
servants on either side r supposed to lift the emperor's sedan as they ascend those steps so tt he is always riding on top of the carved dragons. i guess simple red carpets wasn't as 'hip' in the 1400s.
the yellow umbrella wld be where the emperor sits when he holds court n makes decisions based on the observations of his many advisors.
the golden throne.
tourguide: all these big urns hv to be always filled with water in case of fire where servants line up to pass buckets of water down the line towards the source of fire.
a pretty slow n inefficient way if u ask me. no wonder during the olden days, ppl always die in fire. =P
[frm left: tififi, cheeleng n me!]
look! ceyang is tying cheeleng's shoelace! n he even had to bend down... awwww...
i thought it was rather amusing to see babies carried in chicken baskets..
frozen water under the bridge..
we probably look stupid with our fascination with frozen waters but in hot s'pore, we'll nv see such a basic scientific "liquid turns to solid" phenomenon anywhere outside a refrigerator! suaku..
as warned, the chefs (even those in classy restaurants), are very generous with salt...
posing with the waitress in the gege outfit..
speaking of food, bing tang cao mei (sugared strawberries) r my ultimate fav! =D however, as winter turned to spring, food vendors stopped selling these sticks of sugary goodness simply bcoz the honey syrup will not stay hard for long in warm weather. poo poo!!
the mostly frozen beihai lake was so so so scenic!
kudos to their conservation efforts!
as china is facing an aging population, many old ppl find themselves v free to juggle balls in parks, dance to folk songs or more interestingly, vandalise the floor with their caligraphy. each wrd is written in water n once dried, will disappear. this way, the elderly can keep their mind active w/o actually wasting ink n paper.
the indigenious brushes...
this bottle of water acts as ink for the painter..
the rock arrangement at summer palace where the emperor n his family comes to stay during the summer mths.. kinda like a holiday villa or something. *envious*
the big guard dog is tamed by eileen, the v talented circus ringleader! wahahahaha!!
[frm outer most: ming jun, leonard, baoxin, jia di, hanming, cheeleng, tiffany, me, sze ying]
ducks swimming in the unfrozen part of the water..
ACT CUTE PIKACHU EARMUFFS!!!!!
eagerly trying out our new china numbers.. i sent 3 smses back to sg (mama, papa n junhong) n i cld get replies!!! a new no. with prepaid card value of 50 yuan only costs us 80 yuan (S$16) but receiving n dialing overseas use up the moolah like damn fast. zzz...
dragon girl with dragon wall!
say cheeeese!
when in china, do as the chinese do..... =P
our first taste of chinese culture took place with tea n performances at lao she teahouse. some of the more interesting acts were the body contortionists, hot wushu guys, teapot juggling, face-changing n comedians.
its FULLHOUSE on a wkday!!
our hotel for the whole of wk 1.
i shared a rm with jess n it was a blast having ur frens as neighbours n u cld pop over at whim. this is one of the main things i miss aft returning hm..
our fav golden mushroom n mutton kebabs! they cost abt 20 cents each n taste soooo gd we can't seem to hv enough of it! *sinful*
yummy yum yum! MIDNIGHT SUPPER!!! who cares abt calories man?!
instead of "gentle reminder", the translation reads "sweet hint".. seriously, they shld hire me to do their translations. this is in a hotel with international tourists for crying outloud!
erm... no prizes for guessing wat 'services' r provided. lol.
cold n dry temperature gives szeying static in her hair..
some form of porcelain with intricate designs lah.. didn't buy any though. they were pricey!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloisonne
the olympic countdown up to the seconds!
close up view of the electronic board...
the newly-built olympic stadium.. a special chemical has also been added to the moat around the stadium to prevent the freezing of the water.. looks like the esplanade w/o all the spikes hor??
beijing-ers are avid book readers n bookshops are aplenty.
pigging out is loveee!!! esp when the food comes frm these rd-side stalls which r not just gd in taste but excellent in value too!
but of course, wat is china w/o all the funny food? apparently earthworms taste like prawns n centipede tastes like chicken.. i didn't dare try though. *scaredy-cat*
temple of heaven! i think tis is one of the most majestic places we hv been to.. afterall this is where the emperor pays respect to the heavens. so its like a really really impt place or something. haha. tt sounded bimbotic!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Tan
for every grp photo, we hv to smile for tt many cameras.
"LELONG LELONG, CAMERAS FOR SALE!"
the guys!!!
[back rom, frm left: hanming, jia di, junsheng, yong quan, qin yi, fang yi, chay boon, frederic, ceyang, leonard, george]
[front row, frm left: yong whee, jeremy, ming jun, novin, liang chuan]
the girls!!!
[back row, frm left: liyin, baoxin, dilys, sze ying, shermaine, lisi, mei shuyan, jess, me, shiau ting, huili, lina, xinyi]
[front row, frm left: yen leng, huiping, pei yi, dawn, cairong, tiffany, cheeleng, ching yean, kamae, eileen, malissa]
photos, photos, photos!!!
lining up according to height.. do re mi fa so~
[frm left: lisi, mei shyuan, jess, me, szeying, cairong, cheeleng, eileen, tiffany, hanming, ceyang]
doesn't ming jun look like a model??? i think he is like abt 1.9m ba...
after a while, the history lessons did get kinda boring.. *yawns*
nxt stop, kong miao!! usually students come here to pray for last min intelligence before big papers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kong_Miao
the legendary kong zi (confucius)! the author of many chinese smarty-pants stuff lah..
DING! cheeleng n me r enlightened!!
when there was still the imperial examinations where scholars study to become officials (which indirectly meant their whole family line wld live a life of luxury for the rest of their lives), the names of those who made it wld be carved on these stone statues.
there wld only be 1 stature per i-dunno-how-many-yrs. but we all kinda went mad searching for our surnames. i guess the chua family, like me, wasn't a v smart bunch of ppl. wahahaha!!
on the temple grounds...
non-recyclable refuse are called 'organism'?????
moving on, we visited a museum whose exhibits didn't really interest us so we spent the time playing chess n drinking tea instead...
these r tiny tiny essays written by scholars attempting to cheat in the imperial examinations. the wrds r smaller than rice grains! *salute*
but of course, wat is a trip to beijing w/o trying the famous peking duck??
the secret to these delicious birds lie in the mistreat of the duck itself. frm birth, the ducks hv a tube inserted right down their throats n they r force-fed 24 hrs a day with zero exercise. within a wk, the young duck wld be fat enough for a gd meal w/o the toughness of an old duck's meat.
imagine nv ever getting to see outside the factory walls?!?! ok, moral lessons aside, peking duck r nicey nice though they can be a tad too oily..
on our own, we found tis humble eatery alongside our hotel..
the duck served here is waaay better than the ones served in the earlier fancy restaurant the tourguide brought us to... n the cute thing is they serve apple slices to compliment the duck in popiah skin. sweeet!
in the beginning, some of us actually tot the apple were ginger slices n didn't dare to try them. heeee.
waitress (in chinese of course!): do ur wan the ya jia zi?
someone: of course!!
little did we noe ya jia zi actually meant duck carcass.
the hotel serves sub-standard breakfast with WARM ORANGE JUICE!! so on one morning, jess, mei shuyan, lisi n i made our way down to mac (we actually didn't get lost!!).. banana pie is extremely sweet n though the breakfast cost only S$3, i felt tt it wasn't as nice as those back hm n i had alot of prob reading the menu.
n like every sch trip.. there muz be educational touring as well. the above is a yoghurt factory. the biggest cultured milk producer in china, yili..
another industrial visit to the coca-cola factory n they gave us free drinks!
junsheng drunk on coke?
coke delivery anyone??
S.H.E is BIG in china!!!
always coca-cola~
eileen: i wan one wanton mee.
cheeleng: ?!?!?!?!?!?
grp photo on the great wall!!!
"point there!!!!"
naturally, the instructions didn't quite flow through to the first row.. n we all ended up looking quite lost.
the only man-made structure visible frm the moon!! n its so loooong we only managed to scale the mutianyu part of it. apparently frm wikipedia, the mutianyu portion is of the largest scale n best quality. it lasted since 1404!!! with state-of-the-art technology, the modern day contractors shld be ashamed of themselves!
anyway, we took a cablecar for abt 1/3 of the journey n climbed the remaining part all by ourselves.. it was more of a mental than physical challenge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_wall_of_china
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutianyu
"once intended to ward of enemy attacks, today, it brings together the people of the world..."
its sheer size n how it skillfully snakes its way across the mountains marvels me. but needless to say, alot of lives were spent building this wall n legend believes their skulls were buried underneath so the wall wouldn't collaspe. how tt cld help i seriously hv no idea.
one of the greatest love stories of all time (besides liang shan bo n zhu li ye) was abt how a woman cried down the great wall for the demise of her husband who had been sent to build it a couple of days aft their wedding.
we r flying w/o wings!!!
guards? approach with caution.
i see, i see, i see... ehh, i see rocks.
to get to sit there, i had to slowly bal my way there n it wasn't easy hor!
my china clique - ceyang, hanming, eileen, cairong, tiffany, cheeleng, szeying!
I LOVE YOU PEOPLE TO BITS!!! except when u make fun of me then i dun love u anymore. wahahahaha! =)
scary to lean hor! the wind was v strong when u get to the edge of the wall..
"i'm on the top of the world looking..."
we reach the top!!! *victory*
on the way, there were touts trying to make a quick buck.. i tot mao zedong's little red bk only existed in my history text. lol.
the main reason for tis shot is not tiff, cl or sy but rather the wordings on the back of the cablecar window..
"president william j. clinton took this car down the great wall on 18th feb 1995"
some other cars hv the names of other famous ppl..
visited a mixed hot spring.. but it being mixed, we didn't feel comfortable going in so it was foot massage (shiok!) n chess for us. shy shy ma.. haha.
at night there was an ice-skating performance n a little of an ah gua show with a caucasian man in skimpy clothes. ewww... they also had an indian speaking chinese. multi-racial hur?
one of the first shopping centres we visited to buy winter wear n boots for those lacking in them.. its my first taste of how bargaining is done in china. the tourguide said we shld start frm 50% of the quoted price but as i came to realise later, paying abt 10% was more than enough. zzzz.
n bargaining can get pretty fierce when ur a noob like me. shopkeepers virtually stuff goods into my bag or try to physically drag me into their shops. in one instance they played tug-of-war with both my arms. it was cheeleng n szeying vs china woman! *scary*
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
departing beijing, we nxt toured suzhou where half of our population wld remain for the bulk of the adventure.
suzhou's no. 1 chinese restaurant. a place we wun dare to show face ever again.. its true we 'yam seng' 3 times which was kinda more than necessary but their locals actually threw tissue balls at us. talk abt uncouth! tsk tsk.
having reached suzhou, we hung around for a couple of days in places where the suzhou ppl wld frequent during their working period.. this is szeying n i at guan qian jie, the shopping street adjacent to their motel n in the background r the v cute n famous olympic fuwas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Olympics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuwa
during the student immersion prog, not only did we hv to sit through 3 hr long CHINESE business lectures tt prompty put us all to slp, the journal team had to present some show thingy for their students. waste my time! with my attrocious chinese, thankfully i had ceyang n hanming as emcees to hold the fort.
being the journal team leader is the worse poo poo tis trip cld present me.. haiz.
visited some river-side walk tt really looks v s'pore to me.. haha. no wonder they say the industrial park is the biggest sg-china collaboration. even the houses n signboards were replicas of those found here.
the humble administrators garden was far frm 'humble'.. it fact it looked so posh n not to mention the excellent fengshui incorporated into each n every nook n cranny.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Administrator%27s_Garden
one of the many dainty pavillions.
PINK CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN FULL BLOOM! so pretty can?!
pretty flowers how can dun take photo???
close-up of the pink flowers.. i exceptionally adore tis shade of pink. not too wild n not too mild.. nice nice!
the white variety.
shhhh... i'm meditating! fangyi (middle guy) looks kinda like tianhock only with shorter hair doesn't he??
though there wasn't falling snow, we did see snow...
ceyang n hanming at tiger hill..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Hill%2C_Suzhou
the nicest photo out of thousands i took.. quite style right? managed to fiddle with the settings to sharpen the background. haha.. its kinda like china's leaning tower of pisa.
erm..........
well, if u can't exactly walk on water, tis wld suffice..
the reflections.. preeeeety!
was on the bus travelling past tis i-dunno-wat-place but alot of newly weds were posing for their wedding photos here. its really quite beautiful actually..
one of my v fav things abt china is tt fireworks can be lighted by anyone, anywhere! so on our last night before the suzhou n shanghai ppl seperate, we lighted up a bunch of fireworks n firecrackers.. plus, it so happened to be on the 15th day of cny so it was a nice noise to hv. welcome the new yr with a bang ma..
the fireworks we lighted was the normal type.. no fancy shapes or glitters i usually see during national day or new yr countdowns. but somehow bcoz of the close proximity, it was the most breathtaking fireworks i hv ever seen. =)
the suzhou girls...
[frm left: mei shuyan, jess, eileen, malissa]
the suzhou guys...
[frm left: junsheng, jeremy, ceyang, hanming]
i tot their shirts were rather cute.. as in with their personalised faces n all.. but with those "extremely confident" wrds, i highly doubt they dare wld wear them in public. 0_o"
our first stop upon reaching shanghai, cheng huang miao/yu yuan is a tourist attraction cum sprawling shopping arena... the stuff they sell range frm tradditional snacks to cute stationery. n tis place has the most expensive street food in the whole of china! i say tis bcoz 10 yuan can only buy me 1 soup bao n tt is ex by china standards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_Huang_Miao
china = tea, alot of tea.
munching as usual...
[frm left: eileen, hanming, cairong, ceyang, xinyi, szeying]
tis big bear only cost S$12!!!!! i wanted to carry it hm only i cld imagine han lih lih's pissed off face n mama's ur-rm-already-has-too-many-fluffy-animals face.
we visited here quite a few times during our 5 wks in shanghai.. personally, i found the night visits nicer. =)
look at all the lighting? like some movie hor??
my hm with burger for 5 wks.. we shared a rm at motel 168 n tis was the perpetual mess we had. kinda shocked both weiming n junhong when we webcam. haha.. didn't dare to show mommy though. can predict her blood pressure rising. heeee.
we actually tied a raffia string frm the curtain rod to the lamp to hang our formal wear - they eventually all ended up in a pile on the chair though. anyway, my bed is the inner one n cairong's is the outer one so mine is was just tt teensy bit neater. haha.
considering the mess, it wasn't surprising tt rats came. oops. red wine pocky, fancy gem biscuits, oreos, kit kats n all the human food we had were rat-tainted. yucks!
the last straw was when it attacked my brand new pkt of hershley kisses. strawberry flavour somemore! tis time, its personal!! so we made a fuss, changed rm a couple of times n put a mousetrap under my bed. tt pesky, greedy rodent is going DOWN!!!!
in my frustration, i cld even write a letter to stick on the toilet door for the benefit of v forgetful cleaners.. i wrote it in my cmi chinese hor!
ocbc shanghai, operations dept. i was in the bank reconciliation dept doing bank recons. like duh?! alot of the heads here were singaporeans so i found life pretty easy.. as in we cld speak eng n stuff. haha.. szeying was my colleague/lunch mate/talk crap partner/alarm clock. thanks babe! i wldn't hv survived w/o u!!
i even had my own acc with the company.. n only i can unlock my com. lol.
tis is actually the high-rise buildings in the financial district area but the main reason for tis pic is the kite flying during early morn peak hr.. i tot it was really awesome tt ppl there live for themselves unlike singaporeans who tend to be overly concious on how others perceive them..
my first mani done on one of the wkend getaways to suzhou.. only 10 bucks!
these hand-drawn flowers r really intricate with leaves n gold trimmings.. cost $30 though. but still cheaper then s'pore lah. they even give 4 free crystals!
on one of the occassions, we went out with betty (our supervisor) aft wrk to shop for hps. did u noe even in established departmental stores, bargaining still happens? wow.. anyway, she treated us to steamboat dinner which she warned was super spicy. however, by our standards, it was so-so only.. haha. shanghainese really can't tahan hot bcoz even mac dun give out chilli sauce!
seafood pasta for 9 yuan (S$1.80) n its among the most expensive dishes on the menu. btw, tis is a not bad restaurant with service staff n nice ambience. plus, no china restaurant charges gst or service charge. everything is nett price n wat u see is wat u get. tt is something i really miss abt tt place...
60 yuan gives u 8 min of high-speed fun... a tad pricey though...
supper at rdside stores hv become a bad habit for us. but for 80 cents, we can get a decent portion (serves 2) of fried rice or noodles.. kinda got used to paying such dirt cheap prices i couldn't really adapt once i got back to sg.
george, tiffany, xinyi, szeying, cheeleng n i at the yatch club.. *feeling elitist*
aft the dinner, we took a 2 yuan cruise down the bund to take in the night view. unfortunately due to energy conservation efforts, we didn't get to see all the lights in its full glory. *sulks*
the oriental pearl tower.. the lights at night make it really pretty dun u think? the laser lights change colour ever so often lighting up the whole night sky. =)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_Pearl_Tower
george is a happy man!
our excited faces...
shopping being a girl's fav past-time... introducing, our fav shopping paradise! dun be deceived by its less than impressive exterior. qi pu lu sells such a range of clothes n fake stuff tt cld turn any girl into a giggling mess of pure delight. not forgetting all the hidden backdoors n shelves tt hide the grade A fakes. whoo~
furthermore, as long as u proj an image of a person with spending power, u'll find urself swamp with "bodyguards" (some of them r quite cute) to guide u around the mall, help u bargain, find ur lost frens, etc. i suppose they do get a cut out of the amt i spend ba.
I LOVE LOVE SHOPPING!!!!!
shopping is a form of exercise n it keeps me warm! i even had to take out my winter stuff..
but like everywhere else, there r still quirky signs.
even more funny translation.
HAHAHAHAHA!
our fav hangout aft wrk each day is at people's sq coz its sorta the central n nearest to our motel. there is tis big shopping centre called raffles city n its run by capitaland.. so the layout is exactly like those in sg with breadtalk n basement food stalls.. there is also an underpass linked to the mrt - something like citylink mall...
we cld draw self-portraits. the real or cartoon versions..
or twist out our chi names with wire...
in the linkway, there is tis whole beauty street where i had my hair extensions done.. they r really shrewed biz ppl.. for example in the beginning, they told me i only needed 100 strands of hair. aft they finished the 100 strands which was obviously not enough, i had no choice but to complete 250 strands - at additional costs! bcoz i can't possibly wlk away frm the shop with half a head of hair only right?!
anyway, those hair didn't last v long so i paid S$80 for a few wks of vanity. =(
n who said only girls can do extensions??? ceyang ended up with a long plait!
cairong n i also tried eye extensions only hers looked more dolly than mine.. but, if u ever wanna try, dun do it in china coz they use lousy glue tt hurts ur own real lashes n can't be removed easily when they become crooked n messy.
the nails are quite worthwhile though...those acrylic n extensions although expensive r no where near sg's exhorbitant rates!
n it pays to hv an indulgent uncle to treat ur frens n urself to a nice meal aft having lived on a tight budget for quite some time.
he even got the chef to deco my dessert plate for me! isn't it sweet?
n since uncle jason wld be flying hm the nxt morn, i got to send some of my dirty clothes n purchases back hm!
common meals were not a v shabby affair either.... han lih lih took all the shanghai peeps for a hotel buffet not once but...
TWICE! the second time being aft wrk n we all had to find our own way there frm our respective offices.. quite a diff task for a direction idiot like me.
strawberries + marshmallow + chocolate sauce = heaven!
san guo yan yi was filmed here... n i got to wear princess costumes n take pretty pictures!
jess, mei shuyan, lisi in bridal costumes..
the view frm on top of some tower...
"no no, u muz give an orgasmic face!"
[frm left: hanming, ceyang, yong quan, george, ming jun]
george n his girls... woohoo~
[frm left: jess, xinyi, tiffany, george, cheeleng, me, szeying]
visited the silk factory where we were taught now to differentiate between genuine n synthetic silk. apparently if u burn fake silk there will be black smoke n real silk can tahan direct flame longer. =P
1) little boy plays happily with his sword.
2) big jie jie xinyi approaches him.
3) muahahahaha! she stole the precious ying tian jian!
see how gleeful she is?! no wonder when we were at shangrila, the staff tot she was under 12 n offered her the child buffet rate. lol.
the best hotel we lived in was in hangzhou.. great hearty breakfast too!
alot of china's sightseeing destinations revolved around lakes, flowers n caves!!!
some caves were used for filming purposes. others were used to pray to some deity.
the tiger was carved into the mountain side...
n the beast ROARS!
erm, if i'm not mistaken, tis was our 10 hr drive to wuxi... but the backside pain was v worthwhile. =)
lisi, mei shuyuan, shiau ting, malissa, kame, dilys against the wind.. =D
me: oh my! the ocean!!
someone: tis a lake lah! aiyo, nv pay attn to the tourguide lor!
introducing taihu lake. tis lake itself is 10 times the size of s'pore..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taihu_Lake
ehhh.. a rock?
hanming n ceyang in their own martial arts film...
cruising down a canel.. the shophouses which we pass by r real hms.
[frm left: jess, me, xinyi, tiffany, szeying, cheeleng, ceyang]
our whole clique at the dye factory...
shot 1!!!
shot 2 - we just can't resist pinching george!!!
eileen n her signature smirk face again...
gold plates with name engraving... i bought ting ting's gd luck charm frm tis place..
xinyi n the big sweet potato... nice, warm breakfast!
YOUNG AT HEART!!! whee~
hanming is feeling horny... plus, he is easily satisfied. *dots*
aft a day out with the dearies, i left to meet mommy's colleague's nieces for dinner at tis authentic shanghai restaurant tt costs over 1000 yuan for 4 ppl... the food served here is by far v different frm those the tourguide introduced.
anyway, i tink kristine n annie were such sweet ppl when aft casually mentioning i wanted to mail postcards back hm but had prob finding stamps, they prompty delivered 12 stamps to my hotel the v nxt day. efficient!
the nxt time the suzhou ppl came to shanghai for a visit, we brought them for drinks at xin tian di, the night haven of china... a pricey one at tt.
i dun see the pt of a 'smoking zone' when ppl smoke everywhere even in air-conditioned malls n cabs!
on one of our wkend trips to yet another park, some of us decided to give touring a miss n find our own forms of leisure... though we sorta got ripped by paying for speed boat rides to tao hua dao only to realise we needed seperate admission tickets which those boatmen conveniently forgot to mention previously!
of course there r times where we shanghai ppl took the 36 min train ride into suzhou for the wkend.. on the train, u meet all sorts of chinese ppl. like those who hogs ur seat when they didn't pay or even those cute little dining cars or sleeping quarters for longer rides..
but bcoz tis tickets r slightly more pricely - i think we took quite a decent class - we didn't hv to squeeze with hordes of ppl unlike in the metro (shanghai's mrt system).
the suzhou darlings took hospitality to another level when they woke up bright n early to come pick us frm the station.. hanming was even dear enough to indulge tiff n me when we wanted to ride one of these funny little motorcycles. hahaha..
its quite scary actually to be weaving among traffic a barely half the height of a bus.
it was happy faces n tons of hugs n grettings tt awaited us when the two sides met. tis particular trip to suzhou caused some of us to get into trouble with the teacher in-charge.. but lets just say all the struggles were worthwhile.
chocolates r lovely.. but when u do them on ur own, frm scratch, it makes them all the more lovelier! =D
happy us~
szeying, me george, ceyang, cheeleng n hanming anxious to begin!
heavy concentration... the choc muz flow smoothly with no bubbles trapped wor!
ceyang's painfully crafted zodiac animals... didn't expect him to hv a such a steady hand..
3 cheers for chocolates!!!!! ^^
the filmsite for many action films including the forbidden kingdom.. tis site hires the entire neighbouring village for the extras in its shows. i noe the middle two pics in the collage r the same but i did tis in the middle of the night so yups. =P
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hengdian_World_Studios
one of the performance.. FLOOD!!
THE BIGGEST CAMPFIRE EVER!!! =D
"old street" at tunxi.
old fashion dumpling making...
dragon beard candy..
fermented beancurd.. smelly! cheeleng n george's fav though.
close-up on the mouldy tofu! those black bits r the decayed parts.. *gross*
eileen n her wang cai whose pet phrase is "wa-lao-eh"!! lolx.
waiting for the cable car up half of huang shan. we were not yet expecting the sheer height of the mountain..
up, up n away......
well, its not as simple as it looks...
the nearly vertical side!
climbing tis mountain is no easy task. took abt 3hrs to conquer all n no wonder the hotels up there r doing such a roaring biz coz ppl who climb all the way up there will be too exhausted to climb back down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huangshan_Mountains
announcing the arrival of the empress dowager! lol. but i bet those poor labourers r really underpaid for carrying a fat old woman up the mountain. zzz.
ceyang at jeremy at 1864m altitude.
tis ball frm afar looked like a fishball. closer, it looked like a tennis ball.. then, soccer ball. now, WAHHHHH!! its quite cool tt we all used tis as a motivation to walk towards... coz it really feels great when u see the ball getting bigger.
like the great wall, tis was more of a mental rather than physical challenge.
SUCCESS with medals to prove it!!!!! =)
[frm left: george, tiffany, leonard, me, szeying, xinyi, cheeleng]
being at the peak is apparently not enough for hanming tt he hv to climb on top of a shop! hehe.
ceyang's big butt! wahahahaha!!
locks of love~!
couples engrave their names to the locks n chain them on tis passage forever. sweeeet...
the pinecone i picked up for my dear seashell-picker back hm. but the tourguide sorta hinted it wld decay once back in warm sg.. so here's juz a picture of it tgt with my pretty nails!
trust us humans to litter on every of nature's wonders. sighs.
the clique! *smiles*
us girls with the tourguide who was also frm the anhui province, huangshan area lah.
[frm left: qiling, burger, me, huishen, tourguide, szeying, cheater leen!!] =P
myself n cheeleng.. i think i look v girl girl here so i posted it. no significant other reason. lol.
evidence of the attrocious rm rates! the rm resembles a really small chalet only lor.. but the massage services we engaged (at additional costs; of course) was pretty solid but they had to go demand for tips. =(
one last shot before jess, me, cheeleng, mingjun n george headed downhill. it was a v windy morning n cold too! coz i rmbr seeing falling ice.
aft leaving our final tour destination, the troop of us headed back for one last night in shanghai.. here, we took a more luxurious liner to cruise down the bund more affectionately known as wai tan. sadly to say, the lights were still not at its full glory but the shanghai city skyline is something i hv really come to fall in love with. *emo* =(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bund
as the day coincided with april fool's day (which so happen to be darling cheeleng's 19th bdae), she got songs n presents while still sailing. for a sailor, i wld think she felt pretty awesome.
the birthday girl looking quite pleased. :)
but of course we did celebrate for her beforehand lah.. can't possibly celebrate the passing of a yr w/o a cake right?!
tis really big choc cake was bought out of the shanghai common fund.. actually we celebrated quite a few other bdaes (like jess, meishyuan, yong quan n ching yean during march) but i happen to not hv photos.. =(
our own mini celebration for cheeleng on the last day of wrk with miniature cakes frm breadtalk.
us with sb's deputy director n our shanghai in-charge, ms han lih lih.
all 15 banking n financial students involved in tis itp. lects hv been alot more fun now tt there r more familiar faces sitting around. =)
fangyi n mingjun lifting fredric.
george proves to be more of a challenge requiring the combined strength of 6 men. hehe.
the oriental pearl in the day standing at a height of 1535 ft, its the 2nd tallest building in the area.. a little known fact is tt its actually not juz a tourist attraction but a television station too.
tis shot was taken using the 3.2 megapixel camera of my darling n73 which makes my current w910i seem all the more lacking. zzz. *sulk sulk*
look at all the parked cars!
the view frm the 250+ floor.
the wax museum on the ground floor of the oriental pearl tower.. in my hasty walk through it, its actually pretty impressive. only we were in quite a rush to do last min shopping (we only had 1 hr) so no pics were taken.
needless to say, these r our ultimate past-times. gosh, i sure am missing those days where every, single night is fun-filled n eventful. =D
xiao long baos n gyozas!! i bet i cld nv ever get tired of them..
dinner aft a hard day's wrk!! we know how to reward ourselves lor.. =)
[frm left: tiffany, me, xinyi]
tis whole bento set with us having our own BIG tatami room costs only 6 sing dollars.. though its ex to an average china worker, it was pretty much our daily standard of meals. lol.
look at how much i ordered?!?! n i still rmbr feeling sick tt day..
cheeleng n her whooper! come to think of it, fastfood here is really pricey. sometimes they even cost more than classy eateries... esp yoshinoya! dun even hv student meal lor!!
soon it was time to pack up n head hm.. due to our massive spending sprees, we found ourselves in a mad rush to buy ziploc bags frm watsons (tiff's fav shop ever!!) to squeeze in all our unfolded old clothes plus quite a no. of new ones.
had to rely on george's weight to eliminate all the air in quite a few instances.. so who said kilos served no purpose?? lol.
its like magic!! ;P
at shanghai's pudong airport waiting to check-in..
i was pretty surprised SIA didn't hv a connecting bridge thingy.. but getting to the plane via minibus n climbing up the emergency stairs was quite cool. haha. but it was quite embarrasing when the angmo behind me said in broken chinese...
"zhe shi ni de di yi ci ma?" (is tis ur first time?)
arghhh!!! *throw face*
upon touching down at changi, the whole family was waiting for me... n i had a bouquet of the most pretty pink roses ever!! *touched*
notice the bright red disney bag?? its big enough to hide even myself n its prob the type immigrant workers use to cross the border. lol. thank goodness it didn't burst lor!
mama really knows me best! i'll always be tt flower-type girl so my bf better not be stingy. hehehe..
tis trip has been nothing short of memorable.. n other than maturing n making tons of new frens, the entire experience has been exhilerating. n though the chinese ppl hv proved their reputation of being rude n coarse, their determination n eagerness to prove themselves hv left me in awe. someday soon, i'm going back to shanghai. anyone interested?? =P
signing off now..
xoxo, joy.
posted by Joy at
1:13 am
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