Beijing madness!

Slipping through time

2009-12-18T20:44:00.002+08:00

Ever tried catching time with your bare hands while it simply slips away like fine sand?

Its the end of the 2nd last sem already. Soon, it will be my swansong.

So where does this all lead to? Nowhere apparently.

I was talking to this 22 year old this afternoon and he put me to shame literally. He had his entire life mapped out ahead of him while I, have yet to make decisions on the many crossroads facing me. Ok, lets leave out the heavy stuff in my first posting after the exams.

Exams were hell. Results will speak for themselves the week after. It could be a good thing since I can now give myself an excuse to slack and concentrate on other things. HAHA.

Thinking back on this semester, it wasn't as hectic as it seemed but somehow there was this immense pressure I put upon myself to excel in everything. I'm glad I have a great bunch of friends who pulled me through with their words and jokes when I needed them. Friends whom slogged together through the examination period as we camped in the library without seeing the sun.

Project mates whom provided me with different perspectives on the same issues. Making me think twice before any words came out. For the fun, laughter and tears of joy.

Well, sometimes life ain't all about academics. Lets leave it aside and enjoy the holidays (as soon as I finish reservist) before we head back for the final and last battle.

team awesome!

2009-11-09T22:55:00.005+08:00

I have never had much luck with any communication modules throughout my 4 years. Thankfully, for this final comm. module I have been blessed with a bunch of wonderful, hardworking yet crazy groupmates.

Thank you so much!

For the countless meetings, wacky antics and ideas, late nights, powerpoint rush, rehearsals and of course: the final presentation.

Now, to describe the group as “great” would be an understatement. So please go and figure out another word for it.

To me, it was an awesome presentation. If only the tutor agreed with me. Nevertheless, you can't take credit away from each and everyone of us. Everyone put in 200% effort alright!

So, well done team awesome!

lets eat fresh chicken chop.

2009-10-31T22:40:00.019+08:00

Imagine doing this...

or this...

or.....WOAH!

Ok. My alarm clock just woke me up at 7 in the morning. Dang.

Handball... deprived of sleep.

We lost 2 games and the team was in danger of crashing out of the competition in spectacular style; without scoring a single goal. It all changed in the final game when luck finally got behind us. 3-1 winners!

Bringing you team Chicken Chop. Great name right? Should have named the team Karate Chop instead cause the organiser laughed when we reported.

7 Championship winning faces right? I wonder how we managed to lose the first 2 games.

Well, there was another team there. Quite a nuisance though. Joking guys. Chill.

Lead by the ah-gong in the middle, team Eat Fresh.

Our team names suggested that we were there to be eaten and so it was true. At least we managed to have lunch earlier than the rest of the other teams. HA.

Time to concentrate on exams now.

would you leave me first?

2009-10-23T22:42:00.007+08:00

You know your time is up when you start feeling something.

Something that doesn't bode well.

Real run 09 could be my last official competitive race.

My ankles have been telling me all this while.

6 showed me telltale signs. For 10, it would probably be screaming.

Could it be?

when you're bored

2009-10-18T22:35:00.004+08:00

you start looking for things to fill you up.

when being right is DEFINITELY wrong.

2009-10-13T15:24:00.004+08:00

Have you ever felt like guilty for saying the wrong things at the wrong time?

Crap.

Sometimes when you get too excited, you start blabbering everything out.

I couldn't have had a better guess; spot-on twice and feeling guilty about it.

If I had this "oh shit" button I will probably be pressing it through out.

I need to apologise for the guesses. Sorry!

zQ is back in singapore!

2009-10-11T16:10:00.005+08:00

ZQ IS NO LONGER IN BEIJING.

You know, I should probably change my blog address to zqisnolongerinbeijing or zqisbackinsingapore as suggested by phil a couple of weeks ago :)

But my sheer laziness overpowers my mental will and thus I will be sticking to this bloooooog address. (At least I know where I can find pictures and stories of my china escapade whenever the need arises.)

My friend just asked me the other day if I was still in Beijing. OMG. Like after 9 weeks man. Shows how much I need to catch up with all my friends. Opps.
Even recess week is over. Time to buck up. I need a 5.0 this semester LOL. Who in the world gets a 5.0 when he/she isn't a scholar? I should probably just chill-lax in 1 corner.

By the way, I have the sudden craving for DAIRY QUEEN!
Anyone can get me this????? I will be truly indebted :) :) :)
I remember having this very often towards the end of GIP when I decided to go on a bersek mission to eat everything even after putting on pounds and pounds.

I want my cheap food. My.....
goodness. Sheng yuan and Junwei will probably agree with me :)

Unpack. Pack. Unpack Pack.

2009-07-29T11:24:00.003+08:00

Unpacking. Packing.

Its a total headache. I just got home from my 19+ days adventure of Tibet and Shanghai. Boy, am I glad its over. Now I'm left with slightly over 2 days in Beijing before I finally head back HOME. Yes, Home. Singapore.

So many things to do. I hope I have enough time for everything :)

my last.... bath....

2009-07-11T18:14:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, 10th July was our last day of work. Man, it feels good to be finally done with the attachment. However, with the end of work means.. the start of holidays (yay!) AND.... that.. school is going to start soon (WAH LAO!) which translates to FYP, exams, FYP, exams, FYP, exams.. yea, you get the idea.

Ok, I just took my last bath for the next 48 hours (at least). I will be boarding the train to Tibet in another hour and half and the journey will last.. GASP. 48 hours. Feels like being imprisioned for 2 whole days. I hope I won't be suffering from any ill-effects from the trip and that everything will be alright :)

Mount everest! HERE I COME!! woo~

Oh well, I will be internet-less until I come back to Beijing which will be roughly in about 19 days time. So until then, if you guys want to contact me (which I doubt you will do), you can sms me via my sg number! I will be checking it every night :)

Till then, take care people!

Escape from Beijing 5: Qingdao

2009-07-10T23:23:00.018+08:00

Think Qingdao. What do you think?
I think.. BEER! MANY MANY BEERS!

Qingdao is basically a port and therefore near the coast. So naturally, there are beaches, sand, sea breeze and loads of sun!
It used to be a German port in the early 1900s and therefore the structure and layout of the city is heavily influenced by the German model.
I was getting quite sick of climbing mountains, seeing temples and traditional Chinese architecture and this was a welcome relief.

Now, the aim of this short weekend trip is to slack and "nua", get a good rest and have an enjoyable break.
Although I did plan quite a number of attractions but We didn't get to go as many of them. BUT, it was really fine with me cause it wasn't important.

Day 1:
We took the train at 6.45am (we were almost late, scrambling for our stuff cause we overslept) and arrived in Qingdao at 12.34pm.

HELLO QINGDAO!!!!!!!

As the seabreeze hits your face, it carries away with it your worries and uncertainties. It made me feel.. relaxed somehow.
That was a good sign cause I was going to "nua" my 4 days away.

We headed for our hostel, Kaiyue International Youth Hostel, and dropped our bags before heading out for lunch. Seafood seafood!
There's really cheap seafood around but there are also the expensive ones.

Tsingtao Beer museum (along Beer street, how cool does that sound?) was the next destination and I was having loads of fun in the "Drunken Room" where one gets the drunk feeling in this specially constructed room. Basically, it just throws ur senses and gravitational sense off balance so you can't really walk properly. HAHA. That room was super duper fun but too bad, there were simply too many people around to do anything crazy.

The visit there was concluded with a jug (1.25litres) of Tsingtao beer for the 3 of us. Crazy man! How to finish?? We didn't lar. Or at least I tried by drinking alot.
We headed for seafood dinner after the visit. Man, I miss seafood.
We had loads of shell, way too many. Shengyuan ordered abalone. 1 for 28rmb. Cheap Cheap Cheap Cheap.

Abalone :)

After dinner, we walked down further to a night market near Carrefour. I forgot what's that night market called. Now, Qingdao has about.. 3-4 night markets at different areas and they sell a variety of stuff. The best market will be at Taidong Pedestrian Street where its HUGE (we went there on our 2nd night)
Walking around aimlessly, time passed really quickly.

Day 2:
Walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk walk.
We took the seaside walk. Estimated to be about... 10km? haha.
From 10am till... 7pm? Before we eventually gave up when we tried looking for our German Restaurant. (more on that later)
We went.. Zhan Qiao, Lu Xun Park, Bathing Beach 6, 1, 2, 3, Ba Da Guan, Hua Shi Lou, Musical Square, Wu Shi Guang Chang.
I actually got sun burnt while walking through out the day. Interesting huh? I guess that goes to show how much we actually walked.

The bathing beaches are overly crowded and they have a wide range of activities and there are people working out at the outdoor gym in swimming trunks. Weird.
At Zhan Qiao, there were so many people selling sea shells and starfish which was fished out from the sea. Just walk about 20 steps and you will see a crowd at different points buying the shells.

At Ba Da Guan, there are like hundreds of couples doing their photoshoot. The ladies are decently dressed but the guys.. terrible dress sense. A number of them were in suits and most of them had ugly shirts to match. What happened to dressing up for the occasion?

Hua Shi Lou

From Wu Shi Guang Chang, we decided to head for dinner at this German restaurant, Monnemer Eck which was along Jiang Xi Lu. God. Jiang Xi Lu is like freaking Orchard Road x 3 lar! We were at the start of it (No. 35) and we had to locate No. 173. We were so tired by the walk we flagged a cab and the cab ride took 10 mins. Can you imagine how long we would take to walk to the place? Like another freaking hour? We had nice sausages. Rocks :)

As there was still time, we went over to the highly recommended Taidong Bu Xing Jie night market. This market is the largest amongst all the night markets here in Qingdao and they sell everything; bedsheets, clothes, shoes, towels, slippers, bags... etc etc etc. We eventually bought a huge towel in preparation for our beach trip the next day. Nice.

Day 3:
As the bathing beaches on Qingdao main island suck. Golden sand beach was our destination to slack and suntan. Golden sand beach is location on Huang Dao and we had to take a ferry there. However, when buying tickets, please queue up for the Xue Jia Dao ferry instead. Express ride (20mins) is available when the weather is good. Unfortunately for us, we had to take the slow 45 mins ride there and back.

In our short time at the beach, we observed that many guys have matching swimming trunks. Its like a form of identity. Lol. The locals seem to like making themselves wet before burying themselves in sand, as if the sand has some minerals to do sand-bathing. In addition, many kids roam around the beach naked. I wonder why their parents seem to like them to go commando. Weird.

The sand there was definitely fine. So much better than the normal ones. We basically lied down on our nice towel and sunbathed. Nua-ed! Shiok. Falling asleep on the beach can be so shiok and I didn't know it. Maybe the sun in Singapore isn't as forgiving.

Day 4:
It rained and this disrupted our plans to walk around. However, we still managed to cover the catholic and protestant churches as well as the Observatory tower which gave us a bird's eye view of Qingdao. The buildings were totally awesome (cause I'm sick of seeing traditional Chinese temples and such). In between, we spent an hour watching "The Sound of Music" in the hostel's lounge while waiting for the rain to stop though. Now, that's "nua" for you. Haha. Totally brings out the mood of the trip.

I did what the locals do! Buy the roadside Tsingtao beer which is sold to you in plastic bags!! I bought an entire bag which cost me 7rmb. Cheap cheap cheap.
But compared to the fresh beer from the museum, this was.. ehrm.. not as good. Too bad I don't have the pictures of that. Very interesting lor.

As time passed, we found ourselves making a mad scramble to the train station to board the ride back to Beijing. Darn. Such a good trip.

I miss the sea breeze, cooling weather, cheap ice-cream, milk tea, seafood.

One thing to note: roads in Qingdao are named after places in China. Like... Tibet Road, Nanjing Road, Hong Kong Road.. blah blah. Very interesting.

Random-ness again part 2

2009-07-08T22:55:00.001+08:00

2 things to update. Short update.

1) motherland officially banned facebook. Guess my premonition was right back when they banned google. Man, are they going to ban msn next?

2) my laptop is threatening to crash again. omg. This is totally insane. I need to back-up my data and reformat once again but I'm afraid I don't have enough time to do all of that before I leave on Saturday.

ARGH!!!!

Summer time of our lives

2009-07-07T22:21:00.003+08:00

We took a visit to the Summer Palace during the previous weekend before I embarked on my Qingdao Trip but I guess it wasn't as good as I expected it to be. Perhaps I got kind of bored looking at the same architecture over and over again (which can explain why I decided to head for my trip). Instead of opting for the easy way down to the palace (via bus), Junwei found a brilliant route where we could take a boat ride to the palace. Sounds cool right?
It was until 10 mins into the ride. Haha. We boarded the boat which was vastly empty and we were enjoying the cool summer breeze until the board stopped at its first station and almost the entire Chinese population boarded. Horror of all horrors. No more nice cosy comfy peaceful ride. Halfway into the ride, We were informed that we had to change boats halfway as the original boat is not allowed pass some waters (or some sort). Surprises still awaits us.. the 2nd boat that supposedly leads to the palace stopped outside as we didn't purchase the entrance tickets and we had to walk in. FYI, its a freaking long way to the palace from the south gate. I bet any assassination attempts would have been put off by the seemingly huge distance to run and hide.

At 40rmb, the boat ride was a little overpriced (hey, its a tourist trap) but its certainly quite a different experience but one might want to choose a weekday to really enjoy the sights peacefully. Gosh, i'm just too lazy to talk anymore about the palace. So I shall just leave you guys with pictures alright? I guess its all self-explanatory.

Haha. Rock on. Qingdao here I come!

Random-ness again

2009-07-03T02:14:00.003+08:00

This week has been busy busy busy.
Busy planning the Qingdao aka Tsingdao (青岛）trip which will be happening in just another couple of hours. It was a pretty late and rash decision I would say as it was decided only a week prior to the departure date.

This will purely be a chill and relax trip. Time to re-energize myself for the long trips ahead!
Within the course of the last posting and this, I have visited the Summer Palace (颐和园）but will be posted when I'm back from my short getaway. I hope I have covered most of the attractions in Beijing although I know there are actually plenty of places and things that Beijing has to offer which I haven't been or done. Time's running out.

Actually, last weekend was officially my last weekend in Beijing! Gasp.
So fast right! I couldn't believe it man.
...and...
Edmund is now here in Beijing! Woo~
Good luck to him. HAHAHA.

Oh, watching Chinese soccer matches live is actually quite interesting. Witness how players fall to the ground all so easily and fighting is the norm of the game. The atmosphere is... well, intense and yet abit immature. LOL.

Shall get back on this posting after I am back.

omg. this can't be happening

2009-06-24T21:35:00.003+08:00

NO!!!!!!!!!!!

THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!!!!!
FYI, motherland banned Google!!!

First, it was youtube and blogspot (along with numerous blog servers), now?
They have to take away google from me.

What's next?? MSN and facebook?

I can't believe it.

Seems like a pot-luck ran out of luck. Or is it so?

2009-06-21T14:28:00.003+08:00

So many things have happened during the past few weeks. Some things haven't changed since the last time round. I am still carrying that spare tire around everywhere I go.
I haven't had time to actually blog about the latest happenings cause I was rushing reports of all nature and dealing with the stomachache that has been bugging me all week.

We had our very first (and possibly) last GIP potluck party at my house. MAN, there was just way too much food already. Bak Kut Teh, chicken curry, sweet and sour pork, fried rice, potato salad, vegetables, all the bbq food, chicken dish and blah blah blah. Way too much food. Brings a whole new level to the word: glutton. Haha.
Thanks to all the chefs and people who contributed to the success of the party.

Now, it would be morally insane for me to leave out the highlight of the evening. There was a pasta competition held on that very same evening between Flora and Junwei. Wonder why there was a competition? We will have to look back to the inner mongolia trip when they just couldn't come to a conclusion on who was the better pasta chef. Egos. Pride. Whatever you call it. LOL. At least it provided us with something to look forward to all evening.

Unfortunately for Flora (and darn, Junwei was really lucky), Junwei won by a pretty narrowly large margin(by a stroke of luck I conclude). The antics of the victory speech repeats itself everytime someone mentions the competition. It was hilarious. Some people just have to win, others just can't stand to lose. Haha.

Yes. I can't believe it. We're so going to TIBET. Repeat after me. TIBET! Its going to be such a cool trip I bet. Other than the thought of being stuck on the train for a good 48 hours, I am so looking forward to the trip already. Prepare my camera and get more SD card cause I will bring back to magnificence and beauty of the place. Wait for my pictures yea!

Shanghai will be the next destination straight after Tibet and that will conclude my 6 months here in China. I think I might miss some stuff here though. Cheap food and supposedly cheap shopping. Too many things I want to do but so little time!

Edmund will be coming over to Beijing for GIP too! Rocks! Now, it will be so nice to see him around for at least that one week before I start travelling around.

My parents were in town last week and it so was nice to see them again. Somehow my mum wasn't convinced I got rounder. Hello tummy! I felt pretty bad for asking them to bring back all my winter wear and some presents I got from them from my trips. I hope everyone likes what they got so far. I will be getting more presents soon if i still have money left after all the travelling :)

I completed my L.E.A.R.N hours too!!!!! YEA!! Congrats to myself.

Ok, now the downside of things. I have been feeling very irritated lately. I feel like strangling someone right now. I can't believe how the mere voice of one person can actually be so irritating. How does I actually demand you to do this and that and gives you the weird stare when you have other people things to do to? Isn't that kind of selfish? I tell myself everyday, I just have to bear with it for another 3 weeks. Please bring me through this period. I am like a pressure cooker waiting to explode.

wonders of GIP

2009-06-06T00:49:00.006+08:00

This is what GIP does to you.

Life is wonderful isn't it? Too much oil and salt in my diet. Its time to do something about it. Nice. Gravity is present and its telling me so.

Escape from Beijing 4: Inner Mongolia

2009-06-01T15:22:00.029+08:00

What comes to mind when the words "Inner Mongolia" comes around? Yes. Yes again. Grasslands and deserts. That's precisely where we headed :)

Day 1: Grassland!
So after alighting from the plane and being greeted by our tour guide, we were on our way to 葛根达拉草原(Gegentala grassland) which is located north of Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia. To be honest, there isn't much to do at the grassland so be prepared to just come with the view to relax and chill. It took us roughly 3.5 hours to get to our destination from the airport and we were received by the locals with a 下马酒 ceremony. We had to dip our fourth finger into the wine and flick it twice； towards the sky, towards the ground and finally rubbing it across our forehead. Legend has it that Genghis Khan was behind this move as he was wary of the wine that was offered to him and thus tried ways and means to get the wine to be in contact with his silver ring to see if it changes colour; indicating whether it is poisonous.

Afterwhich, we proceeded for our first activity - Horse-riding! I know I've tried it once at Shidu but its different this time around. Imagine yourself on a horse on a wide grassland. Lol. Lush greenery all around (though the best time to visit would be July when the conditions are the best). Man! Btw, horses are sacred in Mongolia. The horses are more wild here than compared to Shidu. My first horse was stubborn but luckily my 2nd and 3rd horses for the journey were all tame. Phew. With our horses as the main mode of transportation, we travelled to the Mongolians 敖包(Ao Bao), their prayer place, located at some higher ground on the grassland. Its believed that their wishes will reach the heavens from that place.

敖包

We proceeded on to a traditional yurt (蒙古包，their mobile homes) where we were treated to various dairy products and milk tea which is very different from what we always drink. We headed back for lunch and my horse actually galloped twice!!!!!!! ROCKS!!!! Its a entirely different sensation, I actually felt the freedom of roaming around the grassland. Its like your worries have been cast aside momentarily. Their traditional 手扒肉 during lunch was pretty awesome. Junwei absolutely loved it to bits and pieces to the extent he went over to the other table to enjoy more of it. There was plenty of fats but very little meat but who cares? As long as it tasted good. A pity I forgot to snap pictures of it :(

mongolian treats at the yurt

We witnessed horse-racing and Mongolian wrestling during the evening. The interesting part about the wrestling was the dance they have to perform before starting or when they emerge victorious. The basically just hop on their feet and start shaking. Perhaps my description is wrong. LOL. We stayed in the modern "yurt" which has a private toilet and comfy bed. A far cry from the traditional yurts which houses 6 people. It would have been nice to experience the real yurt stay but I am glad at least I had a pleasant comfortable night's rest especially when I didn't sleep the night before.

modern yurt shaped like the traditional ones

Fun fact: Horses are kinda sacred in Inner Mongolia. They don't consume horse and dog meat here (thank god). They treat horses with respect.

Day 2: Desert!

向沙湾沙漠！Instead of building sand castles in the air, we found ourselves deep in the desert. Yes, it was a pretty sight indeed. I don't know if I can explain more. Perhaps the pictures will do more justice than my words can. By the word, we had to rent the ugly desert socks for 10rmb. Its optional but we just took it to prevent the really fine sand from getting into our shoes and jeans. Ok, we look quite stupid wearing them. We took this really exciting jeep ride which is as exciting as a roller coaster ride. Although it was a tad expensive at 120rmb for a 40mins ride where you could alight at various points to take pictures but it was truly worth the ride. There were instances where we were flunked off our seats and we smashed into the person sitting across. Fortunately for us, everyone was safe and sound at the end of the journey. Horses rule the grasslands, camels rule the desert. We took a ride on the camel to complete the experience. Pretty awesome as it makes it way around the desert slowly which allows you to comprehend the magnificent view around you.
To end off the desert trip, we took a slide down the sand slope. Cheap thrill lor. Lol. But when everyone around you does it, its the company that makes the entire experience awesome.
This is my favorite picture of all. Man, I am beginning to miss it.

Fun fact: I can't think of any cause I can't recall the story! Anyone can fill me in?

Day 3: Dai Hai!

Ok, so we've got the grass and sand now. What's missing? Some water perhaps? Ok! 岱海 offers just what we ordered. There are not many things to do there though and so we took the chance to do jumping shots along the coast. What's new? I want to leave my jump shot everywhere I go as much as possible.
The hype about this place was the opportunity to play real life CS but a combination of reasons resulted us in withdrawing from the game. We had other plans in mind; we ended up playing captain's ball; frisbee style. COOOL. Most of us struggled to catch our breaths after months of non-exercise. This is almost unthinkable back home. I need to start running and training for the races coming up.

Along the way back to Hohhot, I saw real farms and houses in inner mongolia. Can you spot the houses in the picture below? Believe me, they are there. I was too slow in snapping and I missed the front entrance of the house.
There are plenty to see along the way back to the city. That's if you manage to stay awake during the journey back after a long tiresome day. Fun fact: There are actually plenty of cows living on farms which I didn't manage to capture too as I was slightly slow in whipping out my camera. Darn.

Day 4: City Tour!

First stop, the Inner Mongolia Museum. Beware, there are a couple of museums around as there's the new and the old one. We went to the wrong place and wasted precious time and money. Remember, go to the new one which has a similar facade as NTU's very own ADM building. Basically, the main attraction of this place is the dinosaur fossils and they do have plenty on show. It has one of the largest dinosaur fossil collection on display which is pretty awesome. Maybe not that many as I imagined it to be though but it was good enough. You can walk around aimlessly as you slowly enjoy the dinosaur remains and Mongolian culture.
Fun fact: Do you know? There isn't any portrait of Ghengis Khan and most scultures and paintings were based on imagination? I can't remember the exact story behind his statue but I thought I heard the guide saying that some robbers stole his head away.
We walked around 清正寺 and 大昭 before rounding up the day with a steamboat at 小肥羊which has a franchise of outlets but it originates from inner mongolia. We headed over to the flea market at the university of inner mongolia after dinner. Apparently, they set up stalls near schools to boost their business.

There's one very interesting thing about inner mongolia's cabs. They have a digital billboard behind their "Taxi" signs that displays the same advertisements. Some company owns the right to the main control and this is actually hailed as their 4th medium after the tv, radio and newspaper. How cool is that? The same mobile adverts right smack in your face, you can run but you can't hide. I don't think I will be able to drive in Inner Mongolia as their drivers are certainly breaking every possible rule there is. Haha.
A big group trip is never complete without our customary Indian Poker or any other game. We played till the early morning. I wonder how come no one actually complained about our noise level. Strange. I thought we made a huge racket during the session. I actually survived on 2 hours of sleep until the end of the next day. wow~

That pretty much wraps up the trip. I wonder where we will head to next. One thing's for certain. I can't wait for the holidays to come again!

Great Firewall of China

2009-06-01T15:20:00.004+08:00

Sorry for the lack of apparent updates. Its because... China actually banned Blogspot.
I have to use VPN to access sites which have been blocked and the connection is much slower.

I'm trying to blog as much as I can now. Up next..

Inner Mongolia trip!!

故宫 aka Forbidden Palace

2009-06-01T14:15:00.011+08:00

Ever thought about how the name, Forbidden Palace, came about? Apparently, officials of the 7th grade and lower were not permitted to enter the palace. Only 6th grades and above were allowed entry. But those officials have to line out outside the palace at 3am to prepare for morning court sessions which takes place on the 1st and 15th day of the lunar calendar. Fyi, the emperor wakes up at 5am.

The emperor is a lucky man alright. Lets get this straight... I don't envy him in case anyone of you reading this is getting the wrong idea. Just take a walk around the palace and you will understand why. The place is huge and he gets to enjoy every single bit of it.
He has a huge place just for him to change. What's a walk-in-wardrobe when you have the entire building dedicated to that?
One building for him to enjoy his snacks, another for his private court matters, one for official court duty. Interestingly, almost all court matters hearings were conducted in the open courtyard just in front of the official court building. So, all the television programmes we've been watching were lying to us. HAHA.

He's either being carried around or has his own personal pathway which is always the center of all things. Even the pathway in the back courtyard which is the place were he takes his concubines for a afternoon walk is special. There is this narrow pathway that has stones littered on it for foot reflexology and no one else is allowed to set foot on that.

They have this room just for matrimonial ceremony aka matrimonial night. Apparently, back then the emperor was allowed to spend 3 nights inside there after marriage. However, for the numerous emperors that have lived in the forbidden palace, the room has only been used for 9 nights in total (3 emperors). I guess the rest were pretty afraid of staying in a fixed location for fear of being assassinated cause the building where he settles court affairs in private (I think) houses 27 beds and he changes the room he spends time in every night. Maybe being a commoner might be better? Hm.

Go visit the place if you have the chance and get a guide to explain the history to you. There are plenty of stories and many Chinese idioms actually come about from this very place. For example, the emperor will choose one concubine to spend the night with him but he's only allowed to spend 3 joss-sticks time with her. When the 3rd joss-stick extinguishes and the emperor is nowhere to be seen, the eunuch will shout for the concubine's name for 3 times and if there's no answer, he will start to panic. Henceforth 皇上不急，太监急 . There are a few more awesome stories which you will only appreciate when you're there :)

Btw, random thought. We Chinese are really superstitious people. You will probably understand if you visit the place.

Oh well, my last school trip in China. So fast over liao eh.

After the visit, we headed over to 一品小笼 (Yi Pin Xiao Long) for Xiao Long Baos that actually has soup inside. You have no idea how difficult it is to find decent ones here in Beijing.

What it means to be Singaporean

2009-06-01T13:49:00.005+08:00

So, national day is just in another 2 months or so. What does it really mean to be Singaporean?
To the bunch of us, we went on a journey to find the true meaning.

Alright, I was kidding.

We found a place away from home to savour local fare. Although it wasn't the most authentic of the few shops that serves sg food, I guess we should be happy enough we managed to lay our lips on the Hokkien Mee, Mee Goreng, Kaya Toast and Teh-Tarik.

The shop is adeptly named "Lau Pau Sat" and it sits at Sanlitun. Apparently, it uses the ceramic cups that traditional Hainanese coffee shops have. Yes, its Hainanese! You didn't get me wrong! :)

The boss of this eatery is actually an ex-army cook but please don't get your expectations too high yea? Nonetheless, it was nice hearing some random person sitting in the same eatery rambling on with Singlish and our supposedly weird accent.

Escape from Beijing 3: Shidu

2009-05-03T16:28:00.015+08:00

My parents will probably scream if they know what I did over the Labor Day holidays.

* In this post, I shall not mention about the guide which pissed us all off and the "state of the art" facilities hostel.
** Lets thank the organising committee, Mr Chua and household for their efforts in making this trip possible.

So it wasn't really an escape from Beijing to be exact. I apologise for the misleading title.

We went to 十度(Shidu) , just outside Beijing that has the crossing of 10 or more meanders. Lots of nature scenic spots; mountains and waterfalls and you-know-what-else to expect.

Day 1:
On paper, this was a trip that requires a 3.5 hours drive up. Or so we thought so. The painful fact flashed before our eyes when we were all so hyped up for the trip; a traffic jam for a couple of hours. I lost count but I estimate that we took nearly 6 hours to get to our destination. The funny thing that occurred during the jam was.... A couple of us left our vehicle to get a breather, stretch those tired muscles and to relieve ourselves as the traffic was at a complete standstill. Before we could finish all the above, we found ourselves running after the vehicle as the traffic somehow eased. I swear I need to get into shape. We ran a good 800m (rough estimate) in slippers to board the vehicle still in motion. It was truly comical. HAHA.

After panting so much, we finally set foot in 拒马乐园 (Ju Ma Le Yuan), a lot similar to a theme park with some rides as well as bungee jump. Ok, its a huge clue dangling in your face so maybe now you have an idea of what happened next. 55m high up above sea-level and a rope tied to your legs. I jumped, rather I was pushed off the platform just like the thousands others. I'm puzzled after I did so. I always had the mentality that jumping off is the most painless method of committing suicide but I was wrong. It was pretty mentally torturing (at least for myself) during the 5 secs of free fall period, I couldn't shout, I couldn't do anything and was helpless as my mind was a total blank until I felt the rope at my feet. The rebound was pretty strong I was thrown into mid-air like a slab of fat meat with my arms flagging all over trying to recover my balance but to no avail; think zero-gravity? Haha. Overall, it was a super enjoyable 20 seconds for the 205rmb. Now, don't call me spendthrift alright? It was truly worth the experience. While some of us bungee-d, the others went for the safer alternative of enjoying the theme park with its array of activities; cable-car riding, rafting and others.

We had 农家菜(Nong Jia Cai aka Farmer's dishes) for dinner. The best kind of home-cooked food after being away from my mom's fabulous cooking for 3 months. I'm not discrediting Sheng Yuan's fantastic cooking ok? In Junwei's words, "don't malign me please!". The spread of food was simply wonderful but I shall get to something that's even tastier on day 2. Hold that thought first. Fast forward till just before bed-time. We played cards in the room; Heart attack and Indian Poker to pass time as it was still early to hit the beds. The latter was used to decide which poor soul would entertain our guide the next day and Flora couldn't have wished for better luck as she won all the games hands down during the showdown matches with Bor, Choon Tat and Sihan. In case you aren't aware, winning wasn't exactly the notion of the day as she took home the honour of entertaining the guide the next day. So a chapter of "The Fly and The Pie" started. Buzz~~

Day 2:
A early morning exercise to awaken our senses was in place. We went mountain climbing at 东湖港 (Dong Hu Gang) . This was miles easier compared to Hua Shan in Xi'an as there were metal staircases built for the ease of visitors. Too bad there were just slightly too much man-made features for myself with the small water features and stairs. The weather was hot and the sun was burning and we weren't exactly used to it after enjoying the chill the past 3 months. At least now I look healthily tan once again after resembling a sick chicken for the past couple of months. We went bamboo rafting after that. Its a miracle the raft was still afloat with 13 of us standing on it although it threatened a few times to give us a nice cool bath during the course. I was one of the few unlucky ones that had my feet and shoes soaked. Wonderful. Just like Chris Columbus, we found a little stone island and set foot on it while the rafters, Shunyu and Choon Tat, went off with the raft. Curse them both haha. We rained pebbles and stones when they were far enough in hopes of "hitting them". Luckily we failed for the consequences could have been far from desirable.

In the afternoon, we went over to 孤山寨 (Gu Shan Zhai) to climb more mountains. At least it was less modified than Dong Hu Gang. We rode horses. I rode a horse. Yes! It was enjoyable and the few seconds it galloped, I felt the existence of my butt. With this short ride on it, I'm looking forward to conquering the vast grasslands of Inner Mongolia with my horse. We came across this waterfall and saw people standing in the concave sections of it with the water acting as curtains in front to take pictures. We had to do it somehow. Just somehow and so we proceeded to brave the chill.

An entire roast lamb was on our dinner table (bottom left hand picture). I've never tried anything like that before and I can safely tell you it was truly awesome. The taste was so good that names for the dish were flying across all channels, see if you can figure what it means; KFG, KFL and KGL. Finger.. Licking... Good. Rocks!! We had a campfire after dinner to complete the snacking process with bags of marshmallows and potato chips to idle time away.
To best make use of our time, we had a "get to know me better" session courtesy of Sihan who proposed "2 truths 1 lie". Cracking statements as follows (some of which are false and others true):

Yunli: winning a drawing competition
Bor: playing with sulphuric acid in the lab
Jiwei: breaking my sis's 2 front teeth with a basketball
Sihan: the toilet door broke open in the middle of my tummy ache
Layming: I have 20k in the bank
Flora: being chased out of class for hiccuping too much,
Yin Yin: unable to balance chemical equations 3 months before O levels
Choon Tat: getting caned for running in school
Yew Kiong: getting "most obedient student" award in pri 4
Shunyu: 1st in Home Economics class for baking a cake
Charlotte: I tasted shit before
Junwei: I gave Chinese tuition during sec 2

See if you can call the bluff. Awards are up for grabs and whilst stocks last.

Day 3:
Take a chill pill and lets go free and easy. Some of them went for a 2nd horse-riding session while the others like myself went to get some food/snacks for the picnic session after deciding we wanted to take things slow. We visited their museum cause its free entry. The museum was all about the Japanese Occupation and there were some really gross information in there. I shall spare you guys the details. Back to the happier topic. Where would you normally have a picnic? In a park with greenery accompanying you right? We had it in a park but at the playground as the grass had ants scrambling all over. Haha.

I tried new things during this trip. Lets see...
1) I bungee jumped!
2) I tasted rabbit meat which is kind of like chicken
3) I rode a horse
4) We ate an entire lamb
5) We bamboo rafted

Overall, it was a pretty awesome trip minus some hiccups. Wonder what's next after bungee. I hope my parents don't scream or kill me. HAHA.

unwind rewind

2009-04-27T21:12:00.017+08:00

后海 (Hou Hai) is Clarke Quay. Wait, Clarke Quay is Hou Hai.
Ok, you get the idea.

Basically, Hou Hai is pretty similar to Clarke Quay with pubs lined up along the "reservoir". Its a pretty sight at night with the mixture of colours from the neon lights illuminating the signboards. There are plenty of pubs with live bands that performs covers mainly in mandarin. Chinese Pop to be exact. I did not hear any singers doing English covers myself or perhaps I have forgotten about it.

Prices are comparable to pubs back home. A Tsingdao beer cost 30RMB, Carlsberg cost 40RMB. Hard liquor ranges from 50-70RMB and beyond. For all you people (like me) who aren't use to touting, you might want to prepare yourself as the people will literrally follow you everywhere you go. However, not every single pub is hmm, decent. For those pervy friends out there; you will be able to find your share of eye candy here (I hope). Apparently, there are touters who will approach you telling you about how their shop offers “小姐”.

Note of caution: Before entering a particular shop, always ask if there's a minimum expenditure (最低消费) cause some shops do impose the rule and clarify if the different seating zones have different prices too. One shop we almost entered told us that the prices for the sofas and the usual seats are different so you might want to be careful.

Go there if you are feeling slightly rich as drinks are not that cheap. Otherwise, a occasional chilling session to unwind is pretty awesome there. Provided you find the right pub with the right mix of music for you.

123456789.. 798654321... abstract art title?

2009-04-25T23:19:00.005+08:00

798 is a free art exhibition centre which stretches over a vast piece of land. Housed there are many art exhibitions and galleries in the numerous halls and houses.
If you're someone into art, this is definitely the place to be seen and heard.

If you aren't the sort, fear not. Feel free to make your way down and just take some time to chill and enjoy the art pieces and sculptures and idle your day away. Its pretty cool to be identified with such valuable pieces of art. I mean, its quite cool to just relax after a hectic work. Even I can even appreciate the tranquility of the surroundings and efforts of the artist, how difficult can it be for you to do the same? Feel cultured and arty farty for the moment. It makes one (at least I do) feels more intelligent. Immerse and absorb the emotions that overcomes you with each image/sculpture.

Hurry and trot down to 798!
Different exhibitions end at different dates. If you feel that you too can make valuable contributions to the Beijing art scene, please contact the person in-charge! I will gladly go support your opening if I'm still in Beijing. Haha.

They have this shop, Happy Sheep Art Area, selling lifelike animal figurines which were pieced together using real animal remains (e.g. the fur, teeth and almost about everything that could be preserve) which had been injected with some chemical solution. Only the eyes were artificially recreated but looks really lifelike.

There was another shop that had paintings of 1 girl in many scenes. At first glance, I thought the images was printed from a printer cause it looked too fine. It was on closer inspection that I observed the lines painstakingly drawn to such a defined extent that looks like it was simply snapped and printed from a printer. Man, the artist has superb skills.

There are really plenty more impressive stuff for one to see. Too bad I didn't manage to finish even half the area.

You have to go see it for yourself to appreciate the beauty of the art pieces.
I should go back there another time. I don't even think 1 day is sufficient to finish touring the entire place.

By the way, they sell this really cool musical thing. I have no idea what its called but I so nearly bought it until I bulked at the price. In my collage above, its the 1st picture on the 4th column. They have this really cool song which I forgot the title too.

I need ginko pills.

computer genius

2009-04-23T11:32:00.007+08:00

I know I haven't been blogging for the past couple of weeks.
The reason is simple.
I was totally pissed off. With what?
My laptop threatened to die on me whilst in a foreign land.

Picture this.... Imagine the frustrations I had to endure..

It takes 30 mins for my laptop to start up

Another 10 mins to open a internet browser or Microsoft Office

Another 3 mins to load subsequent tabs or window when using the internet

I can't run more than 1 application at any moment (e.g internet and media player)

I can't install/remove programmes

My MSN could not be activated (explains why I was using e-buddy)

My Skype could not be activated (I couldn't call home)

In a nutshell, I was cut out from the outside world for pretty much of the time

I spent 75% of my time waiting for things to load while the laptop threatened to hang

Finally, it takes another 7 mins for it to shut down

I finally managed to resolve it. A million thanks to jw.
I gave my laptop a new lease of life through the only method I came to know about.
R-E-F-O-R-M-A-T.
Yes, I reformatted my laptop.
After 2.5 months of immense fear that my laptop will die on me, I'm finally happy now.

Escape from Beijing 2: Xi'an

2009-04-07T15:26:00.061+08:00

After 2 long months, a holiday has finally arrived!

We decided to embark on a journey down to Xi'an（西安） to visit some old friends and have a cup of tea or 2 with them. Ok, I was just joking.

We took a night train, Z19 from Beijing West Station to Xi'an. The soft sleeper category which we took was nothing like the trains from Singapore to Malaysia. It was new, comfortable and in typical Singlish.. SHIOK ar! The quilt, pillow and beds were so comfy I slept throughout most of the journey.

Day 1: Welcome to Xi'An

Groping around in the dark, I couldn't feel my valuables tucked in the pockets of my jeans. Awakening to the fears that my handphone and wallet in my jeans were stolen, I panicked. I have been told tales of how we should be extra cautious around Xi'an especially with numerous pickpocket incidents being reported. We arrived in Xi'an in the morning and proceeded to have breakfast: 4 baskets of Baos（包） with different flavours. Now, food is cheaper there compared to Beijing. I bet you can't find Baos at 0.5rmb (for 1) or a basket of 8 at 4rmb. Beat this! Bubble tea at 1.5rmb. RMB!

Terracotta Warriors （兵马俑）

One of the few things I have always wanted to do in China was to visit the Terracotta Warriors and boy, was I glad I did. Self-proclaimed as the 8th Wonder of the World; its without doubt when you set eyes on it. The museum is divided into 3 pits:

Pit 1 - The first warriors were found. Site where most warriors were excavated. Warriors were lined up in battle formation.

Pit 2 - Site is still undergoing excavation but progress has slowed down as researchers have not found a way to preserve the original state.

Pit 3 - The headquarters or command post. Warriors lined up in formation that seeks to protect the headquarters.

You can't help but admire the warriors for their designs and sheer size. They are larger than the typical human size and each warrior is different and unique. For example, they have different sizes of butts, figures and expressions. Haha. How did they manage to recreate the different models without duplicates? Ok, I've compiled 7 fun facts about the warriors for your easy reading.

7 Fun Facts of Warriors:

The warriors were initially painted. After excavation, the colours faded due to some reasons (oxidation maybe?)
Their body is hollow. Only their heads and legs are solid to ensure proper balance.
Each warrior was pieced together using many different parts. For example, their head is detachable.
Only 1 warrior, "the kneeling archer" was found intact and is now housed in Xi'an Museum. The others were restored by archaeologists.
In Pit 1: the battle formation. Army personnel in first line of defence were not wearing armour and acted as human shields to deplete the enemy's numbers by a certain percentage. Smart eh?
Warriors weigh on average 300kg.
Warriors were discovered by a farmer who sits in the museum almost everyday to autograph books.

I told myself I had to bring a piece of terracotta warrior back. Indeed I did! OMG. I feel like a tourist again. Now I got to find a glass ware to protect it when I'm back home.

Qin's Mausoleum （秦陵）

fter getting past the army for his afterlife. We had to meet the person responsible for the Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors. The man himself: Qin Shi Huang（秦始皇）.

Well, technically we stood on his grave. It was quite a disappointing visit as there wasn't anything to see. Just some scenery and some of his history. Personally, I feel he's one smart yet sick person. Crude ruler but yet he manages to get his stuff done. You just have to look at the Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors. His men worked and slaved for decades to bring us the magnificent views of today. He buried those who designed alive to prevent the secrets from leaking out. How about, injecting high levels of mercury in your mausoleum so that it will deter grave robbers or archaeologist from finding out more? Enter and die: that's the message. Internal power struggle, an issue so rampant during all dynasties was simply laid to rest just by not naming his empress. Although his son finished the job for him by burying all his family members alive. More? Unifying China, creating a common language? What more can I say?

Hua Qing Hot Spring （华清池）

Behold the beauty of this place. Its almost like resort that one can dream about. So it was back in those days where Emperor Tang Xuanzong （唐玄宗）and Yang Guifei （杨贵妃）spend many days soaking in hot springs and simply relaxing. Its definitely a joy as the sights is splendid. Imagine greenery+mountain+flowers+wonderful Tang dynasty buildings+hot spring+alot of servants. Man, that's like formula that can't go wrong. I want to have a place of my own just like that. Too bad. No money, no talk. HAHA. Other than the sights, there isn't anything much that I could take home with. Can you imagine having a pool all by yourself? Add the hot spring into the equation. HEAVENLY. Oh, and a cup of coffee or tea or whatever you want.

Btw, the emperor has 2 bathing pools. Wth, that's what I call enjoying life.

Dinner: Rou Jia Mo (肉夹馍)

Dinner was spent at a local small eatery, restaurant look-a-like place. Once again, the food was not bad. Really not bad at all. I love the pita bread with meat thingy which they call.. 肉夹馍. Different grades of meat = different pricing. Don't get the most expensive one, 6rmb which is labelled as high quality meat but in fact, its mostly fats 肥肉. Its super oily but quite good you know. You should consider the normal (4rmb) or the lean meat (5rmb) instead.

Day 2: Lets scale some mountains!

Mountain Hua （华山）

The setting for Hua Shan Lun Jian （华山论剑）was our next stop. To engage in some sword fight like in the novels, we climbed out of our beds real early and head there. Luckily, we took a cable car ride up instead of climbing up 3999 steps to get to the climbing spot. Phew. After climbing for 2 hours, we finally reached the central peak （中锋）which is like 2052m if i don't remember wrongly. The view up there was marvellous and really beautiful. Due to time constraints, we didn't manage to climb up other peaks. Pity pity. Hopefully I didn't miss out much of it. There were some uncles carrying real heavy stuff on poles scaling up the mountains and they were singing those traditional mountain songs （山歌）at least I assumed. Power la! We took quite a number of crazy shots including an advert shot for Crumpler. Perhaps they should consider paying us a little.

Dumpling Banquet （饺子宴）

Would you pay 100rmb for dumplings. Just dumplings? We did. It was one of THE things to do while in Xi'an. Unfortunately, I've tasted better dumplings in my life. It was a good experience nonetheless. =) 18 different dumplings up for grabs. To name a few: Spicy kimchi, crab roe, spicy chicken and Guifei dumplings were some of the names that were easier to remember. The supposedly last dish, Guifei Dumplings came first as there was some problems with their kitchen. I assume its the steamer? Tiny, real tiny dumplings dumped into a huge pot with soup to savour again and again and again. Apparently they only gave 6 dumplings as there were 6 of us. The waitress would randomly divide the dumplings and auspicious words would be littered onto you when you get a certain number of dumplings. WAIT! Even if you DON'T GET, you're actually the luckiest as you won't have worries （无忧无虑）. WTH... LOL. Overall, it was a nice experience but not really worth the money if you're going for the food. Tried once, never coming back again. Next!

Muslim Sector

Yes, there are Muslims in Xi'an. An estimated figure of 70,000 has been reported. The Muslim sector is buzzing at night with many mobile stalls selling a variety of items; street food, traditional art, accessories and even dried food items. They have this tutu look alike which they call it 镜糕, loosely translated as mirror cake. Although it is very different in taste but its still worth a try. You can choose a flavour and they will spread it on for you like jam when the rice/flour is ready. There is seriously alot of food which you should try it yourself if you ever do come here. Its like a pasar malam but its more compact with narrow walkways. Do keep a close eye on your valuables as many have lost one or two things amongst the crowd. Do watch out for the very irritating motor vehicles that comes zooming your way even when there's like a 1001 people in front or at the back of you. They will keep horning you till you move aside. It has both day and night markets and they sell slightly different stuff.

Day 3: Inner city tour

Xi'an Museum

This wasn't in our itinerary but our tour guide recommended us to go there to understand the entire history of China. Reasons were that we had alot of time and the visit is free! Ok, free is good right? We had to queue up initially as the museum distributes free tickets to the first 2500 in the morning and 1500 in the afternoon. Somehow, our guide turned on her charmed and we were one of the first few to go in. WONDERFUL. It was really worthwhile to get in and understand some of the history. I'm truly ashamed that I don't know anything before going in.

The museum is divied into 3 sections and it started with the evolution of men before moving on to the different dynasties. Housing thousands of artifacts which were mostly dug out from the ground. I must say they were really well-preserved. I start to wonder.. Technology back in those days were so advanced. In fact, some of it still baffles the brightest minds of today. So what happened along the way? Why did the world take a step back before advancing to where we are today?

Big Goose Pagoda （大雁塔）

You will be surprised by who built this temple. Make a guess.
Táng-Sānzàng (唐三藏) or Tripitaka did.
It houses the scriptures which he obtained from the west and was the place he painstakingly translated the scriptures into mandarin. One interesting phenomenon to note is that the pagoda is actually not standing upright anymore. It is slightly slanted to the left when you first step through the doors of the temple.

There are different houses inside which tells of his tales of obtaining the scriptures and the building process of this pagoda. I always thought he was a character born out of fiction. Gosh. I am stupid. I can't recall the exact reason for it being named Goose Pagoda but it goes like this. There will be a day every year that the monks are allowed to eat meat. There was once a flock of geese flew by and 1 dropped dead onto the floor during that very special day and thus the pagoda was erected at that spot the goose dropped from the sky. I hope I didn't remember wrongly. There's a small goose pagoda in Xi'an not very far away from the big one.

Yang Rou Pao Mo （羊肉泡馍）

This was lunch. We had a choice to choose either DIY - tear the pita lookalike bread aka Mo (馍) into tiny pieces or choose take the shredded ones which the restaurant prepared for us using a machine. Mutton soup is poured into it after that. Its a local speciality there but I guess most of us ain't used to the taste of it. The starting first few mouthfuls were pretty nice but as you go along it gets to you. It leaves the taste of bread and mutton on your tongue until you can't taste anything else. Slightly disappointing for me but Ok, at least I tried some local stuff right.

Bell Tower （钟楼）

Situated near the centre of the city, the purpose was to tell citizens of the time back in the olden days where clock wasn't readily available. Nice bells, nice surrounding flowers, good view of city. Great night view if you pass by it at night. Otherwise, its just another tourist site. Haha. It was built by some emperor who I can't remember. The purpose was to suppress the Dragon pulse （龙脉）to prevent the rightful Heaven son （天子）from reclaiming power. I wonder if that works haha. Maybe it did? The position of the bell tower is not situated at its original position. It was moved years ago when damage was done to the original one (yet again, I think if I don't remember wrongly). The really huge bell that they have up there can ring for 1 hour if you strike it. However, you got to pay now if you would like to have a swing at it. Besides, they will stop the bell from ringing after you strike it. Where's the fun now. Hm. lol.

Great Mosque （清真寺）

Located in the heart of the Muslim Sector is a old but yet pretty magnificent building. This is the Great Mosque; the largest Mosque in China. It dates back nearly 1250 years ago and was built under the order of the emperor as a reward to the Muslims who have fought and stood by him. This was actually the first time I stepped into a Mosque believe or not. You will be greeted by the red gate after you first enter. The interesting thing about that gate is that it wasn't built using any nails, just brackets brackets and dried leaves. Cool huh?

As you walk further in, you realise that this architecture is unique as it combines both Chinese and Muslim culture in its planning and structure which isn't something you observe back home. Apparently, it is so important that even the signboard which states some important message just at the prayer hall was given to them by the emperor. The message is something along the line of.."going against the rules there is like going against the emperor", I hope I ain't wrong about this cause there was simply too much information during these 3 days.

Ancient City Walls （古城墙）

There are 4 ancient cities that remain today; Cairo in Egypt, Rome in Italy, Istanbul in Turkey and Xi'an in China.

The current city walls that exists today is actually the walls of the palace. HUGE. 14km in distance if you cycle on the walls. Put things into perspective, that's about 1.5 hours of leisure cycling on the city walls. When you first get up there, you might notice some scribbles on the bricks which your foot is on. Reason? Back in those days where the government didn't give a hoot about it, civilians took the liberty of taking bricks away and storing it at home. Don't ask me why. Perhaps it was cool to own a piece of history. Wait, that's cool indeed.

So when the government decided to preserve the city walls, they sent out an order for the people to return the bricks. The people actually did! Not without leaving their names on the bricks. Therefore, the mystery of the bricks is solved. However, some people failed to return the bricks and therefore you're in for a bumpy ride when you cycle on the walls. Cycling was pretty enjoyable with the wind in your head and the sun in your face. I can't imagine how the soldiers of the past walked from one point to the other. To be honest, the city wall is actually one of its kind. The walls are beautiful. I'm running out of superlatives here now. So bear with me.

Heavy hearts and Heavy Feets:

As the sun retreated beyond the walls, our hearts started sinking with every revolution of the bicycle pedals. This, marked the end of our holiday in Xi'an. We headed for the train station after dinner and were soon on the way back to my 2nd home: Beijing.

At least the sleep on the comfortable train pacified me a little. Just a little.

Overall, it was a great trip. I still love terracotta warriors!

Are you MAN enough?

2009-03-31T09:48:00.005+08:00

You know what they say about going through national service? It turns boys into men. Sounds vaguely familiar? Apparently, after transforming from a boy into a man you are still required to prove it! How do we go about it?I was refering to...

Scaling the GREAT WALL OF CHINA. What were you thinking?

Legend has it that you're not a man (好汉aka Hero) until you climb the wall. Those wise words belongs to Chairman Mao（毛主席）in case you're wondering.

School brought us over to Juyongguan Pass（居庸关）which was used as a military stronghold back in those days. I use to wonder, whats so great about this wall? Ok, I know its the only thing you can identify from space and its extremely long(x1000). I never appreciated it until I set my tiny little foot along the path. Upon arriving, the mere sight of it blows you away (exaggerations). The steep and seemingly impossible to imagine angles of elevation starts to set your pulse racing with drips of perspiration peppering your forehead befor you even begin. However, as you climb along with every step, every breath and not to mention, every pant. You start to appreciate the beauty and magnificiance of the structure. I never thought I would say this but it is truly majestic.

No, make it MAJESTIC!

There are steps so high, its up to my knee level. There are paths so narrow, its enough for one to pass. Thank god for the installation of railings by the side after renovation works. I wonder how soldiers and generals scale the structure back then. Going up wasn't so much of a challenge, it was coming down that was crazy. Don't look further than your next step when coming down.
2 good reasons for that.

1) The steps are non-uniform. Miss one and you will be tumbling down for the next couple of minutes.
2) The angle of depression is so steep at times it makes you feel like falling over.

We all know that the last thing you want to do is to lose your balance there. It will probably be the longest argh you will hear for quite some time.

Overall, the climb was GOOD. What seemed impossible wasn't too tough for us! We managed to get to the end of one section! The view takes your breath away so badly we had to stop to catch our breath. (pun intended) After 8 weeks in Beijing, I've finally felt the muscles in my thighs and calf. It feels so good knowing that I'm not that flabby afterall. It was such a good lower-body workout. Now, all that's left is the upper-body and my face.

After the climb, we were brought to enjoy this Chinese Acrobatics performance. Too bad they didn't allow us to take pictures, if not you guys would be able to see through my eyes. The acrobatics performance was excellent. A pity we missed the starting performances. I'm inspired to jump around using one one hand like the little boys, stand on my bicycle like the veterans and climb up a pole using mere hand muscles!
Oh well, its good to be inspired. With inspiration, we need perspiration.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, a Xi'An（西安） getaway.

I'm now officially a 好汉！

Escape from Beijing 1: Tianjin

2009-03-23T10:09:00.020+08:00

The near proximity of 天津(Tianjin) meant we didn't have any excuse to give it a miss. Especially so when its only 30mins railway ride away on the new bullet train(max speed of 350km/hr) launched last year in preparation for the Olympics. I swear, this was truly one of the most comfortable ride I've had on public transport. The cabins are divided into First Class and Second Class @ 68rmb and 58rmb respectively. Being 2nd class citizens(haha), we decided to take the latter. Its already good enough if you trust me. Afterall, what's a 30mins ride? Its clean, comfortable and pretty spacious for me. More than you can expect and imagine from the word: railway. Pampered for the 30mins, we ventured on and started our journey in midst of a Saturday night.

Saturday Night：

南市食品街 (Nan Shi Shi Ping Jie) was disappointing. Don't be fooled by its name, its not a food street but actually a complex. The image I had was one that was filled with many eateries and delicacies but it turned out otherwise. They have more than sufficient 麻花 (ma hua);a type of local specialty which lined up the entire complex. I tried the huge long one which was way too hard to bite off, halfway through my battle I wanted to give it up. Personally, I feel that maybe the smaller size one would be much better. Haha.

the legendary 麻花 (ma hua)

Could it have been that we walked into a wrong building? I highly doubt so. “狗不理” 包子 (Gou Bu Li Baos) which originates from Tianjin actually pales in comparison with the branch in Beijing. How can that be?? The guys had it at its authentic outlet and not some small eatery. Apparently, the baos of the same name can be found anywhere, everywhere in Tianjin.

After dinner, we tried seeking out a pub which was voted as the 3rd best in Tianjin. It was very adeptly named; Ali Baba. If you're wondering why? Its very well hidden (think Ali Baba and the tale of 40 thieves) without any signboards in a dark alley. According to books, if you see any drunk foreigners, follow them and you will find what you seek. Its really near impossible to find with the near perfect disguise and camouflage at the ground level of a building with its silver metal doors that resembles that of a lorry with its freezer compartment on its back. Beer is cheap there. 8rmb for Tsingdao, 10rmb for Budweiser, 12rmb for Carlsberg, 15rmb for Heineken and Corona. Do not attempt their Bloody Mary for it tasted like some concoction gone wrong. Bor found out the hard way after he ordered it Haha. With mindless games like 7-up and circle of death gracing the event, it was pretty fun. Don't worry, no one was drunk, let alone tipsy. We were all clear and sober at the end of it and headed back to rest in our hostel. How much can 1 beer do? Nothing it seems. Jw, our plan failed. Too bad.

Sunday：

The next morning, we kick-started our day with some very nutritious breakfast at a eatery just next door. We were greeted by the sight of the numerous delightful flavours of 烧饼(a kind of pastry) which wasn't really nice, 豆浆(soya bean) which had a chao-ta aka burnt smell and 小豆粥（essentially Green beam porridge) and 手擀面 (hand produced noodles?).Cheap and filling by you compromise a little on quality. Not that it mattered much to me who eats just almost everything. 鼓楼，古文化街 and 五大道 filled the rest of the day.

鼓楼: a street with stalls lined up in between with some old buildings by the side. You can expect to find some cheap deals mainly dealing with arts; seal engraving, porcelain dolls, swords etc. There was still mobile cart that sells candy floss! Its been a long time since I had it! You can actually choose flavors and mix up to 4!ITS HUGE ALRIGHT! Bigger than my head and its cheap. Reminds me of the days when I was much younger (not that I ain't now. haha.) You don't see much of candy floss now anymore back home. Kids don't know what they are missing out. Even a PSP can't replace the joy of that. Haha.

古文化街: As its name suggest, its littered with traditional art ranging from seal engraving (again), 泥人张 models (masks and models made from mud or clay i suppose) and Chinese scroll paintings. I spent a fortune there. Its time to scimp and save. I can't believe it =(

五大道: Its an area where the European influence is massive. Buildings are constructed in accordance to the style and is reflected very well. Its really beautiful and a sight you would not expect to find in China. The entire area has buildings that are categorised as national treasures and are under protection. They are divided into different categories; Very Important Protection and General Protection. Haha. You can see for yourself the stark contrast. Paint on the buildings and the overall facade maintenance. However, it was truly a pity I did not managed to capture images of the night scene whilst on the bus on Saturday. The bus on passing by this bridge and the scenery along the river banks were truly magnificent, very strong European touch to it. Indescribable view. The stone roads, round lamps which light up a warm orange glow.

With that, its the end of the Tianjin adventure. Fast huh?Tianjin is small compared to Beijing and the things to see and do there are truly limited by the numbers. However, the cost of living is lower than that of Beijing. I recommend that 1 day would be sufficient to get the essence of Tianjin. 1 visit would suffice. Its time to move on to another destination.

PS: I love their traffic signs. Its as if drivers and pedestrians are blind and they need really big signs. Huge as can be but its really cute.

stop and stare

2009-03-18T09:51:00.006+08:00

There are always certain points in your life when you stop to think, breathe and let the images run through your mind. When you slow your steps, walk along while the crowd throngs you by as if you were living in a seperate dimension.

Today's the time in a very long while. I am in week 7 now; I can't quantify it as a long time since the path that lies ahead is even further. I am barely hitting the 2nd month into my exchange programme.The decision to come to Beijing wasn't as bad as I first imagined, it has indeed expanded my horizons through my daily observations. Pleasant or unpleasant, the incidents will leave its imprint.

I have had loads of fun so far, a new country, a new city and a new place I call home for the 6 months. New people, new friends along the way have helped me to settle down and adapt comfortably. I'm grateful for who they are and how they have helped me so far. The anger, bore and tears of joys that have trickled down with new experiences and jokes are indeed a comfort for my heart and mind that have grown weary at times. These short but relevant 7 weeks have taught me a fair bit; personal responsibilities, the need for adapability, life experiences. I'm also beginning to understand why, people do the things they do, even though I still find it hard to accept it at times. My social comfort level is still maintained at a high level whereby it is the norm back home but here, the call for flexibility in adjusting to the conditions have not yet rang in hard enough, yet. I fear that when I do get back, I will bring back values and social standards which are not favoured back home.

Perhaps I should resist, perhaps the others should change?

Change is the only constant; I am still resisting major changes to a certain extent though.

After gaining this minute exposure to another country and city, I feel that I have learnt and matured a little, at least that's what I hope to say.

Personal growth - Its a class that never ends. Its just how we deal with it and make of it.

I have accepted that our personal comfort zone has shrunk, its all about survival. Lets all be a little accomodating, it really goes a long long way.

Remind yourself that you are lucky enough to experience new things, possess the things you have, taste the food staring at you, sleep on the bed you lay.
You know what they say about being contented with what your life? I say; lets get outside and open our sights.

Lets see, hear, taste and breathe what's beyond. How different but yet how similiar we all are. We should cast aside our fears of the unknown; slowly but surely. That's my aspiration but fear chains me back to the walls.

I need to break the shackles, slowly.

It has never been my personality to embrace new things easily but stagnation is not an option; now or ever. I know it sounds contradictory with the statement above, lets be contented with the material possessions we have. However, never be contented with what you have seen, heard and taste.

The world out there is bigger than you think.

Whenever you feel that the things are against you.

Give and take.
Curse and swear.
Grind your teeth.
Grumble.. then move on.

The worse situation will be over soon. Immediately, turn and smile the next moment. Forget the unhappiness. Don't let yourself be a slave to your emotions; anger or disappointment.Lets not be so narrow-minded and you will be happier living your days.
Retain your positive values, observe and learn the good ones. Improve on your current values if others are better. However, it is imperative that you identify what's bad and always keep yourself in check to never fall into the traps.

I am glad that everything back home is alright.

My family is fine :)
Hope that things will be even better in the next few months!

My friends are doing well. Actually, most of them are doing way better than before. Well done! Well done :)

Volunteer Work at Dandelion School

2009-03-15T20:24:00.010+08:00

Sunday: 15th March 2009
Venue:蒲公英中学, Dandelion School
Event: 沟通心连心关爱你我他
Time: 7.50am - 5.30pm

The School

We spent our Sunday in Dandelion School doing our volunteer work for L.E.A.R.N. To be honest, I wasn't actually very keen on doing the volunteer work initially. When the event kick-started on Sunday morning, I was still quite skeptical about the entire thing and my sacrifice of waking up early on Sunday, especially so when I have been waking up super early everyday of the week. Before the event started, there was supposed to be a "disco" session, when I was dragged into the hall, what greeted me was surprising. Disco to them was.... Dancing in a circular formation and they went in circles and circles. Thereafter, they broke into a train formation with everyone lining up behind one another. That was interesting to me as somehow, all of them looked extremly happy despite the simple dance and music that they were supposed to follow. Question that came to me was: What's clubbing when people over here seem more happy?? Then again, its a different ball game altogether. Different leagues that cannot be compared, they are like 2 parallel lines.

Group 1 and 2 volunteers (we made some friends with students from the local uni)

The morning events did no justice to what followed in the afternoon though. Sadly, it was slightly mundane for me as my group didn't have sufficient interaction between the members; Group Leader, Assistant Group Leader, Teachers, Parents, Children and us, volunteers. I shall not elaborate on the morning activities as they involve some ice-breaking games which involving passing of the orange and apples, passing hula hops in some very challenging positions, piecing of jigsaw puzzles from random pieces as well as finding people who have the same interests as you. The morning activities emphasised the importance of inter-personal communication; to get things done successfully, communication is essential.

Lunch time!
This is what was for lunch

It only started getting interesting from the afternoon, for me at least. That was when I started really interacting with the children from the school itself. Through the conversations, I found that some were really mature in their thoughts; there was a particular boy 刘宽（Liu Kuan）who was telling me how the medium in China is changing so rapidly that children are exposed to the evils of the world such as pornography. Imagine, what were you discussing at the tender age of 13 or 14?? He told me of how it was evil and quoted me an example on how he had a friend who knew what blue-films are when he was 4 years old. Oh man. What's the world coming to? There was another girl who I address as 龙导（her surname+director.. as she brought us through our performance segment) who somehow was so quiet during the morning session but came to life after lunch, she showed initiative despite her age in leading the team with her invention of the group name and tagline/cheer. However, she sures loves to complain and compete. She said with full confidence that I wouldn't know where she's from. She's from 贵州(Guizhou) and I hate to admit it. She's right that I didn't know what that is. Haha. Its not that other kids are not interesting but I just can't really remember their names. There was one boy, 张鹏(Zhang Peng) who told me that his dream is to become a star, a singer to be exact. It reminds me of what I harboured when I was young too. However, he didn't seem very comfortable with the idea of discussing about his dreams, I wonder why. 仁祥 (Ren Xiang) is a super active boy who can't sit still for a moment but he's quite funny. There were 2 other girls who were very quiet and always sitting together, it was hard to get them involved or engaged in conversations.
Overall, the kids were very interesting to talk to. They were very interested in me being a Singaporean and asked me tons of questions, such as what language we learn our subjects in.

刘宽（Liu Kuan）and 仁祥 (Ren Xiang)

The afternoon activities consisted of parents and child working together hand in hand to cross obstacles. The parents were blindfolded and their child had to lead them through obstacles such as staircase. Thereafter, a reflection session was conducted and messages reflecting to parents on how their children are grown-up and can now take full responsibility for themselves as well as how as children we should understand that our parents have been though harshship to bring their children up were conducted. Thereafter, both parents and child were blindfolded and were separated. They had to find each other when blindfolded and many were jumping in joy when they finally achieved that. Another reflection was done but this time it involved emphasising the importance of family ties between the parents and child. There were some emotional talks during the 2 reflection sessions where participants actively voluntered to go on stage to share their thoughts, experience and lessons learnt from the activities. The main message I took home at the end is that both parents and children should maintain a open channel of commuication, it will be difficult for both parties if either one decides to close the door on the other. After that, banners were drawn and decorated by all participants on what their aspirations are for the future, their dreams and hopes. The banners were collected at the end and were given to the principal as the event gift.

My portion of the banner

During the closing ceremony, a blue ribbon story was told where it laid the foundations of the activities that would be done thereafter. Firstly, teachers from the school were made to stand in the centre in a circle with the rest surrounding them along the perimeter of the hall. Blue ribbons were distributed to the children and they could show their appreciation to their teachers by tying it on their teachers. This process was repeated 4 more times with the following group standing in the middle in this order; children, parents, volunteers, main organising committee and school principal.

I DIDN'T TAKE PHOTOS WITH MY GROUP'S CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!
I told them to wait for me at the end of the event but the main organiser chased the parents and children out of the event ground! In the end, they dispersed before I had a chance to thank them for bringing me some wonderful memories as well as bringing me back to my childhood somehow. I'm beginning to miss them somehow. Regret!

I've been reminded of how lucky I am to be able to be enjoying the privilges that I take for granted. Going to the school has reminded me on how simplicity can actually bring about happiness. Seeing the faces and smiles on the faces of the children, it has lifted up my spirits by a far margin. The school's main hall is run-down without even the presence of a electric fan, why should we argue and complain about installing air-cons inside ours then? You can argue the case that Beijing has 4 seasons and now is Spring which is cool. Then what about summer? I wouldn't know. Neither would you. The simple things that have put me to shame reminds me of how blessed I am to be able to enjoy the luxury items which are necessities to some. We should really be happy that we have more than what we can stomach and the quality of our lives.

During the blue ribbon presenation to the children, 龙导 asked me if I would be going back to their school for any other events.

The blue ribbon presentation

I could see the sincerity in the eyes of the children, I know it sounds corny but its true. I wasn't able to give her an answer. She said if I was going back, I must remember to look for her and the others (they are all from the same class). I wanted so much as to tell her yes but I remembered that we should never make empty promises. I can feel that some of the children wanted to get to know me more as much as I want to. Now I want to speak to them so much once more; the adorable kids - so young and innocent. It brings me back to reality of - the simple life.

Temple of Heaven

2009-03-12T23:01:00.004+08:00

Finally, I'm on track and on par with the events that have happened over the course of 2 weeks. Been quite busy with the monthly report to blog or upload pictures.

So last sunday, 8th march was the visit to the Temple of Heaven, 天坛. This visit was supposed to take place this coming sunday but due to a series of unfortunate events we decided to bring it forward. Temple of Heaven which is the main attraction is basically surrounded by a park with many activities taking place which mainly involves the elderly. We have a elderly choir group, chaptek players, ball jugglers, card players and bollywood dance moves just to roll a few of my tongue. It was a pretty interesting sight seeing how the elders are actually contented to spend their sundays sitting around in a park and enjoying the day. Ok, I know that wasn't the main point.
So the Temple of Heaven is yet another tourist attraction based on the emperor. He will come to this temple and pay his respects yearly back then. The architecture is actually quite cool with most of the structures adopting a circular shape. Due to the crowd size that was gathering at the doors outside the temple itself (assuming that they were waiting for the free explanation that occurs every 20mins), it made it almost impossible for the vertically challenged to get a decent view of the chamber itself. I tried my best.

There are other attractions at the venue but the tickets have to be either bought separately if you do not intend to go visit all or you could simply get the package deal which is more advisable as it is more economical. Other attractions include the Echoing walls and the main area which houses the center stone. Ok, I apologise for not getting all the facts and names right. So please go and find out more for yourself haha. I can't remember the exact details though.

The echoing wall has the same structure as the main temple. Circular with similar architecture design and so it feels like its almost not worth paying extra to go in and see. The views at the main temple itself is not the most pleasant as you see some high-rise building at the backdrop.

Overall, it was still quite an ok visit for me bah.

Ming Tombs and 2nd week of sch

2009-03-11T21:10:00.007+08:00

1 more day till the end of the work week. I can't wait for it to come! School rocks my world here. I've never missed school so much till I came to Beijing.

Alright, so its back to the posting on the Sacred Way Museum of Ming Tombs aka 神道 and Ding Ling, aka 定陵.

To be honest, there was nothing to see at the Sacred Way. Personally I felt it was a cheap rip-off as you pay 10rmb (if i don't rem wrongly) to walk along the path that the emperors walked. Its so sacred that even the emperor has to dismount from his horse and walk on foot for 7km. Almost every tourist attraction that we've been to revolves around the emperors. Haha. There wasn't anything interesting. Just stone paths all the way with the various statues guarding the path as you walk through it. That's all. Walk and walk and walk and walk..... walk... walk.... walk some more. Till you reach the end of it. There are 9 different statues along the way guarding the path and these 9 statues comes in 2 different forms; standing and sitting. So technically, there are 18 different statues on each side. That's all for the Sacred Way. Fast right?

Entrance to the sacred pathI wonder where the camel came about...

So moving onto Ding Ling which houses is actually the 13th tomb. Out of the 16 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, only 13 had proper burial in the Lings (陵). The reason why this tomb is famous is due to the fact that it was the only tomb to be fully excavated. However, during the excavation process, many precious artifacts were destroyed or damaged and so what we saw were actually not the replicas. How sad. Other tombs were earmarked to undergo the same fate as Ding Ling but as the government decided against further excavations after witnessing the results of excavation. In order to see the tomb, you have to climb up a slight slope before climbing down 6-8 levels down underground. Sadly, it was a little disappointing for me as there wasn't much to see. The tomb is divided into a few chamber but the main chamber houses the coffin of the emperor and empress. One very interesting fact to note is that he actually had 2 empress and I think they were sisters?? Their names were slightly similar, 李端and李靖! I think he was the only one who had that honor though. Sitting in front of his very own throne of death were 2 seats of the same layout stating that it was for the empress. Hm, how very interesting. I wonder if they fought with against each other back then. Hmmmm. I hope no one blames me as I don't really know the history. So if you do know, please correct me.

the coffins

overall layout of the chambers at the end of the visit, you're required to pass through this gate and shout “我回来了” meaning, i'm back! to ward off the bad spirits or to bring your soul back. Not 100% sure of the significance

Although the tomb has nothing much to offer in terms of history and artifacts and felt like another cheap rip-off. I remind myself of the man hours needed to create such a tomb and the efforts gone into excavating and preserving it. Oh well, I guess that's what you call a piece of history.

2nd week of school still rocks although we experienced our most stressful lesson of all with Mr 赵宝忠. His lesson was on “如何学好普通话” or simply "Learning Mandarin the Proper Way". He's just way too professional when it comes to teaching. That means we can't slack in class or fall asleep cause he's always on the prowl for his next target to call; to stand up and recite the words on the screen. His mandarin rocks but its way too much for me to handle. I didn't know speaking mandarin had so much tricks to it. His ending phrase was so powerful, it read; 让我们展开双臂一起拥抱这个春天吧！Ask anyone who attended his class, they should have a VERY GOOD idea on what I mean exactly.

We had lunch at this fast food restaurant in school. You judge for yourself. Haha. You tell me what it reminds you of yea? I hope I don't get embroiled into any law suits for posting this up. I mean no harm.
Its relatively cheaper compared to the other but still more expensive compared to the food in the school canteen. They have many canteens on campus but the one we always go to has 4 levels of food and escalators. Can you believe it? HUGE. Food in school is not fantastic but lets not complain about quality cause they do compensate you with quantity. Just be careful of what you order and its usually fine. I guess that's all for now. Next entry will be on the Temple of Heaven.

mock-up of old beijing

2009-03-09T22:50:00.010+08:00

Sunday - 1st March was spent exploring the outskirts of Beijing as we wanted to visit the 13Ming Tombs. Now the Ming Tombs houses 13 of the 16 emperors back but only 1 has been fully excavated; the 定陵。The journey to get to the outskirts was super long and luckily we met these 2 uncles who offered to ferry us from one attraction to another for just 5RMB for the entire day. We only had to pay him at the end of the day. Sounds good eh? I'm just glad we took up the offer as the places were pretty far apart, though he did bring us to places we never intended to go initially where I eventually spent 200RMB on my dad's gift. The most expensive present I've bought so far (wait.. that's the only gift I've gotten so far).

In the end, we went to 4 different locations; Beijing Shishanling Waxworks Palace of Ming Dynasty aka 北京十三陵的皇蜡像宫，Old Beijing aka 老北京， Sacred Way Museum of Ming Tombs aka 明十三陵神道博物馆 and Ding Ling aka 定陵。

I don't have any pictures from the waxwork palace as there were restrictions on the filming rules and regulations. Apparently, you are only allowed to take pictures IF you purchased a ticket for 10RMB. Nonsense crap. The pictures of the place are not in my possession, so.. Sorry you have to wait till I get my hands on Sheng Yuan's camera.

I shall start my entry proper with the review of Old Beijing. Basically, the entire place was modeled after the olden days with the typical and classic chinese architecture. The only thing cool about this place is that it was used for the filming of 还珠格格. Ok, maybe it wasn't that cool after all. This was the place I got my dad's gift; 2 sets of collector's edition. So they tried to model it as closely as possible to include the 4 vices of the China back then; 吃，喝，嫖，赌. Needless to say, there's a gambling den and a brothel included in the layout. BUT.. of course all for show only la. Don't think too much. There's even a mock opium room.
Too bad they tied the pipe to the table. I wanted to take it up. So now that we've tried smoking, lets move onto gambling. In order for you to play the game, you had to spend 10rmb to exchange for 3 copper coins which some of the guys did. I was too busy snapping pictures to be gambling, besides.. I don't gamble to begin with. Somehow, it felt like a scam cause out of the 3 games they played, the guys lost 2 games. I mean, how difficult is it to lose at Big and Small?? Some thing is fishy about the place.. hmm..
And so after gambling away all his possessions, Jiwei decided to give up on gambling. Herein lies the true meaning of 金盆洗手. This is a ritual that everyone must perform if they decided to leave the gambling den. There is a trick to doing it right. Apparently, for you to be able to walk out, you need to create ripples and splashes by rubbing your palms on the handles. If ripples and splashes occur, you are then safe to walk out. Otherwise, you should just think of carrying on, ok. I added that last sentence myself. If you think you're rich enough, you can always trot over to the brothel next door. Trust me, you wouldn't want to. There's nothing interesting to see, perhaps the most interesting artifact you will find is the heater in the middle of the room for it keeps you warm. Apparently, this was 1 of the room where they filmed 还珠格格; the part where ziwei was blind for a really long time. I can't remember the exact details though. They filmed it at a brothel. Gosh. Haha
Another room that the filming took place. This time around, its about ziwei and erkang getting married if I'm not mistaken. The very famous 漱芳斋 which was played countless of times during the show which was shown like tens of years ago.
Well, at least I got something out of this trip. Haha. Although my books are not as HUGE as that which you see below. I still think its pretty worthwhile for the books at I felt cheated at buying those books. Lol.
Its running late, i shall get back to posting about my other visits stated above soon. Hopefully tomorrow.

Updates from a very long time back..

2009-03-08T22:28:00.006+08:00

Its been some time since I last updated with some proper postings due to the very unfortunate weeks that my laptop decided to play punk on me. So here I am back again bringing the latest (to the best of my abilities) escapades from Beijing 2009.

Lessons at Tsinghua University has already started since last week. There's one thing I can confirm, I miss school life. Mondays to Thursdays are a bore, 5.15pm has always been the one thing all 6 of us look forward to. Fridays to Sundays are the best days of the week. I can't describe more. Tsinghua has a beautiful campus where the architecture style carries quite a heavy european touch to it.

This reminds me of Harry Potter the movie somehow.

Lessons can be very interesting, very boring and very stressful. It all depends on the speaker's style. In short, this is how we spent our days at Tsinghua...
Disclaimer: We do pay attention in class and I hardly sleep. They do most of the time though. Haha. I hope they don't kill me.

So, after the Olympics last year, its a must for everyone to visit the actual site right? How could we lose out?! The train ride on the Olympic line is awesome. An empty cabin isn't a sight you can witness easily here in Beijing.

We even had time to hang around

When we finally set foot upon it, all the hype about the Bird's Nest and Water Cube was totally dismissed by us. What seemed so majestic during the Olympics on television seemed to disappoint us when we set foot upon this vast piece of Olympic land. Nonetheless, we still made the most of it by doing wacky antics; what should you do as a representation of the structures around you?? Track and Field Event: High Jump
( After countless attempts...)Swimming Medley: GIP version
Please guess the swimming styles..

We met this uncle who has extremely good caligraphy skills. He was inscribing some poems on the floors outside the Bird's Nest. His writing is simply superb, it puts me to shame.

So, the guys approached him to write something for us.. He so willingly obliged to grant us our wishes and so we left our legacy on the floors between the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. Too bad he was using a water brush and the beautiful pieces of art evaporated into thin air within mintues. Guess that's the main purpose of the camera, to capture the moments.
Not many people will get their names written on the floors outside the nest. We should count our lucky stars we ran into the uncle. This was really.. In our terms: SHIOKs!

Of mindless ramblings

2009-03-04T22:33:00.003+08:00

Great! My laptop is finally back to normal! Paid 200rmb for the guy to come fix my backlight in the comforts of my own home.

Darn! I feel no job fulfillment at work. Its like I don't belong at my dreaded seat.

Dinner was bad earlier.

My housemate just sent me a picture of a korean chick we saw at Bird Nest on sat last week, to help me distress. #_#''

I should be reading my documents now. Besides, my report is due soon.
Shall get back another time.

ps: Junwei, thanks for the picture. I guess I have no time to check it out, keep it for yourself. Lol.

what else can possibly go wrong?

2009-03-01T22:09:00.001+08:00

I am too pissed with my computer right now.. &*%!@&^#$%!(*!^@*!^%#&!%$!(*&!)@(*^*&!@R$%&^$!@*(#^&)!(@&*#&*!%@#&^%@*&%!*(@&#)!(&#(!&@%#^*!%@(@*^#)(!&*@)#()!@&#(&!@%^

can't it just stop giving me problems??

Not everything is what it seems

2009-02-25T21:24:00.010+08:00

So, after 5 postings. You've seen and heard the good stuff about Beijing. Now's the time to put things into perspective.

There has been one thing I have observed so far while working. People here are not bothered by your body language which is widely practised back home. They can actually answer their phones right in front of their superior who is conducting a discussion and are not afraid that their actions will be offensive. What's more, your supervisor can be talking to you and you are replying a sms. Its that simple. Your supervisor won't stop, instead he will just rattle on and on and on.

They don't apologise when they step on you, elbow you and whatever you can think of. Its as if its socially acceptable right here. Hm, which I personally still have not gotten accustomed to.

Ok, so its winter and we don't have the habit of opening our windows since the cold air seeps right through the windows. Check it out;

I think that answer the question of "How dusty can it get here?". Even without opening our doors and windows, the amount of dust which has accumulated is actually quite an eye-sore. This is the dust for one week; considering that we only spend roughly 5 hours at home everyday and that's without opening the windows? This is disgusting. I can't imagine how it will be during spring and autumn.

Is anyone looking for cheap shopping out there? You can try 西单shopping centre which is similar to bugis village as the stalls are all lined up in the interior of the mall. It is like a flea market where you can slash prices by quite a fair amount.Always remember to bargain please.
Here you have it. A shopping paradise which sells mainly female goods but with sufficient male stuff to keep the guys occupied too. Cheap and good. Just take the subway and alight at 西单 station as it is within 5 mins walking distance. I shall go back there during summer as most of the stalls are selling winter clothing (which is the same for every shopping centre).

You can never trust the dim sum here in Beijing. We tried dim sum at 2 different eateries and they disappointed us pretty badly. You should know how I'm not very particular about food. So that explains everything.

First up, lets dissect the 叉烧包, char siew bao. The skin was way too dry, there wasn't much meat and it wasn't even juicy! Just when I miss char siew bao. Rated as: Tasteless

Up next is one of my all time favourite, 小笼包, xiao long bao.
This was even worse than the char siew bao. The xiao long bao was literally a BAO. Seriously, I ain't joking. There wasn't any soup, the meat was tough, the skin was rough and seriously tasteless. Nothing that I expected it to be. Rated as: Totally disappointing

Amidst all the disappointment, maybe we should all just jump wagon and start eating food from the roadside stalls (which looks to be more hygenic)! The food smells delicious (I swear) and it tempts you. The smell hooks your nose and your stomach all at the same time. It is like calling out to you. Screaming aloud to you. Haha. Bracing ourselves on a sunday morning, we tried this 煎饼, pancake from a mini shop by roadside.
Its similar to crepes but less high-class with only an egg spread across the thin surface, garnished with some spring onions and sweet sauce and a salty flake of crispy stuff which I do not know what it is. They then fold it into a square shape and its ready to be served. Depending on where you buy it, it ranges from 2-3RMB. Don't look down on this small Chinese crepe. It lasted us for 6 hours and served as our lunch. It is nice and ranks higher than the slightly more expensive dim sum in terms of taste.

I haven't tried food from those portable stalls that comes in the form of a bicycle. I don't think I will ever for fear of a stomach upset. There is one very interesting portable stall that I come across everyday, the guy produces and sells popcorn on the spot when the others are selling the conventional fruits and satay-like food, 串肉, etc. The smell of the popcorn is almost irresistible and you marvel at how it actually smells so good. Oh well.....

I cooked the other day and it was better than the previous time. At least it looks and tastes decent. Even though it is really simple and idiot proof. Anyone can do it too.
From L-R (Clockwise) Sweet chilli toufu with golden mushroom, sambal sotong, luncheon meat dipped in egg and xiao bai cai.

Lets eat healthy. I'm putting on weight too easily and it is showing. Less oil, less salt please!

religious and cultural

2009-02-24T22:14:00.005+08:00

My laptop is driving me insane. It switches the backlight off every few seconds. I'm praying very hard it doesn't die on me in this foreign land. Anyway, here are some updates for the past weekend.

First up, always pictured snow as white and everything right? Well, how about this for a change? Its a snow covered road alright, just that its black; sesame flavor? Its the pollution that has actually turned the white into black. Believe it. It happened overnight.
Ok, enought of nonsense. So we headed out during the weekend. 2 locations that were within walking distances of each other. Lama Temple and Imperial College.

Lama Temple aka Yonghe Gong （雍和宫）

Its HUGE. We were walking along the streets outside the temple where there were plenty of stalls selling joss sticks in huge packets and we were wondering why people actually needed so much. We then realised after we stepped in. The people there stop to pray at every small temple within the Lama Temple. A conservative estimate would be 15 small temples and mulitply that by 3 joss sticks per temple and you get a huge serving of joss sticks. Oh, if you want to get the joss sticks, please buy before you head in. The prices inside are totally exorbiant. For the same pack of joss stick, its going for $2 outside while its 10x that inside; $20.

It will be the only time you can see order in China. Haha. People actually queue up in a line to give their offerings. The place is so huge, you need at least an hour to just touch and go at the different mini temples. There's also a museum inside at the last wing which showcases the development and history which is actually quite interesting.

There was suppose to be an exorcisim ritual rehearsal at around 2pm when we finished touring around the whole place (we thought we were quite lucky since it coincided with our end of tour) but we were kept waiting for quite some time before we decided to give it a miss. Apparently, it involved drums and some dance by the monks. I wonder how it went.

Cofuscius Temple （孔庙） and Imperial College (国子监）

So these 2 places actually belong to the same thing. They are linked and are can be entered using the same ticket (half-price, 10RMB after Junwei showed his matric card). This place is all about Confuscius, his life, teachings and the extent of his influence. They even had his tomb inside(or at least it was his tablet) when you walk straight in all the way. Spooky. Apparently, they even have ceremonies conducted in his name. How about a temple? The red tags sold at the temple which can make you a scholar cost 100RMB. WOW! Now, that's the price of becoming a scholar. I want to be one too. Haha. I'm sure they are laughing all the way to the bank as you stand outside admiring the tens of rows and columns of tags that they have sold. Haha.

The 2nd part of this was visiting the imperial college. The museums inside document the life of a scholar and the 4 paths that they can choose to take up. It shows you the living conditions and various examinations that they had to overcome back in those days. Martial arts, poetry, blah blah blah.. Makes me feel ashamed of myself just trying to fulfil my duty as a student, just me and my beloved notes. Maybe anyone who has trouble mtivating themselves to study should take on this trip and who knows, it might inspire them? Haha.

Ok, i actually have alot more to blog but my screen is pissing me off right now. I can't finish typing more than 3 words before the backlight goes off and i can't see a thing. I hope it doesn't die on me seriously. Its only week 4 and i still have my reports to type for the remainder of the trip. I hope it will be fine tomorrow. Hopefully...

And it snowed for a 2nd day in a row!

2009-02-18T20:30:00.008+08:00

It really did snow today! The snow-covered picture was a pleasant sight to greet us this morning.
Man, will it snow again tomorrow? It has stopped snowing tonight as of now though.

You know, the Chinese language is interesting. Below are some examples (The Singapore mandarin is in blue, China mandarin is in red, );

a) 计算机 = calculator = computer
b) 撒尿牛丸 = meat balls = takopachi

There are certain clashes of culture here. For language culture, the word "shit" is actually considered a offensive word, a profanity. Back home, its pretty much a norm, a way of life for us young people. We usually smile it off after releasing numerous insertions in our conversations. Guess we really must watch what we say in another man's land. There are still lots to learn within the remaining 20 weeks. We can conquer this!

The sight of snow piling up is really interesting. Though you can't wish for a heavy snowfall, I am contented with what I have experienced so far. Only 3 days of snow have been forecast-ed, 2 have passed and tomorrow's the last (if it occurs). Being kiasu, all of us took our cameras out and starting shooting at everything within sight.

Finally squeezed out of the sardine-packed bus. The sardines started walking on the snow.

I love this scenery.
Foreground: Yun Li and Shunyu
Background: Zong Ming and Junwei

The lorry spoilt the picture.
Isn't it wonderful? Who would have thought this was Beijing.

The locals do have a habit of scribbling stuff on the snow. You will usually see some romantic declaration right? One guy wrote "男儿当志强" (or something along that line) and Junwei gave a wonderful response to the statement beneath it. Lol. *Contents have been removed*

Tomorrow's another day to ponder. 2 days to the weekend!

SNOW!

2009-02-17T22:31:00.009+08:00

The locals have a saying here; the temperatures will rise once 春节(CNY) is over. It did, for 2 days before it starting dipping to levels lower than we had experienced in our very first week.

Its hot back home too, 35degrees Celsius. Everywhere is being affected. Global warming perhaps.

Back to the topic, we thought we were never going to see snow here in Beijing but I guess heaven was kind to us. It did not snow during winter and yet Beijing has now witnessed its first snowfall in what I would term as a winter-spring transition.

Woohoo~!

Now, what do you make of the snowflakes? This was in the morning when the snow first started to fall. Check out the shape, this was all natural without any human interference. Nice!

After work, the snow came down heavier and faster and it started accumulating on the streets.
It's my first time witnessing and walking in a snow-fall. I can only say, its really beautiful. Staring outside my room now, I can only say it brings me an unexplainable peace.
After dinner, somewhere along the streets in 国贸when it started snowing real heavily again.
I left my prints beside the tree. Lol.
The view from my room, I apologise for the colour as I was reluctant to open the window to take the picture. Doesn't it paint a picture of peace and tranquility?

Today's weather forecast was 20% chance of precipitation.
Tomorrow's weather forecast: 30% in the day and 50% at night.
Wonder if it will happen. Better wrap myself up more! Its freezing.

Sunday; Rest time

2009-02-15T21:05:00.017+08:00

Today's stay-in day. After all the anticipation and excitement of a week's work, we were simply too tired to squeeze and plan where to head.
Today's home-cooked meal day. We figured we had to save money and protect our health.
Lunch by me was a disaster. Shall go no further.
Dinner by our 家长 was good. 家长 = Person who is like the leader of our household.
please refer to the dinner below;

I think i forgot to introduce my housemates to you. So here goes..

L-R: Junwei (our clown), myself, Sheng Yuan (家长), Shunyu (Assistant supervisor).

That's us in 双井metro station which serves us faithfully everyday.

Anyway, its really dusty here even if we open our balcony door and windows slightly. It literally sweeps off your feet when you walk at home despite our best efforts in sweeping and mopping.

Just an introduction to our daily routine;

Wake up: 6am
Leave house: 7am
Take bus: 7.25am
Lunch: 12.00pm
Knock-off: 5.15pm (hopefully)

Sleep: 12.00am (hopefully again)

Weather forecast says there might be a chance of snow on Tuesday. Wonder if it'll come true.

2 weeks to begin with

2009-02-14T00:12:00.009+08:00

So it was just 11 days ago when I was still in sunny little Singapore. Basking in the warmth and downing all the rojak food was just a daily routine which I now feel I took for granted.

Then it was all taken away from me on the night of 2nd Feb 09, for 6 months at least. Kissing goodbye at Terminal 1, I bid a fond farewell with tears kept well in check.

The chilly or rather, freezing winds greeted us in the early morning of 3rd Feb.
Welcome to Beijing. 欢迎来到北京！
The morning winds are pretty insane and it freezes down your spine.
I somewhat miss the warmth of the sun a little during this season especially in the morning and at night when the temperature dips.

Being here has changed my perception of China tremendously. However, this might have to do with the fact that I'm staying near city. It ain't as dirty as I was told and its pretty well-developed.

Its a pretty confusing city I would say. Beijing has the extremes; technologically very advanced, well developed BUT there are many areas which are light years behind in terms of just simple technology. Perhaps, it is this interesting mixture that has captured my attention. Towering buildings, small village homes and tons of people; now that’s a formula for beauty. You never know what you see the moment you turn around.

I always thought Singapore was pretty well-developed and advanced (perhaps in the area of urban planning, home still wins) but its only after stepping out into Beijing that I realized; “Hey! Beijing is almost on par, if not better than what we have back home.” Remember those flashy advertisements along the MRT along Newton, Orchard? They had it years back. How about our TV mobile and its reception which fails us from time to time? They have something similar but yet, more reliable though it plays the same show EVERYDAY which is getting on my nerves. HUGE buildings with IMMENSELY IMPRESSIVE layouts and facade. A shopping mall that resembles an ultra posh hotel that blows your imagination. How about the fact that they are now building the world's largest Ferris wheel, there goes Singapore's record in a year or two. There are many more but you have to see to believe it.

There are a couple of things to note in Beijing.

1) Crossing the roads
Watching people crossing streets is a truly amazing sight. It’s a skill which we have almost picked up. It’s amazing how they cross anytime and cars slow down (I’m serious, they do slow down) without jamming the honk (there’s the occasional exceptions, mainly during weekends) but you must do your part and hasten your steps a little. If you cross like you do in Beijing back in Singapore, you will probably get a swearing session, get honked till you go deaf or simply a traffic offense ticket.

2) Taking the bus/train
Ever wondered why China produces so many world-class gymnasts? It boils right down to how they squeeze in the bus and train. They have a natural ability to dig out any available space to squeeze into and they really do make their presence felt. Twisting and turning is a great morning work-out (ya right), try getting your butt rubbed so very often when someone tries moving in or out. I was squashed myself and can attest to that fact; I was bending over the passenger sitting by the aisle. Try squeezing back at home and you get the friendliest stare you will ever witness for a long long time. Public transport is really cheap; 2RMB for a MRT ride regardless of distance and it cost me 1.20RMB to get to work. Taxis are pretty affordable (meter starts at 10RMB) but try not to take it too often, it becomes a habit and you will get VERY lazy.

3) Spitting
Yes folks, I am afraid the legends are true. They spit everywhere, anywhere and anytime. On the road: checked. While smoking: checked. In the supermarket: checked. Where else can they not do it? I hope I won’t be spat on. Ok, that’s for spitting. How about VOMITTING? I witnessed a lady puking in the crowded bus on the first day of work and she wiped her hands (which she tried to contain her contents) on her pants with the remnants all over the floor. I just another whose contents were left in the train today.

4) Food
Oily and salty sums it all up. In addition, their serving of rice is huge; more than you get back home. Drink plenty of water thereafter. Regardless of that, always drink up as it is really dry here in Beijing. There’s beef and mutton everywhere, chicken is slightly harder to find I think. I always see pork, beef and mutton on the menu. I think I'm putting on weight really rapidly.

5) People
They speak really fast and pretty loud as if they are reprimanding you. I shall update more as I get to speak more often with them. If you think your mandarin standard is reasonable back home, you will feel like a disgrace to the Chinese community back home over here in China. We are in different leagues altogether. I miss Singlish, luckily I have my housemates to share the burden of too much Mandarin in a day. By the way, the service standard isn't that good, so brace yourself.

6) Shopping (pertaining to plastic bags)
Always bring a bag or those reusable shopping bags along if you're intending to shop for groceries. Its amazing how the locals live without plastic bags and how we always forget to bring our reusable shopping bags out everywhere after even after major lessons after the 2nd day in Beijing. We ended up taking the numerous stuff on hand, braving the cold, luckily the walk back from the supermarket wasn't too long. Its interesting how we would complain back home if we were made to pay for plastic bags when people here just get on with life. We simply depend too much on plastic bags back home for everything.

One other thing to note. People in China have a higher tolerance level and greater patience, just see the way drivers go about the traffic and the pedestrians cross the road and commuters squeeze. The comfort zone that Singaporeans have is just too great compared to the Chinese. Do the same in Singapore, you will be stared or cursed. In addition, I’m beginning to understand why some people do the things they do. We should all learn to have greater patience and a higher tolerance.

Despite what seems like negative comments so far, Beijing has really impressed me quite a fair bit and changed my impression of it. The modern + traditional blend has shown me that I was wrong to write Beijing off early on. It has a very interesting identity with the rich, the norm and the poor all in one melting pot. Its a confusing world.
Now I’m beginning to see things clearer and why there's the emphasis on stepping out of Singapore to expand your horizons.

Its finally the weekends! Here's wishing everyone a happy weekend and Happy Valentine's Day. 周末愉快！情人节快乐！