Green Barricuda

Back in Singapura

2008-01-03T11:30:00.000+08:00

Ya singapore has been great so far since i touched down; new house, new environment, meeting up w frenzs n family, n trying to get fit for my ippt. Laptop gave up on me just the other day n had to make the journey down to acer svc ctr to change my expired hard drive. So now all my pics gone la, contact list bye bye, past 3 sems of reports out the window n dont know wat else. Goin to have to burn a copy of everything i had next time round (ya better back-up ur stuffies for all those peeps out there). So if those reading my blog can kindly leave behind their blog addies it would be much appreciated...many thx...3days into 2008....happiest belated New Yr to ALL!!!

Longyang - 2nd home revisited

2007-12-26T17:42:00.001+08:00

Jus like tat 22wks came to an end n we are all back in Spore...ya bye byes are hard at times but its also inevitable...5mths of transformation frm strangers to frenzs...come to think of it the small gp of 17 frm pudong area are pretty united...not sure if the next huge GIP batch tat goes over can achieve the level of camaraderie...sure bonding was tough at 1st tryin to accept pple tat u nvr met or knew existed b4...but thru the journey in Shanghai we learnt more abt the others n treated them as comrades...anyway starting to miss the hse i spent a sem ago...haha...definitely with my room at present...to all GIP peeps see if u remember some of these familiar places in our area
Sunday sports day anyone!?!

In the course of 5mths, surely u patronised these stalls a couple of times if not all the time...

Circle of trust

Daily respect paid to the bar aft work

Home

Beijing

2007-12-25T21:09:00.000+08:00

Day 1
Ok so Beijing was realli qte the experience i shld say. Super cultural place with structures that are replicated everywhere. On the 1st day upon arrival, we were forced to walk to our hostel which was like i dont know 4k with our full load on cause the taxi drivers refused to bring us to the st citing that the place was too 麻烦 to get to.
Nice trees along the way

Aft walkin like 2hrs plus we pit-stop to get pic take n some much needed rest

Past by this frozen lake

Happi me at the ulu hostel after a road marching to the hostel for 3++ hrs

Nite at WangFuJing for dinner

Beijing burger all the wayy

Exotic food rulez

Turnin into scorpion king

Nice cathedral we passed by on the way back...

Day 2
Woke up early for the flag raising at Tiannamen Sq

Me n my trusty biscuit(lasted Dom n me for the 5days there)

The Flag rising was as solemn as those change guard duty at the Istana

1st attraction of the day...Emperor's Palace

How heng we were to take pic with one of the 933 DJs!!!

Nothin too fantastic inside

At the exit

Jingshan temple, one place we nvr go

Walked passed this toy area where senior citizens were playin ping pong using the fitness corner

Place of many drums...

Top of the tower

One time big big Gong

Chanced upon Sporean teachers there who brought us ard for gd eats in the local Hutongs (pic taken at their sch compound)

The mux try place if u go there, got to bk 1 day in advanced, think only if u local than will get to know abt this place...sadly we nvr got to eat it...

Hutongs that we brought ard by the Sporean teacher, too busy trying to catch up that we could not take pics (one of the few rare pics taken by Carmen)

There is a Earth n Heaven temple...today we went to the Earth one cause we feeling earthly...

Dinner was fantastic...had dong bei cai, my god the portions were disgustin n the food totally awesome!!!!

Monster balls (no wonder they are called 狮子头)

Outside the restuarant where we had one of our best meals...n only for Sing $6!!!!

Day 3 The Great Wall
Muz be the place to go if u r in China...as Rongxin would put it; after coming China now im only interested in mountains, lakes n walls...well said
Wakign up realli early to go

On the way there can start to see the fallen snow

Takin the cable car up to the wall

At the base...jus love the snowiness!!!

Up on the cable car w Brother Eilene

Breathtaking view hur

Mutianyu stairs up n down were an easy day

This part of the wall was strictly no entry but we went in anyway (its China u know)

Carmen says qte close to the ang mo's Smoky Mountains

下雪的北京!!! OMG it was soo cool!!!

Dinner was at QuanJuDe...famous roasted duck, 2 times duck added to the death list cause of us...yummy yummy

Day 4
Summer Palace...NEVER go there in winter...the lake is frozen n nothing much to see...

Chiem'ness written on the floor

Look wat is tat

The frozen lake...we nvr make it ard the lake

Tianamen as view at nite...

Dinner at the 狗不理包子 shop...supp to be famous in TianJin...as u can see the kind of grade i gave it

Day 5
Visit the Temple of Heaven (one of the better places in Beijing i muz say)...the place was like a giant CC area where the elderly were playin chess, singing, painting, sewing n 2 other games below...

Saw lots of Senior citizens playin this game where u are supp to keep the stick moving along w/o touchin the ground...not as easy as it looks

This was an other game that was played there...dancing ard while keepin the ball on the racket...somewat like the crystal ball game tat magician do...frm my posture u can tell i sux big time!!!

The main attraction at the Tian tang area...

Ninjas united

ATTENTION!!!

Walkin is the rule of the game in China

Our humble hostel
Jus outside our rms

Lobby area for chilling

Courtyard area

Photo shoot in Longyang...

2007-12-13T19:11:00.000+08:00

Well the other wk i mentioned that our household went to tailor a suit ya...well before heading home (ben already home liao ba rite now in sunny i mean rainy Spore) we decided to have a series of formal pics taken...think can use for resume pics also haha...
Our very formal family of 6 (required a herculean effort on all our parts to maintain this stern expression)

Our very informal pic

Those feets in the pic super off lor...

Act kawaii time

Big boss me (only one side of shoe for the pic; showmanship all the wayyyyyy)

Carmen (cold jokes 师父, mooncake fest organizer, tee shirt queen; think she bought like 20?!? who knows)

Joyce (baby chinese dictionary, knows loads of old songs (ya n i thou the songs were from my era; whole new meaning to 代沟, tennis junkie)

Gary (Faculty cum office colleagues cum roomies plus US bound lucky arse...*raarrr*)

Beneb (shopping king and official photographer for our household n who shld be back in sunny i mean rainy Spore now)

Dom (fellow street foodie hunter and wanderer of places ard + war movie junkie)

N now for the largest shocker!!! Ben n Gary r gays...muz be learn from the movie 霸王别姬...haha

Farwell treat...

2007-12-07T16:38:00.000+08:00

Yesterday my boss, Doctor Linda treated us to lunch at a posh resutuarant at Big Thumb restaurant, 唐朝. It was qte a conincident too that it was to be Marie's (Gary's IC with Francois in France), Gary n me ending work next wk, plus Racheal' bday on that same day, Jane's 1st wk in office and Siron's return to Givaudan aft her long maternity leave. So lunch had so much more meaning than just a farewell.

Anyway the food was totally awesome, after eatin too cheap food in Shanghai tat lacked substances. Had 7 cold dishes (think Shanghai'nese all like it alot) which were mainly Shanghai standard dishes, got like water chestnut tasting chinese yam in choc n strawberry sauce (shiok la!!!), their famous something fish (thumbs up), lousy veg pudding, nutzs, sliced mushroom (tasted like fish cakes), steamed 虾仁（not exactly exciting)- cant remember the rest. Than also got killer egg tarts (flaky n soft, best thing yet), mala char siew bao fried, roasted pork thigh (think i single-handedly finished 4/5 of it), cod fish in mala oil (heavenly...) n foie gras (seriously wats the fuss abt it; think nothing fantastic). O ya the corn juice was totally UPZ also... overall i give it 10.5 out of 10 for the meal. Super full w/o eating rice at all.

Next wk Linda is gg to be in Mumbai for the whole wk so it happens that the 1st week that i came and last wk im abt to leave she is not to be around (1st wk she was not ard due to family matters). Was talking to Siron and i mentioned that Linda seem to be happier since she got back n she replied ya, I remember u getting only 2 niao'ing from her...haha i totally agreed. In the past it was like 1 mistake means kena liao...now she like tell u nicely one...stunned lor...o ya Jane is the latest Master's student intern to join our department aft Tony (great chap; totally helped with the translation of the killer lab manuals when i was 1st here), Chelsea (the MIA all the time but at least she helped me with my essay) and now the super friendly Jane. So im the lao jiao intern liao...lolz

Lunch Treat at 唐朝 (from left front row, Siron, Jane, Marie n Racheal; left back row, Me, Boss Linda, Gary)

Me in the lab, with my assortment of weapons for deadly concoctions of detergents

Siron (Linda's 2nd in command; if only she came back earlier than i would have been protected from excessive niao'in)

Doctor Linda Li (she says she dont like to take pics anymore...i like had to plead with her to take lor)

Jus another post...

2007-12-03T23:50:00.001+08:00

Played soccer on sunday at the same old pri sch tat we went the other time...but jus like any good story muz have some drama...this security guard wanted to collect "rent" from us at 200rmb for 2hrs for use of the pitch...wth la!!! so we went to 2 other schs to check if we could use their pitch for soccer...but than the other 2 rejected us outright (scare they lose their job if they do); manz like tat how to promote sports in China sia...so after discussion decided to go back to tat crap of a security to bargain for lower rental... to cut it short we still had to pay the gg rate althou he vehemently refused to issue a receipt or let us talk to the operations masters (this bugger definitely keepin the $$$ for himself la!!!)

Played for 1hr so tat we could keep within our budget of 110rmb for 11 of us ( oya forgot to mention tat there were 2 pple from puxi who joined us for soccer). Ya most of us were in trek pants n long sleeves...10mins into the game we were all panting like mad liao...respect to all those athletes in temperate countries la, dont know how they tahan the disggustingly dry n thin air...but we all worked up a good sweat in the end...game was good expect for a blemish when Gary sprained his ankle n ended our game ard the same time...

Watched many movies this few days, like Nacho Libre (damn funny), Blood Brothers (chinese), My Father (korean movie)n Zodiac...not long now n the countdown is on till i get back...prep'in a list of makan to feast upon when i get back...muahaha...5mths n 4kg heavier Clarence is coming home...woohooo...time to wack more xiao long baos, 肉串，麻辣 n junk food...gg to miss them all...

Im bored....

2007-11-27T18:40:00.000+08:00

Finally managed to submit my IA report to my professor alr. Now wk day nites are so much more carefree, cold n a little boring. Watched another movie last nite, Mountain Patrol. Its super sad la; pple try to stop poachers to prevent Tibetan antelopes from extinction but outside world bo chap. Until most of the 伟大 volunteers get killed and get written abt by a journalist was action taken. Think tonite will start my 1 litres of tears marathon since i realli got nothing else to do (n its short too).

Facebook is jus amazing. Long lost frenzs and pictures all up. Jus like this one below during NS. Realised i nvr took any pics during that period. Now come to think of it very sad lor, nothing to remember those memorable times by.

Lifes like this...

2007-11-25T10:42:00.000+08:00

Been a long time since i last updated this bloggie. Really busy changing my IA report to my boss's liking. U know its supp to be more like she jus check that i did not mention any confidential info but she went the extra step to correct my english n ask me to "beautify" my graph. I was like hur...anyway she was so enthu that she even called me on Thursday nite at 8pm to go thru the report with me. Think im already on my 6th draft already...hopefully monday she would jus accept it...All the others had their reports vetted more like a read-thru style one, minimal correcting. So lesson learnt, when your boss is highly educated (10yrs teaching experience plus Doctorate), yup expect the unexpected from her. Almost like doin a GP essay and making sure u have no sweeping statements inside... *bleach*

Goin down to 16 铺 later to make a suit...jianqing say get the Ocean's 13 one best liao...ya well will see how ba...one of our GIP mates have gone back liao..had a farewell at Bon Bon...freeflow house pours for 24sing...yup its cheap... tonite gg to RX bday party...KTV session with buffet...woohooo...gettin fat here i cant believe it...jus bought a pair of Levi's jean (of course chiong one la) for 16sing...i had to wear a size 34!!! OMG OMG OMG...lots of training to do liao, still got ippt to settle when i get back...

Watched American Gangster jus now...uber long movie...had Denzel Washington in as Frank Lucas the drug kingpin in the 70s...not bad a show jus that the build-up was a little too slow for my liking...watched Quil too...manz the dog is soooo cuteeeee....
kk gg off liao...good luck to all those in the midst of their exams...

Its jus shorts

2007-11-17T10:17:00.000+08:00

Long time since i managed to wake up early on a Sat. So i decided to go down some breakfast for me-self. Thou abt the tau sa n radish bao so went down in shorts. How who i have known that this ang mo b4 me would buy 4 tau sa n 5 radish bao. So hungry me bo pian, decided to walk over to the market at far far Du Juan road market to buy breakie n see see. Long time since i actualli walked there plus i was not exactly equipped for the weather this mornin. Checked the forecast n highest temp today was 14degrees (good job la), than the cold wind blowin was disgustinly cold.

So i started walkin over, than along the way got loads of pple starin at me la. So easy to tell from their *who-is-this-mad-老外-in-shorts-in-the-cold" expression walking around like it was summer. Kk so i got looks for at least 3 dozens pple along the way jus because i wore shorts (hey no biggie ma!!!). Bought my tau sa n radish bao at the market n walked ard the place a bit. Realli like lookin at the daily lifestyle of the common pple on another Sat mornin at the market. Realli get to see a variety of pple la, pple rushing to n fro, lots of life stocks n cheap cheap food. Found this confectionary tat sold chicken burger for only 4rmb (the ususal places all sell 6rmb lor)!!! Seein such a steal i jus had to sink me teeth into such a yummi treat...yup yup...another whole day of being at home for the rest of the household as they have their final burst for their reports. Im done with mine, jus tat DOCTOR Linda is lookin thru it now, hope not too many amends to be done cause a expectations is lets jus say not on a humanly scale of 1-100.

Jus some pics...not sure if i posted them up before
The twin towers where we studied, did presentations, slept, makan...

Seriously their carpet grass is gg to be the envy of any student...so shiok to sleep on

The lot of us with the Fudan students who we got to play with

龙阳小降。。。

2007-11-13T18:25:00.000+08:00

GIP'07 proudly presents to u the weekend Soccer monsters...

JianQing aka Dominic Kahn...killer slides to stop any attempts on goal

Benebto Carlos...thunder thighs to wack the ball n surging runs forward all with a smile on the face...also can call him smiling assassin...

BingXiang aka BaXio Cannavaro...pillar of defence, marks u out of the game, jus follows u all the way n yes defence is his passion!!!

JianYou Alonso...runs n runs, scores goals, also gg forward n creating the types of opportunities for scoring...silent killer

RongXin better known as Rong-naldo...freaking fast (darn those long legs) with loads of tricks...heartbeat of any team...

Swee Meng aka SM Fabregas....Arsenal thru n thru, good footballing brain n is all over the field (industriousness is affectious)...

YiHao'rea Pirlo (look at the hair can tell liao)...playmakes from deep n still defends...has a knacker for goals too

Hanbin or Gary Inzaghi...poacher in the box, attacks left rite ctr...played soccer for a longgggg time...

Clarence Drogba cause i use my head alot...haha

Ya now even with cold weather we still playin...total maddness...IA report deadline creepin ever closer...pressures on to finish it lo...

Suzhou Amusement Park pics!!!

2007-11-11T14:50:00.000+08:00

On the way there...

Our 1st ride...the hammer..but the comin down like abit controlled so not that scary...

The CS style paintball shootin that we had...sian not allowed to take pics inside...the protective gear is super cool la...

Arrrr....Pirates of China

Ride on the Spinner-roonie was topsy-turvy!!!

Cosplay dont jus happen in Jap ok...

Roller Coaster gets a A++ frm me...

This ride only lasted 30sec...total rip-off!!!

I call this the Sai Tree...really looks like one big dung!!!

Autumn lo...

Shark attack

Sun set Sir!!! *saluate*

Im in Italy..the Rome coliseums

In the tigers mouth...loads of saliva this tiger

Supp to be be scary by making use of some ultra-sound plus motion...unfortunately some inconsiderate A.T's spoiled it for us...

4D show...not bad at all

Incredible hulk dont mess with me

Flower anyone?

Steamboat dinner at one of the restaurants at Suzhou...think it was called Rice Flour Noodles Restaurant ( caused the chinese name was 米粉面餐馆...realli translate lor!!!)

SuZhou LeYuan success

Clarence and the Big Sleep...the chair is JUS to comfortable...

This wk:
Omaha spotted in Shanghai...

Yea this is the place tat we played with the kids last Fri...

http://www.djarkady.com/?p=588 check out the link...acrobatics gets a thumbs up frm me

Nothing better to do...

2007-11-10T10:39:00.000+08:00

My current wallpaper

Ya n dont drink too much...u might jus end up like one of these pumpkins...happi belated Halloween!!!

Pizza buffet...

2007-11-10T00:58:00.000+08:00

Today had our class presentation on 环境消费于污染. So each of us had to give a 3min talk abt the topic frm the text we had. Haha the prof said our presentation better than expected which was a good thing cause we were basically crappin most of it i guess. Totally no link to the passage lei. Than afternoon we went over to a after care ctr for kids. It was qte a long trip there n we were feeling alittle turn off by the fact. But we already told the prof we interested sometime back, so aft all the effort she put into organising it we had to show a little respect rite.

Well we came to this realli suburb style part of shanghai tat i nvr really seen b4. There in the mist of the filth n shophouses there was this catholic care ctr. Lots of kids (abt pri 6 at most) were there, some playin in the foyer; cards la, badminton, their version of zero pt, skippin (wa they super zai la), soccer (they more interested in bbball i felt) while others were in the house playin chess, n learnin songs in english. Dont know wat to do at 1st but in the end we pretty much settled in n all of us played with the kids. I was stuck playin with this boy called tao pi pi i think, he was learnin to spin the ball on his finger frm me...hahaha..not very successful thou...than later on played badminton for the longest time w another kid...played till now my forearm seems to be having some suan suan feelin now...think old liao...not like b4...cant keep up w their energy la...the initial "im wastin my time feelin there" quickly tuned to fulfillment knowin that we made the day of some kids at the child care. *smilez*

There was this Slovakian who was there helpin out. Chatted w him abit aft the volunteer job. Apparently he is in Fudan doin his Phd in Psychology b4 teachin in Fudan cause profs there need a Phd b4 they can work there. Nice chap who played the guitar while the kids sung, n his chinese it really gd considerin his been in china i think 4yrs?!? Anyway, 1st time i talked to someone frm eatern europe. Gip has really been a global experience.

Did i mention tat at nite we went for pizza buffet...OMG..it was sooo cheap!!! $9.8 for a buffet...think got 10 types of pizzas (only know they were really cheesy...overload on cheese than ingredients lor), lots of real meat, no bones n fats like all the stingy restaurants n office food we been eatin...salad bar, fruits la, drinks (got Tiger n funny tasting wine), ice-cream n shiok shiok fried foodie...talked abit aft tat over aft the meal than walked ard the People's Sq aft tat to digest the food...manz so full think i ate my breakfast n lunch for the next day...if u noticed the time...im still typin the post now cause too full to sleep...haha...and the trio of Beneb, Gary n Yanwen still on their Korean serial...

1 more essay n IA report...research on Beijing trip than back to Spore on the 23th dec...everythings moving whop speed now...

Wk 17 lo...

2007-11-07T22:59:00.000+08:00

This weeks been really crazy...on sun we went to play soccer at the cui tennis court at our place but were interrupted by the security who insisted that pple were complainin abt us playin there...I mean if we were nosiy than we deserved to leave but than we were not and no one is playin on the court (noticed i mentioned the cui part; no net n uneven surface, surely no one uses it, so we shld be thanked for helpin them maximise their resources. Instead those pea brained securities keep askin us to leave the tennis court cause its NOT FOR SOCCER...Being here almost 4mths than they nvr say much, suddenly got "complains" frm mysterious houses...seriously if china continues to be so inflexible think its gg to b a long time b4 they realli progress...

Been tryin to make a clear solution the whole wk but to no avail...Linda's style is totally depended on her mood...one moment she is nice the next she starts pickin on everthing u do...well at else when i get back i wld have graduated w a Masters in "anti-niao'in tactics"...

Everyone's so busy with work this week, chinese presentation this Fri on 消费环境 for 3 mins plus an essay on 儒家思想 n 西方与东方教育 due next wk...the planned pizza buffet thats supp to be aft work tml suddenly off liao like tat cause everyone in a mad frenzy to finish tat n IA report...

Beneb n Swee Meng jus got their gym memebership for a mth...gg to see 2 incredible Bulks when we go back liao....Benerd( wen sisters colleague) invited us over to his place for some pilates class...think Gary super interested but no one to go w him so he nvr go for the lesson tonite...So cold at nites now that im wearing gloves n socks to sleep, not forgettin my 2 tops (darn forgot to bring my thick winterwear n track pants)...ya winter gg to have fun liao...

happi foodie day

2007-11-03T23:56:00.000+08:00

Today was just one of those days when everyone were so segregated, all gg diff places. Anw was with Dom n we went down to have some Aijisen in town. Manz 1st time eatin it n in shanghai somemore...i had this noodle was like $3.2sing, think back in spore maybe $8?!? who knows...than shared this HUMOGOOSE ice-kacang...lots of beans n realli finely shaved ice...long time since i had it...than at nite had this jap set of curry chicken cutlet...think its gg to b the start of some realli gd food mth for me liao...leaving shanghai soon n lots of food to try try try...

Mid of 16th wk

2007-10-31T22:41:00.000+08:00

Today my company had Halloween celebration...saw the poster ytr thou it would not be anything big...but was shock when i went to work today...lights were off along the corridors and there were sweets placed along the way...during lunch there was this crazy costume party...the admin team were dressed as skeletons, clowns (totally no link lor) and other weird monster maskes...the canteen was jammin trance and there were lighted plastic pumpkin lanterns on each table...so cool...brought back 2 of the lanterns cause too nice liao...

There was a surprise visit frm Bernerd for dinner. He is the wen sisters colleague who jus got to shanghai frm Spore a wk back. 1 wk only n he despearte to talk to Sporeans le...lolz...anyway over dinner of pasta, giant meatballs, shanghai satay, garlic bread and chicken wings we had a gd chat. Good to have a different perceptive of a 29yr old and many good-to-know stuffies.

Sub 20 temperatures here to stay till winter and home awaits in 2mths...to all those with exams in 2 wks...jiayou jiayou jiayou...wooshhh!!! 1 more day of work for the wk and some chinese presentation on fri...arghhh...

Suzhou Amusement park

2007-10-28T21:59:00.001+08:00

Sat when to Suzhou 乐园 with 6 others from pudong n puxi. Were almost late for our train when we reached the rail way station but heng heng managed to get in in time. The ride from shanghai to suzhou was only half an hr, faster than the 1hr ++ bus ride we needed to get to sch. Need to tell u abt the dumb sys they got there. Had to buy the tix immediately when we reached cause the tix'in counter in shanghai said they sold out all the return tixs frm suzhou (wth!!!). The tix booth there all have diff opening timings, so u might be queuing half way thru than the booth will suddenly close cause of the closing time than u super sian 1/2 la. Gd think we all splited up and 包 as many lanes as we could. Managed to buy the same day 930pm train back when our amusement park only opened till 530pm. Haha...china super croweded la...

Than we chance upon this guy how said we could take a 面包车 to the place for 15yuan (less than 3 per person); so we followed him...than he brought us along n handed us to another lady who took us to the bus stop. In the end, aft all the confusion we learnt they were out of the 面包车 n jus told us to take the public bus 游3 instead (only cheap cheap 1 yuan). But we were pissed la...wasted our time telling us can ferry us there...almost called for cab but than were told cab there would be 80 yuan...errr...super exp la...so we waited and even bought the student entry tix frm them...dont know y when we were so for taking cab they insisted we take the bus...cheapest one in fact instead of the more comfortable but more exp 3yuan bus...after tat she told us her company dont want to spoil their reputation (when we dont even know wat company she frm), so thats y she nvr anyhow ask other 黑车 to come fetch us to the amusement park when she was out of their own 面包车. The whole incident we felt really piss that if she did not have the 面包车 she shld have told us la n not kept us in the dark abt it...but she somewat redeemed herself by gettin us the cheapest way there...

Once there bought KFC burgers n hurried down to the place ard 1pm le...thou no time to play the rides esp if got long Q. Near the entrance someone was selling the student tix for only 35yuan ( normal rate is supp to be 40yuan) !!! Dont know how they did it la but we alr bought the tixs earlier frm the 面包车 auntie liao...cause jingleroo nvr bring her matric card or fudan pass, she used panda's matric card to fake. Haha its like super funny cause she seriously dont look like panda at all in the pic..somehow she still managed to go thru thou the attendant at the entry pt was like super suspicious...haha...gd job la jingleroo!!! Jingleroo 1 - Suzhou 乐园 0...

Felt like in Disneyland or something when we entered cause lots of theme shophouses n also got the large "Hollywood" word style on the hill top except tat they write 苏州乐园 instead...entry was 40yuan than there were some rides that required addition payments. Played the flying spaceship (ok only la...the coming down like very controlled i feel...dont have the kick); it like the twin hammers that go 360 degress but much slower, than we played paint ball (2 teams played against each other but than u only can stay in ur own zone, 28 paint balls n only $6!!!); no bad at all using a AR15 again, after that we played the SPINNERooney (realli spin until 乱; than cause the legs hangin out ma...dont know wat to do w it, keep it straighten or limp...), than also got the vertical drop (less than 30 sec only n the thrill only came frm the initial shot upwards; totally bo hua) and the last was the roller coaster (shiok la!!!). When to a ghost house style that used sound to scare pple, but got some idiotic A.T's in there with us...cant keep their mouth shut than on their HP lights, make it not scary at all...freak them manz!!! Also took the 4D experience ( last dimension is touch so had my face shot with air, squirted by water n tickled by rubber tips...haha

Had steamboat nearby near the amusement park cause we had plenty of time to kill till our 930pm...all i can say was that there was really a LOT of mushroom...gd think Gary not ard cause he hated mushrooms...than we chatted la...got to know Junjie n Li Ting better frm the Puxi side...

Realli sorri abt the pics cause the connection at home realli shitty this day...so maybe the pics realli got to be put on hold for the moment...Beijing end of the yr pretty much confirmed with the guys liao...all families members all splitting up gg their own places liao...so ya 2 essays 1 presentation, 2 tests n 1 IA report later shld be home...

千岛湖

2007-10-25T22:50:00.001+08:00

Some pic taken aft lunch...so typical China

Outside the place gg to visit the largest cave in Asia

Outide the 红灯区

The long stretch of 红灯区 leading to the cave

One of many stagnates

The pic doesn't do justice to the view there

Korean yandao ( Jasonie tried to perm his hair) n me

More cave structures

Exit of the place...really huge..think took at least a gd 45min to cover the whole place

Entrance of the cave place...

Took this ultra cool rider down the hill...too bad it was like only 2mins long for $6...the turns are totally awesome!!!

The boat ride around the lake..totally relaxing plus the sights are jus brillant...everyday look at this type sure no need for specs one

Leakin water plus seats tat are not secured down to the boat...

Pic at the end of the ride...there was a water ball where u can go in n act like an idiot inside...running inside the ball sure lose balance one...entertainment for others plus u ownself pay...xiao i wont do it for sure...

Out of the window pic...miss the black seasame ice-cream...argh shld have bought it when we were still near Hengzhou

Wondeful fountain

1st autumn tree on the island...so cool!!!

Island life Love it!!!

Dragon island

This is tree snake, this is china snake...so is this a SNAKE?!?

View frm the cable car

Prep'in to run down frm the cable car ride...the cable dont stop one so when getting on u kena swept onto it...come down muz run faster to avoid gettin hit...

Yes we took pics at the top of the hill with jus over a dozen of islands of 千岛湖

Spotted the little boat frm above...the ripples upon the still water was mesmerizing...

Autumn lo...

Ostrich island...they even sell egg tarts made frm the ostrich egg

Ahhh...i got an idea

Attack of the killer monkey

Pampered monkey

More pics when i get frm jasonie...

Today my boss supp to be back frm France...apparently the pple went on strike so the "airport was in a mess" as quoted by my boss...than she will be takin her flight back tml evening...n seems like the whole household everyone kena one times jialat jialat sickness in shanghai liao...
Beneb is down with fever today...nvr go work
Gary down with the runs aft we went to eat 兰州拉面...he ordered his fav potatoe pasta n voila!!! LS yesterday...getting better today...
The wen sisters all got LS b4 also...much earlier when we jus came tat time...
Jianqing had flu n LS...
Im the king of coughs...GIP'07 record holder for most prolonged cough...but im ok now...

Biting of more than can chew...

2007-10-25T22:34:00.000+08:00

Went through the net and stumble upon this article. This puny fish nicknamed Great Swallower wolfed down an entire Snake Mackerel (4times its length!!!) and busted its guts in the process. Talk about over eating...

22nd Oct

2007-10-22T18:33:00.000+08:00

Been 1 wk of no boss, plus Chelsea also been rushing her paper for her Masters. That and Rachael doing her formulation at Gary's side means i have the whole lab to myself. No more been the last to us the weighing scale anymore. I use it when i want to use it. Formulations of the detergents been going really slowly. So far only managed to get 3 max conc. The rest of which i have been bringing home. Think got at least 3litres of my own liquid detergent liao.

Sat's trip to 千岛湖 was not bad. Lots of fun with the whole Lonyang group (our 1st mass outing!!!) and pics from Jason's dSLR. Uploading it once i get it. Think i have been seeing to many temples already; at 千岛湖 starting to feel sian frm all the temple visiting. Also, the cold weather really getting me sleepy this days, sleeping earlier and earlier, missing the good old sunny weather back home. Those who have not experienced the cold, well few days still ok, prolonged really gets one sleepy. Than going out also much put on so much clothes..really a hassle...not used the long johns yet...but autumn starting to get cold cold cold...winter have fun liao like tat...

Autumns here to stay...

2007-10-19T22:52:00.000+08:00

This past few days,the entire shanghai population seem to be in their coats already...Mornings are now really chilly with Gary feelin so cold he woke up at 5am this morning...Going out is getting more of a hassle, more clothes to put on, irritatingly dry weather, and cold winds than send chills down ur bones...Ya experiencing the cooler climate is good but having it for another 2 months knowing that winter is yet to come...manz really got to brace myself for that now...got my long johns for winter already...think the Beijing trip at the year end is gg to be a really COOL affair i guess...

Met up with the Puxi pple for a gathering...not bad at else now i know all their names mid way thru this GIP trip liao...Tml got to be down by 6am for our trip to 千岛湖...gg to be more pics soon...think as of now the plan would be to fly back on 26th Dec, packing up all the stuffies after the Beijing trip and all...Buddy Gary should be back earlier to settle his trip to USA...lucky sia...

Gary Zheng turned 23

2007-10-17T22:05:00.000+08:00

Yesterday Gary aged a year. We had a gathering w all the Fudan pple at our place. Cheese cake was moblised downstairs while Ben n Carmen prep'ed the curry rice n pasta. Think he knew alittle abt it but never did he expect even Su Li's household also will come down. Talk cock, shared pics of the places we went over the Golden Wk. Nice gathering yup. Tml meetin up w the Puxi pple, still done know all of them so hopefully will get to know them better before the Shanghai business event here that we all are gg to help out at...

The day i was Carmen's Brother

2007-10-15T19:28:00.000+08:00

Sulzer's Family Day was at some 东方绿丹 along the outskirts of Shanghai which is a 1/2hr ride from 人民广场. O ya old-school phones seem to be the best...while at the place on Sun, Beneb's Sony Ericsson got the reception from Suzhou...ya so my Nokia still roz...yea!!!
Start of the day, on the bus to our destination...Im Carmen's Brother, Beneb is Joyce's half "sister" (Ben is heavily XX gene influenced hence explaining his passion for shopping..loz)

Entrance of the place...vastnes all round jus like all the other places around China

Took a 10mins walk to get to the park in the place

Was a really breezy day...

Chefs of the day hard at work...1st time BBQ AT NOON!!! was so cool (no pun intended)!!!

Ever ready for pic whoring

Nano amts of food for giant pple...6 sticks of each for 10pax...wat more to say...plain stupid

Sausages of Trust...only decent food around there

Stoppin by the bridge that got us to the BBQ area...seems like the canal leads to the sea behind us...

Nvr thou tat kiddie palace spider web could hold all our weight...hahha...we are light

Balance the mass

4 man apes spotted

Thus began our SOC (standard obstacle course)

The low crawl across followed by the waist height beams ahead

Alway comfortable on the cargo nets

The perfect gentlemen n me...

A break on the cargo net n more pic takin yea!!!

Balance beams

The walk thru on some small wobbily logs...supp to have a gp shot but suddenly so many pple using the same obstacle as us...

Slope slope...

Some maze we played...super fun la...Beneb cheated!!!

Supp to be crappy pose...no one onz lor except for beneb n me

Under the beneb'nian angel of protection

Welcome to Oma welcome to something, combo 1 regular combo 2 upsize...darn forgetting all the FOC cheers already...

The fiery dragons of the GIP D.boaters

Out rowing in the lake

Pic after our 40min sessios...only $2 for the 40min

Lucky me...got 2 美女 escorts

How clear? Crystal clear

Evening sun, cool weather and some great view of the setting sun

The World is Not Enough

End of the day b4 boarding the bus back...eventful day indeed

Went to People's Sq to check out the Thousand Island tour and had dinner there...Subway was having the Steak n Cheese 6inch for only $3!!! so cheap so good...
People's Square Re-visited...

Interesting weather indicator

Longest study/outing day

2007-10-14T00:30:00.000+08:00

Fri had classes at Fudan till 830pm...no joke really tired after that...to help improve concentration in b/w lessons most of us were sleeping during the lesson in the afternoon about culture exchanges and differences b/w china n spore. Morning had the terrific prof who was actually a newscaster before turning to teaching. He gave us some poems to memorize to be recited 2wks earlier and boy was it nerve-racking when he told us we each had to recite it...Heng ah after Rongxin did the whole recital he felt it was too long n hard on us to do it...so we each did one 4line para...Best part i got the easy one...haha...

This morning had soccer again than went to 2 flea market style places to see see...bought a casual coat cause my long sleeve going to cui liao...than had my 1st Burger King here...now i know why Gary keep wanting to eat it...so shiok can!!! some short trips coming up next wk...gg "thousand lakes" n maybe to suzhou the wk aft...still hopin can get to go rafting this month before the weather changes for the worse...Sun got the Sulzer Family Day gatherin so got to rest now...exhausted from the long day...

Dress down Thurs...

2007-10-11T23:34:00.001+08:00

Today was the start of the long week without my boss in the lab liao...Marie ( Gary's boss now said that she can tell tat Linda is not around when she saw me in jeans n polo...haha...ya got to grab the opportunity to wear like tat cause dont think there will be many more gg to France for 2wks fun for her...Foods been realli bad at work this wk...wassup; chef still in holiday mood issit!!! Than the staff givin the food also another character one, ask her for more food, she say cannot...wth!!! than she proceeded to give more food to either ang mohs (wassup manz...own fellow china frenz also dont help) or the marketing dpt...to think we are lab based...more energy burnt lei so shld have more food...

Dinner this wk had too many eggs, Ben added like 8 eggs to our seaweed soup n egg cucumber dish, not to forget the day b4 got 5 eggs in the tomatoes egg dish...ya 6 person eating 13 eggs in 2 days...than Carmen w her killer 5 potatoes in the potatoes onions soup, plus 5 more potatoes in the sausage potatoes sweet n sour dish...yup need to have a egg treasurer n potatoes secretary to keep track of stock liao...make sure the quota per day not exceeded per day...lolz...

the cold weather really making u lethargic...thinking of sch tml makes me sleepy...hope the teacher dont call me to read some famous chinese poem (with passion)...nitez

Wk 15

2007-10-10T22:23:00.000+08:00

Omg...jus like that its week 13 of work already...more than half the attachment is over and 7wks to handing in that final report...think the short autumn is really here to stay...weather so cold these days; muz be the darn wind (makes u wanna eat more only)...tried running jus now...super shack la...donkey long since i ran plus the cold weather made my muscle movement constricted like running in cement like tat...

My boss not gg to be around for 2 whole wks which means i can where jeans to work...woohoo!!! seriously i dont see the reason y she doesn't let me anyway...the ladies in office are so casually dressed and so too the guys in the other departments...so its seriously a problem with her than...anyway the load of work for the work is rather simple; more my style...was asked to check the max limit i can go for Texapon N70 (ya its a surfactant)and Dehydol 2409 without affecting the transparency of heavy duty liquid detergent (HDLD) and light duty liquid detergent (LDLD)... so i get to vary the differences and adjust accordingly the compositions n my gut feel...so much better to tell me the aim and the result wanted, the in-betweens let me go conjure out myself, dont stifle me creativity ya (so bye bye Boss, a happy trip to u n many days of quiet working for me...yea!!!)

KK so now for my quote of the day especially for all those pucking blood over assignments and quizes in sch...

everything be okay in the end
if it's not okay,
it's not the end

Heroes is BACK!!! been really cliff hanging thus far...kudos to Tim Kring for those O-so-let-me-know-wats-next moments at the end of each espisode...Beneb quickly get espisode 4 on next tues!!!!

Round 2 内蒙古。。。

2007-10-08T22:12:00.000+08:00

Something wrong with blogspot or something cant upload my whole trip in one post..so this is part 2...any inconvenience is greatly regretted especially with the killer typhoon hitting the coast again...heavy rains much worse than Wiphie...took out 2 of our 3 big n gd umbrellas...u simply have no idea which way the rain is gg to hit u frm...so jus hope for the best keep close to the walls to block of the winds...felt like Counter Strike life...it got so bad that Gary actually had to wear his poncho n carry his umbrella...n still will get wet...anyway back to the topic of IM

Im kissing Zhao Jun (1 of the 四大美女）

Giant temple at our 2nd attraction visit of the day

我是猪

Capricon

Dinner at Lees...sleepy sleepy

Day 5
Yup so u know which side to sleep on on a coach if u like Beneb lying all over u

Genghis Khan's memorial is so big

Yeah this stature is awesome

Those are his army behind...how to lose if u got ur whole fortress lining up behind...he even brings his mobile place on wheels, camels, cows for food...amazing

Run for ur live...Genghis Khan is coming

男is made of 田n 力...no wonder we are pulling the cart

who head-shot me?!?

The tribe has spoken

Found the culprit who shot me

He got me!!!

Nice miniatures

Me Bouncer U NO ENTER!!!

Antiques (super old sch)

SAY NO!!! (its a mongolian way of sayin WASSUP!!)

Home away from home

NUS frenzs we met coincidentally at Inner Mong airport...the world is definitely small

The other 2 friendly Sporeans we met on the trip

And thats my Inner Mongolian trip in a nutshell...

我叫俄日敦达来。。。

2007-10-06T23:54:00.000+08:00

Was away in Inner Mongolia (IM) for 5days over the Golden week. IM was really cold with the day hovering around around 19 degrees and the nites dipping down to a Carmen'ny cold 9 degree. We were the groupie from Shanghai so most were not really used to the cold, 包'ing up like Ba Zhang (meat dumpling). Our 2hr plus domestic flight at 6pm to Bao Tou was rather eventful with actually good foodie aboard. Checked into our 3 Star Hotel and checked out the 小街 nearby. Was around 10pm by the time we got there so most of the shops were closed. But the remaining stalls still offered wallets, belts ( Gary Zheng's fetishes; he bought a totally of 4 wallets n 2 belts!!) n other winter wears. Than a moment of maddness hit us, saw a guy bought 1rmb cone Ice-cream and Ben, Carmen, Xiao Ying (she from another family but joined us; code name Eaglet) n me ate ice-cream in 9 degree weather...haha!!!

Day 2
库布其沙漠区 was the place we went. Had a camel ride to a puny zoo in the center of the desert. Well the camels were not the Huge ones but like Mac regular meals without the upsize. Ya we could not control the camel so my sole entertainment was pushing my camel along to nibble Ben who was in front of me; but not very successful. Than Ben's camel was also poo'ing as it walked (much like Gao Luck; nice n warm fresh from the oven).
At the entrance

Big slow sand vehicle we took into to camel land

Gp shot (a muz for all trips)

Lots of sand shots i deleted

On top of one of many dunes

Camel i wanted

Camel i got...booo!!!

Camel departure ctr

Me, camel hump n arces of sand

The camel convoy

C&C (camel n clarence)

4horn goat

the owl that refuses to look at the camera

puny zoo

Team GIP

Buggy ride was so cool!!!

Our mix n match sand covers to keep the sand out of us

Went to a temple in the afternoon for viewing. But nothing there really so pics were few

Bored

The brothers 3

Nice scenery

Ultraman n cyclop

Day 3
希拉穆仁草原 was the land of horsies for riding. The grass was fantastically LONG, ya like chopstick height; not vertical but horizontal; super sian 1/2 when our guide BuBu told us abt it.
On the road there...

Me horsie, small but power just like a chilli padi

View along the horse ride for 2hrs

View rocks but the ride was bum abusing especially when the horse cantered...ya think of Linkin Park's " I become so NUMB"; so true

Pit stops along the way for toilet break n arse massages...ouch

Wild lamb

Our 1st break

Horse pit stop

True blue sky

Carmen in progress

Gary being dressed

Joyce in shock at how the rest of us looked in traditional Mongo costumes

Mongolian huts

Inner Mongolian pple with style manz

Gongfu fighT-O

salty milk

The milk taste soooo goodddd....like boiled pig trotters with bristles still on it..YUCKS!!!

Curry puff clouds

Crispy fries clouds

Yea..horse behinds..bringing sexy back

Grass(land) power

See far far away

Dont play play

Skies the limit

Old school huts

Modern huts

Groupie shots again

That is serious galloping

Mongolian wrestling...got to pin the guy down on their ass or back

Ardent supporters for their respective family members who took part

Picking up a note from a horse back...super zai

Im hungry for subway clouds

Biggest mongolian sword

One of the towns we passed by...Islam rather prevalent here

Place where we had 5tables shared 2 roasted lambs at 1980rmb!!!

Pinkies Unite

Cow pillows are nice to hug

2 roasted lambs...they even had a mongolian song session to mark the occasion n strong alcohol w lamb sliced from the lamb face ate by a representative of our tour gp b4 the official cutting of the meat

Food galore...everyday eat(int buffet breakfast), sleep(on bus to attraction), eat (9 course lunch), sleep on way back to hotel

I really enjoyed my lamb...ate more than my share...a happy n 5kg heavier Clarence in Inner Mongolian...hahah

This is how our Sporean table is when we finish our meal

China pple when they finish their meal; super waste food lor

Day4
1st place of visit for the day; house of a government officer

Wonder wats in a canon...

Caps with diff color depict diff ranks

Relaxing on a living room area in the past

Mahjong was a pass time in the past

Dont mess w Justice Han

Giant bells

Found an Eagle statue for Eaglet to pose with

Pic in the rain

This is seriously BURNING Incense literally

Place of stay of one of the 4 great beauties OF CHINA...

Main entrance

HuMOgoose Knife

Golden Week

2007-09-30T21:49:00.000+08:00

Finally after 11wks the hols have started...its going to be our longest break to-date. With my boss on in office on both Wednesday n Thursday, Chelsea can dont come to work on Thurs, plus 2-IC Rachael at Gary Zhen's side doing Shampoo formulation, I was king at my lab...finished my formulations n all the tests than started surfing the net...nvr read CNN so meticulously in donkey long...so Gary was sad-case cause he got no internet at work + he had all his info on his com wiped out after his com kena some prob...i also scared liao, went to copy all my documents over to my D drive.

Fri was boring sch again.

Sat had sports day in the morning. Turn out was bad cause some of them had to work on Sat n Sun so that they can have the whole wk off. So had 2 vs 2 soccer; Rui meng n I against Jianyou n Rong xin at the tennis court. Running up n down for defense n quick counters really shacks u out. U muz be thinking where is Gary; well he woke up late, had breakfast than came down by tat time we started to play captains ball with the gals already. Was really fun i muz say. So it was Rong xin, me (the twin towers..haha..total advantage), Jin jin aka screen-saver gal, Ying sin (shoppin queen), Yi Lin (暴力 gal dont be tricked by her demure exterial) against Rui ming (Longyang IC = Sai kang warrior),Gary Zhen (need i say more; my roomie), Jianyou (6 pecs!!!), Carmen (ultimate cold joke champion; go check out Ben's blog for Quote of the Day specials). Ya talking about that, Ben Teo Junrong is back in Spore (shld be back in Shanghai today; he went back on Fri dont know why also).

Anw aft the game, our household when to 七浦 to relief our sickness by seeing the doc (retail therapy does wonders). Super empty on Sat la, we thou it was because everyone went back to their home town but the shop keeper said it was more like pple workin over the wkend to have the whole of next wk off...So everyone spend min $40 at least; Gary bottomed the chart with $40 odd than the champion was Yanwen (a whopping $160!!! but what to do, their monthly pay is like 1k more than Gary n I every month)...

So peeps back in Spore got to go back sch again tml (manz...hols gone in an instants...hope u guys are recharged for the next on-slaught..jiayou ba!!!)...going to Inner Mongolia from 1st Oct till 5 Oct...so no updates till next sat i guess earliest...

The most....

2007-09-26T18:40:00.000+08:00

1)STANDING in office was 7hrs (ya n i work from 830am-5pm)
2)BITTER food was the darn bitter gourd in office (even the china pple there take liao dont eat); but im different breed, just wack it all up- YUKS!!!
3)KAN CHIONG person is my 2-IC Racheal (lunch finish muz go up str away; wat the heck!!!)
4)鸟ing i got is 4 in one day (avg is 1 a day)
5)MEMORABLE trip was 黄山
6)BONDING SEESION was 3days in a row (starting with the Mid-Autumn Festival till last night)
7)SUAY day is tied (top up 50yuan to some wrong card that has not been activated yet and buy top up card and lost it immediately{happened just yesterday}; GOOD JOB Clarence)
8)PUZZLING thing is K.F.C been still unattached...加油，加油，加油!!!
9)SHOCKING news is Mr Personality is attached (well done Bro!!!)
10)LOVED song is Destiny's Child Emotion.
11)IRRITATING cough is still domain in me (when i go run; so now i dont exercise lor)

MAF success!!!!

2007-09-24T20:53:00.000+08:00

Some pictures from the museum visit last Fri

Entrance

Team GIP

4 storeys of history

Which traffic light color are u?

Ties that bond

Sunday had our Mid-Autumn Festival celebration at our place. Preparations for the food begin since morning with head chef Ben n Carmen (chair woman of the event) getting the fried rice, fried beehoon and green bean soup ingredients cutted and all. All the talk about how unhygienic the outside stalls were tossed out when we saw the process going on in our own kitchen. Messy la, no place to put the food so had to make use of the casing of our bedsheets as containers n even good old plastic bags. 4pm came n all the others started to pour in. We had taiwan sausage fried rice, pineapple fried rice, crispy SPAM fried rice and Seafood fried rice from Ben, fried beehoon n green bean soup from Carmen, ham sandwich and salad from Swee Meng's household, fried wanton n popiah from Shopping Queen's house, drinks from Bing Xian's family.

So we started eating since about 5pm (felt like my CNY for the preparations and the arrival of visitors). Than there was a movie screening of Pricelss (french movie; not a bad movie indeed, but cant remember the french title thought). After that had some drinking game for bonding. It came togather really well, getting to know all the scandals being stirred around and hydrating after our meals. Got of laughter, fun n bonding are the memories we had. Now more plans are in the process for gathering in other housholds. The day ended with some mooncake (although we were all so full from the over estimate of fried rice and a LUCKY DRAW proudly sponsored by Givaudan. Haha, Carmen was picking the 3 lucky numbers to win the most attractive prizes. With 3rd price going to Cactus Gal; a bottle of color bleach all the way from USA. 2nd prize went to Bing Xian (*ahems* scandaled; manz was it fate?!?) who had to feed the 3rd place winning mooncake n vice versa. !st prize went to none other than *drum rolls*
Jiang Han; 2 face towels which she so willingly try to give to Rong Xin as the lucky draw ended.

Fried rice paradise...

Showcasing culinary delights from the other households

Every ready to hog the lime light...haha

kk try to find the only Sporean in the picture...

GIP's been a blast so far in terms of time flying past as well the hours of fun we had. Half the attachment is over already and next week we are off to Inner Mongolia!!! Stay tune for updates

Hola!!! Amazing Race Shanghai

2007-09-23T11:15:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was a super Amazing day...was in sch for 汉字与汉语 class in th morning. The lesson was on the American n Asian style of teaching. So we were divided into our liitle groups for reading and discussions with Ben, Gary Zheng(dont call him Hanbin anymore), Swee Meng (Rui Ming is Swee Meng, Swee Meng is Rui Ming; apparently Jiangqing could not tell the difference until after a few wks...hahah) and me. So there had to be a leader in the group to represent the gp and considering Ben n I were part of the elite lousy speaking gang we had to fight it out for 五岭盟主得位置. Having trained into Scissor, Paper, Stone in Facebook; i crushed Ben with my Stone in it (arrrr taaaaa!!!!). So Ben was the leader this wk...Yea!!!

Here are some positions of Various Sleeping Gurus...Watch, learn n discover guys...

Kk so the lesson was very interesting, look at JianYou's super positioning (he was next to the teacher somemore (最危险的地方是最安全的地方)

Xiao Ying in "hanging moment" and screen-saver mode gal, JinJin (true master of the art)

JJ with her 1st stance (neck rigid with look of focus on her face...

JJ 2nd stance (lying down looking attentively at textbook); got 2 more but no chance to catch it...dont worry i will jiayou de!!!

Afternoon went over to join the Spore freshies in Fudan for amazing race bonding session. The 5 of us, Ben, Gary, JinJin, Rong Xin n I were divided into different groups to mingle with the others. So this is my group below...

The people were great, GL Joyce n I were Sporean while the rest were M'sian. Our clue cards were horribly difficult and add to the fact most of us did not have lunch worsened the prob. In the end after using some lifeline (some hints of Who Wants to be a Millionaire in it), we found our way to 豫园@ 陈皇庙. It was raining the whole time and we were misled into thinking the place we were looking for was a
dessert shop. After 1.5hr of frustration (lots expensive food buying to quench our hunger n anger, as well as a deeper understanding of 陈皇庙), finally found out that we were supp to find a 茶壶.

Evidence we were there (on arrival shot still feeling happy)

Angry shot after the programmer TUA us on what we had to find...Raarrrrr

After that lots of walking about (i mean my group spent the least on traveling cost; only cheap cheap 11yuan). We thought we last liao when others were onto their 2nd or 3rd location while we just completed our 1st. Next was the walk through some small alleys to take the boat over to Pudong side. Visited the viewing tower to find a parrot amongst the pictures in the gallery.

One of the alleys we passed selling cheap electric appliances...

The boat ride across the 黄浦...was only 0.5yuan so cheap and i was the 1st one in my house to take it...hhaa... also all the motorbikes n passengers board the same area

More pics of the boat...

Than of we went to 外滩 to find some weird ligthhouse look alike with boat host on top. The programmer still want us to find the name of the building but it was totally fenced up under-construction (thats where my GL called the programmers to scold them...haha..fierce manz...kind-of reminds me of a Cat in our Omaha gp...lolz...

Cloud cover so thick it covers the whole viewing tower thats 88 storey tall...

Yea me at base of the tower...

Ya view from the bottom outside the building...so foggy till u cant see the top...

The gallery of pictures where we were suppose to find a white parrot (piece of cake!!!)

Little bit of History along the stretch of road to 外滩...1st lamp post in Shanghai (n its now along the busy st of Shanghai...how cool!!!)

This is the end of the 外滩 area...freaking loonggggggggg walk to get here just to take this pic in awful rainy weather...

Walked to People's Sq after that (OMG it felt like forever before we arrived) only to discover to our horror that the swing we looking for in the park (we was realli far away)...really felt like eating a buffet on the spot at that time...After that went back to Fudan, was 3rd overall with Ben's gp the 1st (they won by default after JinJin's group had to much time penalties), RongXin's group was 4th (they went to eat Burger King...haha), than Hanbin's group was last (he put the group airplane and went home from People's Sq there cause it was nearer to Longyang...Overall i got to know Shanghai slightly better, came to know a few more frenzs, burnt all my breakfast n lunch meals from the walking but enjoyed myself thoroughly...woohooo!!!

Final leg of the race...

Immersion with Fudan Sporean a success!!!

When the cold wind blows...

2007-09-20T23:12:00.000+08:00

Reports are just in that the typhoon is now toned down to a tropical storm. Nothing much to report just that a day without boss is like a total liberation!!! Anyway half the company seem to have gone to HK for the meeting. So lunch was plentiful. Hanbin is seriously well fed by his 2-ic Marie. Apparently French are very particular about their food so they dont eat much here, especially since the food here is SOOO NICE. Ya HB may look more Chinese but im having more of a Chinese appetite...YEA!!! Longyang Mid-Autumn Festival (MAF) is on this Sun at our place. Cant wait for the party than...

O ya Happy Bday JY...n congratulations...so even thou im far far away in China im still rather up-to-date coompared to Fang...haha...anyway u guys enjoy the KTV tml...wait up for me when i get back than we go happenin ya...

Gusty day...

2007-09-19T19:41:00.000+08:00

Today Typhoon Wipha was blowing across Lonyang i guess. The wind was warm like humid warm; not like the type of cooling breezes when u stroll along the beach. Good thing it was not raining, just that on the way back the rain plus wind combo threaten to wreck my Spore umbrella and turn it inside out (think the Shanghai bought umbrella sure cui want if i brought it)...ya so those scenes of strong gale winds inverting umbrellas are really possible...next time shld bring my poncho le...covered frm head to toe, lighter n take up less space in my bag...
Today had my 1st ever 1/2 hr LUNCH BREAK...2nd time sitting at another table, away from the wretched Racheal (dont know wassup with her wanting to go back office so quickly evertime after lunch). So there HB n I were taking our time enjoying our lunch (savouring the 2 pork chop we had; yea shiok i say!!!), and we thou they would wait for us to finish and give us the why-u-eat-so-slow pressure since they finished their meals in 15mins. But to our shock (more like pleasure), they left after eating. And HB was still saying something abt eating slowly every time so they have this mindset that he's a slow eater and can dump all the blame on him as to why we take longer lunches (but actually lunch times are suppose to be half an hr anyway;its our entitlement not a privilege)...ya hope more sitting away from Racheal days ahead...

Sulzer would be having their family day on the 14th next mth and the gals are trying to make a whole house affair. Tog with the help of their colleague, Lee Shin, all of us can go (perm staff can bring up to 4 next-of-kin family memebers, Carmen and Yanwen each can bring one related kin. Ya so it was decided that Hanbin and Jianqing both had the MOST Chi-na look so they will be Lee Shin's younger brothers (so flawed actually since China has a 1 child policy or was it stop at 1 son policy...hahah well we gg to just fake it anyway!!!). Since they both had to have surname Lee, Hanbin wanted to be called Kuan Yew (ya as in MM LEE) and Jianqing wanted to be Ming Shun (Christopher Lee...pengz...), haha so we qte a laugh last nite....Than Ben was too dark so he acting as Yanwen's 表哥，while im going to be Carmen's brother!!! Going to be the most 'chu stun' if we pull this on next month...will keep u al updated...

Typhoon Wipha's coming to town...

2007-09-19T11:13:00.000+08:00

Just heard over CNN that Shanghai is bracing itself for its worst typhoon in years. No wonder its pouring like crazy the whole of today...
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070918/china_typhoon_070918/20070918?hub=World

Because of that, Linda (if u still dont know, she's my boss) might have her meeting in HK on Thursday postponed till further noticed. Thats not exactly nice considering i feel like wearing jeans when she leaves. U know how ironic it is when the Givaudan rule book states that u cant wear jeans but 3 quarters are fine...Black shoes for the guys but ladies are wearing slippers...and close to the whole office staff in the building are wearing jeans while Linda tells me "its an office so u cant wear jeans"...WTH i say!!!

That aside, was talking to Chuzhen last nite and she told me how quiet the Omaha group is this days...ya i can imagine considering she is MISSING the good old naggy days when HB was around to counter her every words...nostalgic hur...haiz...see la 不懂珍惜到你失去位置...haha...

Than those who are going for GIP next sem if u all got any problems can go check out Ben's blog...he did up a FAQ for GIP pple...Been watching some movies of late, Norbit was hilariously funny (Eddie Murphy is multi-characterly talented) , Die Hard 4 was explosive with Maggie Q killing some serious arse, than there was HB's obsession with collecting awarding winning movies; this movie called Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter kinda reminded me of the Jap film from Arvind by Akira Kurosawa...simplistic but with lots of hidden morales in it...Than finally theres been lots of fireworks going off not far from our place...will videotape it down the next time i see it...

PBP

2007-09-17T21:03:00.000+08:00

This morning was having my breakfast as usual. U know the type of Monday blues (nua and dont feel like working kind-of feeling). Was carrying my peanut butter back to the room when the top of the bottle just dislodged from the bottom n smashed my freshly opened peanut butter to the floor and waking slrrpin beauty Hanbin (haha good wakey wakey call i guess). Good thing the bottle was thick; like slightly tampered so withstood a good deal of the impact. So had to scoop out my peanut butter and put it in a tubberware w no lid (good thing Carmen came back with some fruit cake from Ganso last nite after going over to her cousin's place) so i dumped the whole thingy into my zip loc after tat (had to go office to permanently borrow some aluminium foil to wrap it up in the evening). Was examining my bottle just now and noticed how my 7.90 rmb peanut butter bottle was totally unevenly made, the bottom was thicker while the top was just plain unevenly distributed. No wonder so cui (ya pay peanuts, get monkeys!!!).

On a lighter note, since yesterday had started having my triple decker sandwich dinner. Stirred-fried some minced meat with cabbage, bean sprouts and tau kee (over estimated and bought too much, suppose to be for my noodle meal over the next few days). Than had my picnic ham, pan fried bread ( ya we are lacking a toaster here!!!) plus a 喜蛋 and Voila! a dinner is done. Dont know wassup with the others thinking eating bread is bad thou?!? O well im loving it, n tats all there is to it... Going to try cooking steak or chicken cutlet w microwave nuked potato the week after.

Kk enough of this update...got to get back to my report that Linda wants again...25% of the week completed, woosshhh!!!

Sat and Sunday...

2007-09-16T20:23:00.000+08:00

Yup so ytr was spend in Fudan reading a passage on chinese fast food in comparison to Western fast food. So we had to read out loud the text (super OMG lor!!!); so long since i had to read a chinese passage. So the teacher broke us down into smaller gps n i was with ben, hanbin (gary shld be his name from now on), su li and rei na. So the most cui one was chinese rep lor ( poor me). Good thing was that i ended learning lots of new words and 成语, and voicing up about what was the flaw in the chinese cuisine system. If this continues everyweek ...yea u guys back home get ready for a leveled up Jianguang!!!

Sunday had soccer with the Lonyang guys at the tennis court. Had this chinese family coming in half way thru thou and shouting that IT WAS A TENNIS COURT in english (think she very educated like that...wth la!!!). Her rudeness was really applauding but did not want to lower ourselves to her level to argue back so we just walked out (we were going to give up the court anyway if we saw her coming in). But after 1hr plus guess the sun was too much for the kids so we managed to play again. Super shiok!!! long time since we played ball; think its going to become a weekly activity now...got to train up before we play the NUS exchange students n Fudan students.

Work again tml...More detergency test, total activity, n mixing of new detergent formulas ahead...

Frm Fudan to Le Chateau...

2007-09-15T19:07:00.000+08:00

Fri made our way to school by our usual 50min bus ride (so 50mins of power nap lor) while the shopping queen's group tried a new route to school. Caused it was a working day coupled with a downpour they ended up being really late for lesson. Anyway when they arrived at 940am (sch suppose to start at 9am), the teacher was already there. He gave me the type of impression Prof Kwak gives me with his casual dress sense. So the lesson started went on abt 佛家 (Buddhism)，道家(basically to just bo chap the problem u are facing)and the most elaborated upon one was 儒家 (confucius teachings); how being 证直 required one to 子为父隐，父为子隐. Than the discussion was had us debating about the Sporean system employed and the Micheal Fay incident.

Afternoon was slightly more into screen-saver mode for most after lunch from malan shop outside the campus and the boring lesson. What i learnt thou was that Shanghai was mostly sea in the past until after Qin Shi Huang era and beyond did Shanghai was mostly reclaimed naturally (to think Spore actually had to do manual land-rclaimation). Also the road names in Shanghai were placed not only in accordance to what was around the area (eg 金安寺 had a temple near by) but also in relation to the provinces in China.

Happy that school has ended (woohoo!!!)

Ya we study in this 30 storey building on the 24th floor...NTU where got so high one

After that we made a 3.5hr journey from our sch to Le Chateau for the Singapore Consulate General's Dinner session. Killer jam plus a little lost direction and hungryness (dinner only started at 730pm) left many of us feeling kind of skeptical if the whole event was worth it.

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Horlanding along the way to the Le Chateau ( was another 0.5hr walk to the place after 3hr bus ride)

The place proper...

Tiger, Reef or Heineken for a Hall 8 cum GIP buddy Jason.

姐妹们 Gal power!!!

The Sporean food really made me 感动 sia, i mean coming to 2 mths since i had curry mutton or chicken, chay kwa tiao, 细的 beehoon, braised pig trotters, killer nasi lemak with chilli (here the mala is mostly chili oil only), 九层糕，豆花, cheese cake n moose cake plus sweet potatoe soup. Thats not including the sausags, curry veg, minced pork, soon kway n beer available. Could barely walk at the end of the event. Never even eat breakfast this morning!!!

The C.G
So we came to learn that the Consul General has an event coming up in 2wks with businessmen in Shanghai and it would like to have our help in showing them around. Good time to network with maybe your future employers (as quoted from the C.G). Cant wait to go help out.

NTU GIP HOOYAA!!!

Im sporean!!!

2007-09-12T21:00:00.000+08:00

Over lunch today, Chelsea commented that i look so typically Singaporean...haha...n to think pple back home say i look Viet or Thai cause of my jaw bone...Ernie is losing weight in Sweden with good clean eating n gym'ing (yea he bought a gym membership). Me? With all the walking and working, i cant gain weight too even with the extra oily n salty food...

Autumn is here and the weather these days are really cooling. The sun in the morning thou is still as glaring. Cant wait for winter!!! I wanna see snow in HaErbin.

Boring boring

2007-09-11T18:43:00.000+08:00

Broke a 1l volumetric flask at work today. Guess Chelsea's accidental bump from HB's boss causing her to break 2 X 200ml volumetric flask was contagious. So casualty rate to date is 1 buretter (its make to order; exp exp exp!!!), vacuum pump and the latest addition a 1l volumetric flask. Hopefully it remains at that till year end. Nothing else to update.

its corny day...

2007-09-10T22:48:00.000+08:00

Today Corny Carmen jus aged by a yr...welcome to the 21 n above club housemate!!!
The one that brings the cold jokes (especially gd on hot days) still dont know we plan to celebrate for her somemore....got her a cake n all the way frm the happi bday singing till the cake cuttin, she amazed us by keepin quiet (still thou she will say something corny again; muz be nvr go top up on the addictive 20cent corn ice-cream so low on 冷笑话)...
Corny Carmen

Our Kitchen lightings are so cool!!! Going to turn it into a twister floor when the Lonyang contingent comes over for mooncake festival gatherin!!!

The

Presenting the 1st china celebrated bday cake (looks better than it taste; too much cream)

Tml Ben and Yanwen gg to pay the money for the Inner Mongolia trip...a cool 3.3k yuan...best part is their yuan biggest note is 100yuan so each person is a hamburger thick 33 notes...ya n those notes u see below are real money!!! Nvr held so much money b4...haha...cash is king!!!

Blogging posts are getting fewer and lesser by the wk...guess things are not as interesting anymore (seen the lot)...will try to update it frequently still thou...jus watched Tears of the Sun at home with surround sound (O so cool; u can actually heard the crickets in the backdrop!!!)... Yinyu is in shanghai liao for exchange...that makes another long time no see frenz im gg to meet up soon here...n the clothes takin forever to dry now with the cooler weather...how ironic that we on the air-con so that the radiator can bake dry our clothes...

Wkend

2007-09-09T21:25:00.000+08:00

Shiok tofu from the restuarant at Shanghai Railway station...

The KILLER duck we came to eat, really worth every yuan we paid ($28sing for the whole duck + $2 for boiling the bones with soap)

This is the turkey wing i was talkin about...so big!!! Going to eat it one of the days after school...yea!!!

Picture Emery took of a abandoned building area used as a dump (total culture shock for him i guess)

Dino guys at 七浦...guest starring Emery from Singapore on a 2day rugby 7s tournament

Sch at Fudan

2007-09-08T23:56:00.000+08:00

Well was at sch on Fri and Sat...Really nice place with our study room in a giant twin tower building with a nice lazy patch of grass perfect for snoozing. People here were really friendly, managed to go visit the grads rm which were 4 twin sharing rooms w a living room. They dont seem to have a habit of removing their shoes before entering and the rooms lacked a fan. Other than that think the housing is decent overall.

Lessons were other wisely interactive style and still hoping they can shift all our classes to fri so that we can have one time shiong day frm 9am-9pm...look forward going to have more general knowledge lessons like why car plates have the 沪 before the numbers in shanghai ( last time shanghai was a fishing village and one of the instruments they use for bringing the fish up the boat was using a 沪 so slowly it became part of a symbolic thingy of shanghai; n hey presto 沪 was found!!!)

Lunch was terribly expensive. The canteen only sold 菜饭. But there were many lanes so u just find the lane with the types of dishes u want lor. Problem was that the queues were atrociously long,and the veg dishes if they even got a sprinkle of meat on it, would be considered a mixed and cost 2.8rmb onwards. In the end, by mistake (thou my veg was purely veg) ordered 1 pork cutlet, 1 veg mixed w meat n toufu plus 两量饭 for 9.60yuan!!! Super exp considered it was a sch n my normal meals dont even hit 8yuan. Next time going out of sch to eat lo.

Today after sch when to 五角场 to makan n shop. Ate at this franchise pasta shop my houshold ate the other time. Pasta only $1.8 and really nice. But i was really hungry recently so ordered another garlic chicken hotplate ($2.4 only OMG!!!) Super full and satisfied aft that. Walking ard saw this BBQ turkey wing; show u the pic tml. It was so HUGE; think abt the size of the spring chicken...manz if only they had the drumstick and not the wings!!!

Next week having the Spore Consulate gathering with the other Univs than aft that potluck for the 3Lonyang house holds (celebrations for mooncake festival), jap buffet orged by junjie for GIP NTU, friendly games b/w Fudan students and us!!! Inner mongolia during the Golden Wk for 5days, more short trips to outskirts of Shanghai...Wks are just flying by now....Going to be home real soon...shioko!!!

Pics of Huangshan

2007-09-05T22:47:00.000+08:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51334&l=0c4f5&id=713885611
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51337&l=e5037&id=713885611
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51341&l=ca8c4&id=713885611
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51343&l=60756&id=713885611
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51344&l=08d4e&id=713885611

Can copy the links to view all my pics...but think its rather small..here are some of the nicer ones...only trip so far where got more scenery pics than gp shots...

Along the way

Jus before boarding the cable car up (climbing takes 4hrs, cable car just 10mins)

Cable car'ling; the 1st pic is with our tour guide; super nice guy

CLIMBING to our motel!!! That itself was qte shack...

Sunset was beautiful but i was too sick to go see it (but than again sun rise was just as mesmerising...

Ya the 1st up the summit but too foggy to see the sun rise at the peak...

GIP conquerers of 天都峰

Bad hair day? Jus laugh it off...

The long road to the top but it was all worth it!!!

Packers w extra leg for aid...

Wet weather up there, foggy plus slight drizzle (80plus days a yr its sunny on 黄山）

Guy i respect...not easy manz...walking up normally is already bad enough...

Snake that gave me my venom volka!!! Drink already no coughs for the rest of the day...

非崔古

KK now u have seen the 天 at 黄山顶 and the 地 at 非崔古

Day 2 of Huangshan

2007-09-04T19:21:00.000+08:00

Aft admiring the Nat Geo scenery for all too long ( supp to be back at the hotel@7am) but at 6.45am we were just leaving the top), we hurried down tog w a german couple (the guy was like 2.04m) n 2 yr3 undergrads frm China Univ n their parent+aunt. Reaching the hotel, we saw the rest of the tour gp already ready for the mornin trek.

Side tracking a little, the hotel we stayed on the 1st nite was located between 2 mountains so its covered frm the crazy winds. The lobby was the highest floor n u had to go down to reach ur room. The 5 of us took the cheapest rm which fitted 6 but we paid for the person space. Cramped was the word to use for the rm but cosy. No need for air-con cause its frezzing, n the sheets r wet cause of the high humidity n cold winds. Also u only can shower b/w 7pm-830pm with hot water (unless u champion la than u can shower in the O-so cold water.

So we began our journey n were warned that it was gg to b a 4hr trek(n tats aft we jus returned frm our scaling 天都峰 1810m...)...The journey was supp to begin at 5plus but because of weather problems it was shifted to 7am. Even thou it was still early, the place was alr flooded with pple on Sat. So lots of time was spent Q'in to walk frm place to place, add to it a killer fog descending amt our mist n we were unable to see much. The tour guide brought us to 光明顶，n say 不到光明顶，没看黄山景. Pity the fog if not we would have seen really power view!!! So we were heng tat we managed to even see any Nat Geo scenery at 天都峰.

Than when other attractions...but basically when u come to Huang shan is to see rocks!!! Ya really dumb but the rocks are really nice...n the water crystal clear like maldives like tat...than visited this tea appreciation shop; learnt abt diff teas n how u shld take 3sips to finish ur tea cause 一口，两口是吕 but 三口是品. Ya not many pple know right...
Also visited this snake oilment shop. Tried snake poison of a viper in 90% plus alcohol. Shiok n think it cured my cough for the day. No side effects of fever even. Than tried to other alcohol w snake in the bottle also. One tasted like yomeishu than the other jus tasted bad...haha

Than last day was basically boring. Nice pics would b up soon...

3D2N in 黄山

2007-09-03T20:42:00.000+08:00

Left for 黄山 on fri aft my torrid time doing my report. Transport by coach was a good 5hrs. Plenty of time to catch up on much sleep debt from one nite of report. Along the way the sights were awesome. Mountains n green pasture, streams, rivers, associates of half built buildings, abandoned factories n more. Kind of having time rush pass like that. Managed some pics before i felt into slumber.
Pit stops

Country side pics

Anyway the whole trip was totally awesome!!! Tired at the end of the climb but it was all worth it...we supp to wake up at 4am to catch the sun rise (needed a 1hr climb up to the peak) but in the end due to some mis-communication the tour guide forgot to wake us up...So at 5.15am (the rest set off at 430am for the summit), we rushed over down steep steps, dark skies, braved cold winds n knowing that sun rise time was$ 5.45am...Initial pace was fast n furious, n i was still sick w a fever the day before...the thin air did not help my cough at all... but in the end with phlegm choked windpipes, wind stung lips, half empty bottle of water,n misty clouds all ard arrived at the peak.

Problem was that most of them alr started their descend and they did not catch the sun rise cause of the fog...was forecasted that it was gg to b cloudy that day anyway... but still we waited; takin pics as one by one all 5 of us made it to the top ...the journey up was amazing with breathin takin views (the sun rising hidden behind a thick cloak of clouds being one of them). So i thou i was missin the sunrise but ben said there was 3 sun rises...so as we climbed, kept think we reached the peak but was presented w more flights of steps (totally NDU feelin la; 50 push-ups than can recover than u do until 49, the sergeant ask u start frm -5; super psychological battle). When Carmen reached the top, we were the only gp left, than we were done taking victory pics of our conquest( all of us did it in under an hr), the winds started n we started to see more n more. Show u the pictures the next time....

Im Screwed!!!1

2007-08-30T23:55:00.000+08:00

In 4mins its gg to b tml and i still haven completed the bombshell of a fabric softener report that Linda told me to conveniently finish by tml for her. Ya she told me at 4.40pm jus b4 work ended. Wa thx ah!!! Still have to wake up at 4 plus to get ready for the Huangshan trip on fri...Clarence is are in for some fun liao...Woosshh...Back to my report 10pages and counting...loads of sleepin to b caught up on when on the journey tml...arghhhhh

Update of the wk...

2007-08-29T22:42:00.000+08:00

Today was the 1st rainy workin day as we went to work...actually had to use my umbrella to get to the company shuttle...Also heard about on the news (yes the chinese news someone drowned in the swimming pool but more imptly that swimming pool rates here are 30rmb/hr...Definitely swimmin is gg to b no no here than...During lunch today, HanBin had the last 馄饨 meal. Let me clarify cause when u take rice u get 4 dishes (1meat, 1 mixed n 2 veg) but when u take specials like fried rice n 馄饨 than u get only 1 other meat n veg. Ya well the rice monster HB was defeated by the veg 馄饨...it was realli bad i tried 1 frm HB...Haha n i was still thinkin of takin it somemore...but than again they are realli huge n got like 15, HB only made it to number 10 than he KO'ed...To think he can eat a mountain of rice...haiz...

Had dinner with the last gp frm Longyang household...Met Swee Meng, RongXin, Jing Jing, Xiao Yin n JiaHan for some zi char tat they frequent. Food was not bad, 10 of us had 6 dishes, 3 dian xins n a soup for about $5. They are a friendly bunch but nvr got a chance to chat w them till today. Compared our shoppin (we got shoppin king aka ben so we win), household bills (we ON air-con when we get back so we win again!!!), than they came over to our place to view the house; they comented tat our owner got more arty-farty style while their is more boring (will confirm when i go c it). So Sept the planned 33 student GIP gatherin (yes we know its a realli small gp) is off, apparently cause the Spore something invited NTU, NUS n SMU students in Shanghai over to somewhere for a BBQ...totally awesome...cant hardly wait... however a 3 household potluck is in the plan aftall we stay like 5mins frm each other...well once sch starts next wk, guess we r gg to haf more fun today...

Thx RX for the live EPL matches site...haha sats wont b the same again!!! Last work day of the wk tml n Huangshan on fri...Gd luck to all those plannin for GIP interview tml...stay true n all the best...defintely gg to b NO REGRETS if u come here!!!

Wat went wrong...

2007-08-27T18:10:00.000+08:00

Kk sunday was supp to b a realli borin day. Nua'in at home aft a fuly packed Wuxi trip on Sat but the toilet had to choke aft i did some big *ahem* in it. JianQing also wanted to do some big business but the toilet was partially choked such tat when u flush it w water, the water level rises n takes a gd 5mins b4 the water subsides. Needless to say toilet paper n all does not go down DA hole.

The condo plumber was called in; had to call the water supplier number tat we were usually take, he gave us another number which was actually the electrician's number n aft tat he finally got us the rite number!!! Since it was under the condo contract, we got the cheap fix at 20rmb. Electric related problems would haf been free.

Anyway, he figured that our home had a small valve coupled w a small capacity of water resulting in the frequent chokes of our toilet. So i asked him how to remedy the situation n he said u either cut up the crap or stand by a pail of water for forcin the water down!!! Haha the weird welcome to china feelin again.

Also a new inter came to replace Tony today. Her name is Chelsea n will b here for 2mths. So here im now promoted to 3rd most lao jiao in the lab...haha...wat a cheap thrill...Pics of Wuxi in a bit...

无锡 ah...

2007-08-26T22:28:00.000+08:00

Went for a 1 day trip to wuxi over the wkend. Was a throughly enjoyable experience i muz say. Thou i said b4 tat im not for package tours, this one went at a slow enough pace tat im not gg to complain abt, plus the trip is cheaper than if we went on our own. This trip we went w Ben's colleague, WanJian n his gf. They were realli friendly n fun pple n we had tons of gp pics once again.

Jus learnt tat there r 4 diff types of passenger classes in China. 特快(bullet train), than got the sleepin type, 软坐(上n下 types) n lastly 硬坐. Than cant realli remember wat he said but the cabins are color coded accordin to the types of sittin u got. The worst is the green cabin (oldest used ones) than got the newest types are the white ones which we got (heng ah...they r the airplane style types tat u c in the previous post). B4 the trip, i was constantly mistaken the place as Wuhan which was actually further away (2hrs by plane instead of the 1hr train rite; bopian since my chinese level not tat upz yet). Haha so there my colleagues were sayin cannot b cause it was so far away. Yeah now i know better.

U know y WuXi called WuXi? The tour guide told us n i understand tat durin a certain Han dynasty they ran out of Xi (tin) so there came the name. Aft that he started talkin abt the 3 famous attractions of which we visited 2. Than the famous pple frm the province (got lost in translation here...haha).

Maybe most of u wld remember this place better as the place plagued by the algae problem in its freshwater lake tat is 4times of Spore (one times jialat jialat headache for the govt!!!). So its impossiblity hard to clear the water. 10 days a yr in the past, the pple had a hard time cause the water cannot b used for showerin even!!! Accordin to the tour guide even ur 汗臭 was not as bad as the algae so think pple took powder baths ba (dont qoute me on this, jus my guess). But things haf improved to a stage where tourists durin tat 10days can now still stay in Wuxi n resturants need not closed cause even cookin of rice durin those 10days could not use the tap water but distilled water. Will upload the pics another time when i get the load of it...

Other updates : Huangshan is up this wkend (3day trip). HB is down w a porously leakin nose plus me n my 1mth old cough (gettin better liao). Havin healthy wholemeal bread for dinners w sardine n tuna to supplement my fishless diet here. Ya no more carbo laden diet w no fish anymore. Walks to carrefour (3.2K away takes 20mins) shall b a weekly affair now i guess. Since no one like to walk there i do it alone; which is gd anw, lets u haf tat time to clear ur head n think abt stuffs. Yea 7wks gone n 15 more to come..time really flies by here...alls good n fun here, hope its the same back home for u all...missing all totally (",)

boss boss

2007-08-24T22:00:00.000+08:00

On wed tried wearin jeans to work cause the last time i did my expt, polo tee could get away with it. So there i was wearin my long sleeve n jeans to work, n i saw Linda in the mornin. She nvr said a word. So of course i presumed tat i aced it n can wear jeans in future. But than reality set back in as i passed Hanbin's lab, Linda saw me n commented that this was a office n jeans cannot wear; freakin ironic considerin she can c Hb thru the glass; n him in polo n jeans, next to me in long sleeve n jeans (its jus not FAIR!!!).

So it goes to show the diff.
French bosses like HB's one are open-minded; dont care as long as the job gets done
vs
China boss like mine everything also want me to double check b4 i do, feel like idiot (totally stiflin of creativity). Ya so now "jus follow law".

Yet Nanjing for the bookworms...

2007-08-24T10:02:00.000+08:00

For those who prefer the written version (also much easier to do up) cause the picture uploading took me a gd 4days. Over last wk, the gp of 8 went to NJ. Bought the train tix for 85rmb but paid addition 5rmb surcharge cause we took it at our 龙阳地铁. The seats aboard the train was so like airplane ones, plus plenty of leg room somemore. 2.5hrs on the train was slept over n we reached there at 11am.

People say 1st impression counts a lot and NJ seriously jus blew me away. At their metro station, the people dont hoard the entrance n actually let passengers to alight b4 they bought. The trains air-con are cooler, no beggers to bother u, n flyer distributers who jus throw cards onto ur lap (ya like they jus chuck it upon u). Visited the Sun Yat Sen memorial; had lots of steps to climb n we went at noon (freakin hot); alway seem to haf this prob when we travel. Too eager to go somewhere than we alway go the best place when we reach jus arrival which is ard noon. Took the electric bike for an hr to explore the hilly areas. Damn fun la, no wonder the bikers all dont care abt traffic light one.

Youth Hostelling is the accomodation for the nite. Super sleek place. Cosy n friendly staffs there. 2nd day when over to 雨花台 and we entered by some backdoor entrance. Crossed a plantation climbed a wall (with the aid of the guide) than we were told to walk till we reach n avoid the road. Hor-landed along the way but eventually found our way there. Paid only 10rmb to the guide instead of the main gate which costed 35rmb, student rate is 28rmb. So really got a steal.

On the way back had the fastest brisk walk done. We thou the metro ended svc at 1030pm n we reached back at the station at 1030pm. So there we were rushin to the metro station followin the locals hopin tat there were still trains. The usual time taken to transfer at the 人民广场 station frm line 1 to line 2 takes a gd 7mins. Think will seriously outbrisked walk ourselves in 3mins. So lucky we got the train n were happy tat our house is awfully close to the metro station.

One nite in NanJing...

2007-08-21T21:54:00.000+08:00

Was at NJ over the wkend...totally enjoyable free&easy trip it was (unlike the rushed Hangzhou tour).
Breakfast at Bruce Lees shop.

Sat a super comfy airplane style train (lots of leg rm) for 2hr with lots of sleep. Shiok!!!

NJ w its pay as u use coins only toilet

The start of NJ trip

Hagen Daz everywhere, advertisements flooded w it too...

The monopoly of green cabs at NanJing

Interesting 3sided overhead bridge

Our 1st stop of the day...

Many more pics to come

What we call 厕所

The entrance to the memorial...

The long walk to the stairs (so this is wat they do w free space in china!!!)

Yes guys here carry umbrellas too (the pic dont do justice to the 12noon heat here)

Hydratin b4 climbin...

The long arduous journey begins...

Some pics along the way to the top...feels like gg towards heaven...

View frm the top...totally breath-taking

Sun Yat Sen's burial tat we climbed out for

Electric bike roxxxxx!!!!

Taken w a Harimau...

Lots more Gp pics (jus lovin it)

Musical fountain (lots of Wang Lee Hom songs played, dont know y also)

Good day at Sun Yat Sen Memorial

Check out the temperature

Waitin for the public bus to the hostel

Air Clarence for the all terrain in brown slippers...

Arrival at the place near our hostel

The makan n shoppin places r plentiful but no stuff brought...

The nite lights r awesome!!!

The evolution of man

Our hostel for the nite (cheap n gd, pple there r friendly too; lots of bag packers)

Our loving 8 pple sharin rm

Supper w HB, this was my 80cents beef noodle (heavenly sia...)

Frm the height u know its built w ang mo in mind

Hyper-active doggie at the hostel...

Yup weird advert totally...N Day 2 begins...

The above is the 10rmb entrance to the place. Main entrance cost 28rmb!!!(china even got pirated entrance...haha)

Ya this place is sooo big

Lots of groupie pics w Ben's tripod...

Taken w the statues of the prisoners of i cant remember wat

All the pics u c are in order of where we went place by place...

Felt like im in some national park

Not easy comin up w so many gp shots manz

S.C.B.E woosshhhh...

The place we nvr eat at...nice place thou

Was pourin so settled for KFC here where HB saw the gal of his dreams..haha (shld collect $$$ for takin this pic for him)

Feels like the streets of portugal

The lake (last destination of our trip)

Captain of the ship (hey-di mate...)

Using token to travel along their Metro (our MRTs)

A walk to remember...

2007-08-17T20:16:00.000+08:00

Went to find the cheap $2 Tee shop tat Ben passed by when his boss brought them for some ba ku teh. Started innocently easy enough with us gg to 宏桥路地铁 n than walkin along 吴中路 to find the store. Was lunched time n we stopped over at this shop above to have some shanghai style yong taufu. I had mushroom, xiao bai cai, quilt eggs, some yellow flour thingy w meat stuffin n noodles all for 70cents. The mala dont know how spicy cause i nvr try (cough still bad), than HB was havin jus 辣（tasted like mine!!!) not the 重辣.

邱 was the 1st word HB saw n was not sure abt (yea!!! the china dictionary was a litle spoilt; but he guessed it was qiu n BINGO when we came back n check it was rite...haha chinese 高手 indeed)

The start of the 2.5hr walk...u c the burger baby shop at the left corner of the junction? Its like a chiong fast food place (the boss there dont let me take a pic of the stall). $1.1 can get a burger n drink alr...realli cheap even in china...too bad had the mala noodle alr...

Passed by the Jiao Da sch (actualli jus a continual sch for private candidates...not the real campus)

This was supp to b a cheap eatery lane...but looked like some back alley instead...saw a cook cleanin a turtle over a dustbin (serious when u eat here; highly recommended not to look how ur food us prep)

Beijing 2008 is being promoted everywhere liao...remember to support Han Ming(passion is everyhing..haha)

n Liu Bin ( c how easy it is for him to hurdler)

My refreshin green tea jelly (so hot n sunny; if dont haf the Ah-GoGo glass think i'll b blind...thx Endurance BRO!!! )aft reachin our destination.

My ENGLAND is wery d POWDER-FUL (dont play play)

Real prata done by the authentic Indians (costs a bomb thou; $3sing for banana flavour than jus next door got the chinese version only 50cents wth!!!)

Escalator tat gets u up 4storeys per ride

Where we walk walk aft gettin back to 中山公园地铁. The shoppin ctr w the super exp originals (who buys originals when u got gd fakes!!!)

My dinner today...looks realli gd rite like a pizza like tat...but sadly no fillings one but super huge n filling; only 52cents.

World's weridest....

2007-08-16T22:29:00.000+08:00

src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HJP6BrZqTDU/RsRhDUor-pI/AAAAAAAAASQ/NCdb5ZIgt2I/s320/Sun_Bear.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099307387797109394" />
Love this pic...
The Sun Bear is primarily found in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia. They stand approximately 4 feet (1.2 meters) in length, and the smallest of the bear family. It’s often called the dog bear because of its small stature. The typical Sun Bear weighs less than 145 pounds (65 kilograms).

Primarily nocturnal creatures, the Sun Bear rests during the day on lower limbs not far above the ground, spending much of its time in trees. Hunting of nuisance bears is a major cause for recent decline in population, as well as poaching for its fur and use in Chinese medicine.
src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_HJP6BrZqTDU/RsRhDUor-qI/AAAAAAAAASY/2kwI9lwHPlg/s320/Saki_Monkey.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5099307387797109410" />
Too much powder...
The White-faced Saki is a type of New World monkey found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. They feed mostly on fruits, but also nuts, seeds, and insects.
href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HJP6BrZqTDU/RsRhDkor-rI/AAAAAAAAASg/aPx4xilpzN8/s1600-h/Axolotl.jpg">
Breathin thru those ear tentacles thingy is weird...
The Axolotl is the most widely known of the Mexican mole salamanders. The species originates from the lake underlying Mexico City. Axolotls are used extensively in scientific research for their ability to regenerate body parts. They’re commonly kept as pets in the United States, Great Britain, Australia, and Japan.

A sexually-mature adult axolotl, at age 18 to 24 months, ranges in length from 6 to18 inches (15 to 45 centimeters)

The Star-nosed Mole is a small North American mole found in eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States

It lives in wet lowland areas and eats small invertebrates, aquatic insects, worms and mollusks. As avid swimmers, they forage along the bottoms of streams and ponds. They dig shallow surface tunnels for foraging, and oftentimes the tunnels exit underwater. They remain active in winter, having been observed tunneling through the snow and swimming in ice-covered streams.

The Star-nosed Mole is covered in thick blackish brown water-repellent fur with large scaled feet. The long thick tail appears to function as a fat storage reserve for the spring breeding season. Adults are 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters) in length, weighing about 2 ounces (55 grams). Their most distinctive feature is a circle of 22 mobile, pink, fleshy tentacles at the end of its snout, used to identify food by touch.

Hagfish are marine vertebrates, with some debate as to whether they’re strictly fish. Their unusual feeding habits and slime-producing capabilities have led to the hagfish being dubbed as the most ‘disgusting’ of all sea creatures.

Hagfish are long worm-shaped creatures that exude copious amounts of a sticky slime or mucus. When captured and held by the tail, they escape by secreting the fibrous slime, which turns into a thick and sticky gel when combined with water. They clean themselves off by tying in an overhand knot which works its way from the head to the tail of the animal, scraping off the slime as it wriggles.

Hagfish have elongated, ‘eel-like’ bodies, and paddle-like tails. Colors vary by species, ranging from pink to blue-grey, and may have black or white mottling. The eyes may be non-functional or absent. With no true fins or jaws, they have six barbels around their mouths and a single nostril. They have a pair of horizontally moving structures with tooth-like projections for pulling off food. They average 18 inches (45 centimeters) in length.

Hagfish enter both living and dead fish, feeding on the insides. They often enter through the openings of the mouth, gills or anus. They tend to be quite common in their range, sometimes becoming a nuisance to fishermen by devouring the catch before it can be pulled to the surface.

Super Mop Dog!!!

Ang Gu Kuay anyone?

I noticed...

2007-08-16T19:27:00.000+08:00

tat cars in Shanghai are very lackin in Nissan n Mishibishi
tat gals here are realli figurey (muz be all the walkin)
tat traffic lights are for show (no one obeys them)
plastic bags here are freakin cui
chicken dishes are mostly joints n skin (like my lunch today!!!)
they are realli generous w their servings (of food)
companies strictly follow the offic hrs (gg home time is always 5.05pm)
an avg meal costs jus $1.2
they dont haf canned mushrooms here
can openers are realli hard to find
the sun is up by 6am
DVDs r only $1
lots of walkin is needed to find cheap local eats
public transport is not so hard to take here
job as a lab assistant in Givaudan is hard work in the fragrance tech dpt
tat the louder person gets the final say
tat u got to b selfish (杀！杀！杀！if u want things done)
tat electric bills are halfed aft 10pm (weird hur?!?)
we've been havin home cooked meals for a wk
外卖(takeouts) r gd esp on 35 degree Cel noon lunches
trips to nearby countries are gg to b on everywk soon
sch is startin in another 2 wks
im gainin weight (darn!!!)
my cough is freakin stubborn
i got no work tml!!!

twitch twitch...

2007-08-15T22:17:00.000+08:00

Somethings up...my right eyelid has been twitchin all day...shld b a gd thing thou...cause its the 1st time this wk i nvr got 鸟ing frm Linda...I say Te-LI-HO, TWITCH AWAY for the 鸟ing to stay away!!!

Coughin realli bad this whole wk...even the PI PaGao not helpin. Was so desperate i even drank the vinegar for home-cookin; thou can kill the stubborn bacteria. But still the cough persisted, so today walked to carrefour which was 3.2k away aft dinner to get myself some proper treatment. I thou apple cider was frm US but apparently the imported section did not have aby, so i bought the J(apple) cider at $7 (omg freakin exp was my 1st rxn; but bo pian need to kill the COUGH!!!)

Had my 1st 肉串 today, ok maybe it was 2 sticks. Super nice la, BBQed w the taiwan 鸡扒 seasonin. Chose the duck meat n chicken skewer jus now by some road side stall. Now brace urself cause each stick was a nominal 20cents. Cheap cheap nice nice!!!! Not like my company meat, where the chicken u call either they give u lots of bones；if not the tendon joints, pork= fats fats fats unless its pork cutlet (mayb tat helps to cover up traces of fats better), best deal is still beef thou.

Tml is the last work day for me again. Lookin forward to the saving grace each day; lunch, hope it realli is gd. Nanjing this wkend, shld have plenty of pics to upload.
*cough cough*

HOme cook food...

2007-08-14T19:15:00.001+08:00

Been into our 1st wk of our our home cookin. Everyone settling into their own task alr. Ben the chef, carmen the assistant, yanwen the 3rd helper at times, JianQing n I the washers n HB the stove cleaner. So had fried rice jus now, think mayb 5 cups of rice was a little too much for 6 pple but we finished it nevertheless. Less salt n oil was the aim of the day thou the initial investment in utensils was qte shiong ah. So if the home cookin takes off, we will have abt 4 home meals a wk, than the rest eatin out. Might be slightly more exp than a meal outside but definitely more wholesome n health.

Manz my cough has been on for 1.5wks alr, gg get some vinegar to kill the bacteria. Kill kill kill!!! Almost all the guys have cut their hair alr, me the 1st (total fashion disaster but only $1 sing!!!), JQ had his wash n cut for $2 (qte the armani chiong style) than Ben had his superb short style for $2.5 (apparently the wash costed $1.50) so now got 2 BMT recruits in the aparment. Not forgettin HB, his flops r realli gettin on my nerve, i c alr also bu suang!!! Haha; n he still say aft this messy phase the hair will turn neat...kaoz...super smoke bomb i say. But than think this fri no sch so he shld go cut his hair ba.

Travel plans comin up:
Nanjing this wkend 2D1N
Suzhou
Wuxi
Golden wk Beijing or Jiuzhaigou
Huangshan
End of attachment HaErBin (snow snow snow!!!)

Apparently the gp divided on places to go durin the Golden Wk. Ben is c who gg where, Yanwen n Carmen gg Beijing while HB wanna go Tibet!!! Now i still comtemplatin the Golden wk trip destination cause Jiuzhaigou super exp (1k for 7days) but than super nice, while Beijing is a muz go. So maybe might put Beijing tog w Haerbin at the end of the yr or something. Shld be settlin it at the end of the wk i hope.

Giant man-eating catfish found in Guangdong reservoir?

2007-08-13T23:47:00.000+08:00

August 11, 2007

Found the following email in our mailbox the other day. Apparently it's been making the rounds on the Chinese-language internet:

花都芙蓉璋水库，每年都有好几个人莫明溺水死亡。到最近有个高官的子弟与朋友一起到水库游水溺死亡，才发现惊天秘密！
Each year, a few people will be drowned mysteriously in Huadu's Furong Reservoir. It was not until recently when the brother of a certain official went swimming in the reservoir with his friend and were drowned that the secret was unraveled!

竟然是一条有三米多长，头有一米多宽的吃人唐蚤！宰割唐蚤后，惊人的发现：在其肚中竟然有人的骸骨！
It's a 3 metre long man-eating catfish whose head alone is 1 metre wide! After cutting up the catfish people were surprised to find the remains of a man inside!

由于事件影响大，当地政府怕影响当地的旅游，下令封锁消息，但却有现场的人用手机偷拍的到捕获的吃人鱼！
Because this was a huge incident, and the local government was afraid of the impact on local tourism, they imposed an embargo on the news, but people came away with these pictures taken on their cell phones of the man-eating fish!

现在水库已经严禁有人下水，为恐会有另一条同类的唐蚤鱼在水中！
Swimming in the reservoir is now forbidden because it is feared another similar man-eating catfish is still lurking in the waters.

Now we're not experts on aquatic life and can't confirm to you if that is really some mutant form of the clarius batrachus (walking catfish) as the email suggested (where are the whiskers?), but some netizens have already raised doubts saying this is a whale shark (鲸鲨) instead. Now you decide for yourself: Does it look more like the walking catfish or the whale shark? And if it is the whale shark, which is "vulnerable to extinction" according to Wikipedia, why did they kill it? Well, perhaps because they thought it killed a bunch of people. But how did they find it, and catch it, and why did they kill it and chop it up in such a public manner, we wonder? We bet scientists would have liked to see this alive first (we imagine saltwater whale sharks don't pop up in freshwater reservoirs too often ... nor, we guess, do 30cm catfish regularly turn into three-meter mutants).

But wait. The Huadu government has also made a statement to dissociate itself from the post, saying that the contents of the post do not match the photos. Also, no sighting of any large man-eating fish has been reported, and that no deaths have occurred in the reservoir between 25 July of last year and now.

As we have been accused of doing so in the past, we might choose to side with the government on this one. Seems very likely that these are pics of a random whale shark killing that a prankster decided to spread around masked as the Huadu Reservoir man-eating monster. It would seem the prank was a success.

But you never know ... especially in Chinese waters. Swim at your own risk.

More pictures after the jump. See for yourself the remains of a human body inside the monster!?! Or maybe not. (We are, if you haven't guessed, skeptical.)

1st fri OFF!!

2007-08-12T09:48:00.000+08:00

Fri was at Jin AnShi to do some serious damage. Ben n HB had Burger King Whopper Meals for $4!!! N came to a conclusion tat the best fast food wld b Burger King, Mac n than lousy KFC. Explored a separate area of the flea area n found a shoppin complex w some boutiques. More original designs that u wont c other pple wearin along the streets but price also more upz as a result. Bought a pair of berms for $21 (cause so hard to find a gd nice pair in shanghai).

Headed back to our original target which was the flea market area to get our shoes. HB bought a Levi's leather black shoe, Ben a Nike's Dunk n me a China-made in b/w type of shoe (did not know it was a china brand one). Anyway for the shoes they are not all comfortable unlike the site taobao.com tat Ben bought his LeBron Dunks frm ( told u he shoppin King liao). Its kind of a china eBay where u get the originals for mind-blowinly low prices. Like Dunks are gg at 40sing (winner liao!!!). Than JianQing was at JiaoTong for lessons so he asked for 10 $4 Tees. Manz, it was pure maddness i muz say the shoppin here. There are lots to buy ESPECIALLY for girls so ya no worries as long as u bring a fat wallet cause changin SING dollars here every mafan; plus the rates they give are total rip-offs.

Sat the gals headed to Jin AnShi n Ben , HB tagged along. I stayed home to watch Flash Pt (Donnie Yen was like some wrestler w all his submission moves in the show), 不能说的秘密 (toally UPZ!!!) n 男儿本色. All the lastest movies and they can find them in 1 Cd for only $1. OMG!!! Best part is tat there were 7 movies inside. Movie marathons comin my way...haha

Another i noticed when i jog ard the parks n all is how u nvr find any mossies or flies ard even thou the garbage are often found lyin ard. Muz be the polluted air or the presence of many dragonflies ard. Also dont c many birds ard. They know tat Shanghai air CMI too muz b...

Happi 42th Bday

2007-08-10T17:57:00.000+08:00

After work ytr, went home to watch the online streamin of the national day parade. Was qte lag but got to c how cool it was to have the celebrations on the floatin platform this time ard. No more round lap drives by the president n i think a Kallang Wave tat does not go 1 rd is rather weird. The song this yr but Kit Chan in my humble opinion is not tat power as the past few yrs one. Aft some home-made pasta prep by Carmen n Ben (freakin hard to find can openers in Shanghai la for the canned pasta sauce n they dont have canned mushrooms neither!!!), Ben, HB n I headed to LOgO to check out the celebrations.

Was on a cab tat had a driver like HB's French boss. Everytime the vehicle in front slows down or stop, he high-beams the guy n hones him repeatedly. Haha, he drive the taxi like super initial-D style too. One lane for each dir also wanna try to overtake...Win liao...Than had a prob tryin to find the place (shanghai is 10times Spore) so we stopped at one of the alleys n tried to find the place. Asked a security for the direction n he told us to walk pass 1 junction than can reach the place liao. Thou the place is like 5mins away, but the junction was a gd 10mins fast walk away. Lucky it was realli breezy if not think we'll b drenched by the time we reach.

LOgO is a nice cosy pub place i muz say. Mostly expats when we went n DJs spinnin Indie sets. There were also Singaporeans there to play tracks they felt were Singaporean. Apparently none of Dick Lee's song were on the list. Stayed a little drank a Carlsberg while Ben took a Harbin ( cause he in China so muz drink China brand...wat the heck). We walked ard the area n chanced upon a pool place. Played pool for a bit (1hr $8 not realli cheap but than again they help u set ur balls every time u done n the cue sticks qte gd).

The Day when i was Boss...

2007-08-10T10:25:00.000+08:00

Yesterday when to work knowin tat my boss, Linda was gg to 出彩 for the day. Apparently even the Tech Managers have to do their rounds showcasing their samples to companies. Thou it was more for the marketing side peeps. Anw was in the office realli early n 2-ic was late (some bad jam at her place at 上海火车站.

Anw was prepin for my detergency and anti-soil deposition test,cuttin lots of 6 by 6 污布，doin spectro test on the reflective index, testin pH of many samples (boss always plans loads to do), n had to clean the freakin tergometer cause it was like a sewage. Spent the better half of the mornin cleanin up the tank (shld have taken the pic of the condition manz!!!).

This is the text i got to read frm to do my expt. Tell u honestly its still a struggle for me. Gd thing got Tony there to do translations here n there n many many more.

My humble lab work place for the next 4mths.

Yup the view out the lab roz... esp with pass few days having monsoon style rain falll and super winds to clear the sky. Not seen such clear skies in a while. Goin out now, will talk abt my NDP nite celebration w HB n Ben when i get back. Adios (",)

Nueve the very 1st...

2007-08-08T20:08:00.000+08:00

Today had our apartments's very 1st meal!!! Dinner of stirred fried mushroom w xiao bai cai, egg n prawns plus carrot potatoe soup. Qte a success it turned out to be. Many more healthy meals ahead. Happy hols to all back in spore.

Gd to knows of Shanghai; the sun rises up realli early in the mornin here. Its like 8am at 6am in the mornin here!!! But the sun sets about the same time back home. After 8am in the morning, it gets a little hot, even the shanghainese dont play bball aft 930am. Think a typhoon is comin our way. The weather realli realli gd n windy this days. Lots of rain n clear skies. Considerin how inland im in, think we at most get a gd dose of rainfall. Goin to celebrate National Day @some pub LoGo in Shanghai tml...Happi nBday Spore!!!

Thumb it

2007-08-07T22:31:00.001+08:00

Ya suffered my biggest injury to date after havin 3wks of non-complication. This 2cm cut was bleeding for a gd 45mins aft i splited it by a scissor while tryin to ply open a bottle. Anyway, saw the concern of my colleagues when they helped me find the 1st aid kit (apparently only one known one in the pantry on level 1). Big thank you to Hanbin for fetchin a pair of scissors for me bandage which we did not use aft the ah yee found one in the cupboard for us.

Thank there is Tony, me bro for all the air'in it to dry it. Now i can join ur handicap gang. U the boss with ur stitched foot n me the 2-ic with my cut Da Mu Zi. Marie for the info on the 1st aid location, applyin of lotion n me 2-ic Rachael for gettin me a plaster which failed to control the tsunami bleedin. 2more days of work, 2 more days to Nation Day and learnin tergometer expt tml.

Rainin cats n dogs...

2007-08-05T18:25:00.000+08:00

its pourin like crazy now...thunder storms unlike any other rain i experienced in Shanghai since i arrived. Wanna go buy my breakfast for the wk but like tat how too...ben is hopin it keeps up the rain...than can flood n no work for us all!!! Haha...

Also its 岁月风云 9 episodes n counting...they been watchin it since 11am this mornin till now...2 more episodes till the end...the Watchers consistin of Ben (likes to do ironin while he watches), Hanbin (the dozer; screen-saver mode during parts of the show), the sisters Wen, Yanwen (the one who bought the vcd n controls the number of episodes watched to 2 at most per day), Carmen (the misser; somehow alway endin up watchin fewer episodes n needs lots of recap frm Yw). Yup the cast is completed...by later tonite thye gg to finish the serial liao, wonder wats up next...

its a lazy sunday...

2007-08-05T15:25:00.000+08:00

Was up at 6am today for a mornin jog ard the area. Explored 婴花路 n found the wet market. Was impressed with the place. Despite the small area (abt tat of my market there), the place was very orderly n dry (ya wet market tat is dry...haha)...the chicken stalls there sells the whole chicken; interns n all. The other meat stalls also use chillers like spore n its realli neat!!! There are also not many fish variety in Shanghai (at else the area i stayin; n i still thou shanghai was near the sea). The fishes were very fresh too ah, dont c any red eyes, skin also shiny shiny one). But they sell live fishes; so so interestin, got flounder (so long nvr c alr), than so many shell fishes (the clam i saw was like the size of my face ah!!!). The veg also green green n not tossed ard like in Spore. So despite the mess n chaos all ard Shanghai, the market is one place u can find order i guess. O ya there is no fishy smell there in the market too (totally amazin; more like a supermarket).

Saw some food stalls there can buy breakfast frm next time too. The youtiao there goin like hotcakes, only 14cents!!! Than got mee chang kuay krispy one)put onions one n lots of other gd eats...Than aft walkin ard n finding the post office finally i hor-landed ard the estates, saw a couple of schs (they were reali realli huge n well equiped), some senior citizens playin polo ( called a 区球场 area). Also finally managed to some bball at the court near my place!!! Think run too much n bball also, now my legs still tingling...jus watched Elecktra at home....Nua'in is goooddddd...

好乐地indeed

2007-08-04T12:29:00.000+08:00

Had an overnite K'in session at 大拇子广场 HAOLEDI. Was a realli cool place when we went there. There were 6 of us and we took the middle size rm at 240rmb (each abt $8...darn cheap la!!!) frm 12am-6am. No drinks were provided but there was a 24hr mini mart outside where we could get a quick bite or drink. It was slightly more exp than the convenient stores outside (but at that unearthly timings there were no KEDI ard). The staff were really professional n nice n ushered us to get food n than to the rm. The middle rm was like SOO big, think could easily accommodate another 5 of us comfortably. Than the sound sys, awesome interial deco n flat screen 32-inch crystal clear LCD jus 切 all those singin outlets in Spore. Overall it was a shiok shiok experience. Still feelin tired n sore throat frm all the marathon session.

Also cut my hair jus the other day. Was the 1st in the household to try. Costed me only $1.1 for a cut n 60cens for a wash which i gave us a miss. All i say is not to say 剪薄 cause the look qte kns. Comin up to 1mth here in Shanghai alr, well my chinese got improvements but still way long way b4 i spit 中文 like nobody business. In a chinse environment back in my IA lab, with 1 big boss，李老师, 1 time 2-IC, racheal (qte amazing but almost all of those who work in MNCs have christian names, only remember one called 小平, 2 interns; Tony who is a master's student here workin for the summer vacation n urs truly.

Supp to have another 2-IC, Siron but she jus gave birth (congrats!!!), n is not maturity leave till Nov. So only got Racheal for guidance, but she herself was an intern 2mths ago n jus converted to a perm staff. So all newbies under Linda, so 难免会 kena scolding one. Like me la, i learnt all the non-so-standard ways frm Tony cause the 1st wk Linda was not ard. Not she is back, keep gettin 鸟 by her cause its not the rite way (alamak...). Well the "sch of hard knocks" etches the skills realli well n i shld b realli ready for lab-based experiments when the time comes. Next wk gg to learn abt the tergometer to measure the cleanin power of top load n side load washing machine aft i finish my remainin 非离子试验 (non-ionic content in detergents).

Many more good wks ahead in SHanghai, n missing family, frenzs n spore foodie alr... Hope u all doin well...cheerios (",)

Record...

2007-08-03T17:44:00.000+08:00

OMG...i stand an avg of 5hrs a day at work!!!
All gd trainin for more explorin over the wkends...

Anyway, portions of fd here is to realli keep u full. Unlike Spore u order 菜饭 n complain of the pathetic servings. Here the amt jus nice to keep u full n might end up eatin more than necessary. Good example is Hanbin, last time dont finish his rice one, now he eats heap loads of rice (gg to take over the 饭王之位; mabel u can step aside...haha).

O ya in Shanghai when u eat, 肉丝 dont mean meat strips, more like meat molecules, unless u eat more dishes more than 10yuan. Also if u wan to find gd fd than u got to walk ard ALOT in the small 街. Found lots of gd food ard when JQ n I went ard.

Kk more Shanghai for dummies when i think of it.

Happenings of the wk

2007-08-01T19:09:00.000+08:00

Last sat went to Hangzhou to see see look look. Really nice place but the air was 38degrees n ground temp at a reported 50 plus degree; Total maddness. Our apartment pple were the A%F gang decked out tog in matchin stripe polos (super united team woosssh!!!) tat we bought at 七浦。That nite came back at ard 11pm for dinner. Thou it would run color so we soaked it 1st, b4 puttin in the washin machine. To our horror we found that the polos shrunk a size aft machine wash (wat the freak!!!). My L-size turned into a M, length was like up to my hips only. Kinda remind me of the cod liver oil commercial (衣服本来刚刚好，现在这么却很小。。。）. But being a Abercombie & Fitch Muscle we iron la, i stretched it la (many many many times), than in the end it turned into a middle L size. Apparently hand-wash does not shrink ur clothes cause they did tat (lesson learnt frm cheap clothin).

On Sun, went to one of our 老地方 for dinner. Aft orderin, u had to pass ur receipt to the waitress to get ur dish. Since we ordered n paid individually, we ended up givin 5 receipts to her. In the end think she confused or something, ended up givin us an extra bowl of 馄饨 (wooohooo!!!). Than dont know who started commenting tat we keep comin so they givin us a loyalty dish promotion (freakin 冷笑话。。。)

The apartment has been plagued by drama drama also. Every nite aft 射鵰英雄傳，岁月风云 would be the next show to be played. Addiction realli startin kickin in n when we reached the 2nd last episode at 29 realised that there was no chance the series would in one more episode cause to many loopholes to be settled. Than to our stun'ness, they only burnt 30 of the 59 episodes (welcome to CHINA part 2).

Well my boss has not been ard for the whole wk. Tml she'll be back alr. Strict strict is all i can say abt her so far. Kind of reminds me of my pri sch chinese teacher that i so dreaded in the past. Well lookin forward, i think im gg to b reali appreciative of this mentor in Givaudan. Shanghai has been great so far...GIP roz!!!

尖庆之言。。。

2007-07-31T23:53:00.000+08:00

人才是才，棺材也是才，
人才躺在棺材里，两才变一才。

2007-07-31T22:35:00.000+08:00