Saturday, December 17, 2005
tmr morn gotta go malaysia.
sian. mum nagging now. gotta pack. crap. only gt 4 hours of sleep. haha..
there are some things that cannot be changed after a decision.
jAn.[x]`~ *heartt felt words. ; at 12:56 AM
12:56 AM
Thursday, December 15, 2005
as i promised, i'm gonna write the long-awaited entry. =p~ i think i ate alot. sighs. someone drag me out to exerciseeee! oh yea, i'm SO broke. serious!!! spent too much already. lol.
hey friends, remember to read hor!! later i test u all on my entry contents! =x haahaha. spent so long writing. i sacrifice my homework time to writeee..
okay. i left singapore on monday night, early tuesday morning. flight SQ086 at 1.15am, arriving shanghai pudong airport at 6am. on the plane i watched movies and played games, slept barely half an hour but i guess it was enough to last me the day. the moment we touched down, our tour started. we change hotels every night because we travel from town to town, altogether 6 places.
Day 1 (Shanghai to (2 hours) Wuzhen)we met up with our tour mates at the airport. 21 of us in all. ivy, the singapore tour guide also came along with us. she's a very nice person! next time i go overseas with dynasty travel must travel with her! haha. to continue with where i left off, i thought it wasn't very cold so i wore a thin pair of espirit track pants and a short sleeve tee. when i saw everyone changing at the airport i looked very under dressed! haha. the china tour guide, xiao luo (that's how we address her) told me that i wore too little and suggested that i step out of the airport to see how cold it actually was. btw, it was -2 degrees that mornin. i couldn't even stay out for 10 minutes so i quickly went to the toliet at chen wang miao (the 2nd destination) to wear more clothes. =D we visited the shanghai barn the first thing in the mornin and took many pictures. (actually we take many pictures at every destination. =p)
that day we visited zhujiajiao and den went to wuzhen to stay for the night. at zhujiajiao i was pretty much on my own cos my mum was kept occupied at a silk scarf shop right at the entrance of the place. i went to explore further in with uncle larry (oh yea, we travelled with 4 other ppl. uncle larry aunty irene shawn and hui zhern). while walking, we were approached by some beggers. they were so ke lian.. but we couldn't spare them any money cos we carried only big notes and no coins. secondly, we didn't want the whole swarm of them coming after us for money cos if we give one of them the rest would come after us as well. anyway, i bought some sweets there. =x after that we were sent to the hotel for the night. we were sooo tireddd, no one slept well on the plane.
oh ya. i lost my colourful scrungee (the one i use to tie up my hair in school) that night. =(
(i saw beggers at shanghai as well. they'll keep nudging u for money.not much comments about wuzhen. except that the heater in the hotel wasn't functionin. i nearly became an ice block. =x and after bathin, brrr. cold..)Day 2 (Hangzhou)alright. we had lunch at wuzhen then we left for hangzhou. my favourite town! haha. it looks quite modern. for example the buildings look like those western shophouses. very niceeee! first, we took a short walk around xi hu, west lake (will elaborate more later) and then went to the tea house where long jing cha is produced and brewed for sale. we learnt alot about tea leaves and green tea. (they are famous for their long jing cha.) we were served the AA grade long jing cha and the thing about the tea was that we had to refill the cup 3 times till we taste the sweetness of the tea. or not it tastes quite dan(4) as in blend and tasteless. well, the green tea they cultivate there is differentiated and placed under catagories. after april which is the appropriate time to collect the leaves, the older the tea leaves, the lousier the grade. there's the emperor tea leaves (very limited stock - the reason why is cos these leaves are served to VIPs who visit china), the AA, A and B grade leaves. we purchased 3 tins (1kg) of AA grade leaves and had a free small tin (250g). in addition we bought biscuits and sweets made of wu long and green tea. hee. wo men you kou fu le! =D
at night after dinner, we watched a performance at song dynasty about china and stuff. dunno how to describe but it was entertaining! they had special effects such as waterfalls and acrobats to put up stunts for us. as usual, mum bought some display stuff and took plenty of pics. we went back to the hotel soon after.
(i love hangzhou! cos the driver and xiaoluo are hangzhou people and they're very friendly and sociable. the west lake was lovely and the city was modern. not that the other cities are not modern but.. the buildings were painted red in hangzhou. like quite high class. =D too bad we never got a chance to shop there. haha. such a pity. later i fall in love with that city i migrate there ar. hahaha. oh ya, i also got a hair wash there! v cheap. i like hangzhou cos i felt clean there. hehe.)Day 3 (Hangshou to(2 hours) Suzhou)we spent the mornin at xi hu, west lake and walked down a beautiful walkway with trees, coloured with reddish pink flowers. xiao luo took us for a ferry ride and we saw 3 islands in the lake. one of them had a tea house built in the middle. haha. after that we had lunch and set off to suzhou. suzhou can only build low rise houses cos the government set such rules there. it's like a
at suzhou we visited the jointed project (Singapore & China) industrial park to take a look. nothin much there, just factories that the big MNCs located there. we then went to ou yuan to see how an old house looked like. we learned quite alot about how the China people lived in the past and how they classify their guests into different rooms and are given different treatments. (: when we left the place, we were taken in a sampan boat rowed by a suzhou lady in her 50s to the exit. she even sang suzhou's folk songs for us! =) when we gave her some money as a tip, she was so contented and happy even though it was a very small sum. in fact, sometimes we should learn to be content with what we have and cherish them for being greedy or wantin even more might destory the things we currently possess. we had dinner and then walked guan qian jie. mum bought more warm winter clothing and a pair of boots while i bought 2 pairs. =x then it was back to the hotel. i gotta say the suzhou hotel was the best!!! =D very classy. *note : we change hotels daily. =D
just a sidetrack, when we tour these places we went in a loop upwards (i only found out when we came back), surprisingly, as the days went by we felt warmer. maybe it was just the company. awwww.. actually we formed 2 big families during the trip and not one cos the food tables weren't big enough to accomodate all of us. so we were split into 2 tables, naturally we'll be closer to one table. (: too bad the other table had a *still can make it shuai ge that i wasn't close to. haha. my table had mostly adults. i was the youngest among us. the other table had more young people including a 3 year old girl. =x she's very cute!! ahaha..
(Suzhou's hotel was v nice. glass doors, big room. heh. shopping there was fun too. my first pair of boots. nothin to complain about. just that it has changed so much over the years. in fact, the whole of china changed tremendously. 6 years ago suzhou was more luo hou in technology. die ar. i keep mixing chinese and english. cos in china keep speaking chinese what. =x but i dun like speaking chinese!! zz.)Day 4 (Suzhou to (2.5 hours) Nanjing)we visited the silk factory where silk blankets, covers, pillows are produced in bulk. (okay, here's where we blown most of our cash at!) in total we bought 8 (5 queen 3 king) blankets and 3 covers and 2 pillows. the covers cost a bomb! at least $SGD200 per cover! this is cos the blankets only require 8000 silkworms while the covers require 30,000. that's why it costs so much more. after that we had lunch and left for nanjing.
at nanjing we visited a memorial. when the japanese invaded china, they captured the captial which was nanjing first. they slaughtered and ruthlessly tortured men women children and senior citizens. i could feel my blood boilin inside, one of the reasons was that they told us in the japanese history books they never mentioned about the killing of chinese people in china. the local guide said that it was quite an insult to the locals. we were taken through the museum and i saw alot of pics on how the chinese were brutally tortured. =(
we had dinner and then went shopping at fu zi miao. shopping there was great! but the scenery was even nicer!!! the lights, the night scene, the river, the boats..
if im nice i might upload some pictures. of cos i'll pick only nice ones. no candid shots! =x anyways, aunty irene bought boots, i bought a cap and mum bought more winter wear (!!!) and display items and cup coasters. i tasted some sweet desserts which were really nice! regretted not buying more. =p i'm sucha pig la. nanjing hotel was the worst! the bath towel even had a hole in it! LOL.
(heh. nanjing wasn't v good. the hotel and tour guide, bad. boo. i enjoyed the shopping and night scene though. oh yea, the river at fu zi miao isn't natural. it's man-made and many people died while constructing it. ppl then said that the river was a stupid idea, however, it proved otherwise. this is cos the river leads to beijing and durin the olden days, the river served as a transport route for the ppl to trade. so it enabled the town to prosper. btw, it takes 3 months to get to beijing. =x)
on a sidenote, since we bought loads of stuff everyday, imagine the amount of goods we have to pack each day! so tired le at night, still got to pack for the next morning. so me and mum end up sleeping at about 2 at night (after watching some chinese shows on television of cos) and woke up at 6+ every mornin. sleep deprivedd.!
Day 5 (Nanjing to (2 hours) Wuxi)the next day we went to see the nanjing bridge which was built 40 years ago. it's very zhuang guan. err.. majestic. =D because 40 years ago, technology wasn't so advanced so many people sacrificed their money, lives and metal to built this bridge. orginally it was a joint venture with russia. however, they backed out so china was left with a bridge half done. in order to show their determination, they continued the construction alone. the situation was so pathetic, after everyone contributed their metal utensils they had to use a big metal pot to cook for the entire village. standin at the top of the tower, i overlooked the river, forests, city and the bridge. it was quite misty that day so i couldn't see the end of the bridge which is 4.5km long. oh yea, there's also a train track below the bridge. so cool!! they sold crystals with paintings. the paintins have to be done inverted from the inside to produce that kind of effect. my mum bought 4 pieces. =D
after that we went to a factory where jade is produced. wah so ex leh!! zz. anyway, the pushy local tour guide who has poor knowledge of her own town (okay in every town we have a local guide and the hangzhou guide, xiaoluo followed us through. i enjoy her company throughout the 8 days! she rawksss. well, u can tell i dun like the nanjing tour guide.) kept gettin my mum to buy a jade bracelet. she's so irritatin and naggy. luckily i persuaded my mum not to buy that extremely over-priced piece of mineral! it costs $RMB32,000 at first. den lowered to 13,600 (at least 2k SGD) then to 950 SGD which is still ex by my standards. the nanjing tour guide even ticked ivy off for askin my mum to eat lunch at 11.50am saying that it was too
early for lunch! oh my gosh i cannot stand her attitude! btw, durin winter we get hungry easily. =x
i felt so relieved after we left nanjing and that not-up-to-standard tour guide and travelled to wuxi.
wuxi nothin much one leh. hmm. ok la dun so bad. later wuxi ppl say i biased! haha. there's the lake taihu lor. size of 4 singapores and requires 2 days 2 nights to get from one end to the other. o.O the shopping at parkson shopping mall was not fruitful. heh. so sian. we went back to the hotel to rest. that night we need not pack anything. it was quite relaxing. ( :
(alright. wuxi was quite boring. that's how i felt la. haha. =x yup.)Day 6 (Wuxi to (2.5 hours) Shanghai)in the mornin, we went to the pearl factory and my mum bought 5 bottles of day and night pearl cream. 2 bottles of day and night each for her friend. she also got 3 pearl bracelets for me and my cousin. the last one dunno for who. haha. my mum also bought 2 kinds of tea pots to brew the long jing cha we purchased in hangzhou. one of which can float on water. haha. so cute.
in shanghai we were brought to xiang yang lu. the place where many imitation goods very similar to the original are sold. they're arranged into catagories as well. like shui huo which is the best, followed by A, B, C and so on. however, that day was a sunday and the authorities have been extremely strict with these ppl. so no one sold such goods that day. luckily ivy that contacts and we could take a good look at the goods.
Day 7, 8 (Shanghai)the following day (which is our free day in shanghai) we went back to xiang yang lu and bought 2 BIG garbage full of goods. oh yeah, the shanghai ppl v fierce. i got scolded by a stall tender for not buying their specs after tryin. he said somethin like shen jing bing! ni bu yao mai?! ta ma de! haahha. =x after that we went back to nanjing lu in shanghai where our hotel is situated for more shopping! we had our dinner at 9+ at yonghe toufu (the 2nd dinner in a row there). well, the adults enjoy the food there cos it's healthy. for me, anythin goes i guess, not that i like it very much. at nanjing lu i bought DVDs, music CDs. i forgot to buy SHE's latest album but i bought luo zi qiang's and jj's album. i thought zi qiang's would be nicer to listen to. however, after listenin to both, i prefer jj's album. haha way to go!! jiayou jj!
we did ALOT of packing (we squeezed all the goods as tight and packed as we could to ensure that we could bring everythin back to singapore) that night and i slept close to 3am.
the last day we went to raffles shoppin mall there and took lunch. den left for the airport. somehow the last day seemed shorter den the rest. =( anyway, i still miss our tour guides, ivy and xiaoluo and the driver jiang shifu. 8 days together leh! haha. i took many pics with them. ( :
durin the trip back i watched shows again. i watched SKY HIGH!!! haha. quite nice sia. den i watched the comedy's like everybody loves raymond and joey and America's next top model. after i came back i took a bath and started watching the episodes of the 9pm show that my bro taped. he missed 2 epis. haiyoo. zz. nvm la. if i actually kill him for every mistake he makes, i think i would have killed him countless times already.
THE END!well, this is a VERY long entry huh. chinese girls are really pretty, especially our tour guides. haha. =) this trip was good bondin with my mum, uncle larry, aunty irene, shawn and hui zhern. we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
i think i'm quite naggy and long-winded in this entry but that was how i used to blog. haha. and ppl tell me that it's v long and they dun feel like reading. well, i doubt ppl will take the time to read this but i sure spent quite a deal of effort on this. hee. and that concludes the end of my trip in china. i'll be goin to malaysia on the 17th - 20th this time with jer my bro. so it'll be more fun!! yay! haha.
the holidays are soon gonna be over, and i still have to meet up with s10 peeps and have yet to go out with certain ppl. plus i still got work to do. like lots of work and revision!!! and there's christmas and meetings.. haha. how ar. =( why am i always fretting over work. sian.
oh ya, i brought back some stuff for my beloved friends! *sorry limited stock only cos i couldn't find anything suitable for all! haha. anyway, i've missed u all!!! haha. jasmine, rachel, wanqi, steph, socks, fung, angeline, erica, my buddy ryan, yuujin, ber and s10 and s205 ppl. paiseh if i missed u out, i missed all my friends in sg!
oh look, it's 5pm now.
jAn.[x]`~ *heartt felt words. ; at 1:51 PM
1:51 PM
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
i'm back!!!!
and im goin out again today.
hmm.. how should i update? i dun have much time. haha. later la. =D
jAn.[x]`~ *heartt felt words. ; at 10:12 AM
10:12 AM
Monday, December 05, 2005
last night was my cousin's1st birthday.
and it was also quite a night. because after we left ah yee's place, my mum found out that she misplaced the house keys. luckily we had an extra house key. however, she had locked her room before leaving and we don't have another set of room keys. so our parents were locked out of the room for a night.
phew! this mornin my mum called everyone up to look for the keys. jer (who staying over at ah yee's place) went down in search of the missing key pouch. by god's grace, he found it at the security guard house! someone returned it the previous night. =D
i've gotta pack pack pack now. haven't prepared for the trip yet! haha. cya guys when i get back..
jAn.[x]`~ *heartt felt words. ; at 10:29 AM
10:29 AM
Saturday, December 03, 2005
haha. i've finally watched hp with jas! ( :
crashing TP was fun too. haha. i met a few old friends there. =p
yesterday we had a friendly with nyjc and srjc. the outcome was.. quite good. at least we were satisfied but we cannot be contented with that alone. there're schools far better than the ones we played. *ahem. ajc.. ass whooping.* okay. we won the two jcs! yay. wheeee.. way to go mj squashers! after that we had dinner, and had to split up due to the space constraints in the fast food outlets during dinner period. so su han and i went to yoshinoya for dinner and met up with joseph guan long edmund and peimun later on to go home. haha. we had sucha good laugh on the train. i think we all went mad. and the other commuters seemed quite pissed with us making so much noise. =x
anyways, earlier on in the day i lost my footing and slided down a cement pavement. wah so paiseh leh!! i quickly tried to get up and carried on walking to school. luckily it wasn't obvious from afar. so i played my matches with an injured leg. haha. but i didn't get to play with ny and sr v captains. gotta train more!!! =D
jAn.[x]`~ *heartt felt words. ; at 9:24 AM
9:24 AM
Thursday, December 01, 2005
fucked up!!! *dun ask me to relax now. i'll cool off in a whiles time.
stupid brother again laa. waste my phone bills to call back. in the end also taped wrong channel.
fuck he's out of the toliet. hate his attitude as though he tried hard enough to prevent this from happening. sia la. he takes things too lightly if it doesn't concern him.
jAn.[x]`~ *heartt felt words. ; at 10:21 PM
10:21 PM
