Record timing..

I actually slept from 1000 to 1830 after my night shift..

Urban Decay Primer Potion!

I finally bought it!

I bought the 25ml (professional size) one for $50. Instead of the 10ml one for $32.
Price wise it makes sense and the 25ml one is in tube form which results in less product wastage as compared to the normal one.

Tried it yesterday and it really works!
Purposely put eye shadow to test it. And the eye shadow actually lasted my whole work shift which is about 15h.
First time my eyeshadow actually lasted so long!

Debated for super long before buying it.. But i eventually bought it cost if it really works means i can use any eyeliner without fear of it smudging, hence can but cheaper ones!
And i can finally put my eyeshadow to good use!

Ho Ho Ho!!

Christmas..

It came and went..

How i celebrated it?

I was working night shift on christmas eve and spent my christmas sleeping!

How exciting.. Not that i am complaining, i will probably be sleeping even if i am not working, wouldn't want to be out with all the crowd.

Hopefully i can clear some leave during Chinese New year! Too many leave dunno what to do..

Two weeks ago..

When i bought my 保济丸，I bought the box with 10 usage inside. Thinking i probably will not be needing it so often.

But i was so wrong, 2 weeks later, the box is almost finish..

And i realise i get diarrhea on average more than once a week recently..

Please tell me my stomach is normal..

My back almost killed me just now..

It hurts so much that i thought i couldnt walk..

Shucks..

FML

The first but definitely not the last time..

FML..

Shall thrive to reduce the chances of it, it is not worth wasting my beauty sleep..

I can do it!!

I should get a life!!

I feel damn no life!

What should i do??

When i first started my shift i will still get up on my off day at 8am go jogging etc.. Now i just sleep all the way till 2/3pm!

I feel as though i will grow fat and old and die!

Maybe i should join the girls for netball training..

Maybe i should find a gym and go to..

Maybe i should really just grow fat and old and die..

I am a siao cha bor today.. It happens when you have too much time but nothing to do..

My job..

So far, i am still loving my job!

Loving sounds wrong.. Haha, loving a job normally give the impression that someone is passionate about the job.. It sounds weird to be passionate about containers and vessels!

What i mean is, i have no regrets taking up this job so far.. I like operations work, and this is the kind of work i was looking for all along and so far so good..

I am fine with the shifts, in fact i get to sleep freaking alot! My favourite past time..

The company and the people there are great too!

Just had a bonding session with go-karting! So fun! Although i went home with a HUMONGOUS blueblack! N i really mean HUMONGOUS!

I can't wait to learn fast and be independent soon. Which means i can get the incentive soon as well, haha.. Of course, it will be even better if they include me into the $400 vouchers they are giving end of this month.. There is a 60% chance i am getting, hopefully i do.

Good pay, good benefits, good company, good career prospects and doing something i enjoy. What more can i ask for?

On a sidenote, i miss travelling! When will be my next trip? With whom? N where???

Was thinking today that i miss China, miss the travelling and doing ridiculous things.. Rushing for trains/ planes but not the missing it part.. Carrying the freaking heavy backpack and curse whenever we see the scanning machines.. Bargaining with people and more ridiculously, walk 4km before a 10km hike just to save $0.67?? hahaha..

It is probably only as student will we do things like that, in future we will probably use money to cover for the lack of time.. No longer will spend 10h sitting on the floor of the train or 24h smelling happy feet!

Why am i so fat??

I think is the age.. Old already..

Or maybe is it like what my bro's gf's doc say that now is the age that our body is preparing us to get pregnant thats why i have so much fat around my stomach??

I havent been eating alot.. Though my meal times are irregular.. Half the time during meals esp dinner i am too tired to eat much.. Eating half of what i used to eat, definitely not more..

Last time, as long as i skip 1 or 2 meals my tummy will be gone but it no longer work now.. Or rather i dont dare to skip my meals if not my gastric will give me problems again..

I do not eat supper either.. Even during my night shift.. Does biscuits and apples count as supper? But i have been resisting temptations by not eating the nasi lemak, wanton mee etc they have been buying back..

Why???


=((

Freaking angry!

First my brand new bottle of perfume went missing!

Now my brand eye cream went missing! WTF!!

I curse who ever to have been stealing my things to stink like shit no matter how much perfume she use and have huge eye bags n panda eyes and lots of wrinkles!

Freaking angry.. The perfume still not so heart pain cos is free but the eye cream freaking expensive.. I consider so long then buy, use a few times go missing le..

Birthday present..

I only wish for 1 present this year..

To find a job..

Will my wish come true?

Family

I think 1 of the biggest reward GIP have given me is to bring me closer to my family..

Back in SG, all of us lead our own lives.. Hardly have a chance to sit down and discuss things..

Amazingly when i am in China, i talk to my brothers more.. Even though it is true msn but we discussed more things and more in depth as compared to when i am in sg..

Even my dad, i learnt to appreciate him more..

I love my family..

For a moment..

I thought we were going to be held hostage or something..

Good thing nothing happened and we are safely in the hostel at urumqi, flying to chengdu tomorrow!

Time really flies!!

Keeping my fingers crossed that i do not fall sick now, let my body last till i am back in Singapore first!!

For a moment..

Back in Kashgar again!

The second time i bathe since i come xinjiang.. haha..

The scenery at Karakuli Lake is stunning! With snowcap mountains in the backdrop is beautiful..

Heading to Turpan next! Extreme weather change, temperature at the lake is about 10+degrees while Turpan is like 40+degrees..

Wooooo, gonna get baked there..

Brain Dead..

Damn tired..

Many nights of lack of sleep is draining..

And, it will continue for 3 more weekssss..

1 more week!!

When school for presentation today, finally got it over and done with..

And jietong is here!!! Omggg.. haha, that crazy girl.. Went qi pu lu and rushed to school..

Bought 1 red notebook and 1 yellow planner today.. Such bright colours will reduce the chances of me losing them..

haha, the notebook is meant for me to record down my trip details.. So exciting..

The planner is for me to use in singapore.. It is only 15RMB, so super cheap compared to the 25SGD one i bought in singapore (and forgot to bring to shanghai)..

Cant wait!! Huangshan (hiking and scenery), Xinjiang (hiking and scenery), Chengdu (hiking, scenery and PANDASS), Guangzhou (SHOPPING), Sanya (relaxing and suntan) and lastly haikou (flight) here i come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With the amount of hiking, does that mean i will lose weight?? Because hiking means super long distance of walking/ climbing upslope with a huge and heavy backpack and surviving only on bread/biscuit/fruits etc..

Will right? haha..

It is crawling byyy..

Time seem to be crawling by this week..

Normally just a blink of the eye the working days of the week will be over, this week it seem to be dragging on..

Cant wait for the 11th where jietong will come..

Monday we will go huangshan.. Can htht our way up the mountian..

19th will be the flight to xinjiang..

Kind of mixed feelingss.. Part of me cant wait to go back singapore, miss everything there, the food, the environment, the people and my darling!!

But another part of me dont wish to go back.. Because going back will mean i need to hurry find a job, no replies from those that i sent.

Will miss the super cheap and good food here.. The damn cheap shopping..

Booooo...

This is life, full of changes and we wont get the best of both worlds..

12

Thats the number of mosquito bites i got on my left foot (i was wearing long pants) just after sitting down for dinner for about 15mins..

Didnt go count the number of bites on the other parts of my body thoo..

I hate them... They suckssss.. Literally..

I wonder...

If one will lose weight from to much mosquito bitesss..

Tambourine

Yup, that thing. They had it at the KTV just now.

It was only when i saw that thing again that i recalled that during my primary school years, for about 2-3 years, i took part in a tambourine dance thingy.. Even performed at city hall or don't know where..

I was amazed that i can totally forgot that i did that before.. haha..

But come to think of it, why am i such a music/rhythm/dance idiot when i was exposed to ballet, Er hu, tambourine dance and cornet when i was young..

Can you imagine if i wasn't exposed to all these last time??


I will be a robot (maybe worst than that, robots these days can sing and dance).. OMG..

BOMBED..

By my boss..

He told me today that i need to produce 5g of my product if not i cannot leave..

Sometime which i have been working on for almost 3 months n failed to do so, i have to do it in 1week..

I am so dead.. Will i end up having to give xinjiang a miss??

Disappointing and disappointed

A reminder that knowing and understanding are 2 different things..

wtfffff..

Grrrrr..

Damn freaking irritated..

My internet just keep discounting, and i cant talk to the supplier in peace..

So i cant buy my things..

ANGRY!!

Mosquitoes!

The mosquitoes are horrible, they are devilish..

They buzz around your ears while you are sleeping and bite you like helll..


Hate them!

My feets are breakingggg..

Just because i went out for 4 hours in heelss.. omgg..

Stressed

Haven been so stressed before..

200SGD for: 5 pairs of shoes/sandals, 6 more formal dresses, 7 casual tops/dresses and 8 bagss..

Should i buy or not?

OMGG...

I guess..

We have been taking things for granted..

It takes two to clap..

The silence will not last for long..

How how how??

Saw like 5 sandals that i like yesterday..

Today saw another like a dozen bagsssss that i like..

Can i buy a few more and promise myself not to buy a bag in singapore for the next 1 year?

Sounds reasonable right? A bag in singapore will allow me to buy 5 bags here.. So i can choose 5 or maybe 10?? hahahahaha

Kang Kong!

Finally found it..

Cooked sambal kangkong today!! Not as nice as those in singapore but still quite okay..

2 more months to singapore food!!

Taobao

TAOBAO is AMAZING!!

Other than the fact that they have EVERYTHING in there (including 旺旺 and 生煎包).

They are also very organised and efficient (for most).

Most but not all of our things have arrived, some are not even sent out yet!!

But the thing it, the progress of the parcel is very detailed and updated that we can easily check where is the parcel at the moment.

Thats how we find out that Sharon's bag is taking a tour in Beijing.

Ebay is NOWHERE near them.

And they work such that, after we made payment, the supplier will deliver the item, only after we confirm that we received the item will the supplier receive their money. So less worries about being cheated!!

Keeping my fingers crossed that they do delivery on Sundays!!

Shopping!

Wooooohoooooo!

As of now, my 3 sandals, 1 bag, 2 skirt and 1 top have arrived!

Half more to go!!

You drew the line..

I will toe it..

Tireddd

Feeling very tired lately.. Think haven't been sleeping well lately..

Alot of things in my mind, been too busyy..

Things to be done:

1. My IA report.
2. My 2000 word chinese essay, 2 of it (ultimate killer)
3. Plan for my trips, xinjiang and zhangjiajie, and book air tickets as soon as possible
4. My experiments, very hard to make progress. The ventilation in my lab keep spoiling and once that happens i cannot do experiment. And i can only run 1 experiment at a time becuase people keep stealing my thingss. Worst thing, each experiment takes 2 days.
5. My company monthly report.
6. The worst one, produce 10g of the compound for my boss within 2 weeks. SHIT.

No wonder i can't sleep well, the only time that i can really concuss is when i am on the bus..

Spring

It never came..

Since we came we have been waiting for spring to come, because we cannot stand the coldness..

But when we left for beijing it was still pretty cold (~10 degrees), definitely not spring temperature..

When we came back the temperature is ~27 degree, is summer time!! Which i like..

But where is spring?? Have it been forgotten??

Chicken Head

Yes, chicken head..

Sharon is crazy. We want to cook some herbal chicken soup, so we bought a whole chicken. We wanted to cook it a bit tonight so that it will be nicer for tomorrow's dinner.

She took out the chicken and found the chicken head is still attached. After screaming, she pluck out the chicken head and went around scaring people.

She made Hedi come out of the toilet when she want to shit just to scare her.

We came out with a plan though, to hang it outside HER door. Yes, lynette, she totally deserve it.

XinJiang!!

Finally the details is more or less confirm, we will spend 10days there. Skipping Urumqi, the capital of xinjiang, our target will be the legendery Kanas Lake and Turpan.

And the most exciting thing is! We will be hiking for 7days straight to Kanas Lake! A distance of 65km.

We are kind of crazy. Sharon and i have been wanting to carry out our plan of bringing a tent with us when we travel and camp overnight wherever we think suitable.

Here's the plan:

Day 1: From Urumqi take an overnight bus at 8pm to Buerqin.

Day 2: Take a 2.5h car ride to Jiadengyu. Start hiking from there to Hemu. Over there we will stay at a frame house for the night.

Day 3: We will head to Hemu Kampong. Along the way we will go through, pine forest-covered 1300M-high mountain, the Bulalehan Bridge, bank of kanas river and Hemu river. A distance of about 18km. And we will camp overnight on a meadow!



Day 4: Will be a 4-6hours, 15km hike to Hemu. Will hike by Hemu River, a Brich forest and cross the Hemu bridge. Will get to feel the local life of nomadic Tuwa people and Kazakhs (no idea who are they) and will camp outside again!



Day 5: Will hike about 20km for 8-10hours to the Black Lake. According to the instructions, supposed to reach a valley and wriggle our way for about 15km and ascend a 2350M high Daban. Will camp overnight at Little Black Lake.



Day 6: Climb over a 2200M ridge to reach Kanas Village. Will then pass through a dense pine forest and finally reach the magnificent Kanas Lake. About 4-5hours and 15km distance. We will get to stay in a Yurt!!



Day 7: Will go around Kanas Lake!



7 days and we are only spending 2 nights in a proper accomodation. Think Donghong was kind of stun by us being overly excited about camping out. haha..



The pace of the hiking seem to be set at a leisure pace, so we probably will try to go faster and complete the hike faster so that we got more time for elsewhere!



After this we will head to Urumqi and finally Turpan! At the Turpan, there is the 火岩山, the one in 西游记. The ground temperature there is like 80 degrees. Always thought those places are fake.



Haha, cant wait for time to fly pass!!

Staying home sunday

I love staying home sundays, just relax and laze around, watch my xin guang etc..

I will be cooking tomorrow's lunch and sharon will cook dinner..

My lunch menu will be:

1. Sliced pork with shredded ginger
2. Minced meat with bitter gourd

haha, i suddenly got cravings for the first dish and sharon got cravings for bitter gourd, so ya..

Can't wait!

Grocery shopping!

Just came back..

So fun, my damage is 200+RMB! So expensive..

But next week's menu is:

1. Bak Ku Teh
2. White fungus dessert soup
3. Herbal Chicken Soup
4. Sweet potato porridge

Woohooooooooooooo......

Cooking!

Its pretty fun to try to come out with a dish with whatever random leftover ingredients in the fridge.

The fridge was only left with lots of lemons, a bit of veggie, 1 potato and spring onions.

Don't know what to cook but the first thing that came to my mind was 怱油餅. So since i have the time, i shall try it.

The outcome?

I can only say that, my cooking is not usually so bad..

Ooopss..

Ohhhhh..

Forgot to mention, we did not eat a single instant noodle on this trip! Which is a huge achievement because we always eat them on loongg train ridesss.

On the return trip, we bought like 1kg of strawberries, about 1kg of cherry tomatoes and 3 cucumber. Why the cucumber? Because we always see the chinese eating them, so we decided to try too.

What we did in Beijing..

Cant really remember exactly what we did, because by the last day we were really just anyhow finding a place to go.

Stomach wasnt feeling well since i was on the train to Beijing. Which sucks, because i didnt really get to fully enjoy the food there.

Took the T104 train to beijing. The train was packed! Really packed, worst than the time when we go Xi'an in CNY. But this time managed to sleep much more than that time.

We arrived around 11am, and went to the hostel. After going through all the checks in the underpasses, we went to Tiananmen which is filled with people. And GuGong, but after going in for awhile, i went back to hostel to rest, too not feeling well.

Slept alot. Really alot.

Was slightly better the next day. Second day, we went to a flea market somewhere. Didnt know what else to do, we went to the Qinghua university here. Lastly, to the 798 art district.

Third day was the highlight. We went to JinShanLing! Woooooo, we super cheapo. What we heard from the others was that, there is not public bus there, so need to book car. BUT, we found a bus that goes there! Which of course is cheaper. We super proud of ourselves. But we still super cheapo. After we alight from the public bus, there is still a 4km distance to the entrance. We were offered a 10RMB ride in for the 3 of us. BUT the cheapo us, refused to take the car, we decided to walk in. Under the HOT sun and before we are going to climb the 10km great wall which we were given ample warning by the guys that will cause cramps.

So we walked in. And climbed JinShanLing, part of it we have to climb with hands as well because it is not restored. Thats the beauty of the place. The other touristy part of the great wall are restored which means they are not exactly the original structure of the Great Wall. We walked from JinShanLing to SiMaTai. At SiMaTai, the great wall are mainly restored which is ugly. Took 4hours to walk the distance, not including the 40mins we took to walked the 4km beforehand. And the weather was super hot, maybe not as hot as singapore but still about 32degrees, got so much tanner after that.

On the last day, we were really anyhow whack place to go. Went to the bird nest, just took picture outside because we didnt want to spend 100RMB to go in. After that we decided to hop into a public bus and see where it bring us to.

Did not go to any fantastic place. Oh, i forgot to mention, Beijing have those trees that release cotton like things, so they look like snow flying around. It looks nice, but horrible to be in, because it makes the itchy nose even more itchy.

Anyway, at night we went to night market and i bought my PANDA. My panda~~

hahahaa, but the night market sells all kind of food. Like live scorpion to starfish to goat stomach to HUGE strawberries! The last one is my favourite of course.

The next day we took our train back to Shanghai. Was totally dreading the ride because we got no seats. Means we need to stand for 10h. BUT we went in very early and planted ourselves on the floor of the cafeteria. We really just plant oursleves there and made ourselves very comfortable, even more comfortable than the heat seat as we got leg room. hahaha..

And Home Sweet Home...

Beijinggggg!!

Frankly speaking, i don't really like Beijing.

Not that it is really that bad. Beijng as compared to Shanghai, have the cultural feel in it. The buildings are nice, those older kind of designs and the people are friendly and nicer too. The things are cheap too!

Almost everything there is cheaper than Shanghai! The train is only 2RMB no matter where you go and the bus rides are only 1RMB, that if you do not have their transport card, if you do there will be 40%. The starting price for the transport in Shanghai is already twice that price.

Other than these points, i can't think of other reason i would choose Beijing over Shanghai to stay in.

Had a bad first impression of Beijing.

From the train station we were going to take their metro to our hostel. Then, we saw a looonggg queue, not 1 but 2. The first is to buy the train tickets, the second is to go into the station.

Not only that, when we were making around, we realised Beijing uses mainly underpass at major crossing. Not that it is bad, especially in China's dangerous driving conditions, it is actually safer. But the thing is, in the underpass, there are lots of security checkssss, so we have to undergo security checkss just to cross the road. Very dumb. I would be more understanding if this is happening in Shanghai, there is the World Expo after all, so there have to ACT like they are checking even though the people behide the machines are just dozing off. But it is Beijing, and the last i heard, the olympics was over 2 years ago.

On top of that, they have a wonderful way of crowd control. Our hostel is located near a metro station (Qianmen Station) which is near the tiananmen (but there is another Tiananmen station). Because it is the labour day weekend and China people love going to Tiananmen during this kind of holidays and they expect a HUGE crowd there. The best solution they can come out with to curb the huge crowd? Close the MRT station. They shut down the Qianmen station for 3 days. Thanks.

Not forgetting that Beijing air is HORRIBLE. Considering that i do not have a sensitive nose, means that it is really BAD. From the first day i arrive, my nose start to itch non-stop till i leave. And the air there is very dry, so the inside of the nose tend to bleed a little, which makes it worst.

Other than JinShanLing (Great Wall), i am not interested in the other attractions. All the different temples or gardens and can you believe it, the universities there are actually an attraction. It was filled with China people and there are actually people queuing to go in. WTH..

Aunties in the making..

Think Sharon and i are slowly evolving to be aunties.

When we go supermaket, we will compare the quantity and prices of each brand and buy the cheapest one.

Even the way we bargain also super auntie..

The other time we were buying body foam. We happily got 1 that is very cheap and comes with a free 500ml refill. It is only when we are home then we realised, we only got 2 more months so it is not possible to finish them. We see got free thing so just buy..

Cooking is fun!!

Enjoy searching random recipes and trying them out.

Shall cook more when go back Singapore, i think i make a good cook!

Yummyyyy

I am proud of myself..

For actually waking up at 6 this morning to run!

A pretty good start! =)

H&M

I love this place!! I like the clothes there and they are pretty affordable if we consider Singapore pricing.

If only they have it in Singapore.

I just bought a yellow top which i totally love and a tube top. Thats after controlling myself ALOT! haha..

I like the bikini! haha, and alot other topsss!

Booohooo, no money..

Curry!!

Hengwei came and went over the weekend. He brought lots of curry powder for us!! I can't wait to cook them, waaahaa.. Was expecting him to bring like only 1 packet but he brought a whole bag of it. Happyyyy..

Went to Zhujiajiao and it is a whole weekend of eating, eating and more eating.

I totally love the Xiao Yang Sheng Jian Bao, it is heavenly. The soup is fantastic and the crust is perfect. Brought both Hengwei and Gerald to eat them when they were here and they love it too! That is probably one of the few food i will miss when i go back to Singapore.

Had fun with Hengwei, all the stupid things we do and the jokes that probably only singaporeans will laugh at. Stupid Hengwei wearing our bunnies, haha..

Next up, Jietong!! She come over on the 11th June!! WAhahaaaa!! Can't wait!!

Puzzled..

I am EXTREMELY puzzled..

Holes have been appearing on my jeans.

When the first one appeared, i thought maybe i scratched it, it is not too visible so i ignored it.

When the second one appear, a larger and obvious one, i was wondering is it acid corrosion when i work in the lab. I work with very concentrated sulphuric acid quite often and they tend to even corrode the needles i use to contain them, so i thought it is due to that.

When the final one appeared, a HUGE one! It is located at the inner thigh, near my butt, so i doubt the acid will get there, i have no idea why it happened. And they are all located on the left side.

Now i can't wear ths jeans anymore, it is probably about 1 year from Uniqlo not some weird China brand, boooo...

Need to waste money buying new one.. =(

I'm loving it!

I like my hair!!

Straighten my hair again! Although it is only slightly cheaper than in Singapore, i think it is worth it! Cause i like it alot, was very scared that it will be very flat, but its not and quite naturally! Think most people can't really tell it was straighten.

The hair dresser is quite good, the assistant who did the whole process is equally good as well!

Need some time to get use to my hair being down though, too used to tying them all the time..

Nanjing!

Just came back from Nanjing!

Nanjing is horrible, at least those part that i see of Nanjing is horrible. The traffic is crazyy. Jam everywhere. And there are people EVERYWHERE. But maybe it is just because the places we went are tourist places, hence it is crowded.

We went to 5 places. But not alot of pictures taken because alot of places cannot take pictures.

The first one is the Sun Yat-Sen burial place. It is amazing how they plan that place and how much the people respect him. The trees all around the place where made to all branch at the same height in a very neat way so as to represent soldiers guarding the place. The number of steps leading to the top is 392. It is speculated to represent the number of emperor in the chinese history and Sun Yat-Sun was the one who overthrew the whole system. So it is saying that by walking on the steps, you are walking on their heads. There are alot of other minor details that they considered when building the place.

The second place is the Zhu Yuan Zhang burial place. Cant remember much about the place. The guide just mentioned alot about the china history things. Think his history really very zai.

After that we went fu zi miao. Is like a night market. The place is super super crowded. And we are only given about 1h. Didnt have time to walk around anyway. But shar did a stamp thing for her brother. I think i beginning to be very auntie when i bargain, cannot take it.

Then, we went to our hotel. The hotel is GOOD. Is those one night about 400RMB kind, normally the ones we stay is only 60RMB. We damn comical and very sua ku when we went in. The hotel room have a computer too! And cable tv! AND water bed! haha, can sleep on soft bed for once after 3 months. But shar and i very anti-social, we stayed in the room to nua instead of going out.

The next day, we went to the Nanjing da tu sa memorial place. It is a pity. The place is huge. But it is very crowded as usual and the guards keep chasing us to be faster even before we can read anything. And worst of all, we are only given 1h and after rushing through, we have only seen like 25% of it. But it is sad the way the japanese went against the international treaty and killed the civilians like that. The rape cases are also crazy, some prettier girls are raped like 40 over times at 1 go. Some even have things stuffed up their vaginas, those people are crazy.

After that we went to the Zhong Tong Fu, the president place. Very crowded too. And raining. And it is the usual history things.

But the good thing about this trip is that it is fully paid for. I didnt have to pay a single cent, so shiok. Also get to learn the history about china, much better than reading any textbooks. Bought a book titled "Raped of Nanking" few days back, shall go read and learn more when i am done with the current book.

3 day work week!

Love the long weekends. Only got 3 days to work this week!

My phosphoric acid finally arrived today, means i got things to do!! Going to run 2 experiments tomorrow!

Got plenty of things to keep me occupied today as well. Typed a very long email, the longest email i have ever typed so far. Awaiting reply.

Oh, the job i want at CAG is gone!! Boohooooo...

Back from Anji!

Been to lazy and tired to blog. Nothing exciting in my life too.

Just came back from Anji County, a ulu part of Hangzhou and we went to the very ulu part of Anji so conclusion is we went to a very ulu place.

This is the trip where i ate the most motion sickness pills, the most snacks, spent most time sleeping, spent most time waiting and took the most bus rides.

Not to mention, i went to the various horrible toilets in China. Although they are not as bad as those toilets in Huashan where it is jus a hole, they are still BAD.

The first one we went to is without doors. And the toilet bowl is a long drain that shared by a whole row of cubicles, so don't be surprised to see whatever the person next door release float by you.

Second one, hmmm, in a way better because got doors. Same toilet bowl system. But the cubicle doors/walls is till your wasit only. So can you imagine how weird it is.

But we have no choice.

First day of school!

Haven been updating much cause nothing happening is happening.

Started school at Jiaotong today.

First lesson was quite okay, the teacher quite weird/funny. Kept telling stories, next few of his lessons will be watching movies. Hopefully, tml's lessons will be interesting.

After lesson, ate lunch at XuJiaHui area, then we went Peoples' Square to walk around.

After that, we walked to this street that sells antique, quite interesting. I like those antique locks, interesting mechanism, didnt buy though.

After that we walked to YuYuan old street, near the Cheng Huang Miao and from there walked to Nanjing East road. Walked for about 6h, my legs are totally giving way.

On the way back, Shar and i bought 5 more books! Borrowed 2 more DVDs from our classmates. More entertainment for us!!

Too tired type more, its a very summarised version of our walking, haha..

Wheeeee..

So happy..

Got the product that we want for my experiment already!

Just need to repeat the experiment to show consistent results can already.

But boss seem happy with the results too!!

Got half day yesterday for the womens' day! Perfect life, 4 day week, still got half day, means 3 and a half day of work this week only!!

The only irritating thing is that stupid prof who refuses to reply to our email. Hate him!

Haiz..

Sharon and i have no life..

For the weekends, we normally come home to cook for dinner, watch tv, use internet, then sleep early. Reason for doing so, almost all weekdays is cause we working the next day and to save money.

But we stayed home for friday night too, and i am off on fridays, so it means i was home the whole day.

We spent friday night watching 宫心计 on dvd till 4am.

Woke up at 11am on Saturday, saw that it was raining and very cold, we decided to stay in bed and continue our dvds.

We only left our bed for toilet and meals. We had fried rice for lunch and instant noodles for dinner. And the most exciting thing we had for the whole of saturday? Is to have a fruit feast. We had pear, mango, pineapple, strawberries and orange. Wow, we were actually so exciting over that, FML, haha..

We slept at around 4 am on saturday again, after we finished the whole series within 2 days.

This wasn't what i had expected us to do in a foreign land, though it feels shiok to nua.

Good thing we got out of the house (though rather late) on sunday and go shopping!!

And we bought alot of things (what's new), for less than S$50, i bought erm 5 shawls (i know i only got 1 neck), 1 bag, 3 tops, 3 dress. So shiok!

Shall buy like 3 years worth of things back to singapore, haha..

WuXi!

Went Wuxi on Saturday, nothing much to do there, we only went to the 太湖，where the 三国城 is. Where they filmed all the ancient dramas.

After that, we were in a shopping mood. So we decided to head back to the train station and find a hotel first.

So we tried to find a cheap but decent hotel.

While finding our hotel, we saw this building that totally specialises in spectacles. Decided to go in and have a look. About 1h or slightly more later, we came out, both with new glasses! haha..

But the glasses there are really cheap, my cost about 270RMB which is about S$55. The frame plus the lenes (which is not the cheapest ones), and to our amazement, we can get them almost immediately! I made a black and apple green specs.

Then, we continued with our hotel search, walked very far and long but still cannot find a very cheap one. In the end, have to make do with a not so cheap one.

We walked around our hotel area and shopped a bit. I didnt buy anything tho, too cheapo.

On sunday, we went to this very big shopping compound, they have everything there, really everything. Didnt find any shoes or bag that i like, but still managed to get 3 tops. Bored of the place so we went somewhere else, there are like a big shopping place round each corner, anyhow walk also can find shops.

After all the shopping, bought in total 4 tops, 1 pair of leggings, 1 pair of glasses and erm, 4 necklaces!

Oh no, major damage, haha..

Off day!

Not working this friday again! So shiok..

Spent the whole day slacking and watching xin guang but my internet load so slow..

Other than that, also washed 4 load of clothes. Good thing our washing machine good mood today, can spin dry, if not sure very sian..

I cooked Bak Ku Teh today too!! Very NICE!! Haha.. The meat is tender, nice soup too, can cook more often..

After that, Shar and i supposed to catch our train to Wuxi, BUT, we missed the train.

Good thing the trains in China allow you to change the train timing de, we changed it to tml morning.

We will be in Wuxi tml!!

Back in Shanghai!

Finally, back home safe and sound.

Think it takes a lot of guts to travel with shar and me, we do all the most ridiculous things ever.

Our trip started with us only having a one way ticket to 西安. No return ticket and the only thing we know about that place is that we can visit the terracotta, climb 华山 and go the muslim quaters there eat. So we have a total of 8 days there to do all that and try to either get a train ticket online or spend about $240 on plane ticket.

After being there for a few days, we figured that the train option is out and we have to spend the super bo hua money on the air tickets.

But on the 2nd or 3rd day, we met this lady at our hostel from beijing who tell us that we can try going 郑州 and from there, there will be plenty of train back to 上海 and from our guide book, all we know about there is that 少林士 there and we can go visit!

So we changed our plans.

After spending 3 days at 西安 , we will make our way to 临彤 and visit the terracotta with our huge backpack and all. And from there we will go 华山. From 华山, we will take a newly open train line to 郑州 and get a train from there back to 上海. If not, we will use our back up plan which is the plane, even so we still save about $100 as compared to taking from 西安.

Perfect planning, it seems.

So on wednesday morning, we went to the train station at 西安 and tried to ask buy the tickets from 郑州 to 上海. But once again, it is sold out, so we are left with our back up plan.

From the train station, we took this bus that is supposed to bring us to a 2 attractions that we want to go which is the terracotta and 华凊池。

In the end, the stupid bus brought us to all other attractions that we are not interested in and neither of the 2. Halfway through, we got inrritated and decided to confront the lady, when they brought us to a damn stupid egyptian place.

I was the one doing most of the talking (shar always make me be the bad person). We asked where else will we go and why are they bringing us to all these places that we are not interested in. She actually said that we can choose to wait on the bus if we are not interested. WTH. And there are acutally 2 more places followed by 1 lunch place before the terracotta, it is already 2plus and the terracotta closes at about 5pm.

Here is a summary of our conversation (we decided to sound damn cocky on purpose)
After coming out of the egyptian place which we barely stepped in for 5mins.

Lady: Since we have to pay for the entrance fee because we have went in, why not make full use of it and just visit it? (in chinese of course)

Me: Don't want, we don't want to waste time. If we want see all this, we rather fly to egypt to see, why bother coming here. (We then, told her to refund us the remaining of our money and we will go the terracotta on our own)

Lady: So you girls leave here, how are you girls going to the terracotta? Spend money take cab? (She still trying to convince us to stay)

Me: Don't want. We don't want to waste our time. We like to spend money to take cab go there. (with my killer stare, haha)

So shar and i took our backpack and went off, without knowing where are we or worst still, where is the terracotta. We just want to be very sei. haha.

Good thing we are street smart enough. We went to the nearest hotel and asked where is the terracotta. Apparently, it is only 7km from our location so we decided to hop on a cab.

Very unluckily, the cab that we hop on, the driver kept convincing us to go to this jade factory so that he can earn some conmission which we refused to. In the end, we are stucked in a jam and we were made to alight at this other attraction by the cab driver. So we went to visit the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. Walked around the place and went up a very long flight of steps with our very heavy backpack. Not really worth visiting, but when we were in there, we overheard a guide saying that the terracotta is about 1.5km away. Seems not that far a distance to walk, since we already walked 19km the day before.

So we decided to walk there and bought a sweet potato for our lunch, machiam war time.

After finishing up our sweet potato and walking for quite a while, we still have not reached. Just then, a public bus came by and asked if we are going to the terracotta and told us to hop on for only $0.20 each. Apparently, 1.5km is probably the distance to the back gate of the place, the entrance is still quite a distance away.

The terracotta is amazing, we got a guide to bring us around, totally worth it, if not all we see will be clay models only. I bought 2 jade bangles for about $30 each, 1 for my grandma, 1 for my mum. Hope they like it. Also, bought a set of terracotta models for fun.

After that, we had dinner and asked around for directions to 华山. Initally we thought it will be quite easy to get transport there, but apparently that is not the case. We have to take 1 public bus to a place and change a bus to 渭南. The minibus is those really country bus kind, a bus conductor will be there to manually open and close the door, collect bus fares, etc. Quite an experience.

We finally got to 渭南 and realised that it is too late to get a bus to 华山. So we have to spend the night at 渭南. The bus driver brought us to a motel to stay for a night. The motel is kind of sleazy looking and coldd. We didnt dare to bathe that night.

Thursday morning, we finally took a bus to 华山. The 华山 trip deserves an entry by itself, hopefully i will be able to include some pictures.

Anyway, on 华山, we met an uncle who told us when in 郑州, we have an option of taking bus too. About 12h bus ride to 上海, more expensive than train but definitely cheaper than plane.

Whao, another hope for us. After staying 1 night on the mountian, we went to 华山北站, the station where there is alot of train to 郑州 but more expensive, so probably lesser people will take it.

But when we got there, we found out that all the tickets were sold out. So we decided to go to another train station at 华山 to try our luck. Luckily or unluckily, we managed to get a train ticket, but no seating. Means we have to stand for 5hours. OMG. No choice, make do with it, we bought snacks and food to entertain us for the 5h. BUT, we forgot to bring the whole bag of snacks onto the train, well done.

We were lucky though, after about 3.5h, the family we were standing next to alighted, which means we can take their seats!

Reached 郑州 at 12midnight, when we were about to alight from the train, a guy told us that there is a train departing from the station to 上海 soon. And we can try buying a train ticket on board the train. The train ride is probably about 20h and if we cant get a seat means we need to STAND. But when we took a look at the train, it seems damn damn packed, we decided not to be crazy.

When we got out of the train station, all we wanted is to have a good meal and good bath. Because we didnt have dinner and when we were at huashan, we ate mostly cup noodles. Worst thing is, we have not bathe for 2 days, very gross.

But we were approached by this lady who say that there is a bus leaving for Shanghai soon. We went to take a look at the bus, the lady then say that the Shanghai bus just left, suggest that we take the another bus to Hangzhou or Nanjing instead. Sensing that she was lying to us all along, we refused to take the bus.

Went for dinner, and settled into a good hotel to pamper ourselves a little. Finally had a good bathe, super shiok.

Next morning (sat), we went to the bus station to get tickets. The bus station very funny, they have this announcement thing that keep going on and on. It kept repeating for passengers to not listen to the touters outside and only buy authorised counters. Touting is like the way of life in china, happen everyway and that is the only place that make such an announcement.

Anyway, we were super happy that we can get tickets to Shanghai, we save about $200 as compared to plane. We got went for lunch and was happily shopping. Then, it struck us. Our 12h bus ride is at 3.20pm to Shanghai. 12h means we will reach by 4 in the morning?? And which part of Shanghai?

In the end, we really reached at 4am at the other end of Shanghai and we have to take cab back. The cab not very cheap, because in China, the cab ride for short distance very cheap but if long distance it can be quite expensive. But overall, we still save alot.

Finally, home sweet home..

西安 day 2!

Planned to go some wildlife zoo place today but in the end, due to being too tired and cannot wake up so we postponed our plans.

In the end, we decided to go to the bell and drum tower today, managed to get student discount, so only cost 30RMB.

It is nothing really really special, got to see alot of those long long thing hit the round round thing only.

The snow is beautiful though.

After that, we decided to go to the city wall of xi' an, cost us 40RMB cos they refused to give us student discount.

Went we enter, shar and i went to this backyard place and we built a snowman! My hands were hurting like crazy as i do not have any gloves on. The snowman in the end died a unfortunate death, by having its head rolled off the tower.

After that, we decided to walk the whole of the city wall, which we found out later is 19km. We spent a total of 5h up there walking.

They were having some lantern festival thing up there too, some are really nice, there is a merlion there too.

We walked from 3pm when the sun is still up high, till the sunset, till the lanterns all lit up.

And the best thing was, towards the last part of our journey, alot of people we playing with fireworks, so we were surrounded by fireworks! Get to watch them for free!

Kind of shag from all the walking, legs and back are aching..

Going to the wildlife animal place tml! Hopefully is good!! =)

西安

After 16h of torturous train ride, we finally reached.

The journey is really omg.

We took the 特快(T) train, perviously we have only took 动(D) train before and the hard seats are still quite okay, thought it will be the same for all, we decided to save money and take the hard seats too.

Totally regretted it.

The hard seats are horrible. The seats cannot be adjusted, hence you have to sit upright throughout. Not only that, the seats are arranged such that four person (2 pairs) will sit facing each other. So there is no way you can straighten your legs as there is another person in front of you. To make things worse, the lady in front is eating NON-stop and in a super unglam manner.

After 16h, i realised sharon and really sleep in the weirdest position.

To think that we initially contemplated getting standing tickets back to shanghai for the train so as to save money, thank god we didnt.

And when we reached, it was snowing!! Temperature here is about -2 to 3 degrees i think. Colder than Shanghai in figures but dont really feel as cold.

Didnt do much things for the first day, alot of places are closed, just walk around our hostel and explore the area.

Btw, our hostel is nice! Cheap and good, plus free beer! haha..

I love snow!

ANGRY!

Never knew that such ridiculously selfish idiots existed. I freaking do not care if they read this or not, because it is the truth.

I am perfectly fine even if we do not hang out or even talk to each for the remaining months, i will probably feel happier.

I shall complain everything, dont care!

Everything started with Sharon and i having the smallest room, our wardrobe is really tiny, smaller than the size of a door. Although it is not really a choice, i really think we over paid. The rent was split whereby the double room pays 40%, n the 2 single room pays 30%. And double room means a room size for 2 person.

I understand that it is without a choice, the design of the apartment is like this so we would have to make do with it. But they do not seem contended with what they got and is forever complaining about our house this and that when shar and i do not even complain about our tiny room.

They are simply 2 pampered and rich kid who are self-centered. They are only concerned about whether they have access to facebook, whether THEIR heater is working or whether THEIR water is warm.

Inititally, we agreed to split the electricity bills equally, but i am begining to think we should do otherwise. Their electricity comsumption is freaking high.

Once they reach home, they would on the heater in each of their room and also the small portable heater. Not to mention, the times they (she) "forget" to off the room heater before going work and let it run for HOURS.

When we first move in, our house electricity will constantly trip and once it does, we will have to try to on the heaters one by one with about 15min interval. We have 4 heaters in total, 1 in each room and another 1 in the living room. Shar and 1 were sitting in the living room doing things, after putting the electricity back on, the have the cheek to even ask that they on their room heater first. Does it not make sense that the living room heater first?? Simply because it is THE living room.

to be continued.. there are many more but i will slowly add them when i have the time..

杭州 part 4! Finally!

On Sunday, we initially planned to go conquer the 吴山 (it isnt really high, more of a hill), then go 西溪湿地。

But in the end, due to time constraint, we decided to go straight to 西溪湿地, took a public bus there, it is quite far from our hostel and walked there. Our feet were killing us, super painful and both of us were like limbing. And sharon walked like a duck. haha.

We made it to the place in the end, walked around the area, it is a little like 周庄, but much less commercialised, much less crowded and most importantly there is not entrance fee.

Hang around there till we got tired and feet painful, we decided to head back.

On the way back, we saw the road where the massage place that sharon found online. Decide to alight from the bus to find the place. But took several attempts to get the name right, it went from 莫仙路 to 莫千山路 to finally 莫干山路 .

The stretch of road is freaking LONG. We started from No. 1 and the shop we going to No.755. And our feet were really too painful, we walked halfway and decided to hop a cab.

Found the place and did 推拿 and it includes the the ba guan thingy. My back is damn ugly now.

On a sidenote, my roomie is soo smart. We saw a temple called 岳飛庙 and she happily said, i want to go in see got rabbit not! I was a little confused, then realised that she thought that 庙is the same as the chang e one. Wth..

杭州 part 3

On Saturday, it was raining the whole day, but we still went out armed with an umbrella.



We went to 西湖. Very pretty and very cold. Took a boat ride to a island and walked around somemore for 45RMB. Took the boat mainly because it is freaking cold and we just want to seek shelter, shall not take anymore boat in China, they are quite a waste of money.



Walked around the place somemore but quite repetitive although it is very pretty. The 2 of us too cheapo, refused to go into any of those temples or pagoda that we are required to pay.



Dont think it make sense to charge entrance fees for temples as it is supposed to be a holy place and any donation should be given willingly and not being charged.



Then, while looking at some map, this really cute and nice old lady approached us and ask us where we want to go. She recommended us to go to some places and even wrote down in detail the buses we have to take and the time to walk. The people at Hangzhou seem alot more helpful. Think if this happened in Shanghai, we will probably think the person is trying to lure us somewhere.



We went according to what the old lady recommended. Took bus 27 and went to this place called 老龙井。 It is a well where the emporer when before and supposingly washing your hands and face with the water there will bring good luck.



We went there, walked up the hill, expecting to see a magnificient well, but what welcomed us is a tiny little well. Which stunned us. But since we are there, we just went ahead to wash our face and hands.

After that, we went to drink tea at this old lady's place, wanted to buy some tea back since that place is famous for their tea. In the end, shar and i bought 250g of tea each and it cost about S$40 and that is after the price being reduced by quite alot.

After that, we wanted to go some pagoda but need to pay and after paying for the tea we too cheapo did not go in again. And we took our own sweet time to walk to the 河坊街 as we intend to meet the rest of them for dinner there. But we reached there very early and we walked around the area.

Dont know why when walking halfway, my shin started to be very painful, those sharp pain when i walk. Feel like an old woman. Then, think the sneakers not very suitable for long distance walking, my feet was super painful too. Boooo..

Anyway, we had dinner at the food street. China people or rather stallholders like to anyhow call their food. We order deer meat but it is chicken instead. Ordered mango dont know what and end up is peach. Ordered beef, end up is pork. Wth..

杭洲 part 2

Day 2, didn’t really do much. Had breakfast in the morning, haven’t had such a fulfilling breakfast in a long time.

Took a cab with Minghui to 杭洲 area, very expensive, cost about 130RMB. The cab driver kind of lost his way and I decided to alight just somewhere at 西湖 and find my way to my hostel while Minghui continue the journey.

After staring at the map for very long, I realized I happened to have alighted at a place rather near my hostel. The good thing about 杭洲 is that there are maps everywhere, at the parks and especially at the bus stopss.

Trusted my instincts and asked around and i finally found the hostel!

The hostel looks pretty nice, with a huge and cute golden retriever too. The staff there are pretty nice and friendly too. The only downside is that the bathing water is HORRIBLE. I couldnt bathe properly at all. The water pressure is pathetic, think even my pee is stronger. The water temperature is either too freezing cold or burning hot, i was screaming inside the toilet all the while.

After checking in to the hostel, i explored the hostel surroundings.

I didnt bring a small sling bag with me for this trip, only my huge backpack. So when i went out i had to put everything into my pocket which is pretty inconvenient. So i just happened to come across this shop that sell very cheap things and i also just happened to see a quite okay sling bag for 29RMB, so i bought it, since i need one. Haha. Perfect reason.

After that, i tried to find my way to the train station. Everyone i asked told me to take the bus which i didnt want to since i have plenty of time before shar arrives and i want to explore more places so i prefer to walk there.

I wander around some more and came to this street called 河坊街 which is pretty similar to the 山塘街 in 苏州. Walked around there before slowly making my way to the train station.

Followed the maps at the bus station i mangaed to reach the train station pretty early, so proud that my navigation skills are still quite good!

杭洲 Part 1

Went to 杭洲over the weekend, for 4 days to be exact.

Thursday, set off from the company at about 11am on a bus to 余杭, at the outskirts of 杭洲. Reached the hotel the company arranged for us, Aigrette Resort Hotel, a five-stars hotel.

When we reached there at about 1pm, we went straight for the company annual staff conference, it took place for about 3 hours. 3 torturous hours, almost died. Initially, still tried to listen, too bored and doesn’t concern me at all, I decided to used the wireless on my hp to surf the net. After a while, still too bored, I finally rested my eyes.

After the conference, we collect our room keys and went to our room. I shared a room with Minghui.



The room is huge and really really nice. The dinner starts at 7pm and we have about 2hours to rest before that. And I made full use of the nice bed and napped.

Went for the cocktail thing before the dinner, which was super awkward. Because we knew no one there and we looked really out of place. Everyone was in long sleeves and long pants while I am in sleeveless and minghui in shorts. In the end, we just wondered around the hotel surroundings till the dinner start and we awkwardly joined a table.

The dinner was quite okay, but is rather unlike the dinner in Singapore. Instead of the normal 8 course meal we are used to, we had an almost 20 course dinner. Consist of 1 cold dish, 2 dish of fish, 3 kind of weird soup, 2 dish of prawns, 1 mutton dish, 1 chicken, 3 veggie and some random things that I don’t remember. They also do not serve the dishes 1 by 1, but it will probably take forever if they do, the dishes were served continuously till the whole table is filled.

There were performance put up by the various departments, it is amusing watching those people who are usually very serious-looking play some weird roles. All of us had a good laugh. There was also a best performance competition, too bad my department did not win it. I did not win any of the lucky draw prizes too. However, I heard from my colleagues that those who went but did not win any lucky draw prizes will be given a 阳光扑照award thingy, and it is 300rmb cash, hopefully they include the interns. Haha.

After that, we just went back to our room, back to the comfortable soft bed. ZZzzzz


Wanted to upload pictures to make it more interesting but too troublesome.

Lazyyyy

Been too lazy to update recently.

Didnt have the time and chance to rest and sleep in for about 2 weeks plus.

Worked 5 weekdays, went 苏州 over the last last weekend, worked another 3 days and went 杭州 for 4 days.

Apparently, it can be tiring to travel too much too..

Working another 4 days this week (i hope) and will be going to 西安 for 8 days over the Chinese New Year.

Wahahaha...

But need to start budgeting myself already, been spending way too much on i dont know what, not really shopping much already but money still disappear FAST.

Cant wait for 西安！！

Diet plan

I shall be a good girl and start my diet plan.

Knowing me, i will die without food, so it will definitely not some crazy starving myself plan.

My strategy:

1. Eat till 70% full. My 70% full is a normal girl's VERY full, so it is still erm.. full
2. Eat lesser rice. Can do that in china, especially my company lunch, their serving for lunch is alot so i can be full without even eating the rice.
3. Drink green tea. Since the food here is super oily, i shall drink green tea everyday to help remove the oil from my system.
4. Cut down on my milo. Hahahaha.. Cos my company have free milo, so i will make milo, limiting myself to 2 cups per day at the moment. BUT.. hahaa.. My milo is.. Using the normal paper cup, i will add like 4 full teaspoon of milo powder, 1 cube of sugar and add water. After that add another 2 more spoonful of milo powder. Wahahaha.. So i should really cut down on it. Maybe 1 teaspoon less? haha..

Thats all for the moment. I haven seen 55 on my weighing scale for a longgg time. Hope i can lose some weight by the time i go back.

Heh, eating 山楂 the fruit at the moment, the only thing i remember from my tcm last sem is that eating the fruit help to lose weight!

No complainss

I shall not complain that the laptop i got is a 7 year old one.

I shall not complain that because it is 7 year old, it is super S L O W.

I shall not complain that the battery life is ZERO seconds

I shall not complain that the keyboard is super not sensitive and i need to type super hard.

I shall not complain that the mousepad things is equally not sensitive that it is hard to control.

I shall not complain that the whole operating system is in chinese and i take longer to do simple things.

I am not complaining, i am still not complaining.

I shall train my patience and practice my chinese, at least i have something to entertain me when i am bored. At least i can search for things i do not understand when i read the journals.

No complainss

Finally!!

Finally, going to get my laptop at work tomorrow!! Hopefully, that narks the end of my boredom!!

Finally, got my scholarship money! Hopefully, i can buy my camera! Saw 1 online selling for about $170, will go down to the shop 1 day to take a look!

Finally, can go Suzhou this weekend! Just bought the train tickets today! And Hangzhou will be next weekend! And the next weekend? Is Chinese New Year!! Wahahahaha..

New discovery

Apparently, i have amazing immune system.

Most of the people in my department had food poisoning symptoms like vomiting after taking thursday lunch at our workplace, some even went to the hospital.

And the symptoms i got? More and louder fart! hahahaha..

Weekend again!

Love weekendssss, especially when i have such a long weekend!

Went with Sharon, supposed to meet Alex but he last min need to go back office, so meeting him tml instead.

We went to our tailor to collect our clothes but i didnt managed to bring anything back. Cos everything was too loose! Think i lost alot of weight, the clothes are super loose at my hips area and the pants are super baggy. In the end, need to alter and collect again tml.

After that, we decided to head to Shanghai Book City which is at People's Square station and as usual, on our way there we side tracked. We saw this stall selling super cheap things and decided to pop by.

In the end, I left the stall with 1 fake Agnes b black bag for 39RMB, 2 wool long sleeves top for 29RMB each, 1 shawl for 19RMB (divide the price by 5 to know how cheap it is), haha..

Then, we finally went to the book city and bought 2 travel guide books. 1 for Shanghai and the other for China. Much much cheaper to buy here than in Singapore, like probably cheaper by 70%.

We continue to walk around People's Square area after that and i bought 1 hat/cap/whatever for 23RMB and 1 fake RED Agnes b wallet for 39 RMB. I love the wallet, so nice and good quality and of course, most importantly, it is freaking cheap!!

Feet and legs were breaking after that, walked around somemore, saw some shoes that i like but dont have my size, think it is almost impossible to find shoes of mine and sharon's size in China, so depressing..

Ohhh, before we started our shopping adventure today, we found a counter at our Metro station selling Railway tickets! Which means in future, we can simply buy our tickets to SuZhou or Hang Zhou or whichever Zhou we going from there! Dont have to travel so far to get our tickets!

And also, we found a ctrip counter, it is a website where we can book our air tickets for domestic and international flights, we got a VIP membership card for free!

What a fruitful day!

And the shopping continues tml! We will be going to Ikea (MEATBALLS!!), collect my tailored clothes and hopefully Bao Shan Road to find my camera. Saw some forum that says the person bought a Sony laptop for S$600 there!!

Wow..

Apparently, extreme climate changes do change your menstrual cycle too..

Tried and tested..

Shop Shopped Shopping!!!

Wahaha.. Went shopping with shar at the supermarket i go everyday to take my company shuttle bus call yi chu lian hua.

The things there are much more and cheaper than metro! Shall not shop at metro unless neccesary!

Shar and i damn cheapo.. We went for the cheapest for everything. We bought a set of track suit for 89RMB. I bought a pair of Pony sneakers for 80RMB. Shar also bought a Fox top for dont know how much but also very cheap! Caues the things at fox were going for 80% and 90% discount!! Wahahaa..

I wanna shop shop shop!!

Did my first experiment!

Not really first experiment, just my first experiment at work excluding those from school. At least there is something to look forward to, instead of just sitting there and reading journals all dayyyy.

Doing experiment at a research lab is very different from doing it in school.

In school, you are given a certain set of apparatus that you use all the time, hence you know they are clean as you wash them yourselves. The equipments and solution and everything is properly prepared for you by the lab tech. All you have to do is to idiot proof-ly add everything according to the lab manual or best still blindly follow what the person next to you is doing, anything not sure, there is always the TA.

However, in the Research lab, you are trying to come out with a way to produce a product that no one else have done before. So you have to come out of the reactants, conditions, concentration, quantity, temperature, etc. So you are expected to do your own research, derive and calculate everything yourself.

Not only that, there is no longer any lab tech to prepare and place out everything nicely for you. You have to look for your own apparatus from the most complicated equipments to the most basic like cotton wool. And because everyone else is sharing the things, alot of them are not properly clean and sometimes it can be hard to find a clean and good working thing.

Considering i have not really do my own lab report for dont know how long, and i have forgotten everything i have learnt in school, having to do all this is kind of tough. But i am glad that at least i know i will be learning something at the end of it and the people are all very willing to teach.

=)

Wheeeeee!!!

I officially no need to go to work this friday!

I decided to be honest and told my French boss that i no school this friday and asked if i still need to come in.

And was so nice, and say if there is nothing to do, i can dont come! Wahahaha...

4 day week work, high pay, free not bad lunch, free shuttle bus, good people to work with, nice boss, where else can one find this kind of IA company.. wahahaha..

Strawberries!!

Ohhhh..

I bought Strawberries and Cherry tomatoes last night!

They are damn cheap and damn good!!

For about 500g, only 9RMB! And the strawberries are pretty and sweet!!

And the tomatoes are 7RMB for 500g!!

Yummy!!

First day of work!

My company is Rhodia, located at Jin Du road there, which is rather far from where i stay.

I felt like i am a walking disaster this morning. haha.

Without a clock in the house i keep forgetting to keep track of time to leave my house and end up leaving later than i wanted.

There are 2 routes to my workplace. First one is to take line 2 from LongYang station to Ren Ming Guang Chang station and change line 1 to XinZhuang station. Second is to take line 7 from LongYang and change to line 1 at ChangShu station.

I initially planned to go the second option as line 7 is newly open so lesser people and changing at ChangShu is a much shorter walk and with much lesser crowd. So happily i walked towards the entrance of line 7, had a shock when i saw the shutters down. The first train for tat line do not start that early. Wth, nvm, went with the first option. Good thing the crowd is lesser than friday evening and seem a tiny little bit more civilised.

Then, off to line 2 and change to line 1. Halfway den i realised i got the meeting place wrong, arrange to meet Minghui at Jindu station and all along i thought is Xinzhuang and Jindu require another changing of line. Good thing we in the end change the meeting place to XinZhuang.

On the way to work den i realised i never bring money, my wallet is almost empty and i forgot to top up money, dumb me. Luckily for me, lunch is free at my company!

Lastly, i realised i never bring my passport, they need it to help me open a bank account. Good thing, the lady very nice, allow me to email the soft copy to her.

What a wonderful start to my first day of work.

But other than that, everything else was good!

The pay at the company is quite high and according to the HR lady the tax being deducted is very little, about 100rmb? So i still have quite a bit of take home pay.

Like mentioned, lunch is provided and it is quite okay. Serving is huge, we are given 2 meat, 5 veggie, 1 soup, 1 fruit, i didnt even eat my rice and i am full. It is also not as oily as all the outside food i have eaten.

And i found out that there is a shuttle bus from Pudong as well! Taking the shuttle bus, i take about 1h in total to get to work and i get to sleep on the bus without having to squeeze with everyone on the train. And most importantly, i save money too!

The people at my company are very nice, work is quite slack. Think i only need to go for 4 days per week. And the lady i working with actually told me that if there is nothing there to do and i have something on i can dont need to come. Haha!

And i can wear casual to work! Jeans and shoes and any top will do.

Wheeeeeee.. So far everything is GOOD!

=))))

Satisfied!

Stayed home with Shar to do spring cleaning today! Lynette went church and Hedi went to some Show Luo thingy..

Sweeped and mopped the floor, packed our room, emptied our luggage, clean the toilet and Shar is ironing the clothes for our work!

So clean and nice now.. My bunnies will be happier too!

Tailoring!

Yesterday, set out with shar to figure out the travel route to my workplace, took about 1h 15min! Sooo Longgggg..

After that we went to Xu Jia Hui station for the Tai Ping Yang dont know what it place to get our lan cable, bought 5m each, wanting to extend it to our room so that we wont have to freeze ourselves in the living room. BUT, it is not long enough, good thing me being the smart me, we managed to shift the router and now our room can use both cable and wireless!

After that we head to Nan Pu Da Qiao station to find the tailor shop to tailor our formal wear. Walked super long to find the place but couldnt find in the end took a cab. I made 4 shirts and 3 pants for 680 RMB which is about $140? So cheap!

After tailoring, we went to some i forgot what place to eat steamboat! So shiok to eat steamboat during winter! Yummy..

After dinner, we rush to Metro to stock up on food again! Been going there almost everyday!

I am hungry nowwww..

SOOO Saddd..

I think i lost my camera..

=((((

Bunnies!

I bought a pair of bunnies house slippers just now too!

They are so cute, totally brighten up my gloomy cold night!

Loving them!

Third day in shanghai!

I am still freezing..


First night was BAD. There was a blackout from 12 am to 7am and we were frozen in bed at -3 degrees?

First day we touch down and they bought us to NTU shanghai office, they fed us some digusting breakfast which we didnt really touch. After that we waited for super long den had the briefing and they fetch us to our apartment.

We settled down and set out to Metro to get our things. Bought about $250 worth of stuff for the household. So many things and so heavy that we took cab back.

And we cooked instant noodles for dinner that night! Our very first 'proper' meal when we reach shanghai.

With nothing much to do, we had an early night.

Day 2, we went out to register our address in Shanghai at the police station.

After that we went to qipu road to shop. But the shops there closes at 5pm! So we made a wasted trip but we had our dinner there, which is our first meal for the day. N the dinner is still bad, hard and not nice xiaolong bao and vegetables soaked in oil.

Today, we cooked breakfast! So delicious! haha.. Noodles plus sunny side up plus luncheon meat. Our first attempt for breakfast seem promising.

After that we went back to qipu road with karen's household joining us. Shopped quite alot! haha.. Some things are really cheap but cant seem to bargain much. And i finally bought my boots! So hard to find our size.. Boooo..

At night, we met the other GIP people staying at longyang for dinner and gathering. Ate at a restaurant called sweet dynasty 糖朝 at huangpu road, seems quite atas but price is quite okay compared to singapore standards. Only ate 2 meals today and we walked quite a bit, think we will slim down at the rate we are eating..

Walked around to xin tian di area den head back to home.

Btw, the train here is SCARY. Finally understand what does packed like sardines mean, it is REALLY REALLY packed, couldnt move at all when inside (during peak period). We took awhile to recover from shock after we came out of the train. And i have to go through that everyday, think i will die..

And the power supply at my apartment sucks, it tripped 3 times while i typed this, till we dun dare turn on the heater. And i am wearing 7 layers at my own house, so wonderful..

BRRrrrrr.. Colddd..

I am freaking heavy now..

OMG, shun bian measure my weight when i weigh my suitcase just now.

SUPER heavy, hopefully it dont increase when i go china

Last day at the zoo..

Today is the last day of me working at the zoo..

So shiok to think that i don't have to work there anymore, or at least for 6 months, though i think i will miss the people there. We spend sooo much time facing angry guest, cute babies, talking and doing funny things..

Just emailed Linda for a testimonial, hopefully she will help me write, pray hard..

How dumb can i get??

Finally went to China embassy to get my visa done with Sharon on thursday.

My passport can be collected on the 6th, cause i am supposed to be in malaysia from 5th to 7th, i happily pass my collection slip to Shar to help me collect.

Until i reach home, it suddenly stuck me, how am i suppose to go malaysia with my passport at the embassy?? OMG.. Why am i soo dumb??

Worst thing is, the embassy number is USELESS. Shar took cab down to help ask but it is closed.

Can only go down on Monday and PRAY they will give me back my passport.

Dumb me..