On my way home...

It's 10.16pm and I am at the airport waiting for my 11.30pm flight to Singapore.



Thank God for Coffee and Internet!



I chose to take train instead of the a taxi. In that way, I can save money (train cost only 25 yuan but taxi cost 100 yuan) and also no jam which explains why it's 10.16pm and I am at the airport waiting for my 11.30pm flight. On one hand, I think I will miss my friends in Beijing but on the other, I can't wait to see 10 and Brandy! (In that particular order...)



Goodbye Beijing, Hellow Singapore!

Studying (too much) is hazardous for health!

Somehow, I get this strange feeling that I am studying too much these days... I wonder why... Hmmm...

P.S. Check out the lady behind me checking me out... I wonder why... Hmmm...

Flowers from Beijing...

I haven't bought flowers for 10 in a while... So I decided to get a bouquet from Beijiing...



Love you!

Beauty...

Beauty lies in everything...



You just have to take your time to find it...

Spring - Part 2

It's a nice and clear day today...



So my classmates and I decided to 赏花 (see flowers) in the botanical gardens.



Don't ask me who the girl is... cos I really don't know... Took me a long time to wait for the sign to clear because it was super crowded!



Isn't this beautiful? I love flowers... err... and all other kind of MANLY stuff...









Even SpongBob was happy!



It was such a beautiful day that we decided to rent a small boat and take it for a spin on the park lake...



The happiest 烧猪 basking in the sun!



I was designated driver for the boat!



The boat was very very fast.... I nearly lost control!





I don't think anyone but me could handle a 5km/hour (ultra-slow) speedboat... There were boats of all shapes and sizes on the lake! Check out the sampan (which went faster than my 5km/hour (ultra-slow) speedboat)...



People were also swimming in the lake!



I personally liked the guy on the right with light blue trunks...errr... and all other things MANLY!

Nuff said...I leave you with more pictures of our beautiful day... I love SPRING!

Spring... Part 1

Spring is finally here. The university is beautiful... Flowers abound... so colourful!







Even cherry blossoms!











Just imagine it was like this 2 weeks ago!

Stars for 5 mins!

We (4 of us, including me and my korean guy classmate) were walking out of the cafeteria this afternoon when a chinese girl suddenly stopped us and asked me and Korean friend to take a picture with her. She identified herself as one of the 服务员 in the cafeteria. When my friends asked her why she wanted to take a photo with us, the 服务员 replied "因为我很喜欢你们!", fingers pointing to Korean friend and me... We felt like stars! well, not really...

I think we were too shocked to refuse so we said yes (probably not a good idea, thinking back)...Added to our shock (mostly me and my fellow victim's) was that while photo taking, she grabbed me and my Korean friend's arm like we were her long lost friends even though it was the first time that we met. We were seriously shying away from her now ...

After photo taking, she even asked for our numbers which we refused. Our excuse was that we didn't understand Chinese and we were rushing for class...

So if you see a photo of me, Korean guy and a Chinese girl in some random blog or website, you now know why...

So wierd!

Chinese 101

I thought that it would be nice for me to record some of the words that I learnt from China from my stay here in Beijing. Without these words, I probably wouldn't have had such a good time as I did.

1. 打车 - means to take a taxi. You probably don't want to use this in Singapore. 2 reasons: One is that it'll probably hurt a ton, Second is that you probably be caught by the 公安。

2. 公安 - You guessed it, it means the police. Mentioning 警察 here wouldn't have such a great effect than if you mention 公安. Not to be mistaken with 保安, security guards (even though sometimes i feel they wear almost the same uniform).

3. 扯 - it means "to retreat" literally. But in Beijing, you use this when you want the service staff to clear the table for you. E.g. 服务员，帮忙把碟子扯一扯，谢谢! This is a must-have unless you want the table to be full of plates and bowls...

4. 服务员 - means Service Staff in restaurants. Say it with force and gusto when you need service... say it like you would when you propose a toast or when you YAM SENG... or else no one will service you. Trust me, it is more effective than "excuse me" or "could you help me?"

5. 土豆 - ask 10 singaporeans and 11 will tell you this means peanuts. No guys, this means Potato. They have a dish called "清炒土豆丝"。 I was so excited to see how sliced peanuts looked like... can you imagine? What about 土豆泥？ Mashed peanuts?

I think that is enough for today class. One last note before I go... remember to add ”儿" to the end of of sentence. Sometimes I 打车 to school and here is how the conversation always go:

Me: 你好！北大东门...
Taxi Uncle: Huh? 哪儿？不会去！
Me: 北大东门...东门...
Taxi Uncle: 不会去！
Me: 那好儿呗...就到北大东门儿吧...
Taxi Uncle: 那儿我会去啊。早点说嘛...
Me: ...

下儿一儿次儿再儿见儿，Bye儿 Bye儿!

Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha....

I feel like Charlie Brown... I am in the middle of class on a sunday evening, looking out the windown and not really paying attention...

The teacher sounds like "Wha Wha Wha Wha Wha..."

I can't wait for class to end...

Another Dinner, Another 方便面。。。

Seems like I am having 方便面 aka Maggi Mee every day...Oh... I AM having 方便面 aka Maggi Mee every day...



Oh... let's not forget the pseudo sausages that taste like corn... Yum Yum!



After a sumptious one course dinner that I ALMOST couldn't finish, it's off to the KTV... at home! Singing in front of a 12 inch screen alone has never been so fun... Fun Fun!



What's KTV without some drinks? Guess what we are having tonight (and every night?) CEBTW... what's that, you ask? Calcium Enriched Boiled Tap Water (in a coffee cup cos I ran out of coffee powder) of course... Gulp Gulp...



Wooo... before I ALMOST get drunk from that dastardly alcholicless CEBTW... I better go and sleep on my 20 thread count bedsheet... Zzz Zzz..



Another exciting night spent in 上地... Guess what I am going to do tomorrow... More of the same... YAY!..ZZ..z.z....

上帝救救我吧。。。

Day 8 and 9 - Su Zhou and Zhou Zhuang

Su Zhou and Zhou Zhuang are 2 attractions close to Shanghai. We took a 1 hour train from Shanghai to Su Zhou and then a 1 hour bus from Su Zhou to Zhou Zhuang the next day.



Su Zhou was a city filled with history with numerous water canals running through it. Beautiful Architecture and Beautiful girls... oh.. but this beautiful girl is from Singapore though...



Our first stop was a temple. It was supposed to be 500 years of history.



It was very well restored and the carvings and interior was really beautiful!











One bad thing though... We (accidentally) walked into a sourvenir shop in the temple and were awed by their hard sell tactics. They were selling artifact replicas and literally pushed the stuff into our faces... I thought we would never get out... This little boy simply gave up...



View from the top of a pavillion in the temple.





Ahhhh... RAYZILLA!



Where was Fatty Tan and the Water Bottle Princess? Did they perish in the last battle? No time to find out... Who will save us now...?



Oh... its the "Not-so-Invisible" Man... With his "Not-so-invisible" Smile, he blinds Rayzilla and kicks him off the Pavillion... Yay.... This must be the end of Rayzilla... But where did the "Not-so-Invisible" Man go? No one knows...



Look at the size of Ray's B....ELL! (you dirty minded people!)



Lunch! Cheap and good!



Next stop we went to the Lion' hill (or something like that...) Built along side the hill was the manor of a rich man's house... quite beautiful! and tiring...









Jackie Tan and Ray Fei Hong! (Eat) Snake style vs Rayzilla Fist... Dun play play!



This is the leaning tower of Suzhou... the first 6 levels are leaning. They built the 7th level straight to prevent the tower from further leaning and ultimately collasping... Amazing!



No... you are not drunk... the door is leaning...



We visited Zhou Zhuang the next day! A fishing village with narrow pathways and people selling handicraft... It is such a beautiful place!









They had ladies on little boats ferrying people around the water ways of the village... If you pay her 10 yuan, she will even sing 3 songs for you... traditional songs that they sung when they were ferrying people around 100 years ago...



So concludes our 9 day tour around China... it was fun, very fattening and an eye opener indeed!