Real Chinese

It is official...

I am a real Chinese person! =) I get the 'yellow on the outside, white on the inside' and the 'cannot take spicy food' jibes all the time. Believe me, if they can take away my claim to Asianism they will!

So I got me a proper certificate. In fact, I should have scanned it as a jpeg file for the whole world to see. Our esteemed Chairman Mou once said:

'不到長城非好漢' which literally means you're not a real man until you've been to the Great Wall. Some people dispute the saying alluding to the actual 8000+km walls but most tourists are happy to accept it as are the travel agencies raking it in.

Needless to say, yours truly climbed all 193 steps of it.. Did I say 193 steps? Well there were too many people and it was too hot. Anyways, I got my certificate by arriving at the site. We got a spare cert for er the Fifth Sibling... Fat Eagle can go get his own when he gets to Beijing. So Lamby Chai Ming Noodles is a real Chinese too, even though my little sister has always known that by the 'Made in China' tag on his bum (Lamby not Osbert).

So if anyone ever questions my authenticity, I have a certificate to prove!

Going Places

Hello World!

It's been a long time since I last updated and many many things have happened since.

I shall update them slowly... :) With pictures... Nice pictures + cute guys to appease the Blogging God hahaha!

I have been busy traveling as you may have noted. Been to Hollywood, Vegas, back to Kuala Lumpur, went to China on multiple shopping expeditions/dimsum trips. The best dimsum in the world is in ShenZhen! I swear! :) Went to Xian to see the Terracotta Soldiers reputed to be the Eighth Wonder of the World...hurt my wrist and got a brace and steriod injection... all in the past two months or so.

And so, this past weekend I did what I should have done ages ago. I sprained my ankle wearing 5 inch high stilettos in a moving boat after a few drinks while trying to take a photo. Serves me right huh? I strapped it for a day or two and it was as right as rain. :)

I shall be more careful this weekend and stick to dimsum in vast quantities!

Plans for the next quarter are pretty hazy, but definately on are:-
1.Tourist duty this following week for friends coming for another friend's wedding.
2. Taiwan trip with Korean boys *hola!*
3. Beijing trip with familia! All expenses paid!
4. Shanghai trip with friends to visit the American who is moving there this week.
5. Chengdu trip to see cute sister pandas.

China is the flavour of the month for the moment. I was going Down Under, but in light of certain developments I shall eventually unveil, it shall be put on the shelf for the time being. *Sorry King Yien!*

I have great plans! =)

Shanghai Baby!

It wasn't that cold! Just ~5 degrees celcius...

Hello everyone!

I am off to lovely Shanghai tomorrow for Christmas. I am feeling excited but just ever so slightly worried about the weather. They forecast rain. I hate rain. Rain will make my feet cold and wet. Rain ruins the feathers in my hat. Cold rain makes me want to curl up in bed with a hot water bottle and a good book. You get my drift. Now, if the temperature drops a Celsius or two, then we will get snow! :) I don't mind that! :)

I am rethinking my wardrobe. We are supposed to go to find ourselves men with too much money and too little sense who need women to spend their money for them. How am I suppsed to do that dressed like a snowman with a red nose? If I am left to my own devices, I will spend the whole trip holed up somewhere warm like a bear; a very fashionably dressed one at that hahaha.

I know the motherland does not like blogs. And my ability to update photos regularly is pretty dire. No worries. I shall just stand in photos in someone else's camera *evil laughter*.

Have a blessed Christmas and a joyous New Year! May Christ bring peace, love and happiness. to one and all.

Oh, and happy glutinous rice ball festival tomorrow! It's the Winter Solstice. It is one of my favourite days of the year as it is the shortest day and the longest night. Some people may find this depressing, but I like the fact that after the longest night, the darkness will only get shorter!

Journey to the Centre of the Universe!

I am going to Beijing today! :)

There is this massive conference that is held every year in an Asian-Pacific country where all the world's experts on diabetic limb congregate to present their life's work. Essentially, I am going there to be a screaming fan to flash my boobs at all the biggest names in podiatry. Well, maybe not flash my boobs.

The real reason I want to visit Beijing is for Peking duck *shh*, the great wall and the Forbidden City. I was told there is a roller coaster at the great wall of China for the thrill-seeking tourist. The American is supposed to go jump off a building on Saturday and I didn't want to feel left out of the adrenaline rush! :) Then I have an excuse not to go do the same the following weekend.

I can't wait to visit the capital of China and see for myself how modernisation has changed the landscape. No doubt, my view of the city will be all squeaky clean and wonderful. The underbelly of Beijing would be hidden away from view, and not easily found in the short time I am there.

I just hope there is time for me to soak in the hot spring! The conference is being held at this resort which promises hot springs, shopping and a theme park hohoho. It is just a ploy really, to make us think that we are going to enjoy ourselves, when we have to be at the conference from 8am till 9pm the whole three days!

It's probably a good thing, that I am not Singaporean, and thus will not exhibit the kiasu-ness to attend the whole conference and therefore will have time to be a prune. Assuming that my flight with China Airways actually lands in one piece. Then I have to worry about being able to make it back to Cantoland alive.

Hang Zhou

West Lake.

I went to a little trip to China in the New Year with a friend. We joined a tour group that took us to some of the prettiest spots in China. There were 33 people in the group, and would you believe it, 16 of them were not from Cantoland! Therefore, I managed to huddle together with the non-chinese speaking crowd in ignorance as we wander our own way oblivious to the deathstares of the tour guide! :)

I went to the airport at 5am in the morning after coming back into Cantoland the night before to hail in the new year. We then flew out to Hang Zhou and arrived mid morning. Now Hang Zhou is a place I have always wanted to visit because of the West Lake. Why? Well you see, as a child geek, I read the Asiapac comics on chinese mythology and the most vivid of them all was Madam White Snake. Those who know this story would know she lived at the West Lake charmed a scholar and married in. Anyways, the monks got her and imprisoned her in the pagoda by the lake. She was eventually released when the pagoda collapsed. The pagoda was also a symbol of rising awareness of womens' rights in the country.

Li Feng Pagoda.

We went to check out some gardens, bridges, and rock formations around the lake. Hang Zhou is also known as the city of lovers. There is a lovers bridge, which is said that if you walk along that particular bridge with your beloved, you will always be together. There is also another saying that if you walk the a particular walk with a girl and she is still walking with you at the end of the journey, you can propose to her. As you can probably deduce, it is a pretty long walk, and to be able to stand someone after about two hours of walking in the freezing cold is no mean feat! I was in a pretty crap mood after a day of wandering about in the chill!

Lovers Bridge.

Hang Zhou is famous for it's beautiful scenery and should be revisited in all seasons. I am aiming to head there again in another season to see another side of the city. We stayed at this hotel which didn't look too impressive on the outside but was very comfortable inside. I wonder if it's just me, or the Chinese have a fascination with clear glass shower cubicles to provide the discerning traveller with an uninterrupted view of whoever is in the shower *rolls eyes*.

Long Jing tea military plantation of the PRC. It was frosty!

Fanciful Chinese village houses.

I noticed that the so-called village houses in Hang Zhou were all very fancy. They looked like the candy houses in Disneyland with their multi-coloured walls as well as their over-the-top decor. The villages are full of such examples. In Cantoland this would be unimaginable! However, they do not lose their way of life and continue to earn their living in anyway they can, such is the resilience of the Chinese.

Doing Laundry.

In Reflection

22 September: I arrived in Cantoland a year ago to this day. I didn't know what to expect, what I would see, who I would meet, heck, if I will ever be able to order food... One year on, I believe that I have conquered my fears. This year was a trying time to learn if I could ever live independently and not go bankrupt at the end of it. I am proud to say I still have money in the bank though my closets are wayyy too full. =)

The past year has also been a opportunity to develop my skills in my profession and I believe I now know more than I did a year ago. The friends I have made have been brilliant, but it also draws to the fact that no one stays with you forever. Life is transient. There is nothing you can do to keep things as you wish them to be, to remain as it is. One could sit and wallow in self-pity, in love lost, in opportunities missed, in things that might have been. But then again, looking at life whizz by while sulking in a corner is not my style. So I spend my days thinking of ways to annoy my assistant and pretend to make him work harder hehe... And the guy had the nerve to message me that we forgot to bring stuff from one clinic to the other and get me flustered and running back to the clinic when in fact he had already picked it up... Grrr... I really should work him harder...

HR are being their usual bullying self, but they now realise they cannot push me about. I may have made them sit and and take notice that there are some brains behind the bimbo and I will not sign a contract I am not happy with. I am glad I am young, free and single with no major responsibilities over my head bar what I will eat for dinner. This leaves me the chance to make a stand for my profession and myself, and should things go pear-shaped, I can still pick up the pieces after. Let's hope they don't go that way, because, as much as I say I am sick and tired of this country, I do enjoy being here.

On Saturday I will just go to China for dumplings all by myself. My lousy friends refuse to come with me and the American can't get an on-the-spot visa (while all other passports can). I was looking forward to a week of unemployment but I seems I won't be getting it. On Monday, I will go to the Immigration Department to process the emergency extension HR has persuaded me to sign then am off to the cinema for a good movie with the Lawyer. Tuesday will be another public holiday and I will head back to work on Wednesday unless a typhoon blows up on Monday and the whole plan is screwed. Life is good when you don't have to work... Even better when you know you have people on their toes...

United China

Anyone who pays attention to the media would have heard about the earthquake that hit China last Monday at 2.28pm with more than 30,000 people perishing in the calamity. Since then, we have been inundated with news on the tragedy. It seems that the highest concentration of deaths and damage was centred at schools and hospitals. This brought up the question on the structural stability of those public buildings as the surrounding buildings had suffered less damage. Most of those who were in the schools were obviously children, who were the only offspring of their parents in this country of the one-child policy. One can only imagine the anguish of the survivors. The countless cases of young bodies being pulled out of the rubble; the battered bodies of the teachers who sacrificed themselves to protect their young charges from certain death; school populations left to mere 10% of survivors... The miracles that exist in this tragedy give you just that little bit of strength to keep believing.

Chinese people around the world are rallying around to provide support for their motherland. Everyone has some form of connection to the people there as the Chinese believe that they are all one huge family. The hospital has sent medical teams to the disaster site to provide medical help. The people have donated vast amounts of money to the relief effort. The Region has observed a 3 minute silence one week after the disaster along with Macau and Mainland China. This will start the official three day mourning period with no commercials to be aired on television as well. Not that I mind the lack of commercials.

While the current concern for the welfare of the less fortunate is all well and good. We must not forget the other countries who are also suffering from various calamities and whose people are unable to receive the aid they should. We must also remember those in perpetual hardship and seek to help them in more sustainable manner. I will continue to pray for the safety of all people especially the most vulnerable members of our society. And pray in earnest to keep my family and friends safe always.

On a lighter note, I realise I can't work 7 day weeks. I would rather get married and grow abdominal fat.

I told you so...

The weekend was a welcome relief to the workload recently. While the cases are no less interesting the spirit is lacking in the enthusiasm it started with. Ulcers just look like ulcers at the end of the day, the toe dangling at the end of the foot with green pus oozing out looks just like the one that came yesterday but perhaps the one yesterday had yellow pus and serous discharge as well as redness tracking up the leg... There are days when you just want to quit the day job and sit in a nice warm jacuzzi and drink some cocktails.

I spent Friday night hanging out with my parents' friends who were in Hong Kong for the day. It feels nice to see people that knew you when you were small and cute and didn't know any better; then to meet them again years down the road and talk adult talk instead of 'how err Blue Peter had a cool thing on tv that day and how PowerPuff Girls are the coolest things on Earth' . I have always enjoyed the company of the many people I have met growing up, while I conveniently forget my smart Alec comments as a kid, I am reminded of how much I have matured over the years. We mused and laughed over the past while downing our cocktails and listened to the live band in Lan Kwai Fong. I know, my parents have happening friends I can go bar hopping with haha... It felt good to be reassured that my parents didn't bring up some messed up kid who has no future, career, dreams, hopes nor the ability to stand on my own two feet and to think independently, logically and without emotional attachment. Okay I sound scary... Coming back to Asia is going to be a constant walk down memory lane.

Saturday was supposed to be a nice easy day in bed until I remembered I needed to go to the bank. So I went to Shatin in my heels and my tiny clutch which held my passport, three purses, my phone, one packet of tissue, one mirror, one tub of vaseline, a pack of pantyliners, my RenMinBi, plasters, and my room key. I was glad I brought my passport as I consequently went to Causeway Bay for lunch with the banker, got bribed to Hung Hom to look at the serviced apartments and dragged him to the Wonderful World of Whampoa to show him that it really exists. We both think it is so cool and the flats are so ghost-town-like that we will stay there next year and be part of the tourist attraction. Yeah right!

The boys had planned this huge outing to ShenZhen to the massage palace. I managed to persuade the lawyer to abandon her work and join us *yay*. So off I tottered in my heels and without a jacket to the playground of Hong Kong. By the time I reached there and had dinner my feet were starting to ache so I had to buy two new pairs of shoes. One is 'oh so pretty' and dainty and just perfect for summer while the other matched my purse so that I could wear them on Sunday. The massage place was heaving. I got my usual Hong Kong style massage but this time the masseuse was heavy handed and it hurt like hell. I told her to be more gentle but she didn't really ease it. The ophthalmologist totally scored with the masseuses as they just so happened to walk in on him naked. Then they were all ooh-ing and ahh-ing on how muscular he was, how 'hairy is the new sexy' and how cool that he could speak some Mandarin. I have never seen anyone pick up girls that fast without trying. The rest of us had to translate the pick up lines. -_-

I seriously ate enough fruit to last me two weeks. Mind you, I need all that fruit as my diet is appalling. I got a head and a foot massage in the morning for the road. Then we went to have lunch and to soak in some retail therapy. We were supposed to go pet some lions/tigers and visit some Swiss village or the fake Disneyland, but we were just too lazy to move. So all I got was a silk shawl that doubles as a top for going out in. We came back to Hong Kong for dinner and a movie. What ever you do DO NOT watch 10,000 BC. It is the worst movie I have wasted three hours of my life on.. at least it felt like three hours. Don't say I didn't warn you!

On a more interesting note, on the way to ShenZhen we saw news of riots in Malaysia. As I don't understand Cantonese, I couldn't tell where or why or when but it was definitely Malaysia as I saw the Polis uniforms and the PAS signs and the coconut trees. The Malaysian elections has been an interesting ride. There has been international criticism of how Malaysia suppresses human rights and how the elections are not fair. This election has shown the ruling party that they no longer have a 2/3 majority and that the people are looking for something else and are not satisfied with how things are at present. If all the Malaysians aboard could vote the results would have been even more dramatic. The coming weeks will prove to be difficult for them as they figure out how to go about things. I believe this is a brilliant opportunity for everyone to prove their worth. The BN to prove that they are still the best you can get, the opposition parties to prove otherwise. We will have a more balanced power share. Criticism can only make you stronger. If you are strong enough to take shit from others and defend what you stand for and convince them that you are right, then the people have nothing to lose. In the exchange of heated words, we must not lose sight of the purpose of the discussion and let pride get in the way of compromise. If all fails, we only need to wait another four years to resuffle the board.

Mango Napoleon

The challenge: Mango Napoleon Cake.

I signed up for a baking class on Saturday since:

a) I like cake.

b) I had nothing else better to do.

The class was in Kwun Tong and the address was in Cantonese, so it took a while to figure it out on the map. I got there eventually, one hour late and thought I may not be able to finish baking the cake in time. Unsurprisingly, the class was conducted in cantonese. The baker was nice enough to explain everything to me half in cantonese and half in English, thus I managed to get the gist of the class. Needless to say, I enjoyed myself tremendously. The cake turned out as good at the one the baker made and on time too!

The class

The pastry. I wanted to make a heart shaped cake to bimbo-fy it and make it a boy-repellent.

Pastry-chocolate-cake-coconut moouse-mango-coconut moouse-pastry-chocolate-cake-coconut-moouse and counting.

This mango was so cute! It was only 2 inches long.

My cake; Your cake.

I am good enough to eat!

I went out with the medic and the ophthalmologist as well as some friends who lived on Hong Kong Island and had come all the way to "rural" Shatin for Thai with us that night (they asked us what we did for entertainment in this part of the woods). I showed them the photo of my cake and the medic and ophthalmologist decided to check it out for themselves to see if the cake was real. -_- The engineer came along too as he heard there was cake *rolls eyes*. So the cake was gone before I could spell Mango. It tasted as good at it looked and I am definately going back for more lessons.

My pride and joy.

Sunday saw the lawyer and myself heading out to ShenZhen for our massage, facial and acryllic nails. It was her first time in ShenZhen and we had a ball prettying ourselves up. I love my manicurist! She is so good and makes my nails look ever so pretty. I also love my beautician and my masseuse. =) We are going back for hard core shopping in two weeks. The boys have planned an outing to the Swiss-themed park to pat the lion cubs and the massage palaces, so we are hoping to head there earlier to get the shopping done. It really makes a difference to have someone to spend money with! It also helps if they love purple just as much as I do! We are planning a cheesecake weekend this week. Who needs the boyfriends? If I ever get turned into barbeque meat, at least the cannibals will be able to enjoy a well-kneaded lump of steak.

Of Pineapple Tarts and Drug Cocktails

It is the end of my trip back to Malaysia. I am well and truly depressed and sad that I have to go back to Hong Kong.
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Reasons for not wanting to go back:-
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1. I am sick. I feel ill within 24 hours of landing in sweet Malaysia and spent the entire holiday junked on drugs and sleep. It is not funny. I have not felt so lethargic in ages and I am sure there is something sinister going on in my feet. The clinics were closed and I managed to see a doctor on Monday and was told to 'eat more papaya' and 'drink less coffee'. I have not drunk more than one cup of coffee since I landed. I heard papayas were good for the boobs, but I didn't know they were good for when you are ill?

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2. I only managed to eat one bowl of kuching kolo mee and one plate of tomato kuaytiaw. All the food traders do not believe in working for the duration of the Chinese New Year period. We should all limit the number of times we eat out so that they don't earn so much and take long breaks on public holidays. What a letdown.
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3. It is nice and spacey in my house of 3000+sf compared to my measy room of 230sf including my balcony. The feeling of being at home and with the family no matter how annoying they may get is priceless. Besides I have all my shoes and perfume and handbags.

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4. I get fed and watered and I don't even have to cook! It sure beats my steamed and microwave cooking the past 6 months. My grandmother is of the opinion that I am suffering from lack of proper nutrition there and I am not going to dispell her notions. My aunts have been feeding me pineapple tarts while my sister has been clearing everyone of their prawn crackers and acar.

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5. There are so many people I want to see, so many things I have yet to do and so many shoes that belong to me that I have yet to bring home from the shops. I need to find the motivation to shop in Malaysia. I have only entered 2 supermarkets since I came back; Duty-free in unappealing and I was too tired to go out.
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6. I need to get my braces adjusted.

I think these reasons are enough for me not to go back. I realised in my interaction with the people that I have not seen in years, that most people are inherently curious about what I do. My grandparents are as proud of my measy achievements as my parents. My relatives think I am making good money. My parent's friends think I have a bright future ahead and can only do better; my primary school teacher whom I have not seen in more than 10 years told me that I am an inspiration and a comfort to him in that I managed to be what I am today. I came out feeling awed that I can inspire so much hope in people, that I can be such a pride and joy to the people that mean so much to me. I also notice that my siblings are growing up without me and that I am no longer a constant influence in their lives. However, with my inpending departure and with no inkling when I next come back, I feel that Miss Lamby is well and truly feeling the loss as much as I am.

This trip has been an emotional experience. I see my grandfather with all the signs and symptoms of chronic illness yet I am unable to do anything about it. While my professional training rings the alarm bells I am only able to give advice and hope for the best. We know the prognosis is poor, yet we want to make sure he is not wallowing in self-misery and is able to live happily and eat all the durian he wants without my grandmother stopping him. I see my elderly relatives either made on the success of their offspring or still struggling to keep them. I see my father for what he is in the eyes of my relatives - a leader and an inspiration to work harder and strive for success without relying on the aid of others. It has brought home the fact that we are molly cuddled to such an extent we don't appreciate the sacrifices our parents make for our comfort. What I take for granted may have been at a great sacrifice for my parents. I am humbled by the humility and the hardwork of my parents and am thankful that I never had to scrimp and save for every penny to pay for the upkeep of the family. I am more determined than ever not to squander my money on unneccessary expenses.

Which, unfortunately is a resolution I didn't manage to keep for more than 24 hours. I landed in ShenZhen with a 14.8kg suitcase of maggi curry, mee daddy, kaya and slow-roast lamb chops. I know, I am such a sucker for food I even brought 'ma ni cai' from home. I went straight to the spa for a seven hour session of pampering. Needless to say, I am now much poorer but better rested. I did a bout of shopping too for the benefit of the Chinese economy. I will now live on bread and water for the next two weeks, or find some kind souls to feed me. Anyone want to feed me birds' nest? I should milk the Hong Kong guys for all they are worth.

Kidneys Intact

Guang Zhou by the Pearl River.

I am baccccckkkkkkkk!! I know NO ONE missed me because I didn't get any 'take care' or 'stay safe' or 'I don't want you to die yet' messages on my phone. Heck, all my mum did was to ask me to text her when I arrived, and that was after I called her from the train station saying I was leaving.

Guang Zhou was an eye-opening experience. I had taken the Kowloon-Canton Railway through train and it only took 105 minutes from Hung Hom to Guang Zhou East, pretty fast for the distance it covered. Anyways, some Lonely Planet random facts:

1. Guang Zhou city has a population of 3 million people legally.

2. It is also known as the City of Sheep. I don't know why.

3. There was a high French and British presence in the city living on Shamian Island.

Don't ask me anything else, I didn't finish reading it. :)

The cyclist and some local Malaysians met me at the train station. I didn't realise that there were other Malaysians out and about China. I thought I was the only one. No lah, I just have a limited social circle. Guang Zhou is huge, and full of tall buildings, crazy drivers and rude people. It was raining and cold (5 degrees celcius) and raining and my shoes were wet, my feet were cold and I felt absolutely miserable as my donuts have to be shared. =( I was a whine the whole weekend all because of Seasonal Affective Disorder, really! Haha...

Supper with Keyboard, Gary and Peter. Tzuo Hann was holding the camera.

On Saturday we went to an internet cafe that blasted communist songs on the loudspeakers and did the mandatory tour of bits of the city. It was very quiet and very very very cold. I was walking around complaining my head was cold and my ears were going to fall off and that I was hungry and wanted to eat all kinds of food then changed my mind on what food I wanted every 3 minutes (I thank God that the cyclist was very very patient and didn't kill me). This cycle continued all day until the evening when we went to meet the Malaysian community in Guang Zhou. We went to this Bah Gu Teh restaurant and were treated to lovely Malaysian food! Yum! I met a whole host of people and am now the proud owner of many phone numbers of people who promised to dig me out when they come to Hong Kong. My appeal to mothers with 16-year-old daughters has not waned apparently. We went for a foot massage after dinner. The place was decorated like a fruit orchard with huge ass jackfruits hanging above our heads and pears draped over the potted plants around us. The girls were pretty flirty with the guys and the service was awesome. And I got a 70 minute foot and body massage for the measy sum of 35 yuan! How about that? None-the-less, the boys went back for more the next night after I left *rolls eyes*.

Sacred Heart Cathedral. Note the welcoming committee outside. It is universal.

I went to the local catholic cathedral on Sunday. The place was packed with Nigerians. Now, the Catholic church in China is state-regulated and not appointed by the Vatican. I was wondering what kind of communist ideology is preached in the system. I was dissappointed as the priest not only didn't preach the sermon but his English was so bad, I could not understand a word he was saying. I only figured out he was giving the reading by following syllable by syllable and reading the paper in my hand of what he was saying. I am not joking:

" My name is Peter, I have a brother and am a fisherman." came out as " Mai naai-mee iss-i Pei-teh-rr, I har-vee ah brou-theh-eer ah-nd ah fei-shi-ee-er-ma-an."

I almost gave up at the first instance but managed to survive the whole thing. The sermon was done by some preacher from somewhere that I didn't understand. I double checked to see if I was actually attending some Tagalog mass but apparently it was really and English mass.

Durians! I was being the decoy so that we could steal take a photo of durian.

World's biggest windmill complete with lucky gods on the sails.

By the time I had survived mass and finish a bout of shopping, I was tired enough to go back to Hong Kong. Guang Zhou is full of quaint streets/sqaures packed to the brim with all kinds of wares. There were whole streets and squares dedicated to dried fish, chinese new year decorations, shoes, clothes, chinese herbs, dried fruits even grinding machines, lion dancing drums, musical instruments and whole buildings dedicated to soft toys and bags. It really was a sight for the gawking tourist. The streets were dirty and there were peddlers everywhere. If I was not with the cyclist I would not have dared to venture out and about alone, besides it was too cold and I would have stayed in some noodle shop all day.

The train station was chaotic. I had expected the Chinese New Year rush at the main train station but didn't imagine the satalite train station would be just as bad. The lines were frozen in the North due to the abnormally cold weather this winter, thus many people were stranded and could not get their trains. I was pushed and shoved and just carried away with the tide of people that were trying to get towards the various parts of the station. Police were trying to crowd control and they were marching up and down in lines dressed in their big green communist jackets shouting at people to get off the floor. They were just sleeping and basically camping out there until their train times. I followed behind them and managed to get to the HK-Guang Zhou train area where it was much calmer. Anyways, I got my ticket and had dinner before I left for the safety of Hong Kong on Sunday night with an insight to the desperation China has for it's future. I can see how cities like Beijing and Shanghai will grow by leaps and bounds. Even Guang Zhou is set to follow suit. However, the people in the city leave much to be desired. There is extreme chaos and rudeness. I had a store assistant telling me he didn't want to sell me something eventhough I spoke to him in Putonghua because I was interupting him when he was looking the other way. The cyclist had police shouting at him because he asked directions to the Subway station. We had all kinds of indifferent people who would not help others out of the kindness of their hearts. If you didn't buy their wares, then you are nothing to them. One guy took back his 'offer leaflet' for this store he was trying to get me to go to when I told him I was just waiting for someone, saying that he wanted it back as I was not going to the store anyway! The lack of basic courtesy paints China is such unfavourable light that there is little wonder why people don't like to visit it.

I do hope that deep down inside, there is a sense of morality and would like to believe that the Chinese are not just here to screw people up. Because if they are, I have pretty lousy genes.

Boston Tea Party

If anything, China is good for buying tea. I mean while you can get just about everything in China for a price, I would normally get them elsewhere for peace of mind. However, I was getting my nails done and decided to buy some tea to bring back for Chinese New Year. Yalah, I resisted fake nails as I need to rest them for a bit before I jazz them up again to make my sister jealous. =)

I got some rose tea which is supposedly good for the complexion and for slimming (the things they tell you!), some flower ball tea where you can watch the ball of tea bloom into a beautiful green flower with a red flower in the middle suspended on a stem, some chinese tea for old people that I can't remember the name of and some 'tie guan yin' @ Iron Goddess of Mercy tea. I tried this other tea that smells like milk and another that looks like a giant biscuit. All these teas are believed to have some function or another. I believe tea is drunk for the taste and the smell. It is also a good way to get water into your system and to entertain your friends at a party. And to strike another bird with the same stone, it will please the grandparents and the friends when you buy them good tea. Tea is good for comfort.

On a lighter note, the Aussie Malaysian Medic is back in town along with this cute Indian ophthalmologist from Oxford. They want to go bungie-jumping in Macau and are trying to con me into it. Peer pressure can make you do a lot of things. We will however, go check out the fake Disneyland in Shenzhen one day. I can put the pressure on just as well!

New Blood

My Narcissus are growing well! *cross fingers*

There are some new people here. I met one of them today as I was microwaving in the pantry. These Orthopaedic surgeons are here from BeiJing for their exams. While they may look geeky and speak little English, they displayed great interest in my profession. So I guess I will have some doctors breathing down my back in clinic some day!

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I went to ShenZhen yesterday for a relaxing massage and to explore the city a bit more. I should never go there again if I want to save my bank account. I entered through another border control and savoured the wonderful view of Hong Kong's wetlands. It was absolutely beautiful with birds and wildlife in their uninterrupted state, then to see the high-rise buildings that China is currently busy constructing. No photo would do it justice so I didn't take any. It just goes to show that China will be a major force to reckon with in the near future. Young Chinese people know what they need to do to be the forefront of development while their Hong Kong counterparts are in denial of New China and are not showing much enthusiasm in taking their chunk of Chinese pie. House prices are on a rise in all parts of China as demand outstrips supply. As I sat in Haagen Daaz with my blueberry cheesecake that costs the same amount as lunch for two at the local noodle shop, I sit in wonder at the ingenuity of the Chinese in their desire for fame and fortune. My Hong Kong friend who was with me marvelled at the state of the city compared to a mere three years ago. There is starbucks and Haagen Daaz, KFC and McDonalds, and Mango and Zara as well as well-known local designers. The stores are bigger, brighter and better than Hong Kong. The products are different and the place is full of real and fake goods.
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I got myself two dresses for Chinese New Year and a pair of shoes. My shoes cost RMB35 only! That is like RM17/₤2.20/USD 5 for those who were wondering. Even if I wore it once it would be worth it! :) I also got two very pretty hair pieces that cost me just over RMB 600. It's okay as it's bright and shiny, so that cancels out the cost of the clips, one which was a 3-purple-sunflower piece and the other was a cute blue heart. I got some other stuff too and a cute dress/PJ that I could run into work in should I wake up late hehe... Oh, I have a red 'year of the Rat' underwear for luck and fortune! :)
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The Hong Kee Glaswegian made a very insightful observation:

I do not need a boyfriend/girlfriend, I just need a friend to be with. My future boyfriend will have a hard time as I am an independent person and have my own dreams and ideals. He would have to be able to pace the relationship well to be able to survive himself and make me happy. I will either marry someone who is just like me and enjoy the clash of two equals and happily take all the criticism/insults/annoying habits we will pour on each other. Or I will have a very loving and passive husband who will be able to take all that I am and comfort me and soothe me while letting me get on with whatever I may be campaigning for at that point in time. He should quit his day job at the bank and start a stop at the fortune telling street in Temple Street!
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Anyways, it is back to work on Monday. 22 days till home! And it is getting cold again *double yay* and the cyclist is coming *triple yay* and I get to eat Krispy Kreme again *∞ yay*.