Quite a bit of stuff happening to me during the past 2 months.

Firstly, my attachment at RWS started. It's at Fiesta, Festive hotel. And what i've been mainly involved in would be buffet runner, and helping to prep food for the buffet. Usually my Fri, Sat and Suns are gone. And in a way, my social life is missing out a lot. I've just seen photos of Voices Mini Concert 2011, and I'm missing my friends made from Voices, esp marcus. The days we spent staying out, and on the phone talking non stop about plan for the club.. concert preps etc. In a way, after starting out on my culinary journey, I'm missing events and music and performances. A lil lonley at times.. not that I have no friends, but I miss the performance adrenalin rush.

In a way, my life is in a mess now. No personal time at all. Cuz there is simply insufficient time for me to spend with close ones, friends, families, and myself. With just one off day a week, it is really really hard to juggle. It's a step in life en-route to being my own boss.. I hope everything will fall in place and fit nicely soon, as it has always been in my life.

Blogging mood just went by.. haizz.. Too busy and tired to blog even. My life is in a mess.

Coming Wednesday, 31/8/2011, it would be my last day as a LSB 老师. Mixed feelings really. On one hand, I do really want to quit cuz I'm having a hard time juggling school and work and sleeping only 2 hours a day. But on the other hand, I'll miss having to touch the keyboards everyday, and be so close to music. I guess I made the choice, that I will put music aside, and do culinary.

Over the 9 months, have I improved musically? I would say yes definitely. Aside from musically, i've been officially exposed to the LSB environment, and seeing how money is thrown around. Way back in Dec, I was discussing with a vv good friend about how much I would change after being in this line, and thinking through it, I do not think I have had any negative changes. Changes definitely, but all positive.

I've grown to take up the role as a 老师, and from one who doesn't know anything, to one who people respect, and earned the name as 百度老师，and not 豪门小老师. These 9 months have really passed by super quickly! I've been playing the same songs over and over and over again such that I do not have to think at all. I'll miss the night life, the 老师 life. I do not think I would ever go back to being a 老师 again given my schedule. DCA, start my own restaurant, move on with life...

老师 aside, after having being in touch with music daily, I hope I will not get rusty. I want to perform regularly still. Rusty fingers, rusty ears, rusty brain... I hope not!

I've seen flowers for a show totally to $120000.. see how grand things are, seen the antics of the old men. All in all, a good experience. I love it when I saw 2 old men vying to help the girl they like to get the most amount of flowers for the night, and when both of them drew at 13.5k, they stood up, shook hands, and laughed it off. Kids at clubs would juz whack each other. I don't miss the entertainment, I miss the learning experience. I've come to a standstill, and sitting comfortably in my comfort zone... Im sad. =(

Till my next stint at RWS as a chef trainee!

Fortune teller says that I've the guy's 桃花运. I think it's really true. Since I'm attached, I have to be focused! Cuz it seems that I've always been closed to girls due to my "no-motive" befriending of everyone. Some guys juz get to know girls for some reason or another. Thinking back, it's been like that throughout my life. But it so happened that I had only 1 ex, and gt close to another.

Take it like for my DCA course. There's this girl who's from the same NUS batch as myself. We're getting closer by talking more etc. Ppl in sch are gossiping about us. No matter what, focus! =)

Good thing I'm ending my night job soon and I am able to recharge my tenacity and stuff. No affairs or such. If friends notice, slap me alright!

=)

I'm a power freak. I like to be in power and in control. Haha! When I was sous chef on Friday(which means like a class monitor), and I was in charge of getting the peeps to do certain things. The command and control felt shiok! And I am missing this kinda command and control. I like stress.. mental stress! It's been a while since I did a concert, or was in charge of a big event.. The sense of self-achievement i gain when I see instructions being put to action bit by bit. Haha! =) Well, not everyone wants to be in control or can stand these kinda stress. I'm missing it! My brain has been taking a break for like a year now. It's screaming to let it out! I cant wait to start my own restaurant and be stressed everyday over it. Oh well, see how it goes! And I'm hoping for a nice place for my apprenticeship! No hotels, or some places which I tried and was unimpressed with. Looking forward to Fri for dinner with Almido!

It has been two weeks since my last MC, and so far, I've been coping reasonably well at school. However, I do feel really really tired whenever I'm "travelling" to places. Be it on cabs or MRTs etc.. I just need 1min before I fall asleep. The worse was on 12/8. After school, I wanted to get to Aljunied Phoon Huat to get some stuff for the dinner with my sec school friends on sat. First, I got on the wrong train at Tai Seng, and had to change train once. When I eventually got to Paya Lebar, I thought that maybe I can try out the Phoon Huat at Simei. Here's the joke.. I took the train, and overslept! I woke up when the train's next stop was Tampines, got off, and took the train going in the other direction. Apparently, the train I was actually taking had reached Pasir Ris, and was going towards Joo Koon, and by taking the train towards the other direction, I ended up back at Pasir Ris. I eventually took the Pasir Ris train to Simei, but did not see my items, and took another train to Aljunied. A 30min journey took me like 1.5 hours! =(

I took a quick nap when I got home, before getting to work, and spent 4 to 730am making desserts and some Mise-En-Place for the dinner, 8 to 10am at the market, 10am to 1230pm doing more Mise-En-Place. I went back to sleep, and woke up at 530, 1 hour late! The dinner was supposed to be at 630! Luckily, I managed to complete everything by 645! And I was quite satisfied with the dinner! The only one dish that was not that appetizing was the soup, which was a little too sweet! I really need to know how to boil a good soup cuz I want to do my steamboat restaurant, which specialises in wonderful soup base!

And I cant wait to quit my job. Last week or so.. I have totally no mood to work already! =( I get to work everyday, waiting to get off. I'm taking more offs(unpaid leaves) just to rest at home etc. The new guy.. pls hurry up come ok! I cannot take it already! My reactions are slowly down, brain not functioning as well as before!

My life is really too rushed, and in quite a frenzy. I'm at work now, and there're only 3 tables that are very quiet. It's dark, and it's breaktime for myself and the singers. The customers are ktv-ing. Imagine Eason's k歌之王.. I'm really really feeling the tiredness coming through, and don't think I can stand this much longer. The good news is that there'll be a replacement in 1 to 2 weeks time, and it's bye bye to my night job! Good pay, but to put it crudely, I only have money now. No life, and no time for any social life of such. The tiredness is really eating into me! And with more time, I can go for more gatherings! Make use of these 2 months before apprenticeship starts cuz that'll mean another stint of lifeless-ness! =)

我这一生中，目前最爱的人，除了家人，还是她... 希望能够尽快move on in life. Physically and mentally I've moved, but emotionally, I still feel it. Especially when songs that relate pop up from the radio or somewhere. Hmm.. come to think of it, our 代表歌曲s have not appeared yet. Haha.. Memories memories memories............

At this point in time, I'm feeling very very tired. I'm tired of juggling school and work. It's really taking its toll on me! I usually take just a 2 hour nap each day, from 430am to 630am, and if I have no plans after school(which is getting super rare now), I get an additional 3 hours from 6pm to 9pm.

School's getting more fun with the frequent outings and gatherings, and the bringing of our foreign classmates around Singapore. All these impromptu gatherings.. I'm missing quite a few of them because of work, and I think if I am going into this industry, I would need to know more people who are going into this line!

Working life on the other hand.. each time I get to work, I look forward to getting off work! It's a chore to me.. I'm not getting any excitement now. Perhaps it could be because I know that I want to start my own business. Also, I'm into my perfect comfort zone at work, and have been able to cope with all sorts of problems and situations around. No more excitement for myself. Of course, I can explore more to up the ante, and create a niche for myself in this industry, but time is lacking. I do not even have time to get a minimum of 7 hours sleep a day!

I'm losing my tenacity in things I do. I need to get a recharge. I need HTHTs!

Tendered my resignation.. just hope I can leave asap. I dun think I can stand it until the end of Sep......

好久没自己唱自己写的“其实我爱你”了。在几天前，收到朋友的要求，就唱了一遍。非常惊讶。因为虽然只是通过电话，也没有什么刚请伴奏，就唱得非常有感觉。那在同一个晚上，通过电话，也加上钢琴的伴奏，自己自弹自唱了一遍。以为没什么大不了，致使多唱一遍自己写的歌曲。但唱得当儿，真身发热，好多感觉，但在脑海里一个画面也没有。是因为什么呢？

Could it be that I've been blocking things away so successfully from myself, but yet the subconsious tells the truth? I dunno if I still miss her. I dunno if I'll still think of her, and I do not know if she comes "clapping" to me one day, what would I do. I know I have to move on, and I'm moving on. To the "you" and the Almidos reading, I'm attached. But was it an abrupt move? Is this move a genuine one? I do not have the answer to these myself. But I do know what are the right things to do.

Throughout this period I met this person, and started to just talk. IMHO, I did not do anything except to just talk talk and talk. Simply communication. I did not compose a song, nor cook or make anything, absolutely nth, but somehow, she says I did a lot. Then again, my threshold for "doing a lot" is really much higher than most.

It's a situation of girl has more feelings for the guy than guy has for girl. But cuz of the previous para, the girl is doing quite a bit for the guy. Making barley.. ginseng.. cooling stuff cuz the guy is sick and works late, and sleeps very little. The girl is now giving morning calls at 630am when she only has to wake up at 8 or 9am! The girl is talking all about it to friends and families. It's like come on, such a nice person doing this, I must know what to do. I'm going what I said most people are doing, that is "to get to know each other whilst in a relationship", and climbing the so-called relationship ladder, rather than the friendship ladder. It helps that I'm super busy now, and dun even have time to sleep. A good chance to see how this goes, and to nurture the flame. Hopefully, when I quit my job (which I hope will happen asap!), and when I have more time at hand, I would be ready to fully commit my whole life in this. Ok, half, the other half goes to my restaurant building.

I've grown up a bit now. I can feel it. Lots of ideas and thoughts have changed.. Aging perhaps. And yes, I'm all ready to say that, I miss life when I was younger.. JC, Army, Uni.. I'm missing the experiences and lifestyle. I'm now worrying about making enough money for a boomz marriage in future, and for family(parents and kids next time).. Enjoying life, everything! Haizzz.... I am really vv happy to be in Almido. Very very very lucky.......

Thinking through, and reading through my blog, I took about 1 month for P. It's been like 6 months or so already for Y. I know now that it'll take something for us to be like before. It'll take two hands to clap, and somehow, it'll have to start all over again. Like seriously all over again. I long for the day that I'll be able to read through my unpublished blog entries and think, "Ahh.. it was a great experience. I'll remember this wonderful period in my life. Ok, next up would be ~~~" And not just feeling sad over everything etc.

Oh, and as I was reading through those entries, I recalled something Angela told me. A date, and a celebration, are two different things. Say a couple meets up for a bday celebration. It has to be something special! And not just to go out, hang around, have a "better than usual" meal, go home. There has to be something more! Even going to USS is something special, and surprises etc!

So many of my classmates are now attached! Like seriously.. 7 in 10 are attached! I was quite surprised cuz no other group of friends are like that. Hmm...

My classmates are like going out so often! Just on Thursday, 21 of us went to Golden Mile Food Centre after class, Friday, 12 of us went to eat Kway Chap near school, Saturday 19 people for harry potter <- which I overslept for! =(. The thing is, this is the Culinary side and Pastry side together. Once we split at the end of this coming week, I'm not sure if we would meet up too often! Hope we would!! It's now a class of 38! A number last seen in secondary school! Re-living school life all over again! =)

It's been 3 weeks at school! And to be working and studying at the same time is horrendous! I need sleep! I've been taking one MC per week for the past 3 weeks, and it's helping a bit. But this is definitely not a long term solution. I am really prepared to quit this night job, and just lead a normal student life. I would have more concentration this way. Pls let there be a permanent replacement soon!!

Next week's my first's exam.. it's mainly a practical one whereby I have to do service and wine service to guests. Hope it'll be fine!

At school, the aroma from the bakery is super tantalizing daily! I get to smell the wonderful freshly baked pastry everyday and it's boomz! The breads and pastry baked by the students are rather nice to eat, but other than that, the cakes and cooked food in general are very average. No aroma from the cooked food there AT ALL! My amateur cooking at home producing aroma at least!

I'm getting closer to more people there and making lots of friends and going on outings! There's another NUS student with me, 3 A-levels, a couple of polys, ITEs, N-levels etc.. and you can actually identify the different education qualifications from the way they speak, and how fast they absorb the theory stuff. I'm not saying being able to enter NUS is all so awesome or anything, but just a rather generic thing I observed.

Kitchen in 2 weeks~~~~

She's coming back tmr.. Haha.. like finally. I dunno if I've moved on, but I do feel spasms of intense feelings at times. But I was thinking through the recent ones, and wondering if it is due to this person in particular, or just the inner emotion created by thoughts of this person. I rmb the day a few months back, when i was in the car, raining, lowest point, and the radio played Ah Du's 下雪.. and a week back, we were talking about spending Xmas tgt, going around Orchard to do things I nv ever did, that is to camwhore with the Xmas deco. It was a horrid horrid piercing pain when the song came on...

I was blog surfing again, and I realized blog entries on break-ups touch me from within. It's about how much the person learnt while being in the relationship, the mutual understandings all the way to the mutual agreement of breakup.

Quote:

I want to thank you for teaching me to love someone again and how far I can go to really love someone.

Appreciation is another thing I've learn so here goes:
- Thank you for sending me home though you are tired at times.
- Thank you for waiting for me while sleeping in the car.
- Thank you for comprising on things I insist
- Thank you for all of the surprises :)
- Thank you for helping out when I needed you.
- Thank you for tolerating my nonsense talk and bad English
- Thank you for watching the movies that I chose though I noe you wanted others.
- Thank you for lending me your shoulder and hands.

All those entries that I've read ever since the days leading up to the creation of 其实我爱你 were from ladies. Guys dun really put these kinda stuff down I guess.

School's started, and I completed day 2 today. I rented a car for a month to see if having a car would help me juggle both sides, and so far so good. But it's only day 2. I was soooo sleepy in class this afternoon, but so was everyone with more sleep than me, and that means I'm normal =D.

The place seems rather strict with a standard grooming to follow. Similar to the army, but I'm ok with it. I met some friends and most of them are there to stand out and be outstanding. I'm just there as a fast track into the industry to learn as much as I can before I start my own eatery 2 years time. I guess I'll just do everything at a comfortable pace and spend more time on money making, Yes, mercenary I know I am.

As for the night job.. I thought of quitting, but once again, a 天地人和 situation in the sense that
1) I'm knowing more people here, both staff and customers and getting to talk to them, dine out tgt. I just suppered with 2 staff, singer papa and 3 singers on Saturday night.
2) The boss is renovating the whole place and everything related to me, he consults me literally. Changing everything according to what I tell him, and providing me with a super conducive environment.
3) I'm getting right into my comfort zone and able to muti-task like a somebodehh here.

On the other hand,
1) School is fine, ending at 5. I sleep from 6 to 930 before driving to work. And from 430am to 630am. Taking many small winks. Killing myself softly. But as I'm typing this, I'm thinking through... the study is just a good exposure and learning platform, the night job is something practical. Night job priority? Haha!
2) School sometimes MAY end late at 11plus or so. How do I work on these days?! This is the main problem. I'll be participating in a banquet dinner for the French embassy on France National Day 14/7. Basically cheap labour/server. And with the Ritz Carlton for F1. This is something new, and a good exposure in every aspect. When attachment comes in from Term 2 to 5, it'll be more unpredictable timings

So how? Haizzz.. Sch's curriculum is fixed and I dun really have a choice in my timings etc. Ok, I'll talk to the so called "form teacher" asap about this and hope we can come to a compromise.

And tianju, shuangying and huiting's convocation is this Fri! I am so damn excited about it! 3 years we were running around Sentosa for E5 and now, graduation!

What does it mean when you go out for gatherings with your Secondary sch friends of like 12 years, and topics of marriage, engagement, houses, babies etc comes out. Does it mean that you guys are all getting older? Hmm.. there're some of who aren't even attached at all, and others getting houses and having kids! Oh wells..

And I signed up for a Diploma in Culinary Arts course from sunrise. It's a 17month program. Is it a milestone in my life? I have no idea and am slightly confused. I do know that I want to start a food business. And I need lots of knowledge on it.. thus, the decision to sign up. It starts on 4/7, and it's just 2 weeks time. I do not know if i can carry on with my current job too. I'm just taking it as things go by. But sch's 8 to 5. Work's 10 to 230am. Can I cope? Even if i can, why try so hard. Lack of sleep, and I need lots of mental concentration for these 2. Arghz!!!

You want to cook, want to run errands, chores, have someone to bitch to, to talk about your decisions in life, to spend hours talking about anything that comes to mind, on the phone, at some cafe from 230am to 530am, and when you stop talking, it's daylight. To do things just for that special person, the deserving one, who appreciates everything, even the horrid tasting nua butter cake, to the wonderful tasting pork, and mum's soup, koi's ice cream bubble tea, sashimi, exploring random food places, bringing to boomz places in an otherwise boring Singapore, Singapore's top 3 rooftop chillout/dining areas, MBS Skypark, One-Altitude, Equinox. The endless car rides to that place in Yishun, going around Nassim, dancing in the car, shaking in the car, that idiotic face, that night at Barrage. The quarrels, the apologies, the silly things, innocent animals, ko yi mak, zi pais, a million zi pai, a hundred million zi pai. The birthdays. That birthday. The ideas, that were all in words, nothing to keep for memory.

Haha.. This post was not supposed to be like that, it was supposed to be very generic. Oh wells....

2nd time blogging from my work place. It's NOT an office! I'm blogging with a singer singing, and like 4 tables of people drinking and playing games in front of me. Yes, I'm bored.

Just some thoughts la.. being ignorant is indeed a bliss. As much as I'm super open to almost everything, I quote a super close friend.. "i don't believe, but I accept." These will probably not make sense to anyone except the person whom I quoted. Another quote from my favourite forum, In this age, most people accept it that their wife-to-be/fiance are non-virgins. It's too common, but it says a lot about the girl if she's a virgin at marriage. Some people, when at the peak of their love, say that it's ok, and he/she understands that it's common now, but in an over-heated argument late into the marriage, this is a time bomb waiting to explode. It's like religion. Say both respect each other's religion or non-religion such as perhaps a free thinker and a Christian. But the problem comes when it's time to decide whether to bring the kid to church from young, or to just let nature flow.

For myself, I am a strong believer of a "white lie". Although I guess if a couple is going to get married, there are lots of things that need not be said. Taboo stuff.. Self delusion. Blocking or "negative" thoughts and just assume things you want to believe in. With all I said, I do believe that aside those "taboo" things by the general Singaporean, everything else should be clear. Things like saying that your place, address, meeting your friends.. are very important. It's a fact that the more one digs, the more one finds, and if you're hiding something, you can't hide it in front of soooo many people.

No idea why I'm posting this, but just that some people lead a double life. Or rather, just a small 5% and a 95%. The small 5% is with that someone who you look for company. You don't talk about your personal life, your family, your friends.. just general things. And it's like, in a crude way, friends with benefits. Of course, the danger for most people comes in when they cannot differentiate between the 2 lives, and they start to mash up.

I've a friend, met not too long ago, that keeps on going out with this guy. My friend's a she btw. None of her friends know this guy, she nv talks about him, and he's just anonymous except that he's from a rich family, and drives a Type R. Someone who dines with her, and yea, have fun together. Sounds like a typical playboy yea. Not that she's someone super decent too though, having had sugar dads and flings. I suppose ex-es dun really matter in this case. Once there's a first time, there will be many. Once you meet someone as a friend, this person grows and become friend, good friends, vv good friends etc. To turn it sexual is just weird. But, on the other hand, for friends who started off as sexual, can they go to the other ladder? I guess if it goes, the problem of the 2 lives being mash up comes in. It's similar to the relationship/friendship ladder mentioned all over the Internet some time back.

To spend $150 on a few seconds pleasure with a prostitute, or to spend $150 on an atas meal? I'm to choose the meal definitely. But, is it too much to ask for both. Haha.. Oh wells, for a person with enough money to spare, it doesn't matter isnt it.

Feb to June, 4 months. Ending soon. Reality. Have I gotten over? I'm not sure myself. In a way, unless someone gives me a shove.

Here’s on my trip to China. I went to Shanghai, Hang Zhou and Beijing for about 10days. It was in the middle of winter to spring, and the weather was cool. Comparing it to Singapore, it’s like constantly in an aircon room! Even the hottest times in Beijing were less warm than Singapore. Perhaps, the humidity difference played a part too.

I booked my return plane ticket to Shanghai from Zuji at a promotional $575.80 from China Eastern. Lodgings were all settled by friends who were in China.

11/5:
It was a late afternoon flight. I took the 1635 flight. It got delayed for about 45 minutes awaiting Take-Off orders, and I only reached Shanghai Pudong International Airport at almost 11pm.

Right after my arrival, I took a cab to Fudan University Overseas Students Hostel where Yanjia stays at. The cab ride took an hour and costs RMB220. That’s expensive! She booked a room for me, and it costs only SGD20 per day. It comes with a whole room with bed, cupboards, study table, shoe rack etc, fully air-conditioned, and an in-room toilet! It’s really cheap!

I travelled light with only a sling bag and had to purchase lots of daily necessities at the mini mart before turning in though.

So the first night spent debriefing me on my itinerary for the next day, where I would be travelling around. I did not do any research, and depended on Yanjia to plan my route =D.

Oh, and I met some of her friends.. Very nice and friendly people! Felicia, Ying Nan, Si Yuan!

12/5:
Woke up at about 1030, and met up with DiKai! He’s like super nice to take off from work to bring me around!

First up, 生煎包 and 牛肉粉丝汤from 小杨生煎包, and salted egg 小笼包 from 佳家汤包 along 黄河路! The bestest 生煎包 I ate in China! Crispy exterior, with the soft inner bread, matched with yummy savoury soup and minced pork! I drank 王老吉, which has disappeared from Singapore for my reason or another. This is a simple lunch, and off we go to 七浦路 for some cheap shopping!

The clothing range from sgd 6 to 10, and shoes from sgd 9! I shopped the entire afternoon, which made DiKai a little bored cuz I CAN shop. =D I tried their legendary, much raved about 手抓饼 too. It was just roti prata with whatever filling you want. Super oily though, and not tasty enough. I like my Jalan Kayu Honey Prata anytime pls =)

Next was the Bund, and we met up with yj and friends. I guess I was the only one who’s a tourist in the group, and amongst a group of calm people, it is hard for me to get all hyper about the beauty of the Bund. I thought the lightings and architecture etc was nice, but I just did not get the feel of the entire beauty. Perhaps I should have gone up the tower to get a view from high up!

After hanging around for awhile, we went for dinner at an eatery near the Bund. We ordered
- Sautéed crystal prawns (Average. At least the prawns did not have a stale taste)
- Braised Pigeon (Cant rmb anything)
- Fish with Ginger Chilli Sauce (It was a river fish, and it had lots of boned in it. The sauce was msg-full!)
- Hot Plate Beef (Beef tenderizer-ed-ed-ed. Overkill)
- Stir-fried Kang Kong with Garlic (Tasted quite good, but msg-full)
-糖醋排骨 (Something uniquely China. But my 排骨王 anytime!)
- Egg with tomato (Simple. Boring.)

After dinner, Dikai went back home, and yj brought me around 五角场, which is a shopping complex area near Fudan. Explained a few stuff, showed me a few things, and 边走边聊 about the surroundings as we walked back to the hostel. We stopped for salted egg XLBs on the way, and it was like only RMB8 for 6 pieces. At this point in time, I was starting to get super irritated with all the MSG put in their food. Everything seems so full of msg! Sadly, that’s the Chinese way of cooking. MSG.

13/5:
Woke up at about 1130, and waited for yj to look for me at my room. Left at about 1230, and she brought me to a few areas near Fudan to look, see and eat.

First up was this 山东杂粮煎饼. This is really really good! Think of it as something similar to a vegetarian Peking Duck wrap! It was a lone shop in some lone alley, but really really good! It’s a big pity that I only tried this once. It was like a flour wrap(freshly made), with some crispy beancurd skin, and sauce. Yummy yum!

Next was 糖醋排骨once more. One of Yj’s favourite dish in China I learnt, and followed by this 麻辣汤 thingy. It’s like yong tau fu, where you choose your stuff, and they will cook for you in a 麻辣汤. MSG full once again, and the ingredients are mostly.. unfresh. Thus probably the use of 麻辣 to cover the taste.

I learnt that Coco’s Shanghai equivalent of Koi, and I tried it. Super tasty! I absolutely love the Jasmine milk tea, and it’s only RMB5! You can taste the frangrace of the Jasmine leaves, the bitterness of the tea, sweetness of the milk. Everything just combines perfectly!

As we walked and walked, I decided to try bread from one of their western bakeries. The breads are similar priced to Singapore’s and in China’s standards, considered rather expensive. Super oily breads! And nothing to rave about.

Next, XLB again at RMB4 for 8. Like SGD80cents! MSG full. This was followed by a Jap restaurant, and got one of their specialty sushi rolls, the Motorolla. This was deep fried spicy tuna, snow crab, tobiko, maguro and avocado filling. The combination of flavours went well with me, but I simply do not understand why he had to put so much mayo!

Rushed back to the hostel to prepare for our Hang Zhou trip, and to book my plane tickets to Beijing. Felicia, Ying Nan, yj and myself spent the weekend over at Hangzhou, and off for the train ride at Hongqiao railway station.

It was only an hour ride, and after reaching Hangzhou with 23987122131 people, we decided to have dinner at 大粮水饺 near Hangzhou train station.
- 鲜肉高丽菜水饺 (Erm, no recollection)
-秘制排骨木桶饭 (Tasted quite good, with good flavours. But once again, msg full!)
- 鲜虾仁汤 (only remembered that it had lots of seaweed, and the soup was full of the seaweed taste)

Next up, walking up and down asking people, and getting horrible quotes to get to our hotel. After asking 8217031 people and walking some distance, we finally found it. We got a giant room with a super duper king sized bed. Super duper cuz it’s bigger than the super king size bed I have at home.

Spent the night watching some music awards thing on their TV before turning in for a long day ahead.

14/5:
Woke up at 9am, and went down to their the hotel’s brekkie. It was soyabean milk, congee, a choice of bun or 肉包, and a choice or banana or cucumber. Horrid. Haha! Yes, it tasted as bad as it sounds!

We went out and walked our way to 西湖, and stopped at 新丰小吃 for breakfast. 鸡粒包(Bread with 5 spice powder filling)，麻球(Glutinous rice ball)，肉包，水饺, XLB. Very very normal!

After that, we continued walking and walking and walking. We asked around for directions and when China people say that “曼远的”, it really means it’s FAR. On the way there, we walked through some 步行街 which has all those China related things such as drawings, carvings, fine arts, music, food etc.. Everything! You name it, they have it. Hang Zhou is the place for 龙井茶, and there were many shops selling them. I wanted to buy, but I know that there are many grades, and since I’m not an expert on it, I did not want to take the risk. They could very well swap the low grade ones for me!

When we finally reached 西湖，all of us were like tired, and to go around the entire 西湖 to view all 12 scenic spots would take like 5 to 6 hours on foot! Eventually decided to take a bode ride cum tour of 西湖for like rmb320. It’s 320 a boat to fit up to 6 pax. So the 4 of us went on it, and listened to the guide. He used damn a lot of chim words and phrases that stunned us. Ok, just me. =D. Apparently, 西湖/杭州’s famous for their pearls as well. Be it for luck or to flaunt your wealth or just an accessory, it doesn’t really appeal to me.

After going around the 湖，we went 雷峰塔. The scenery on top was normal, but there were 182937129 people around, so imagine the crowd. This is a 5 star rated tourist spot, but it seems too “modern” in a way. Hmm…

Next up, 4 super hungry people looked for lunch, and got duped. We were walking by the main road just outside the 塔，and this small eatery was saying he’ll give us 20% discount. Ok, so we went in, and ordered the top 4 杭州 dishes. 东坡肉，龙井虾仁，糖醋鱼，叫化鸡. The pork was rather good, with big portions, and sufficient sugar and wine in the sauce. Chicken was over-cooked and dry. Fish and prawns are horrid. Unfresh! Price was like almost 200, and it was the quality of the food that irks me!

After a super unsatisfying lunch, we wanted to shop, and tried to find this ladies shopping street. We ended up at a haji lane – esque place and with clothings priced around sgd20 and above, very expensive in China standards. We walked around window shopping aimlessly around the small shops, and some shopping malls and ended up at a bookstore. Felicia and myself grabbed those tourist books and read through to find places to visit! Spotted a highly recommended street for food, 高银街, which was the street beside the 步行街 we walked through the afternoon.

There were many restaurants selling the same 杭州 top dishes and most were packed. We decided on one which served their 东坡肉 in a clay urn(a novelty that attracted us =D), 邻家菜，老杭州。

东坡肉：Soft skin, melting fats, tasty meat, yummy sauce. A good blend of soy sauce, wine and sugar.
Hangzhou pickled cabbage: Sth like a pickled cabbage appetizer in canto restaurants here, but a super sour version.
特浆鸭: It’s like a preserved duck in some super salty sauce!
Prawn and eel stir fried: tiny shrimp more likely, and eel fried to a crisp such that I cant taste the eel at all. But it’s like a tasty fried dish that goes well with rice and hungry tummies la.
牛腩香干锅: This is tasty. The chilli spice mix is rather good. But then again, 麻辣 came from China, and if they can’t get this right, den it’s gg to them.

I guess with the full house they had, it should be a good place for dining. Costs only like 170rmb. But I thought the blend of flavours was normal, and had better ones in Singapore…

Next time, we walked another 1298371209km back to the hotel, and bought pineapple and watermelon up to eat. It’s like a super duper tiring day! Watched a lil tv, and zzzzzzzz.

15/5:

We woke up late, got ready around 11plus, and checked out. Our train back to Shanghai was at 1430, and so we could not venture out too far lest we missed the train. And so we thought of trying Grandma’s, a highly recommended place, and it was located at a hotel just beside the train station. A pity it was lunch time and we had 28 tables in front of us queuing! That was like omg! We went around walking for some cheap food, and saw this “kopitiam” nearby. I ordered the “菜贩”, not nice, horrid. Costs sgd5……

While the others chill at BK and went for round 2 of lunch, I went to this 土产店 and bought about rmb200+ worth of food to be brought back to Singapore, which includes 楼外楼’s signature 叫化鸡 and 东坡肉 vacuumed packed. 楼外楼’s Hangzhou’s top restaurant so-called. When I reheated them and shared with my family back in Singapore, the meats were dry, perhaps caused by the vacuum packing, but was rather tasty otherwise.

Next, the train ride back, and when we reach Shanghai, I went to visit Old Shanghai street and Chen Huang Miao area on my own while the rest went back to the hostel. It was a very tourisy place, with LOTS of policemen on patrol, which is a good thing I guess. It has a lot of things similar to the 步行街in 杭州。When I got there at about 4, the chen huang miao has closed, and I went to this 欲圆, which is a replica of what gardens in ancient homes were like. It was super big, and once could really get lost in it. If not for the maps around, I would not be able to find the exit. A nice history place to be in and to understand more stuff.

After the garden, I just wandered around grabbing lots of bites…

里脊肉串：Bbq thin sliced pork. Horrible. Msg and pork.
特大烤肉串：Bbq sliced beef. MSG and beef. Tough.
香菇菜包: This is good. As the name says.. And tasty! I think they fried the chives and mushroom in butter before stuffing it into the bao.
五香茶干: Not something I like, I prefer my pork and tau pork and egg in black sauce back in Singapore. Tried it cuz it’s like a famous dish there.
韭菜煎饼：Very very good. The Chinatown one is far off. Thick fillings, crispy crust, soft interior. And this was from a roadside stall!
生煎：Couldn’t swallow one bite. Too much rancid pig smell.
水饺：Couldn’t swallow one bite. Nua. Very the nua.
饺子：Swallowed only one bite. MSG and pork.
蛋挞: Quite good. Buttery Portuguese style egg tarts.

I shopped around a little before going back to the hostel to meet them for dinner at this 风波庄, a restaurant near our hostel. It goes by themes from Chinese martial arts such as begger sect, wu dang etc. And with each theme, you get a diff set menu. I thought the food here was tasty enough, but too much oil, and we get very gelat after a few bites. There’s one in Singapore, but not sure if it’s related though.

Glutinuous rice ball with pork and salted egg yolk, 麻辣牛腩，stir friend peas pods, cabbage stir fried with meat, pork rib with spicy sauce, egg with green pepper, chong qing grilled fish. It’s super a lot of 4! It can fit like 6 to 8, and we left a lot untouched. One thing I dislike about China fishes is that they’re all river fish! I prefer my salt water fish with firmer flesh, and bigger bones. River fish has a “muddy” smell too!

Back to hostel to tcss, and sleep. I needed to catch my plane to Beijing the next day, and that’s where horror starts!

16/5:
I woke up at about 545am, and travelled super light with one a small sling back to Hongqiao airport to take my plane ride to BJ. When I reached there, I missed the flight cuz of a miscommunication. Grrr, and so I purchased a plane ticket and waited till 1030 for my flight. While waiting, I tried some fast food xiao long bao in transit, and it was the BEST xiao long bao I put in my mouth since I reached Shanghai. No msg, and with light sauce and sesame oil!

Ok, so I took the plane, landed in Beijing, and off I went to look for the great wall. Took the airport express, and changed to a train. Dropped off, and asked bus driver directions. Got on the bus, and viola! I’m lost. First, the bus made a BIG detour because the usual route was disrupted. The locals were kbkb-ing about it, and I just listened. When I reached 怀柔，I got off, and asked for directions. Got back to the same bus, so I took the bus, and went round in circles! Like what the hell?! The same number has different routes! It was like a town link, only thing the town was like from Pasir Ris to Bedok, and the bus moved at not more than 40km per hour. So after it went 1.5 rounds, and I realized I was going in circles, I got off, and took another bus hoping to get me back to the city area. 怀柔 is in the 5^th circles, and super far off from the city. I took the correct bus, but in the wrong direction. !@#!$!@. Reached the interchange, and finally took the right one, and reached the train station. This wasted my ENTIRE afternoon!

And so off I went to meet Jim, and he brought me to 大同烤鸭. Supposedly the best Peking Duck restaurant in Beijing. The 2^nd best meal I had in China, but the food did not impress me. For the price, a big NO. Maybe just the duck to try it cuz it’s only sgd40. Singapore Peking duck costs from 68!

Da Dong Super lean duck: Too lean la! Dry! And the skin was tasteless. No fat means no taste. =( rmb198 + 8 for condiments per person.
Sauteed prawns: A large prawn pan fried with some savoury sauce. The sauce was too sweet for my liking, but the prawn was cooked very nicely! Rmb66
Sweet sour yellow croaker filler with honey coated diced fruits: Just a fillet of fish with fruity sauce. Super duper sweet sauce once again, the fish was not a fish I was accustomed to in Singapore. Rmb 90
Dried Scallop with Matsutake: Nice mushrooms, well, it’s the top of the top grade mushroom. But no dried scallops detected whatsoever. Something interested.rmb 28
Grilled beef steak cooked Chinese style: No theme to this. 2 thinly sliced beef in black sauce. Very very very normal. Wagyu beef or not, have a theme pls! Wagyu is not a theme. Rmb32
Steamed Oxtail with longan and honey: The oxtail could be softer! Rmb 28.
Summer 3 appetizers: A trio of appetizers created for each season. Nth to comment.
Beijing 6 specialty desserts: Like omg! Both me and Jim cannot stomach a bite of each! It feels like those small bites my dad buys to pray! But I wanted to try BJ’s top desserts la.

Overall an atas place, with not too good service. Tourism. Just go for the duck. After dinner, Jim brought we walking around the “Orchard Road”, and some clubbing areas, as well as an alley of roadside stalls. Had I not been so full, I would have tried these road side stalls! Throughout, we were approached by like 10+ pimps, and I got pissed, but that’s besides the point.

Walk walk walk until about midnight, before we cabbed to Jim’s place where he hosted me and I slept at for the 2 nights.

17/5:
I woke up, grabbed a bite at a bread shop, before going over to the National Museum and The Forbidden City. The bread was not cheap, sgd1+, similar to Singapore priced, but was not too bad la. A lot of oil though.

Ok, nth much to mention about these 2 places cuz loads can be found online. The forbidden city was like super duper big la! I couldn’t finish it in one day, and sort of regretted not following a tour there. I think with a tour guide, I would have learnt a lot more on the history and stuff. To be alone.. it’s just not a lot to learn from. It’s like the TW museum place… we learnt a lot when the guide talked about the artifacts etc.

After spending the whole afternoon being artsy-fartsy, I met up with Jim again at night for dinner at 海底捞火锅, one of the top steamboat places there. We reached at about 7, and had about 15 tables ahead of us. I think they’re used to having lots of patrons queuing up, they actually set up a “waiting area” outside for people to munch on snacks, drinks and play board games! Also, ladies could get manicure for free. I’m quite sure they’re earning a lot! The 2 of us ordered the 麻辣，and the 三鲜 soup base. Super tasty soup base made from natural herbs! Absolutely the best steamboat soup bases I’ve ever tried! You can drink them on their own, and it’s tasty enough. Unlike most places where the soup is too light and bland or just simply MSG full, this one’s just perfect.

We ordered 11 dishes, which include meat, vegetables, mushroom and beancurd stuff. There were dishes not commonly found in steamboats in their menu such as cow offals, snails, mudskipper, frogs etc, not forgetting the spread of about 20 odd sauces and condiments! Superb service too! The guy kept on teaching us how to cook the various stuff, and mixed a concoction from the different sauces and condiments available, telling us that’s the best way to enjoy the steamboat. It was only about sgd 18 per pax. Expensive in China, but reasonable in Singapore. In short, I just love the soup base.

Next up, we walked along the “Clarke Quay” of Beijing looking for a nice pub to chill at, and to listen to the live performance. Yes, there were like 23819038120 pimps approaching us again…. But that’s beside the point. After walking up and down a few times, I decided on a pub with unplugged performance. The girl was quite a good singer, and her choice of songs were rather modern and not so 中国民歌！I was about to buy he and her keyboardist a drink, when they started to sing horrid folk songs for an hour before switching back to modern songs. Well, mood lost. While walking up and down, I tried their steamed egg pudding, and it was surprisingly good! Tasty combination of egg and milk, steamed just nice, and super smooth!

18/5:
This was my last day in Beijing, and I walked around alone.

First up, I went to 王府井 food street to look at all the exotic stuff like scorpions, centipede, starfishes, silk worm larvae etc! =D There were quite a lot of people were there taking photos too. Of course, I did not try these weird stuff, but I tried quite a bit of the other normal things.

- 土耳其烤肉. Just like a kebab sandwich, but super dry meat, and dry bread. Taste of msg.
- 金丝卷饼 . Some gigantic popiah thingy. Tasteless. Just natural veg in the filling.
- 羊肉串. Rather nice tasting lamb kebab! But WHAT’S WITH THE MSG?!
- 奶油炸糕. Like a buttered dough deep fried. Super duper yummy! But I have to keep the calories!
- 老北京煎包. No recollection. Must be horrid.
- 门钉肉饼. Same as above.
- 正中肉夹馍. Minced LEAN meat and green chilli in a bread dough kinda. Horrid.
- 煎饼. Horrid. No recollection.

Next up, I went over to the warehouse shopping area near the 动物园 mrt station and shopped! There were like a few buildings all selling a WIDE variety of clothings! Super duper a lot, and cheap too! I only had time to comb one building though, but it was enough.

After that, it was time for me to leave BJ, and I went to the BJ International Airport like 2 hours in advance thinking I could spend some time to slowly shop and purchase some Beijing goodies, but it turned out that I was at the wrong airport! I immediately rushed over the 南苑机场, but it was peak hour, and I ended up missing the plane there AGAIN! And so, I cabbed back over to BJ international airport, and purchased another ticket to Shanghai. Rmb1290! And the rmb300 odd on cabs too! =(

When I finally got onto the plane, and flew to Shanghai, it was almost midnight, and I had to cab back. The cab fare was another about rmb180. So much money wasted just because I was not meticulous enough!

I went back to the hostel, and grabbed some food from the stalls outside the hostel. As you recall, I only ate the snacks from the food street, and that the plane back did not serve meals!

19/5:
This can be considered to be my last day in Shanghai as I was leaving on a morning flight back the next day.

I left the hostel at about 11am, and went to 世纪公园 to see the gigantic park where Singapore Day was held. Yes, it’s a BIG park, with lots of facilities, but I reached there at noon, and it was scorching! I left just after like 5 min, and made my way to the Science and Technology Museum station to look at all the fake goods. It was nothing much, and I left after 10min to meet Dikai at 打浦桥 for a quick lunch before going to 田子坊 to look see at artsy stuff again.

Lunch was at this franchise joint, Jade Cuisine, which serves not too bad food! The xiao long baos had sesame oil =D.

The 田子坊 was like walking through a historical area, with old buildings, but the stalls there sell unique things you might find at haji lane. Not so much the clothings, but the gifts and everything else. There were quite a number of western cafes too! But the pricings were similar to Singapore.

After that, I went over to the Shanghai National Museum with Dikai to look at some history again. More info when you google it, but what impressed me were the furnitures! Few hundred years old and the wood still looked super solid. The designs were not super “old-fashioned” and a similar replica could very well be sold in furniture stores. Other than that, I’m not too involved with the paintings, and costumes. The coins were interesting enough though. Imagine bringing a slab of metal to shop….

Next up, we went back to 黄河路，and ate the 生煎，and 小笼包! This time around, we tried the 蟹粉鲜肉小笼. The crab egg really made a difference! A pity the crab roe wasn’t fresh enough, and that left a sticky after taste, but the combination of flavours was heavenly! Dikai agreed totally.

We walked around aimlessly after the meal, looking for 土产店 for me to purchase some stuff, and we eventually found one. And I got cheated.. well, not exactly, just that I did not check. I bought a package which was supposed to have 2 green flavours and 2 yellows. I had 3 greens, 1 yellow when I checked it after walking a distance. Well, laziness got the better, and I decided to just 算了吧！

Dinner’s next! Dikai brought me to a place near his place, called 泰皇鸡. This is a franchise, but apparently, this was the best. When I stepped in, the smoke from the kitchen was super strong, and it filled the entire hall. But that’s just the only bad thing. This was arguably my best meal in entire China.

- 泰皇鸡 rmb27.80, 白斩鸡 with a sauce. Similar to our soup restaurant’s samsui chicken. The sauce here was light sauce based with minced ginger. I love the sauce! Sweet, salty, spicy, everything blended!
- 蟹味鱼片 rmb 16. I did really like this dish but Dikai loved it. Yes, the fish was fresh and in thick slices, but it was the vinegar based sauce that put me off. I don’t really like vinegar. This was topped with steamed beaten egg white.
- 一品大白菜锅 rmb15. Absolutely my favourite! It was just the 大白菜，with some mushrooms and a few slices of Chinese ham, but in a peanut stock that absolutely explodes in your mouth! I cannot taste what’s in the sauce except for peanut! No, the peanut wasn’t overpowering, it was just nice, but the blend made it very hard to get the individual ingredients. One thing’s for sure, the wok used to prepare this was very very very very hot, and that’s something I cannot do at home.
- 野山菌煮牛肉. Rmb16. Tender beef slices with some veg and mushrooms. The sauce was once again, unique. Unlike just the usual black pepper or bbq sauce kinda preparation.

This was where I bided goodbye to Dikai, and went back to the hostel. I ate one final around of the roadside stalls outside the hostel, and tcss with yanjia and friends before packing everything thing up and I’m ready to return home. 10days is indeed long, but it was a very good trip to China. Most of my friends say I went there for another purpose other than a holiday, but that was the stimulus, holiday and Chinese history was the reality, and when I was there, it was just simply, a holiday. =)

20/5:
I woke up at like 545am to prepare, and I had lots of luggage! Cuz I help dikai and yanjia carry some stuff back home. I took a private car which Siyuan helped to book, and because of the peak hour jam, it took me almost 1.5hours to reach Pudong Airport. I guess I was lucky I was not charged excess baggage, and the estimate weight should be 27kg! I was ordered to check in one of my hand carry luggage because I was simply carrying too many things!

Once in the airport, I rushed to the gate as it was the “boarding” time, only to find that the plane was delayed. Wait wait wait wait wait… waited 4 hours! And lots of people kbkb, especially the locals. The Singaporeans just sat amongst themselves and sui sui nian. We were eventually compensated RMB400 each. That’s like sgd80, but better than nothing la! The thing is, what am I going to do with the RMB now that I’m back home? Just keep it until the next time I visit China! =D

I reached Singapore at about 8plus, duty-freed and cabbed home. The cab driver was pissed as usual. Haha! Costs only $12 including airport $5 surcharge.

This concludes my stay in China. A timely one. =) And this document has about 5400 words. My third holiday in 18 months… and all with… Haha.. I need to plan another one come end of the year!

Quite a long hiatus from blogging.. Not that I have not been keeping tabs on my life, but just that some stuff I would like to keep it to myself. Well, not really to myself, but at least not to the whole world.

Let's see, from March 10, I worked at Imperial till 22nd April, before having a break and resuming work at Baidu on 1st July. In between, I went to China(Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing) from 10-20th May. Besides that, I went to Batam with Almido on 7-8/5. And I've been bumping around, not doing anything really meaningful. Perhaps cooking for Almido and Voices peeps, and experimenting lots!

My night life screwed up my body clock, and it took some effort tune it back normally. Took me about 1.5 weeks to tune it back. I have been waking up at 3 to 5pm and I cant get to sleep even at 5am. And so, I spent one fine day not sleeping at all, and going to the market to bargain and buy stuff like an auntie at 7am, before cooking some super complicated stuff that occupied me till like 2pm. I had plans to go out too, and when I eventually returned home at like 10pm that fine day, I was zonked out by midnight, and from then on, I've been sleeping by 2am, and waking up by 11. It felt super duper fresh the first few days when it happened! =)

Looking at my calendar on my phone now.. and I've been..
- To some Taoist talk thingy, which supposed to answer some qus I felt about life. I asked if loan sharks lending money to people who really need it for like surgery or stuff, but giving you just enough time to return the money, without disrupting your life. Well, most of the times, unless the person who borrows tries to chu some stunt, then it's a different story. The reply was that all loan sharks are evil. Full stop. No more discussion. Haha.. Stereotyping and standard generalization. Not me.
- Met some new friends from online. Well, I need to fill up my free time!
- Ate at the legendary Buko Nero, which so did not blow me away. The amuse bouche of some canape was shiok, so was their pumpkin and crab meat soup, and their dessert. And their home made linguine.. It was super Q, like a mee pok =D. But other than tt, their mains were disappointing. The cod fish was over cooked, and that made it dry. It does have crispy skin though! Their uni with duck ragu pasta was.. good, but not good enough. The uni doesnt unami me, and the duck ragu pasta at Forlino was much better, and more flavourful. Possibly with more cheese incorporated into the sauce.
- Tried Osia at RWS. The bread was super duper good! The best bread I've ever put in my mouth. But a thin piece of 8 slices costs $8++ is quite steep. then again, if you were to dine at Osia, what's the $8. I'm a strong believer of ordering the chef's top dishes at a restaurant to rate it. You do not go to an upmarket establishment and order the cheap normal things, and come out saying that it's nothing special. OF COURSE THERE ISN'T! Though I also understand that there are some "must do well dishes" in the various cuisine. Like sweet sour pork in canto, and unagi and tamago in Jap. Anyway, Osia's dishes were not so much of flavourful, but full of it's natural freshness. Perhaps that's the Aussie's culture. You get a very clean palate and do not feel all gelat and stuff. Their Macadamia nut pie was superb too. A defo get!
- Tried Lush. Bought the voucher from voucherlicious, and it was horrible to the max. NOTHING was right. A total rip off. We had more shiokness at Golden Mile with the $5 claypot rice with lots and lots of meat! It'll go bust before the end of the year. I'm quite sure of that. Basics like getting the oil hot enough to fry pre packed fries... enough said.

I've tried the Cathay Platinum Movie Suites recently, and with the student 1 for 1 promo for screenings before 5pm on Mon and Tues, it's worth it! $14 each for a super big leather seat with motor reclining, and with a thin comfy blanket provided! On top of that, Xmen: First Class was super shiok. Non stop excitement from the start to the end! Perfect combination.

Batam. Took the 130pm ferry over cuz GE was on the same day, and reached the hotel only at about 3. We went to the biggest mall there, which has nth, and ate random stuff, which were horrid and nth to talk about. Dinner at 333. Ordered sea bass steamed hk style, which lacked the push of hua tiao jiu, and overly sweet cuz of the substitution. Fried cereal prawns, or shrimps! Super small ones, but tasty enough la. =D. Scallops steamed with garlic was a failure. The hk one was so good that even yj who doesnt take garlic at all enjoyed it. Veg, rice and coconut juice was standard. We spent the night in the room watching GE. Haha.. that's how boring Batam is. Good thing is that we got connecting rooms.

The next day, followed the tour. Massage, which I did not enjoy at all. Very neutral. If I have to pay for it, I wun. Haha.. Den the usual shopping stuff. The kueh lapis the tour guide strong recommended was not good leh! Dunno why so many people actually bought them. The ones my dad get for CNY was really the top of the top. Spoilt me. =D The prices difference was 2.5 times though. Haha! We dropped out of the tour after lunch to take the ferry back to Singapore. If we had followed it, we would only return at 7pm, and it would be too late for my Mothers' Day Dinner. There was some changes made to the itinarary cuz of the GE, and we were not informed. It was an additional $50 spent, but i did not chase the tour agency like how I usually would.. lazy i guess.. and it was only $50, not $500, like my return plane ticket from SHA to BJ.. More info in a few days,

For mothers' day dinner at park royal hotel... I bought a super duper big hello kitty doll for my mum, and did the same thing i did for Winnie's birthday. I placed the big doll at the concierge, and worked with the restaurant's receptionist to approach my mum saying that there's a surprise gift for the youngest mum. Well, she isnt, but sure looks like the youngest relatively to her age. The receptionist then brought my mum to collect the doll, and with some tcss. It was so well done that my relatives all really thought it was a surprise gift from the hotel, and not a gift from me. Oh wells.. Haha! =)

I guess that's how I spent my days since March. Times flies, and it's now early June. Come next month... would it be the same as 6 months ago? Haha.. I dunno, and I'm feeling the heat as the clock tick tocks. I'm starting to get "emotional surges and pangs". Not so much specific to a person, more of in general. FOCUS. I just read my life 8 characters today, and it says I will have lots of money and woman, but i must be focus, if not i would lose all my $ and the one woman i really love. That's in future though.. Tao hua yun for me as he put it. I was quite shocked at the things he said just by reading the 8 characters cuz a lot of stuff were so damn true. I went in and he said that I would have to take care of my stomach cuz I get stomach aches often, as well as poor blood circulation leading to sudden flashes, and the deteriorating of my eyesight towards next year. Also, that I have lots of fighting spirit and passion. But I'm vv curious, so I want to do a lot of things leading to myself becoming lost. True. Also, emotional, kuai lan. Haha... shocked. Just from 8 characters.. the things pre-programmed. I must do things related to 吃喝玩乐, and to do big things, not small things. Hmmm...

Zen.. knocking? Juz one msg, and you can feel the msg. Like always. Why? Ppl move on as ppl change. Things are always stagnant, only people change. People dun change, things remain. Taoism.. lol. And no, I'm not a Taoist convert. I love my meats. =)

Recently, I came across this food blog by a 20 year old girl. She's a chef-in-learning and just went overseas for her chef studies. Althought I do not know her, but by reading through her blog posts it's like I can see how much she loves food and cooking, and all the efforts she take to come up with a meal for her family! I mean yes, I cook for my family at times too, but I dunno.. it just feels different. Perhaps her presentation and food description boomzified me? Haha..

Here's her add: divinejoybites.blogspot.com

I admire her passion. Extreme passion and willing to take a path other than a normal Singaporean.. JC>Uni>9 to 5 job. For myself, I have no much of a choice other than to carry on in the workforce.

I have been thinking recently too.. as to what do I want to do. I want to open a cafe/restaurant and set up an events company. Both are my passion. But the thing is, I cannot open a restaurant without a chef. I need to find one, and this is a main problem! Thai chef from thailand? Indon chef fron Indon? Just go there for a month and try to find one good one and ask if he's interested in working in Singapore? This is so drama! Do I think it can work out, yes i do. Haha.. extreme optimism from me. Aside from the chef, there's the logistics, menu, marketing and publicity... And the menu.. pricing.. raw ingredients and stuff! What's my start up cost, and how much how long before my money comes back? Lots and lots and lots of research. Should I just start and if it's just a time wasting thing cuz I cant find a chef, you never know what would happen in future. Ok, I jus decided I would start on my research slowly.

The next thing.. events company. No head no tail. I've done events and stuff, but I need a platform. The platform would be to work in an events company. But it's usually 9 to 5, and I cannot do it with my current job. I'm not going to give up my current job yet cuz I just started. Oh my.. Marcus... I hope we can really come up with something once you grad in June.

Tuition centre is another thing I thought of, but it's simply because it's easy money. Haha.. And it's the easiest of all. Get a place, get furniture, get teachers, market urself like a somebodehh and hope people will come to you. An almost no brainer if we dont consider all the admin, licensing and manpower-ing issues.

Lying to myself too much! Or rather not facing up to things.. and living in self delusions. In another way, I'm protecting myself well. This whole thing will definitely strengthen me mentally though.

I get the occassional sadness, loneliness, difference now and stuff, but coping well. Or at least I think I'm coping well. Say I'm trying to find someone else to take all these stuff away from me.. Is it possible? Is it fair to that someone, if that someone ever appears? Haha... Life is not fair. Once you step in, it's hard for you to step out.

I'm trying to meet more people(yes, local and not PRCs from my workplace), and to brighten up my life a lil. And I'm finally trying out Yoga.. although it is just one session first, but everything has to have a start.

I have to face it that as of now, there is absolutely no way of returning to the past. Everything is moving forward and I have to move FASTER than everyone. Once I'm lagging, I'm at a disadvantage. Come on Joel, you are much much stronger than this!

You asked me if THAT was worth it. Yes it is. Because it forced you to make a decision, and you made it. And yes, I agree that sadly, I'm too smart for you. Haha.. in a bad way. Seeing through your "evil plans". As time goes by, everything becomes memories and memories.. maybe distant. How close as friends can be be compared to 2 person who have something for each other? I do not know. In anycase, it's just ONE week since you left. Though I have been getting this vibe since Tajimaya day. Perhaps my one second step on the acclerator and switching gears gave you another slap. Haha.. In any case, like I said as before you flew off, that finally, both of us broke free. Unlike that night at Chinese Garden, when I wanted to, but we still came back the next day, or rather the day after.

I think Almido can agree that THAT was arguably my happiest moment in the 2.5 years they knew me.. =) Well, at least there was a past.

I'm damn sure you would read this. Yes, super duper sure cuz I still understand you a lot. No worries, I'm really coping fine back here, and moving ahead with my life. I still have my events company and tuition centre and food establishement in mind! And no matter what's going to happen these months be it we drift like damn far or wad, the promise a year back still holds. Find Li Pei Fen at a GeTai during the 7th lunar month. It's a something to just look to.

Just ranting. Many many more rants, but I'll just keep them, and i will forget about them, hopefully. =)

It has been sometime since I returned from HK, and I 'm only writing this down now. Hopefully, I can still remember what we did, the thought and stuffs =)

Om 4/1/11 to 9/1/11, I went to HK and Macau with Ben, Yanjia, Yuxing and Qianhua. We spoke in English and horrible Cantonese around Macau and HK, but still managed to get around well. Personally, I thought the experience in HK and TW with the company was rather similar, but I had more things on my mind in HK that made it less totally carefree compared to TW.

Some background. The return air ticket, one way trip from HKIA to Macau via ferry, Macau and HK accommodation were all pre-booked online.

4/1:

It was a morning flight, at 940am. We took SQ and sat in the supposedly awesome A380 to HKIA before transiting to the Cotai Jet at the airport to bring us to Macau directly. The transit was like 1.5 hour or so.

The A380 is nothing to rave about.Compared to our return flight on a normal plane, the economy seats were actually harder in the A380. But then again, this is subject to individuals. Food wise, similar, and although there were more entertainment options in the A380, it did not help cuz I was spoilt for choices. Haha! Little choices also wrong, a lot of choices also wrong. Singaporeans =D

When we reached HKIA, we walked around the airport and cam whored a little before settling down at the transit lounge while waiting for time to board our ferry to Macau.

The ferry ride took like 45min or so, and when we alighted the ferry, it was SUPER cold! We were in our jackets but the wind everything made it damn cold. All 5 of us were jumping around like idiots and blowing "mist" from our mouths. Grabbed our luggages and made our way to The Venetian where we stayed for ONE night.

The Venetian is the most popular resort hotel in Macau now, and the interior is really beautiful. We got a choice of either lower or higher levels. Of course we chose the higher levels. It was on the 31st story and we stayed in a Suite. The suite had 2 queen sized beds and a sofa bed, and a GIGANTIC toilet comparable to our WHOLE room in HK =D.Me and Ben, YX and QH, YJ on sofa bed.

We put our stuff down, freshened ourselves a bit before taking a cab out to Taipa Village to look for the legendary Macau Pork Buns (猪扒包) and some other dessert shops and local products shops in Macau. Lost our way a bit and a kind lady took us to where we wanted to go in her car! All 5 of us squeezed into the car with her! =D

As we walked around looking for stuff, we grabbed some egg tarts(Macau specialty) to fill our tummy before dinner because our last meal was breakfast on the plane!

First up was Koi Kei Bakery. We tried their almond biscuits and egg rolls which are their specialty. I bought the almond biscuits back. Next was Pastelaria Fong Kei, where I bought their pig ear biscuit! They are super duper fresh and tasty and crispy! One roll of about 25 pieces cost like SGD2 only. I regretted buying only 4 rolls! This was followed by some ice cream dessert place, Gelatina Mok Yi Kei, which is famous. But I thought it’s nothing much. Maybe we were too cold from the weather to appreciate the cold desserts. Dinner was at this random thai restaurant. The food was really tasty. We only order the specialty braised pig trotters, friend rice and tom yum soup. All 3 were very very tasty and the seafood fresh.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel resort to explore the place to see what's at the shopping area in Venetian. I took the chance to look for another legedary Lord Stow's egg tart which has a branch in Venetian. It was good! The skin was thin and crispy yet still having the fluffiness, and the egg filling is tasty enough.

Despite it being top class, Venetian does not have any supermarket, and so we only could purchase expensive drinks around. Water costs like $2.50 for a 500ml one. Grrrr... This is when I did my uncle thing of boiling and cooling lots of water in the room to drink and to refill our water bottles.

Walk walk walk, got tired, and we went back to the room to bathe and wash up. Yj and myself then went out again to talk through the casino area to look see. The people there are super chill! We were wondering how the guards would react if someone came in, killed someone and ran off. Really.. everyone super chilled. Walk walk see see, we went out of the hotel to take like 1893712389 pictures with the exterior deco, which were beautiful. We eventually called it a day at like 3am, and returned to sleep.

5/1:

We woke up early at like 9am, and travelled back to Taipa village for our Pork Buns because we buay kam wan find so long the other night stil cannot find. It was so worth the trip back. Freshly baked bread and grilled pork chops from Café Tai Lei Loi Kei. The pork chops was not tough at all and we could easily bite them off without needing to struggle like most pork chops! Aside from the pork chops, we shared their wonton mee, and teh as well.

Next up, we took a can to Senado Square where there were 12938274 people. Cam whored. Ok, I will not talk about camwhoring cuz it's what we did the entire time. At Senado Square, we looked for this Yee Shun Milk Company and tried their legendary steamed egg and stuff. Good, and soft and palate cleansing. We tried the Pork Chop Buns but it's horrid. This was also where we took “couple shots”. Everyone posed a couple pose with everyone and took a nice couple shot. I really liked the Ben and YJ one! Super sweet looking. I am so going to kop that idea for my wedding montage!

We continued walking through the streets leading up to St Paul's Ruins, a tourisy spot. Next up, rush back to hotel to check out, and make our way to HK.

Upon reaching HK, we walked like 381278km before finally managing to find out hostel. It was Ah Shan Dragon hostel. Cheap! Just like $50 per room per day for twin sharing. The ONLY down side is that the rooms are tiny, and the toilet is jus like 1 step to any wall if you stand in the centre. Because it is in PRIME district, beside us is 花园街, and just one street away is Argyle Centre, 2 streets away Mongkok MTR.

After checking in, we we out to Kwun Tong, where there are supposed to be warehouse priced clothings, but did not manage to spot then. It could be due to the wrong place, or that the stalls are closed. We reached there only at likr 6pm or so.. Pretty late cuz the ferry to HK took some time, and we spent more time getting to the hostel.

Next we took a cab to Lei Yun Mun Seafood bazaar where there were lots of restaurants, but they dont actually sell the seafood. There are many small stalls outside the restaurants selling live seafood. Anything from fishes, to sotong to shellfishes. We went into one and ordered

- Oyster sauce Kailan

- Steamed fish(I forgot what fish)

- Garlic vemicelli steamed scallops (This is wonderful! Burst of flavour! Even yanjia who hates garlic enjoyed this the most)

- Cold sotong with some sauce (This is horrid)

- Bamboo Clams with Black bean sauce (Nice wok Hei! But a lil salty)

- Marmite fried king prawns (Tasty, fresh prawns with shells cooked to a crisp)

- Butter Mantis Shrimp (My first time having it. I did not really like it because the flesh was soft not firm, and it was difficult trying to get the flesh out of the shell. The taste was good, but i would perhaps prefer it with the usual prawns.

Next up, Langham place, which is the same artsy giant mall that I went to a few years back when I visited HK alone. We took a neoprint in one of the shops and that’s just my second neoprint in my life. Yj is like the ultimate expert… fast fingers!

This was followed by 许留山 desserts! I want my mango and coconut noodle thingy! But it’s not longer available =(. After desserts, we walked around the streets in Mongkok before suppering at a café near out hostel. You tiao, pork and century egg porridge, and some rice kueh thingy.

6/1:

Disneyland!! We woke up and went for breakfast at a HK Cha Chan Teng(which serves the usual normal food and so-so tasting), before going straight to Disneyland!

Super duper cold there! And partly because so, I got “conned” to but the giant mickey mouse gloves. =D I buy it for 效果, and happy that everyone played around with it! Haha!

Camwhored like a sombodehhh in there! Taking photos with Winnie and Goofy etc. It’s not like wow or boomz to me actually. It’s just another theme park with the Disney characters ba. The rides and shows are all very kid friendly!

Disneyland is just a place of happiness. You just feel happy being there! Perhaps it’s cuz everyone there is happy, and when you’re in the midst of happiness, you just follow everyone, and be happy. Haha! What an analogy… But Disneyland is indeed a colourful place!

After finishing with Disneyland, we went for dinner at some place in Mongkok, before YJ left to go to King Edward to meet up with WangQian, Jesse, Amelia and Melvin for another meal. I walked around aimlessly myself and finally ate my Char Siew Roast Goose rice. Horrid. Haha! But it was the craving.

I met up with the Jesse gang and went to catch the last MTR back to Mongkok. They ate again at some random noodle shop. After which, we split and all went back to where we stayed.

7/1:

Woke up and head for our first Dim Sum in HK. It was 新兴食家 at Central area. We reached only at about 11 and had to wait like 45min before finally getting our seats. The dim sum was not fantastic, but reasonably priced. For myself, I would not mind spending more on a fantastic tasting dim sum since I’m already in HK.

After eating, we walked around Central and Sheung Wan and SoHo. Really nothing much there and wasted precious time =(. However, we did meet up with Kee Onn at about 4pm, and started our food spree.

- Mak’s Noodles (Ok la.. not bad, but I’m not a big fan of noodles)

- Law Fu Kee Pork and Century Egg Porridge (So-so.. not that fantastic)

- Kau Kee Beef soup and beef curry. (This is absolutely fantastic! The beef soup was full of flavor and the beef was super tender. A wonderful dish on a cold cold day. The curry was tasty too, but compared to the soup, it’s never going to be No 1!)

- Tai Cheung Egg Tarts (I really do not know what’s the hype! It’s not nice at all! Our Red Star trashes it hand down)

- Some roast pork and char siew and roast goose Kee Onn rec, that was beside Tai Cheung. No good. Horribly dry and lack of any real taste.

After all the eating, we went to Causeway Bay to shop at the shops nearby including H&M before going back to Central for Lan Kwai Fong. We walked around and everywhere was packed with Caucasians. I preferred a place that’s packed with locals cuz I can go to Clarke Quay and mix with the ang mohs. Eventually, we decided on a bar, and played drinking games and stuff. Ended up 5 of us half drunk(Kee Onn left before LWF to return to his hostel), and I was the most undrunk. Or maybe I was equally drunk, but forced myself to be awake to take care of people. Esp people feeling down… One thing’s for sure, the drinks are much cheaper than in Singapore!

Sometimes, trying hard to sleep, and letting one just fall asleep is a good way to escape from reality. After all, we all get better after a good night’s sleep. Emo-ing over someone and feeling super down the entire night, and after waking up, the past night’s incident seemed to disappear. Haha.. how we can cheat ourselves…

8/1:

Our 2^nd last day in HK. Time flies! I spent like 9 days in TW and only 6 in HK! I MISS TW! This is the ultra tourisy day of the trip!

Woke up and had brunch at this small café thingy serving zi char kinda dishes.

- Stir fried Maggie noodle (tasty, good wok hei)

- Special sauce stir fried chee cheong fun (Unique, but the sauce was a little creamy making it gelat after eating a bit)

- Won ton noodle soup (Not my kinda thing)

- Special deep fried wontons (Nth much except that it’s BIG)

Next up, Noah’s Ark. We had great expectations cuz it’s Top 3 must visit places rated by Asiaone. We went to 3 areas of the place. 1^st was horrid, or rather, did not really suit us. It’s like many rooms on different categories of simple knowledge of say “Transport” “weather” “music” etc.. More for kids.

The next place taught us how to make a cake using a towel. It was like omg! Haha! Take 2 different coloured towel, put one on top of the other, fold and roll, and stuff it into a piece of plastic. Ta-dah! A towel cake! Like wad the… Haha! Cam whored with some of the wall decorations though.

The third place is the outdoor area where they showed a lot of life-sized animals, and screened the story of Noah’s Ark. This place overlooks the sea and seaside. We saw a couple taking wedding shots there! The sand is like white, and not like singapore’s… Black!

After Noah’s ark, we headed to Madame Tussaud’s wax museum and the Peak. I bought custard pao, and some ice cream crepe to eat before going to the museum.

Ok, the museum. Nothing much to write except lots and lots of wax figures. Like 1/3 of my photos were taken here! I thought it was just one story but turned out to be 2 stories and never ending. Oh, there was this “haunted house” place in the museum. Free so we went to try out… Not too bad! Haha! People were screaming as we walked and the “ghosts” came from all over surprising us!

Next up was the peak! We went up, and yes, wonderful view! The down side, toooooo many people for it to be romantic or wad. I have a place in Singapore that can match up! And we cant really take photos cuz of the lack of tripod. The photos turned out shaky. And yes, it was super duper cold! Cold to the max!

We headed back to Temple Street after that to shop and eat. We felt like eating claypot rice and ordered one, which was not exactly claypot because of the lack of charred bits at the bottom. But the rice was really tasty with reasonable amounts of ingredients. We also ordered a garlic fried prawns which were fresh and tasty. Lots of garlic helped the taste but yanjia had to scrap every single grain of minced garlic off her prawn before touching it! =D Lastly it was black bean sauce mussels which took forever to come. The mussels were super fresh and did not have any weird smell or taste. With fresh seafood, you juz need minimal cooking. It’s good enough!

After all the salt, we needed some sweet and went across the road to a quite populated roadside dessert stall and ordered mixed fruits with tau huey and papaya white fungus soup. Healthy ppl! =)

Walk and walk and walk and walk and shop and shop and shop before going back to the hostel to call it a day.

9/1:

The last day in HK!

Woke up, checked out, and put our luggage at the “concierge” =D No concierge at the hostel, but they allowed us to leave our luggage there.

Breakfast was at KFC which I skipped, and we split up. Me and yj walked around ladies street and there were like 123089138291 people around on the Sunday morning. Lots of shops having nice clothing at damn cheap prices! I did not take down everything because it was impossible. Grab, try, not bad, go! Grab, try, not bad, go! Over and over again! I got my nice shoes during this time too! And yj was praised by so many people! 好身材 =D. I also finally managed to eat a nice roast goose, char siew and roast pork. My last proper meal there… and I left HK with no regrets! =)

We met up at a Hang Heung branch in Mongkok to purchase the lao po bing and stuff, before RUSHING back to the hostel and rushing to the airport! We were late late late and ran to the gate!

Boarded the plane, and that’s the end of the trip. If 天地人合，we could have extended the stay by one more day because we spotted lots of nice cheap clothing at the end. One more day would be good! Oh wells…

This concludes my HK trip, and return to reality….