Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Embracing The Culture.I think I'm going to miss China. One month is really too short, I'm just about getting used to speaking mandarin, and kinda getting used to shoving people around and walking into the path of vehicles - basically becoming a china man lahh. Don't worry guys, I'm still the same me. =)
But I'll definitely like to come back one day. There's so much to learn here, so much to understand. So sisters, next family holiday, we tour China okay? Let's give Vegas a miss this December! HahahahahA! I think I might die for that. Heh!!
But of course it's time to go home. Miss Wendy a lot!! We normally talk twice a week, but for the past week, it's been every day. Although short conversations, but enough to keep us going. =) I SIMPLY LOVE this photo!!
Oh yes, I was just looking thru some photos that my sister took, and they are fantastic!! For her sake, I shan't mention where you can find them but YAH! It's well taken, considering that she's only 15! She definitely has a mature perspective for her age. Here's a nice one she took my Beks and I. =)
And to my cell peeps out there, I can't wait to hang out with your guys again. Do a little bit of poker, have fun chilling out at Brewerks. And of course One Liner, let's get something going soon!!
Undoubtedly the coolest peeps in town.
The few of us prepared dinner for some friends a few nights back. It was nice, homely and cosy. We prepared a simply Italian dinner. One of the other interns, Xiao Jie, brought three korean friends along. Michael came too. It was rather interesting. There wasn't a single language that all of us understood, so whilst talking to each other, Susian had to help interpret stuff, since she's the only one who speaks mandarin, english AND korean fluently. =)
A traditional chinese toast
One of the dishes we cooked. It was VERY hot, the red cut chillis were REALLY REALLY spicy. Michael was perspiring non-stop!
Here's a cure one of the girls
On a separate note, Bakerzin opened its very first outlet in Shanghai. It's situated on the 4th floor of Raffles City AND it's very very nice. The drinks are pretty good too! I took a picture of the warm chocolate cake. Made to perfection!!
Ohh, since I'm normally mean at night, here's a photo of THE Deebeedee (use chinese accent and say it as fast as you can) pirate at work. Hehe. =)
=)
Posted by Musicshen at 5:31 PM
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Sunday, August 27, 2006
Home Sweet Home.Hello guys =) I'm going to be home in 7 days time. And Isaac Tay you're flying off the next day? So what's the overnight plan?!?! Okay just a couple of random updates.
Attended the Singaporean Overseas Portal opening last night. Hmmm sadly it wasn't very successful. I think VoIP technology is still a little problematic, especially at such a large scale as what Singapore is trying to do. So DPM had some difficulties connecting to the other portals in Singapore, New York, London and some others.
But I suppose it's a good start to connect all Singaporeans across the world. So hopefully it'll be well used!! =)
Had dinner quite some nights ago and had a bottle of cooking wine - according to Susian. It's suppose to be some white wine that the chinese drink. To be honest, it tasted quite bad lahh. Not the conventional alcohol taste. I'm normally quite okay with bitter ones but the soya sauce tasting ones, uh uh ...
Another random photo taken at Raffles City. So strange that they serve expresso shots but not the doubles. And that day I was feeling quite sleepy after lunch, so popped a shop for a drink. Had to order two expresso shots instead of a double. Hmmm is it the same thing? Just wondering!
This photo was taken at "Bu Xing Jie" at "Nan Jing Xi Lu". There's this hotel and at the balcony stood a guy with a saxophone! It was quite nice cos' it was jazzy! =)
Went to this pub called CJW - I think it's Cigar Jazz and Wine. The music was okay lahh. The players were pretty good, but no life lahh. They were all so dead!! I guess it didn't help that the audience were so crappy too. I think it's still a very western concept lahh. Need to give it some time before the chinese embrace jazz.
Visited a church today. It's about the most international church that I've ever been to!! And the worship is very lively too. Quite a nice place to worship in. Went with Wenna and the boys. The two boys are really cute. Will take photos of them the next time!
Posted by Musicshen at 10:07 AM
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Thursday, August 24, 2006
Slightly More Than Midpoint.Hey guys, I just realised that I'll be back in about ten days time!! It's really really fast!! But thank God for this wonderful experience! I believe that God grows up in difficult times, and in them we learn to trust in Him even more.
Anyways I finally collected the suit that I tailored!! It's cool!! I like it! And it's quite different too. Made a Mao suit, something a little different from the conventional western suit. What do you think?
Quite nice right? Perhaps can wear it for MSSA next year!
We went to Hangzhou over the first weekend. It's quite a pity that we didn't leave earlier - there's so much to see there and we didn't have the time to fully explore the place. We went to the famous Xihu to walk around in the nice cool evening breeze. It was still very hot then, but at least it was evening, it could had been worse!
What you'd see in the old chinese kunfu shows.
Oh yes a nice picture of the girls by the Xihu. =) I like this one!! What do you think Rach? Is it a nice picture?? It's pretty similar to the one you have on your display board in your room!
Thank you Lord for beautiful scenery.
We went to Ningbo last week. It was nice of Susian's uncle and aunty to host us!! They are such nice people!!! Really went out of the way to make us feel comfortable. Okay confession - I drank way too much then. I couldn't get away from their famous "Yang Mei" jiu!! So nice so nice!!
You know how the chinese are at meals right? So was toasting all the way!! And the others who were with us were all from the Navy!! So it was slightly easier for me to talk to them. Just slightly lahh. =)
Wu Xiao Zhang and Wu Tai Tai - The husband's a principal!
After dinner on Saturday, we took a stroll by the beach. It was very nice!! The air was fresh! (YES, surprisingly!) And it was good after such a heavy dinner. My head was spinning a little from the excessive wine in my system! There was this makeshift karaoke thingy in the middle of the beach. It was just a screen with a projector and speakers. Then they laid some benches for people to sit. Cool concept! Very chill!!
The Navy Commander who took us round everywhere!
Okay this guy is a very powerful man. On the last day when we left the island for Ningbo, he did something so incredible!! Only in China!! Don't try this back home. Well this is what happened. We were going to drive to the harbour to get the vehicle onto the ferry and back to Nongbo. But the queue to get onto the ferry was so long it stretched for about 5km! Imagine 5km worth of cars trying to get onto a ferry that comes once every half hour. Not funny.
So right, the commander got the driver to do a U-Turn within the lanes to get out of the jam. So now we're driving against traffic. Then we U-Turned onto the opposite lane. We arer STILL driving against traffic. We did that for about a km and realised that it was quite dangerous. (AH DUH!) We then went onto the side road meant for bicycles and carried on driving on. My goodness!!
To cut the long story short, we got there in 5mins and even at the harbour, we overtook all the vehicles. I later found out that we were in a navy vehicle and the car plate number started with the word "HAI". All other car plates start with the chinese character depicting where they're from! His came from the sea!!
How mad is that?! So because he was military, all the people knew and were okay with the vehicle doing all those stunts!
But thanks to him we got back in time to catch our bus back to Shanghai. =) It was a tiring but nice weekend getaway!
Okay last picture - At a beach with sandcastles and a LOT MORE!! Check it out!!
Okay okay will post again soon!!
Posted by Musicshen at 3:33 PM
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Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Change Of E-mail.Hello friends, after being a loyal customer of Pacific internet, I've finally decided to terminate the account. I've had the account for almost ten years now, got it for my christmas present when I was 14. Time flies! =)
Anyways my ALL-NEW email address is
daniel@moneyworld.com.sg
My daddy helped me set up an account with the company so update your address books yah? Will still be hanging on to the pac net account till end of the month.
Posted by Musicshen at 9:38 AM
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Sunday, August 20, 2006
6 Years My Love.Dearest dearest Wendy!!!! It's been 6 years. HAPPY HAPPY 6TH YEAR ANNIVERSAY!!!!! *Streamers and Balloons*
We've laughed together, we've cried together, we've been through a lot! And I thank God for His faithfulness in watching us over the years. This is the last surprise. I promise!! 6 surprises for 6 good years my dear. =)
So anyways here's some pictures of Ms Ngiamngiam and Mr Dan the Man.
The Monkey and the Pig
Handsome Dan and very beautiful Ms Ngiamngiam
The super sian-diao look.
I think we love to do this, many pictures of us strangling each other!!
Through thick and thin, Ms Ngiamngiam and Mr Dan the Man will stick together!
I love this one!!
Here's to many many more good years to come!!
PS I'll buy anyone a Happy Meal if they can arrange the photos in sequence of age. The first being taken the earliest and last the latest. =)
Posted by Musicshen at 10:25 PM
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Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Some Observations.Hmmm after being here for a week, this is what I have observed. =) No hard feelings to the PRC okay? Some good some bad.
Fruit Party
Interestingly so, the company has a "Eat Fruits Day". Every Wednesday at 4pm, everyone gathers at the board room for fruits. You know what, only ladies eat fruits. In a room full of people, only Michael and I were guys! SIGH. But yes, so in Shanghai, only girls eat fruits!!
It's a war zone!
So I've realised that the BEST way to cross the road is to keep your eyes closed. Here in China, the signs are useless!! There's a horn going off every second!! And the people don't care, the drivers don't care, nobody cares!! So if you close your eyes, the cars will come really really close to you but they won't hit you. So there, you get to cross the road!! TADA!!!
Very very oily
Okay the food here is pretty good. The only problem is, it's very very oily!! So it gets quite bad after a few mouths!! But you know right, they have this dish called "Hong Shao Rou". Very fat but SO SO good!! And food is cheap. This meal before you cost $5. Crazy right?
Shanghai Railway Station
There are like a 100 counters. And the place is not air-conditioned!! So what do you get with thousands of people in a confined area during Summer with no air-conditioned? So smelly I tell you. Can faint one!! And I'm not exaggerating!
Anyways Hangzhou went pretty fine. Pity we didn't have much time to explore the place, will try to go back some time!! But it was good cos' there's so much culture, so much to learn!! So although it's been really hard trying to keep up with the language, it's worth the struggle and I've got Susian and Xunyu who's always so willing to help!!! =)
Posted by Musicshen at 5:07 PM
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Friday, August 11, 2006
It's Been Fine I Guess.So the first week in Shanghai has been fine I guess. It could be much better I think, a lot of unexpected things happened. But I suppose that's how life is right? We need to trust that God is ahead of us no matter what we do.
Anyways for some updates. Work has been pretty okay. Been busy trying to get a presentation completed. Didn't manage to finish it yet but it should be fine by Monday to come. It's been quite fun reading up and researching on China's economy. It's one of those things you hear about every day, like how China is growing, how China has so many people blah blah blah.
But it's real guys and the crowd here is insane. I feel like I'm at war everyday!! The people are fighting with you for taxis, the cars don't give way, the service industry, let's not even go there!
We went to Xin Tian Di for drinks with some of the other colleagues. It was nice!! Went to this place called Ark which played live music. Miss those days with Oneliner!! =)
The waiter introduced us to this funny fruit beer. Strange lahh, I feel that beer ought to be pure you know? Beer is beer, no fruits or whatever funny stuff inside!
This is my new friend Micheal. He was one of the first to come over to say HI to me! Really nice chap who is genuine and caring. He played an integral part in helping me fit in with the locals.
I like this photo!
Hmmm it's quite sad that we don't have such nice platforms in Singapore! It's so squeezy on stage in Walas. Even the stage at Prince of Wales was really small. Look at all the space they have!! What a luxury!!
Haha Just a random photo of myself. Don't worry guys, I'm not an alcoholic. And even if I was, not on fruity beers mann!! =)
Anyways off to Hangzhou tmrw. It's gonna be weird for some reason. Sigh. See you guys soon!
Posted by Musicshen at 7:02 PM
3 comments
Monday, August 07, 2006
One Weekend In Shanghai.Hello everyone. I just realised that blogspot is banned in China. Jon I think you told me that before. But anyways, Suz found this magnificent way to get round it!! Haha!!
First day at work was pretty fine. I'm doing some research into REITS. It's short for Real Estate Investment Trust. Pretty cool concept, so spent most of the day figuring it out. It's been good thus far, my mentor spent some time explaining what I was getting into, gave me a macroscopic view of what Capital Business Development entailed. Stuff like that. Good fun!
Visited Chen Huang Miao yesterday. Don't really know the significance of the temple . Tried to read some of the texts on the wall about the 8 virtues and all. Interesting. Here are some photos.
The entrance to the temple.
Yes I am trying to read. That's the whole point right!?!?
As Xun and I was walking around (Suz was off for lunch with her Uncle) we bumped into a gentleman who carved an instrument out of bamboo. It's really cool cos' it sounds exactly like a saxophone. I was so tempted to buy it!! He gave us a brochure which explained the whole process. Explanation with demonstration.
One of the highlights in that area is the dumplings. There's this three storey high shop that sells dumplings. It starts of with the cheapest at the bottom. No seats no frills, just 16 dumplings for 30 yuan. Then if you head a storey up, you get to SHARE seats with others, a little more expensive, a little nicer I think. The highest storey gets you 8 dumplings for 40 yuan. Yup, you get your own seats.
So you see right, we were the suayest of the suayest. The top two floors underwent renovations since yesterday and we were left with the bottom floor. The queue was horrendously long (for obvious reasons) and I didn't want to line up. But greedy Xun wanted to.
Whiilst we were lining up. So sad.
We got it!! YAY!!!
Here are some other random photos!!
The kids peer in and laugh as the story-teller tells his story.
A place where you have no choice but buy gifts for distant relatives - Like Uncle Jonny or a place where the gifts are lousy. You interpret.
Best friend!! You're famous!
Posted by Musicshen at 3:59 PM
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Friday, August 04, 2006
First Day.It's been good so far. The ride up was pretty decent, managed to sleep for most of the journey! Uncle Kwok Mun picked us up from the airport and we headed straight to the service apartment. The place is fantastic!! I get the whole master bedroom to myself! Haha!! Of course on agreement with the two girls lahh. Heh!!
Had a nice filling dinner at a Shanghainese restaurant. Very very yummy!! And a little too much for the 5 of us. But it was good stuff!! Walked around Xin Tian Di. Can vaguely remember it the last time I came. Anyways pictures will follow!!
It's the beginning to an exciting adventure. Meanwhile, I REALLY need to brush up my mandarin.
Posted by Musicshen at 3:48 PM
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