Thanks!

Ah! I realised I haven’t replied to many comments! But I did see!

So Thank you Annabel and Huimin and Qingling for your comments! I like reading your tags. Haha and I have no idea how to change my avatar so that it doesn’t display the ugly purplish thing. I already have uploaded one liao! Why?!

And I realise it’s easier to reply to comments by just editting it instead of posting a comment of my own! Ah! I’m so stupid! Lol!

Will be blogging about the Lantau Island tour soon!

Trip to Shenzhen 深圳 - 29th June ‘08

This is seriously backdated! But I guess I better blog fast before my laptop dies or something.

I don’t know what happened lah but my laptop has confirmed + chop kena virus. It’s like, I keep hearing the pop-up blocker (which indicates that it’s blocking something) BUT my browser is at sites that does not normally have pop-ups (like www.nus.edu.sg). Or sometimes it’s like, I did not even open the browser. My anti-virus software is outdated but I cannot update it since my CD is back in Singapore. I hope my laptop doesn’t die before I go home because I’ll DIE if I don’t have the internet. I’ll be cut off from the rest of the world and my stupid sister who loves to irritate me online and my girlfriends and my SBL students! OMG.

—

Actually there’s nothing much to blog about Shenzhen also because we haven’t been to many places. It was merely a shopping trip for those who wanted cheap deals. I know I didn’t intend to go Shenzhen at all before I was coming so I didn’t even exchange any RMBs, but since we were coincidentally already in Hong Kong before the requirement for us Singaporeans to enter using a visa kicks in (due to the Olympics), and since the University station is like a mere 5 stops away from Lo Wu 羅湖, why not?

1. Still raining (typhoon period then)
2, 3. Maxim’s for breakfast. Not very nice.
4. Laula the 地頭蛇 who’ll be bringing us around.

null

We reached Shenzhen!

1. Our valiant attempts to make our faces look smaller
2-4: Random buildings’ architecture. Fusion of old and modern? 

Shenzhen is truthfully more than just cheap shopping…there’s a series of theme parks if I’m not wrong. There’s the Window of the World 世界之窗 (which I’ve been to 12 years ago) and also Splendid China, etc. But yah..like I said the primary purpose that day is for shopping. But I didn’t buy much either…I limited my expenditure by changing only SGD $100 worth of RMB (~$500) and resisted changing some more.

Haggling with the PRCs was really SCARY and it’s amazing how much discounts you can get if you dare to be fierce to them. I was sort of intimidated to buy a pair of shorts from this pregnant lady. She quoted me RMB100 but Laura was insisting that for the quality of the shorts it’s not worth the price. She bravely quoted the lady 20 RMB lor! AND THE WOMAN TURNED HOSTILE! Like, OMG I thought she seriously wanted to chop me and Laura up.

She was like giving me THE LOOK and even then I didn’t even agree to buy the shorts because I wanted to know if they had my size. I was rather firm on this but later on as they got more and more unfriendly, and because Laura had already did so much bargaining for me…I paid up. -.- They refused to let me know if they had my size unless I paid. Like, what the hell right?! I knew that I couldn’t possibly fit into the shorts but…yah…I scared… 

So, yeah. I guess haggling in China is really not for the faint hearted. It was ok for me when I went Bangkok. :/

More random photos…
Oh and the last photo was supposed to be this man who somehow managed to squeeze himself onto the step (门槛) to sleep.

That Bruce Lee billboard? Actually is an eatery which sells soup and rice and such but in a fast food concept. I like! I also daringly ate 麻婆豆腐 when I was sick. It was very nice and very spicy but it later made me very sick too.

I had no mood to shop later and so Laula and I made our way to Starbucks. I ordered a drink in chinese! Tian ah! That will never happen in Singapore. And the drink was absolutely fantastically fabulous! Dark Chocolate frappucino with whipped cream and a slice of I-don’t-know-what’s-its-name-but-it’s-heaveny chocolate cake. Chocolates are every girl’s other best friend

Needless to say it made my throat hurt super bad later so I decided to go back Hong Kong early while the rest went on shopping.

I remember when I was young, I always thought Shenzhen was this old, rundown place where people in Hong Kong go for abortions. I know..that’s pretty naive but well, I was only 14 and I loved watching 真情. :/ And there are so many myths associated with it…like how you’ll get robbed even when walking in broad daylight. Luckily for me, there wasn’t any mishaps. I didn’t get pickpocket-ed, and my bag didn’t get slit. Or maybe even if there was any attempt to do so my Crumpler was made of strong enough material.

A guy who went with us to Shenzhen got pickpocket-ed and he said it was a staged thing…probably because he kept his wallet in his back pocket of his pants or his pouch was really attracting the theives. Very unlucky…but at least it was lucky that he didn’t get hurt and that his passport wasn’t stolen as well.

The lesson learnt is that wherever you go, you just have to be very careful and it’s best to just remain alert, aye?

And last but not least!

Cute signs along the Shenzhen MTR.

For all my friends who’d graduated and are still bumming around! Haha 努力找工作！

好想去流浪

刚考完基本中医课程的考试，心，是忐忑不安的，毕竟我没有作好万分的准备。

心情不是很好。是担心吗？担心什么？考试过了，我没有在想那些“如果”还是“可能”，我不是那种人。我也不喜欢考了试然后翻课文或讨论，查答案什么的。

所以很肯定不是因为试卷的问题。

那是为什么？

莫名的忧愁。

心无法安定…好想去流浪。

一个人。

Thick Tongue Coatings and Hyperactivity of Liver Yang

I reckon this is the first time I’m blogging about my TCM module…oh yah, that’s right, I’m here to study, remember? -.- Not that I’d forgotten anyway…much to the surprise of a few friends when I told them I was studying (even before the exam tomorrow). I very much want to pass this module, thank you very much.

Anyway. Sense of impending doom. I don’t know if it’s because I’m learning about all the dysfunctionalities of my body as I’m studying along, or because the finals is tomorrow and it’s killing me.

TCM is really quite interesting but it’s kind of a killer to really sit down and memorise everything you’ve learnt in like, 11 lessons. The course was rather basic, yet comprehensive in my opinion. We learnt about the Yin Yang Theory, the 5 Elements, aetiology of diseases, diagnostic methods, accupuncture and moxibustion, and the materia medica. I went for a clinical observation (the sinseh was a dirty old man) and today we attended this Kwong Hua Hospital visit.

Singapore’s TCM scene is less vibrant as compared to Hong Kong’s, or China, for that matter. I don’t have the photos with me but it was a real eye-opener to see a much more grander style of the small chinese physician hall you see in Singapore. There are wards for patients, and treatments for accupunture and tuina. I believe that the staff are really qualified because there’s a set of very stringent QC tests and rules and regulations before one can become a chinese medicine practioner in Hong Kong. Their pharmacy was exactly like the pharmacies we saw at Singhealth - just take away the western medicines and insert shelves of chinese herbs. The hospital even provides decocting services for the patients. This is something you’ll never get to see in Singapore.

I got my first taste of accupunture today! It was…quite ok. Not painful, not a traumatic experience, but then I didn’t exactly think it was particularly pleasant either.

My professor told me that he thinks NTU’s TCM & Biomed course will not be successful (HUIMIN! But I think you also mentioned you’re not going to do TCM anymore after you graduate right…so I think that’s ok) because Singapore’s TCM is still not as established, and it is very difficult to implement quality control once the students go to China for their internships. 

But nonetheless, I still think TCM has its merits, whether you believe in its philosophies or not. Whether it will be as established as China’s in the near future is another story. I have this urge to go back to my mother’s sinseh and ask her to treat me once I’m back in Singapore. Heh. I wonder if I can stand the taste of the herbs though.

—

Anyway.

WANNI WHY WHY WHY CAN’T I CONTACT YOU?! OMG ARE YOU OK?! Or is it that your phone died or something?!! Anyway I hope you’re surfing net somewhere tomorrow or something before you leave…

I really hope that this Hong Kong trip wasn’t too bad for you…because it didn’t seem to be very enjoyable for you. I know words are cheap and it probably doesn’t mean a thing but I’m really really sorry for being unable to accompany you much, even though we met up for the 4 days out of the 6.5 you were here…the thing that really snagged my conscience was that we didn’t go Macau together like we planned ages ago even before I came because of my exams. I had no idea that the finals would be brought forward and it would even coincide with the time you came Hong Kong.

I had so much things to tell you and show you and to do with you while you were here but it’s like time was very short…and I would have liked to spend more alone time with you but I thought it was ok for my friends to tag along since they were coincidentally going to the same places as we intended to, and I thought we could split up. I hope you enjoyed Ocean Park! I was really looking forward to going with you, and even though there were more than 10 people going (I only know less than 30% of them and I knew it last minute) that day, at least we got the tickets on discount, and we still had fun in the end. 

I hope you’re not angry with me for bringing you to walk the long way to Argyle Centre (though somehow in the end I don’t know why we screwed up reading the map). I wanted to contact you today for a last meetup (if you were in the mood) after my hospital visit but couldn’t.

I feel bad because I know you came here to visit me, but in the end you seemed to have a terrible time because of your blisters and the heat over here. But I really really want to let you know that I’m really thankful to you for coming over…I really missed everyone back home when I first came, I missed having spontaneous dinner dates with you and Cel, and I was miserable over FYP and stuff..but you were there to listen when I called you (HEH I never even call Celina that time). When you finally came, it really made my day :) So, thank you very much…I hope you forgive me too for being a lousy company  I promise our future holidays together will be much better than this!

Have a safe journey home!

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Random-ness in Hong Kong #1

I’m supposed to be study (yet again) but I’m doing all sorts of rubbish (yet again).

Anyway! Wanni reached Hong Kong safe and sound! And she seems to have enjoyed her first day visit to the museum so, yay! Glad that she’s having fun by herself…I was initially quite worried because she came over to find me but darn my lousy TCM timing (finals next week) and I cannot accompany her to do stuff like, go Maccau But I guess I needn’t worry because she’s capable of looking after herself and she’s much more braver and independent than I am :) 

I wouldn’t dare to go abroad all by myself. Seriously. I have some phobia or something :/ I think it stems from that one incident in my childhood whereby I got separated from my mother in this rather big shopping place (I REMEMBER IT’S YAOHAN OMG YAOHAN IS AGES AGO) and till now I could still remember the whole thing clearly and I get that feeling when I think I’m lost or separated from my friends or when my friends get separated away from the group. Lol.

Joyce, my new part-time room mate, just did 2 exciting things. She went to tell off Liqi and Jiemin for talking too loudly in the middle of the night, and right before that she knocked on the door of this garang-looking girl who stays 2 doors away from me and told her off for blowing her harmonica a tad too loudly and too horribly at 1 AM in the morning.

I’ll NEVER do that. I scared she hantum me. The garang-looking girl, not Joyce.

JOYCE THE (WO)MAN. (that’s my shades by the way)

On a similar note, I was so pissed off today I nearly wanted to scold the canteen uncle and auntie serving the 烧腊 items because they were so obviously in the wrong and they kept on scolding Amanda and I JUST BECAUSE WE BLOODY CANNOT CONVERSE IN CANTONESE. I was so frustrated that I nearly wanted to yell at her and said 我已经跟你讲了！but I realise there wasn’t any point anyway because they just simply looked down on people who couldn’t speak their language.

So I satisfied myself by slamming the stupid bowl of rice onto the counter and stormed away.

It’s not that I have a low tolerance for rubbish but I feel that if they’re really in the wrong then they have no right to even accuse us. I don’t go around scolding random people back in Singapore too but what if they really did something wrong on purpose? I remember, there was this boy who kicked a SBL student’s grandma’s shoes away one day, thinking that nobody was looking at him. But I was, because the door was one-way. So I opened the door and told him loudly not to do it again. The boy looked super shocked. Afterwards, I felt like I was a bully…but I really thought it’s not very nice to do it because the student’s grandma is (obviously) an elderly. And the boy kicked it like to the middle of the pathway…what if she couldn’t find it later?

I guess to some people it may seem like I’m very 计较…like ok lar, you’re in Hong Kong, you should just let it be. Why bother right…? If others want to do something wrong, just let it be, since it doesn’t affect you. I guess it’s because I’m the eldest child? So I tend to look out for others and myself…and while I can tolerate (and meanwhile grumble excessively) but if it’s really too much, I refuse to let others step all over us.

Right. Joyce is sleeping! I should too…I can’t seem to finish studying my TCM

Random Update!

Actually I’m not supposed to be blogging because Amanda is asleep now and I’m scared that my keypad will generate too loud tapping noises =S

Time passes so fast ya? When I first came, I didn’t want the exchange to end because everything was so new and exciting. Then when I was frustrated over my FYP stuff, I wished I could come back to Singapore like, NOW. I also really missed everything that’s home, so much so to the extent that when I saw the Popular Bookstore poster in Shatin I was super happy. Same goes for giant DBS billboards and signs in Kowloon. I also wanted Wanni to be here asap, and hoho, she’ll be flying here in approximately 6 hours’ time! Whee

Next wednesday, I’ll be taking my final exams! Gosh. And I’m not even halfway done studying :S My friends they all must be rolling their eyes lar ‘cos I started studying like ages ago…but to me I don’t feel like I’ve studied enough. :/ And although I know this module will be taken on an S/U basis, I still want to do well because I really liked the subject (but sheesh I’ve fallen asleep at every lesson). We went for a TCM clinical observation today, and it was REALLY COOL. Like..there’re so many forms and types of medicine in this world, but other than western medicine, chinese medicine is the only form that has survived the test of time; and is still used in our modern society today. It makes me proud to be a chinese.

My FYP worries is over, because I’ve finally found a professor who’s willing to take me in despite me being unable to meet him face-to-face, and who doesn’t mind my CAP. I’m apprehensive, but excited at the same time to be working with him. Apprehensive because after what happened 2 semesters ago with my disastrous organic chemistry module…I’m really worried about my capabilities. I’m not a confident chemist, that I admit…but I do like working in lab, and truth to be told, I really liked CM3291 more than CM3292 even though the analytical lab is the only chemistry lab that is air-conditioned. I don’t mind the smelly and toxic fumes while I’m tinkling about in the organic lab because I enjoy the sense of satisfaction I get when I see beautiful crystals or superb IR spectrums.

Sheesh, I sound like a geek.

So ya My FYP project is settled, I’m doing organic synthesis with some major overlapping with analytical chemistry, so that kills 2 birds with 1 stone. The professor said if I’m successful I can call that new product my own. Gosh. Stress already!

Anyway I really ought to study or sleep…I’ll be free after 23 July so I can blog more and upload my photos at a faster speed.

Annabel, I want to send you a postcard! Give me your address?

How a 臭豆腐 Tastes Like

Before I start: QINGLING! I HAVE NO 艳遇! Do I look like the type who has 艳遇s?! And I already replied to Wanni’s tags that I didn’t meet anyone here! So I have nothing to update you about. You can stop flooding my MSN with offline messages! LOL.

And if you really want to know, that post was about this guy who kept on asking me weird questions and giving me the vibes (that one lor I told you before and I cannot describe too clearly because I think he reads my blog) and so I thought I could hint him to stop whatever he’s doing or think he can do. Apparently, it works! Woohoo. -.-

Then again, maybe I should be glad that I have such “艳遇s”, seeing I’ll probably remain single forever since Andy Lau is getting married. Or he is already married.

—

 My virgin 臭豆腐 experience was…

Smelly.

Sandy, Amanda and I were shopping around Mongkok area after a visit to her very nice but small (a norm)Hong Kong house (古天乐 was reportedly seen here n years ago filming) at Hung Hom. So I was complaining that I wanted to eat 臭豆腐s because I’ve never tried it before and I wanted to know if it’s really as bad as reputated.

走着走着…

We saw (or rather we smelt) 臭豆腐!

I finally realise what Liqi meant about us always passing by smelly tofu stalls when I complained to her about me never seeing any. Because when the sign is finally right in front of me, and the stall is right next to me, I know and recognise how the 臭豆腐 smells like. -.-

It smells like the dirty toilets in Shenzhen. It smells like those pungent odour of ammonia and dried urine on the floors of dirty girls’ squatting toilets.

Alright. I’m getting a little too descriptive.

Sandy hated 臭豆腐 and Amanda looked abit apprehensive…actually I was too. But I thought…well. What the heck. You only live once, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be rich enough to afford a holiday in Hong Kong again, so I’ll just try it lar. If it’s not nice I’ll never eat it ever again.

They sell ALL SORTS OF THINGS! The pot of brownish bubbling thing is Pig Viscera and there’s squid and siew mais and what-nots.

I’m going to try the pig’s viscera next. It looks super dirty lar! :S

Smelly Tofu costs HKD $7.

You have to buy the ticket first before getting the food. (And why am I sounding like a tour guide?! I’m sure like many of my friends had already been to Hong Kong before. Blah.)

Deep-fried with very crispy skin and very sweet and tangy chilli sauce!

The tofu is really delicious! But I think a point to note is that after you’ve placed your order, you should just stand as far away as possible from the stall because it is so stinky that the odour just stays in your hair. And then you end up smelling like you’ve fallen into the toiletbowl.

I conquered 臭豆腐！

It’s not too bad but I couldn’t finish the tofu because I only liked the skin :/ Amanda only ate one small bite out of it. So I finished like about half of it (it was very plain without the sauce) and threw it away. The smell when you bring it up close to your nose is actually really not too bad. It’s very faint and so long as you don’t have the image of smelly toilets in your head, it’s actually bearable.

I haven’t decided if I wanted to try it again. Lol! If I do I must put like SUPER alot of sauce.

Hong Kong Island Tour

We went on the Cultural Tour organised by CUHK on 28th June. Ok I know that’s a pretty long time ago.

Everyone in high spirits before setting off.

Our very nice tour guide, Henry.

He reminds me of 林保怡 because when they’re both are starting to bald.

We are going to Repulse Bay 浅水湾! Literally, it means ‘Shallow Water Bay’. Some of the richest people in Hong Kong live around this area. The beach here is the most popular one on Hong Kong Island, but it was pretty desserted when we went there on our first Saturday in Hong Kong, probably because the typhoon just passed only a few days ago.

The polka dotted thing is the sticker on the tour bus okay.

And we did pass by Ocean Park along the way. Better hope it’s not raining when I’m going there. :/ I think the beach is pretty clean over at Repulse Bay, and there’s many convenient toilets/showers/washing-up facilities over here.

Uncanny resemblance…

‘What you looking at?!’

Map of the Repulse Bay Beach

We walked further down to the Kwun Yam Shrine.

Statue of Guan Yin.

According to my Lonely Planet guidebook, it says that this shrine is unusual because it houses many statues of other deities and figures. There’s the Money God 财神, and I think I also saw the Laughing Buddha, as well as Tin Hau 天后 (?). If I don’t remember wrongly, Tin Hau is a sea goddess or a deity that protects fishermen who goes out to the sea.

Liqi wants to be rich

Ok. I want to be rich too! What you’re supposed to do is to touch the Money God figure from head to toe, and then immediately put your hands into your pockets. Then, wealth will be yours.

We went to the Stanley next, but we didn’t do much there due to time constraints, and the girls didn’t want to go down to the market because it was a tourist trap. Maybe I’ll go down one day on my own if the weather is good. It has been raining AGAIN for the past week and I hate to go out in the rain…

1. The guy I sat next to for the first half of the journey. He has this super black face (no pun intended) and seemed to hate it but HEY he was like sitting on half of my seat…what more does he have to complain man…
2-4. Various photos of the harbour at Stanley. The water’s very clear!

Flowers to cover up obscene parts. -.-

Someone suggested doing an MTV pose. Maybe it’s about us pinning for our lost love who’s out fishing in the sea. *Aw. Amanda spoilt the mood.

Lunch was a decent affair as compared to the lousy Welcome Dinner (they called it Happiness Cuisine) the night before. Blarh. 6 dishes out of 9 were vegetables…and it’s not that I wanted abalone or that I hated vegetables; it’s like all the vegetables were cooked in the same way/drenched in the same sauce that it got kinda boring after awhile.

1. This is not shark’s fin. But it’s very tasty!
2. We didn’t like this because it was some bitter gourd dish but according to Henry, this is a very expensive food…so we forced the guys to eat it.
3. The dessert is sooo cute! It’s some coconut thing that tastes like marshmellows

Group photo! The guy’s hand shook abit so it turned out blur.

Went to Victorial Peak next, but there’s no point because it was raining again…but I’m planning to go there again, and visit Madame Tussauds too.

I know it may seem like a waste of money but to me, I don’t mind spending on such stuff that Singapore doesn’t have and that things that I’ve not done before. It’s a once-off cost, so why not? I’ll even cut down on other expenses to go. Haha.

I think the photo of me and 德华 is very not nice ‘cos I have a big face and he’s not 3D

On our way back they brought us to see the Golden Bouhenia which the People’s Republic of China gave to Hong Kong during the handover back in 1997. No photos of it though because it was raining too heavily and we didn’t get out of the coach.

So ya! That concludes the one-day Hong Kong Island Tour I went for. Next up will probably be the Shenzhen trip, but it’ll have to wait until after I studied abit of my TCM. Blogging a post takes up to 3 hours!

It Makes my Heart Ache

It makes my heart ache when I see old people begging for money on the streets of Hong Kong.

It’s like, we don’t see so many of such things happening in Singapore, maybe because it’s illegal to do so and if spotted by the police, such destitute people would be referred over to the FSCs ASAP.

But in Hong Kong, it’s like, everywhere. Alright. I may be exaggerating, but it certainly seemed so to me…old ladies with wrinkled faces and white hair, kneeling on the dirty streets of Mongkok, kowtowing to everyone who passed by in the hope of getting a small amount of money.

Sandy told me that in Hong Kong, they didn’t have to do it because the government gives them some form of a pension or welfare or 补助金 every month. So Hong Kong-ers tend to just ignore these old people who beg on the streets, sometimes in blatant disregard of their own safety. It’s like, the 小巴 drivers don’t really drive very safely sometimes, and these old people or beggers are just sitting or even sprawled on the roadsides, kowtowing.

It’s really sad.

(And no, HC, I didn’t take a photo because it’s so rude to do that. They’re not animals. And I think it’s very irritating of you to keep pestering me to do so.)