Are you MAN enough?

You know what they say about going through national service? It turns boys into men. Sounds vaguely familiar? Apparently, after transforming from a boy into a man you are still required to prove it! How do we go about it?I was refering to...

Scaling the GREAT WALL OF CHINA. What were you thinking?

Legend has it that you're not a man (好汉aka Hero) until you climb the wall. Those wise words belongs to Chairman Mao（毛主席）in case you're wondering.

School brought us over to Juyongguan Pass（居庸关）which was used as a military stronghold back in those days. I use to wonder, whats so great about this wall? Ok, I know its the only thing you can identify from space and its extremely long(x1000). I never appreciated it until I set my tiny little foot along the path. Upon arriving, the mere sight of it blows you away (exaggerations). The steep and seemingly impossible to imagine angles of elevation starts to set your pulse racing with drips of perspiration peppering your forehead befor you even begin. However, as you climb along with every step, every breath and not to mention, every pant. You start to appreciate the beauty and magnificiance of the structure. I never thought I would say this but it is truly majestic.

No, make it MAJESTIC!

There are steps so high, its up to my knee level. There are paths so narrow, its enough for one to pass. Thank god for the installation of railings by the side after renovation works. I wonder how soldiers and generals scale the structure back then. Going up wasn't so much of a challenge, it was coming down that was crazy. Don't look further than your next step when coming down.
2 good reasons for that.

1) The steps are non-uniform. Miss one and you will be tumbling down for the next couple of minutes.
2) The angle of depression is so steep at times it makes you feel like falling over.

We all know that the last thing you want to do is to lose your balance there. It will probably be the longest argh you will hear for quite some time.

Overall, the climb was GOOD. What seemed impossible wasn't too tough for us! We managed to get to the end of one section! The view takes your breath away so badly we had to stop to catch our breath. (pun intended) After 8 weeks in Beijing, I've finally felt the muscles in my thighs and calf. It feels so good knowing that I'm not that flabby afterall. It was such a good lower-body workout. Now, all that's left is the upper-body and my face.

After the climb, we were brought to enjoy this Chinese Acrobatics performance. Too bad they didn't allow us to take pictures, if not you guys would be able to see through my eyes. The acrobatics performance was excellent. A pity we missed the starting performances. I'm inspired to jump around using one one hand like the little boys, stand on my bicycle like the veterans and climb up a pole using mere hand muscles!
Oh well, its good to be inspired. With inspiration, we need perspiration.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, a Xi'An（西安） getaway.

I'm now officially a 好汉！

Escape from Beijing 1: Tianjin

The near proximity of 天津(Tianjin) meant we didn't have any excuse to give it a miss. Especially so when its only 30mins railway ride away on the new bullet train(max speed of 350km/hr) launched last year in preparation for the Olympics. I swear, this was truly one of the most comfortable ride I've had on public transport. The cabins are divided into First Class and Second Class @ 68rmb and 58rmb respectively. Being 2nd class citizens(haha), we decided to take the latter. Its already good enough if you trust me. Afterall, what's a 30mins ride? Its clean, comfortable and pretty spacious for me. More than you can expect and imagine from the word: railway. Pampered for the 30mins, we ventured on and started our journey in midst of a Saturday night.

Saturday Night：

南市食品街 (Nan Shi Shi Ping Jie) was disappointing. Don't be fooled by its name, its not a food street but actually a complex. The image I had was one that was filled with many eateries and delicacies but it turned out otherwise. They have more than sufficient 麻花 (ma hua);a type of local specialty which lined up the entire complex. I tried the huge long one which was way too hard to bite off, halfway through my battle I wanted to give it up. Personally, I feel that maybe the smaller size one would be much better. Haha.

the legendary 麻花 (ma hua)

Could it have been that we walked into a wrong building? I highly doubt so. “狗不理” 包子 (Gou Bu Li Baos) which originates from Tianjin actually pales in comparison with the branch in Beijing. How can that be?? The guys had it at its authentic outlet and not some small eatery. Apparently, the baos of the same name can be found anywhere, everywhere in Tianjin.

After dinner, we tried seeking out a pub which was voted as the 3rd best in Tianjin. It was very adeptly named; Ali Baba. If you're wondering why? Its very well hidden (think Ali Baba and the tale of 40 thieves) without any signboards in a dark alley. According to books, if you see any drunk foreigners, follow them and you will find what you seek. Its really near impossible to find with the near perfect disguise and camouflage at the ground level of a building with its silver metal doors that resembles that of a lorry with its freezer compartment on its back. Beer is cheap there. 8rmb for Tsingdao, 10rmb for Budweiser, 12rmb for Carlsberg, 15rmb for Heineken and Corona. Do not attempt their Bloody Mary for it tasted like some concoction gone wrong. Bor found out the hard way after he ordered it Haha. With mindless games like 7-up and circle of death gracing the event, it was pretty fun. Don't worry, no one was drunk, let alone tipsy. We were all clear and sober at the end of it and headed back to rest in our hostel. How much can 1 beer do? Nothing it seems. Jw, our plan failed. Too bad.

Sunday：

The next morning, we kick-started our day with some very nutritious breakfast at a eatery just next door. We were greeted by the sight of the numerous delightful flavours of 烧饼(a kind of pastry) which wasn't really nice, 豆浆(soya bean) which had a chao-ta aka burnt smell and 小豆粥（essentially Green beam porridge) and 手擀面 (hand produced noodles?).Cheap and filling by you compromise a little on quality. Not that it mattered much to me who eats just almost everything. 鼓楼， 古文化街 and 五大道 filled the rest of the day.

鼓楼: a street with stalls lined up in between with some old buildings by the side. You can expect to find some cheap deals mainly dealing with arts; seal engraving, porcelain dolls, swords etc. There was still mobile cart that sells candy floss! Its been a long time since I had it! You can actually choose flavors and mix up to 4!ITS HUGE ALRIGHT! Bigger than my head and its cheap. Reminds me of the days when I was much younger (not that I ain't now. haha.) You don't see much of candy floss now anymore back home. Kids don't know what they are missing out. Even a PSP can't replace the joy of that. Haha.

古文化街: As its name suggest, its littered with traditional art ranging from seal engraving (again), 泥人张 models (masks and models made from mud or clay i suppose) and Chinese scroll paintings. I spent a fortune there. Its time to scimp and save. I can't believe it =(

五大道: Its an area where the European influence is massive. Buildings are constructed in accordance to the style and is reflected very well. Its really beautiful and a sight you would not expect to find in China. The entire area has buildings that are categorised as national treasures and are under protection. They are divided into different categories; Very Important Protection and General Protection. Haha. You can see for yourself the stark contrast. Paint on the buildings and the overall facade maintenance. However, it was truly a pity I did not managed to capture images of the night scene whilst on the bus on Saturday. The bus on passing by this bridge and the scenery along the river banks were truly magnificent, very strong European touch to it. Indescribable view. The stone roads, round lamps which light up a warm orange glow.

With that, its the end of the Tianjin adventure. Fast huh?Tianjin is small compared to Beijing and the things to see and do there are truly limited by the numbers. However, the cost of living is lower than that of Beijing. I recommend that 1 day would be sufficient to get the essence of Tianjin. 1 visit would suffice. Its time to move on to another destination.

PS: I love their traffic signs. Its as if drivers and pedestrians are blind and they need really big signs. Huge as can be but its really cute.

stop and stare

There are always certain points in your life when you stop to think, breathe and let the images run through your mind. When you slow your steps, walk along while the crowd throngs you by as if you were living in a seperate dimension.

Today's the time in a very long while. I am in week 7 now; I can't quantify it as a long time since the path that lies ahead is even further. I am barely hitting the 2nd month into my exchange programme.The decision to come to Beijing wasn't as bad as I first imagined, it has indeed expanded my horizons through my daily observations. Pleasant or unpleasant, the incidents will leave its imprint.

I have had loads of fun so far, a new country, a new city and a new place I call home for the 6 months. New people, new friends along the way have helped me to settle down and adapt comfortably. I'm grateful for who they are and how they have helped me so far. The anger, bore and tears of joys that have trickled down with new experiences and jokes are indeed a comfort for my heart and mind that have grown weary at times. These short but relevant 7 weeks have taught me a fair bit; personal responsibilities, the need for adapability, life experiences. I'm also beginning to understand why, people do the things they do, even though I still find it hard to accept it at times. My social comfort level is still maintained at a high level whereby it is the norm back home but here, the call for flexibility in adjusting to the conditions have not yet rang in hard enough, yet. I fear that when I do get back, I will bring back values and social standards which are not favoured back home.

Perhaps I should resist, perhaps the others should change?

Change is the only constant; I am still resisting major changes to a certain extent though.

After gaining this minute exposure to another country and city, I feel that I have learnt and matured a little, at least that's what I hope to say.

Personal growth - Its a class that never ends. Its just how we deal with it and make of it.

I have accepted that our personal comfort zone has shrunk, its all about survival. Lets all be a little accomodating, it really goes a long long way.

Remind yourself that you are lucky enough to experience new things, possess the things you have, taste the food staring at you, sleep on the bed you lay.
You know what they say about being contented with what your life? I say; lets get outside and open our sights.

Lets see, hear, taste and breathe what's beyond. How different but yet how similiar we all are. We should cast aside our fears of the unknown; slowly but surely. That's my aspiration but fear chains me back to the walls.

I need to break the shackles, slowly.

It has never been my personality to embrace new things easily but stagnation is not an option; now or ever. I know it sounds contradictory with the statement above, lets be contented with the material possessions we have. However, never be contented with what you have seen, heard and taste.

The world out there is bigger than you think.

Whenever you feel that the things are against you.

Give and take.
Curse and swear.
Grind your teeth.
Grumble.. then move on.

The worse situation will be over soon. Immediately, turn and smile the next moment. Forget the unhappiness. Don't let yourself be a slave to your emotions; anger or disappointment.Lets not be so narrow-minded and you will be happier living your days.
Retain your positive values, observe and learn the good ones. Improve on your current values if others are better. However, it is imperative that you identify what's bad and always keep yourself in check to never fall into the traps.

I am glad that everything back home is alright.

My family is fine :)
Hope that things will be even better in the next few months!

My friends are doing well. Actually, most of them are doing way better than before. Well done! Well done :)

Volunteer Work at Dandelion School

Sunday: 15th March 2009
Venue:蒲公英中学, Dandelion School
Event: 沟通心连心关爱你我他
Time: 7.50am - 5.30pm

The School

We spent our Sunday in Dandelion School doing our volunteer work for L.E.A.R.N. To be honest, I wasn't actually very keen on doing the volunteer work initially. When the event kick-started on Sunday morning, I was still quite skeptical about the entire thing and my sacrifice of waking up early on Sunday, especially so when I have been waking up super early everyday of the week. Before the event started, there was supposed to be a "disco" session, when I was dragged into the hall, what greeted me was surprising. Disco to them was.... Dancing in a circular formation and they went in circles and circles. Thereafter, they broke into a train formation with everyone lining up behind one another. That was interesting to me as somehow, all of them looked extremly happy despite the simple dance and music that they were supposed to follow. Question that came to me was: What's clubbing when people over here seem more happy?? Then again, its a different ball game altogether. Different leagues that cannot be compared, they are like 2 parallel lines.

Group 1 and 2 volunteers (we made some friends with students from the local uni)

The morning events did no justice to what followed in the afternoon though. Sadly, it was slightly mundane for me as my group didn't have sufficient interaction between the members; Group Leader, Assistant Group Leader, Teachers, Parents, Children and us, volunteers. I shall not elaborate on the morning activities as they involve some ice-breaking games which involving passing of the orange and apples, passing hula hops in some very challenging positions, piecing of jigsaw puzzles from random pieces as well as finding people who have the same interests as you. The morning activities emphasised the importance of inter-personal communication; to get things done successfully, communication is essential.

Lunch time!
This is what was for lunch

It only started getting interesting from the afternoon, for me at least. That was when I started really interacting with the children from the school itself. Through the conversations, I found that some were really mature in their thoughts; there was a particular boy 刘宽（Liu Kuan）who was telling me how the medium in China is changing so rapidly that children are exposed to the evils of the world such as pornography. Imagine, what were you discussing at the tender age of 13 or 14?? He told me of how it was evil and quoted me an example on how he had a friend who knew what blue-films are when he was 4 years old. Oh man. What's the world coming to? There was another girl who I address as 龙导（her surname+director.. as she brought us through our performance segment) who somehow was so quiet during the morning session but came to life after lunch, she showed initiative despite her age in leading the team with her invention of the group name and tagline/cheer. However, she sures loves to complain and compete. She said with full confidence that I wouldn't know where she's from. She's from 贵州(Guizhou) and I hate to admit it. She's right that I didn't know what that is. Haha. Its not that other kids are not interesting but I just can't really remember their names. There was one boy, 张鹏(Zhang Peng) who told me that his dream is to become a star, a singer to be exact. It reminds me of what I harboured when I was young too. However, he didn't seem very comfortable with the idea of discussing about his dreams, I wonder why. 仁祥 (Ren Xiang) is a super active boy who can't sit still for a moment but he's quite funny. There were 2 other girls who were very quiet and always sitting together, it was hard to get them involved or engaged in conversations.
Overall, the kids were very interesting to talk to. They were very interested in me being a Singaporean and asked me tons of questions, such as what language we learn our subjects in.

刘宽（Liu Kuan）and 仁祥 (Ren Xiang)

The afternoon activities consisted of parents and child working together hand in hand to cross obstacles. The parents were blindfolded and their child had to lead them through obstacles such as staircase. Thereafter, a reflection session was conducted and messages reflecting to parents on how their children are grown-up and can now take full responsibility for themselves as well as how as children we should understand that our parents have been though harshship to bring their children up were conducted. Thereafter, both parents and child were blindfolded and were separated. They had to find each other when blindfolded and many were jumping in joy when they finally achieved that. Another reflection was done but this time it involved emphasising the importance of family ties between the parents and child. There were some emotional talks during the 2 reflection sessions where participants actively voluntered to go on stage to share their thoughts, experience and lessons learnt from the activities. The main message I took home at the end is that both parents and children should maintain a open channel of commuication, it will be difficult for both parties if either one decides to close the door on the other. After that, banners were drawn and decorated by all participants on what their aspirations are for the future, their dreams and hopes. The banners were collected at the end and were given to the principal as the event gift.

My portion of the banner

During the closing ceremony, a blue ribbon story was told where it laid the foundations of the activities that would be done thereafter. Firstly, teachers from the school were made to stand in the centre in a circle with the rest surrounding them along the perimeter of the hall. Blue ribbons were distributed to the children and they could show their appreciation to their teachers by tying it on their teachers. This process was repeated 4 more times with the following group standing in the middle in this order; children, parents, volunteers, main organising committee and school principal.

I DIDN'T TAKE PHOTOS WITH MY GROUP'S CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!
I told them to wait for me at the end of the event but the main organiser chased the parents and children out of the event ground! In the end, they dispersed before I had a chance to thank them for bringing me some wonderful memories as well as bringing me back to my childhood somehow. I'm beginning to miss them somehow. Regret!

I've been reminded of how lucky I am to be able to be enjoying the privilges that I take for granted. Going to the school has reminded me on how simplicity can actually bring about happiness. Seeing the faces and smiles on the faces of the children, it has lifted up my spirits by a far margin. The school's main hall is run-down without even the presence of a electric fan, why should we argue and complain about installing air-cons inside ours then? You can argue the case that Beijing has 4 seasons and now is Spring which is cool. Then what about summer? I wouldn't know. Neither would you. The simple things that have put me to shame reminds me of how blessed I am to be able to enjoy the luxury items which are necessities to some. We should really be happy that we have more than what we can stomach and the quality of our lives.

During the blue ribbon presenation to the children, 龙导 asked me if I would be going back to their school for any other events.

The blue ribbon presentation

I could see the sincerity in the eyes of the children, I know it sounds corny but its true. I wasn't able to give her an answer. She said if I was going back, I must remember to look for her and the others (they are all from the same class). I wanted so much as to tell her yes but I remembered that we should never make empty promises. I can feel that some of the children wanted to get to know me more as much as I want to. Now I want to speak to them so much once more; the adorable kids - so young and innocent. It brings me back to reality of - the simple life.

Temple of Heaven

Finally, I'm on track and on par with the events that have happened over the course of 2 weeks. Been quite busy with the monthly report to blog or upload pictures.

So last sunday, 8th march was the visit to the Temple of Heaven, 天坛. This visit was supposed to take place this coming sunday but due to a series of unfortunate events we decided to bring it forward. Temple of Heaven which is the main attraction is basically surrounded by a park with many activities taking place which mainly involves the elderly. We have a elderly choir group, chaptek players, ball jugglers, card players and bollywood dance moves just to roll a few of my tongue. It was a pretty interesting sight seeing how the elders are actually contented to spend their sundays sitting around in a park and enjoying the day. Ok, I know that wasn't the main point.
So the Temple of Heaven is yet another tourist attraction based on the emperor. He will come to this temple and pay his respects yearly back then. The architecture is actually quite cool with most of the structures adopting a circular shape. Due to the crowd size that was gathering at the doors outside the temple itself (assuming that they were waiting for the free explanation that occurs every 20mins), it made it almost impossible for the vertically challenged to get a decent view of the chamber itself. I tried my best.

There are other attractions at the venue but the tickets have to be either bought separately if you do not intend to go visit all or you could simply get the package deal which is more advisable as it is more economical. Other attractions include the Echoing walls and the main area which houses the center stone. Ok, I apologise for not getting all the facts and names right. So please go and find out more for yourself haha. I can't remember the exact details though.

The echoing wall has the same structure as the main temple. Circular with similar architecture design and so it feels like its almost not worth paying extra to go in and see. The views at the main temple itself is not the most pleasant as you see some high-rise building at the backdrop.

Overall, it was still quite an ok visit for me bah.

Ming Tombs and 2nd week of sch

1 more day till the end of the work week. I can't wait for it to come! School rocks my world here. I've never missed school so much till I came to Beijing.

Alright, so its back to the posting on the Sacred Way Museum of Ming Tombs aka 神道 and Ding Ling, aka 定陵.

To be honest, there was nothing to see at the Sacred Way. Personally I felt it was a cheap rip-off as you pay 10rmb (if i don't rem wrongly) to walk along the path that the emperors walked. Its so sacred that even the emperor has to dismount from his horse and walk on foot for 7km. Almost every tourist attraction that we've been to revolves around the emperors. Haha. There wasn't anything interesting. Just stone paths all the way with the various statues guarding the path as you walk through it. That's all. Walk and walk and walk and walk..... walk... walk.... walk some more. Till you reach the end of it. There are 9 different statues along the way guarding the path and these 9 statues comes in 2 different forms; standing and sitting. So technically, there are 18 different statues on each side. That's all for the Sacred Way. Fast right?

Entrance to the sacred pathI wonder where the camel came about...

So moving onto Ding Ling which houses is actually the 13th tomb. Out of the 16 emperors of the Ming Dynasty, only 13 had proper burial in the Lings (陵). The reason why this tomb is famous is due to the fact that it was the only tomb to be fully excavated. However, during the excavation process, many precious artifacts were destroyed or damaged and so what we saw were actually not the replicas. How sad. Other tombs were earmarked to undergo the same fate as Ding Ling but as the government decided against further excavations after witnessing the results of excavation. In order to see the tomb, you have to climb up a slight slope before climbing down 6-8 levels down underground. Sadly, it was a little disappointing for me as there wasn't much to see. The tomb is divided into a few chamber but the main chamber houses the coffin of the emperor and empress. One very interesting fact to note is that he actually had 2 empress and I think they were sisters?? Their names were slightly similar, 李端and李靖! I think he was the only one who had that honor though. Sitting in front of his very own throne of death were 2 seats of the same layout stating that it was for the empress. Hm, how very interesting. I wonder if they fought with against each other back then. Hmmmm. I hope no one blames me as I don't really know the history. So if you do know, please correct me.

the coffins

overall layout of the chambersat the end of the visit, you're required to pass through this gate and shout “我回来了” meaning, i'm back! to ward off the bad spirits or to bring your soul back. Not 100% sure of the significance

Although the tomb has nothing much to offer in terms of history and artifacts and felt like another cheap rip-off. I remind myself of the man hours needed to create such a tomb and the efforts gone into excavating and preserving it. Oh well, I guess that's what you call a piece of history.


2nd week of school still rocks although we experienced our most stressful lesson of all with Mr 赵宝忠. His lesson was on “如何学好普通话” or simply "Learning Mandarin the Proper Way". He's just way too professional when it comes to teaching. That means we can't slack in class or fall asleep cause he's always on the prowl for his next target to call; to stand up and recite the words on the screen. His mandarin rocks but its way too much for me to handle. I didn't know speaking mandarin had so much tricks to it. His ending phrase was so powerful, it read; 让我们展开双臂一起拥抱这个春天吧！Ask anyone who attended his class, they should have a VERY GOOD idea on what I mean exactly.

We had lunch at this fast food restaurant in school. You judge for yourself. Haha. You tell me what it reminds you of yea? I hope I don't get embroiled into any law suits for posting this up. I mean no harm.
Its relatively cheaper compared to the other but still more expensive compared to the food in the school canteen. They have many canteens on campus but the one we always go to has 4 levels of food and escalators. Can you believe it? HUGE. Food in school is not fantastic but lets not complain about quality cause they do compensate you with quantity. Just be careful of what you order and its usually fine. I guess that's all for now. Next entry will be on the Temple of Heaven.

mock-up of old beijing

Sunday - 1st March was spent exploring the outskirts of Beijing as we wanted to visit the 13Ming Tombs. Now the Ming Tombs houses 13 of the 16 emperors back but only 1 has been fully excavated; the 定陵。The journey to get to the outskirts was super long and luckily we met these 2 uncles who offered to ferry us from one attraction to another for just 5RMB for the entire day. We only had to pay him at the end of the day. Sounds good eh? I'm just glad we took up the offer as the places were pretty far apart, though he did bring us to places we never intended to go initially where I eventually spent 200RMB on my dad's gift. The most expensive present I've bought so far (wait.. that's the only gift I've gotten so far).

In the end, we went to 4 different locations; Beijing Shishanling Waxworks Palace of Ming Dynasty aka 北京十三陵的皇蜡像宫，Old Beijing aka 老北京， Sacred Way Museum of Ming Tombs aka 明十三陵神道博物馆 and Ding Ling aka 定陵。

I don't have any pictures from the waxwork palace as there were restrictions on the filming rules and regulations. Apparently, you are only allowed to take pictures IF you purchased a ticket for 10RMB. Nonsense crap. The pictures of the place are not in my possession, so.. Sorry you have to wait till I get my hands on Sheng Yuan's camera.

I shall start my entry proper with the review of Old Beijing. Basically, the entire place was modeled after the olden days with the typical and classic chinese architecture. The only thing cool about this place is that it was used for the filming of 还珠格格. Ok, maybe it wasn't that cool after all. This was the place I got my dad's gift; 2 sets of collector's edition. So they tried to model it as closely as possible to include the 4 vices of the China back then; 吃，喝，嫖，赌. Needless to say, there's a gambling den and a brothel included in the layout. BUT.. of course all for show only la. Don't think too much. There's even a mock opium room.
Too bad they tied the pipe to the table. I wanted to take it up. So now that we've tried smoking, lets move onto gambling. In order for you to play the game, you had to spend 10rmb to exchange for 3 copper coins which some of the guys did. I was too busy snapping pictures to be gambling, besides.. I don't gamble to begin with. Somehow, it felt like a scam cause out of the 3 games they played, the guys lost 2 games. I mean, how difficult is it to lose at Big and Small?? Some thing is fishy about the place.. hmm..
And so after gambling away all his possessions, Jiwei decided to give up on gambling. Herein lies the true meaning of 金盆洗手. This is a ritual that everyone must perform if they decided to leave the gambling den. There is a trick to doing it right. Apparently, for you to be able to walk out, you need to create ripples and splashes by rubbing your palms on the handles. If ripples and splashes occur, you are then safe to walk out. Otherwise, you should just think of carrying on, ok. I added that last sentence myself. If you think you're rich enough, you can always trot over to the brothel next door. Trust me, you wouldn't want to. There's nothing interesting to see, perhaps the most interesting artifact you will find is the heater in the middle of the room for it keeps you warm. Apparently, this was 1 of the room where they filmed 还珠格格; the part where ziwei was blind for a really long time. I can't remember the exact details though. They filmed it at a brothel. Gosh. Haha
Another room that the filming took place. This time around, its about ziwei and erkang getting married if I'm not mistaken. The very famous 漱芳斋 which was played countless of times during the show which was shown like tens of years ago.
Well, at least I got something out of this trip. Haha. Although my books are not as HUGE as that which you see below. I still think its pretty worthwhile for the books at I felt cheated at buying those books. Lol.
Its running late, i shall get back to posting about my other visits stated above soon. Hopefully tomorrow.

Updates from a very long time back..

Its been some time since I last updated with some proper postings due to the very unfortunate weeks that my laptop decided to play punk on me. So here I am back again bringing the latest (to the best of my abilities) escapades from Beijing 2009.

Lessons at Tsinghua University has already started since last week. There's one thing I can confirm, I miss school life. Mondays to Thursdays are a bore, 5.15pm has always been the one thing all 6 of us look forward to. Fridays to Sundays are the best days of the week. I can't describe more. Tsinghua has a beautiful campus where the architecture style carries quite a heavy european touch to it.

This reminds me of Harry Potter the movie somehow.

Lessons can be very interesting, very boring and very stressful. It all depends on the speaker's style. In short, this is how we spent our days at Tsinghua...
Disclaimer: We do pay attention in class and I hardly sleep. They do most of the time though. Haha. I hope they don't kill me.

So, after the Olympics last year, its a must for everyone to visit the actual site right? How could we lose out?! The train ride on the Olympic line is awesome. An empty cabin isn't a sight you can witness easily here in Beijing.

We even had time to hang around

When we finally set foot upon it, all the hype about the Bird's Nest and Water Cube was totally dismissed by us. What seemed so majestic during the Olympics on television seemed to disappoint us when we set foot upon this vast piece of Olympic land. Nonetheless, we still made the most of it by doing wacky antics; what should you do as a representation of the structures around you?? Track and Field Event: High Jump
( After countless attempts...)Swimming Medley: GIP version
Please guess the swimming styles..

We met this uncle who has extremely good caligraphy skills. He was inscribing some poems on the floors outside the Bird's Nest. His writing is simply superb, it puts me to shame.

So, the guys approached him to write something for us.. He so willingly obliged to grant us our wishes and so we left our legacy on the floors between the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. Too bad he was using a water brush and the beautiful pieces of art evaporated into thin air within mintues. Guess that's the main purpose of the camera, to capture the moments.
Not many people will get their names written on the floors outside the nest. We should count our lucky stars we ran into the uncle. This was really.. In our terms: SHIOKs!

Of mindless ramblings

Great! My laptop is finally back to normal! Paid 200rmb for the guy to come fix my backlight in the comforts of my own home.

Darn! I feel no job fulfillment at work. Its like I don't belong at my dreaded seat.

Dinner was bad earlier.

My housemate just sent me a picture of a korean chick we saw at Bird Nest on sat last week, to help me distress. #_#''

I should be reading my documents now. Besides, my report is due soon.
Shall get back another time.

ps: Junwei, thanks for the picture. I guess I have no time to check it out, keep it for yourself. Lol.

what else can possibly go wrong?

I am too pissed with my computer right now.. &*%!@&^#$%!(*!^@*!^%#&!%$!(*&!)@(*^*&!@R$%&^$!@*(#^&)!(@&*#&*!%@#&^%@*&%!*(@&#)!(&#(!&@%#^*!%@(@*^#)(!&*@)#()!@&#(&!@%^

can't it just stop giving me problems??