Between The Minds

Counting down to 14 days, or 1 day?

2009-04-01T02:08:00.003+08:00

Hi diary. Back to blogging as the last one was a week ago. I've been rather sick of the network these days. Internet connection at this hour only seems to be more accessible! There are several unique memories that i want to share tonight(since i have the chance to).

On the 28th last Saturday, the group of 6 guys and 8 ladies took a trip to Ya Mao Guang Chang as planned. It is the 'Robinson' of Singapore. The difference from the other towns is that the boutiques and shop houses are priced higher than average, but in fashion-wise it is still as typical. Shops along the street like Baleno, Giordano, and Samuel & Kevin are the usually seen ones back in Singapore. However, there are also a few stores which fancies me - a shop that sells printed couple tees. Although most of the prints on the t-shirts are not to my taste, but i got a pair of dark olive green colour with the Vietnam star print! And as we headed down we spotted an Instrument store and went in because the guitar brought my eyes to attention! Grand and acoustic pianos, violins, french horn...so many instruments to be listed. I got a Guitar Capo and a pick in the end.

Soon after, we headed back to Ya Mao Guang Chang as there were not much of attractions down the street. Dinner was finally settled in a foodcourt at the basement. Finally. Reason being we can't make a decision again. First went into the Foodcourt, second a Japanese restaurant, third KFC, next Macdonalds, and lastly back to the Foodcourt. That is where the guys met the ladies. In fact, none of us gave a thumbs up to the food although it is cheap(around 15 rmb). In my opinion it might be more suitable to the locals but not to us. After our meals, we then hailed a taxi and returned to our apartments.

Day 26, 29th March.
Perfect weather in the noon as we(the usual people) set off to Shi Men Kou. Food sold along the long, narrow street is fabulous! We've tried beef noodles, oysters, mutton, beefballs, smelly toufu, fruits, sugar-coated strawberries, and pastries. Sounds drooling to me... I would nvr hesitate to go there again...

Minutes later, we began our shopping. I must say that the items selling at Shi Men Kou is more appealing compared to Ya mao guang chang! They look more trendy and stylish... Nevertheless, I bought a bag from a shop in a small little mall. It was like the area of 2nd level of Bugis street. Original price was 110 rmb but I simply managed to bargain for 80 rmb! But for goodness sake shouldn't I stop my spending spree!? Hahaha. For things that I like I would spend on it without a second thought.

Jian Wen bought the printed t-shirt similar to the one i bought and so did Teck Cheong, who purchased one for his brother. While Kiafu, Tee Yong and Weiyang goes empty-handed.

Since the guys never liked walking together with the girls, we then boarded a taxi to carrefour for our early dinner. Teppanyaki was our choice. Always the choice... Never has it been such an extremely happy dinner for us. Everyone of us made an agreement to settle 3 bowls of rice and I am proud to have done it. We have been treated again some side dishes by the owner of the Teppanyaki restaurant! How nice...
And the day ended by taking a cosy little van back to our apartment. Just nice for the six of us......

Day 27, 30th March

Happy Birthday to my Brother... Can't recall any special events that took place. I purchased two t-shirts that I drooled over at Hua Luo Li Plaza. Damn! The devil in me is spending again!

Day 28, 31st March
Again, waking up very reluctantly in the morning sun. It was a trip down to a Taoism Temple Daohuaxiang Changchun and then memorial of Wucheng uprising 911 revolution

Pictures couldn't be added due to technical error.

Pissing off at 3.37am...

Chinese Historical Culture

2009-03-24T20:54:00.010+08:00

It was a valuable experience being in Hubei Museum of Art, located at the central province in the capital Wuhan. I was astonished by the displays shown as it was from 221BC. There were mostly bronze artefacts and porcelain and paints artefacts as well.

When we first arrived, we were brought to watch a popular traditional Chinese opera called Hanju and Chuju. It was music to my ears, though i don't know if they played it correctly?

Soon after, we went to check on the work of arts...

Good food, good scenery, good experience!

2009-03-21T23:06:00.031+08:00

The Spring season arrives...and there are a variety of bossoming plant species! Spring is perceived as the start of a new life, rejuvination, and a growth of time. The special smell of soil has reached the temperature for micro flora to flourish. Back in Singapore, I seldom get to see flowers of this range blooming. It was an awesome sight not to be missed!

Next up, our destination is to East lake... It was Liu bei's don't know what. In fact I didn't pay attention to the tour guide as she explains! Oops. Heh. But before that, we had our lunch. It was fantastic... Have a look at the photographs!

2009-03-19T01:00:00.002+08:00

Hello. It was a typical day. Almost the same routine; wake up, wash up, change, go to class, have lunch, shopped around the stores, go home, dinner, tutorial, sleep. I am waiting for the weekend! It is when i can have a good rest and free time to do whatever i feel like doing.

In the project management lesson, i've learnt about the conditions of a sub contract and site layout. Understanding the definition and meaning in it hasn't been easy. I'm trying to get myself to sit down alone quietly and revise my notes, and do tutorials. Discipline is lacking in me...

The guys went to play soccer in the evening. It was a time full of enjoying and fun! Then came two Chinese locals who joined in our game. They were very polite and friendly and with some good soccer skills too. I've never been stopping soccer for such a long time. 4 weeks i guess? How I wish I can play soccer with my khakis right now...

It has not been a pleasurable day as to what i had expected. Maybe it was a sign of homesickness? Maybe because i'm unwell? Maybe it was due to the living conditions? You tell me.

A different culture ...

2009-03-17T23:34:00.002+08:00

Today, the class had a new lesson on the Culture of China. Our lecturer, Edith Shi, taught us very well. After her explainings i understood more on the meaning behind cultures. She also told us about her stories. I was a little bit suprised that she speaks very good and fluent english as almost all of the chinese here doesn't do so.
After lesson today, she brought us to a near by shopping mall which to our delight is more convenient as it is within walking distance(around 20 minutes). Besides, the things sold there are attractive and to our likings. For the first hour the CEE guys spent about 100RMB on average; either for themselves, or for friends and relatives. I got a bottle, and a mobile phone holder for my uncle, and a black long sleeve t-shirt for myself. Didn't really like it as the neck collar is to broad! I might consider giving it away. Went to Macdonalds for lunch right after and then totally forgotten to purchase the soccer ball! I noticed that the service is not up to satisfactory because they gave us an upsize without asking us. Kiafu was pissed by the attitude they showed.
In the afternoon, we did our tutorials and i watched a movie named "A History of Violence"! The story plot is good and i would recommend it to my friends.

Bye, i shall stop here.

2009-03-16T21:34:00.006+08:00

It is the start of the week which means Project Management and China Economic. Although it sounds boring studying these modules we unwind ourselves in the evening by playing basketball. To me basketball isn't my type of sport but i just join in for the sake of enjoyment.

<<< David & Me

The CEE men versus the REB dudes...

Eastern Cleaning Services. Our apartment has been cleaned up on Sunday.

We'll be having SOCCER tomorrow! I've been missing it to the max.

My life might end anytime on the road ...

2009-03-14T23:29:00.018+08:00

Could finally get a long night rest. Woke up at ten and prepared ourselves to go to Han Kou. In my opinion, it wasn't well planned. I was told that everybody will be going but Mr Wee and some of the REB students weren't informed in time. In the end we spent more than 15 minutes having to wait. Mr Wee did not came along with us. Hence we still had 2 vans fetching us to Han Kou. It takes us about 50 minutes to reach.

Jiang Han Road is a different sight from Wuhan. The street was more neat and organized, but the place was very crowded. Everyone was pushing to make their way through the crowds. This made me felt really uneasy.

Dessert for lunch. Probably the best one i had before! It is a must-try.

These Portugese Egg Tarts are godlike!! A must-try too. We bought 5 boxes altogether.

Right next we shopped around the stores. Most are selling sports apparrel. Went to a Nike departmental store and a beautiful track pants caught my attention but I couldn't make a decision to buy or not to! I also aimed at an Adidas track pants. This time i resisted the temptation. I enjoyed this trip to Han kou despite going back empty handed which i felt a little bit disappointed! The girls and the CEE guys gathered and we headed down to Wuhan Mall. Taxi and Bus transportations were an option but we decided to walk instead. After more than 5 kilometres and 2 hours of walking, we finally reached Wuhan Mall. It was a higher end of shopping paradise. Brands and expensive labels were around us!

Settled our dinner at Macdonalds and mastered a new CEE cheer.

Manchester United 1

Liverpool 4

Well done Liverpool. Congratulations for BEATING

"the team that thinks they are the best"!

Celebrate Calrsberg come on!

Cheers to Arsenal too, by thrashing Blackburn 4-nil.

"Brothers before Holes"

2009-03-13T23:40:00.006+08:00

Day ten in China. Its Friday the 13th, towards the weekend! The weather has been colder than expected which made all of us felt uncomfortable. It has been four days of lesson and I'm very satisfied with the way Mr Wee teaches us for Project Management. He's been teaching the class things outside the textbooks and is also a very humorous lecturer! It has been a joy being lectured by him so far but unfortunately he doesn't take any of our CEE modules! Personally, I find PM a very interesting yet challenging subject to study. To this point i realised it is beginning to become more complicated because it is hard to comprehend some areas.

During lunch time, we had a hard time looking for places to dine in. Not that we couldn't find any restaurants, but because no one could make the decision. (This problem happens to me quite often) We then decided to have muslim food which was extremely filling! One bad factor about it is that it was very salty. I think thats what zidane probably had that causes his bald head? Hahaha! Not long after we headed back to our hostels, PES fever as usual, then Weiyang Teck and myself went to have our dinner with Baohui and Alicia!

Tonight, let us enjoy the bright, cold silver moon ... ...

Entering into a different place...

2009-03-12T23:03:00.000+08:00

We’ve spent 3 days travelling and staying in on a cruise named “Silver Moon” to go to the Three Gorges Dam. The landscape was amazing! All eyes were set on the mountains as the tour guides explains its histories, while others took shots of the breath-taking view of the river.
On the second day after our breakfast, we took a ship to Shennong River. It was rather boring throughout the journey before we arrived because we had no entertainment! Later, we hop on to the 'xiao fan chuan' and was toured around the Shennong Stream of the Three Gorges in China. The River stretches over 60 kilometers in length. Drifting and visiting the old wooden flat boat, we admired the magnificent appearance of the peak of the mountain! The tour guide sang and thought us a couple of village songs but we can’t remember a single tune as it isn’t up to our interest at all. What came to my attention was when the boat men pulled the ropes to overcome the currents going against our boat. It was extremely tough. Despite their hard work they were only paid about 25 RMB, which i feel it is very little! From there we ended the tour and made our way back to our cruise.
As soon as we had our lunch, we were ready to get on shore to visit Baidi Castle, the place where Liu Bei (From the 3 kingdoms) concede his supremacy and dominance. Most of us couldn't comprehend the tour guide as her chinese accent is different from ours? Nevertheless it was a good experience exploring the museum!
I’m gonna stop here as it is already 1.30am. Better off with dota!
Ciao~