Just a cup of Gie

twitter

Follow My Tweets

Showing posts with label travelogue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travelogue. Show all posts

idyllic days in bintan

Posted in



Hello darlings! Last weekend, Skew and I left our worldly worries behind and hid out in Bintan. Well almost; auto-roaming calls and SMSes still haunted us from time to time. *rolls eyes*

As told, the beach by Nirwana Gardens Hotel is surprisingly clean and the waters fairly clear (though far from pristine). We checked in on Sunday (an off-peak period) and with the low occupancy rate, we shared the entire strip of beach with a family of three and another couple. The unexpected tranquility was much appreciated. ;)



Skew trying his hand at archery.





Infinity pool.

Without a doubt, Bintan accepts Singapore currency. But the standard of living is much higher than we were told. A three-course dinner at the Kelong Seafood Restaurant set us back by SG$90 and our tummies saw no satisfaction. Each can of Coke is SG$4 and juices cost SG$7-8. For a moment I thought we were holidaying in Europe (?!). Crappers.

But we didn't let the exorbitant prices get to us; I had cheese crackers and dips and chocolate pies on stand-by. Best Friend sent us an email that led us to the neighbouring beach club which serves really awesome three cheese thin crust pizza (SG$11). And we lamented why we hadn't known about this little joint earlier!

For the curious little ones, judging by my barely-there tan lines, the spray-on sunscreen SPF50 from Coppertone really saved our arses. Despite the prolonged hours by the beach and pool, we hardly turned lobster. Awesome, no?!

Where is our next destination,

Gie

guess where we spent our weekend

Posted in

Only 45minutes away, not an ultimate paradise, but nonetheless an escape from the crazy city life. More pictures soon!


Love,
Gie

up up away!

Posted in


My my! Finally I'm going away. On a trip. Overseas!

How I miss my 'past life' when travelling is part of the job; packing my luggage is my everyday life and DFS is my second home. Sigh... I miss the smell of perfume counters...But anyway this time's different. It's not for work but a personal R&R trip with Skew to a nearby island. Unbelievable as it may sound, I've been stepped foot on anywhere in Indonesia.

The intention is to get me out of this crazy red dot (a major event just ended) and the 45-min boatride will see me drinking cocktails by the poolside and stuffing myself with the much-raved about seafood. No schedules, no itineraries. Enough of planning! (Tells you how mental my job drove me to)

So, my bags are packed and I'm raring to go! Already, my stomach feels sick with excitement as I'm writing this piece. ;))

polished notes from shanghai

Posted in

When you work my line, you have to give up quite a few things. One of which, is a set of clean polished nails 24/7. At the end of every exhibition set-up, I'd be left with a set of chaffed, dry, dull-looking, chipped nails. I don't know how I managed to earn them. The weather perhaps. I'm always going to cold places. Can't wear my (now missing) leather gloves; I'd look ridiculous to my colleagues.

I extended my stay in Shanghai for a couple of days. First thing I looked for: a nail parlour. I didn't think that finding a nail parlour would be somehow difficult. After all, Chinese have become affluent, the ladies have become more fashion-forward and Shanghai is one of the most cosmopolitan city in China. A colleague told me an average manicure costs only RMB 20 (like... SGD 5?). Fascinating!

But after walking from Louyang Road to Lu Jia Zui Road, from Nanjing East Road to XinTianDi, I see no nail palour. (For those who are familiar wiith Shanghai, it's damn long a walk I took.) Even the working people at Central HuaiHai Road have no idea where the nearest nail parlour is. Pretty disappointing.
I continued my walk to around the area next to XinTianDi, exploring the back alleys and houses people live in - the Shikumen, until I saw some familiar words...


OPI! I hurried forward and took a closer look. OPI!!! The parlour is quietly tucked away in one of those Shikumen houses. Being a sucker for discounts, I haggled a bit with the lady boss. Since it's my first visit, she happily charged me only RMB 100 for a full mani and pedicure. Like what? SGD 20 for everything? Dirt cheap lah!

It was a really quiet weekday afternoon. I was the only customer. Hence all the attention is on me. Keeping my bag close to me, I had a good eye-shut moment while my feet was given a really good massage. After weeks of madness, that's what my feet really needed.

The parlour is plain-looking. No scented candles, sea-waves-lapping-on-the-beach music, fancy tea drinks or warm towels. Just a sincere lady boss who spent time and effort looking through her collection of OPI and endured my 'Umm this colour, or this colour? That colour also nice hor...' I usually try to be fast in deciding the colours I want but manicurists in Singapore aren't exactly patient. The lady boss started her own business since year 2000. Perhaps a little difference in culture, she was puzzled when I asked for short square-shaped nails with little round edges. She asked why not long sharp nails. I nearly gasped and collapsed with asphyxia. So I told form where I come from, long sharp nails are reserved for aging mothers, market aunties and beer-pouring ladies.

There are no name cards so i can't share with you where exactly this place is. It's just one of those Shikumen houses in the area next to XinTianDi. Let me know if you do know of nice nail parlours in Shanghai, because I still cannot believe I found none from Pudong to Puxi!

hungry notes from shanghai

Posted in , ,

I love Shanghai; I love the streets. I love the malls. I love the sights. I love the history. But now it has become the place I mourn the 'death' of my favourite leather gloves. Somewhere in the streets of Shanghai... Urgh!

The night before I lost my babies, I wore them to this quint Japanese restaurant at Louyang Road. For RMB 150 per person, the colleagues and I had a wonderful buffet. It was the best meal ever since I arrived in China. (Except for the times I couldn't stomach any food from the factory canteen and KFC was like heaven)


Federick going gaga over the grilled beef cubes

Grilled beef cubes


Grilled Fish

Fried Chicken Skin

Grilled Oysters with Baked Cheese

A glass of Choya down into my tummy gave me a better night's sleep. It had been a month of madness. I'm still not appreciating Sake as much as I've been told to. But heck, I love Choya. Period. The truth is, I ate like never before that night. The food was surprisingly good. Despite it being a buffet, the quality wasn't compromised. The Mother was a little confused when I told her how good the Japanese food was.

"I thought you complain everyday you got nothing to eat?"

Well, that was Dongguan. How could Shanghai offer me nothing to eat?! =) We had a lot more. But after a few pictures I gave up and decided to focus more on eating. It was late and the night was cold. Food was the only comfort. Sigh... my gloves...

i sure miss you dearly

Posted in ,

I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you I miss you.
But more importantly, I'm back home.

xoxo,
Gie

hello shanghai!

Posted in


I'm back in Shanghai after two years! Contrary to what I planned, my first stop isn't H&M (damn!) It was ChengHwa Temple instead. But heck. I had my good share of xiao long bao. Damn good, I say, damn damn good! After three weeks in Dongguan, I am so not missing cup noodles. Time for proper food!

Anyway, I reckon my blog posts will become irregular since I'd be spending most of the day onsite setting up a certain luxury brand of car booth. So till next time!

xoxo,
Gie

last notes from dongguan... day 19

Posted in

A few things I have learnt during my 19-day stay in Dongguan.

1. Too much cup noodles is not good news for the hair. Even the ones at the sensitive areas.

2. Don't look down on the ground when walking. Otherwise you'd be scrutinizing every inch of the ground your feet lands on.

3. KFC here is good. Real good.

4. Drivers here have no regards to lane dividers. Cross the roads at your own risk.

5. Food is oily salty oily salty and oily and salty.

6. Damn near to Shenzhen and HongKong.

7. Motorcycles are banned from the roads because they were common vehicles for robbers who snatched handbags from pedestrians. Sounds like Singapore in the 80's.

goodbye notes from dongguan... day 18

Posted in ,

Yes!!!

I'm flying to Shanghai tomorrow!!!!!!!
Out of this horrible village!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe it! I've actually survived this who-know-where-the-hell town for 18 days! Very clearly, I'm really looking forward to Shanghai. My last trip two years ago was a great one. Though this time, it's without the fun bunch of ex-colleagues, it shouldn't be difficult enjoying myself. Well, anywhere could be better than Dongguan.

H&M H&M H&M!!!

rumour notes from dongguan... day 16

Posted in , , ,

Rumour has it, that I'm a rich miser.


A certain colleague has unwittingly revealed this rumour (or gossip rather) going around about me. Isn't it exciting to find out a certain aspect of yourself, which you never knew, from someone else in an 'accidentally' manner?

I am certainly interested to know where my 'riches' are. Because it's high time I spend it all and keep the multiplier effect going. And a miser? Oh yeah. I am such a bean counter that I get the high counting every penny I have in my packet, morning noon and night.

wtf.

But well, ain't I entitled to be a miser? If there's an application form to be one, my credentials would check every single effing box. I have no degree - my annual income doesn't allow me anywhere near a credit card form. I have a household of three - only one is working (well, guess who?). I have a roof over my head - guess who's paying for it? I have a dad who paid for my tuition fees - guess who's paying him back? I have bills to pay which are incurred even though I spend half my time away from Singapore - guess who's paying for them?? And everyone tells me death is inevitable and I better leave money behind for my family - guess who's paying for insurance???

I am 25. I should be enjoying the fruits of my labour. I should be one of those young brats who give $600 per month to their parents and say, "Nah. Give you and don't bother me for the rest of the month," and spend the remaining thousands on food, clothes, shoes, entertainment and other useless stuff. Instead I'm handing thousands to The Mother and keeping the remaining hundreds to myself. Am I not entitled to be just a little extra careful (perhaps calculative) in what I spend so that I have just enough savings to buy myself a nice dress or a pair of shoes once awhile? Don't I deserve anything for myself?

I cannot help it if clients like to treat me to lunch, or my crew invites me for home-cooked meals when we're away in overseas. Neither it's wrong for me to save on lunch money by chewing on sandwiches. As far as I know, I've never owed any money for meals. I order, I pay. I scrim, I save because sometimes I don't get overseas allowances in advance; I'm spending a puny sum of money from my own pocket and am expected to make large purchases and 'claim it back from company later'.

So what if I ask favours from friends who might get me a discount or two on stuff I want to get? If they don't like to do me such favours, they'd tell me. I don't own a gun to put it to their heads. But I would go all out to do it for them, if they ask. Because I know every cent counts. To me, at least. If I have my way, I want to be living in a family of four. ALL FOUR OF US WILL HAVE WORK AND A DECENT INCOME. I don't worry about bills (just my own to be concerned about), I go for short getaways or even a long trip once a while, I will dine in fancy rastaurants every week, I can throw money at everyone's face and make them make me their best friend, I will buy my boyfriend every nice damn thing I see on my overseas trips, I don't have to purposely avoid designer boutiques nor do I have to furrow a single brow about my younger brother's tertiary education fees because it won't have to be my farking problem!

So anyway, this rumour got to me in a most ridiculous fashion.

I am running out of cash here in China. Mainly because I paid for my accommodation and made purchases for the project with my allowances (which are rightfully MINE to keep). I have a few more nights of hotel stay to pay for and I asked a colleague if I could borrow from her when the need arises. That's when a couple other colleagues said I don't need to borrow because 'I am rich and knows better than anyone else how to save money''.

And they repeated that many times throughout the day. It gets on my effing nerves. Do I have to set up a theatrical play and act out my sad-sob life story for them to understand that I am nowhere near the effing term - rich. Because I don't dress shoddily and I eat frugality doesn't equal me to being a RICH MISER.I am not rich to pay for every damn blardy expenses here and 'claim it from company later'. I would IF I could. Because I am not a bean counter at heart. I am actually very generous and don't mind paying for the entire crew's salary, accommodation, meals, purchases and 'claim it back from the company later', IF the alleged money does exist in my bank account.

So,

speedpost love notes from dongguan... day 13

Posted in , ,

Me: hey no toothpaste!

Boyfriend: there is
Boyfriend: i included colgate

Me: where's the chocolate?

Boyfriend: it's all included baby

Me: the coffee powder is everywhere!

Boyfriend: =_=

Me: the stuff spilled

Boyfriend: omg...
Boyfriend: they opened up?

Me: i bet so!

Boyfriend: we packed chocolate...
Boyfriend: they took all the chocolate?
Boyfriend: wtf

Me: so angry..
Me: i called to complain

me: darling
me: i need to tell you

Boyfriend: yes?

Me: happy april's fool
******

I am so loved. The Mother, Best Friend and Boyfriend have ganged up together packed in my favourite stuff (food mostly) together and sent them to me via Speedpost. We were so worried that the package wouldn't reach me in time before I fly to Shanghai this weekend. After all, even the staff at Speedpost isn't sure about the courier 'speed' in China. But all is well - within three days I have my package!


Coffee is here! Coffee is here! Coffee is here!

Love notes from The Mother and Boyfriend

Swedish greetings from The Best Friend!

Aww... You people spoil me...

A packet of Bak Kwa is also included. Hah! I dived straight for it without second thoughts. After two pieces of my favourite muchie, home sickness is at the back of my mind. The mind is much at ease. Breathing has become smoother. Spirit has gained enlightenment. Floatation ala JSP-after-Coke-Light is possible!

Thank you You Three!!!

Oh my two-week stay limit is up today. Thus it was time to get out of China, off to Hongkong and back to China - just to receive a new 'chomp' on my passport and 'renew' my stay. I was so excited that I skipped breakfast and chose to have it in HongKong. Worthed it. I couldn't ask for more - just dumpling noodles with soup. This simple item isn't even on the menu. But the kitchen made me one anyway. I gobbled up the entire bowl in less than 10 minutes. It was FABULOUS.

F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C.

It's been nearly two weeks since I had a good proper satisfying meal which doesn't not include fried chicken wings. I cannot describe how much I wanted to tear in gratitute to this visa expiry situation. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to get out (with Boss' approval) and have a good meal... and some shopping. Hey it's HongKong!

still random notes from dongguan... day 12

Posted in , ,

Guess my first buy from this ulu town? Other than the massive amount of food and snack.

Bwahahahaha!

Okay Shangqian, having a Logitech Optical Mouse in pink doesn't make me a Hello Kitty fan! I hate this cat! No offence, Wanjun. You can like that meow all you want =)

Oh yeah, back to this. The crappy printer in office broke down for the zillionth time and The Boss had no choice but send me out to get a new printer. Well, an American client was with me... we couldn't help but 'look around' the other stuff while waiting to pay for the printer. Technie geeks, both of us. He bought some cabling. And I went for a portable optical mini mouse. I'm so over the touchpad. The bargaining spirit never left me and I got it at RMB 120 (SG$22). Well, and I didn't purposely choose this colour. This is the only one left!

Nevertheless, this baby works like magic. =)

Oh by the way it's Qing Ming today. A public holiday in China because everyone needs to commute to a faraway cemetery to give respects to their ancestors and... wait. How come it's mountain people mountain sea on the roads? The streets are more crowded than usual. It's a pain to cross the roads, but an even bigger pain to sit in the car and watch the driver zig-zag past the jaywalkers who obviously don't give an eff to safety. My safety! Urgh.

familiar notes from dongguan... day 11

Posted in ,

A snapshot of my MSN call/webcam conversation with The Mother and Brother last night. Yeah, that's right - that's my mum posing with my Roxy straw hat. She feels the need to 'liven up' her look since she wasn't wearing anything funky for the 'picture-taking'. It's just all so nice hearing their voices although it was mostly The Mother updating me a thousand and one things. Deja-vu! I became so worn out after the 30-minute call and fell asleep right after that, before The Boyfriend gets his turn to chat with me. Sorry dude, I was totally wiped out.

croaky notes from dongguan... end of day 10

Posted in , ,



















The creature found itself a very comfortable spot on the outside of the window panel. No matter how hard I knock on the glass, it wouldn't budge nor open its eyes. Lazy shit.

sore notes from dongguan... day 10

Posted in , ,

I'm having a sore back. As in the entire back. I don't recall having to engaging in any tedious activities which require me to break my back and limbs. Because by far, all I do is sit in the office all day and curse at the crappy internet connection.

So that leaves the quality of sleep I'm having. It is crappy too. The hotel's bed is harder than steel. When I first sat on it, I yelped in surprise; my arse felt no cushion. Only hard wooden board. No wonder the room's only RMB 120 per night.

Excuse me while I go get myself Solonpas.

P.S. The Mother and Boyfriend are going to the post office tomorrow. Can't wait to receive stuff from home...

dubious notes from dongguan... day 9

Posted in , ,

Remember this?

I have a lot more boxes of snacks which are not in the picture. But last night, when I went through the plastic bag full of Meiji, Glico and what-nots, I thought the bag looked... somewhat smaller. I emptied the contents on my bed and conducted a stock take against my purchase receipt.

Not right not right... Where has my Meiji Macadamia gone to???


A few other snacks were missing too. Now I am damn sure of what I've consumed; I need to make sure my tummy isn't in jeopardy. So when the reception staff asked if I have forgotten what I had ate, I was rather pissed off. And upset. I haven't had the greatest day yesterday. Hungry and pissed, I was looking for comfort food. And damn it was stolen!

Perhaps it was a combination of home-sick, work stress and PMS, I was clearly upset by the day's events and the case of missing food didn't help. I went to bed tearful. FRIENDS didn't help. I sobbed even louder when Joey and Chandler said something stupidly funny.

I keep all my valuable stuff in my luggage. Who would have thought that now, I have to keep my snacks too. I hate whoever who took my snacks and wish he'd burn in the pain of UTI.

oily notes from dongguan... day 8

Posted in , ,

I am very adamant about not having the local food, unless it's noodles from a HongKong cafe. I have had awful experience the last time I ate the local food during my last trip; I puked like nobody's business and has to lie in bed for two days. Combination of cold weather and greasy food is rather lethal for my stomach. Somehow the oil doesn't sit well in my rather delicate stomach. Seriously, you won't understand the extent of the oiliness, saltiness of the food here in China (in general), unless you've been here, seen the food, and tasted it yourself. I am serious.

I guess I had it good on my last trip to Shanghai because then-colleagues and I would scout for good Chinese food which also suit our palate. Man, I miss the Xiao Long Bao...

But since everyone's been nagging at me to cut down my massive consumption of cup noodles, I thought I gave one of their recommended restaurants a try.

Someone told me this is a HongKong style cafe. I don't see any resemblance. At all. But a try I will give anyway. I flipped through the menu and had a headache. There are crabs (can't eat), prawns (can't eat), pig's intestines (urgh!), rabbit (urgh!), internal organs internal organs and MORE internals organs! wtf.

But damn I've already taken a seat. I flipped some more and saw stir-fried vermicelli. "Okay, doable," I thought. I asked for a less spicy stir-fried vermicelli with chicken bits (because the original version has no meat). So okay! What could possibly go wrong?

Except the dish came with a whole mountain of chilli despite me repeatedly emphasizing to the waitress to less the chilli. Now I LOVE spicy food. But last night's dish was wayyyy over-the-top kind of spicy. And darn oily. Just two scoops of the vermicelli, I felt like puking oil.

Which I did, this morning. Like my digestive system has been filtering all the oil I had, waited for me to wake up and hinted very heavily that I should run to the washroom to puke. Which I did.

It wasn't at all satisfactory. I also had to endure the cigarette smoke from the neighbouring table of Ah Tiong men. With RMB29, I could easily get KFC - a Zinger Burger, six pieces of nuggets and a crispy chicken wing. A smile on my face is guaranteed! Definitely not some soaked-in-oil crap which upset my stomach.

So yeah, it's me running back to my cup noodles and KFC. Thank you very much.

ten essentials

Posted in ,

Actually more than ten, but I reckon I'll share ten sets of stuff from my bag, at a time. Anyway I've never felt so boring in my life, except the time I hung out with *whispers* that guy who recently wanted to sue me... you know... for not 'appreciating' him... that guy... that one... yeah...

Anyhoo! I was rambling through my stuff after counting sheep on my bed in my hotel room over the weekend. Alone. On a Sunday. Thought I share random stuff with you - essentials in my bag. Wherever I go. Because by the time I get outta here, homo sapiens may already be extinct and Earth is conquered by two-heads green slimy aliens with sleek aluminum brushed lithium-powered flying machines. Life is so unfair.

LG - Local Pre-paid Calling Card (depending on my destination); Motorola V9 Razor - Singapore number
Usually hardly anyone calls me when I'm away. Strange but true. I get a lot of calls when I'm in Singapore. Considering I don't announce publicly to all my friends that I'd be away. (Well because let's face it - who reads my blog??) Well, probably for the best. I won't have to spend much money on overseas calls. I don't like having long conversation calls anyway. Then along comes The Boyfriend whom I so feel the need to hear from every now and then. That's when last month's bill exploded. Literally. So a local pre-paid calling card is really necessary. At least I'm not paying SG$4 per minute (or less)!! That's when my second less expensive out-dated mobile comes in. Never know.


Bottega look-alike Soft Leather Organiser
If you ever want to dig out my dirty little secrets, they're all in there. Hah! If you haven't already know, my grey matter's smaller than a pea. Not a compliment on myself, I know. But if I ever have dementia, my organisers will all come in handy. Stuff I've done with my loved ones. Thoughts I've written down. Dreams I wanna remind myself of. Oh which reminds me, I need to write down my blog's url into the organsier.

My Passport
If I ever lose this, I'm going to cry. Real hard. Because the replacement fee isn't cheap.

Casio Baby-G
Not a fervent collector of watches like The Best Friend, but I do have a few favourite watches. Two of 'em I brought along with me to China. I love this baby; the gold and black goes well with almost the whole of my wardrobe. The watch also shows the time of nearly 20 over major cities. So whenever I need to, I can switch from Singapore's time to wherever just with a press of the button.

20 Euro knock-off
A client said this twin analog-digital watch looks like 20 Euro watch from the streets of Paris. Hah! Truth is, this is only SG$20! I usually have a spare watch in my bag. Well... at least it gives me the option of switching 'style' if I don't feel comfy with the first one I wore in the morning. Nice to have an alternative when I feel like it.

8GB iPod Nano Chromatic
Considering I spend much time abroad, the iPod makes sense. Some would ask, "Why do you need 8GB?" Their reasoning is that we always tend to listen that few favourite songs and leave the rest out. Well yeah... but what if there is that one song which I so badly want to listen to and it's not there? When stress gets the better of me, I would plug in my iPod, blast some music and go for a good long walk. Well, I don't smoke so coffee and music are my substitute for a smoke break.

Evelyn & Crabtree Cocoa Butter Protective Lip Balm SPF8; MAC LipGloss Power Supply; Evelyn & Crabtree Rose Hand Therapy; Neutrogena Lip Moistiriser SPF15
I travel a lot to places with slightly harsh weather conditions. Replenishment throughout the day is important, especially frequently exposed areas - hands, face, lips. Dry chaffed fingers - not cool. Dry peeling lips - not cool. Pale lips - not cool. The job can be shitty, but the project manager doesn't have to look shitty.

ELLE Beauty Pouches
I don't bring my Agnes B Voyage beauty pouch when I go overseas. Too precious. Roughing it out with me ain't easy. The two pouches above from ELLE makes good traveling companions. The pink one contains my rosary, lip balms and hand cream. The black one holds my thumbdrive, ear piece, spare passport photos, Sony Memory Stick Reader and etc. I attached a mini LED light to each of the pouches. The lights come in very handy during power failure and when I can't see a single shit inside of my black bags. Taking too long to find my iPod in my bag can be darn frustrating.

Wet Wipes; Vichy Facial Mist Spray
I think wet wipe is one of mankind's smartest innovation. I haven't used a dry tissue for a long long time. After devouring the chicken wings, I can skip washing my hands; the wet wipes will do the job. Tollyjoy's by far my favourite brand. Good and inexpensive. Not just an obscure brand from ABC store. If the Jurlique Rosewater Facial Mist isn't bottled in glass, I'd have packed it in my luggage. Vichy's not bad. But chances of me using it to have some tongue mositure is higher. Not that it isn't good enough for my face, but when one is desperate for water, anything goes.

can you see where this is going?

Posted in ,

weekend notes from dongguan... day 5

Posted in ,

JiaHua Shopping Mall

NanKang Shopping Mall

Yeap. The city is revolved around these two shopping malls. As far as I know, this district is the busiest and most stores are located here. So as I walk out from my hotel, KFC's right ahead and Watson/Nike/Adidas are to my right.

KFC's simply a stone's throw away. I could cross the road and get my hands on nice crispy chicken wings in less than five minutes. That is if, I can get to the other side of the road. Alive. Nobody obeys the zebra crossing rule. There are no pedestrians crossings. I managed to cross the roads in Shanghai but not here. So I'd walk a 500metre loop to the nearest overhead bridge and back the opposite direction just to get to KFC. Actually I don't really mind using the overhead bridge if it isn't always water-logged right in the middle of the path. It's rather... KNN.

Anyway, first weekend here and I'm still working from the office. Dammit! Not that I wanna go shop or walk around the city... I just wanna hibernate in my room, watch FRIENDS, read my book and do lots of sleeping. Well the plan for next weekend is more exciting - I'm going to HongKong! Actually, it's to get out of China, get a stamp on my passport, come back into China so as to 'renew' my 2-week validity stay here. And HongKong's the nearest foreign country to go to. But that's not the point. I'm going to HongKong!! I will not leave without having egg tarts, egg tarts and more egg tarts!