It was fun catching up with peoples' blogs. Seems like everyone's enjoying their holidays!
So what have I been up to? Came back home, attended a wedding ceremony and then whizzed off to China for an 8 day tour. Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi, Shanghai. The tour can actually be broken down into several distinct categories.
= "Yan jiu suo"s or "Ke xue guan"s. (In reality - Tea farm, Bee factory, Embroidery factory, Silk factory, Paintings in a glass ball factory, Jade factory, Clay teapot factory, Pearl factory, Stone lion carving factory, Herbal cream factory)
= Graves and memorials
= Shopping streets
My favorite? Sun Zhong Shan's memorial. Though it was mightily cold that morning when we visited the memorial, I had a fun time running up the 500 steps to the top of the memorial. Actually I didn't want to run up just to keep fit or whatever, but then it was so cold I just had to move a little faster. From atop the memorial, the view was extremely humbling. Next time post picture.
I realize I don't like shopping at all. We went to sooo many supposedly "good shopping streets" but each time we arrived, I felt a sense of "Sian man..." In the end everyone spends money on things they obviously don't need. Some just buy cos "It's cheaper than in Singapore". My only purchase was a 1000 renminbi teapot set for my dad. (about S$200). It's really quite cute, and it's called "Yi Pian Qing Xin", the tour guide calls it "Zhi Zhu Chang le".
I don't like cold weather either. Absolutely 100% detest cold weather. When we were in Wuxi I felt so cold I could feel the chill in my bones. When I tried to think of a suitable phrase to describe how i felt, I came up with "my bones are shivering".
Other notes --
1. Chinese like to eat "San cheng rou", the 3 or 4 layered pork meat made of like 95% fat and 5% lean meat. There's a big slab in every meal we had on the tour.
2. All the goods that they tried to sell to us at the various "factories" all have amazing health benefits. All creams, jewellery, teapots, herbs, tea -- everything -- can cure high blood pressure, reduce weight, remove piles, improve skin. Yadayadayada.
3. I think the reason for China's economic growth is their ability to skimp and save on electricity. They switch on the heaters in their restaurants ONLY when guests enter. Which means that the restaurant only becomes warm when the guests LEAVE.
4. I like to bargain, but don't like to buy. I love the satisfaction of convincing the salesgirl to sell a 300 RMB thing to me at 70 RMB. But then I don't want to buy it eventually. Hahaha... cheap thrill right.
5. I like haw flakes.
6. Chinese like to eat dog meat satay.
7. We left with 6 bags and came back with 11 bags. Actually till now I'm still not sure what those bags contain. My parents bought lots of paintings, and my dad bought a gazellion paintbrushes and chinese painting accessories. Plus now we have 3 more teapot sets (courtesy of me buying the expensive set that came with a free cheaper set). We also have many containers of LongJing Green tea, which is OF COURSE the cure for high blood pressure and high cholesterol and piles and every other ailment you can think of. But the tea is nice lah, so its ok.
Ok will continue later.
So what have I been up to? Came back home, attended a wedding ceremony and then whizzed off to China for an 8 day tour. Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, Wuxi, Shanghai. The tour can actually be broken down into several distinct categories.
= "Yan jiu suo"s or "Ke xue guan"s. (In reality - Tea farm, Bee factory, Embroidery factory, Silk factory, Paintings in a glass ball factory, Jade factory, Clay teapot factory, Pearl factory, Stone lion carving factory, Herbal cream factory)
= Graves and memorials
= Shopping streets
My favorite? Sun Zhong Shan's memorial. Though it was mightily cold that morning when we visited the memorial, I had a fun time running up the 500 steps to the top of the memorial. Actually I didn't want to run up just to keep fit or whatever, but then it was so cold I just had to move a little faster. From atop the memorial, the view was extremely humbling. Next time post picture.
I realize I don't like shopping at all. We went to sooo many supposedly "good shopping streets" but each time we arrived, I felt a sense of "Sian man..." In the end everyone spends money on things they obviously don't need. Some just buy cos "It's cheaper than in Singapore". My only purchase was a 1000 renminbi teapot set for my dad. (about S$200). It's really quite cute, and it's called "Yi Pian Qing Xin", the tour guide calls it "Zhi Zhu Chang le".
I don't like cold weather either. Absolutely 100% detest cold weather. When we were in Wuxi I felt so cold I could feel the chill in my bones. When I tried to think of a suitable phrase to describe how i felt, I came up with "my bones are shivering".
Other notes --
1. Chinese like to eat "San cheng rou", the 3 or 4 layered pork meat made of like 95% fat and 5% lean meat. There's a big slab in every meal we had on the tour.
2. All the goods that they tried to sell to us at the various "factories" all have amazing health benefits. All creams, jewellery, teapots, herbs, tea -- everything -- can cure high blood pressure, reduce weight, remove piles, improve skin. Yadayadayada.
3. I think the reason for China's economic growth is their ability to skimp and save on electricity. They switch on the heaters in their restaurants ONLY when guests enter. Which means that the restaurant only becomes warm when the guests LEAVE.
4. I like to bargain, but don't like to buy. I love the satisfaction of convincing the salesgirl to sell a 300 RMB thing to me at 70 RMB. But then I don't want to buy it eventually. Hahaha... cheap thrill right.
5. I like haw flakes.
6. Chinese like to eat dog meat satay.
7. We left with 6 bags and came back with 11 bags. Actually till now I'm still not sure what those bags contain. My parents bought lots of paintings, and my dad bought a gazellion paintbrushes and chinese painting accessories. Plus now we have 3 more teapot sets (courtesy of me buying the expensive set that came with a free cheaper set). We also have many containers of LongJing Green tea, which is OF COURSE the cure for high blood pressure and high cholesterol and piles and every other ailment you can think of. But the tea is nice lah, so its ok.
Ok will continue later.
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