i promise to blog soon. So sorry. I had alot going on in my life right now. and the pictures keep on accumulating.

tmr is the weekend i am pretty glad. In shanghai, i can really say THANK GOD ITS friday cause i don’t have to worry abt tuition.

Tmr i will be going out with cousin’s cousin in a huge group and we will cover alot of places xin tian di, bund, nanjing xi road, and the cheng hong temple. I have been to some of these places but they are so beautiful, they are worth going again!

and on sunday, its the singapore food festival which is held near where i stay. So i will bring them around abit and then i think its time to spend some moolah on clothes, bags and shoes at qi pu road.

since i am staying alone, i have been eating alot of unhealthy food (junk, convenience food which just requires heating up), yesterday after much nagging from friends in Singapore, i headed to carrefour and bought some food to cook and barley too. i will boil some barley on saturday night since the weather here is unbearable. i think it is almost 35 degrees yesterday or maybe even hotter. Its not just hot, the breeze is hot.

I have been eating alot of good food last week as my uncle was in Shanghai and we went around eating expensive food. And i don’t have to pay

I went to Suzhou on saturday and it was a famous state in China. As they say, 上有天堂， 下有素杭。(which means there is heaven upstairs and suzhou and hangzhou downstairs). I went with my cousin’s cousin (complicated relationship) and his friends.

The train ride was ok, we got it at 11 yuan since there isn’t any space for sitting seats and we bought the standing tickets instead. It was just over 1hr long and we reached suzhou soon even.

The moment we got out of the train station, it was obvious we are tourists. Reason being the people who visit Suzhou comprises mainly of Chinese from other states and some tourists. We were touted everywhere we go the moment we got off. It was quite unexpected and extremely unpleasant. Some of them pointed to a bus queue and told us that it was the taxi queue and asked us to take their vans instead. Cheaters. And there were people selling us maps also and it was quite irritating to walk 20 metres with all these people touting us all the time. Needless to say, I didn’t really enjoy my trip to suzhou with these touters around.

The only time I enjoyed was when I stepped in a garden. Suzhou is famous for their gardens. However they said that when you stepped into one garden, you stepped into all garden. And when I was in Suzhou, I went to all the gardens cause I visited one. Hhahaha. I only went to the Calm Garden, 定園。

We have to pay an entrance fee of 38 Yuan and we were given a tour guide, a tea tasting session and a boat ride. It was quite worth it. And there was a temple I went to. There we were told to pick a divine lot. Needless to say, mine is a bad lot because I had left over bad luck brought from Singapore. I went to a Master and he was surprised when he heard that I came to Shanghai alone to work. He mentioned that I close myself too much and should open up to the world. He also said that I have a very strong character and I should try to show the endearing qualities of a woman. Then he emphasized that I have intelligence and with the endearing qualities of a woman, I will be very successful. Ok, I will try to act more like a woman instead of a man. And I have to buy 24 flowers which costs 240 yuan which is like 50 over sing . My tour guide saw and later he told the other friends that he saw me with a huge bunch of flowers when usually people only buy 2-3. Must be my luck is very bad. Later the Master asked me about my romantic status and he said that I may meet a guy with a family and he advised me to stay away. Wow, this is the first time I have learnt of this.

And on the return trip back, I witnessed something which is really crazy. As it was 730pm already, there will be an accumulation of rubbish on the train floors since it has been running since morning. Imagine my horror when one train inspector started to sweep the rubbish from the back to the front of the cabin. And there was an immensely huge pile. And everybody had to lift up their legs while he sweeps a dustbin full of garbage to the front. It was crazy according to one Caucasian who was shocked at this whole ordeal. Some dirty water was left after he swept majority of the garbage to the front of the cabin where he disposed of it. Me? I was hoping I suffered from temporary memory loss.

Ok enough bitching. I shall hit you with the photos taken.

the train station in shanghai

inside the train

the map of the garden we went to

we took this boat. but only for a short distance

she is the one who rowed our boat. Old but strong!

we were treated to tea and some singing at the end of the trip

and we went to see some silk worms

crap, the amount of shoving and pushing is unbelievable. It was so dangerous to get up the train.

The next day, i went to my cousin’s cousin’s house for lunch. ANd for dinner, we went to nanjing road to walk around.

our dinner for the day! We are on budget and ate up to 2 bucks each. maybe if i come with other friends, i will eat up to 5 bucks worth.

wow this is delicious and cheap. Its basically shaved ice with lotsa fruits and some condensed milk. 2 people can share one and its only 1 sing. As for me, i just ate one myself

On monday, I met up with my uncle since he is on business trip here and we went to the Bund.

Beautiful historical building

the breeze was lovely and the night scenery out of this world

being the typical city kid, I have never seen chickens being sold. So i was pretty amused by the whole selling of chickens. This occured in a dark alley which had the smell of slumps. Shanghai pretty personified the world, with the slumps and the condos side by side (3rd world vs 1st world).

some random view of the surroundings while on my way to the police post. No, i didn’t do anything wrong. just that all foreigners staying in shanghai must register within 24 hrs.

A condom vending machine lol. Outside an apartment. One bid for the 1 child policy? i heard that if you are from a single child family and you married another single child, you can have 2 kids. This is cause the urban rich city people are only having 1 kid and the rural people are having more, so they are trying to reverse the trend. Anyhow this vending machine comes in extremely useful i will say. I was quite surprised by the public displays of affection between young chinese couples everywhere i went. Conservative? Not.

靜安詩 hope i typed correctly. its a temple and there are alot of atas restaurants here.

this is jap curry at coco restaurant。its pretty affordable. We spent abt 7 bucks each on a main dish and shared a starter.

look at the no. of new cards i have acquired. Nets card, foodcourt card, transport card and lastly condo card.

I went for some bbq buffet. The people walked around with meat and cut it out for u. kinda like brazillian style. Too bad dinner was rushed if not i will have stayed to eat the desserts.

traffic wardens. Super needed. Its so scary to cross the roads here. the cars right turned anytime anywhere and they are always right. According to my friends, if a car or bicycle knocked you down, its your fault. if a car and a bicycle knocked into each other, its 50-50.

omg, this is so yummy. we shld have this in singapore. this is the name of the shop at wu jiang road.

people hard at work to make the delicacy.

this is da bomb. its pork inside and there’s gravy inside. Kinda like xiao long bao but its bigger and pan-fried.

did u see a pigeon? I really do as the locals do, and eat almost what they eat.

this is freaking yummy too. both this and the above plate cost abt 3 sing.

this is xiao long xia aka small lobsters. Now is the season for small lobsters and my friend brought me to try this. The season is going to end though. And during this season, all the zi char stores will switch to selling this and they change their shop-signage too. About 5 sing for 1 jin.

this gratin cost 2 sing :P:P:P. i am going to eat at this italian store almost every week.

i decided to eat again the next day for lunch. this time i ordered the set, consisting of soup and salad.

and this is the sphagetti together with the set. the whole deal? Around 3 sing.

i have no internet at the place i am staying so i have to blog at work. Sigh. But everything is good. The weather is around 24-28 degrees now and its very comfortable. And in Shanghai, at 630 am its already very bright (feels like 730 am in Singapore).

Just 3 pictures ( i promise more!)

I am transiting at hk now and tapping on the free wireless. Taking a flight alone isn’t that scary. I was hoping to be sitting beside a cute guy but somehow only half of my wishes came true since that person was a guy.

And just as I thought, I cried when I entered the departure halls. I cried when I reached the departure gates and called my grandma. I cried on board the plane after watching one movie. These tears represent fear of the unknown (econs hur?), fear of loneliness and missing my friends and family. I also buay paiseh and just cry as and when I want.

Ok toodles. I will be updating more later.

” I might not have reached China yet. But this post was written way in advanced. I decided to plant it here for publication so that no one in Singapore can question me about it. Hahahhahaa. ”

okok, I finally get it. I think I know what kind of guys I like.

I realised I am not superficial at all. Looks, height and size doesn’t really matter. Case in point, I know this guy recently and he seemed to be my type. Problem is that he is attached and is looking at marriage in a few years time. Which comes to the question of why are the good guys attached or married, which I hopefully will address next time.

Ok, back to that guy. He is short. In fact shorter than me. I think he is about 1.6 m while I tower over him at 1.65m in slippers and 1.7m in heels. But what was attractive about him was that he knew what he wanted in life. He wanted to get a good job to settle down in a few year’s time. Wow. He’s smart but not showy. I hate hate hate hate hate hate guys who has no substance but tries hard to show some substance. (I met one such asshole this year as well.) This guy is smart but he doesn’t speak to impress. Rather, he speaks when he has a good point to make or contribute. He isn’t snotty and accepts other people’s point of view even when he knows he is way more intelligent than them.

And once, I was late for project meeting and it was raining heavily which renders me helpless since I was handicapped without umbrella. I called for help and he did not even flinch when I told him to bring an umbrella for me when he was in school. He took quite a long while and I understood why. He had to get an extra umbrella for me in his car and he realised one of them is sorta spoilt and offered me the good umbrella instead. I thought chivalry was dead.

And he is quite lame and funny even though he seemed so serious all the time.

Ok so from this example I have concluded the type of guys i like
1) successful
2) smart
3) speaks good english
4) gentlemanly
5) family oriented
6) humble
7) funny

Ok now to look for a guy with the exact qualities

I should be sleeping but i am not. Bad Bad girl. My flu is still pretty bad. Sigh.

And i can’t find my locks. sigh. Need to borrow from Miss Eloquent.

In 4 hrs, I will wake up

In 5 hrs, I will be stepping out of my house for the last time in a long time

In 6 hrs, i will be bidding friends goodbye

in 7 hrs, I will be stepping in alone and dabbing my tears.

in 8 hrs, i will be onboard to Shanghai

In 16 hrs, I will be officially in Shanghai.

And I don’t know the rest of my timeline anymore.

Goodbye Singapore. I will miss and love you.

This semester, I went and bidded for alot of my classes alone even though some of my friends whom I usually take classes with are there. In the end, I was unhappy for the first 1 month or so as I have to adapt to thoroughly new project mates and make new friends. Weirdly now that the term has end, I have to admit that it has been an enjoyable semester despite the shit load of work. I became more independent and adaptable to new people. I made many good friends (not counting those hi-bye type) through my project mate and I can say I am really quite happy.

Out of my 4 project groups, I made 8 new good friends whom we want to keep in touch and want to take classes with again. And what touched me was that some of them wanted to send me off tmr despite knowing me for about 4 months. I am so touched.

And on the other hand, I have some other friends who can’t really be bothered. Asswipes. And Poor Miss elegant has to wake up really early cause my flight is so early

This really puts everything in perspective.

And oh no, homesickness without even arriving over at shanghai.

today’s my last paper and i don’t quite feel anything. On one hand, i was glad its finally over,on the other hand the thought of packing for my trip sort of turns me off. Aye, anyway i went grocery shopping and bought all sorts of medication, plasters, biscuits, instant noodles and MILO. I will get coffee tmr since I heard that the coffee there sucks and maybe I might miss the taste of coffee.

i think I packed 3/4 of my clothes and there are 22 tops, 2 jackets, 7 skirts and 2 dresses in a half filled suitcase. And i got a handcarry to fill up too.

Oh boy. And tmr morning will be a rush around town to get the necessities.

And i started to have flu (i thought i have flu vaccination) again. Good timing.

Hail the world’s fastest packer.

I was telling someone about 50ish that I am flying off this sunday. And guess the reply.

“Hi, Mrs Lim. Great. I will want to meet up with you before you leave for Shanghai. I will miss you… :-(”

Sensing something weird, I replied to re-iterate the fact about meeting up tomorrow (which didn’t happen today) and complained about my sucky papers.

And the reply?

“Good. Still I say I will miss you… ”

Maybe older people are more affectionate. Like the encounters my sister have with another 50ish guy.

“Hi, tall people have it good.” (the tall genes are not in me. Cheebye)

“Hi, you are very tall ah?” My sister muttered something about being too tall is not good. Then the guy replied “Yah, but when people are tall and goodlooking, hey that’s you!”

And one day he came up to her and say she is very pretty (the pretty genes are not in me too. Cheebye)

Yah, older people are really more affectionate and younger people like us shldn’t think too much.