ushering 1 new year retrospect
it has been a blessed 2009.
been to many places, met many people, seen many things and learned many new stuff...
i suppose this is what people called 'experience'
these experience has indeed humbled me much.
i count myself lucky to have the priviledge to visit many people from all walks of life, in all over the place.
its year end, and i have rewarded myself, with a long year-end trip with dk2046 to the place that he always want to visit again.
its not really hard to guess where, since he is so chingchong, and i'm so chingching chongchong.
its already our 8th day in china, and we are now in beijing - the coldest temperature i am at so far minus 8 deg
we have finished shanghai, nanjing and now in the over-hyped (by ourselves) capital.
shanghai is really a fast growing city, very modern, perhaps even compared with our little island.
but still, people still spit (a lot) and toilets are just as dirty as compared to 5 years ago when dk2046 and i visited.
my first time tasting 盐叔snake meat, snake blood with chinese rice wine, snake skin with soy sauce, raw clams (hum in hokkien), 红烧rabbit meat
- i must say, they are actually very nice. especially the snake skin sashimi, it very chewy with the seasoning of s'pore's 生鱼
never tried: donkey meat, kangeroo meat, cow/tiger penis, dog meat, cat meat, even though they are on the menu.
nearly tried: 蛇胆 - there was only one 胆
小杨生煎 and 新疆羊肉串 are must tries.
nanjing, our first time visiting. its indeed a much poorer place than shanghai.
i suppose as a s'porean, i find it really boring, its nothing but rows and rows of shops selling either cloth, local food or neccessities.
good thing we stayed in mandarin garden hotel (cheap and good), its near the confusicus temple, which very much its where the vibe of the city is.
its very nice, very chingchong, very 诗情画意.
its basically just wondering around, until we took the boat to tour 秦淮河.
i then remember all the historical events that took place here along this river, as the tourguide start to share on the
literal pieces and their author's life that took place here.
suddenly, i felt like i went back to their time, and am leading similar life, and admiring the same scenic river view.
i bought 6 books here at only 20rmb. they are typical pieces like 36计， 百家姓， 宋词 etc.
but they are bind like ancient days kungful manuals.... so cool.
beijing, needless to say, there are too many places that we can visit. but mostly, we have been there done there, and bought the t-shirt in our last visit.
but dk2046 wants to visit the summer place again, after it is refurbished.
for me, i only want to visit beijing underground city - a place even the local don't know about.
but i have did enough research, and will surely find it this time.
a bit more about beijing underground city.
it was a hand-dugged underground city built in 1969, ordered by mzd, then there was a cold war with soviet, and this was built in case the worst happened. the whole city can evacuate underground in just 1 min, even it fascinating?
there are hospitals, cinemas, ice-skating, factorys etc there. used to have 100+ entrance hidden all over the city, now there are only a few known entrance. and it became a place where lovers do their nearly-get-caught-deed.
i'm now in the kapok hotel. its cheap when i book via agoda @ $70. we stayed in the courtyard style room, with a balcony-garden, with bamboogarden. its so cold outside, the balcony is our natural fridge. after so many days of northen food, we missed s;porean food so much. so we went to prima-taste to hav laksa and chicken rice. NICE。
whats most memorial this year?
begium
maybe being robbed in brussels in day 2.
so my trip was spoilt.
worst, citibank stupidly cancelled my backup card, when i told them 'do not cancel' my backup card.
100 euros in europe for 10 days is almost impossible.
amsterdam or i am sterdam
its like a superduper club, but outdor.
its a place full of sex, drugs, sex and drugs....
fun, very, fun. but surprisingly very safe.
at least i was not robbed
philippines & india
its really really very very poor.
i want to help, but i know i better not.
but they are still very happy. very contented.
s'poreans are already very blessed, yet we are still complaining.
thailand
same. mixed feelings whenever i stepped into this kingdom.
its a land of smiles, but i suppose, there will always be a pinch of saddness when my passport is stamped in their immigration.
i lost my brother in this place 4 years ago.
its an irony that so many s'porean love this country, but not me.
and in thailand, i am always reminded the rich are very rich, the poor sleep under the bridge
japan
amazing and weird race of people in this place.
polite, efficient, clean, high tech plus every possible positive comments. but expensive.
no wonder my dad says give us another 20 years and singapore will still not able to catch up with today's japan.
since my trip, i find all sushi, sashimi, beef in singapore, or any other country so awful.
my first time tasting raw beef also- very nice. but my colleague there took me to the best ramen shop there.
but i find it like local fishball noodle quality maybe because all customers can only sit by yourself, and not with your friends, in a small compartment.
and really at there, i see for myself how big my company is.
korea
they are like us. just not so nice food, and very angry and rowdy people.
fierce and loud but at least they are more unique than us.
malaysia and indonesia
please don't send me there again.
traffice jams... and my counterparts there are so arrogant
taiwan
been there too many times to count this year.
stayed there for 2 weeks even during 1 of my trips.
i hope to go there less this new year.
pakistan
very very very memoriable.
no one in my family knew i went there.
in fact no one knew.
they think i was going to, well, somewhere else...
its very very very interesting, but 1 visit is enough, at least for the next 10 years.
good thing our company employed some body guards for us.
but one of them actually accidentally triggered-happy.
and he laughed it off!! in army, he can be charged for that.
i should have brought my army helmet along.
friends
its good i built my good friendship with a few good colleages.
they are from japan-brazil and china.
its fun to share customs, but whats there to sare when you are s''porean?
for 2010,
i just want to remember all i have learnt, and built on it further.
dk2046,
we will enter into our 6th year.
its been a long journey. he has aged, and i'm no longer the little boy. i hope our r/s has matured too.
dk2046 went missing for 48hours last week, his family can't find him also.
all negative thoughts came to my mind, and i cried and cried and cried, totally had no mood to work, but i have to.
when he finally called and explained, i can only keep crying, and scolding him.
i realised i have not did so many things we wanted to do together.
i know what they meant that you will only realise how important someone is, when you lost him.
lbxx is indeed a friend in need.
this new year work is really too much, i want to channel more time and love for him.
whether we will end up good, at least i did my part to make our r/s beautiful.