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7 days in Beijing! 北京欢迎你！

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:11:00 +0000

北京欢迎你，为你开天辟地，流动中的魅力充满了朝气！
The plane was playing this song over the PA when I touched down in Beijing!

Well, Beijing is a city I had always wanted to visit. The last time i went was in 1995 and 15 years later, it's a totally different place!

The Old Beijing!

Outside Tiananmen 天安门！

@ The Forbidden City.

Inside Forbidden City 紫禁城!

Along the walkways. Reminds you of 金枝欲孽 yeh....

@ Temple of Heaven 天坛

Great Wall of China 万里长城！Now I am a 好汉！

豫和园 Summer Palace!

前门！

The NEW Beijing!

世贸天阶！with a gigantic screen above!

国家大剧院，the big dome/egg in the middle of the water.

Bird nest 鸟巢！

Ｗ

Water Cube　水立方！

Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3. Resembles HKIA actually...

Shall blog more about this city (and other cities) when i have more time!

11月29日反高鐵停撥款大遊行

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:08:00 +0000

Any form of protest or demonstration in Singapore is definitely a no-no but the case is totally different in Hong Kong. On weekends, you often see groups walking on the streets, holding banners, showing their discontent with certain government's decision. To most Hong Kong-er, they are so used to it and one local told me that the largest demonstration will be held on July 1st every year.

11月29日反高鐵停撥款大遊行 is held to protest against the government's decision to build a high speed rail network from kowloon west to guangzhou. This project has gained lots of controversy since it was launched. People opposed to this for many reasons. Firstly, the project cost $65 billion dollars Hong Kong Dollars which is considered an astronomical sum. Furthermore, these $65B comes from the tax payers money. Many people do not see the need for this rail link as there are already many connections to mainland China. Secondly group of protestors are mainly the residents who will be forced to relocate due to the construction. Villagers of Choi Yuen Village, who have been living there for many years and had a sense of attachment to the place, had been told to move away. They were blaming the government for the insufficient consultation with them over moving and compensation issues. Another group are the enviromentalist who fear for the environmental damage the railroad will bring to the natural habitat in New Territorities.

CU student union is one of the organisers involved and thus all of us got an email notifying us about this event. Since I had never took part in something like this, and I may probably not get a chance to do so, I went down on sunday to take a look. I joined the demonstration and got the chance to talk to a few locals. Of course, they were very curious about Singapore's system and I similarily wanted to find out more about their view on this matter. Though most of them did feel that such protest is not going to help, they just want the government to know their thoughts. We walked down the street, held banners, holding leaves (which signify the green nature farmland which will be destroyed).

I did not stay through the whole thing as I was super hungry, so a few of us went off halfway. I read on the news the next day that a group had actually gathered in front of the legislative building and there was some form of clashes between them and the government. It seems like a few of them, perhaps the residents, really did not want their home to be destroyed and they held on till the end.

Well, many people asked why I joined since it is none of my business. Well, I went down mainly to take a look out of curiosity. I also knew a bit about the whole controversy behind this rail link and through different views, I got to see the whole picture. I feel in the short term this project may not work but in the long term, it may be beneficial as the whole of China is developing a high speed rail network. As for the villagers, development is inevitable and someday, one has to relocate. I am not in any position to say whether this project is right or wrong but I am offering this little insight. I am trying not to turn this blog post into an academic one, which i would rather save the effort for my essay.

Well, it was just a little eye-opener for me this time round.

It's cold!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:27:00 +0000

Everyone was telling me Hong Kong will only get cold in December or January and you could practically still be wearing shorts/berms in november. This year, it doesn't seem to be the case. The cold weather from the north moved southwards and places like Hong Kong got really cold. It went down to 8 degree celcius on certain nights last week. While i was in Guilin, the temperature plunged to 4 degree celcius and it was practically freezing cold, especially when the wind blows. Just when I was hoping to come back to sunny HK, I reached shenzhen wearing 3 layers of clothes.

Well, since I thought the weather will not be this cold, I was rather unprepared in terms of clothings. In Guilin, I had to go get myself a scarf and long john as it was really freezing. Luckily I could find these clothings at a really cheap price. Back in HK, I had a few pieces of long sleeves shirt and sweater that I could put on but I couldn't possibly wear the same thing over and over again. On another note, the local students really dress up well for winter. With nice coat, scarfs and leather boots, it really looks like a fashion parade in class (even the guys too!). With all of them dressing up well, I feel pressurised to look well (at least not wear the same thing everyday).

So off I went shopping for more clothes, which would mean more excess luggage charges. UNIQLO is a good choice as the winter collection they had was good and decently priced. However, it seems like the whole of HK is buying clothes as well, so it was utter chaos in the store. Items on the special price rack was strewn all around and it was so hard to look for the piece that you want. Long queues at the cashier as well. Luckily, there wasn't a need to go to the fitting room as we could just put on and try on the spot. Checked out other stores and it was the same situation. Crowded and messy stores. I guess the Hong Kong-ers were also caught by surpirse and needed to get winter clothes earlier than what they had expected.

Buying winter clothings was a hard choice for me. I had to make sure that what I bought can be worn back in Singapore. No point buying a thick and nice looking sweater when it is going to end up somewhere deep in my closet back in SG. Well, one way to stay warm is to wear many layers and take off some layers when necessary.

The classrooms at CU is kind of crazy. Some LTs still had the aircon on during the cold weather and all of us were wearing thick coat in class! They should have turned off the a/c to save energy! Well, at least some building do. Our dorms do not have any heater so sometimes, I had to sleep in long pants/sleeve/ socks under a thick comforter! I had used the inner layer of my comforter as my bed padding before and now, it is being used for warmth. I heard this marvellous way of keeping warm and comfy at night. Before you go to sleep, throw your bedsheet and blanket into the dryer for 5 mintues. Then grab it, run back to your room, put it back onto your bed and jump in to bed! Well, it costs some $$ but I think it is a sure way to keep warm.

The cool weather is kind of pleasant at times. I can walk for a long long time (down nathan road from TST to mongkok) without feeling tired or sweating. The cold breeze could make feel so refreshed. I guess with sufficient clothing, it will be ok.

Well, Beijing is gonna be freezing when I get there so it means more clothes to pack inside my backpack. Think xiamen is going to be cold as well... Well, when i get back to singapore, I am sure to complain about the heat all again!

香港天氣

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:55:00 +0000

It's such a pleasant feeling waking up to a 17 degree celcius weather in Hong Kong. I was wondering when winter will come and finally, we see this day of cooling weather. Finally I can put my long sleeve shirt into action. Strolling along the road to class, seeing all those around me wrapped up in long pants and long sleeve (except a few who still wore shorts/miniskirt), enjoying the cold breeze in my face. It would be perfect if everyday were to be like this.

The bad news, cold weather is only expected to last for 2 days in HK. After the 2 days, it will be back to the hot sun and T-shirt and berms will come out once again. Have to wait till december.

And Beijing had her first snow fall of this winter, a bit too early though. After seeing the news, I then realise that the central govt did cloud seeding which caused the snow. I guess Beijing will be freezing when I visit in december. Need to buy winter clothes!

Another crazy weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:47:00 +0000

All the last minute work for the past 3 days is killing me. Well, that's the price to pay for having fun during the weekend. Which means working my ass off on monday to finish an essay as well as to study for mid-term. Throw in another 2 assignments to rush through on tuesday night. Well, now i am only left with another mid-term and then I can go back to enjoying myself till the last week of nov or the beginning of december, where all the deadlines are.

It's gonna be a crazy exam schedule this time round. We have only 3 days of study break!!!!

8th dec - GRM3310 paper due

9th dec - Cantonese oral exam (give a speech)

10th dec - GRM3305 paper due

11th dec - UGC296U and GRM3310 Exam (Back to back!!!)

14th dec - UGC219E Exam

15th dec - GRM3305 Exam

18th dec - GRM2324 Exam

Looking at such a crazy schedule makes me hate december. But well, after the 18th, i am free to go travelling! Planning Xiamen, Beijing, Tianjin and Guilin in december. Tentatively, flying back to SG on 8th jan and sch starts on 11th! It's gonna be tiring.

First, it was Ocean Park on Friday (23/10). 6 of us went in the day, taking almost every possible ride. The last time i went to Ocean Park, it was raining cats and dogs and most of the rides were closed. This time round, it was sunny and we are able to scream our hearts out on the roller coster and the Abyss Drop. The Abyss Drop is the one that makes my heart skip a beat and it is really committing suicide. It is not called 跳楼机 for no reason.

all happy before all the games!

View from the cable car.

The plunge that got us wet.

This turn spins us round and round... looks innocent but it's not.

Roller Coster with a view!

The other roller coster. with overturns you 3 times!

The abyss drop. From top to bottom in less than 1 sec!

another turn round and round game.

Flying swing.. reminds me of genting....

Ocean Park Aquarium. Underwaterworld is better.

one of the halloween decorations!

The animal show! What a great backdrop!

All the CUHK peeps with 辫子姑娘，the single braid lady poster.... It's a CU ghost story and I have to walk past it to the canteen everyday..

Panda! They are my next favourite animal! So cute!

The most exciting part of Ocean Park is at night. When night falls, Halloween Bash starts and the whole theme park is turned into a giant haunted house. With lots of 'ghosts' wandering around the park and up to 8 haunted house to visit, it was definitely not for those with a weak heart. It is like Fright Night on a scale of the whole campus.

The haunted houses had themes such as a school, a hospital, police station and there were 'ghosts' inside to scare you. They will be hiding behind doors, under tables, lying down on the bed and they will jump up to scare you when you walk pass them. I do realise something, the more afraid you are of them, the more they like to disturb you. I did get a shock a few times, especially when i am leading a line of girls behind my back, clinging onto my bag. One of the haunted house even had each of us stand alone in an individual booth, while they show you some scary clips and a random ghost will pop his head into the booth. It's kind of funny seeing girls, and even some guys, who were so afraid that they kept the head down throughout the whole journey in the haunted house. And it's fun to hear them scream!!

The shock and scaring does not end once you step out of the haunted house. There were roaming 'ghosts' who will occasionally creep up to you on the streets, scaring the wits out of you. We were able to take pictures with some of the friendly ghosts though. I can see that a lot of effort was put into this halloween theme, with decorations and the ghosts' makeup. I even lay inside a coffin! It feels good to be dead. After all night of getting scared and screaming, I was wondering, is Halloween about scaring others? Well, whatever, at least all of us had lots of fun! The only downside, we had to queue for at least 1/2 hr at each haunted house just to get scared for 5 minutes.

Kudos to the ghosts! I think they did a great job and it was really tiring i think. To scare people for 5 hours straight? I wanna go be a ghost next yr!

This is referring to my school... yup. CUHK has lots of ghost stories.

The queue we had to endure through before getting scared.

Another haunted house site.

The police staiton. With lots of vampires inside...

Occult Lab. The place where you have to go solo!

Sleeping in a coffin! It's kind of comfortable. One should try sleeping in one cause when you really do sleep in it, you will not know how it feels like!

The Forbidden Mall. Another haunted house.

Taking picture with one of the friendly ghosts!

Another Friendly ghost!

A whole 14 hours spent at ocean park. amazing.......

After a day of recuperation, it's time to head out again. This time, to Lantau. One would not have been to Hong Kong if he or she have not gone to the Big Buddha. When I first touched down in HK, the Ngong Ping Cable Car was under maintainence till end of september and we were like, oh well, we can always visit it later on. (coincidentally, when i came to HK in 2007, the cable car had an accident and it was shut down till further notice) This time round, I finally got to sit on the cable car.

View from the cable car is great. You can see the whole of Tung Chung, the whole Hong Kong Airport Island and lots of mountains in Lantau. It really makes you wonder how the cable car system is built. After the ride, it was to the Big Buddha where you squeeze yourself in between all the tourists for a picture with the Buddha.

View just after leaving Tung Chung!

Hong Kong International Airport! Looks like i am on a plane!

Big Buddha statue in the distance!

upclose to buddha!

Group photo!

a really good vegetarian meal! I have not had so much vegetables placed in front of me for quite some time.

After Ngong Ping, we headed off to the other side of Lantau, to Tai O Fishing Village. What once used to be a quiet fishing village with a rather large salt industry has now became a tourist site filled with people on a weekend. I can see that there are still a lot of residents there and many of them are actually locals who visit their parents who stayed there. In a way, I guess the residents have gotten used to the large crowds on weekends. It means more money for those doing a business. We did manage to walk till Shek Tsai Po, a relatively quieter area, where we are able to sit down and enjoy the view.

Tai O packed with tourists!

Kind of like the peaceful surrounding and the 'old school' feel. Different from the Hong Kong we see.

Sunset!

What a weekend! Where to go next?

Super White.....

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:49:00 +0000

This song i bet will never hit the Singapore Radio airwaves.....

but I was wondering if it will be available in Kbox? Imagine singing (or swearing) in Kbox?

Kind of absurd that there is actually such a song.

This seems somewhat similar to the"Delay No More" you see in HK. At least "Delay No More" still sounds a bit off from "diu lei lou mou" but "超级白" sounds exactly like CCB.

Well, a short entry as i am totally bored from reading my tutorial notes.

SHE 巡回演唱会2009 香港站

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:25:00 +0000

红墈就是演唱会的圣地！

这一次能够有机会都红墈看一场演唱会，也了了我的一大心愿。在来香港之前，我对自己说，有机会一定要在香港看一场演唱会，买了最贵的票，我也觉得是值得的。朋友们临时放了飞机，我只好自己一个人去看了。自己一个人就不能high到疯嘛，但也能像其他的歌迷一样尖叫，一样摇着荧光棒，跟着SHE一起唱。

这一次的演唱会，在视觉上，真的做得不错，服装上也是千变万化。台没我想象中那么大，不过我觉得已经足够。在歌曲上，SHE也真的唱了很多很多，也跳了很多舞，我自己都不知道到底有几首。

我很喜欢的部分：

1）爱的KTV！体育场成为了一间超级大的KTV厢房，Selina，Hebe 和Ella 各带来一首KTV歌曲。 Ella 唱了周杰伦的简单爱，Selina 唱了崇拜，Hebe 唱了王菲的给自己的情书，而且是粤语版。之后她们再唱了两首high歌：终结孤单和三天三夜，真的全场high翻天！她们还为这项目特别拍了MV！能听她们唱其他歌手的歌，真的是新鲜！

2）百老汇版的触电！以及SHE的solo！

3）许多搞笑的时刻，像SHE以性感以及骚的方式演唱锁住时间，还有她们好多关于走光的笑话。还有Ella叫观众站我们就站，叫我们坐下我们也真的坐下，真是好听话的歌迷。

一时间也不能想起还有什么项目，就让照片来描述我的经历吧

相机的功能不是很好，所以照片都有很不清楚。

这一次真的是爽翻天了。我还心痒痒的，想去看郑秀文的演唱会，不过真的没有钱了呀！！！

Concerts!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Concerts concerts and more concerts! The good thing about being in HK is that you do get a lot of pop acts coming into town, as well as local canto pop, which in itself is a thriving industry.

First up! (16 oct)

「S.H.E is the One@愛而為一」 World Tour Concert

I splurged on an expensive ticket at the famous Hung Hom (红勘) colliseum. Well, I told myself I must at least step into Hung Hom once in stay here and it so happens SHE one of my favourite groups. So there goest the $$. At least I am on the 2nd block from the stage. Hopefully a clear view next friday!

Next up! (31st oct)

Wild Day Out Grand Show 2009

9 hours of songs with pop acts from 苏打绿，范晓萱，蔡建雅，林宥嘉，黄贯中and many many more! Those mentioned above are already sending me into joy and it's totally worth the HKD380 ticket! What a way to spend my halloween. And we can dress up for the concert!

Hopefully I can hear another cantonese songs from SHE. And who's 特别来宾？ I am wishing/praying it's TWINS!!! haha..

Ok. I gonna have to stop at 2. If not I really have no $$ to travel at the end of the year. :(

Long Long Weekend holiday!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:35:00 +0000

Put National Day and Mid Autumn Festival together and you get a whole string of activities lined up in Hong Kong! It was truly a long weekend for most of us.

October 1st is China National Day and this year, being the 60th year of the founding of PRC, celebrations are much bigger than usual. Hong Kong, being part of China, of course had lots of celebrations lined up.

The night of october first was spent squeezing with loads of people at Tsim Sha Tsui to catch the fireworks. The fireworks lasted 23 minutes and it is definitely one of the grandest since 2007, when HK celebrated 10 yrs of return to China. We were lucky that we managed to get a spot where we weren't pressed human to human and yet able to get a decent view of the harbour. Well, some parts were blocked by the TST clock tower but it was ok. The most exciting fireworks of the day was the "中国六十" display! The whole display ended with a sky full of fireworks.

camping out at TST bus terminus waiting for fireworks to start

full of people!

The fireworks went "boomz" (Ris Low, 2009)

Next up was Mid Autumn Festival on Oct 3rd. The national day celebration continued and there was this 万人大游巡 held at TST. It was a litle disappointing as there wasn't much display to talk of. Just lots of people walking down the street like Big Walk. There were some bands playing and some uniform groups marching and that's all. The highlight of the parade were the celebrities whom zoomed past us so quickly that we were unable to get a good view, let alone get a good picture. At least I got to see 華仔，Ah Sa, Joey, Gigi and 谢安琪!

華仔 holding the flag. 让世界知道我们都是中国人！

容祖儿Ｊｏｅｙ！

谢安琪. Couldn't see her face.....

Ah Sa! She's waving at me!!!!!

Gigi Leung! Her car went past too fast!

In the evening, Mid Autumn festival celebration started and a group of us, exchange students, headed over to Victoria Park to join in the crowd. Lots of lanterns and display at the park, and not to mention the huge crowd at the grass lawn. It looks like a mass demonstration, like how Bangkok was shut down, people sitting on mats, eating, drinking, chatting.

We had mooncakes, cut using my CUHK card (cause we had no knife), and of course lanterns and candles. We made a mistake of not bring lanterns so we were kind of ripped off by the stalls selling lantern at the park. And we had fun lighting our lanterns, playing with candles. Didn't walk around as the park was too crowded so we ended up playing games while seated. I taught them the R.O.C.K Rock game! haha! The celebration didn't end after we left the park as we lighted our lanterns at CUHK and walked back from the train station to our hostel. It was definitely a cheap thrill.

Lots of decorations!

Lots of people on the grass lawn!

Group picture 1!

Group Pic 2, with our lanterns!

Outside our hostel!

Next day, on October 4, I headed out ot Tai Hang to catch the Tai Hang Fire Dragon dance, which is held every year for 3 night during the mid autumn festival. The "dragon" is made of straw and stuffed with lots of incense. It was too crowded and i was too short to get a good view of the dance. So i could only depend on my not so trusty camera to take a look at what's going on. For the first time in my life, i felt so short.....

The signboard telling you that you are in the right place.

This is my view.. lots of heads and a little bit of action....

lighting up the dragon. They stuck joss sticks onto the whole dragon!

The dragon tail.. I couldn't squeeze thru the crowd to get to the dragon head.

While they were parading on the other street, this is what i could see. It's too hard to squeeze through the narrow walkway to the other street, so i had to settle for this view.

Ok, so it's the end of the holiday. Back to school! I should skip more lessons :)!!

Studying in HK

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:34:00 +0000

It is now week 3 of school and the workload is getting heavier and heavier by the week. Deadlines for assignments looms ahead and there's gonna be some tests here and there. I guess it's time for me to settle down, not think of playing everyday and start to do my readings. Well, it's Student Exchange Program. Students means you are still studying and studying means you got to mug a bit. The ideas of S/U keeps lingering behind my head but still, I need to study.

This semester seems to be have the heaviest workload since i started university life. I am currently doing 6 modules, 4 geography, 1 elective and 1 cantonese module. I used to tell myself I will never do 6 mods in one semester and yet I am doing it on what is supposed to be the slackest semester for me (exchange don't need to study hard right?)

The cantonese module was a last minute decision. I knew a little cantonese before I came over to HK and I realise that little cantonese is not enough. On the streets, in the school canteen, on the bus, at my hostel, everyone converse in cantonese. At times, I feel so lost in a world of cantonese words. Especially if you are chinese, most Hong Kong-ers will assume you speak cantonese, so they will speak to you in canto. If I can understand, I will reply them in canto. That spells trouble as they will continue blabbering on in canto and I will just have to ask them to repeat in mandarin. During my hall orientation (Hall-O), the local students were speaking in cantonese most of the time during the activities and I really appreciate the few locals who translate what they said into english for us exchange students. Part of me wanted to join in the fun for all 4 days but part of me don't want to feel awkard and lost in front of them. Sometimes at canteen, I really can't understand what the canteen auntie is telling me. If I am lucky, that auntie can speak putonghua. If not, I gonna have to guess what she means, and that may lead to a disastrous meal that is served to you. So, I was thinking, since I am in Hong Kong, wouldn't it be a pity if I don't learn cantonese?

At least the choice was right. I enjoyed the class (even though i only attended one lesson and it is freaking early at 9.30am). The teacher (Leung sin sang) is so damm funny and he totally loves to talk cock (chui shui). The 3 hours just passes by very quickly and I would say I feel more comfortable speaking in cantonese after just one lesson. Now, I will try to speak cantonese to my roomie! Practice makes perfect so I gotta speak more.
My geography modules are interesting and insightful in their own way. Transport and Logistic is my favourite so far. There are really a lot of things that I have learnt after just 3 lectures and things are getting interesting as I start to see the link among the different theories. NUS doens't offer transport and I am really happy i got to do it here. Third World Development gave me a very good insight into globalisation and the impacts of western colonisation on many colonies! Understanding Ecotourism brought me on a field trip to Lion Nature Education Centre in Sai Kung and being on a field trip feels like FS09 all over again. The taking down of notes in our notebooks, taking photographs. The only thing that is missing is the jumpshots! Population & Migration is something new to me and I have only been through 2 lecture (one was cancelled due to the typhoon) so I can't comment much. And another elective Magic, Myth & Supernatural offers explanation to the existance of myths, urban legends, superstition, rituals etc etc... The lecture are always fun to attend!

Lion Nature Education Centre at Sai Kung. Basically a park where many different species of plants are grown for people to visit and learn. Like a big eco-garden.

The beautiful greenery in HK. Hiking's up next!
Lecturer giving an outdoor lesson and everyone busy taking notes. Looks like Field Studies right?

Our attempt at a self shot group photo! Grasses is our project topic!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:08:00 +0000

Today marks my first month anniversary of living overseas. Time seems to fly by and it has already been one month since I left sunny Singapore (in HK, it is as sunny as well...). It takes some time to get used to living by oneself overseas but I still don't miss home. It was must the company that I have over here in HK.

Living overseas means having to learn many things from scratch. I still remember on my first day in the hostel, I don't really know how to operate the washing machine. Being a noob, I also didn't know how much washing powder to put (at home, it was just one spoon of powder into the machine). Then, I also learnt that I have to put my clothes in the dryer for at least 25 minutes for the clothes to dry. I have also learnt to compare prices when buying things, need to budget a bit. On top of all these things, still got my school work to handle (well, I am not going to study real hard....)

Travelling is part and parcel of SEP and I have travelled to quite a few places. Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Macau. Well, not a lot actually as HK is relatively well connected to many palces. And there are still many parts of HK which I have not explored. Hmm, I did have this crazy idea of getting off at every MTR station and checking out what's in the surrounding of the station. I guess that will cost lots of $$..... Perhaps taking long bus rides to the more remote parts of HK will be a better idea?

Well, 3 more months to go and I have lots of places I want to go! Next stop, Taipei!!!!

@CUHK

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:39:00 +0000

It has been 4 days in CUHK and it's the end of orientation tomorrow. Will be moving out of our orientation dorms and into our permanent dorms, where we will meet our roomie for the next 4 months. Orientation here for exchange students isn't like the orientation camps that nus has. No screaming and cheering and stupid games. Just campus tours, administrative issues, talks, course registration etc etc. Well, the schedule still allows us to hit town for the night before coming back to school, in time to catch the shuttle bus uphill to ur dorms.

Just like any orientation, you meet a lot of people. Some will become good friends, some will be acquaintance while there will be some others whom you will forget. Saying, "Hi! I am Shan Jun. What's your name?" and a handshake, followed by "Where are you from?" is like the typical and SOP when you meet someone. One can't possibly remember 101 names in one day so those that I tend to remember are the ones that I had a more meaningful conversation with. Another thing I have to admit, all ang mohs looks the same to me. I really could not differentiate David from Paul and Mary from Alice. I could only remember my fellow sgporeans exchange mates names well, as well as the random people in the Singaporean clique.

Talking about clique, just like any other orientation, cliques are bound to form. Since we exchange students are all new in a foreign country, we tend to stick to our own clique. There are the ang moh clique (some cliques are like all americans or all germans), the PRC cliques, the korean cliques, the japanese cliques and of course the Singaporean Clique. Of course, there may be one or 2 people of another nationality joining a particular clique. Of course, yours truly is sticking in the familiar Singaporean clique, where i can just ratter off in singlish freely. Well, I do try to speak in standard english where there are non-sgporeans around. I don't mix only with singaporeans only ok?

Speaking is another interesting thing here. To some who are not as proficient as us in english, we have to speak slower. To some, we have to speak in standard english with a certain slang so that they could understand us. It's tiring at times but that's how it goes here.

Socializing is another thing that we have to constantly do. If you are stuck in a lift with students from other nation, or the person seated next to you in the LT happens to be an american, even in the toilet while you are brushing your teeth or filling up your bottle in the pantry, you are bound to meet someone whom you may or may not know. Apart from the "Hi I am blah blah blah" thing, the situation makes it such that you have to bring the conversation to another level and that is socializing. You think of topics to talk about, chat about your home country, chat about things that you know about the other party's country. One can gain a lot of insights through these conversations.

For example during the Welcome Dinner, we were seated with a few Swiss and americans and it is probably their first time having a chinese banquet dinner. We, as chinese, would definitely need to tell them more about chinese food, how we eat, the dos and don'ts on the table etc etc.... I am of course proud to introduce the chinese culture to them and they were as equally amazed and at times amused at the things chinese do. For example, the swiss guys were so amazed when they saw the chicken head served on the plate along with the chicken meat. They were also curious on how to use chopsticks the correct way. (Talking about chopsticks, all the westerners on my table were trying their best to use the chopsticks even though the westerners were provided with fork and knife. When in China, do what the Chinese do!) I am equally happy to share what I know with them and I did enjoy hearing stories from them about food back in their home country. That's what SEP is all about! Mix around and get to learn more!

Well, tomorrow we shall all be separated and I shall be moving into a hall, where the majority are locals. Another round of socializing shall begin all over again and I may need to use terms like " lei hou ma?", "lei sek jor fan mai?" etc etc.... Well, I did come to Hong Kong to learn more about this place and improve my cantonese. So I shall not be one of those anti-social people who will hide in their room the whole day.

Adam Schall Residence (our orientation hostel)

My room for 4 days.

the small bed.

walking around in Central (taken at IFC mall)

Group picture (6 sporeans, 1 malaysian and 1 japanese)

we each got our little mailbox.

Welcome Dinner for IASP students

Cam-whoring

Group picture before the dinner!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:05:00 +0000

After like close to 8 hours of travelling, I am finally back from Shanghai in Hong Kong once again. Lugging a 15kg backpack and crossing the border at shenzhen is really a bit crazy.

Once on campus, it was going around school settling all the admin stuff. Getting our matric card, getting information on course registration, checking into orientation hostel, setting up bank account, setting up internet, getting lost around school, conquering the slopes and stairs in CUHK. Phew! Most of these stuffs are settled. Next up will be course registration which I hope it won't be a pain in the ass. I think I won't ever complain about NUS anymore. The hill in NUS is nothing compared to here.

Still trying to get around with my broken cantonese. Did manage to ask for some stuff in cantonese as the other party could not speak english or mandarin. Even had to help some ang moh translate into canto at supermarket. Speaking a bit of canto is ok, but when the other party start to reply in bullet-train speed cantonese, I will just switch to mandarin.

Ok. Time to hit the town. What's exchange without enjoying ourselves?

1st Post in HK!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Ok. I shall try to write more while I am here in HK.

So day 1 began super early morning with my jetstar flight to HK. Can't believe that my bags are over 30kg!!!! Luckily they didn't charge me any overweight fees. Don't know what the hell i brought over also. It's just clothes and shoes. Maybe I am bringing too much clothes? The flight was an uneventful one, except for the roller coster ride while we were landing. No food, no entertainment, no leg space. And it doesn't help that the fellow in front of me recline his seat. And the ladies on board got some free sunsilk shampoo thingy while guys get nothing. unfair! The aircraft flew over HK island, onto kowloon then turned west across the new territories before landing in HKIA. So we got a good view of Hong Kong. Can see the whole Victoria Harbour, Central, Kowloon as well as Tsing Ma bridge etc etc. Too bad i wasn't in the window seat, if not there wld be lots of pictures to take. Since we deplaned by stairs, the bus brought us on a mini tour of the airport while on its way to the gate. Too bad i was carrying a lot of stuff and I wasn't really in the mood for pictures. Which is why for the first part, there are no pics of my journey. Immigration itself was another pain as the queue was super long (i guess a lot of flight landed at the same time. And it doesn't help that a lot of ah tiongs were talking loudly at the queue.

Once out of immigration, it was a bus ride to Tin Shui Wai, where my uncle stayed. Went out for some simple lunch at a nearby restaurant. Their residential estate is almost exactly like SG, many town centres and amenities in every neighbourhood. Didn't take much pics but here are some from my trip 2 yrs ago.

天水围 Housing Estate

My uncle's block. Their block is 38 floor high!

After lunch, it was off to CUHK. My cousin studies at CUHK so she brought me to walk walk around first, finding out the location of all the places that i need to visit on the 31st, so that I won't get lost with all my bags. And if you think the hills and stairs in NUS are horrible, it's gonna get much worse here. The whole campus is built on a slope and almost of the road are inclined, so the shuttle bus are a huge life saver. We took a bus all the way up to New Asia College, then took a slow walk down till Chung Chi College at the bottom.

After the sch tour, we went off to Sha Tin for dinner. There are like 4-5 shopping centres in Sha Tin, all linked together and there was just lots and lots and lots of shops. But they are mostly ATAS stuff lah... UNIQLO is cheaper here than in SG. G2000 having this crazy sale where the whole shop was filled with ppl. In fact, the whole mall was filled with ppl. It is super super crowded.....

Think I won't post too much pics. They are all on facebook anway.

@CUHK main campus

The hall which I am going to move into

Snoopy World at Sha Tin. Boring for adults but makes a good location for camwhoring.

Ok, heading over to shenzhen for my flight to shanghai later. Think i wun be able to blog here as blogger is banned there. Shall see if there are any alternative ways to get onto blogspot.

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:14:00 +0000

finally the moment is here. Getting on the flight to hong kong soon. A whole 4 mths plus of advanture awaits me i guess. A little sad to leave SG but am happy that i get to have one whole sem of fun!
More updates when i get back frm shanghai!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:33:00 +0000

Time is passing by quickly and it is just 3 more days to departure! Been putting things in and taking things out of my bags. There seems to be so many things to bring but there is always a weight limit there. Not sure why my bags are so heavy also. Maybe my clothes are larger and thus heavier? Or am I just bringing too much things or bringing too many extra things? If I pay more overweight fees, i might as well take SQ, which totally accept my 26kg when i came back from BKK (it even accepted khong wong's 31 kg bag!)

My accommodation in CUHK has been confirmed. Will be staying in Lee Shu Pui Hall. According to wikipedia, the hall is alreadly 15 years old so I hope the facilities will still be good. However, we had to stay in another hall for our orientation week, then move to our permanent hall only after orientation. Now happily looking forward to shanghai!

Had nothing to do so I finally watched Love of Siam which was on my comp for quite some time. Though it was a long 3 hours, it didn't felt long at all. I had long wanted to watch this on the big screen while it was showing but the timings for the movie were always unsuitable for me. I gonna rate this as one of the best movie that I have seen. If you look deep into the movie, you do realise it is not just about love between 2 guys. It about love in general. Love in the family, love between friends. Looking at the bangkok scene, as well as the thai music, reminds me of FS09 again. I really want to relieve the whole experience again. If I go again with another batch, the feeling will be different. Hope the "FS Alumni Trip" will pull through.

And I so love this song now! and I love the lyrics! Nothing beats singing to your true love from the bottom of your heart.

gun lae gun - OST Love of Siam

Song: You & Me / Gun Lae Gun
Album: OST Love of Siam
Singer: Q Flure
Lyrics & translation from ethaimusic

If I said that this song is made for you, would you believe it?
It's probably not melodious, not affectionate, not beautiful like other songs.
I want you to know that if there's no love, you can't write a love song.
But for you, my dear, do you know? I wrote it easily.

You've probably heard hundreds and thousands of love songs.
They might be meaningful, but they are meant for anyone.
But if you listen to this song, song that's written simply for you.
For you to understand the meaning of it, our hearts will be together as one.

Let it be a song on our pathways that consist only voices of you and me.
Together as long as possible.
As the meaning is told in a poetry that as long as there's love naturally there's hope.
Means whenever your love shines through the heart, I have a goal.

There are so many truth in love,
and in the past I used the time for the sake of finding the meaning.
But soon, I'd just know it, whenever you are near me,
That if life's a rhythm, you are as good as the words that is melodious and touching to the heart.

Let it be a song on our pathways that consist only voices of you and me.
Together as long as possible.
As the meaning is told in a poetry that as long as there's love naturally there's hope.
Means whenever your love shines through the heart, I have a goal.

There's a pathway for us to walk side by side and there are voices of you and me.

How to pack my life into a suitcase.

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 15:50:00 +0000

It's 5 more days to departure and the pre-departure blues has officially set in. Usually, I will be damm excited about an upcoming overseas trip and i can't wait for it to arrive. However, this time round, the emotion is a mixed one. Part of me wants to go explore the world out there while another part of me dreads the thought of leaving home for 4 months plus. Been spending a lot of time at home and with my family for the past few days as I am not gonna be able to see them for quite some time while I am away. Despite all these negative emotions, I am still reading up on HK and China and the more I read, the more excited I get. So I should just make good use of the last few days in SG before I depart. I guess I wont' really miss things back home as I will be back in a short 4 months. Also, HK is very similar to SG lifestyle so I guess I can adapt strongly there. The sucky part is that I'm gonna have to share a room with someone else and there goes my privacy and alone time. For those who know me well, I had always preferred to spend a certain amount of time alone.

Packing is another chore on its own. How to pack your life into a suitcase and keep it under 25kg seems to be a challenging task for me. I set aside the clothes that I am intending to bring over and I wondered, "Am i over-packing? Do I need so many pieces of shirts?" I always hate to underpack as that would mean scampering around an unfamiliar place for things that you need. However, I really got to make wise choices on what I put into my suitcase so as to keep my bags under the weight limit (hurray to budget carriers). Worse come to worse, I can always buy the things that I need in HK. Whatever you can find in SG, you can almost definitely find it in HK! Right now, all the stuff that I need are in one corner of my room i swear it is gonna be over 25kg. So, it is time to sieve out things that I don't need (or presume that I do not need).

The rest of the stuff are more or less settled. Visa, money. Just that I still do not know which accommodation i am going to get on campus and whether i would be able to do the modules that I want. Well, all these can wait till i get there and get it sorted on the spot. Right now, I should just concentrate on planning my mini holiday in shanghai before semester starts at the end of the month. Well, the excitement is definitely there and I guess it will only kick in full force when I step into the departure hall. Well, that is me. I just have to suck it up, put aside all the negative feelings, take a step forward and everything will be fine. Hopefully, this will be an experience that I will never forget (it is something i have looked forward to since i came into uni). Till then, it will be several attempts to pack my life into my suitcase.

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:56:00 +0000

Finally good news have arrived in my inbox. I will be getting the NASA exchange award after all. Heard from my friends that they have received mine while there was still no news for me sent me into panic and sian-ness for the past week. Just when I thought all was gone, the good news came. Yeah to forking out less $$ from my own pocket.

Since I am totally sick of going to town ( I detest going to town after FS09. Don't know why too...), me tee and by went to explore other parts of Singapore. 2 week ago, we headed down to the 'far' east, geylang and old airport road. Yesterday, we headed to the east again, visiting kampong lorong buangkok (the last kampong in sg) and sengkang new town.

It's not that hard to get to lorong buangkok. A short bus trip and a short walk took us there. It is not the typical kampong that one had always imagined it to be, with atap houses, zinc roof, plantation in the backyard, all the villagers spending the afternoon chatting outside their house etc etc. When we went, there was nobody in the kampong, or rather, I think everyone was in their house, just like HDBs. There were lots of nice cars parked beside the house. The houses don't looked that old.

We walked a bit into the kampong but unfortunately were chased out by a dog. I guess the dog was there to keep all the curious visitors out of the village and not to disturb the villagers.

Finished off the day with dinner at chomp chomp food centre. Satay Bee Hoon, satay, char kuey, bbq chix wing sugar cane juice. a typical fare at a singapore hawker centre. Need to satisfy my craving, especially those food that I wld not be able to get in HK. no more dim sum as i am gonna stomach down loads of siu mai and ha gaw in HK. but then, i guess it is always possible to hunt down a plate of nasi lemak, roti prata or satay somewhere in HK. We are now thinking of which famous hawker we should head to next. Balestier?? Typical singaporeans we are, willing to travel so far for good food. And why are all the freaking nice hawker centres in the east? The east side has lots of good food while all the brains are in the west?

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:52:00 +0000

I went for my first ever concert this year in 2009 and now there is another first. Went to mediacorp for the first time and watched a tv show recording for the first time. It's 我要唱下去, a.k.a. 百万大歌星.

we were unlucky (or lucky) to have gotten the first row seats. me and bk were in the audience seats in front of the stage while jon, lionel and by were so lucky to be seated in those seats behind the mini stage, which means they will be seen more often on tv. we then had to act as enthusiastic audience who will cheer and scream, wave hands while singing etc etc.... me and bk were sitting in the chen wei lian fan club area, so it seems like we are his fans. the other 3 of them become joi chua's fan.

it took like almost 2 hrs to record a 1 hr show, with lots of pauses in between. they even have to test the key of the music before each of them sang. well, at least i got to see what's going on behind the scene. and i want to watch 百万大歌星 recording in taiwan!!

and now it is exactly 2 weeks to departure. everything is more or less settled. visa done. air tickets bought. modules approved by sch. just waiting for my accommodation to come and to see if i can get the modules i want in cuhk. looking forward to 4 months plus of fun and travelling! gotta watch the budget though....

and there is a special moment today (or rather yesterday)
At 12.34pm, 56 sec on 7th august 2009, it is actually 12:34:56 7/8/09!

FS09 Part 1 - Song Khla

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:38:00 +0000

It has been some time since I blogged and I told myself it's time to blog about Field Studies, before all the good and wonderful memories fade away.... 42 days of maddness and fun is now 12.6GB of photos and videos on my hard disk.

Day 1-2 (17-18/5/09)

This is the day where it all began. After one whole week of thai lessons, we were all set to put our thai into use. Gathered at golden mile to board the bus all the way to Hat Yai. 18 hours journey. seems torturous but we realised there are much more worse trips that we had to do in thailand itself.

Us at golden mile before we start the long journey...

The bus that brought us to Thailand.

Reached Hat Yai and we transferred to their local bus for the short hop to Song Khla.

Checked into Viva Hotel, our home for the next 4 nights. Hotel was not the posh type, but still ok to stay in.

our room in a messy state.

We went down to Thaksin University where we met up with our Thai Buddies. I was paired up with this girl called Yu. They are english majors in Thaksin Uni and they are all very eager to practice their english with us. of course, we are also eager to speak to them in our 'chui' thai.

me and my thai buddy, Yu

After some ice-breaking games, we rushed back to the hotel to wash up and then it was off to a welcome dinner at a very nice resort. All of us were dressed up for the occasion (the only time in the whole trip where everyone wore so nice. the rest of the days were chui clothes)

Day 3-5 (19-21/5/09)

The next 3 days were spent in Song Khla, with thai lessons in the morning, some fields trip in the afternoon and then night market at night. Our thai buddies brought us around most of the time. Visited lots of night market where food is nice (aroy) and cheap! Ate freaking damm a lot in thailand cause food is so cheap.

Not forgetting the serious part of the trip, our thai oral exam. I was so damm unlucky to get the most difficult topic and once me and elaine finished the assigned topic, our teachers told us to continue speaking, so we just talked about everything under the sun in thai.

Our classroom...

Fooling around in between lessons....

class photo...

at the night market

at another night market (with more food!)

the canteen in school. we had to order our food in thai!

around thaksin university...

our main mode of transport - the tuk tuk....

us inside the tuk tuk. the tuk tuk was so short that most of us had to keep our heads down while inside.

Of course, we did some sight-seeing in Song Khla.

View of the whole city from a hill

temple on top of the hill. forgot the name....

us fooling around...

song khla museum.

with our thai buddies at KFC... we still can't get away from all the fastfood.....

beside Songkhla Lake.

Not forgetting the beautiful beaches in thailand!

Like every other long overseas trip, laundry is our top concern so we had to wash our own clothes (laundry services are expensive...) So this is how we wash clothes, using the sink!

That's all for Song Khla... Next Stop: Krabi!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:24:00 +0000

This is ridiculous!

It costs cheaper to fly from Singapore to Shanghai then from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Now i guess i am gonna settle for the 20 hrs train ride to and fro all alone.... :(

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:21:00 +0000

I realised it has been a long time since i blogged. People probably knew more about what's happening to me through facebook. Seriously, the number of emails i receive from facebook on a daily basis is crazy....

And so I finally went to my virgin concert! 答案是The Answer Is.....孙燕姿2009世界巡回演唱会!! The concert didn't fall short of my expectations and the 5 of us were singing, jumping and going crazy at our seats! Who goes to a concert and sits down? I think we did piss those behind us. haha.. I am having a concert withdrawal syndrome and yanzi's song are on my playlist. I am trying hard to recall the order of the songs she sang yest night!

Went back to crash geog soc FIC as well as I am really damm bored at home. I really feel so damm old there ( I was the oldest guy in camp at one point). But seeing my freshies becoming organisers of the camp and bringing in a new batch of freshies, it really brought back lots of memories from previous years camp. Though i didn't spend a lot of them with them, I still managed to have some fun (last yr i didn't manage to play a lot... ) and got to know some other juniors. Today when we were looking for Lai Wa and we saw her car, i suddenly remembered her driving a few of us to engin canteen to collect food for GC and i realise, wow, it has been a year plus already....

Looks like it will be outings outings and more outings and then i am off to HK!

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:10:00 +0000

It has been 4 days since I came back from Thailand and i am still missing every moment of it. It really feels weird to have meals alone, sleep alone and wake up to nobody around you...

The FS09 gathering we had yesterday really brought me back into the Field Studies mood. It is really like FS all over again, the same group of people going from places to places, having meals together, cracking jokes and making lame comments, making lots of noise wherever we go, taking pictures, jumpshots, unglam pics... This whole field studies is something which i will never forget for the rest of my life and it is definitely the highlight of my student life! I will strongly encourage all geog majors (or even non geog major) to go for it if you have the chance!

And something to mention. I almost got a shock of my life when i collected my SEP acceptance package. The letter states that the dateline for the submission of documents for my application is 1st July!!! and i collected my stuff only on the 29th! so i had to rush around cck to get my hair cut (to take a decent looking photograph that is going to be on my student pass), rush to the bank to get a bank draft for payment, rush home to get more documents and finally rush to the post office to get my mail sent over to HK by express courier. costs me $18 (heart pain...) Haiz.. This is what i get for extending my stay in bangkok (which i blew another 10k baht)...

And i am so sad that they took George O'Malley out of Grey's Anatomy.... This season ended with a cliff hanger, both george and izzie in resuscitation. Apparently, T.R. Knight contract is not renewed so i guess o'malley is dead. izzie should survive since she is still a regular on the next season.. I kind of like his character on the show... He is this guy who isn't really the smartest and brightest and yet still tries his best at everything.. for season 5, he was given very little screen time and i guess his departure is evident... and now i got to wait till 24 sep for the new season and I hope i will be able to watch it somehow in HK..

off to KL tmr.. will definitely blog about Field studies as there are really so many good memories that i want to remember and share. Will need to do so before everything fades away...

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:55:00 +0000

Finally, FS2009 is over! While the rest headed back home, a few of us stayed back in Bangkok to enjoy ourselves.

It has been a long trip since the starting, on 18th may. Went through thai lessons in Song Khla, headed up to Krabi. More field trips, crazy survivor day at Railay, our first project. After Krabi was a torturous train journey up north to bangkok, then to Khon Kaen. At Khon Kaen, it was more orientation field trips, including the crazy 3 hours trip to Laos that blew our visa. Next up was our humanoid project, where my group went for a home stay in Chi Kok Kor village for 4D3N. Totally immersed in village life and before we got used to it, it was time to head back. Went for a 2nd border crossing to extend our stay in Thailand and straight after that was an overnight coach to Chiang Mai. Upon hitting Chiang Mai, we were stuck with doing our project and the yellow book. After project presentation in a mountain resort, we flew back down to Bangkok and I headed out into the city while the others flew home.

Well, that was a executive summary of FS09.

Though tiring at times, I really never did regret coming for this trip. The amount of things I had seen and experienced is really a lot a lot a lot. Plus, living together with so many others, being away from home for the longest time ever. All these are new experiences and I will never forget them. Not forgetting to mention the strong friendship that i have forged with some of them, all the funny moments and the funny quotes like "secretly", "chui maak maak", "maximum chui", "cha yen wann it noi"etc etc.... I am starting to miss ppl on the trip.....

I am still not missing home and I am secretly 1/4 a Khon Thai (thai ppl) ..... need to brush up on my thai language then i can live here already....

noreply@blogger.com (cloudy) — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:06:00 +0000

Another update from the field.

Fieldwork for project has just been completed. The past 2 days was just running around the different sites, doing site observation, surveys and tourists. I am like repeating this phrase so many times.

"Hi, sorry to interupt. I am a student from Singapore who is currently doing a project on cave tourism in Thailand. May i ask you some simple questions?"

At least we got to visit quite a few sites, crawling into the different holes in caves and visiting railay beach again... a pity that i couldn't lie down on the beach in railay or swim in the waters there...

well. back to project. will update again when i have time