December – a time to take things slow and to relax. It is also a period for travelling. Looked through a few good friend’s blog and realised that most are reciting their travel encounters overseas. Like them, me and hubby have been travelling both for leisure and for work.
Thailand (Bangkok) Trip: 2/12/2009 – 5/12/2009
A shopping paradise. Need I say more? More than half of our time there is spend shopping and mall hopping. I must agree withthe girls – the things are dirt cheap over there. However, unlike what they said, I didn’t morphed into some crazy shopaholic there. I didn’t buy as much as I thought I would over there. However, I have the quiet satisfaction that my half-filled luggage was filled up and it weighed 2 kg more.
Hubby being the scenic lover he always is, planned a day of sightseeing as well. We visited temples and some tourist hotspots, which Opps!, I failed to recall now. We had a very relaxed time in Thailand and there was no rushing around BKK like what the gals did the last time they visited.
Though Hubby was very enthusiatic about trying the “Tup-Tup”, I was kinda wary of them. We were nearly conned on the first night and the following morning. Both by 2 elderlies whom looked like total nice, friendly people trying to “help” unknown tourists like us. Thankfully, for Hubby’s quick thinking, we managed to got away safely. I was quite pissed and was thinking where the hell is their integrity.
After a day of rest and rushed packing, I was on my way to Changi Airport Terminal 3 at 5.15 am on the morning of 7th Dec. I was heading to Shanghai with my1 of my Sec 1 dance girl in tow.
China Trip: 7/12/2009 – 13/12/2009
This is for my work trip. I have to wake up at like 6.30 am everyday and I thought it was the holidays already. Basically, it was supposed to be an extra dance practise for my dance gals with the experts. I must say that the gals in Hangzhou have really excellent genes for dancing. Their slim body structure plus their flexibility has caused alot of hoo-haas and giggly admiration amongst my dance girls.
I visited Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing and Shanghai within a short span of 7 days. One very important fact that I must mentioned about these places is that it is FREAKING COLD! I was always bundled up like a “Ba Zhan” and yet I still feel cold. My hands are always numbed from the cold even though I had my gloves on. My nose and cheeks are always numbed and red from the cold and I feared that my nose will dropped off anytime. Me and my colleagues have to resort to wringgling our nose and massaging our face now and then to get the blood flowing. I suddenly missed Singapore’s bright and sunny weather then and wished I was back home. Unlike what my colleagues have been telling me that cold weather is extremely cooling for one to stay in, I seriously bet to differ for a myraids of reasons.
1) I have to put on so many layers of clothing to pre-empt the cold weather that dressing up in the morning is a total chore. Thermal wear, long sleeved shirt, sweater, jeans, gloves, woollen socks and sports shoes. I still feel cold with all these on.
2) Going toilet becomes a total pain in my a** as it is a hassle removing so many layers of clothings.
3) My whole body becomes a total wreck within a mere of 1 week. Because I forgot my moisturiser, my hands and legs became shivelled and wrinkled, like those of an old lady. Thankfully, my skin condition has retored to what it used to be, back in Singapore. Phew!
4) Washing hands became an agonizing chore for me because of the extremely cold water. Though unwilling to wash my hands after each toilet break, I still forced myself to do so as I couldn’t bear using the same pairs of hands to have food.
The only excitable thing worth mentioning about the cold is that it is really fun seeing “smoke” appearing out of our mouth when you speak. It became an entertaining game for me and my dance girls as we started blowing “smoke” at each other face. 
Silly us!
I thought the food was almost similar to what we have in Singapore. Apparently, I was wrong. One thing I noted about the food is that it is extremely salty. Guess salts are really cheap stuff over there. However, it is extremely a nice and warm feeling seeing the waitress put hot pot of soup on our table. Though I must say that the soups we had, has little variations. In the end, everything tasted the same. Thankfully, they have veggies and fish. They were such edible dishes that it was wiped out within mere seconds.
Actually, I kinda like the tour guide. Because I feel that he gave a rather good introduction to all the states that we have been. In fact, I enjoyed listening to all the stories told by him. And I was quite impressed by this fellow - he is a very good geomancer! He wowed the group of us by telling us our future.
Things I learnt about the various states I visited:
Hangzhou – Famous for Longjin tea and lovely folk tales like Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai. Enjoyed the majectic performance put up in Song City. Excellent slogan they have,”Gei wo yi tian, Huan ni qian nian”.
Suzhou – Famous for its garden. Lovely scenic views which I believe Hubby will love to see.
Nanjing – Famous for its salted duck. Apparently, all parts of the ducks can be made into food product. Wow! Something which I did not know. But I still find the taste a bit too salty for my liking. I visited the Nanking Massacre Memorial Hall. “We can forgive, but we must never forget”. I doubt I can forgive the Japanese for the atrocities that they did. It is inhumane of them. They couldn’t spare a baby. It makes me realise that a country has to be strong in order to survive otherwise it will always be taken advantage of. I kind of dread going through the memorial hall and I left the place with a heavy heart. Honestly, I do not really like Nanjing. It gave me a kind of gloomy and spooky feeling. Perhaps its the weather. Perhaps its the history. I’m not sure. It is defintely a different feeling as compared to visiting Hangzhou and Suzhou.
ShangHai – Last stop-over before heading back to Singapore. Bascially like Singapore, very modernised. No prize for guessing, famous for its Xiao Long Bao. And it is famous for its night activites as well, hence the phrase, “Ye ShangHai”.
The 2 trips overseas has make me realise how lucky I was born in Singapore. I truely appreciate the clean and green environment I have been living in, in the past 26 years of my life. And I also realise that maybe I could preferred a more relaxed holiday, mainly beach resort style rather than going overseas with an aim of covering everything within a short span of time and making a mad rush about everywhere. I guess I have enough of a mad rush everyday, which I experienced during work.
For the record, Dear assured me that she will not say this to me. Blogs have a wonderful intrinsic characteristic of being in eternal existence – I am safe. The next step is to find the doctor to say the above line.
