Sometimes I wish I could learn to love and care more...

January 01, 2009

Just another story

happy new year to all my dear readers! :)

hope this 1st day of the year was great for you and that it will be the beginning to a year of great joy and happiness! :)

<3
11:12:00 PM;

December 31, 2008

Just another story

*clearing the thick layer of dust!*

I know i have been away for a long while! well, you cant really blame me for not updating- my internet was a little cranky a few months back with the modem switching off by itself as and when it feels like it and when the modem is kind enough to stay on, the speed is as slow as tortoise. it pisses me off BIG time when i had to wait for ages to get my page loaded! :s hence, i didnt switch on my com for the longest time i could remember!

when the internet's finally fixed towards the last 2 weeks of december, i was pretty caught up with the planning of gatherings (think of MJ! haha.) and with CJ's stuff. hence, the lack of updates from me. heehee.

anyhow, it's the last day of the year yet again! are you looking forward to year 2009? in a nutshell, 2008 has been a turbulent year- what with all the terrorist attack, the economic crisis and the sichun earthquake- i am definitely looking forward to a more peaceful year ahead!

despite the occurence of not-so-happy-and-fortunate events, i would still think that my year 2008 was considered good. lets see why.

i combed 2 more places in this big gigantic world- Shanghai and Japan. both trips were great and i thoroughly enjoyed myself during these overseas trips! (photos for japan will be posted in another blog post!)

i had my first practicum where i am graded for my teaching (instead of simply sitting behind to observe!) heehee. it was a great learning experience!

regain my "perfect eyesight"! hahaha. of course, with the help of technology! ha.

2008 was also my most hectic year ever! with tuition on everyday of the week except wednesday, it was definitely no joke! haha. but of course, i get to "savour" the sweet rewards of all these "sacrifices" when i receive the pay cheques at the end of the month! haha.

there are of course occasions where unhappy events took place (like the ultra big quarrel with my sister in november! haha!). but... the unhappy events are not worth my attention/time to write them down. heehee. anyway, i think it's enough time spent for 'history'. heehee.

2009 is just a few steps away. i am really looking forward to a better year ahead! it will, afterall, be the year where my peers and i will graduate from NIE and *hooray hooray* we will be able to receive full pay soon! (instead of stipend for some of us! hahaha.)

lets all hope for a great and safe year for all! :)

<3
1:48:00 AM;

November 05, 2008

Just another story

oops! pardon me for the long hiatus once again!

Been extremely caught up with earning moolahs by giving tuition! and spending the rest of the time doing up my assignments and planning for my family trip to Japan! :) and so, blogging becomes the last thing to do even though, on many occasions, i have got the strong urge to blog to share certain things with all my dear readers! but.. the thought of having to start up my slow-like-tortoise laptop of 3.5 years and fixing up my cranky internet was so overwhelming that i tend to give up the idea. haha. (ok, that's only partly true- since i am online perputally everynight!)

so, why the sudden mood to blog today? well, cause my silly big mouth has gotten me into 'trouble' yet again- quarrelled with my sister over something as small as an atom- cause of my inability to control my emotions and allowed anger to get better of me and my own logical reasoning.

*warning: long grandmother story ahead*

you see, this was what happened: stayed up till 5 plus am yesterday night cause i couldnt get to sleep. when i finally felt tired and decided to head to bed, i realised that i havent changed my bedsheet. therefore, i went into my sisters' room next door (where the bedsheets are stored) and i took out one set. however, i thought that was pretty light and felt different from my past experiences (cause my bed's super single sized while the others are single) and i thought my 2nd sis had taken my bedsheet by mistake and placed it on her mattress. after trying to put on that set i was holding on to, i found out that i was correct. therefore, i'd to take out the bedsheet from her mattress. i replaced it with the set i was originally holding. but i was short of a pillow case. i then went to my room and do up my bed and off i plong onto my bed, sent her an sms to tell her to check in future should she decide to use that particular bedsheet and headed to meet the sleeping god. i totally forgot about the pillow without the case on her bed. (she was staying at her bf's place by the way.)

today, she smsed me asking me if i have got my sg english notes. i went to help her look for it and told her i didnt have much things to help her. and since i have already taken my notes out, i decided to pack up my table and keep my notes away. so, spent the whole afternoon packing up the house as well.

then, night time, she came back home from work, watched some tv shows, read newspapers and headed to bed. when she noticed the undone pillow, she came out and shouted "i didnt mean to use ur bedsheet, why did you not help me put in the case for the pillow?". i was exasperated. i told her "i forgot. if i had really intended to leave it for you to do it urself, i wont even place your bedsheet for u!" i was really angry cause i had honestly forgotten about it and despite doing up the bed for her, she still can complain even though it's only 1 PILLOW CASE! i "let off my steam" by closing her room door and my cupboard door with force on purpose. and, realising that she left the newspapers all over the floor (cause i just cleared it up), i went in to ask her to pick it up tmr morning before she leave for work and i headed into my room. was complaining to darling about the whole thing in the living room (cause my younger sis was sleeping and complain that i'm making too much noise in my room)and she must have heard me. and the whole dramatic episode began.

i came back into my room to find that i've an sms- yes, your guess's correct- it's from her. in her long sms, she said things like how she thinks i had something against her all these while and hence hated her all along. she ended off her sms asking me to call the travel agency tmr to cancel her japan trip. she feels that i will be happier if she didnt come along with us. and she is not angry anymore cause she's too disappointed.

this sms caused me to want to blog. cause i needed an avenue to say out my feelings. care to know what my reaction was after reading the sms?

well, i was puzzled. i didnt know she feels that i dislike her. i didnt know she thinks i hated her. i didnt know she thinks i will be happier if she wasnt part of my life. most importantly, i didnt know that's how she thinks of me!

and so, i replied her despite her asking me to not reply. i told her that i was indeed angry and unhappy that she malign me. and with regards to the part about the newspaper- i explained that i didnt just scolded her. i told her i told my mum off this afternoon for the same reason as well cause i just packed it nicely! then i told her to STOP assuming that i hated her and had a deep hatred against her- cause i really don't. and told her that if i really hated her, i wouldnt bothered to help her look for the sge notes and when she asked me to help her do things when she's overseas, i wouldnt bothered as well. i asked her that if she was in my shoes, wouldnt she have reacted in the same manner?

i really dont know how to describe my feelings after reading the sms.

she say she's ultra sensitive in the sms. but is it my fault that she is so (overly) sensitive? to be honest, i find it tiring to talk to her at times. because, if i really want to convey my feelings, i had to be super careful with the way i phrase it, in case she interprets it the wrong way round. and true enough, by the fact that she thinks i hate her, she must have interpreted whatever i said during quarrels the past 22 years the wrong way. and mine, it's scary to ven think of the possiblity that she remembers EVERYTHING!

sigh, i dont know what else to say. but i really want to tell her this:

yes, i get agitated and blow up v easily but my anger never lasts long. i am also NEVER the one to start cold war after quarrels with you over the past 22 years. in fact, i have never ever started a cold war with anybody, except darling, after a quarrel. and it is really NOT TRUE that i hated you. cause if it is, i wouldn't bother helping you inform dad everytime u needed him to go fetch u from airport depsite being in class/tuition. i also wont bother when u called back to ask me to book hotels/search for information for you and i also wont bother to help open your letters to check if there were important matters to settle while you're outstationed, just to name a few of the things i do for you.

you say you're disappointed (i assumed's due to my actions & words), but am i not equally disappointed to have my sister think of me that way?! let me tell you this: i am equally as disappointed as well.

since we are on this matter already, let me continue a little to share some "secrets" with you.

if u ask me how i feel being in this family, i'd say this v honestly: on many occasions, i feel like a 3rd class citizen in the family. let me tell you why:

there are occasions where i feel that you guys dote on ah lee more than me. whenever you guys buy things, it's always ah lee that you all think of first. only when u all need a labourer/coolie/messenger, then it's me that you all think of. [think the wallet you all got for ah lee for bday last yr, what did i get this year?] but when u needed people to relay msg to dad, who did u sms? me.

there are also times when i feel that you guys despise and treats me like a clown. [think: do u think i like being called do-do? do you think i liked being "not as fashionable as you guys"?] i mean, i am ok with having pet names just for the fun of it. but it gets a little too much when it's said in public. [think how ah lee calls me that in front of my friends and how embarassed i felt?

a more recent example about how unappreciated i felt: have you thought about how i felt when u guys just kept complaning about how it's such a wrong time to head to japan now when i DID ASKED U GUYS IF WE SHOULD GO FOR IT? i already kept quiet when i am the only one who's doing EVERYTHING from looking for agencies, booking of tour, making of payment to now- searching for good exchange rate. but when i told u all to stop complaining, you guys say i'm petty- that you are just joking and that i pi qi bu hao. have you all put urselves in my shoes?! everyone needs to feel appreciated. did you all say thank you for taking the time and effort to plan? no. do you really think i am as free as you think i am!? no! is just that i did all that cause i really wanted us, as a whole family, to travel together. and i'd do my markings/assignment when you guys are asleep.

dont you think i already am telling myself that you guys are just joking with me and that i am just being overly sensitive?!

once again, i dont know what else to say. i only want to say, i love my family. it has never been the case where i hated any of you! angry yes, but never hatred. and so, er jie, i am equally as disappointed as you think you are when i read what you say in the sms. period.

enough of my rantings.

dear readers: i m sorry that this post ended on such a note. and sorry for being so incoherent in my thoughts. wasnt in the mood to bother to phrase them in a coherent manner. just needed an avenue to let things off my chest.

--------------------------------------------------

*edited at 4am* and,now that i am feeling better and gotten over from emo-ing, i just want to say, i do know i'm loved by my family members. is just my weird feelings at times. you can call that jealousy. =P

lastly,

special thanks to miss goh mh for your prompt attention at reading my blog and for your counselling! :)

<3
1:33:00 AM;

September 21, 2008

Just another story

turned 22 today. it was, a day, of mixed feelings. was shocked and disappointed because of the things that certain people had done but was really surprised by the actions of many others. therefore, it is, on the whole, a great day afterall.

i just want to say thank you to everyone for all your well wishes, be it via smses or on facebook!! :)

in particular, the following groups of people (your actions really made me feel loved!):

My family: thanks for all that you guys have done for me over the past 22 years! :) though there wasnt much of a celebration today, i understand that it's cause all of us are busy! thanks for the smses anyway! haha. da jie- though urs was the latest, at least u made it! hahahaha. thanks for the surprise cake da jie! hahaha.

My lovely students[one of my wish for my bday this year is that all of you will do well in your english papers! haha. :)]:
S, J and Z: Thanks for being so sweet! i mentioned it casually (ok, some sort of complaining) that i have to go for tuition on my bday at the beginning of the month, i am surprised you guys remembered! hahaha. thanks for all the sweet smses and the well wishes! :)
vinus: i m really really touched to receive your sweet sms. thanks dearie! i think you know my bday cause you saw my ezlink card lying on the table sometime last year right?! haha. cause i dun remember telling you when's my bday! thanks for remembering anyway! :)
joleen, huda and azirah: thanks for the sms and the comment on friendster!

and last but not least, the group of friends whom i wasnt exactly close/didnt really remain in contact with! [esp darshini- your sms made me really really surprised! haha. thanks for being the 1st to send in your sms at 12am sharp!! not forgetting my hall mate, raymond! thanks for taking the effort to sms even though we hardly spoke! hahaha.] :)

the person whom i really want to show my greatest appreciation to would be darling! really thank you for making today such a special day for me! :) i appreciate your effort in trying-to-make the surprise a success! heehee. like i said over dinner--> the greatest surprise was that you actually bothered to think about giving me a surprise! hahaha. thanks so much darling. i am honoured to have your love dear.i love you.

thanks everyone for making my 22nd a memorable one through all your actions/smses/well wishes/gifts. :)

happy birthday pumpkin! :)

<3
11:04:00 PM;

August 07, 2008

Just another story

i think it is time for me to stop my procrastination habit and get my ass down to complete this blog post! heehee.

5 weeks of practicum came and gone! i am just glad that it's over! heehee. :D

the past 5 weeks in triple S has been a mixture of fun and sorrow. i love (most of) my students there but there were also certain things that make me feel as if i was in hell. i learn alot about teaching and most importantly, i picked up the "survival skills" from the countless sharing sessions with my fellow trainees. ;)

I would really want to thank each and every single one of my comrades for sharing my joy, sorrow and "bitching" for the past 5 weeks!

my heartfelt thanks to the special five listed below. without the 5 of you, my 5 weeks would be very different. thanks for being such a special individual! :)

sufang: u were the only one i know on the first day of reporting! many many thanks for being there for me as i start "afresh" in a totally new "stranger" environment! :D

peidi: the first trainee whom i really spoke to. thanks for ur red pens and for ur listening ear when i have got countless complains to make! :D

huihui: a big big big thank you for hearing me out! and for joining me in my bitching sessions! value adding it with your valuable contributions man! hahaha. gossiping about things with you around is definitely more fun!!! hahaha. jia you for the remaining 3 weeks! :D

jc: thanks for being the super nice guy! thanks for always being there for me to suan and to make fun of! life in school's much easier with you around! as we joke about you and with you! thanks for being so ever ready in sharing your experiences with us! heehee. :D i am indeed honoured to have you as a comrade in the past 5 weeks! :D hope u get ur flat soon! hahaha.

ks: it was until the 5th week did we realise how much we loved you! hahaha. rather, we love your car! hahahaha. thanks for being ever ready when i needed your help in doing relief or helping me source for resources! and for being so "forth coming" in chauffeuring us around! hahaha. ;p

of course, no practicum is complete without students! i love my students from my English classes. :D i guess i ain't that close to my history students as i see them only once a week. and no much effort on my part to build rapport with them as well i guess. nonetheless, i made new friends! yes, my students are now my friends! :D

i invited my new found friends to my house for a few rounds of wii on my last day! hahaha. it was great fun!!!! :D

shall let pictures and videos do the talking! :D

battle of the jol-eens!

i love her never say die attitude! haha.

the ultimate winner!! :)

didnt expect the posting of videos to take such a long time! haha. got to rush for project meeting with cindy in town. as for the pics, i will upload them tonight when i am back home! await them people! :D

<3
11:37:00 AM;

July 17, 2008

Just another story

it's into the final week with 3 observations down and 2 more to go. i am so looking forward to the end of it all!!

my sup came down today. to observe 2EA. i am so glad that the class went well. she was pleased with the lesson and she was very encouraging.

would really wanna thank 2EA for being such fabulous students who were super cooperative today. I am glad my sup chose to come for 2EA's lesson instead of the other English class. I am disappointed with the attitude and behaviour of the other class. :(

my history classes are good as well. except for one of them. i am only taking them for 2 lessons, and this week was my first lesson with them. Thus, i had no time to build rapport what so ever with them, hence, for me to "control" the class, it was seriously challenging! without rapport=very hard to deliver my lesson!

generally, it has been a good and trying experience all in all. i am glad it has been good thus far. cross my finger that my last week would be fine! :)

<3
10:33:00 PM;

June 09, 2008

Just another story

darling and i went on a 11 days trip to hk and shanghai from the 11th may to 22nd may 2008.

upon arrival in hk for the first day, we went on a shopping trip to purchase darling's camera lens and we basically just walk around. no much pictures were taken as darling sold his lens before we went to hk (he was going to hk to buy a new lens. so he sold the old one away) and since we merely shopped, there wasnt much things worth taking photos. heehee.

on the 2nd day of our trip, darling and i embarked on a journey on board a train, bound for shanghai. the journey took us 20 hours. however, it was a pleasant journey because we had the entire cabin to ourselves. heehee. the beds were rather comfy. :) some pictures taken on board the train!

upon reaching shanghai, the first thing we did was to proceed with checking in to our hotel. we needed to bathe after 20 hours of not doing so!! haha.

we stayed in laurel hotel. highly recommended hotel because of the great location- it was rather near to the peoples' square (about 10 mins walk) and there is a MTR located just 3 mins walk away from the hotel. Besides, there are MANY eateries surrounding the hotel. most of them serve great food. darling and i highly recommend mian da wang. VERY good la mien at very very cheap prices! (that is if you know how to order from the chinese menu!!) and the hotel provides free wireless connection. [so bring ur laptop!! :)]

pictures of our room

the rest of day 1 in shanghai was spent shopping in nanjing dong lu and ended off with the visit to the much loved Bund! :D

the great navigator! :D

the busy road of shanghai

the "massive" overhead bridge. this is a VERY wide and long overhead bridge!

peoples' square. is actually a big park. and the weather when we were there was great! so overall, we enjoued our walk in the park. :)

a picture of the public toilet in shanghai. it's clean people. heehee.

raffles city in shanghai.

the fountain outside of shanghai museum.

we also visited the museum which is foc. however, the sad thing is- we didnt have the time to visit all the exhibition halls that day and when we wanted to return on the last day of our stay in shanghai, we were turned off by the number of people queuing!the first time we went, there was no queue at all and the weather was so much cooler. the weather of the last day, on the contrary, was NOT conducive and fit for one to queue! so sad! :(

some of the pictures taken in the museum. the moulds were used for the making of coins in the olden days. the last picture above shows the procedure of coin minting in the olden days.

the concert hall in shanghai.

the office of the CCP in shanghai.

the city planning museum of shanghai. unfortunately, it was closed on the first day we were there. so we didn't go.

breadtalk in shanghai! the bread tastes and costs the same as singapore.

pictures of nanjing dong lu. the famous shopping street. hmm, it is something like shopping in orchard road but with slightly cheaper prices.

the temperature of the first night! 18 degrees! it was bearable, until the wind blows! haha.

some night shots of nanjing dong lu by the time we are done with shopping and were on our way to the bund!!

the crowded bund!

some ang moh kindly agreed to help us take a shot. so here it is, one of our very rare shots together! haha. [darling bought his tripod after our trip!! :( ]

shots taken from the bund! the bund's such an awesome place!! i simply love the atmosphere (minus the countless hawkers who kept asking if we want photo taking service!), the magnificent view and the feeling of the sea breeze blowing in my face. i love it so much that i bugged darling to return to this place again. he finally agreed and we went back on the 3rd and last night in shanghai! heehee. ooh, the jackets were purchased in one of the shops. it was simply too cold that we cant take it! haha.

The 2nd day in shanghai, darling and i took a train down to Suzhou. there wasnt much things to see in suzhou other than gardens and pavilion. darling and i visited the most famous garden in suzhou- the humble administrator's garden. aka zhuo zheng yuan. we spent a good 5 hours walking in this BIG garden, visiting all the different pavilions and taking pictures! :D

the screw up ticket saleperson gave us seats that aren't together can! :(

Arrival at suzhou train station after a 30 mins ride.

the sales office for the ticket into the first stop in suzhou- zhuo zheng yuan

i think my head looks a little disformed in this pic! :s

i love this pic!! :D

we later visited the pavilion as shown in the background of this picture. they call this jie jing

darling playing a fool with the window grills on display in the museum.

After leaving Zhuo Zheng Yuan, we headed to the Shizhi Lin. A rather famous pagoda in Suzhou.

bird's eye view of the city from the top of the pagoda. all the roof of the houses looks alike right?

after a whole day of walking around, we left suzhou to go back to shanghai.we had steamboat in shanghai for the first night! :)

on the third day, we went to hangzhou. the journey was longer and once again, the screwed up chinese ticket office salesperson didnt give us joint seats! for all the 4 train rides we took out of and back to shanghai, only the last train ride back from hangzhou did we have the chance to sit TOGETHER!! but this time round, we were stuck with this old coupleee!!!
as darling and i didnt want to spend time thinking of where to go (cause we only planned to visit xi hu), we decided to join a tour and travel in comfort. haha. a little pricey as it cost 100 RMB per person for the tour but it brought us to places we wouldnt have known if we were to travel on our own. so it is a trade off la. heehee. :)

the train that we took to suzhou and hangzhou. they call this the dong che

this is the (entrance) to the infamous lei feng ta. legend has it that some superstitious and ignorant people often took bricks from the pagoda in the belief that the abrasive powder of the bricks was a magic remedy that could cure all diseases and keep a foetus from aborting. Others stole Buddhist scriptures from the pagoda in order to make money. Finally, in August 1924 the foot of the pagoda was dug hollow and other parts of the pagoda were so severely damaged that the ancient pagoda suddenly collapsed. In November, 2000, the Hangzhou Municipal People's Government declared that it was going to rebuild Lei Feng Pagoda. And the construction completed in October, 2002. heehee.

our very first stop in hangzhou- a temple (which i forgot the name! hahaha.) the BEST thing we got out of the temple would be the VERY CHEAP lunch! we paid only 4 RMB for 3 side dishes with rice and soup! haha. we were a little apprehensive about trying it initially, but after some recommendations from the tour guide, we decided to try it anyway. and we were glad we did! sheng, u should be there!! haha.

posing with the magnificent xi hu behind us. xi hu is seriously big la. really. we were glad we didnt attempt to go on the tour around hangzhou on our own, cause the things in xi hu were expensive la (the boat ride especially!!). haha. and we also didnt know how to walk and visit all the nice nice places. haha.

we went on board this boat to tour around the lake. the view was really really breath taking. pity darling didnt take much pictures as we were busy listening to the tour guide. apparently, xi hu's featured on the back of the Chinese one yuan note.
the last picture above is one of the three stone pagodas, first built over 800 years ago,2 meters in height. these stone pagodas are the main scenic spot known as "Three Pools Mirroring the Moon" within west lake. To the west of the isle stand three ball-shaped hollow stone pagodas with five round holes around. At the night of the Mid-Autumn festival, when the moon shines full and bright in the sky, a candle is lit inside each of the pagoda, the light and the moon cast their reflections through the holes on the water, hence the name.

west lake is one of the places where chinese couples loved to take their wedding pictures in. there were a total of 10-12 couples waiting in the pavilion for the photographer to be done with others! haha. damn funny right the above pic! haha. they were symmetrical before darling took this lor! hahaha.

after the ride around the lake, we walked around to take some pictures. heehee. i really really love the place- the scenery was awesome! :)

this was the last stop for hangzhou. called the yue lao miao is where people go to pray when they want to seek a life partner. :)
before the tour ended, the tour guide brought us to this tea farm for some tea drinking session.haha. we also visited a silk factory.

by the time we left hangzhou, it was already sun set time. :)
upon returning to shanghai, darling and i took the metro down to xintiandi. the night spot in shanghai.

xintiandi is basically just a stretch of road with restaurants and pubs lining the side. the drinks there were also damn expensive. so of course, we didnt buy anything there la. haha. we merely went there to take photos and then we proceed to walk back to hotel le. (see, our hotel is near to everywhere! hahaha.)

i just like to try taking this kinda photos.haha. i wanted to create the effect of the 'lone traveller'. haha. i particularly loved the last one above. haha. the 'effect' is there. heehee. like some foreigner, alone in a dark alley. aiya, i dont know how to describe the feeling la, haha. :D

along the way back to our hotel we passed by some shopping malls. time square is one of them. the way back to hotel was something like orchard road. heehee. the shops there are like zara kinda shops. haha. so of course, we didnt buy anything again. ;p

on the fourth day in shanghai, darling and i went to visit the tv oriental tower. we wanted to go take the sightseeing tunnel. but it was too expensive and so we really bu she de la. haha. so, being adventurous, we decided to walk from our hotel to the bund. it was a BIG mistake. as it may seem near, but it was actually very far. haha. we walked for a total of 45 mins! UNDER THE BLOODY HOT SUN. haha. (yes, the sun decided to come back on the 3rd day of our trip. hahaha.) along the way to the bund, we stopped at this bridge to take pictures.

the view from our hotel room. haha. can u see the tv tower? haha. darling say this is jie jing again. haha.

after deciding against taking the sightseeing tour, darling and i head on to yu yuan.

yu yuan is a beautiful place. of course touristy as well. haha. but i think the prices there arent that expensive la. heehee. we didnt pay to go into the garden. we walked around the bazaar area to take pictures and all.haha. we didnt want to go into the garden because we were quite broke la. haha.

then, we came across this famous xiao long bao shop. my sis's friend also told me about it. so of course, i didnt miss the chance. we queued and bought 12 pieces each. heehee. the queue was freaking LONG. we waited for a good 30 mins! hahaha.
after yu yuan, we went back to people's square to take the metro to xu jia hui, the shopping area.

we didnt really take much pictures. xujiahui was something like suntec and marina area. that wraps up our 4th day in shanghai.

on the morning of the 5th day, darling and i woke up extra early. it was our last day in shanghai before taking the 3.30 train back to hongkong. we had to grab all the time we could to do whatever we could. haha. initially, we planned to go out early as we wanted to visit the museum (as mentioned above in day 1). also, we had to bathe for the "last time" before 12pm, the time of check out. (we cant bathe in the train u see! hahaha)
the first stop: pearl oriental tower. of course, once again, we didnt have the money to go up the pearl oriental tower to have a birds eye view of the place. therefore, we went for the cheaper alternative- we went grand hyatt's lobby. haha. it's free. and we get (about) the same things la. haha.

to get to this road, darling and i risk our life lor! wa kao. cause of all the construction going on for olympic, we had to jaywalk like no body's business as the subway was closed! wa lao. and we had to walk ONE BIG ROUND just to get to the jin mao building (where grand hyatt was located in). argh.

Jin Mao Da Sha!

after the short visit to grand hyatt, we walked to the nearby pearl oriental tower. rather, the outside of it. haha. and this was the closest darling and i could get to the tower. but i am already happy. haha. :D
after the exciting visit to century road, we headed back to the side of the bund. then i recalled that i had to get the starbucks bear for alester. so, we went to this particular outlet, but there were no more stock! then we recalled that there was this particular outlet near xin tian di that has the remaining stock. we were at a dilemma as we didnt have much time left. darling, being very very nice, ran all the way to xintiandi to get the bear! hehe. (aww, alester, feel bad!! hahaha.) after getting the bear, we were broke! haha. we had only like just enough to buy our lunch! haha. we had to sign for it. haha.
after checking out of the hotel, we wanted to go to the museum (as that is the place which is FREE and had AIRCON. haha) we didnt want to perspire u see. haha. however, as stated, the queue turned us off. aha. so... we went to raffles city (again!) and we found this...

COLD STONE CREAMERY!! the ice cream was SUPERB! haha. and i bought a book. but because we were really cash strapped, we had to sign card for both these purchases. haha. and, i was left with 20 yuan, just enough to pay for the cab to the train station. darling had 40 left- to buy KFC lunch. haha. we slacked in raffles city till it was time to head back to hotel to collect our luggage and it was time to head back to HK! haha. see u in the next blog post for HK! :D

<3
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