Chapter 6: A sunday at Suzhou!

Hi Guys! Pardon the long period between each posts. Just that the past week zoom by with all the activities and work. So I decide to make a short post before I sleep.

Today 40+ of us went 苏州. We visited 2 of the famous 园林 which are gardens of the rich during Ming and Qing dynasty. They are 狮子林 and 留园. We also visited the well preserved gates of old Suzhou city during the Reign of 吴国 in the warring states era. Last but not least, we visited 寒山寺 the renouned temple for its appearance particularly in poems of China. So without further ado, let the pictures speak for themselves. (Do remember each of them is word a thousand words. Haha)

留园

寒山寺

盘门三景

Pardon my expression.. there are just too many people at 狮子林

The trademark stone of 狮子林. Looks like 3 prominent tigers. Some finds 9 tiger in total.

The beauty of 狮子林 combined with message from Spring. I feel poetic all of a sudden!

Alright, good night!

Chapter 5.2: Adventurous travelling!

Company stuff aside! Last Sunday we went 泸潮港 to have seafood that was recommended by Kim Chuan's colleague. It was so far south of Shanghai that it took us 2 hours just to reach there. For the time spent travelling, the view of the place isn't that great (Reminds me of Kukup). The sea is about 100m away from the town area and we were too lazy to walk so far. As for the seafood, we had some exotic fishes, one of which has a texture of toufu another one seems like mudskipper.. End of the day, we nearly missed the bus ride home! It was a real close shave. In terms of adventurous factor, this is certainly one of the high risk trips we took, as the place is out of the Shanghai map...


Left: The small fishing port at Lu Chao Gang. Right: The tower that signifies the place is indeed Lu Chao Gang

Monday we went 龙华寺, the oldest temple in Shanghai (Built in 3 kingdoms era, 247 AD). Beside the temple is a pyramid-like monument surrounded within a garden for the Martyrs that liberated Shanghai in 1924 (i think). The place is calm and serene but has sites that reminds you of what atrocities people will go through in pursue of their ideal world and government. This place sort of reminds me of Changi Prison Museum in Singapore.

Now for the pictures!


Gates of the oldest temple in Shanghai!

One of the marvelous sculptures depicting events of the Shanghai liberation by the Communist party.

The pyramid-like structure of the Longhua Martyrs Mausoleum.

Chapter 5.1: Settling down to the groove of Shanghai

Hi guys! Notice that the Chapter also signifies how many weeks has passed since I reached Shanghai. This week, my company is still undergoing cost cutting measures. That is to say, minimize the number of people working while the others take no paid leave. Fortunately, I still get to work on tuesday onwards. Not that I'm a workaholic but working certainly makes IA report easier to write.

Also, there isn't any company shuttle bus this week. I had to take train and then feeder bus to work everyday, mostly standing and sleepy for the whole of 1hr 30min trip. This experience makes me appreciate company shuttle bus more! However, the silver lining to this is that I am able to chat with colleagues and my supervisor more during travel. Through these random chats, ice are broken with colleagues and better bonds forged. The company shuttle bus did not offer these sort of interaction as most people prefer to sit at one corner and just start sleeping or listening to music.

All talking done!

So I overslept one morning in the train and ended up at the extreme end of Line 6, 港城路, luckily I wasn't too late for work. This incident reinforced the value of company shuttle bus! At least I will wake up at the company taking the shuttle bus for sure! (FYI its like you wanted to alight at Jurong East station but overslept till Boon Lay)

Chapter 4: Hangzhou trip!

这个礼拜因为金融危机的影响，公司停产一个礼拜。所以我跟尼古拉斯一起到杭州玩两天。
以下是一些在杭州的照片。因为时间的关系，下次再增添多一些照片和照片的注释! 晚安！

好吃的食物！

南屏晚钟！记得那首歌吗？

白蛇传的一个情节


雷锋塔

六合塔

虎跑梦泉！景色很美啊!

虎跑梦泉！又是美景色！

西湖美景



东坡肉!特别好吃！

西湖的音乐喷泉！好雄伟，真是震叹不已！

黄龙洞，可以去求签！


好靠近西天！


在灵隐寺里的石头佛像！

Chapter 3.3: 2 weekends of studies in 1 post!

Hi guys,

I just came back from singing KTV in 好乐迪. For 2 hours, it only costed 25 + 10 rmb each (15 went). 35 rmb is like.. SGD$8. It was a ton of fun! You will never get such a spacious room at such a price back home. =p

The following pictures are some of the events that happened for the past 2 weeks of study. Events in chronological order are:
1st week: Friday, study. Saturday, study + evening potluck at Jerom's place!
2nd week: Friday, study + KTV session! woot!!!


Left: Me at the Jiaotong gates! Right: My housemate, Marcus and I in the classroom

Lecture in progress! Opium war!

This is the result of smoking too much opium...

This happened at the potluck event at Jerom's place. No Mahjong table? Use towel instead!

This is the Haoledi VIP room. Fits 15 and moreee. The room costs 180 rmb (S$35 or so) per hour.

This is the front section of the KTV room. Place for people to summersault, break dance, unplugged singing etc. Looks fun? Of course 1st session all shy, so we ended sitting at the sofa =p

OK SLEEP. Enjoy your weekends people!!!