GoodBye Shanghai...

I still remember how I felt when I was standing in the cold, looking at the company which I was going to work in for 6 months. Hour by hour, day by day, each day went pass with the increasing yearn for the end of my IA to come... and finally it came.

Last week of my stay in Shanghai... off to 新天地, the alleys of pubs really come alive when the sky turned dark... along with it comes the many westerners and of cause the feeling of slowing down the pace of life to enjoy a cold sip of beer...

Went to the old villages at the outskirts of Shanghai too... I must say its shopping heaven for aunties like my mum... everything also cheap cheap, everything also buy buy... and poor me at the back everything also carry carry... After we whacked the old villages, we proceeded on to the oriental pear tower. Standing at the most expensive district of Shanghai, the tower offers 360 degree of view of the area around the river. I was quite lucky that the sky is quite friendly... no rain, no fog... There was not much people inside the tower, so we got into the lift quite fast... as usual the lady inside the lift gave an introduction about the tower and Shanghai... but what is interesting is that her speech started when the lift door close, and ends rights before the door open... I think they must have practise it for countless times... We went up to the second ball first... there is a buffet restaurant at that ball... but whooping 40 buck SGD is no joke... so we just snap some pictures and came down to the bigger ball below. The bottom ball is actually a space city... they managed to packed a mini roller coaster inside and all the lame rides... Anyway I went on that roller coaster... I thought it would be just like those "cho cho" train thingy... I still take out my hp wanting to take some pictures... the attendant told me to keep my hp in case my hp drop inside... Lucky I listen... 3 words to describe the ride - short, intense, fierce.

Towards the end of my mum stay in Shanghai, I brought her to 杭州. The lake really bring in huge money for the state sia... people come all the way to walk along the lake... We had a hearty lunch at this glasshouse restaurant... there are actually many nice restaurants with very good concepts along the lake... and they have 1 street selling all the branded goods from Europe too... Fierce de... After our meal, we joined the walking gang along the lake... basically it was a 5 hour after meal stroll... walk and walk, there was this chap, that followed us, telling us to go for his tour thingy... he would bring us tour around the lake, bla bla bla... I said no. Apparently he cannot understand the word no, neither he can understand my shaking of head... and he went on pestering me like a pain in the ass for 15 min... Anyway soon we came to the little temple of general yue fei, but didn't went in. My mum said there is nothing much to see inside... But of cause I never fail to take some evidence of me being there back.

My mum and her friend went back one day after my birthday... Before that ofcause they wip out a feast for my friends... First time in my life so many people sung birthday song for me together... really touched... my cake was a tiramisu cake with a cute little cow sitting on it... To make things better, every single member of the puxi family turned up... and of cause... the kodak moment before I made my wish and chop the cake... thanks so much once again to everyone for making my 24 birthday a special one... I liked boon's expression... act serious look... wahahaha....

As my aunt waved her hand at me, as I walked into the gantry, as I looked at the plane which is going to carry me back home, I can't help think about my apartment, the path which I walked every day to work, the mini mart which I bought my breakfast. Once called my home, now they are just ordinary places and soon they are gonna be memories in my head...

There is a Chinese saying," 天下没有不散之宴席..." Everything comes with it a closure... and with that comes the opening of another journey... Really glad that I didn't submit my rejection letter to the GIP office 6 months ago...

"Looking forward to spending every moment with you, hand in hand through every journey ahead of us..."

a simple picture

There was once a picture; drawn over the years... it has a blue back ground, with a boy on the right side. The left side of the picture was not drawn. The artist had been trying so hard to draw on that area. Always after drawing a few lines, the picture just don't seem right. The drawing paper seemed like it's gonna tear soon with all the erasing... however, just as the artist wanna give up, one girl came along. They soon became friends... As the time they spent together gets more and more, the artist can't help but having the idea of painting her in the picture of his. One day the artist found out that the girl drew a line on the blank area in his drawing... the artist gathered all his courage and asked the girl if he can paint her in the picture. She agreed... and the artist was over the moon... As the artist paints the outlines, the smile, and body, everything seems more and more fitting... the artist knows that it's not the same as sketching anymore, as now every stroke he paints is an irreversible process. At first, the artist was very scared to put on the colour as if it does not look nice, he would have to draw the whole picture again... therefore, every month, the artist took out the colour pencil, and tried to put some colours to the painting. As time goes by, he has learned to colour better, knowing which colour makes the sketch look nice and which one does not. There have been times which the artist drew wrongly and the made the lady disappointed. Sometimes the lady will get impatient and became angry over the hot weather or hunger, or the wrong things the artist said in their chat while painting the picture... But he was glad at all these while, the lady has been standing there, posing for him... As the month goes by, the area that he coloured is bigger compared to the previous ones... the artist finally understand the reason why. He cannot wait to see the completed picture... and every night and day, he has been thinking of how the completed picture will look like, where he will hang it, and what he will say to his friends when they see his picture...

It was a simple picture... Made special by you.