It's All About The Experience
Posts tagged farewell
Guangzhou Village & City
Apr 17th
Seems like ages since I’ve last posted anything. To warm up back this little blog, let me post about a week stay in Guangzhou, China.
Girlguide
Introducing the map reading babe aka the occasionally reliable guide and great companion.
Without her I’d be practically lost in China and not to mentioned bored to death especially during those monotonous rides to the city centre.
The map also detail the bus and MRT routes.
Village
The place where I stayed, I wouldn’t deemed it as a village as in the ‘kampung’ sense where they are coconut trees and houses made of wood; no.
The cute and pretty house cat.. miao miao miao~~
One can see medium scale industry such as timber, wood products – doors, tables and bed frames; handbags, unfinished leather goods, etc. E-bike (bicycle running on rechargeable battery) is a popular transport.
There is also a big clinic nearby the market. There are plenty of eating shops available and even a small hypermarket.
Public transports comprise of motorbikes and buses (~RMB 3 / RM 1.5) that would adequately connect you to other places such as the Guangzhou city centre where it is efficiently connected through MRT (RMB 5-10 / RM 2 – 5) and feeder buses. Unfortunately the train runs underground so there’s nothing much to see. That’s why hours of traveling underground could be boring.
There, people with the same surname stays in a particular village. Ours is the “Yang” village. So everyone in the village is Mr./Mrs/Ms. Yang. Lol.. But afraid not, they are influx of ‘outside’ people coming into the village, mainly for work, and vice versa. So if you’re a youngster in the village you can still find a partner with a different surname..heh.
Weather
It was suppose to be the end of spring, going into the hot season but as the today’s climate would have it, weather around the world has gone a little off timing. The first two days were chilling despite the temperature being 20-22 deg C. The last three days were okay. When it’s cold, bathing is not enjoyable but made bearable by the ‘furnace’ (water heater). It runs on gas as oppose to electricity. Mind you, it’s as good as the electric water heater, complete with volume and temperature control.
Food
Compared to Malaysia, some food taste nicer, some not as good. Generally, the flavour is similar. Food in the village can be delicious and cheap. For example, 4 ample bowls of noodles cost about RMB 20 – that’s RM10 with change! Unsuccessful to find pork burger in KFC or McD (we thought they have it, no? hmmm…)
The reunion dinners cum karaoke + mahjong sessions
Language & People
The people in Guangzhou speaks Cantonese by large, also Mandarin and swearing is pretty common too. Sometimes they use it as conjunctions in their sentences. Even old lady curses. Now I know where the bad words originated from.
You don’t want to mess with the old lady on the right cause she can be very fierce but she’s a great host and even gave up her wooden mosquito netted bed for us.
She’s generally a humorous person, who’s tongue in cheek kind of joker. At her age, she’s still very sharp and hears well too but aches at her joints due to old age and many years of hard work in the paddy field. Indeed it is true, when they say Chinese people are not that civic minded (yet). We experienced the ‘culture’ in more than one occasion in various places. For instance, they don’t expect you to use their toilet if you’re not a customer and they have no qualms about scolding you if you did so. They might even tell you with a straight face about not having a toilet in a properly built hypermarket. They will stand by the doors of the train like they’re about to run for the Olympics gold medal and when the train arrives, rush in and lay whatever they have in hand to occupy seats for their partners. The same scenario would happen in a bus. Speaking of which, don’t expect them to queue to board a bus. While fighting your way into the bus, you should also protect yourself from being elbowed, especially on the face. Generally, they are not friendly to strangers. Do not expect courteous smiles or welcomes and thank yous from their services, even from airport staff. Some work like they’ve been under pressure or gotten out from the wrong side of the bed (perhaps they did…hmmm…)
Activities / Places
Went to the nearby market every other day for breakfast, buy snacks, clothes or just to look around.
Such seems to be the life of the people in the village – to visit the market and buy groceries, everyday.
Went to the overpriced (RMB 200/RM90/USD30) but nevertheless worthy zoo.
Like other zoos (except our own deplorable zoo negara), Chime Long Zoo is well kept, clean, spacious and the animals look well fed.
A banana for her effort instead of cuddly toy…whuahahahaha~
The biggest attraction for us was of course the very cuddly cutie panda.
After that we went to the croc farm although not much time to explore as it was getting late.
Chime Long has a theme park nearby the zoo too. There are various packages to choose from but I would say they are rather expensive. If it’s fun it might be worth it.
Went to a shopping place ala ‘petaling street’. Depending on your style and preference, you might get a good bargain on anything ranging from accessories to boots.
Also went to some parks (FOC).
Generous June
Jun 29th
Lady luck must have been on my side as I was blessed with many kind offerings in the second half of June. I saved substantially mainly from meals. Not only that they were free, they were gastronomically satisfying as well. Ain’t my tummy happy? lol.. Heck I even won a book from a contest by Red.fm which I never intentionally meant to participate.
First off…CHI had small little parties for the Les Mills’ second quarter releases.
CHI is more than just a place to keep fit. From the staff to instructors to the friends that I’ve met, they have all added a personal touch in my life.
Then…for all the sugar rush that kept my glucose level high in the mornings and evenings.
The the warm dinner on a cold night at ‘The Apartment‘
The very appetizing clam and mussel dish is a must-try.
IYD appreciation cum Jasmina farewell poolside partey~~
FRHAM even gave gifts to those who volunteered. Free food + gift..man..couldn’t ask for more. What I should have packed more is my favourite spaghetti! Should have packed 5 packs. haha… now now.. I shouldn’t be greedy hor… I miss the lamb too.
Lastly, the books…
Nurse bought me a book entitled Taming The Tiger. Didn’t she know I’m already a tame tiger? haha. Anyway she said it was an impulsive purchase because when she sees the word ‘tiger’ she thought of me. aawwww… The book was signed by the author too, who was there to launch it. Not exactly J.K. Rowling, but thank you so much!
Now here’s a spooky story. Michael Jackson came to visit on his first dead anniversary, in a form of a book! Lol.. Here’s what happened – I was, few weeks ago, went to Red.fm webpage to check out Ally’s review on Ecoba. While at it, I saw some contest links and decided to just check what was on. And since June was the month of MJ’s untimely death, Red.fm was giving away his autobiography, which, according to the cover page, his one and only. Two weeks later, someone called to say that I’ve got it! All it took was a simple question and a sentence that I completed in less than a minute. I don’t even quite remember what I’ve wrote in the ‘complete the sentence’ part anymore. I collected the book on the 25th, the date that MJ died last year.
Thank you all
Looking forward to badminton competition in July…
Do I still have what it takes to win?
Hell, It’s About Time
Jun 8th
Hell it’s about time that I stopped studying. I’ve been studying for… well for as long as I can remember. Study cost hell a lot of money and during those period, sad to say, I made none, substantially
Now I shall pledge to make mum, dad and sis’s investment worthwhile, sooner rather than later, I hope. Having graduated at this time around hasn’t exactly been all rosy due to economic downturn.
Nevertheless, I’m delighted that I’m finally done with my degree. It was hard-earned to some extent and that piece of paper better be sweet-smelling when I get my hands around it and it had better serve its purpose in due time.
I hate and love the life as a student. Contrary to common belief, I hate studying. Hell yes I do, but I love to learn. Studying to me is pouring over notes and books and gathering information and doing endless assignments and projects and finally attested all the abovementioned in examinations. I hated those because studying in this kind of education system makes me all the more academic oriented and worst of all, I succumbed to it. It makes me feel like the unquenchable thirst of vampires for blood. You know it is evil, but you just can’t help it because it satisfies you at the end of the day, and more especially when you’re at the top of your game.
However, I learned a lot too. I’ve become more skilled at digging information, putting them through brain-boggling process, and producing quality results. I’ve become more diligent, paying attention to details and best of all, emphasis on originality. Probably I’ve become cleverer but not exactly smarter; otherwise I would have used my cleverness to make money, see.
One of the things that I liked most about life as a student is that you get to make a lot of friends and enjoy activities together. I love the people in my place, all of them – my batch friends, COP peeps, juniors and seniors, badminton gang, dearest roommate etc. etc. The events and people are those that shape a person’s character most.
To my batchmates, when we first started out – all aspiring engineers, and IT and Business specialists, we were quite close. We celebrated almost everyone’s birthday, and everybody would come and sing birthday song, eat cake, chat and take pictures.
We would watch movies together, sometimes in the common room and sometimes in each other’s room. I remembered we watched the lousy Alien-vs-Predator in the common room, but the crowd was great. We watched The Incredibles, Scary Movie, and Road Trip together too.
We would wait for friends to go to class together. That time, we would depart as early as 15 minutes before class started, but as we ages, we would wake up at the same time the lecture would start, or skip it altogether.
Through the years, large group broked into smaller clusters like what global warming did on ice sheets. The process is natural, but the again is the same everywhere.
Along the years, there were friends who became lovers…and then friends again, and there were those who stick it until today. What an efforrt! Bravo! On and off we had some meals together – our so called batch meals were great.
I enjoyed J04Unity too as it was something quite memorable and special. We even have our own t-shirt than I hope we can still fit into for many many more decades to come.
Although we were segregated, but I believe we all cherished what we’ve been through and cared for each other in their own ways. I salute you all for finishing this race together and thank you for your friendship.
I think I was a difficult roommate. I slept relatively early, and I get annoyed easily when I do not get enough sleep. I can get angry when I’m annoyed but I don’t usually scold or yell.
My silence can mutate into cold wars. I hated that. But my last roommate was a wonderful person.
He made a lot of positive impact in my life and I learned a lot from him. Not only that, he massaged for me countless of times too. There were people who talked about moral and there were people who practiced them. He’s the latter.
To COP peeps, you guys rock! You are all very fun-loving bunch of people. Whenever there’s function you’ll invite me and accept me for who I am.
The camp in Cameron was outstanding, so as many other activities. I love them all. Thank you for the farewell rock! Thank you for the friendship! Thank you for the fellowship!
To badminton gang, the moment we ended our last ‘power match’ I already missed it. I understand now there’ll be no more such fantastic gang to play with, or will there be another one? Probably not, very unlikely, or is it?.. hmmm. I miss it so much.
I don’t know how or when exactly we started playing regularly, but hell, I’m glad we played so many games together (never enough though), and shared so many personal stories at the sports complex.
Hope our pictures will still be there when we come back in August. Remember to go and check.
To seniors and juniors and respected friends, acquaintance, and even lecturers and pak and mak guards (for keeping us safe), you have all added colours into my life. I’ll remember the sports that we participated, the cook-and-eat-together time, supper-at-mamak-slash-McD-slash-tongsuikai times, the ‘ooos’ and ‘aaahs’ during movies in cinemas, the campings and holidays, the laughers, the sharing, the smiles, the hugs, and etc. etc. etc. And for that, I sincerely thank you all for the companionship and friendship. Thank you!
Hell it’s not about time that I start to miss you guys, because I already have, and am and will. Peace upon you, friends!
