Study trip: More serious business in Guangzhou

The breakfast buffet was good at Rosedale. Haha, I suppose it really does make a difference how many stars the hotels are rated. Here, have a look at the view from up above. Can you see the mixture of old and new?

As the weather was good, I quickly took a picture of our hotel:

After breakfast, we visited a kindergarten called JinBaoBei.

Also part of a big group of schools, this group is much bigger than the one in Shenzhen, as it encompasses education from the kindergarten level right up to secondary school level.

It was totally different to the one in Shenzhen, as they cater to a different market. Located in the heart of a village, their children do not arrive in flashy cars and they do not need to pay their fees bi-annually. Fees are paid monthly at a reasonable rate. All their teachers looked young, including the principal.

The visit was short as the principal did not have much to share. Hence, we had early lunch, after which we visited the stationery wholesale market. Boy, there were so many shops to choose from!

I only bought some photo paper and skived off with Steven in search of a place to sit down for a drink.

Next stop: Guangzhou Book City.

Fuah, you should have seen the size of this place. I purposely sent an SMS to Jie Hui to tell her that I'm in HER heaven. And I thought the place in Shenzhen was huge - this place was MUCH BIGGER! And, I was so happy to be able to use my credit card!

After dinner, I quickly went to the T-shirt shop to buy a few t-shirts as souvenirs. I flagged a cab to head towards 上下九步行街 to meet up with Kei Kei and her colleague for dimsum at a restaurant called 陶陶屋. Gosh, you should have seen this place - it was grand and even at such a late hour, it was full with yumcha diners. It was so good to catch up!

By the time I got back to the hotel, it was 11pm. Upon exiting the lift, I could hear the three Johorean girls still packing their luggage. I had to pack my luggage, too, so I hastened my pace...

Study trip: Going around Guangzhou

Our morning call was half an hour earlier this morning. We had the same brekkie and checked out at 8:00a.m. Before we headed in the direction of Foshan, we stopped by a silk factory where the Malaccans bought blankets and pillows. The three-hour journey northwards was bumpy due to the thick lines painted on the roads. I noticed that their roads are very organised and wide, used by many expensive cars! Their roads are well-manicured with plenty of fruit trees, mostly lychee, mango and jackfruit. Also, it seemed as though the recycling campaign is successful, as there were many people collecting recyclables and segregating the different materials.

We had lunch upon arrival in Foshan and boy, it tasted so much better than the food in Shenzhen. Why were we in Foshan? Well, to do this:

Yup, play with clay. Haha.. well, we visited the oldest ceramic kiln there is. The place is a heritage site, as the fire that's been burning in the kiln has not been put out for 500 years. Yup, amazing! That explains why the area surrounding the kiln looked like a distribution area for ceramic items of all sorts.

From there, we moved on to Guangzhou. Along the way, we saw a protest at the side of the road. According to our local guide, it was conducted by the local villagers who are protesting against the government taking away their ancestral lands.

We also saw this when we arrived at the restaurant we were to have dinner at:

Talk about spoiling your appetite...

Tonight, we stayed at Rosedale Hotel, room 2322. Downstairs, there were plenty of shops selling assortments of food and clothing. There was a shop selling T-shirts, which I particularly liked but with limited cash, I put the thought of buying on hold. We took a walk round and haha, ended up empty-handed. But, we did fill our stomaches with some super spicy Sichuan hotpot! I literally turned red from the spice! Yin and yang cannot exist without the other, right? So, we had McD's soft cone sundae as dessert. Haha, what a conconction!

And tonight, I spent a bomb on my phone bill answering a call from home.

Study trip: Serious business in Shenzhen

Morning call was at 7:00a.m. Brekkie was nothing to shout about. Well, I was comparing it to those I had in Taiwan and without salad and coffee, I would not even bother considering it breakfast. While waiting for our van at the entrance of the hotel, I quickly took a shot with our local guide:

On this day, we were to visit a well-known kindergarten in Shenzhen. Although the kindie was expecting us at 9:00a.m., we arrived earlier. The kindie we visited is part of a big group of kindies (similar to franchises here) called Jingjing Education Foundation. They have 20 branches in Shenzhen and its surrounding areas. They ferried us to another branch in a different suburb before they took us on a grounds tour of the main Shenzhen branch. I found the principal of this branch helpful and appreciated her willingness to share:

Like any other typical kindie in China, they have the facilities and not to mention ample space, both indoors and outdoors. It certainly helps to have a government that channels funds into the proper development of early childhood education, one that takes education at that level seriously.

Jingjing's main selling point is their special class of arts. When they say arts, it more or less means a separate class of children who go through intensive dance training (an hour each in the morning and afternoon). They get invited to perform at public events, as well as for CCTV. The children are able to execute stunts such as fold their bodies in half, bend over in a full arch etc. Although they also have specific Montessori classes, their main framework is based on the thematic and High/Scope methods.

Personal observation: I wonder if it creates a gap between the classes of children. I mean, they have say, three classes of 6-year-old children. One class is a normal class, one is a Montessori class and the other is the Arts class. I wonder if there is a comparison between the children, if not the teachers. Would they not wonder why they do not get to participate in the extra dance classes? Would they not wonder why they do not get to use the attractive shape sorting apparatus? After the discussion session with the company's director, it became clearer that it is about business expansion. They were talking about buying another kindergarten in another suburb to convert into their own. I guess it boils down to your own philosophies and motives, ey?

I made another observation during lunch: they like to serve celery and also use plenty of salt in their cooking. We made a short stop at a jade factory before proceeding to the Shenzhen Book City. It actually is a shopping complex that sells only books and reference material in audio-visual form. So, you'd get things like the electronic dictionary. I bought RMB607 worth of CD/VCD/DVDs and RMB344 worth of books. Too bad they did not accept credit cards issued by non-local banks. Otherwise, I'd earn more points and would have more cash.

After dinner, Miss Sik, Miss Cheong, Miss Liew and myself ventured on our own to Dongmen.

It felt like the Chinese version of the Taiwanese Ximenting. Inside Sun Complex, I found a sweet English-style dress that was going for half price. Too bad they didn't have my size.

It was pouring by the time we headed back outdoors. Good thing Miss Sik brought shoe protectors (the water that flowed out of the drainage systems was black in colour!). That night, I went to bed with the dress in mind...

Study trip: Welcome to Shenzhen

I've not slept for so few hours in a long time. I think the last time I did not have any sleep was when I was doing my Honours thesis. I left the house at 4:14am so take a wild guess as to what time I woke up.

The plus side of a flight at that hour would be the empty seats on board. I went all the way to the back to be by myself. Er, ok, nearly by myself, as the air steward stationed at the back spent half the flight talking to me. He was helpful and friendly, sharing his flying experiences with me:

AK80 touched down at Shenzhen International Airport 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

We were delighted but the health officers came aboard to take our body temperatures and that took a long time. They were very stringent, even prohibiting passengers from taking photographs of procedures.

One member of our tour group had to be quarantined because she had a slightly higher than normal body temperature and had prescribed medication for flu and cough. So, I took the chance to meet the other members of our tour group while waiting for her. We also warmed up to our local guide, Mr. Chan.

We had lunch at the restaurant below when our group member was released.

Then, it was off to Splendid China and China Folk Culture Village. These two places are connected to each other and is set up like an amusement park. It reminded me of Formosa in Taiwan but a much bigger version. Here's a picture of Miss Liew, my roommate and myself in front of one of the many stages in the park:

I toured the place along with the two teachers from Seremban - Miss Chong and Miss Sik. I enjoyed my long conversation with them, exchanging our experiences and backgrounds. I finally understood why Mum said that I will learn lots just by getting to know the people in the group. Here are more snapshots of the place:

One portion of the park showcased the lifestyle of the many tribes of China. Some of the different architecture and agricultural activities were also presented such as drying corn...

... and cultivating tobacco plants (which we embaressingly thought were gigantic vegetable leaves)...

There were also dance performances. One resembled the Taiwanese aborigines very much.

They were actually from the south, bordering Vietnam, explaining their dark complexion. Curious with the skulls hanging from trees, I had my queries answered when they explained that the skulls of the buffaloes signify the status of a family.

After dinner, which was literally just next door, we re-entered the park to watch two musicals.

One word - breathtaking! Gosh, the costumes, colours, the stage and choreography were out of this world! Particularly noteworthy was the design of the stage. I was imagining the amount of money they poured into the place. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed so I had to rely on memory to recount the details.

Chang An Hotel was where we checked-in for the night.

After a quick shower, we headed out to scout for food and phone cards. We found out that it was not worth the money to purchase a phone card, as with RMB85 you'd only get RMB30 worth of calls. We stopped at a chee cheong fun cafe to have char siu chee cheong fun, porridge and ramen. We nearly went the wrong way when returning to the hotel. Haha, funny but dangerous.

After such a long day, we slept soundly in Room 804, opposite Mr. Chan and the van driver.

你是在耍我吗?

亲爱的你,

是你在甜言蜜语,
还是我天真?

是你自信满满,
还是我太轻易相信?

是你对我真心,
还是我自找麻烦?

我好害怕

我是否在玩火,
是否会汤伤?

我是真的分不清
你是在付出真心
或是在耍我

我不陪你玩了
我玩不起

怎么办?

重开始到现在都是他在照顾我。吃的都是他準备。有时也会做家务。没有斤斤计较。也不会随便花钱。对我很好。但是他总不懂尊重我的理想。

我有一点害怕。我会不会再遇见一位好像他对我那么好的男人呢？

還是不要想太多。好好享受我新得到的单生吧！

我们决定要分手了。他给我的幸福我永远记得。

三年前的决定很快要实现了。我心理老早已经準备做好了。你面前嘻嘻哈哈的我跟来澳洲之前的我是不同一个人。我现在比较懂得保护自己了。以前談的恋爱叫我怎么放手，怎么不受伤。

爱的世界，我要和你道别了。不晓得我们及时回重逢呢。。。

分手比较好
好朋友做到老
不用太多烦恼
也不会带来困扰
再见说的不早
我带着一顶红帽
往着你返方向跑
面对我的未来你必须知道
不是不爱你而是不能陪
跟我回家你却不要
我答应我自己不流眼泪
越早越好　不要拉拉扯扯
我会累
爱情让我感觉到很疲惫
够了　我们的感情
留下的回忆　很美

Jennie's in town!: Last day

Having spent a late night out (for the first time in my life, I arrived home at 3:30am!), we woke up in time to meet up with Belinda for brunch. Belinda was already at Midvalley when we were in the toilet brushing our teeth!

We were in a frenzy trying to quicken our paces! Quick, quick, bak kut teh is waiting for us!

Initially, we wanted to bring Jennie to Klang for bak kut teh but Klang wor, so far! Anyways, I wouldn't know which shop to bring her to. How would I know which are the famous ones and which are not? In the end, we decided on the one Dad introduced. It's this unassuming restaurant along the LDP, diagonally across the road from St. Ignatius. Although a tad pricey, it surely was worth it!

As we still had some time before Jennie had to check-in, we detoured to Ara Damansara for a cuppa. Glad that she liked the shop. I mean, who wouldn't?

We only had drinks as the bak kut teh had yet to digest:

Before taking Jennie to KL Sentral, we made a stop in SS2, as she wanted to buy some meat floss. We were caught in a massive traffic jam as the temple in Brickfields was making preparations for the candle-light procession later in the evening. However, Jennie still made it in time to check-in for her flight at KLIA.

Dear Jennie, thank you for dropping by. Remember that:

Jennie's in town!: Putrajaya and Kuala Selangor

We were supposed to visit Putrajaya on Saturday but since Belinda wanted to meet up for brekkie on Saturday, we changed our itinerary. We had to do Putrajaya today and for once, I was happy that it isn't that far away from home.

What can one say about Putrajaya? Well, it's like Canberra, just much newer and exaggerated. Oh, we have many bridges that connect the 'island' floating in the middle of the man-made lake. Many buildings are still under construction. Some plots of land are still vacant.

As usual, we had to stop and take photos of the mosque. It has to be THE most photographed mosque in Malaysia.

Also, we took notice of some of the many bridges in the administrative city.

There was the convention centre, which looked like a manta ray. I think passers-by must have thought we were crazy to be taking photos under the hot sun.

We drove around the place and being the blur person I am, we were unsure of where we were supposed to head to. Oh well, we thought we'd follow passing cars and we stopped by a pier when we saw this:

Yup, we decided to be busybodies! Our tummies started to rumble and so we took that as a sign to head home. After having pan mee for lunch, I took Jennie to Wangsa Maju. "Wangsa Maju, what's there?" you may ask. Ah, well, this:

Yes, Royal Selangor. You won't get this anywhere else in the world, trust me. Inside, we were taken on a personal tour of the company's history. There were many things on display, showing how pewter was mined and used.

They had a wall covered with the prints of all staff members, which I thought was a good idea to promote a sense of belonging in the company:

I was impressed with the designs of the following trophies:

Both of us came out with a bag of something. I bought something that was on sale and Jennie bought a pair of really suave cuff links for a someone back in HK...

We rushed back home to shower and headed straight over to Hartamas. We were meeting up with Max and Catherine. Max drove my car and we headed to Kuala Selangor for some seafood! So happy! And when you're there, you wouldn't miss the chance to sight fireflies. Although Jennie was afraid of the sampan sinking, she was still amazed at the small flickering lights. However, it is sad to note that this time around is the least bright of the three times I've been there.

By the time we got back to Hartamas, it was past midnight. Drove over to KPMG so that we could meet up with someone we have not seen since he left Sydney three years ago - Ta Seng!

Thank you for driving all the way up from JB!