Hot.

I’m not exactly sure if it’s really autumn here in Hong Kong. I’m sitting here in my living room and I’m perspiring like mad.

Didn’t really do much these few days except doing a lot of walking around. Basically I’m spending most of the time looking around for PSP games. Well what to do, since I’m in Hong Kong and there are so much more PSP games available, I’m not going to let the chance pass to get a few new games.

Gotten my train ticket for Shanghai already. Then tomorrow I’m going to the US. I hope everything’s going to turn out fine for me there.

I need some cold air.

Mong Kok.

I’m sitting here in an Internet Cafe in Mong Kok. Oh boy how I appreciate broadband Internet access now.

Didn’t really do much for the past 24 hours or so except watching a lot of VCDs that I bought – I think I must have gotten about 10 of them and I’ve watched 4 yesterday, going to watch some more later.

According to my initial schedule I was supposed to have gone to Disneyland today, but I think I would have more fun there after I return from the US. But don’t worry, I’ll still get whatever I promised to get for everyone!

(And as I’m writing this, the Hong Kong Disneyland advertisement is on show in the TV in the Internet Cafe, it feels almost like it is reminding me about going there.)

I think I’d just spend these two days taking a break from all the work. I think after almost 5 months in Shanghai without a holiday, I think it’s only right for me to be relaxing now and not really do much.

My time here in the Internet cafe is about up, so I guess I’d stop here. And yeah, probably it’s time to get some lunch also. I think I’ll just hang around here in Mong Kok for a while more before heading home. It seems like Mong Kok is a place to be whenever I’m in Hong Kong. Oh well what to do, this is a place with all the things that I like, so there you have it.

See you guys around.

Hong Kong.

After spending two and a half days in Guangzhou (and the nearby areas), I’m sitting here in the living room of my house here in Hong Kong.

Yesterday I went to Guangzhou alone to walk walk see see and basically had quite an eye opener. I went to quite a few places in Guangzhou such as the Yuexiu Park, the Haizhu Square, etc etc. Had quite a bit of interesting observations. First of all, the GZ Metro single fare ticket is a plastic coin that works like the EZ-Link back home in Singapore, but the fun thing is that when you leave the station, you just have to deposit the coin into the exit gate and you are good to go. No need to go and get a one dollar deposit returned at the ticketing machine. Sometimes we all think Singaporeans are smart, little did we realise that the Chinese are much smarter.

Another thing about GZ is that while it is a modern city in its own right, it is still very traditional in some places. Some of the buildings are still the old ones that you can probably only see on old pictures, and I think generally GZ feels like a much better place compared to Shanghai. Perhaps GZ could be my future working destination.

Took a ferry from Nansha in Panyu to Hong Kong. The ferry was pretty fast – I was in Hong Kong in just 75 minutes, and I think that’s a good way of coming to Hong Kong, since I was in Panyu for the past few days anyway. Didn’t do much after coming to Hong Kong, and I’m contemplating to either go Disneyland tomorrow, or do some pre-US shopping. Well obviously there are some things that I need to buy no matter what, so I’m weighing what is more important…

Don’t dare to write so long cos I’m currently using my mobile phone as the modem because I conveniently forgot to install the drivers for the modem in my laptop. I don’t think using roaming for the internet connection sounds like a good idea. So I probably will just write the journal, check my email and that’s about it. Well I can’t connect to MSN, which seems like a good thing anyway.

See you guys around.

Panyu, Jiangmen & Xinhui.

Yesterday was a real day for eating! I went with my Dad and my uncle for breakfast at some dim sum restaurant, before going to Panyu, which is about an hour’s drive from downtown Guangzhou, to see my Dad’s office and his residence. Nothing too fanciful, which I think is fine even if I were to be staying there.

After Panyu we went to Jiangmen to see another few uncles there. I didn’t have any impression of Jiangmen because the last time I was there I was just way too young. Had another sumptuous lunch before going to my ancestor’s hometown, Xinhui. The trip from Jiangmen to Xinhui was very short, and when I reached there, I thought that the place was really nice. The streets were clean, the traffic was smooth, there were not too many people… basically the place really look suitable for living. Met another uncle, whom I have never seen before in my life, and I think he must have been very excited to see me.

Going to Guangzhou later to look look see see. Hope the place would be interesting.

Guangzhou.

After 29 hours of train ride, I finally reached Guangzhou. As far as the train station is concerned, it is still the same as the one that I saw about 15 years ago. Nothing about the train station has changed, but the area around it certainly had. The train ride was not too bad, just that it got a bit boring because I was travelling alone. Thank God I have a good book with me.

The train ride was smooth. Not sleeping too much the night before has helped. I boarded the train at about 1, giving myself ample time to settle down on board. Took out my book and started reading a bit before deciding that I was too tired and took a nap. The nap was long – I was asleep from 3 to 7. Woke up just in time to buy dinner for myself. At 15 RMB, I didn’t think the dinner was worth it. Continued to read until about 10 when I spent another 5 RMB for a pack of fried noodles for supper. Again, it wasn’t worth it. Just as I was finishing my supper, the lights of the train was switched off and I looked at my watch – it was only 10.30! After sleeping so much in the day, it wasn’t easy trying to fall asleep. Did some pondering on my “bed” and managed to fall asleep soon after.

It turned out to be a good night’s sleep – I woke up at almost 10 in the morning and the best thing is I didn’t get woken up in the middle of the sleep due to some sudden stops or whatever. Continued to read my book and managed to finish the whole thing at about 2 in the afternoon. Finished a 618-page long Chinese novel in one day – I’m proud of myself! Took yet another nap before starting to kill a bit of time on my PSP. After a while (more like 2 hours), the train pulled over at Guangzhou. Met Dad and my uncle who picked me up at the train station. Had dinner with them before coming to my uncle’s place which is a really beautiful place. I remembered when I was a kid I used to stay with this uncle of mine at this pretty dilapidated place near downtown Guangzhou. More than 15 years later, they are living in a much better condition than me. How times changed – or should I say, how quickly have the Chinese changed. But the good thing is they are still as friendly and nice as they were in the past. Now only if everyone in China is like that.

I think I’ll update more before my cousin’s computer decides to take a break on me. Would be going to see some other relatives tomorrow, I think it would be interesting.

Busy.

Thursday was the opening of NUS@Shanghai. It was a grand event with many guests. I think apart from some small hiccups the entire event went pretty well. I’m glad that I was part of it!

After that I went back to office and worked almost non-stop to prepare for my US trip. So I was busy preparing powerpoint presentations, touching up my reports, etc etc. Didn’t manage to go home until about 9.45, and came back to continue work some more. Eventually collapsed onto my bed at 1.30.

Today was another busy day also. Kinda worked non-stop from morning till evening. Even had to run out to Wuyi Road to buy the binding rings for the couple of reports that I have with me. But at the end of all these, I’m glad that I’ve got everything sorted out so when I board the train to Guangzhou tomorrow I know I have nothing to worry about.

Went for dinner with Serene at Fish & Co and I think we had a pretty heavy dinner. Met my boss to pass her some documents before going to Binjiang Dadao at Lujiazui to meet Dheresse and Ben. As usual had a very interesting time with the two of them and I wish I could stay longer, but the long island tea was kinda making me see stars.

Came back and basically have been doing a lot of packing. The bad thing is always trying to bring enough for a trip like that. I’ve kinda got the packing done, now I just hope I don’t end up not bringing enough.

Would be taking the train tomorrow afternoon, and with 28 hours to look forward to, I hope that the books and magazines I have with me will be enough to last me through. Let’s just hope that the trip will be good.

Update.

Didn’t update about my life for the past two days cos I’ve been kinda busy. So let’s see what happened…

Monday:
The day was actually not too bad, and my client spoiled it all for me by kicking up a fuss about an original invitation letter by the American company that is inviting him over for a business meeting. He shouted at me over the phone, saying that I can’t get small things like that done. Obviously I wasn’t impressed with that kind of attitude thrown onto me because firstly, he should count himself lucky that this particular company wants to take a look at him and secondly, I don’t work for him and I ain’t his employee, so what right he has to reprimand me? By paying that kind of misearable sums to my company, he simply has no right to be demanding so much! I was kinda upset by his attitude, but my boss told me that this is part and parcel of working in China. Some of these bosses think that because they are bosses they can throw their weights around and shout at people as and when they are pleased, especially at people lower in rank than them. I thought to myself – how can China continue to grow if you have enterprise leaders like these people?

Tuesday:
Sorted out the invitation letter issue with the company in US, in the process getting woken up at 5 by my boss and arriving in office at 6.45 in the morning. Worked non-stop from 6.45 to 8 and before I could even sit down to start munching the miserable piece of sandwich I was made to go to Shimen No.1 Road to deliver documents to my boss, who’s doing this client a massive favour by bringing the necessary documents for him. Went back to office, did work for about an hour, and was made to go to Shimen No.1 Road again – this time to deliver my client’s briefcase and his mobile phone because he was so bloody excited about the visa application that he just left all those things with my boss and went in. When I saw him, he said that his visa application has been approved – he was so happy that he probably won’t recognise his mum or something! Then I asked him about the invitation letter, he said the officer didn’t really ask for it. I almost wanted to laugh. Just how important is this invitation letter? Is that darn piece of paper going to cost him the chance to go to America? I seriously don’t think so, but then again, he didn’t think so and I’m not going to argue with him.

Went for the NUS Centennial Dinner at Okura Garden Hotel, and let’s just say that the dinner was decent enough. Met some interesting people again (all of them are my super-super-seniors from many classes ahead of me) and I think perhaps it would be a nice thing to be involved in alumni matters when I graduate.

Today:
As mentioned earlier, it was very hot today. When I went out to Lawson the convenience store to get a drink at about 3pm, I was almost suffocating because the air was so stale and stuffy. Moments later, the whole sky turned dark and it promptly started pouring. The rain didn’t last long, so my boss’ plot of getting us to work OT didn’t materialise! Was trying to sort out the details for my trip to America, and I got it fixed somehow. If all goes according to plan, this will be my itenarary:

24 Sep: Shanghai to Guangzhou on train K47, departing at 1322 hours – 28 hours on the train beckons.
25 Sep: Arriving in Guangzhou at 17:55 hours.
25 Sep – 27 Sep: Guangzhou
Evening of 27 Sep: Go to Hong Kong, possibly via Shenzhen
27 Sep – 1 Oct: Hong Kong
1 Oct: Departing for Los Angeles on flight CX884 at 1320 hrs.
1 Oct (US Time): Arriving in Los Angeles at 1135 hrs.
1 Oct – 4 Oct: Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Anaheim
4 Oct: Los Angeles to Seattle
4 Oct – 7 Oct: Seattle
7 Oct – 11 Oct: Probably Los Angeles
11 Oct: Departing to Hong Kong from Los Angeles on flight CX885 at 1320 hrs.
12 Oct (HK Time): Arriving in Hong Kong at 1920 hrs.
12 Oct – 15 Oct: Hong Kong
15 Oct: Hong Kong to Shanghai on train K100. Need to buy my ticket for this. Remind me.
16 Oct: Arrival in Shanghai at about 4 in the afternoon.
17 Oct: Back to work. Wow.

So in total I’ll be away from Shanghai for slightly more than 3 weeks. It’s going to be massive, but I hope I don’t burst the bank. Probably have to go pretty budget in Hong Kong and LA. Well, I’m happy to be there in the first place so I don’t think I’d mind it too much. I just need to draw up a list of things to get for myself and for others and see how much I would be spending on that. But to be honest, the skiing trip to Heilongjiang may have to be put off if my expenses for this trip is going to be big. I’ll see how it goes.

My next two days in Shanghai will be very busy – I’ve got a lot of things to sort out before I can leave Shanghai. It looks as if I have to do some more things even when I’m in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, but I think that’s still OK.

Next thing: sort out my accomodation in LA for the first day and the last day.

Quickie.

I thought I’d just slip an entry now, and do a much more detailed update of the last two days later in the evening.

Taken from the Konfabulator on my company desktop today.

Are you sure we are in late September now?

ZQJ.

Did some area cleaning today and I tried to tidy up my room. Now it looks much better.

Went out with Yvonne in the afternoon to do some shopping for my Guangzhou/Hong Kong trip next week. Had a late lunch at Cafe de Coral in Times Square, Central Huaihai Road and I’m glad that Yvonne enjoyed the milk tea. It showed that I don’t normally recommend people the wrong things. We had quite a good chat on a lot of things, and we both agreed that Cafe de Coral could be a very intersting business case. Now whoever is looking for a business case idea?

Subsequently we went to Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street and I bought some tea leaves for my relatives and I think that’s the best thing I can get for them, cos honestly I have no idea what they like and all that, since the last time I saw them was almost 12 years ago. Took a bus from Nanjing Road back to Zhongshan Park because again we both agreed that to pay 4 RMB for the metro from Middle Henan Road to Zhongshan Park is way too expensive. So we took a bus, and ended up paying just 2 RMB per person. It was a long trip, but at least we had seats.

Had some very hot stuffs for dinner and it’s safe to say that my face turned real red with all the spicy things that they’ve added into my bowl of noodles. But I still think it’s nice. I think spicy food makes my appetite go better.

In case it slipped everyone’s mind, it was Mid-Authmn Festival today and it was quite surprising actually to see little festive mood in the Shanghai streets. I mean, apart from the people queuing up to buy discounted mooncakes, I don’t really see much celebration going on today. And I think that’s strange, cos we are in China after all. Oh well.

The moon is said to be the roundest and the brightest on Mid-Authmn Festival, i.e. the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, and I really think so. I’m sorry if my camera is not up to standard, but I did put some captions to make for easier viewing:

Happy Mid-Authmn Festival!

And I hope you enjoyed the evening as much as I did!

Mid-Authmn Festival

Spent the day at home doing up my business case. I think it’s about done and I just have to do some minor adjustments here and there and I think I can submit it.

Went to the Singapore Consulate in the evening for the Mid-Authmn Festival celebration and I think it was a nice evening out. I wasn’t in my most networking mode today, so I didn’t really talk to a lot of new people. Did manage to have a very interesting conversations with two Stanford guys and I think it’s nice to hear how things are like at the other side of the Pacific Ocean. Also got some advice from Yixin on whether I should go for my Masters or go to work after I graduate. It’s always nice to talk to Yixin – I always feel very comfortable and relaxed when talking to her, so I think I should really try to get to talk to her more often during my remaining time here in Shanghai.

Had a short coffee session at the Coffee Bean at Zunyi Road and the waitresses there were very nice people. Sometimes I think a nice night out doesn’t necessarily must be spent at somewhere which play loud music and with people brushing shoulders with one another. Sitting in a cafe, enjoying a nice cup of cappuccino and a piece of cheese cake, chatting with some good friends is also a very nice way to chill out. I guess sometimes it’s really the company that is more important rather than the place. If you have good company, the place is always secondary.

Walked home with Yvonne and Lee Tong and did some self-realisation along the way. I think I’ve changed quite a bit compared to the time when I first came to Shanghai. Perhaps I’ve lost a bit of that naiveness and gained a bit of maturity. I guess being here by myself forces me to learn quickly. But I must say, I’m glad how these couple of months in Shanghai have changed me. When I first came to Shanghai, I was never the most business-minded person in the world. If I were given a business magazine and an entertainment magazine, I would have taken the entertainment one all the time. But after going through the work that I’ve been doing, knowing all the business people and all that, I discovered that I always want to know more about the business world, want to find out more about other things. So now Zhejiang Businessman is my favourite magazine and Chen Tianqiao, the CEO of Shanda Entertainment, is my idol. If it was the me of 8 months ago, I’d have been more concerned with where to go play, where to travel, etc. Now clubbing isn’t the most important thing on my mind, travelling around China isn’t my top priority (though I still want to go Heiliongjiang to ski and I still want to go Disneyland), play is not something that I’d have died without. I would think I’ve picked up a lot of very useful skills in life through my working and studying experience here in Shanghai, and I believe these things are going to shape me as a person. Things that used to be important to me are not really my top priorities now, and I believe there are much more about life than what I think there is. What I think is more important is to spend time meaningfully.

Well, after 8 months in Shanghai, I would be ashamed of myself if I don’t grow up and realise all these. Then I would have just wasted all my time here. I guess everyone in Singapore is going to see a different me when I go back at the end of the year.