Botanic Gardens

Haven't been there in a while, went there over the weekend 'cos tj's parents wanted to bring a family from china there. had to wake up way too early to get there, but it was refreshing to feel the sun, see blue skies and feel the refreshing morning breeze, but afterwards it got way way way too hot. the orchid gardens were lovely though, i highly recommend a visit

love this pic though quite a bit of shadows. see how brilliantly he smiles now tt his teeth are done?

in the VIP orchid gardens

a japanese willow tree, unfortunately the bark was filled with carvings

the two naughty boys

singapore's national flower: vanda miss joaquim

by a mini waterfall

white fairy orchids, love it's white simplicity

in the mist house, with tons of colourful orchids

Simplicity works best

A summary of Vday. Basically a scam for lovers, over-commercialised, as if a bouquet of flowers (overpriced), a box of chocolates (also overpriced), a mass-produced set dinner (normally western food) can display how much you actually love someone. Nonetheless, girls will always look enviously at those who were lucky enough to receive a huge bouquet of flowers from their significant other.

This year in an effort to avoid the crowds tj decided to cook me a vday dinner at his bro’s place, which means his bro and dasao were automatically invited. He went to buy food in the afternoon and I arrived early evening to help.

It was a simple dinner, mushroom soup with baguette, salad with vinegarette dressing, boiled new potatoes served with herbs, sour cream and bacon bits, black pepper ribeye steak, walnut cake with baileys. Sounds like a lot, but easy to prepare (especially if you buy canned soups, premixed packets and ready walnut cake). Most importantly, it tasted great and it was fun preparing the food together. Lots of great wine and company made the dinner even more special.

Looks great doesn't it?

Memories of CNY

Though not as romantic as Christmas, I’ve always loved CNY for it’s traditional (and sometimes obiang) festivities. I mean who can resist all that yummy new year goodies, new clothes and ang bao? Not to mention Bak Kwa and pineapple tarts, the best inventions EVER.

Even the associated “irritants” like spring-cleaning, superstitions and the recent invention of techno-CNY songs that assault your ears when out shopping for goodies, are somewhat bearable and add to the festive mood. While out shopping at Chinatown last Friday, I discovered (to tj’s amazement) that I can remember A LOT of CNY songs, even down to the lyrics! Either I remember lyrics really well, or my communist primary and secondary school background is showing it’s evil roots ;)

My family is pretty big on superstition and tradition. So while we don’t really do well on ang bao earnings (cos for our family, ang bao is just a token sum), we have tons of food (we pray like a lot of times to the different Chinese Gods) and even have a gathering i.e. gambling session.

CNY is also a time when my deceased grandmother would “visit” us, especially at night after we baked all our pineapple tarts there’ll be this characteristic smell tt will float past her room so that everyone there would know that she’s back.

Now that I’m older, part of the new year preparations fall onto me. Helping my mum buy and prepare new year goodies, some home improvement mini-projects around the house, and yes I’m still supposed to clean my room.

One week left to CNY. Let the mad rushes to cut hair, buy clothes and shoes, stock up on food and goodies, clean the house, change money to put into ang baos, wash and polish the cars etc. continue…

Two different directions

The two facets of my life are heading in different directions.

Socially it’s great, having lotsa fun during the weekends, meeting up and catching up with a lot of friends. Lindy hop, chilling out, attending junmei’s wedding (congrats babe, really happy for you), cha’s bday (eh weijia is really sweet, don’t bully him ok?) and of course the upcoming Vday, CNY, and our 2.5 years anniversary… =)

But work wise, it’s becoming demoralizing. My pregnant colleague’s pregnancy is in danger, she’s still in her first trimester so everything’s quite dangerous, and she hasn’t been feeling well in a while (fever, no appetite i.e. puking out whatever she’s eating and she always looks pale and washed out). She had complications in her first pregnancy so naturally she’s worried. Last Friday she started to bleed quite a lot, so it was very scary cos of the risk of miscarriage. Thankfully the baby’s still fine, but she’s now on one week bedrest MC, which might be extended depending on the situation.

I really wish her well, she’s been trying hard for this baby (7 years?) and she really wants it, and when I see her suffering so much then I realize the greatness of a mother’s love and the sacrifices they’re willing to go through.

Thing is she’s been very hush hush about her pregnancy ‘cos she doesn’t wanna explain to others and I think cos she was worried that it might not be stable etc. so ppl start asking me what’s going on with her but it’s not really up to me to tell, and I don’t really like to evade other’s questions, or lie for that matter. Second thing is that my boss used to give her a lot of work but now that she’s not around he’s conveniently cc-ing me in all her stuff, which I don’t mind covering for her, but I have this feeling that she’ll be leaving the company soon, leaving me with all the work, plus my dept just took on an additional portfolio handling the affairs of another subsidiary… Before she joined my department she was very willing to quit and be a taitai and try for no. 2 already… plus she doesn’t like working with my boss…

Then yesterday out of the blue my other colleague (in the neighbouring dept, one of my lunch partners) tendered his resignation after 6 months. He was weary of this environment here and how his boss is being difficult, even controlling when she wants him to take his leave, so he was so fed up he tendered. A bit unexpected for me, my other lunch partner saw it coming but didn’t think it’ll be so soon, and she’s stressed out too cos her section is seriously shorthanded after one staff went on indefinite MC for depression, and now that he’s gone she’s gonna take over his stuff too… she really needs a break cos I can see how she always looks stressed out now…

I need a real holiday… complete with the beach, a spa/massage, good food and shopping… BKK anyone?

Empathy

The identification with and understanding of another's situation, feelings, and motives.

I think the only way we can really empathize with another is when we have had similar experiences previously.

Watched two movies last week, Blood Diamond and Babel. Both were good, but I preferred Blood Diamond more, simply because Leo was outstanding. Without going into too much of the plot of both movies, each had something that I totally identified with. The anguish of receiving an overseas phone call from a loved one that unfortunately relayed bad news and totally not being able to do anything to alleviate his suffering. The horror of being in a terrible situation that desperately requires medical attention, but not having access to it because of red tape and the general inadequacies of that foreign country's medical system.

I never would have understood it if I watched these movies 2 months ago. But I do now.

I’ve finally lost it…

My shopping powers that is… Wasn’t around in S’pore during the year-end sales period, meaning I missed my fave Mango sale, missed tons of great year-end bargains as well, and now that tj is feeling better and that my mood is improving too, I’ve set out, to look for pretty clothes/shoes/bags to wear for CNY. But have come miserably short.

Been shopping the whole weekend, 1 hr in Chinatown on Friday, approx 1 hr in Bugis Street on Saturday and 3 hrs in City Plaza (CP) on Sunday. For those in the know, my mum sells clothes to aunties in the weekends, so she gets clothes at wholesale prices from certain shops in CP but alas, my CP trip was very much wasted.

Ok I admit, I’m a cheapskate, so I always go around hunting for cheap stuff, but cheap stuff of good quality is always harder to find, not to mention I don’t really spend much time shopping these days, just drop by, get and go, it’s never about leisurely walks arnd the shopping mall contentedly window-shopping any more. Which then makes it disappointing when I come home empty-handed.

Coupled to that, the lack of exercise and outdoorsy activities mean I’m usually stuck at home (his or mine) mostly sitting down (eating or watching tv) and my spare tyre is growing, which makes clothes even harder to find, cos on top of the cheap and good criteria, the clothing must now also be flattering. Arghz, and the number of weddings coming up also means I have to get stuff to wear for them too!

I need to get out more…

Better Together - Jack Johnson

There's no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard
No song that I could sing
But I can try for your heart
our dreams, and they are made out of real things
like a shoebox of photographs
with sepia-toned loving
Love is the answer
at least for most of the questions in my heart
Why are we here? And where do we go?
And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and
sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together

Mmmm, It's always better when we're together
Yeah we'll look at the stars when we're together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah it's always better when we're together

And all of these moments
just might find their way into my dreams tonight,
But I know that they’ll be gone
when the morning light sings
and brings new things
for tomorrow night you see
that they’ll be gone too,
too many things I have to do
But if all of these dreams might find their way
into my day to day scene
I'd be under the impression
i was somewhere in between
With only two,
Just me and you,
Not so many things we got to do
or places we got to be
We'll sit beneath the mango tree now,

Yeah It's always better when we're together
Mmmm, we're somewhere in between together
Well, it's always better when we're together
Yeah, it's always better when we're together

I believe in memories
they look so, so pretty when I sleep
And now when, when I wake up,
you look so pretty sleeping next to me
But there is not enough time,
There is no, no song I could sing
and there is no combination of words I could say
but I will still tell you one thing
We're better together

I love the weekend, no matter how rainy

So yes, it was a rainy weekend, and it really POURED on Friday (my first half-day of the year) but it was GREAT.

The Esplanade date was fantastic, we shared a cab with his mum there, braving the pouring rain, unfortunately we didn't get to bring the wheelchair along cos it couldn't fit into the taxi boot so it was crutches all the way for him. We both dressed up for his "first public debut". Afternoon tea at V-tea room, pricey but good service and yummilicious Bailey's teacake, we ended up walking from esplanade to citilink and back (which is bloody far and I told him tt like a few times but he refused to listen). Met up with our favourite usher at esplanade, who v kindly made arrangements for the crutches-bound tj. The concert was good too =)

This was followed by good oiishi pizza for Saturday dinner, a good sleep-in on Sunday morn, and the wine culture @ Dempsey, for more pizza, sausages, lotsa good wine (and we typically dont really like wine) and tons of good conversation.

So yes, weekends are good, and its great that we get to go out once in a while. I just hope it stops raining so I can finally send my clothes for washing.

Finally Home

TJ was discharged from hospital on Sat 6 Jan, where he went home, promptly conquered the evil steps of sennett ave, and proceeded to more fun and food and REST. He went for physio too, in fact, physio is gonna be a weekly affair, to strengthen his muscles and learn new tricks! (makes him sound like a doggy) It constantly amazes me how he can now walk with only one crutch, walk with one umbrella and also walk by himself. But of course his muscles are still weak and his bone still broken, so it hurts for him to walk and he walks funny… and I tell him not to walk with one umbrella cos it looks v ah-pek, esp if it’s not raining, but I digress.

Now tt he’s home things can finally regain some semblance of normalcy, with little adventures here and there to spice things up a little, we’re going esplanade to watch a concert this week, and to national library to watch a play next week. Let’s see how he manages to brave the crowds, the never-ending taxi queues and the indifferent Singaporeans. Just tt day we were standing at the waiting point waiting for his dad to drive the car over, many other s’poreans were sitting on benches waiting for their rides, but nobody thought to stand up to offer their seat to a young man on crutches, who obviously looked like he was having trouble walking. And these were ppl in their 30s, not old uncles and aunties who also have trouble walking.

Improving Well

Since Sunday, he’s been improving v well, now he can walk with crutches and we’ve started putting him on a wheelchair and going to the foodcourt downstairs for meals (more like he accompany me to eat), haven’t managed to make it to go for a spin as yet, as there’s a lot of ppl coming to visit him, so actually I only get to speak to him properly when I call him on the phone, but it’s all good. s’pore is a whole lot better and he’s improving so much here such that he’s gonna be discharged on Saturday! Tt’s like less than a week in hospital here! How cool is tt? So yah, if u wanna visit him, u can either do it soon, or just go to his house to visit. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind tt too, but yah, his house is a little hard to get to, my friend got hopelessly lost tt day…

He’s gonna need lots of rest as bone takes time to heal, but yeah we’re already planning fun activities to go out to watch concerts and plays and have good food too! All we need now is a wheelchair and strong arm muscles (for me, to push him arnd in the wheelchair)

His appetite now is just fantastic, and it brings me joy to tabao yummy food to share

blessings come in small doses

results of the MRI was good, no back injury though there was still some blood clots in his stomach area. hence the doc asked him to try standing up and walking. which he did, he slowly sat up, and finally stood up after a long while. he tried walking too, and succeeded, for a whole of 1 cm. not much i know, but it's still a start, and we're all thankful.


notice how skinny he is right now? :( his legs are like skinnier than mine now. but they'll get better after physio. just glad tt he's able to move abit, and since he get get out of bed, he was able to use the commode to shit in the toilet (finally). next stop: a shower!

pictorial journey

pumping air into the wheels of the stretcher so that we can wheel him to the CT scan room.

wheeling him on the road (you can see cars parked in the background) to the other building where the CT scan room is

getting ready to evacuate him, strapping him into the specialised stretcher/bed, while many ppl look on

the deerjet international SOS plane tt sent him home.

the delicate task of getting him thru the small door of the airplane

all strapped in aboard the deerjet

happy new year!

tj's back, and we're just all very very glad... singapore's healthcare system is heaven compared to china's... and for the first time, we as family members can just sit back and relax! the angle of the bed can be adjusted just by the touch of a button, and he has yummy food to eat, not to mention tt his family members can finally visit him and wish him well...

tt in itself is a very happy new year gift for me, learnt the importance of counting one's blessings...

the road to recovery for tj is still long, the xray tt he took in s'pore showed some degree of change as compared to in china, so his uncle (dr seow) ordered him to MRI cos he suspected tt there might be a previously undetected back injury. if there isn't a back injury, he'll be starting physiotherapy on wednesday... it'll be tough for him to learn to walk again since his legs are now quite weak from 3 weeks of inactivity.

spent a very nice new year's eve countdown with tj at the hospital. this is actually our first countdown tgt. but it was good, whispering for fear of disturbing the other patients and being chased out by the nurses, laughing non-stop at the antics and jokes of tj's bro (kai) and wilson. in the end i'm just so glad tt he's back =)

oh yah and if you wanna visit, here are the details: SGH block 7 level 5 (ward 75) room 12. pls sms tj to let him know you're coming so just in case he'll be away (for physio or wat not) or there are alot of ppl visiting him... well wishes also welcome!

happy 2007 everyone

random pics

was sorting thru my photos tdy, so here they are


tj just happy to be off his bed, onto another bed. he just finished his CT scan. look at how thick is blanket is, cos he had to be wheeled from one building to another, and out in the open (0 - 5 deg C)
the foggy roads on my way to Xianyang airport (25 dec), you couldn't even see the wei river at all


the 2nd time i tried to get out of Xi'an (and succeeded). the fog was still pretty bad but much better than the day before

cheryl and friends got a friend (interested in photography) to take photos of the jewellery they made to post on their blog to sell. will link this up in a couple of days when the webbie is up. in his free time, he took a couple of "makeover" shots for my darling cat kinky! here are my fave shots...

finally

good news! he's coming home!

flight details: he'll be flying on an air ambulance (lear jet) from xi'an to shenzhen to singapore, ETA 930 pm (30 Dec 06) at seletar airport. his dad will be travelling on the plane with him. after he arrives at seletar, he'll be transferred to SGH by ambulance with his father sitting in a car following it.

apparently his extended family (of abt 10 ppl) are meeting for dinner tt night and they wanna go to the hospital after tt to wait for him. which i feel isn't a very feasible idea, but i think tj will be happy to see them.

yeah, he's coming home for the new year... finally...

It’s Finally Becoming Clearer

So yes, finally the insurance ppl are doing something. After frantically trying to reach tj’s china doctor, they finally did, and after consultation with him the insurance ppl decided that it’s better not for tj to travel by fully reclining first class commercial airline (not that I think there are any from Xi’an – Singapore). So they’re gonna send him by air ambulance directly from Xi’an to Singapore I think, which is expensive but much better in my opinion.

So we’re now awaiting the flight itinerary from the insurance side, to finally get to see the details of the flight including the date/time, flight plans etc. TJ’s dad will get to travel with him on board, but since the plane is very small, they only can carry 1 piece of luggage for 2 ppl. Which is troublesome but not tt big a deal.

On a separate note, i need to bitch abt the HR bitch again. after telling a whole lot of WRONG things to tj, she dropped this killer question, "so you really cannot move ah?" tj was super angry when he heard tt question, so he replied curtly, "NO, OF COURSE I CANNOT MOVE". wth, of all ppl she's the one in-charge of the case so she should be the most well informed right? but no, apparently she doesn't know the situation well and tt was such an insensitive thing to say. everyone else in the company is quite frustrated with her, so thank goodness matters are now in the insurance company's hands, so tj can deal directly with them and not with the insensitive, incompetent bitch.

Fingers crossed, hope he does manage to get home b4 the new year.

Coming Home Soon (Hopefully)

On Monday we left for the hospital very early to get ready for TJ’s CT scan. The procedures in China can be described as do-it-yourself (for lack of a better word). We have to (a) obtain a note from the doctor stating what tests need to be done (b) queue up at the counter to settle payment for the scan (c) make appointment with the CT scan ppl (d) go up and inform the nurses in the ward tt we’re taking him down for CT scan (e) find the movable bed to transport tj in (f) carry him to the bed, making sure that he’s covered nice and warm (g) move him to first floor via passenger lift (h) wheel the bed out into the open where it’s cold, across the road to the CT scan office (i) carry him onto the CT scanner (j) wait for the scan (k) reverse steps (i) – (f), (l) go downstairs to the CT lab to obtain the results (m) try to find tj’s doctor to get him to look at the scan results.

Sounds complicated? It actually is, so many steps that we all have to rush up and down, very confusing steps for a non-native, especially for us Singaporeans, spoilt by our excellent healthcare system.

But the radiologist’s prognosis is good! Basically the fluid in his chest cavity is mostly reabsorbed, his liver, spleen and kidneys are healing well. So that makes all the trouble worthwhile. Only thing was that we couldn’t get hold of his doctor cos he was busy in an operation, so we had to come early on Tuesday to try catch hold of him. After understanding the situation, he finally realized tt tj will be evacuated with a specialized medical team and probably in those medical-equipped planes, so he told us tt tj can be discharged as early as today.

The big BUT is that we’re still waiting for the head office/insurance company/evacuation company end to come up with a reply as to what they’re gonna to do. We had to wait till tonight ‘cos everyone in the west is on Xmas + Boxing day holiday. Pls lah, how can a 24 hr evacuation company not have doctors who can speak Chinese, and not have anybody standing by on a holiday? We have been emailing them more than a week ago reminding them of the upcoming holidays and telling them we DON’T wanna have to wait for them to slowly come around after he’s been discharged. Just want them to be more transparent abt things.

As of 9pm, the medical evacuation company just called tj up telling him their very very rough plans, involving buying him a first class ticket (fully reclined), complete with oxygen tank and medical personnel. Which sounds fine and dandy, but the flights at Xianyang airport are mostly domestic flights, which don’t have fully reclining first class seats. Well it might be possible to ambulance him to another city nearby, but it seems to me that Xi’an is already pretty well connected to everywhere else. Ambulance ride to Beijing will take at least 8 hrs (assuming no traffic jams) which is crazy cos tt’s longer than the airplane ride from Beijing to S’pore. Trust them to come up with the cheapest alternative. So now they’re gonna work thru today settling the logistics etc. Which pisses me off ‘cos we’ve been writing to get them to do something more than 1 week ago and they only start planning now? Gosh.

Hope for the best.

All FOGGED Up

Monday 25^th Dec 2006

A separate entry, cos this is my experience in the foggy city of Xi’an. I arranged to leave Xi’an on Monday on a 1715 flight to make it for the 2355 flight from Beijing to S’pore. Monday being the important day of the CT scan, I wanted to be there as long as possible so I can put my mind at ease. Probably not the best move for me.

Left the hospital and hotel at 1300 for the driver (feng) to send me to the airport. Reason why we left so early is that it’s foggy, all highways except the ones that lead to the airport have been closed and all cars drive very slowly on foggy days. So I had a rushed lunch and left. Though feng drove slowly, there weren’t tt many cars so we actually made it to near the airport at about 1400, which was way too much time to spare. So kind feng decided to drive round Xianyang (a city nearer to the airport) for a spin, to show me the large Wei River as well. Was slightly paranoid that he’d drive me to some ulu place to rob me (cos some parts he passed by was really very ulu). But on the whole it was all right, we were chatting here and there, I was telling him about S’pore and he telling me about Xi’an and Shaanxi province. Reached airport at 1500. It was already slightly chaotic there, and flights were being delayed or cancelled due to foggy weather. I went to check in, but was told by the check-in staff that the flight’s been delayed, they don’t know how long it’ll take, because the plane is still in Shanghai Pudong (2 hours flight away). I was calculating, cos if this flight was delayed means I might not be able to catch my 2355 flight, and I didn’t want to spend a night in Beijing, rather stay in Xi’an where I know more ppl, can see tj also… so I started making calls to tj and my parents to consult them as to what I should do, and called my colleague A to inform her that I prob might not be going to work on Tuesday. Was just standing there waiting, then suddenly the station manager started shouting who’s going to Beijing? They freed up a plane and it was departing in 40 min. I could live with tt delay, so I hurriedly checked in my luggage, bade goodbye to feng (who was there with me all the way looking after my luggage, kindly lending me his phone to make china phone calls etc.) and proceeded to the boarding gate.

We boarded the plane about 1730, I was happy cos the plane was pretty new and there was an empty seat next to me. The plane slowly taxied to the runway, and we’re getting ready to leave. 10 min later there’s an announcement telling us “due to bad weather, the plane has not been cleared for takeoff, the pilots are in contact with Air Traffic Controllers for more details etc. Ppl started switching on their handphones and telling their loved ones they weren’t gonna be at Beijing that night. Anxious passengers started asking the cabin crew questions, but they weren’t able to answer either. Finally, at about 1800, the plane turned back to the tarmac, and we were offloaded.

We boarded a bus to take us back to the terminal. It was a scary ride, it was pitch black, the fog was like a wall choking you, and we could only see the blinking lights from a vehicle <5m style=""> Now we understood why they turned back. But they didn’t tell us outright that the flight was cancelled, only that it was delayed till weather conditions improved. Commonsense told me that the colder it gets, the worse fog gets so I decided quickly (after a phone call to tj) that I wasn’t going anywhere that night. So feng was told to come back to pick me up while I proceeded to cancel my ticket and get back my luggage.

It was terrible. Ppl were pushing and shoving at the ticket counters, waving their flight schedules and paper tickets (not boarding passes mind you) and screaming at the counter staff. I know they tried their best, but there were just too many rude ppl. To cancel the ticket, we had to return our boarding passes at one counter, and proceed to the next to get our paper tickets stamped “Delayed” then reclaim our baggage. There the problems started. I did not have a flight schedule or paper ticket (booked thru e-ticket) and I wasn’t as aggressive so the staff didn’t really attend to me till much later, and ppl were just pushing in from the back, by the time I was done I was so squashed inside I couldn’t get out, but I did in the end.

While trying to claim my baggage, I realized that I didn’t have my luggage tag with me, hence they were unable to find my luggage for me. First time I don’t get a luggage check-in tag, my flight gets delayed. Best. After trying calmly to explain to the counter staff that they didn’t give me a luggage tag, they finally went to the system, retrived the number and returned me my luggage. By then I had spend 1.5 hrs shouting, getting pushed at the airport. Was just so drained. Feng came to pick me up, where my original room was waiting for me…

Feng told me that after I proceeded to board, he felt that as it gets later the fog would thicken, so he waited another half hr in the airport before he finally left. When he was driving back to airport to pick me, the visibility was so poor (~1m) that he had to strain his eyes to focus on the road. After that, he drove me back for dinner and rest in the hotel. Was very tired then… what a way to spend Xmas. Ate a lot for dinner that night.

The Way Home (Finally)

Tuesday, 26^th Dec 06

Went down early to hospital to catch the doc before he goes for operations and stuff. Totally not enough sleep the night before so wasn’t really thinking straight. Saw that the weather was getting better so decided to fly today, got his Beijing office to book a new flight for me, stayed with tj abit more, then left. After more jostling in the airport, I learnt that my 1410 flight was gonna be postponed to 1750 (which was still ok for me) but then they had another earlier flight at 1430 which they booked me on. Will be in Beijing too early, but it’s ok, arranged for his Beijing office to pick me up at airport, put me up in their staff housing to rest/wash up before taking me back to the airport for my 2355 flight. Got on the flight, waited one hour on the plane for missing passengers before take off at 1530. Flight was as ok as it could be, sandwiched btwn a fat man and another one w bad breath. Thankfully it was short.

Though I reached Beijing a tad late and was considering whether I should trouble the driver to send me back and forth, I learnt tt he was there to pick someone up (arnd the same time as me) and later he had to go to airport to pick another person up and could send me back. So I decided to just go. Beijing is a huge city, modern, bustling etc. The number of cars on the road on the multi-leveled highway is amazing. Reached their luxurious staff house, dumped my luggage there, then left to walk around Beijing and find dinner.

Had about 3 hrs to kill, first time in a foreign land by myself at night, so didn’t dare to walk into dark alleys, just stayed on main roads. Walked inside the high class china world shopping mall where there was LV, loewe, and all sorts of other high class brands that I can never afford, and decided to walk outside, walked all the way till xiu4shui2jie1, supposedly a good place for shopping though somewhat a tourist trap. Decided I didn’t wanna have to deal with more Chinese ppl and having to bargain, so tried to have dinner, which isn’t v fun when you’re alone. Almost had KFC but decided not to, a Chinese fast food restaurant, had good beef noodles and thick soya bean milk. Yumyum. Tried to find Tiananmen square, near China World Apartments but it was dark and I couldn’t find it (wasn’t equipped with a map) so decided to just go back, wash up and head off.

Back at the apartment, I met C, the other Project Mgr taking over. A v nice fatherly figure, think I woke him up when I entered, spoke to him awhile. He told me they all liked TJ and tj was having so much fun in this job and they were v sad tt this unfortunate accident had to happen etc. The driver, J, didn’t know I was tj’s gf until the ride back to the airport, and he was nicer the 2^nd time around, enquiring abt his condition etc. Telling me how tj loves his job though his parents and gf didn’t, and how it was a struggle for tj…

I realized something abt this trip, that he has wonderful colleagues, who do all they can to make it easier for us. All friendly and concerned for him, and they all like tj cos he’s just an enthusiastic, friendly, young chap whom they think can go far… though we’re frustrated abt how the upper mgmt seem to be dallying and not being helpful, we can’t deny that we’re very well taken care of by the admin and ops staff in china, we get driven arnd everywhere, meals are always paid for (and they ALWAYS order too much). Makes me feel bad abt being so annoyed with him leaving all the time. But yah, I maintain tt the HR dept is very annoying.And I finally realize why tj always tells me abt his adventures and tell me that he wants to bring me traveling arnd the world. All arnd Xi’an and that lone night in Beijing, I realize that part of the joy in traveling is having someone there to share the wonderful scenery and interesting culture with.

Return flight was good, SQ is always good, there were ample seats so I ended up lying down to sleep on 3 seats. Flashing my airport pass gives me additional discount at duty free (15% off alcohol!) so it was more shopping before I headed for work, but was too sleepy to concentrate much.

Now I just wish he can come home too…

Going Home

been packing and stuff, a cold cold xmas this year, but it's not white here somehow. more like foggy. woke up this morn to a big fog and it's getting cold here, but no snow.

so yeah, i'm packing my bags right now, getting ready to go home. Xmas is D-day here, the mainland chinese don't celebrate Xmas so there's no public holiday, so tj's going for his CT scan tm. busy day which will start early and hopefully end on a good note. i'm leaving the hospital at about 3pm tm for xianyang airport to fly to beijing, gonna travel on subload ticket so am abit nervous abt missing my flight if it's full but yah, i just hope to leave xi'an with a light heart knowing tt he's coming home soon after and i can start preparations in s'pore.

but yeah, i'm ready to go home, don't like it here, just hope tt he can come home soon too...

merry xmas everyone