Balanced(:

okie..
i finally have time to upload the truckload of fotos..
and change blogskin..again..
hahaha..im just too bored..dun wanna start on maths yet,
and im irritated w the other skin cos of the scrolling..hahaha..

btw,these are just the selected fotos off hand..
still gt quite abit that i've not gotten yet..hahaha..
the china trip was fun..definitely a memorable one..
made loads of new friends too!
brace urselves for a super long post
ok..chronological order:

Day 1 and 2- Nanjing

Random pix of the tchers..

we met up with mr red M&M!
shuhui even asked if he could hear us..and..he could..

haha..i know..
i look kinda bored..
that's cos i was recovering from being air sick..
my ears were blocked,i hate that.

see the long long long line of taxis?

This was taken on the yangtze bridge.
it caught fire the day after we visited it..

introducing our new line of...sardines!

We visited the Nanjing masacre memorial...

There was an arm sculpture on the left..
i forgot to take a foto of it..
it's to illustrate that the person was bombed and his limbs and head was seperated..
or sth like dat..heh..

This was a site to show the atrocities the jap had done, the skeletons are real..

This is one of the many eg. of the torture the nanjing pple had to go thru.
See the skeleton on the right?
notice that the head is slanted?
yep..use ur imagination to guess what had been done to it..or him..or..her..

This was the place we had our first meal in china..
we had a culture shock!
The utensils are super dirty, there were left overs in my cup, and wierd stains on the plates and bowls..they felt oily too..
so, we, the typical singaporeans, started wiping all our utensils as though we had OCD..hahaha..
dat's why i tink the staff there is super pissed with us..hee..

Oh..we visited the confucious temple too..
i saw a dragon!
actually,it's not exactly a temple..
it's just streets with loads of shops..
and it's near our hotel..
soo...we did our shopping there!
Shopping was great..everything was super cheap..

Day2:

This was the 2nd restaurant we went to..
it's super posh..
oh...i forgot a small detail..
we had 10course meals every single meal we had in china.
ok..to be fair, only the food and hygiene in the first restaurant was bad..
the rest was fine.. (:

forgive me if im wrong, bt i tink this place is called the mausoleum
haha..u can't blame me..
there were too many places we visited,so im kinda mixed up..hee..

*gasp*

how are we getting up there?!

get away from me!
the sign says "keep clear of each other"!

our version of "you jump, i jump"
but actually, i dun really wanna jump..im still young..hahahaha..

this was the view we got after climbing the long long long long flight of stairs..
surprisingly, panting aside, the climb was fine..haha..
and the view was great!

Next up!
We visited a museum..we were supposed to study the ancient civilisations of China
bt i dun see hw that is related to History anyway..it's more related to china studies..
at first, we intended to stone for 2hrs..
bt,we came across this indoor garden that was perfect for cam whoring!

yes yes..we know we can't lift a window..

we did manicure in Nanjing!
there was a place along the streets of the confucious temple that offers super cheap manicure services!
After much haggling, we managed to get the manicure-pedicure at 30RMB..
Which is around 6bucks! You need to pay $10 just for an express manicure in s'pore..not to mention pedicure..it's a steal!
Oh! these are the manicurists who did our nails!
they are really nice and chatty, but one left alrd when we took this foto..haha..

Day 3-4: Suzhou

This, is the presidential palace..
the place is so humongous that they have at LEAST 3 lakes!

This is one of the lakes..

don't you think it looks like those boards in the ancient yamen?
those where the officials hit on the floor and say sth like "weeiiiiii...wuuuuuu"
i never knew what they were chanting..wahahahaha..

This, pple, is the imperial seal..
im sure its worth quite abit..heheh...

Don't you think this pic is familiar?
it appeared in our secondary sch hist textbook!
and it's actually a pic hanging off the walls of the presidential palace

This room is where they they hold meetings with foreign guests..

The bureaucrats...

Super old lift..
i dun even know how it works...haha..

This is the president's office - there's no aircon.

China buddies! in the stone boat..
there was this guy who wanted to impress the emporer by building a boat which would not capsize..
i was wondering, insteal of metal, why don't he make it out of jade instead?
its prettier, it serves the same purpose, and its valuable- fit for a king!
then, maybe the emporer would make him prime minister or sth..hahaha..

This is my fave ice-cream in china!
i think it's by walls..
and i don't think it's available in s'pore.. :(

Group foto. (:

i emphasize, im straight!
can't u see shuhui's the one trying to kiss me?
wahahahaha...
it was supposed to be romantic, not comical!

haha..notice felicia's pose?
she's the only one who thought it was the jump shot..hahahaha..

hello?hello hello??

Us and Mark, trying to act like the concubines of ancient china..wahahaha..

Our first foto with miss nura!
we wanted to do an impersonation of hitler, bt miss nura said it's inappropriate cos china's still socialist..
i didn't know that!
i always tot N.Korea was the only communist state after the fall of soviet union.

Starbucks!
Finally had a glimpse of coffee after 3days without it!
oh..we were at the suzhou industrial park then, and the dark mocha was great!
although its the same price as s'pore..

My fave hotel!
Scholars' inn..although it has no lifts..
the toilet was gorgeous..and our room was huge too cos it was 3-pple-sharing..

The 2pandas..
I tink the panda's cute, but the rest thinks it's spooky..
it's actually the mascot of the hotel, which explains the glasses..haha..

Don't slap me!!

This is mark. He's our tour guide throughout the trip.
Although he's english is cmi, he tries to translate everything into english for everyone to understand..
he's super hilarious..
when he takes a photo, he would always exclaim "come on babayyy"!
and he's the most spontaneous tour guide i ever know..hahaha..

This is my fave destination throughout the trip
Qiong long mountain..
its so different from the nature walks in s'pore..
i would never EVER go for nature walks in s'pore..
not only wasn't it humid,it was pretty cooling and the scenary was b-e-a-u-tiful!
see for urself.

This is the only instance i actually agree i look like ju-on..
lol...

yup..we're jus posing..
cos we're nt trained for rock climbing.

we see the light....

This is MY bamboo..go get ur own!

no, we're not doing bollywood..
we're imitating that thing at the back..
i dun even know what that is!

This place reminds me of a scene in the show - 十面埋伏
i could almost picture us having sword duels with super long hair..hahaha..

This was the route emporer qian long took when he went up the mountain to pray..
i was searching for fallen treasure on the floor..with no avail..hahaha..

you can see how strong the wind is..
i tink it almost blew atiqah away..hahaha..

This is my top fave restaurant in China!
it's located in the agriculture centre, which not surprisingly, is humongous too..
there's a restaurant,loads of plantations, a hotel and a mini zoo in it!
The cuisine in the restaurant is great! They cook with herbs like lavender(i like!)
and the hygiene there was comparable to s'pore too..
anyway, by this time, we were so used to the dirty plates and bowls to care alrd..

see..the restaurant was so romantic..
perfect for a date!hahahaha..

This is the really really cute donkey!
now i know why it's my sis's dream to have a donkey in her dream house with a backyard..haha..

introducing- grouchy cow of the year..
seriously, its super bad tempered..maybe it's having its period..hahaha..
it moos really loud everytime we walk past it..

me and lovely lavender!
lavenders is one of the few flowers i like..
it's soooo pretty..

random pic..i don't even rmb taking it..

pretttttyyyy flowers!

Felicia and atiqah and their blue nipples?

This dog is shedding..or balding..
haha..they say it's cos of the hot temps in China..

Day 4&5 - Hangzhou:

This is zhouzhuang..
it's not as pretty as what i imagined it to be..
kinda disappointed actually..haha..
it's an ancient chinese water town..cos there's water everywhere..

This was taken at the tea plantation we visited..
cute teapot..
i never knew there were so many grades of tea..!

The restaurant in zhouzhuang

Hangzhou- xi hu (west lake)
these were the boats we were going on..

its really quite pretty at west lake..
atiqah said she is seriously considering taking her wedding pix here.. (:

This was taken at the geographical park..
in a cave..
super cool..hahaha..

Day 6-8: Shanghai

This was taken in the lift in pearl tower..
the interior of pearl tower is really similar to the twin towers in KL..
except that in KL, its fog we're seeing, and in Shanghai, its pollution..hahaha..

This is the museum of shanghai..
its so much more interesting than the museums in s'pore..
see for yourself..

This is me, and an old bus of old shanghai, and a fake driver..hahaha..

stop blasting the gramophone!

This is the hotel of shanghai..
it was disappointing..
Shanghai wasn't as glamorous as what everybody tells me..
it just looks like any other city in china..
and the hotel wasnt even as good as the scholar's inn, although it has lifts..

next day- we visited the sheng mei beverage company which manufactures coke and sprite!
it would have been really helpful for our PW..too bad it came a tad too late..
Oh..and coke supports the olympics..

Amelia <3 gigantic bear!

time machine?
_________________________________________________________

Despite people warning me that the weather's gonna be really scorching cos it's summer,it's actually quite cool when we're there..
in fact, i tink s'pore's warmer..haha..

Oh yeah!
we experienced a mini hailstorm in Shanghai!
It was raining after the visit to the pearl tower, or so we thought..
I was wondering about the extraordinary loud rain pattering on the ceiling of our bus when suddenly mark exclaimed that it was actually ice!
It was a once in a lifetime experience! I saw ice falling on the cars outside!
WOW!!
ok..maybe im just ignorant, but i tink its a big deal cos im living in boring s'pore with 4 seasons - summer,summer,summer and super summer..
hahaha..

ok..that's all for now..hahaha
those days were certainly memorable..
i'll upload the rest when i gettit..
(:

@4:00 PM