CNY Fail

Mum was totally unprepared when it comes to decorating the house with CNY stuff. She brought out last year's CNY decoration to put them up and I said,"You can't use that." "Why?" "Because it's not Tiger year anymore. There are tigers in it."

So everywhere's closed. What do you do but rely on Gerrie to make the CNY stuff with angpows?

I cringe at the sight of these homemade decorations. It totally spells C-H-E-A-P-S-K-A-T-E. Adding to my horror, Mum actually said that these locations that Gerrie chose to display her homemade decorative piece was a great idea.


Later on, Mum tore out the lanterns from last year's Tiger decorative piece to paste on the wall.

Gerrie: Don't put that lah. It's not even a proper word.
Mum: It's correct what. Wan Shi Ru Yi.
Gerrie: No... It's Xi Yang Ru Yi.
Me: IT'S JI XIANG RU YI LAH. Wah your Chinese damn jia lat.

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Mum: I want to watch countdown.
Gerrie: What countdown?
Mum: New Year countdown?
Gerrie: It's already 2011...?
...
Mum: Chinese New Year countdown.
Gerrie: Why Chinese New Year must countdown?
...

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Gerrie: "财神" is Monkey God right?

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Gerrie: I wore my best dress yesterday. I thought Chinese New Year is yesterday.
Me: What? You should have worn it today. It's the first day.
Gerrie: I know. I just realised it. No wonder there was a countdown.

Thai Massage

If there's any reason why I would go to Thailand every year, it's for the Thai massage.

I'm still not over the 350B/2hours Thai massage which I chanced upon 4 years ago. Nowadays, we're just trying to find substitutes in terms of quality OR prices (not asking for much), but we've yet to find any.

I was at JB yesterday, and Kh insisted on going for a 2-hour Thai massage at Thai Odyssey, to relax the muscles after Friday night's night cycling. Now, I don't feel sore at all after the night cycling thing, and I was quite unhappy about having to pay S$44 for a Thai massage that I know it's nowhere near quality. I know this because we've been patronising Thai Odyssey for years, and their standards fluctuate greatly.

I normally consider myself to have a rather high threshold of pain, but this woman, I think she secretly wants to kill me. Even after repeated cries to lower the intensity, I still feel like she's marinating sauce into beef.

Did I mention I was fine before the massage? Now I'm left with bruises and I'm feeling sore all over. All that for 44 bucks.

=(

Ger's Soundbites

I know this seems very thick-skinned of me, but I haven't had any new soundbites to put on my blog so I'll just go ahead and quote myself for fun.


Welcome to Ger Says The Darnest Things.

*****

"You can have my beef but not my onions. They are my only source of vegetables."
- Me to Kh at Beijing's Yoshinoya. We haven't had any proper vegetables to eat for the past 10 days of our trip.

*****

Kh: Are you trying to push out phlegm? It's gross.
Me: At least it sounds better than my singing.

- I've been suffering from a bad cough-phlegm situation for a week.

*****

China Trip: Shanghai

Once a city girl, always a city girl.

Among all the destinations I planned in my trip, I never thought that Shanghai will be my ultimate favourite. I've heard so many people say,"Shanghai is just another city." It's a city, it's boring, you can tour it around for 2 days and you're done with it. I get that.

For me, the experience of being in Shanghai was simply amazing. Here are several
reasons why:

The Metro
Shanghai has the world's largest metro network. It's a well-connected city. Trains run at super high frequencies, so less crowd in trains, less waiting as well. With the metro, there's little need for environmentally-unfriendly buses and cars. Furthermore, train tickets are incredibly cheap (as compared to Singapore).

The Architecture
The city amazes me with unique, jaw-droppingly awesome building architecture. Some buildings arouse curiosity and wonder, others display elegance and grandeur. Just walking along the streets admiring these buildings make my day.

The Bund
It probably wasn't as fancy before, but recent renovations to improve Shanghai's image for the World Expo event have made the Bund a comfortable place for a nice evening stroll, complete with fresh air and stunning views.

Eat, Shop, Play
I loved TaoBao City for the wholesale shopping. Nearby, along East Nanjing Road, plenty of shopping malls with big brand names line the path. Xintiandi, which resides in the French Concession incorporates upscale bars and restaurants into French colonial architecture. It's old meets new. Nostalgic yet refreshing.

China Trip: Hangzhou

It's Day 2 of our 17-day trip. Our legs are aching like crazy. Yesterday at Shanghai, we walked nearly 15 hours, hopping from sight to sight, and found a hidden treasure while we were at it.

Today, at Hangzhou, was not a very good day though it has its perks too. For a start, we had a late start in the morning as the only bullet train to Hangzhou arrives at 9.05am. We did a mad rush to Wu Zhen, which was 2 hours away. Our cabbie had advised us against it as it was too late in the day to try to do it as a half-day trip. Kh's parents and sister had gone there before and they loved that place. I knew Kh wanted very much to see it for himself too, and i didn't want him to regret not having been there, so i said we should go anyway, even if it means missing a few sights in Hangzhou.

True enough, it was too late for a half-day trip. By the time we got back to Hangzhou, it was almost 6pm and most of the attractions are already closed. Thankfully, QingHeFang was opened, as informed by our illegal cabbie (kena scammed), who kindly dropped us off there at the pre-negotiated price though it was much further than our intended destination.

Later on, it got too cold for me to be walking around in a fleece jacket (probably around 0-5 degrees), so we decided to go back to our hotel for me to change into my down jacket and also pick up my tripod for some night-shooting at the West Lake.

***
Several people asked us where we were from, and we when we say, "Singapore", they'll be like,"Zhe Men Yuan?!" At the back of my head, I'm thinking, "that's only 5 hours away.-_-" " They think we're from Hong Kong or Guangdong, from the way we speak.

It's funny how they can't even tell the difference between their own people and a Chinese foreigner. To them, even a local from another state is also considered a foreigner. That's how big their country is, that different states can have vastly difference cultures. I'm happy with this newfound "tiong" status though, as it means that they are not treating us differently from the locals.
***