Friends visit Part 3

3rd day i went to tong li with them. my wife and son did not join us because he need to go to school.

同里古镇风景优美，镇外四面环水，古镇镶嵌于同里、九里、叶泽、南星、庞山五湖之中。镇区被川字形的15条小河分隔成七个小岛，而49座古桥又将小岛串为一个整体。建筑依水而立，以“小桥流水人家”著称，是目前江苏省保存最为完整的水乡古镇，也是省重点文物保护单位，已列为太湖十三大景区之一。

HS bought 10 wooden mobilephone accessory for his friends back in singapore. he requested the stalk owner to engrave the name on each of those accessory. that poor man... anyway, i understand from another friends in suzhou that we bought it at 3 times the price. look like we are being conned... the stall owner must be laughing to the bank after we left his stall.

this is the phone accessory that i am talking about. it has a very nice tong li drawing on each wooden plate about the size of 2cmx3cm.

wee turning for a picture while sir chua heading forward with his video cam capturing more live video.

these birds catch fish in the stream. their neck is tied with a string so that every catch the bird did, they were not able to swallow the fish. the woman would just squeeze the fish out from the birds.

the white tree. can't remember what it is called.

one of the many gardens in tong li. we visited at least 4 of these gardens. these gardens were stayed by wealthy people 400/500 years ago.

well synchronised picture. right leg crossed.

Friends visit Part 2

the first 2 days of their visit, we took them around the suzhou area, visited 观前街, 金鸡湖, 重元寺, 太湖，木渎古镇，圆融时代广场 and 李公堤. nothing really great but they did enjoy the visit to those places. my friends are not really into buying so nothing bought at those places other than food to keep themselves filled.

to keep it short since many of these places I had already visited, so i will posted pictures for your viewing pleasure.

all these 3 friends are actually my ex-colleagues from WD. we had been working together for 6 years before the company started to shift the operation out of singapore. top left is Ah Wee, a coolman and very eager to go beijing to meet his china "female" friend. top centre, Ah Lim (aka handsome), funny guy, always create lot of joke but those cold joke "冷笑话" if you know what i meant. Top right, Sir Chua (aka Tungsten Chua)A great guy but eat a lot of meat. Sir Chua, you have to slow down your meat intake. Ofcourse, my wife, Selina, my son Keith and myself were in the pictures as well.

in the 重元寺, backgroud is the Goddess of Mercy pogoda.

closed up of the pogoda that has a height of 46m

a very peaceful statue of the Goddess of Mercy in the pogoda. this tallest in-door Goddess of Mercy in China has a height of 26m and it is made of 88 tons of bronze.

the day when we were there, it was the birthday of Goddess of Mercy, many devotees were there to pray.

a typical scene in china. throwing coins to some ponds or statue. actually, i saw this habit in western countries as well.

it was clear blue sky when we were at tai hu. lot of little make/shift stalls selling windmills of different shapes, sizes and colors.

weather was cold that day, Wee and Sir Chua bbqing their ice-cream to melt it. maybe it was the melamide.

wee trying out the pineapple while sir chua tried the stinky tofu at mudu town (木渎古镇). i have yet to try that in china. too stinky for me... haha

夕阳西下，小船流水。

3.28 刘德华 Andy Lau Suzhou Wonderful World Concert

attended andy's concert yesterday at suzhou stadium. very good performance by andy lau with good stage lighting, music, dancing, etc. Overall, there are two parts that i would like to mentioned about the whole performance.

first on the good thing
the concert lighting, stage, music were fanstatic. andy performance was execellence. most of his performance were on the stage but he also went on to two crane type stage. this crane bring him closer to those fans on the outer seat of the stadium. he was also cabled (flied) from the stage to the centre portion of the audience where we sat. we were so close like 5m away from him. the temperature was low at 5C, andy was wearing short sleeve performing at his best to entertain the fans.

now on the bad part
the adminstration or the system so bad. we reached the statium at 7pm and managed to get in after wasting lot of time, pushing and shovering. the entrance was just a small opening for one person and 7000 to 8000 people were trying to get in through this opening. it was a messed. by the time we got in, the light suddenly turn off and the show started. i pity those who were far behind, they would have missed the first 1/2hours of the show. very badly managed in term of crowd control.

many still carry camera in to the show including the security themselves. i even saw one guy using a portable video camera. so bring whatever you need if you were told not too do so on the ticket instruction because this is china.

on top of that, for those who had watch the Wonderful World 2008 at shanghai, you should forget about the concert. it was 80% similar.

personally, if I would come again, i will not buy the 880 ticket, i will just get the 300rmb tickets, use a binocular. i could even pay for my son to attend this event. i know that 周杰伦 coming to kunshan in may, that maybe a good time for another show.

Some lousy night pictures taken from my omnia

this picture is when andy sang "苯小孩".

the fans of andy lau, look at the far back, those sat paid 300rmb.

the plastic chair (use by kopitiam) for 880rmb seat

after the show before the crowd started to leave, we quickly took a picture.

Friends visit Part 1

it was a busy week because 3 of my friends from singapore visited me. i took leave to accompany them around suzhou and we visited beijing together. time flies. 7 days past so fast! they come and they go! overall, they enjoyed the stay here and we enjoy their company as well as taking care of keith during the beijing trip especially great wall visit.

these are the friends who visited me. that particular day (14th Mar) was a clear day with blue sky. in the back drop, it was the Suzhou Science & Cultural Art Centre.

tired... continue some other days...

got my new phone

got my new phone, a samsung omnia i900 from singapore. my friends visited me and brought it over to me from my bro-in-law. anyway, trying to use it for the last few days and till now, could not really figure out how to setup the phone for internet access. i manage to get it work through WAP but not too sure if that is correct! need to read more from the web...

shanghai f1

colleagues have been crazy about f1. to join in the fun this year, i bought 2 set tickets for the 3 days event at shanghai. it will be from the april 17th to 19th. this would be my first f1 race. i am execited...

i got the tickets

here are the tickets to the andy concert. i am so happy that i got these. when we got to the ticket agent this morning, we were deciding if we want to get VIP, C, or D seat tickets. we need to know the distance between the seat and the stage otherwise, andy maybe as small as an ant from where we sit... haha. after discussion with the sale agent and the available seats from the computer screen, we were told that the seat from section C will be about 70 to 80 meters aways from the stage. hopefully she was right about the distance from the stage.

a very well printed ticket holder. the ticket holder indicates the section and the entrance for that section. this will help the crowd control on the actual day.

our 2 tickets for the C2 section. we looked at the various C-sections but found that the available tickets for C2 is the best. at the back of the ticket, there is a line seal that proved the authentity of the ticket similar to those on the yuan notes. this is a level of authentication. a colleague told me he happened to buy some fake ticket at the entrance for last concert. thus, it will be good that always get it from authorised agent.

the floor plan. C2 is still close to the stage. there are other tickets (un-colored) that are on the 2nd level of the stadium. those ticket price range 100rmb, 300rmb and 500rmb. Note that the tickets, the holders are colored coded to the seating section.

looking forward to 28th March when we will get to see andy lau in suzhou.

刘德华 - 中国巡回演唱会 2009 Andy Lau Wonderful World 2009

andy lau is staging a concert tour in china. he will be performing in 7 concerts in varous province throughout china from 24th Mar till 27th April. one of the stops will be suzhou. as i love to sing his songs, 来生缘，男人哭吧不是罪 and many more, i will be attending his concert in suzhou the 28th of this month. i have not decided what ticket to buy but i am looking at the 880rmb tickets or the VIP ticket that cost 1280rmb. whatever it is, i will go for the concert as i believe it will be more expensive back in singapore.

Xiao Dian Hu Forest Park - 肖甸湖森林公园

there are many parks in suzhou, most of them are very commercial and are mainly tourist attractions. there is this one that i found out from one of the cycling forums in suzhou. free entrance, no stalls selling toys, food and it is very natural. it looked very nice and with bamboo, nicely planted trees, narrow paths, little huts, small streams, children playground and many more. it is a perfect weekend escape with family. this man-make park is located between tong li town (同理镇) and zhou zhuang town (周庄镇). click here for the location.

21st feb was sunny after about 8 gloomy and raining days. we took our bikes and headed toward this park. though the temperature was low at 10 degrees but we were in high spirit.

a picture by the entrance of the park

well paved walking path with nicely planted trees providing shade for tourist

poshed with my merida bike, handsome right? do i look 35?

by the hut

keith enjoying his riding along the path

selina too

母子情深

童心无穷

our bikes resting by the side while we enjoying the fun at the playground

two pictures by the stream with our bikes to close the blog entry.

this is a nice park for a family gathering. i will go back to this park again when the temperature and the weather is more clear. probably end march or early april. it could be a picnic with food and drink instead of just riding. let get out and enjoy the sun if we can...

men's bra

an hour ago while having dinner and watching CNA, i came across this disgusting (to me) news. men's bra! do you believe it? a man wearing a bra? what are the reasons for wearing it? definitely not for me! i understand from the news that it was selling very well through online in japan. anyway, here are couples of pictures and link if you are interested to read more.



Reuters News, Geekologie

Water Margin City - 水浒城

“水浒城”是中央电视台为拍摄大型电视连续剧《水浒传》而规划的仿宋建筑 、埸景集群，是无锡太湖影视城继唐城、欧洲城、三国城之后，向“东方好来坞” 目标迈进的又一重大举措。

Water Margin City is a CCTV (China Central Television) filming location. it was built in Wuxi, and it is located just next to tai hu. to shoot the drama serial water margin. the city was built in the typical han dynasty's style to shoot the drama serial water margin. now, it is use as a tourist location as well as for filming purposes. by the way, this is a rated 5A National Tourist Attraction.


my family visited this place during the valentine day. the place was pretty empty, could be due to the current weather. it has various sections in the city. there are horse ride, carmel ride, stages for performance.

it was quite empty in the city. this picture was stitched with about 10 other pictures taken from an elevated location.

carmel ride. for a short 5 mins ride, it costs 10rmb, how is the mm on the carmel? anyhow, we saw another couple felt from this carmel. before the fall, the lady was talking a lot instructing the person who is leading the carmel to go here and there. i believe the carmel get angry and went a little crazy to tell the lady to shutup. they broke a frame that they bought.

a filming going on. cannot get nearer as they were filming a fighting scene.

a family performing acrobatic stunts, this is very similar to old time street performance. after the performance, the performer would collect money from the audience.

it costs 50rmb to get into the water margin city, you could purchase a combination ticket to visit all three cities namely the three kingdom city, tang city and water margin city. i would recommend that if you wish to visit all 3 cities, please be there early so that you will have time to cover them.

nude pictures

nude pictures of a malaysia opposition politician Elizabeth Wong exposed. not going to write much but just want to comment that she has the ride to have sex with her former boyfriend as

1. she is single
2. as a woman, she has sexuality desire
3. she has not broken any law

understand from news that her nude pictures could be taken by her former boyfriend.

as i always tell my friends be it male or female, do not ever allow your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, sex partner to take your nude pictures. when relationship turn sour, and with the wide spread of internet, you know the you will be famous throughout the globe within the next 10mins.

there are already many cases in asia, tammy (a student), edison (an actor), now a politician. beware...

mini iphone

surprise, i am very surprise! or maybe not since there are lot of surprises that this isn't a surprise any more.

i bet you had heard about iphone from apple, but how about mini iphone? maybe not! here is one for your viewing. the mini iphone. i maybe slow though.

i was surfing the net for a new phone and i came across this phone. it has pretty good features and the best part is that it is now version 2.

* Dual sim card dual standby
* Bluetooth A2DP
* E-book reader
* MP4,MP3
* Language :English/French/Spanish/Russian/Arabic/Thai

do a search on google and you would be able to find more reviews, the prices and many more.

working extra hours

there maybe a situation that employees become extra hardworking during recession but i want to share this comic that a friend sent to me with you. beware that it may back fire... have a good laugh.

chinese bar, Phebe Bar - 菲比音乐酒吧

back in singapore, i seldom have nite life. here in china, for the past 18 months, i had went to pub and bar with friends and family quite a few times. i am not able to tell what would attract me to these places. maybe the music, maybe to relax after a week of hard work, maybe to get a little high but not drunk, maybe gossipping... if you have other maybe, please adds in the comments. i would love to hear comments from visitors on this.

anyway, there is this newly opened bar by the name of PHEBE BAR located at the junction of Zhu Hui Lu and Ren Min Lu (竹辉路，人民路交界处). i heard from various friends that this is a nice place with crowd and good music. so, i went there with 2 other friends last friday but the place was jam pack that we had to squeeze through the crowded in order to move. unfortunately, as we did not make any reservation, we had to leave. base on the 5 mins impression, i knew this is a good place to hang out.



as i am determined to go to this place, my friend and i with our significant other (SO) went there yesterday night, Friday the 13th, fortunately, nothing unusual happen. as i wanted to make sure that we have a place, i called as early as 6pm. from 6pm to 7pm, the line was always busy and i was telling my SO if we cannot not make any reservation, we probably have to change to another bar and forget about this "happening" bar. while having dinner, i called again and managed to get through and make reservation for 4 pax at 8pm. i was given a no 018, very good number in china. anything to do with 8 in chinese are good. after dinner, we left our kids at home and headed for the bar to celebrate our valentine day in advance. haha...

when we reached there at 8:10, the place was not crowded as i would have expected because of last friday encounter. anyway, we were showed to table 018. it was disappointed, this table with a good number but the location were no good. right in front of the table, there is a wooden statue that blocks the view, we requested for a change and we were asked if we like the bar counter instead. we checked bar counter but would prefer a small table by ourselves. luckily, there is this table 100 that someone decided to free up and we grabbed it. though it was not crowded, but it was fully booked. to change a table is not possible unless someone decided to let it goes.

we ordered our drinks, a 12 years old dewarts with other stuff such as fruit plate, chicken wings, 3 baskets of nut to add up to 600rmb for a minimum purchase on a weekend night. while waiting for our drink to be served, a photo was taken. as it was dark in the bar, the flash set off and the security walked over that this place cannot take picture. well, so here is the only picture we took in the bar.

the setting was pretty intensive, there is a wall of big screen LCD TVs, it is like 5 big screens, and each big screen is made up of 4 smaller LCDs. no big dance floor, couple of wooden boxes used for dance floor and stage for singers. the music that were played was surprised to be more english than chinese. look like it is catered for foreign but was packed by local, though i did see pockets of foreigner.

we had great fun drinking, dancing, playing dice games, we even met a SZR rider (Yu Tian, 雨田 if i am correct), our SO get to know a friend who supposedly meeting us tonight again at the same place. not too sure, maybe she was too high or maybe she would send a sms to my SO later in the day. my SO was a little bit too high but was doing ok after that.

here are some videos taken, oops... the security told me not to take picture but he did not tell me about video, anyway, these are taken with great care, so please enjoy the video...




getting the local food outside the bar


enjoying the local food

42

time flies. 42 years ago, this day, back in singapore, in a small village a boy was born. by the way, this baby was me. it has been 42 years. i had grow from a little boy, going through kindergarten in village area from the east, till studying at NTU in the west, working for many years in the central area and now working in china. from the son of a father to the father of a son. from little hair to little hair again... haha. 四十一条龙

back then, in singapore, mother usually do not go to the hospital to have the baby delivered. the mid-wife would come to the house to help on the delivery. when i was a child, my dad told me he drove his volkswagen beetle to fetch the mid-wife. my dad was making ok money to support the family and the car, many neighbours would borrow my dad's car to run errant and he would not hesitate to loan it out. he is a good man

coming back to myself. my colleagues celebrated my birthday yesterday together with another colleague. this is part of the standard celebration among the colleagues here in china. in the beginning of the year, we already chip in money for the whole year birthday lunches and other possible lunches. the lunch quality was good but not the quantity.

couple of surprises today. received a couple of birthday wishes from sms, facebook, msn. a few were from singapore and one was from a friend who i know him for 29 years, . thanks, that was a real surprise.

another big surprise was a chocolate cake from my wife. she spent hours to do the preparation and bake the cake. thanks my dear. i love u. ok, here is a picture of the cake and my family.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ONCE AGAIN

Suzhou Higher Education Park - University Amenities

been almost two weeks that i have not blogged. felt a little sorry for those who are frequent visitors to this blog and do not see any update. i am just plain lazy... no excuse for that...

anyway, went for a hair cut at the university area (高教区). it was a decent cut without complain because of the low cost and i mean low cost... just 15rmb (S$3.4) that come with a wash, cut, wash and blow. what do i expect for such... i look more handsome now, at least this is what my son told me over the dinner table when he said "daddy, you look more handsome than me"... haha...

talking about the university area, the place has all it need. minimart, restuarants, saloon, Internet bar, kfc, mcdonald (newly open), clothing store, shoe store, and many more. the main thing is that item over there are low cost. i believe the reason for that are the main crowd would be students and usually they are not wealthy enough to pay high cost stuff. on top of that, some of those places employ student to run the business so the cost of running is reduced.

i frequent that place for lunch with my colleagues, a simple lunch cost us about 6rmb (a bowl of pork-chop noodle) to 15rmb while similar lunch would cost double at other places. too bad that the two places that we went to are closed, either for renovation or something else that i am not able to figure out. i will have to figure it out in couples of weeks time.

meanwhile, i have to source for other low cost alternatives...

for those who do not know where i am talking, here is the map for your reference. sorry, it is mandarin.

Rejecting Rejection

no, i am not being rejected...

2 weeks back, i was reading the Today online from singapore, i came across an interesting article by columnist Nury Vittachi. he talked about the current economy and how to deal with it especially when you are looking for a job after being retrenched or fresh from school.

this is what he suggested to his jobless friend. reject the rejection letter and he provided a template that anyone could use.

the sample letter, click to enlarge

then, he continue telling if sending out the above letter guarantee you a job? and provided 3 possible reactions to the rejection.

1. they won't get it and ignore it. those are the firms you wouldn't want to work for.
2. they'll be so confused, they'll expect you to turn up on monday, and they'll prepare a desk for you.
3. they'll enjoy your sense of humour, thanks you for the laugh, and contact you when a job needing a sharp mind become available.

i would like to share it with you guys and you may want to try it out if you are in the situation.

have fun with the rejecting the rejection letter.