Excuse me, are you willing to open the door if there's an emergency?

So I'm back in hot and humid Singapore, a really big contrast from the cold and dry Guangzhou. Heh. I'm still trying to adapt to the weather here man. My room feels like an oven now even with the air con at the lowest now. Bleah.

The past 11 days had certainly being a fun experience. In fact, I'm starting to miss it already. Well, not really on the place, but more on the memories during this period. I will certainly miss eating dinner everyday with my whole family present, the experience as a whole family again, going crazy with my siblings (Ice cream competition in 5 degrees temperature,daring each other to eat wierd stuff like smelly tofu, "sabo-ing" each other when eating the sichuan spicy steamboat, competing to see who can survive longest wearing only a layer of cotton out of the house etc.), grocery shopping cum exploring with my mum...Sigh. When was the last time my family was ever so close together? And I miss my dad so much.

Guangzhou in general does leave me with some great impressions. What I really like is the existance of community bonding and awareness that is found everywhere. For example, it's so natural for the people there to automatically give up their seats to the needy, sometimes more than one passenger will offer thier seats to an old woman, especially students. The streets and pavements are also very community friendly too, with special raised markings for the blind to find their way around, and everyone you approached for directions will give it to you immediately. The number of smokers there is also not as common as in other places where I had visited, which is a relief for my nose. Oh, and the television is wonderful too, particularly to my sister, the TV addict. Heh. There are over forty plus channels to choose from so you can really sit at home and stare at the screen the whole day (which is what my sister did...lolx).

The flight back was kinda eventful in a way, despite it being an over night flight (which I hate). My sister and I had chosen to sit at the emergency door area (for more leg space you know) and we were asked if we were willing to open the door in an emergency. Haha. And I just had to stone for a while before asking the most stupid thing "You mean there WILL be one?" Slap me please. I think I would had been chased out of my seat if my sister did not start laughing before agreeing. Still, it was pretty entertaining to see several passengers hesitating and moving away when they were asked that question. Funny. I would have thought that it will be the safest option to sit beside the emergency door because you will be the first to escape if anything happens right? I guess people just dont like responsiblity.

And it just had to rain heavily just as the plane was starting to descend for landing. Freaky experience, because the pilot's voice sounded really sleepy and the turbulence was quite bad (you know those stomach lurching ones) . Thank goodness we landed in the end. But it was still raining so we had to wait a long time before umbrellas were brought up so that we could move on (budget terminal you see, which I had to agree, is seriously really running on a really tight budget indeed.)

Got a pleasant surprise after touch down too, while waiting to collect my luggage. Sent an sms to Jia Wei out of boredom, and she replied almost instantly to say that she was at the terminal waiting for her flight, which was where I was too, though at the arrival hall. Heh. What coincidence. XD

Well, I guess that's all for now. Had a great holiday indeed.=)

-Oh yeah, brought back alot of duck tongues,feet and dunno what funny parts,smelly tofu and other weird foodstuff back home. Anyone game to try? Haha. -

Brrrr.Duck tongue or dog meat anyone?

Ok, Guangzhou is cold. Especially during the nights and mornings. Got to my dad's apartment at the wee hours of sunday, and it was freezing cold, especially the wind. My dad had been true to his words when he told us "I dont like crowds", because he chose the suburbans, a rather poshy place at some hill. But that also means that it will take at least 30 minutes before we can get to the main cities.Gah. There goes my personal exploring plans.

Hmmm...The weather report just mentioned that there will be a typhoon next week. Sounds bad. Obviously I'm badly dressed for the weather. Ran to the nearest store to buy some wool stuff the moment I reached. (It's so much cheaper than when you buy in Singapore) Haha. Might have to get more if the weather continues to drop. Sigh...Currently the temperature here is about 12-14 degrees. My lips cracked and bleed this morning. And I forgot to bring my lip balm.=/

Food's here is interesting. Other than the dumplings (at least 10 different kinds at every place!) widely available everywhere, there's also the chinese version of the roti prata, which they call spring onion biscuit (direct translation). Went to the local market yesterday and I saw fresh dog meat at every meat selling place. Some kind of turtle too, and snakes, rabbits... Yucks. Dad went to buy a chicken and they kill it live for you. (To show that it's very fresh) A traumatising sight man. Especially during de- gutting. Argh. There was an egg in the chicken, which the guy kept saying was proof that the chicken was young and the meat will be good etc. Horrible. When we left the place I can still hear the cries of the next chicken meeting its maker.Argh. Staying off chicken for a while. Give me frozen stuff please.

Mum just brought a packet of duck tongue today. Haha. And some pastry made from lard. My brother and I were daring each other to take the first bite. Lol.

Brother: "Why is there bone like looking thing in a tongue?! YUCKS."

Ok, I'm not gonna try that.

Language is a big problem for me here because my chinese is really embarrassing, and speaking english has become so natural for me that it's subconscious. Naturally I made lots of mistakes and many people could not understand me. (Laugh at me too, I suspect. Heh.) I was trying to order a seafood pizza just now and I end up saying Hai3 Yang2 instead of Hai3 Xian1. Bleah.

And the internet here is so sloooow. Gah. Even using Yahoo is so difficult. (Maybe because they scan and censor stuff? Haha.) And dad's lab top reminds me of my school computer. Cant even download MSN messenger.Luckily there's such a thing known as web messenger.Heehee.

Currently I'm reading a really nice book titled Callanish by William Horwood. About a golden eagle caged in a zoo and his flight to freedom. I like the way it's written. Heh. "It's one thing to dream about freedom, but another to be truly free."

Ok, my brother wants to use the labtop now. Ciao.

There's something really pleasurable about scrambling up the platform, lying down on the sun smothered rocks, feeling the warm heat seep into your body as you gaze up at the cloudless sky and watch the planes go by. Oh, there's the sea too, the motionless ships, the salty breeze and the soft sand...just perfect for digging your feet in...

Oops, I am starting to sound like a salamander.

Hmm. Beach outing on monday was fun. Imagine four people meeting in the afternoon, trying to do everything before dusk because someone got a flight to catch and couldnt afford to miss it AGAIN. Haha. We walked, sun tan, bike, rollerblade, pit stops here and there for water, and end off with a turkish dinner involving a war with a pesky fly that had a strange affection for our drinking straws.

Learning to bike is certainly a painful experience, as I found out that day. No, I did not fall even once during the two hours of learning, but before, while renting the bike. Somehow I had managed to get my shoelace caught into a bike nearby while trying to get on, and the next thing I know was the floor. Now I'm rewarded with bruises all over my legs...some looking quite nasty (you know those black or purple ones that will take sometime to heal). Sigh. But despite the early setback, I'm now able to paddle a few times before wobbling off the bike. Heehee. Nearly there.

And my "really fugly but useful" grass mat is still with someone, who took it home with her while trying to get her friend on time for her flight. Now she will have to be seen with it afterall.Heheh.