The Heavenly Hangzhou

March 24, 2007 Leave a comment

 
There is an old chinese saying "Heavens above, Paradise in SuHang" – For the Chinese, Hangzhou is China’s tourist capital. Marco Polo described it as "the finest and most beautiful city" when he passed through Hangzhou back in 13th century.
 
Many friends have been asking me to go Hangzhou. (Even my old mum and dad have been there). In fact, Feli and I were planning to visit Hangzhou on 1st day of 2007. Due to the bad weather and Feli’s backache, we called off the trip.
 

Last week, I received my 7th Visitor, Joanne. It was a very last minute trip…and before I knew it, Joanne was unloading her luggage in my new place. I am such a lucky bastard…7 visitors in my 10-month stay in Shanghai. Man, I can consider opening up a hotel for my friends. (Yes, like Hotel 25!)
And speaking about luck, you can’t imagine how lucky can I get. After a 2-hour train ride from Shanghai, we finally arrived at this 1922 Hotel. Just when we were to check in into our room, the staff asked for our travel documents. She was unable to let us check in unless we produce a passport. Shit, both of us left our passports at my Shanghai house!

 
I was given 2 options – Go back to Shanghai and come back with a passport or get someone to check in for us with his passport.  Coincidentally, my primary school buddy, Jinwei, was in town that weekend on a business trip. So, I ranged his number and asked him for help. In less than 30 minutes, Jinwei arrived with his Singapore Passport and checked us in. It was just a matter of "right place, right time". Amazing!
 

Hangzhou is very clean and beautiful (but beware of those greedy taxi-drivers and tour guide). I would call it a mini "Chinese Disney World" where you come face to face with these famous Chinese icons – Wu Song, White Snake Lady, General Yue Fei, Qin Hui, Ji Gong etc.. I have read about these characters when I was young…and they were kinda unreal…But in close proximity, I can feel their legend and live-ness.

We spent 8 hours, walking more than 10km around Lake West. We also had lunch at the famous "Lou Wai Lou" (er..food not so fantastic). We also visit the world famous + expensive "Long Jing Green Tea" plantation at the hill top. And we drank from the 1000-year old "Dragon Well" – named by QianLong.

A short 2-day stay. But it was a very beautiful and meaningful journey. Yes, I will come back again.  

Filed under Travel

The Price of War

March 10, 2007 Leave a comment

Last weekend, I visited the Vietnam War Museum. It was an emotional visit. 5 minutes into the photo gallery, my heart sank and drown in grief. The feeling was unbearable. 
It was more like attending a war funeral. The historic journey – the untold version of Vietnam War ~ painted through the eyes of the Vietnamese. The pictures are very raw and graphic. It doesn’t show you the glory of their soldiers or the unity of their nation. It shows you the ugly sight of war. War is stupid, no matter how you look at it. Only Uncle Sam illustrate that war has its purpose and it is cool to be an American GI.

 

That day, there were a lot of American tourists. They too, felt remorseful of their past deeds. There was this particular showcase where I saw a lot of hand-written letters. Reading through the translated content of those letters, I felt so moved and touched by their words. The familiarity and empathy set in…painful separations, longing to be in each others arms again…Yet, many of these addressees never make it back to home.

 
War happens when the leadership of two individuals failed. War happens when press succeeded illustrating the need of war. War happens when the ego of a nation surpassed the love of its people. War happens with one agenda and ends with another. War unites a nation but separates its families.

Filed under Travel

Mekong River

March 4, 2007 2 Comments

The Mekong River is the world’s 13th longest river (7th in Asia), at the length of 4,000km long. Crossing 6 countries, it ended its flow in Vietnam, creating a massive delta at My Tho. Each year, the river flooded and took hundreds of lives (especially children) and thousands of natives were being displaced. Yet, millions of people still stay close to it. It is their major source of life – tourism, agriculture etc.

I have heard so much about the Mekong River and I really need to make a trip down. Enduring more than 6 hours of coach-&-boat ride (to and fro), I spent the whole Sunday exploring the river inlets, paddling on a sampan. Along the mangroves, there are many village farms (coconut candy factory, honeybee farm, handicraft workshops). I had close encounters with snakes and honeybees. (Trust me, it is very close! See my macro on the bees!)

The sampan experience is probably the main highlight of today’s tour. Cruising along the narrow inlets (below dense canopy of mangroves) on a 4-man sampan, the boat rocked left and right. It was so rocky that I was so afraid that the boat may just overturn. (I am more worried about wetting my P990 and Canon 950). I was also looking out for those deadly swamp crocodiles cos our boat was just 10cm above water level. A 2m crocodile may just capsize our boat with its tail.
 

Okay, it wasn’t that scary. But it is a good experience for a city-dweller like me.

HCMC is a great city to visit. Food is good, great historical architectural, friendly locals and best of all, shopping is fair and cheap (unlike in China or Bangkok, you have to bargain down at least 70% to get a fair deal). It is worth coming back again. Vietnam has indeed lots to offer.

Filed under Travel

The Ho Chi Minh Leg

March 4, 2007 Leave a comment

1 week in Vietnam – The past 1 week has been really fruitful in terms of work and relationship building. In fact, it was a very successful and mind-blowing team-building conference at Hanoi. There were tears, hugs and lots of heart-to-heart chats. I was very moved by the bonding of 46 individuals who come from different corners of Asia. Amazing!

It is weekend again. I packed my bags and headed for my Ho Chi Minh leg – a smaller group this round, just 7 of us. Finally, some quiet and personal time for myself this 2 free-&-easy days. 




HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City) is such a beautiful city. I am still in time to enjoy their "Tet Festival" (aka Chinese New Year) and the festive mood is very strong here. The city center is decorated with red lanterns and banners. Yes, lots of pigs statues around.

Yesterday (Sat), I "signed up" for their army and their army gave me for an orientation course – showing me their secret-of-success of Vietnam War. I went to visit their war sites, underground tunnels (can you imagine they dug 400km of tunnels with bare hands!) and "live" firing range. It was really physically challenging to crawl through these 1m x 1m tunnel. Man, look at the size of the tunnel entrance – only the fit and slim can enter. I tried and I passed their "hole" test.

Just 5 minutes crawling through the tunnel, I had to shout "wait, wait!". I had a bad cramp in my left leg. It was very difficult to retreat and I have to endure the sickening pain until the next nearest exit. I was sweating and crawling like hell! It was surely worse than my Australian caving experience. Man, this is the real thing – war tunnels – and I had such great respect for the Vietnamese soldiers. These tunnels were built to shelter the soldiers from the American air-bombing and it was a great network for them to travel around – visually undetectable.  

The war may have ended in 1975 but the wounds of war are still visible today. There are so many bomb craters around the site. Guess it may take another generation to cover these wounds.

I decided not to join their army – I had enough of crawling and all the backaches. Next, the famous Mekong River.


Filed under Travel

The Hanoi Leg

February 26, 2007 1 Comment

I was out "speed-touring" Hanoi today – The local guide brought us to many places of interest (we visited the world’s oldest university, Asia’s largest ancient library & Hanoi’s very own "Loch Ness" turtle mystery). I was helping my client to plan a mini "amazing race" for their team-building activity. Hanoi is a mix of Bali-Thai-Chinese. Rich cultural city with lots to shop and explore.

Filed under Life in Shanghai

Goodbye Singapore, Hello Vietnam

February 25, 2007 1 Comment


After 7 days of feastings and reunions, I went through the same old ritual of bidding farewell to my loved ones. Last night, we have a "dramatic" night at Suntec. Lots of people turned up just for that one moment to say bye to me. Truly touched and happy to see them (especially my old pal Karen and Yifu). Of course, thanks Gareth for popping me all the way to "you-know-where" to get my phone and accessories. And a big thank you to Meijie for gathering all these sheeps. It is a tough job.
 
It was a packed night. Came back home at 12:30am and started packing until 2:30am. Didn’t really have a good sleep…I never like the eve of departure. My heart is always so heavy and sad. It is going to be another 3-4 months before we meet again.
 
Woke up late this morning. Had a quick shower and rushed to the airport. Feli, Elkan, Chups and mum-in-law sent me off to the airport. Elkan was excited this morning, yelling "Elkan goes Shanghai". We had a quick breakfast and Feli walked me to the departure gate. Mum and Chups stayed behind at the cafe to distract Elkan…so that he will not see my leaving and kick a fuss.

 
I really hate sneaking off like that. I never have a chance to say goodbye properly with my son. That pains me a lot.

Here am I, uploading this blog in my Hanoi hotel room. Just want to say it has been a great CNY for me. I miss you guys a lot.


Filed under Life in Shanghai

A Tourist’s Perspective

February 24, 2007 Leave a comment

 
The feeling of homecoming is a very sweet one. I am unable to describe the kind of feeling every time I step into the Arrival Hall at Changi Airport. It just feel so good – cos I know there are many loved ones waiting for me on the other side of the glass wall.
 
This is my happiest home trip. The last 8 days were superb. I spent a great deal of time with my family and friends – every day is a unique and meaningful one. Somehow this trip, I balanced my time very well – spending good quality time with my loved ones. House-visiting at Juli’s and Sam’s, durian-feasting with Kal and Meijie, sand-sun-&-sea with Tracy, river-dinning with Randy-Richard-Gang, soul searching with Joanne, market-updates with Hovman & Francis and house-preview with Jimmy.  (Oh yes, free gifts from Gareth).

Snapping around like a tourist, I roamed the city with lots of "wows and ooohs". There is always something new to see in Singapore. New sporty Comfort cabs, gigantic Ferris-wheel at Marina, new hypermart at Tampines (IKEA, Giant, Courts), water stadium at Marina etc. Did a couple of "firsts" with Bobo and Elkan. (boat ride, new monorail to Sentosa)

 

While traveling on the ECP, I took a picture of our Singapore skyline. For the 1st time, I started to realise how small we are. Our city-scape is growing but just not dynamic enough. Good thing we have the "durian landmark". To live up and fulfill our promise as one "uniquely state", I feel there are a lot more we can do to realise that vision. Come on, light up our skyline, put up more gigantic plasma, create a future-state, show the world something new. What’s there to fear, Singapore? We just got to catch up fast, I am tired of us being trend-followers.



Despite all these disappointments, we have a fertile land. A land of talents and opportunities. We have good system, trustworthy governments and down-to-earth labour force. We still have so much space to grow….we just need to add more life into these void. Bring more "wows and ooohs" back into our garden city. Yes, I have more faith in Singapore than before. Why? I saw weaknesses that can be translated into opportunities.

We are still a notable dragon of Asia.


Filed under Jo's Thoughts

Tracy’s CNY at Phuket

February 20, 2007 Leave a comment

Our sweet fiery babe is off again – this time to Phuket! Man, I am just so proud of her. Can you imagine this – Tracy is one of the 2 certified divers we had in our clan. Guess who is the other one ~ it is Meijie! Haaaa.. unbelievable! Man, I must take diving one day. Let that be my 2007 resolution – with Tracy and Meijie help of course! (I think it is simply easy…cos’ if bamboo and fats can float and sink, I think I qualify)

 
Check out those nipples! And slimmer Tracy in her wet suit!

Filed under Wahbiang

The BIG CNY Feasts!

February 19, 2007 Leave a comment


After 4 days in Hong Kong, I took the 1st flight back to Singapore – just in time for reunion dinner with my family and friends. Man, it is really the year of the pig… for the next few days, I will be doing nothing but eating & feasting. I bet I will gain at least 15kg heavier. Buuuurrrp!!!

 
Feast #01 (Reunion Dinner with parents)        Feast #02 (at Auntie Amy Place)

  
Feast #03 (with Wahbiang at Uncle Sam House)                     

 
Feast #04 (with gang at Sentosa)                    Feast #05 (with Wahbiang at XinWang)

 
Feast #06 (with Caffeine Family)                    Feast #07 (with Kalinda)

 
Feast #08 (Durian!)          Feast #09 (with family – Dad’s birthday) 

 
Feast #10 (with my primary sch pals)             Feast #11 (Farewell with Wahbiang)

Filed under Wahbiang

Valentine in Hong Kong

February 14, 2007 Leave a comment

 
 

Man, this is the most unusual Valentine Day ever.. Imagine me spending this romantic day in a glass box, overseeing Happy Valley Racecourse. I have never try horse betting before. It was pretty fun and simple – lots of reading (no wonder we often see punters reading those horse-betting manuals). No, I am not a master in horses – can’t really "read" the conditions of the race horses when they walked past us. However, great beginner luck though: 5 wins out of 8 races. How much? Just enough for 1 HK40 hongbao for one of you.
 
 

Filed under Life in Shanghai

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