BEIJING, CHINA 2006Whee I just returned. The people I went with beats the crowd i went with last year to Shandong because I went with the IN crowd!IN CROWD: Mark Mervyn Rajesh Joanna Krystal Sarah Tripta Asyikin Pamela Samantha Cara
Journalists: Yen and Jessica
Interns: Samuel and Dawn
Circulation: Noelle
The Big Three: Boss Peter Khoo, Paul Tan and Shahrena
Teacher from Manjusri Sec: Miss Sophia Yap
Tour Guides: Kenneth Tan frm Singapore and another English speaking Chinese Tour Guide
one word to describe the whole trip: ROCKING!!
1st Day or should i say first night: June 29
11.20 Meet at Changi Airport. Introduced my family to everyone.
1.20 Takeoff. My first flight on a SIA. Whee...I flipped through all the movies but I wanted to sleep more.
7.00 Landed in Beijing Airport.
Then we went to Tiananmen Square where students were killed before. And the square was so BIG. Next stop: Mauselium of Mao Ze Dong where his supposedly embalmed body rests. It looked kind of real. I can just imagine him breathing. That's how real it was.
Then we went to Summer Palace and this pearl place where I bought 2 bracelets. PEARLS GALORE!!!!!! obsession overload. One white for me. One black for my mak. Then we went to Forbidden Palace!!! where all those emperors and dowager empress lived. Then we went shopping at the Beijing equivalent of Orchard Road, Wanfujing St. Wahliao! The stuff in the mall all expensive and branded but once you go out, there's this cheap places. I went to this shoe reject shop but didn't buy any stuff. Then I went to this cow leather shop. I liked everything inside andbought this handbag for s$20= 100 RMB. and this leather slipper keychain. Stuff there very cute lah.
Then we checked in our hotel: Foreign Experts Beijing Building. I roomed with Asyikin in 811. Our level had Yen and Samuel at the end, Shahrena and Miss Yap beside us, Sarah Ann and Tripta in front of us, Paul beside them and Mark, Mervyn and Rajesh at the opposite end. Everyone gathered at the suite room which belonged to Pamela, Cara and Samantha. Actually, 2 more people could have slept there. It was so big. Everyone was so stressed about the presentation day at the school esp the presenters, Mark, Mervyn and Rajesh. Pamela was the only relaxed one. If not she was pretty god at hiding her nervousness. I was so sleepy that Mark asked me to go to my room to sleep first and as Asyikin had a lot of work to do, I went first.
The next day we went to Jingshan Park which I cant really remember anything of but had really nice flowers...really nice lake and willow trees. Asyikin bought this huge hat which I asked her to buy then Cara and Samantha bought one too. And Samuel wore it and Yen thought he was a Chinese girl. HAHAHA.
Then we went to these Hutong places which were what the olden Chinese lived in but now there are a lot of pubs there. There were still people living there though but it's all commercialised now. And I learnt that the Chinese have their status and occupation displayed on their doorways. They had stars overhead their doors and the lowest was 2 highest was 12. They came in even numbers. I saw a lot of 2 stars. The steps also had ranks but in uneven nos. Lowest was 3. It had a nice view.
Then we went to an Acrobatic Show. Nice stuff to watch. I bought a China Cap there. A green military cap with one red star on it. We all thought it was Communist but no I don't think so. I bought one for memories.
Then at night, we got ready for the presentation the next day at the school: THE BEIJING HAIDIAN FOREIGN LANGUAGE SHIUAN SCHOOL. I didn't have to do anything so I went in one of the rooms with Samuel, Dawn and Krystal oh and Yen and played Taiti. I taught Dawn how to play. She may come from RGS and then Hwa Chong JC but she had a lot of brushing up to do for Taiti. Haha. Then, some of us played Taiti at the 3 Boys' room. Merv and Raj are a pair of clowns when put together. Haha. I kept winning a lot though. hHaaha. And Raj kept losing then threatening that he would go out and buy Jin Tao which is a brand of a beer but he didnt really buy any lah. He underaged mahh even though he 17.
The next day, we had to wake up extra early because the school was very far away. I was early too. The breakfast place hadn't even opened up yet. Peter who is the vice-president of SPH was in a suit which was kinda funny. haha. After breakfast we boarded the bus and most of us slept through the journey. Then we went into the school which looked like a London boarding school. All red bricks. There were some cute primary school children and we waved at them. haha. They waved back. Then we entered a room where they displayed all their teachers and the ties they had with other countries. It beats our school really. Their school won over RGS even, if you've been there. Their facilities were TOP CLASSSSSS. They had aircon everywhere. So we went into a seminar room where we had to give our presentation. I made friends with this girl called Pumbaa as in Timon and Pumbaa. And this other girl I forgot her name. Tripta covered most of the guys. Now I'm not surprised that at sec 2, she has many ex-s to her name, even Andhika from 3dash1. Then this guy called Brent gave their presentation. He was the leader of his class. I really hope when their batch come over to Singapore, her will come too...OH PLEASSSEEE! He's really cute and charming and I was the FIRST to say so. I asked Krystal how to say hot in Chinese and she burst out laughing. She told Brent that I thought he was handsome. He denied it and said his friend, David was more handsome. Even though he had a lot of acne, under that he's is really sweet. Asyikin thought David was cute but then decided that he's not.
I could go on and on about the school. Then we had morning exercises in front of the school. Maluating but I tried my all. The steps were like PARA PARA. So funn. But I hit Samuel who was holding the camera taking pictures and it poked him in the eye. It turned red. I was so scared. Then we had lunch. There were MUSLIMS in the school so we are halal food. I could speak a little with them. But we ate in the primary section and it was a bad experience. They sloshed the gravy and it spilled on the floor. I wanted to puke. Even primary school at home wasn't this bad. THe teachers would have killed us for it.
Then we went to the secondary section where the rest of the IN crowd were. I really got to know the student boys cos the friends I made just now were nowhere to be found. Then Brent asked if anyone wanted water. I made a fool of myself by accidentally sloshing water at him. I dint know my supposedly empty bottle was Not empty. Then he gentlemanly filled it for me and gave it to me and said "FOR YOU". So sweet. Later during dinner I told Yen how nice it was for people to say "FOR YOU" and "YOURS" to me. Then he started giving me watermelon and friend mandous and said "FOR YOU" and "YOURS" but in a sarcastic way. He was so weirded out at me. hmph.
Then we went to a Newspaper reading class where the younger secondary students were surprised that there were Indians in Singapore. This is how the convo went.
GIRL: Why is that man so black? *points to Rajesh*
ME: Yin Wei Ta Shi In Du Ren (Because he is Indian). Sin Jia Po You Hua Ren, Ma Lai Ren He In Du Ren. Ni Che Tao Ma? ( Singapore got Chinese, Malays and Indians. Do you know?)
GIRL: WHAT? really? Wahhhh
ME: I am a Ma Lai Ren.
GIRL: I know you are Muslim *cos I wore a tudung* but I thought you were Chinese. YOur eyes look Chinese
Your eyelashes are very long. Can I measure it?
ME: umm....okay.
GIRL: You have very pretty eyelashes
ME: Xie Xie ni.
The lesson was very interesting. She gave me a nail clipper. I gave her a ST media club radio. SO Cool mann.
Then we had a tour of the English Town. It is a place where they go to stimulate the real world. They could only use English in this place. THere was a cafe, hotel, train station, Cinema, Banks and much more. The rooms are made to look like the real thing .Now it's very hard to imagine. I have to show you the pictures which I will upload soon. We IN crowders had a nice time playing pretend. Then it was rest time. I played basketball with some boys younger one age than me. I must say I played very nicely. I intercepted a lot. There was this boy on my team who was very sweet. He let us play even though he got the ball. THese boys were not told of our arrival or who we are. So they were kind of surprised that we foreign girls wanted to play with them. In the IN crowd, the girls are much more sporty than the guys. MUAHAHAHA>
THen we had a tour of the campus. I can't remember much of that. Then we had a PE class with a class. They seperated the girls from the boys. We had PE with the girls. The girls of IN changed and we had PE. It was very systematic, and disciplined but fun. THey all wanted to win. Really. We had games like in primary school. Brought a lot of fun memories back. My group won two of the games.
Then we changed out of our sweaty attire and had a talk with the principal. THen we went shopping at a wholesale market. I bought souvenirs and a LARGE billabong tee for my lil bro. Then we went back to our hotel where I took scores for ASyikin, Dawn, Samuel, Yen and Mervyn playing Scrabble. Loads of funn. We played till 1 pm. Last night, they played till 3. Tsk tsk tsk. FYI: Samuel was the only person that I didn't really know and he looked like this photographer called Desmond so I accidentally on purpose always called him Desmond. So he called me CHEEKY. hahah. so funny. I told him that people have always been somewhat fascinated with my cheeks.
Then next day we went to China Daily which is the only English paper in China. There were some foreign editors they. Someone said that these foreigners really loved China. Then we had a presentation with them. And Lunch with the editors of 21st Century Teens which is the equivalent of IN. Then we went shopping again and then we played POOL at the billiards room. Noelle and Miss Yap and Asikin washed their hair at the salon. It was the new hangout place for us girls. haha. Someone cut their hair. I forgot who. Peter taught me how to play pool. He said he wasn't good in it. He only represented Singapore in the Sea Games in what year. RIGHT. ONLY?? He was so freaking good lah. I can't play poool. I am so bad.
The next day we went to the Great Wall of China. I didn't manage to climb to the peak. Exhausting man. The steps were higher than the ones at Tai Shan last time. AAAHH. and sooo many people. THere was a school from Singapore. WE identified each other by our accents. Hhahaa. from Kent ridge sec. This malay boy ahh, think I donno how to speak Malay or English since it was obvious I was wearing the tudung. And think I got no ears. So I intro-ed myself since he was so curious. I would think that he was younger than me. Stupid me go wear a skirt to climb. But I was just reliving the past where people climbed with robes. hahha. RIGHT SAFIAH RIGHT. Then we went to the Ming Tombs, and the Ming Dynasty waxworks museum. The wax figures looked so real!!! I looved that museum. It was truly enriching. But some parts were not censored especially about the concubines and the wars.
Then we went shopping again. At the hotel, I almost didn't sleep the whole night since it was our last night. Hang out with Mark, Krystal, Sarah, Joanna. Wahh.. Gossip man. HAHAH. Mark is a cool but childish guy. He was seen hanging out a lot with Samantha. Slept at 2.00
4 JUNE, Sunday
Then, our last day...so saaad. I din't eat a lot of breakfast. Samuel and Dawn extended their stay at Beijing. Then we went shopping and ate vegetarian pizza. the nicest meal EVER! Then on the plane I made full use of the movies. I watched Failure to Launch and Casanova.
I had a lllloooot of fun!!!
;
5:44 pm
