Yet another day.
Have you guys ever woke up and think to yourself "Drats, today isn't going to be a good day."?
Well, I did. Woke up today feeling that way. Despite having sufficient sleep through the night, I still had to drag my lazy arse out of bed in the morning. I have been feeling lethargic the whole day. Facing a bully only seemed to worsen the day (ain't going to say much here but ask mi if you are curious.) Productivity seems to hover around the 'low' range throughout the day. Work revolves around- Staring at endless figures. Asking daft questions. Attempting to tie neverending schedules. Putting on a false smile even when unhappy (because of some b**ch). Even now, had the urge to just blog but end up blogging rubbish. I guess thats what they mean by 家家有本难面的经. The only bonus I can find from today is I get to wake up later than usual and look forward to reaching home quickly later. Things will look up tomorrow! (I hope.)
Peak
U know the dreaded peak has arrived when a simple check on msn at this time shows a variety of nicks which spell one's predicament:
"watever. Can i go out on friday?"
"any pay rise?"
".....My peak is here..arhhhhhh"
"super shit hole"
"hang in there"
"Is it in the asian culture to work an employee to death or is it just audit?"
"client needs adjustment, E&* no staff...poor planning"
"can't wait fer weekend"
"...jiayou ppl!"
And there u go.
The
sum of the above,
Add: Dissatisfied people who do not have internet access
Add: Dissatisfied people who i do not have the msn of
Less: People who put msn nicks like the above for fun
= Disgruntled employees who are hugely affected by the peak.
Ooppss. That's a sign of over-a**it.
Haha. so which group do i belong to? I m blogging at this hr. So what do u think? ;)
Day 10-14 China （哈尔滨,大庆）
Great. And so i m back to the sunny shores of Sg. After 2 weeks in subzero temperatures, I was so happy to perspire when I touched down almost midnite on sat. I was delayed at Beijing Airport for 1hr+ due to some air traffic problem. The last few days were rather routine and so not much to blog about. Instead, here are the pics of how I spent my last few days in China.
That's mi. Holding another bottle of alcohol. again.
The window in e restaurant overlooked a field. Kids out playing in negative temperatures? Wow.
I prefer non-alcohol.
Another of those unhealthy food I've eaten. Yet another foie gras.
This isn't roasted chicken but roasted pigeon. I guess members of the birds family taste almost the same.
I went KTV on my last night in 大庆. Nth like those scenes u see on tv. Here we just sing songs.
This pic seems alittle dark. See next pic.
And yes! that's my highlight for the trip! 哈尔滨's snow world.
Would you pay almost $1000+ just to come to freeze ur arse in -25 to -30deg temperatures?
I wudn't. Thus, it was a once in a lifetime experience for mi.
It was COOoooLD. Everything was made of ice. Even the base of the flagpole.
Mi having a duel with some
haw flakes.
I started to camwhore. The driver was v helpful. He took most of my pics.
They had "哈尔滨欢迎" but i chose to pose with "迎"
Beijing 2008!
One of the few grp pics. We separated because it was hard to keep together in such a huge arena.
The ice was freezing cold. But to take this pic, I sat down.
In front of a Russian sculpture.
This is very exquisite.
There was even a shrine with many gods. and an altar.
Its def impressive rite?
I like this sculpture best! It looks like Eiffel tower.
It was so cold that u could see mist everywhere.
Look carefully in the above 2 pics. The sculpture changes colour.
There were horses dragging pple on sleighs! Just like in the fairy tales.
There were performances. Kids who looked barely 12 were performing dances on ice that would surprise most of us.
A snow fox. Rather camera shy. Had a hard time getting it to look at the camera.
The entrance of a castle.
Westminster Abbey from the United Kingdom
Porsche car showroom?
Car model anyone?
A close up showing how intricate the sculpture is. Very detailed.
Almost all the sculptures were made of blocks and blocks of this -ice. Amazing? Yeah, what wonders of art we can find here.
The jam on our way to the Airport on the last morning.
That's how sums up roughly how cold it has been this 2 weeks.
No, i wasn't in any wilderness. The airport was beside a huge plot of land.
We had e privilege of entering via a VIP entrance.
That's how the VIP lounge looks like.
And that's me relaxing before the long flight home.
We had a long transit at Beijing Airport where we shopped, had lunch and chilled. In e end, it was hardly enough and we were late for boarding.
The trip has opened up my horizons, allowed mi to see things I never saw, do things i nv did and left mi w a rather unforgettable experience. We started off purely as strangers but I can say we came back as friends. People there were very warm unlike the aloofness of us Singaporeans. A***tors were treated with respect. I left fearing the worst but returned feeling contented. It has been a gd trip. Minus the language barriers in accounting terminology. Take away the alcohol we had to drink. Take away the long travelling times we had to endure at times. And of course, take away working on all the public hols and wkends, I would say, "Hey, the trip's not as bad!" Would I say I m looking forward to my next visit? Would I say I would rather be in China than Sg? "No" to both questions. Nothing beats home, for that's where I wanna be. Grab hold of mi, I've 5 weeks more on this sunny island!
Day 9 China （哈尔滨,大庆）
There's more pics today! We work hard and we play hard. Finally we have crossed the halfway mark. Another few days and I will be back. Can hardly wait to be back on the sunny shores.
We went to a western style coffeehouse. Finally a change from Chinese breakfast.
The thorn amongst the roses? I was outcasted.
My pick - Blue Mountain Coffee. Heard about it on tv and now finally had a chance to try it. I am no coffee connoisseur but this tastes just like the 70cents Kopi-O in the coffeeshop. Opps.
That's mi and my coffee.
Ham, toast with 2 eggs.
Lunch was Korean BBQ.
Here's a close up of the BBQ pit.
As usual we ordered more than we could finish.
We finished work and stopped by 'Wine Street' to get alcohol for dinner. There's this long stretch with similar looking shops selling both wine and cigarettes. The Chinese here are so proud of their liquor that they looked down on the Absolut Vodka, Jack Daniels, Chiva etc.
Dinner was at this seafood restaurant.
We were given the autonomy to order. But i chose to snap pics.
We had the BEST VIP room in the restaurant. Even had a pool table.
Haven't played in ages. But the pose can still make it right? =P
I told you i am good at posing!
The room's really huge. Just look at the size of table.
Ok, here comes the highlight! One WHOLE freaking ABALONE! I finally fulfilled my wish!
Look how thick it is! It was real good!
GIANT prawns that we had.
Salmon Sashimi.
This sashimi was arrange like the petals of a rose. Very artistic indeed.
Sharks' Fins. Oh man, we really dine like kings here.
That's how much sharks' fins the bowl contains.
BBQ oyster. Yummy!
Of course, all this came at a price. We had to drink again.
After 9 days of hanging out with the hosts, I am still unable to comprehend why they love their liqour so much. The smell of it makes mi wanna puke. Anyway, its Tuesday tomorrow. Another 5 days and I will through!
