Gaining back my Chinese skills one day at a time.

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2009-11-09T00:53:00.001-08:00

My days Are Numbered.Literally. But what a night.

2009-11-05T11:07:00.001-08:00

Well... This could be my last blog for China, as tonight will be the last night in Beijing.

I am just so tired and lazy now to type this...but i guess pictures say a thousand words so yea...let the pics do the talking..

I will never forget my friends who treated me like family for my time in Beijing, they were really there for me when i felt lonely and home sick.

So much can be learn from my experience but only I would understand on how to cherish it and use it to full advantage back in KL, when i continue my studies, when i find work..when i socialise...when i live life.

Found more pics that are quite funny and just...wow..China..what a country...how can i describe it?

No regrets coming here despite having my journey cut short.

What ive learn besides my the chinese language i will never forget, i must promise myself that.

My new Bro, u know who u are and to the gang, see you when i see you. ^^

-Strength- Looking forward to the future

White Halloween

2009-11-02T02:25:00.001-08:00

31st Oct

Its time for the ghost and ghouls to come out and play!!
From Superman outfits, to cute sexy black mini dresses with whips and high heel outfits to the scariest mask and costumes and makeup fill the bar streets and clubs.

7pm, dinner and what a good way to enjoy chinas lamb meat on a stick!20sticks aint enough to fill you up so we order some noodles which the guy outside in the freaking cold weather was pulling the noodles to be ready to cook.

Went back to change into something nice ^^, and to get my coat and armour cause it was DAM cold outside.
After a couple of beers at San Li Tun, we were already hipped up for the clubs to party again for another night.

Just like other clubs, not allowed to take pics so i couldnt show u the amazing decoration of the place but i manage to sneak a few pics into my memory card ^^

After 2am, its time to change clubs and just when we stepped outside..ITS SNOWING! OH MY GOSH!!
I havent seen snow since dec07 at UK during winter and before that i think it was like..2004..so i dont see snow very often...was really excited while my friend was telling me stories on why he hated snow to the core >.

Just one of those chilled out days

2009-11-02T01:59:00.001-08:00

Friday, 30th Oct

Bought an english book called The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman and read more than a 5th of it for the whole afternoon..and thats alot judging the fact i dont read in long time frames...

5:35, sun starting to set

5:47 its getting dark

6:pm its getting REALLY dark

6:10 Its dark, onl the lights of the night life illuminates the sky t dam this is the time i start playing outdoor Futsal down the park AHAHAH.

Anyways that night we went to a Japanese BBQ grill restaurent in Lucky Street, just your regular bar street great place to go eat with friends and family and head to a bar for a couple of drinks and if your lucky listen to some old classic rock live band...WHICH IS WHAT WE DID!

a MASSIVE bottle a Sake, japanese rice wine.

Nice book to read, My favourite beer - Hogaarden Belgium draught beer, my favourite because it lacks the bitterness and aftertaste of many lager style beers, this with cool live band music...good day :)

MangShan

2009-11-01T22:54:00.001-08:00

Down south to the outskirts of Beijing is a hill where around this time of the year, the leaves weill turn red and orange..and ive been indoors for way to long..might as well just enjoy some of the nature here...this hill is famous for having beijings biggest damp around the corner with a lake.
Not alot of history, but this in order to conquer this one there 2400 steps to reach the top, thats just the half of the adventure, then u go off around a bendy road where the big damp is.

The first 100 steps were tiring already >.<

One thing great about this place is, in the distance u can spot so many different shades of colours of the leaves, with the combination of the natural rocks and hills, it really was a great view, sadly it was very
foggy that day couldnt get a nice view into the distance.

Army-like designed trees? cool.

A QUARTER THERE!

Even just 600 steps conquered...you see where that guy is pointing? yes? the top of this mountain? thats 1800 steps away..AHAHHA

Jia You - Good luck and keep GOING!

We reached the top and guess what, we werent allowed to continue...because its already past 3pm...STUPID RIGHT?! so what! 3pm is still early
The sign says welcome to the top, thank you come again, literally...wth!??!

LUCKILY!! Our friend who is local was manage to sneak us in for a small fee, 10Yuan had to be paid to the guard ..but we had to wait for every1 to go first ahaha..so sneaky.

Ive seen a collar and leash on a dog, but never on a cat! Poor thing!! :( :(

Mr Mad Mike, always up for an adventure.

Anyways later that night we went to the best steamboat hotpot place in whole of Beijing..its so good that they had a bloody waiting room just for their customers...with free snacks, free computers to use...books, cards, magazines to play and look at....its so crazy because even the waiting room was pacckked!! every1 was like eating these snacks and drinking drinks in these little cute kindergarden cups and plates..ahahah. i didnt touch any i didnt want to ruin my diet >.<
The waiting room sign

After an hour and 20mins..they finally called us...we went up to the elevator..up to the restaurant...10metres from it...5metres from it..i can see the inside..WE ARE INSIDE... NOW PASSING THE RESTARUANT..TO THE 2ND PART OF THE WAITING ROOM ARRRGHH!!
This time they gave us somemore fruits and stuff and a menu to order ..which is good so when we sit down it wont be long till be eat ^^..

But gosh..the food looks amazing..and the meat..WOOHOO! hehehe...with great services. hot towel for us to wipe our hands and face every 10mins...free tea and soft drinks...they even gave up a apron for us to wear so we wont stain our shirts! now thats good service.

In China, their ENGLAND very POWDERFUL

2009-11-01T07:34:00.001-08:00

Throughout my trip in Beijing, took some funny shots of signs and dishes on the menu which i found very amusing...enjoy! i know i did. HAHAHAH

So its a cross of a Chimp and a Shrimp? ..sounds tasty..ill have 1 dish please

Please dont tell me they..*@pe the animal before they killed it >.<
Was it so hard to spell BODY correctly? ahhh...careless mistake i guess

Another typical mistake the chinese makes when they do direct translation from chinese to english...its correct...just doesnt sound so nice... -_-''

Hohoho! complain!!!!

No comment on this.

FYI, the 4 chinese characters means - Adult health protection . Go figure.. ^^

I guess this is short form for... If the weather is windy, please do not light any incense. Cute..ahaha

Saw this in the local brochure, full marks if u spot the grammar mistake.

Can som1 tell me what the first sign mean? i know the others...
Basically its telling me - Do know explode/ no exploding cars on this road.

I saved which i think...is the best for last... XD

Random

2009-10-29T21:55:00.001-07:00

Well, Kl will be sooner than i thought, i will be heading back home alot earlier. When exactly i dont know..but its somewhere in between first or second week of November, Now i have only a week left of class so i going to make use of every minute of it.

Anyways i manage to upload some of the pics from my phone to the computer! Gotta blue tooth it to my friends phone first >.< stupid micro SD card....no1 has a reader for that and stupid me for not bringing my phone cable.Here are some of the days with BAD weather...

Saw this girl in the bus with the umbrella open...AHHAHAHA funny chinese paranoid creature...

Brilliant sky...

Always..ALWAYS..ALLLLWAAAYYS!! Buy a subway swipe card instead of a daily one-off use ticket...overall it will be less expensive in the long run, lazy explain. Maybe this pic will help u explain why its better to buy a card. Or else...

Was messing with the shutter speed with my camera at my friends apartment with an amazing view from the balcony.

The ''BEST'' Buffet

2009-10-19T22:02:00.001-07:00

Oct 15 Tuesday

Its been a long week, very boring week so nothing to blog about, thats good because i know manage to find a way to access blogger...finally, yet internet is slow as ever and if you see pics here, i manage to get photobucket to work XD.

Well, after teppanyaki night, I told myself..no more expensive all u can eat buffet in china…just doesn’t suit my budget. Today we went to a all around the world continental buffet HA! It was located in a high-class shopping district called The Place. What a name and opposite Zara,(one of my favourite brands ) is where it is…its called The Golden Jaguar, the BEST buffet. Man if you set up a company in the states, do you think people can sue them for stating ‘best’ if its not the best?
Live band, free flow beer, free Haagen-Daaz icecream, Asian crusine to the good old American meat, from the Mediterranean selection to all the seafood in the WORLD, all ready to rumble to rock your world.

Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Singaporean (no Malaysian DAM) Thai, Japanese, Spanish, Italian I can go on and on!!! So many choices…me not having lunch that day was a great idea.
Afterward it kinda turned into a karaoke night we just kept on singing with the band which played ENGLISH 90’s songs…which was rather entertaining! Just kept eating ice cream and having a good old Budweiser beer in our hands, while my friend kept on entertaining himself to crabs with eggs inside we each only allowed 2 per person cause its so expensive ...he said its the best...well since i dont eat seafood i gave my tickets to him, so he had 4 crabs with eggs inside...sounds disgusting..but i know alot of you would go ..OH MAN I LOVE THOSE!!! THEIR TO DIE FOR!

Dam camera didnt get much of the dessert bar

Ewww..seafood XD

Summer Palace and the Street

2009-10-19T21:48:00.001-07:00

Oct 5th Monday

Summer palace of Yi He Yuan ( direct translation- harmony garden )

Like all Chinese historical sights..im not even going to begin explaining how freaking big this place is..but despite the fact im used to visiting such huge places..it still amazes me.
A combination of features such as pavilions, halls, palaces, temples and bridges all and judging from what I saw this day and some from my pics..it is really ‘a masterpiece of Chinese landscape garden design’ quote from a travel guide book.
This place serves for a summer resort for the princess(es) of Qing Dynasty would walk around this massive garden with a huge lake that u could rent a boat and sail around. She would also go to the top of the palace to look out to which well, has quite a spectacular view of whole Beijing. As you approach the Longevity Hill you could see the whole kingdom at that time, here,the whole of Beijing city could been seen. Again, the view is just amazing, what more could be said? Sad I dont own a wide angle lens for my DSLR.

On the other side of this place, there is a special place called Su Zhou Jie…a small street where just like any markets sells all types of souvenir gifts and artifacts. But one thing about this place that really like and different is that..its soo peaceful! Seriously…the ammount of tourist here just so little, from crowded to..no crowd..i mean..around summer palace , you couldn’t even barely walk properly..even the small pathways your shoulder to shoulder..toe to heel.

This little town has a river that runs through it, the placid water just emphasises how peaceful the atmosphere is..it even has very VERY narrow pathways yet, it feels like its just us here…the calm river just sits there, with the sun setting and the cool breeze..just a stroll through this place…so peaceful, I love the idea how they put the ‘caution slippery floor’ sign on every corner..literally AHAHHA.

There was a old guy who does ancient calligraphy where u can get your chinese name on paper, along with wise words of wisdom, this fat guy had his done and his chinese name was Fei Long (fat dragon) very very interesting. It was painted to perfection, just like the old stype of calligraphy, would get mine down, but...ill do it another time.

Forbidden City

2009-10-07T22:40:00.001-07:00

A brand new day for adventure...dam its a hot day...
Somehow the idiot taxi driver was being lazy and dropped us off at the rear entrance of the forbidden city and was too dam lazy to go to the front because it was ''jam''
Moron.

Anyways..from the entrance of the rear...we knew it was going to be extremely crowded..on the way we saw millions of people just walking aimlessly.
Now this place has alot of history..and i mean..alot...because..THERES SO MANY GOD DAM FFREAKING ROOMS!

Some rooms have these little statutes and each statue is a chinese mystical creature to scare away evil spirits...the more of them u have on each roof...the most important or more grand the building has. So the main entrance would have alot more than the small ones inside.
We passed numerous halls such as Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony , and the Hall of Preserving Harmony.
They all have their own little history...the inner court is where are all the ceremony event happens where all the high rank ppl gather so it is a very spaceous area with decorated stoned pillars. Now even here..there are so many different palaces such as Palace of Earthly Tranquility, Hall of Mental Cultivation and it just goes on..

It was an unbelievable sight of people walking away from and to outside forbidden city and towards Tiananmen square...
tried to lift my camera and take a pic of the long long path down to show an insignificant line of people out of the 1.3Billion people in China.

PROTON GEN 2 ON THE STREET! NO JOKE! (first Malaysian car that i saw, probably the only one, no proton here in china la! )

JingShan Park

2009-10-07T21:23:00.001-07:00

Went to JingShan park…a hilly massive garden-like park where u have paths leading up to a tower which has a great view of the forbidden city..IM GOING THERE 2MORO! u gotta pay 2 yuan to go in...pfft..thats like 1.10RM...

At the top, there is an amazing view,and look at the sky, like…somedays..its worse! As in better! Because its like u ask a kid to dip his brush in light blue and just I long stroke across some paper…an A4 sheet with 1 colour..thats like the sky…just incredible, sun was already setting so we head back after that.The lake is BeiHai park, like other various lakes, u can rent boats and just sail around, we might go one day…
What i realised is...(like how im going to realise in the next few days from my trips)
I love views and a nice scenery ...and it will never get old to see the views from high above...i do try to take good pics of them but i just cant because my camera aint good enough...>.<
check out the people >.< ill be facing them soon when i visit

National day and Teppanyaki

2009-10-07T21:13:00.001-07:00

Oct 1 Thursday-
Today was the 60th anniversary of China's national day and it was a very lazy day for us. First out of 6 day holiday and let me tell you, im going to be catching up on some reading (ENGLISH BOOKS!) and SLEEP! On the tele we watched the parade, where they show off Chinas military forces with sort of an imperial march. Its going to be extremely hard to describe because its sort of something u gotta see it yourself. They have soldiers march in groups and they do the goose walk followed by trucks and tanks of all sorts, from the normal ones with turrets to the huge mega ones and anti aircrafts, even ones with rockets on them…from anything to everything. And I could have sworn I saw some with mini airplanes on them with some with like radar jammers! Then it was the airforce, jets flew past Tiananmen Square and we could even hear them from where we were watching, we even saw some jets flew by our area.
After the whole fiasco, I played mahjong..and read my book =)

The next day, Oct 2nd
After doing everything but anything. We went for dinner to this Japanese Teppanyaki which offers an amazing deal, 168RM for a buffet. You order whatever u want, and they cook them in front of you on this big piece of iron plate This is my first time having som1 cook in front of u so i found this really amazing..
All you can eat basically, without the need to get of your butt and scout around for food, its all on the menu, all u need is a finger and point..point point point! And EAT EAT EAT!

The beef, lamb, the combination of vegetables and the chefs weapon: the 2 folk spatula and his ammo: oil, soy sauce, black sauce, salt pepper etc, never failed to put on a magnificent show on how he performs the art of teppanyaki cooking…very fast, very smooth and quickly he cooks with such skilled maneuvers, and it really reflects on the food which was AMAZING!

Seriously, I think its one of the best meals I had in Beijing so far, maybe tied with the Beijing duck I had too. Dessert was great, fried banana with icecream on top…=D

Clubbing after that..this place was pretty sweet..not only we had a lot of our campus students and friends attended, the live band music really rocked the house down!! Our friends had a table with free drinks which was awesome…vodka and red bull was their main drink 1 part vodka, 3 part red bull. Now THAT’S something u wanna drink at the beginning..bound to get ur feet off the ground and into the dance floor.
The guys thought me a new game including a 5 dice and a cup (non-see through) to cover ur dice. I have no idea on how to explain though sorry. Too much hassle =)
( Yes the pirates of caribbean game that played on the ship )

ChaoYang and Mahjong

2009-09-26T09:01:00.001-07:00

A wet morning but the weather was GREAT! nice cold temp from the rain in the early morning was just perfect for our trip to the park.

First...we had lunch at the mall, a friend intro us to DIM SUM! ahahaha..their so pretty under the high-class lights in the restaurants as they served us the food 1 by 1. We ate like kings.....like really.so much food...there were some left over, but it looked so pretty and delicious, we just ate and ate despite our stomach which was gonna erupt!

ChaoYang park...i couldnt even begin to explain how FREAKING MASSIVE THIS PLACE IS!
i thought it was big...but.no..i swear.its like the size of a small town! a massive lake...that u can rent a mini boat where u can just row around, but this place even is a theme park! there were rides u ccan attend...but it wasnt really being occupied because the weather wasnt so good so yea...basically we just walk around it (we got lost so many times ) well...how can u get lost if u dont even know where ur going....there were futsal courts, basketball courts table tennis and even snacks and drinks stalls.
I guess this place will be more lively up at night .
Flower gardens, grass fields and trees just spread across this park with roads even for cars which can cross...like i said..its like a mini town ahahaha.
Can be very romantic to walk with that special someone ^^
We found this nice piece of grass and sat down and played some crazy anf funny game.
Errr...i dont know whats it called but i know most of u know what it is...there were 5 of us so u need 5 sets (eg. 4 tens,4 Jacks, 4 Queens, 4Kings, 4Aces) shuffle and distribute...start taking turns by passing a card to the person on ur right and the objective of the game is to get 4 of a kind. Then u quickly place ur hand in the middle and the last one to place their hand LOSES and gotta do a punishment, u can create ur own punishments but we just played for fun. There are strategies on how to win but im lazy to explain bleehhh.....

After that i went to my friends place to play MAHJONG!
It was my first time playing this and let me tell u i got the hang of it very fAST...and im pretty good myself...won 1 game after 4 rounds! ^^
But we played the basic one, no point system required..just gotta make combinations and sets with ur tiles and yea...I got addicted to it so i even borrowed the schools set so we can play during the national holiday from oct1st to 6th. My friends will teach me how to use the other tiles so we can gamble hehehehehehe...

Here u can see im only 1 tile away from winning! yea i was so dam excited and started taking pics of my tiles i think i gave away that im going to win....then..on the left of me...som1 discarded a tile...once the tile was in the middle..i knew already its all oveerrr! and STEAL~! BOOM! VICTORY! GAME! AHAHAH

No news, just GOOD DINNER!

2009-09-26T08:31:00.001-07:00

tuesday,22rd.

3 loonnnggg booorrriinng days in school so far, been getting alot of new words and phrases and gotta try to master them...trying to put in at least 2 hours of work everyday..sometimes i fell short..get distracted by msn..and so on...BUT GUESS WHAT..I COULDNT ACCESS FACEBOOK YOUTUBE AND BLOGS! my proxy server was down..found out that even my friends were down..and i found out, its the government again...National day is drawing near on the 1st of October..so their tightening up security WHICH SUCKS! even some news website are blocked. >.<

Well tonight we ate in...just light yesterday but we wanted to do something different..he COOKED CHICKEN WINGS! well my roommate did all the hard work...he is a great chef, i help cut stuff...marinate the chicken and yea..the right hand man stuff..^^..so yea i also did contribute alot...i deserve some credit!
Simple potatoes with peppers and garlic and omelette with chinese saugage
simple yet DELICIOUS! i even had 2 bowls of rice!! :D

it was certainly a GOOD dinner.

Good job Mr-chef, you know who u are.

Temple of heaven

2009-09-23T03:56:00.001-07:00

Sunday 20th

A typical lunch which i love...great noodles and of course...DUMPLINGS! gosh i never get sick of them...heres a pic of me eating my 100th dumpling so far....HAHAHA...nah not really..i think its mmore!!
Well if i could have noodles and dumplings are the best combination because after eating noodles im never full..and the dumplings just just hit those tiny little spots ^^
After that we headed to check out temple of heaven.

Btw im wearing my england jersery because i only just found out ENGLAND MADE IT THROUGH TO THE WORLD CUP!! England 5 1 Croatia

And since im typing this on the 23rd OWEN!!! 4-3!!!!!

There was this long hallway that leads to the temple and gosh it was PACKED! the most obvious was there was a massive group of ppl surrounding these ppl playing some intruments and ALL WERE SINGING SOME DAM OLD CHINESE SONGS from like the 1920's. And when they sing...it was LOUD! i was standing right in the middle of the action and like people were literally singing their lungs out...this guys mouth opened so wide i just gotta take a pic...ppl were kicking that feather thing like juggling a football...i know theirs a name for it but i dont know right now.
One of the great thing about this place is that there is a massive forest-garden called cypress woods that just wraps around the side of this whole place...thousands and thousands or trees which are extremely old are scattered across and some even aligned and at times paths just seek through them.

Compared to yesterday..the weather was so different..yesterday was sooo hazey and no sun at all whereas today the sun was shining strongly with a little bit of haze.
This is really a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design after reading the history about this place, emperors would come here to pray to the gods and make sacrifices for good harvest all year round...u know..the usual ancient stuff.
Im not going to blab about the history because its just gonna be so boring....

Another part was the echo walls which also had a temple but there was a LINE to see whats inside...not gonna waste 10mins lining up to see 10seconds of whats inside. But the fun part is that there is this circular wall that can can transmit sounds over large distances..so if u stand on the other side and im on the opposite side..i shout something directly to the wall...the person on the other side can hear me!

On the way back we walked through the woods and it was really relaxing...the combination of the shade from the trees allows and the cool breeze was perfect for me.

Then we heard even more music..but this time...in this area people were dancing..and gosh...there were couples and even random single ppl just moving their feet.
Even this old guy seemed either drunk, or just dancing really crazily cause he was moving up and down left and right with his arms and legs...but he seemed to be knowing what he is doing!

We then visited DongNan, just another massive department stores with cute little gadgets..outside the store were many shops from Nike, giordano, Mcds and various stores u see in malls...so yea..LIKE AN OUTSIDE MALL..very happening..alot of lights....the cold night combined with the nightlife-atmosphere..if only i had alot of cash..SPEND SPEND SPEND!
i saw a nice cardigan at the department store...have to bargain..another time i guess ^^
Had KFC for dinner other there...first fast-food in china..and..err...gosh..the portion was tiny..very disappointed. the chicken were like...shrink-ed...no more KFC for me here!

Nano's little bro.

2009-09-22T05:41:00.001-07:00

Saturday 19th.

Oh man woke up at 11am, didnt even sleep THAT late...well we didnt do much today..studied for some time since i got shifted up 3 levels ( its not that amazing lvl 3 4 and 5 almost the same..)
Went to the pearl market in the afternoon to check out a less crazier place where its like a department store which sells almost everything..from belts suitcases to eletronics to the smallest tiny gadgets for ur phone...saw this ipod shuffle gadget...long story short...I BOUGHT IT.. 2GB ...nice red to match my nano..and its so cute! price? 60yuan ..HAHA..over 30rm....i give it...2 months for it to last before the fakeness kicks in.

Had dinner at this duck restaurant..YES MORE DUCK....but the duck dish was like..300yuan...for skin..meat and a soup dish...turned out to be 80something per person..but....it was worth it...dam that was good duck...

Guitar!

2009-09-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i finally bought my guitar...had to go to a street that i found on on the net..and prayed it still existed..well..this i had to take 10 stops to this place on the subway, the furthest ive gone so far via the subway...i had my books with me since i went straight from class so i manage to occupy myself ...surprisingly...THERE WERE EMPTY SEATS on the train...like..wat the heck? its always meant to be pack..u know..like our KTM in msia or the london underground...u never get to sit..

So i arrived to this street..and omgsh...literrly 10 to 20 stores all lined up next to each other..all selling different various instruments...violins, cellos pianos...GRAND pianos ...it looked like legitimate stores but i wouldnt bet all the money i had on me that all of them are real..since i manage to bargain for my guitar...but the service is great ..after looking at the guitars at the frist shop i entered..i already made my deicison im gonna buy the cheapest one and get a proper cool one in malaysia.
all of them sounds real...feels real... and price aint too shabby... 340yuan...400yuan...i got mine for 220yuan... (over 110rm ), it came with a bag, 3 pics , a capo and a string to go around ur guitar..what a deal. WOOHOO! and ive been playing it since yesterday..now my fingertips are bruised...still not used to the acoustic strings yet.

For dinner we made spaghetti, with corn and mash potatoes.....u may be wondering ..SPAGHETTI WITH CORN AND MASH POTATOES!??! well..yes..it is an odd combination but it was great! we made the mash potatoes and we went to our friends place to help cook the rest.....its good to have home cooked western food...finally..no extremely oily dumplings or beef noodles for dinner.

Also i manage to zest up my green tea..ive been drinking it for a week already...since chinese tea is good to detox all the oily food..on most days, (if i remember ) i make it in the morning and bring it to school to drink..like water...but a cheaper source instead of buying bottled water or drinks everyday.

My secret ingredient to make not so dull...APPLE JUICE! a dash a it to ur green tea..and adds a sweet aftertaste which doesnt make it bitter anymore...IM A GENIUS!

( i dont add to jasmine tea, i like it on its own already.)

Great of wall China

2009-09-15T06:27:00.001-07:00

Sunday, sept 13th

THE DAY FINALLY ARRIVES...IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT SINCE DAY 1!
the all mighty great wall, ready to be conquered by me! Fact: Is 6400KM long, (4000 miles ).

We had a private bus among the 10 of us, (around 4 of them not from our academy, friends of friends.) and had a 2 and a half hour drive down to si ma tai, which turns out to be true by the fact that is isnt so populated with tourism...so less people, more walls for us! I never like to go to crowded tourism sites anyways.
We stopped at the place and the second i saw a glimpse of the wall i quickly took some pics of it, not realising its too far away and totally forgot my camera doesnt have the ability to take long distance, we had lunch at this...well..farm? its a restaurant along a deserted street with alleys and empty shacks abandoned and a massive cornfield where vegetables grew as well...stray dogs were walking around the area and even saw this small tiny little puppy which we all found very amusing.

Next stop, the wall! We actually drove up a mountain so even when we got off, after a few minutes of walking towards the wall we already had some amazing view, after just admiring the scenery we were actually on the wall even not noticing it.
We took around 3 hours to reach the top, and at the top..which isnt the top, is just blocked of where u cant go anymore because they say its too dangerous, took a pic of it and it looked challenging which will be so much fun to just even go for it...sad.

Staring across panoramic view from the wall is...speechless, just so amazing, as the cooling wind blows across us we start to wonder why this is really one of the 7 wonders of the world. I really couldn't describe the feeling but just looking at the wall stretch all the across, over mountains and disappear into the horizon, mountains and grass plains poured towards the whole landscape that just creates such greenery ..all this just sends a shiver down my spine. Magnificent.
Im gonna let the pictures do the talking now, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! i have alot more pics i would lov to upload but i just took too many >.< dun wan over flow the post with hundreds of them.

What a day it was for me, VERY GOOD DAY!

The Temples- Chilled out day.

2009-09-15T05:40:00.001-07:00

Saturday.

Sms came in at 10am...(sooo early!!) asking us if we wanna visit the Lama temple and Confucius temple, why not? Reason why we had to leave early? China's national day is on the first of October..and its their 60th year so its going to be big..every saturday and sometimes even some weekdays they would close up the roads and subways after midday for practice. Hundreds of guards would literally practice marching in order step by step and if your lucky u would see jets and helicopters zoom pass you...trucks would just be in a convoy and pass you 1 at a time, sometimes it feels like china is going to war! =S

Well ..
first stop was the lama temple, and we had lunch at this stall that, you just have to open your eyes and register that its actually a restaurant because it was like tucked riggghhtt into a corner. Anyways after a bowl of spicy-pan-mee-dried-looking noodles we head of to the first temple.

This tibetan Buddhism temple is the biggest lamasery temple in beijing, and my it was biggg...we stopped by many courtyards and halls with god and goddess status beautifully formed and worshipped by visiters would would pray with their insense.

I decided to give it a try.

After a few trips and stops to admire the delicate shrines we were at the mother of all gods - Mr Buddha himself. The temple is famous for its 18m statue of Maitreya Buddha carved from a single piece of sandalwood. Im not really into these stuff so after a few snaps of here and there we make haste and went to the Confucius temple around 15min walk...

Confucius temple.
There are many of them around but the second largest is the one in Beijing which we were at.A philosopher who was worshiped and practiced not only around china but all around the world, i guess he was just a very smart person and would always say wise words of wisdom.
CONFUCIUS SAY, FORGET INJURIES, BUT NEVER FORGET KINDNESSES.
, HE WHO WILL NOT ECONOMIZE WILL NOT AGONIZE.
, WHEN ANGER RISES, THINK OF THE CONSEQUENCES.
, THE SUPEIOR MAN IS MODEST IN HIS SPEECH, BUT EXCEEDS IN HIS ACTIONS.
( One of my favourite. )
There are so many of them some quite inspiring some just dont even make sense to me, but feel free to read some from the net if ya want.

After that it was just the 3 of us...just sitting in this broad spread of old trees...even older than ur great great great grandparents man!!, chit chatting..and just..chilling. With shade and a peaceful atmosphere, seriously birds were even chirping. You could just lie down under a tree and read a book...so relaxing.

We then took a walk, and what we saw again were people washing windows, now ive seen them before doing it in china and even up close...its going to be hard to explain but what its not what their doing which amazes me..its how their doing it. Which minimum gear, rope, buckets and a plank to sit on..they literally belay themselves down and up just to wash the windows, so brave of them and it really looks like their just hanging from a single rope which is just dangerous. if i could get a clear pictures of them ill post them up.

After about 30mins of wandering around and we passed hooters again...3 guys looking for food and nowhere to go...why not!?!
But it was not even 6 yet so it was pretty much empty, we ordered some fries and chicken wings for all of us to share, again...we had a mini dance from the lovely Chinese ladies, very chilled out.

After that we headed over to a German bar just to have some beers...their sizes 0.3litres (small) 0.5 litres, (medium)and 1 whole litre of beer (big). Since its buy one free one, we order the 0.5 ones. By the night fell on us, i realised i just had 2 glasses, 1000ml of beer in me >.< well less cause i went to the toilet a few times...

It was chilled out day indeed, had a great chat with the guys...and had time to think about stuff..the only thing i forgot was to do some studying since ill be moving up a few levels next week (^.^)V.

But still..chilled out day.

2009-09-12T08:23:00.000-07:00

Friday, Sept 11.

Dinner at WangFuJing!
I manage to buy postcards and a map of beijing over here but i should have got it during the first week just i KEPT FORGETTING.
Had dinner at this fancy place where we ordered sooooooo many foooood...i think it was 10 dishes..from appetizers of sweetcorns and sweet cakes....to the main courses where we had chicken with vegetables, tofu....this massive bowl of fish...and my favourite...duck...gosh...fine cut to perfection...the skin sooo crispy....gosh....mmmm..duck..
best part was there were 8 of us...it was only 55 yuan each!!! compared to the ammount of food we ate...it was CHEAPP!!!

After that we walked around the area to enjoy the cold breeze...it was such a great feeling for me because i just love the cold winds blowing towards me....better than stupid malaysia weather where its just hot hot hot!!...at night is really a different feeling...

random pics. First home cooked meal.

2009-09-12T07:40:00.000-07:00

Well i realised ive taken some random pics around china but just never got the chance to post them....so why not just post them here!! On top is just few shops around my area where i stay...there are some really good yet cheap small stalls where u can like fit 6 tables for cutsomers which are always pakced at night because its really good...hehehe.

The CCTV tower which i find really early artistic as it is built in a odd yet cool manner. ahaha. Even got 1 shot on a very hazy day....dam pollution.Its a massive complex that broadcast over 19 channels and is most popular network in whole of china.

My parents talked to me about how i shoudnt be eating out all the time..since it can be expensve which is true..all studets staying overseas...DONT ALWAYS EAT OUTSIDE....it is healthier and cheaper to cook ur own food..so i went to tesco to grab some vegetables 3 small bundles...cost me 5Jiao..0.25rm...almost nothing...and a small whole chicken which was like 5rm (after discount ) .
Sine it was my first day..i cooked something simple...bought packet noodles... 1yuan each..and went home to cook.

Boiled the noodles..chopped up some of the meat and the vegetables and chuck it in...it wa delicious....calculated i could have 4 bowls of noodles which the ammount of chicken i bought ...so average price for this wold be like... (10yuan for chicken..divide 4 = 2.5 + 1 rm for noodles, vegetable dont count.) lss than 4 yuan for 1 bowl. Cheap yet healthy...ok the noodle aint..but im gonna buy my own noodels instead of packet which is just as cheap! yes sauce is also cheap to buy when making soup.

Birthday Boy! Meet Bonnie the Bonsai tree

2009-09-10T08:38:00.000-07:00

Gosh 19...the last year of teen-hood....well today didnt do much but after school me and a friend visited the flower market ....and wow from 7 feet potted plants to 7 cm tall baby plants...its a whole warehouse full of flowers and related e.g fountains, fish....garden related stuff..it was very interesting...again..bargaining is a must....and i thought of getting a plant to liven up my room....long story short i ended up buying 1 that LOOKS like a bonsai tree.....i dont think its one but i dont care..if it looks like one it is one...its my present to myself...a new friend and SHE is called Bonnie...(for obvious reasons ) well lets see how long it can survive...

After dinner me and my roommate went to my friends apartment to chit chat abit and they manage to surprise me with a small piece of cake which was very touching...ahha..its nothing big..but its the meaning that counts...really cool bunch of guys... =)

Thanks mom for the 100 US dollars...will use every single cent to my guitar... ^^

I found the pretty china girls!

2009-09-09T08:46:00.000-07:00

Ive uploaded most of the pics for all my post so feel free to check them out ^^

Saturday night and some of the guys wanted to party as well as a few of the girls so what a better place to go to warm up ur clubbing mood other than HOOTERS!! And i guess u could say it is true about their waitresses ;)

There were 6 of us and 1 more coming so we ordered 50 chicken wings to share among oursevles, since we were real MEN and hungry we wanted to show off to the waitresses hahha...we estimated it wuld be around 6 to 7 peices per person but what we didnt realised that these werent ur everyday mini chicken wings..they were HUGE!! like...BIG BABY MEATY CHICKEN WINGS!

So we ordered our meals, chat, had our beer , didnt order tsingtau, chinas local beer cause i wanted to have a nice bottle and watched the waitresses do a little dance every hour or 2 it seems. They would stay in a line at the front and do a little dance to all the mainstream songs lik Just dance by Lady GaGa, i was pretty entertaining ..not only for us but for the drunk white guys at the corner whislting and shouting ...but i forgot to take pics of it...mainly my hands werefilled with chicken wings.
So after paying a 719Yuan between us we headed off to the clubs around the area, we past quite a few interesting ones but we wanted to go to a cheap or free entry club..most are 80 or 100 to enter..it started to rain so we quickly entered 1 and it was only 40 yuan!! and free bottle of beer!!! great deal huh.. funny thing was..it looked very expensive ...even the cars outside were all fancy...M6, benz, a porshe around the corner nissan gtr, which amazed me the most because my guess this model is the latest one...which is only 2 or 3 years old! you certainly wont see this in malaysia..well i think got like 3 of them sold under Naza ..not 100% please comment if u know abt it...so we entered the club called babyface and gosh...after all it IS saturday..and it was PAACKKEDD!! but seriously.i fianlly found where all the chicks were hiding in china ...

Babyface is more like, for the KL ppl ..like Bar-celona in sunway...big space with tables to drink and only 2 small dance floors...well..every1 was dancing no matter where they were standing..

Well...dunno what to talk abt now...a beer bottle in 1 hand...other hand in the air moving to the beat of the music, ok i just visualised myself doing that and it was prety retarded but i guess u got my drift..basically it was great!! ...especially watching my austrian friend try to dance with new chicks every 20mins...we had alot of laughes...crazy singing and dance moves...even though im just a beginner in dance i manage to impress them with my basic skills which was great..i felt like a pro for once in my life..ahaha. didnt take any pictures inside because i didnt bring my camera into the club, not allowed so they kept it... >.<

After that we hopped to another bar abt 10min walk down the road called bluebar...by the picture u prob could tell which one it was and which pic im talking abt...no cover charge too...First thing i realised was that..no joke..at least 90% of the ppl in here were white!! all eurasion!! only the next day i found out it was a foreign owned bar...not a single chinese guy inside...i guess i was the cloesest to one and im only half!! EVEN THE DJ WAS BLACK!
the other 10% were the chinese girls which the white blokes would easily be picked up by them..it was hard for my Austrian friend to get a dance partner because they were all taken...

HOU HEI !!

2009-09-05T01:47:00.000-07:00

ARGH I DONT KNOW HOW TO PUT THE PICTURES LIKE HOW I WANT THEM! sorry their messy.

Friday. Today, was the last day for my roommates, the swiss bros in china so what a better way to spend some quality time with them by eating 100Yuan worth of Indian food! Went to San Li tun (the place with the bars i visited before, just found out whats it called.) for a restaurant called Ganges which i have to say..the tandoori chicken was AWESOME! well thats what u expect when u spend that kind of money...the whole time we were there..we were watching indian music videos...GOSH SO ANNOYIING...which the guy and the girl the typical dance and the...URGH..so funny sometimes cause its soo fake XD. Well the swiss guys loved it...dont you =).

After that i said my goodbyes and exchange emails it was already 10, went off to meet my classmates and friends to go to another place called Hou Hei. This tourist attraction is actually a massive lake, surrounded by numerous bars, clubs and others and let me tell u...it was HAPPENING!! Afterall it was a friday night packed with locals and foreigners... music.. dance..gosh CRAZY! The idea of the lake being there is that you could rent a boat and actually bring food or drinks on them and drink while you go around the lake...its such an ingenious idea...drink and get drunk and fall into the lake..FUN FUN FUN! We might head back and do that actually, but we just went to bar instead and chilled...

Before we went, we walked around the lake and gosh..it was massive, took us at least half an hour to walk around it...as we walked and enojoyed the night life, we started passing bars and clubs where just like the silk market AND the bars at san li tun, the workers would literally come up to you and ''COME COME, chinese beer!! shisha!!'' or something like that...i gave up paying attention to what they were saying since the other day -_-. Sometimes they will follow u and ask HOW MUCH U WANT FOR A BEER! I GIVE YOU CHEAP CHEAP PRICE!!'' U just gotta walk faster and keep shaking ur head and hands for a few seconds and they would get the idea.

Sometimes GIRLS would come up to u and say ''DO U WANT A MASSAGE, I GIVE U 90YUAN'' seriously...i dont know what massage their talking abt...but i dont mind if u just 'give me the 90 yuan' and walk away =). (the girls were not even pretty!!), Well after a few..well..ill rephrase that..A MILLION encounters with the locals, i guess its because one of my cool buddies is from sweden and has such a eurasian look...they tend to have this stereotype that 'White people=Money' which is pretty pathetic.

Its funny..one thing we realised that..the further deep u go..the beer prices tend to drop...the first bar..wow...live bands playing...funky lights...but a Tsing Tao beer (chinas local beer) cost 40yuan..the best part was that..like i said the further we went..we saw on the signs...beer...30...then it came down to 20..then 15..then at the very end..( u can tell when ur at the end the music gets softer because this area aint so ''happening'' ) it was 10yuan...but..the bars here looked crap...like..small run down ones...so yea...no music at all...i guess we rather pay for the atmosphere as well as the beer...thats why ppl are willing to pay 40yuan for a bottle and listen to live music and dance with sexy girls.

Well we ended up in a bar somewhere in the middle...thanks to Chris, the swedish guy we manage to bargain the beer down to 10yuan! from 20. We he asked how much a beer was...ONCE he said that..it triggered the workers from the other bars beside the one we were standing outside that THIS MEANS BUSINESS..so they all swarm around him to get business and u will be hearing all the talking which basically they were trying to say COME TO MY BAR MINE IS BETTER...well i guess they are all desperate for business since competition is soo high. We manage to get beer for 10yuan (btw the beer all bar prices are referring to is Tsing tau beer...others are all expensive)..we manage to sit upstairs where we had a good view of the row of the bars and abit of the lake...the second i took a sip of Tsing Tau, chinas beer ,i realised why bars can sell them for so cheap...like my friend said, it tasted like water...it was a little light...well..its very light beer...im not a regular drinker but i have to say...Carlsberg and Heineken beer are wayyy better....but if ya want a low % of alcohol and a light one which doesnt get u high or ur face red i recommend TSING TAU!! THE CHINA BEER!

It was a great night, we chatted..walked around summore...took some pics and watched ppl dance. There were music were playing and maybe around... 50 ppl...THEY ALL WERE ALL DANCING THE SAME STEPS! it was basic footwork and hand motion ..but its crazy...u gotta see it to believe it... found it very interesting because it seems everyone in beijing...or china for that matter that every1 knew the steps because random ppl just enter and started dancing! and i have to say their pretty good...timing all correct..so co-ordinated, they really looked like they were having a great time...

Sorry for bad quality pics...i dont know how to take good pics at night..im not pro yet with my DSLR.

FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE ACCESS-ED! (kinda...)

2009-09-05T00:49:00.000-07:00

Today i found out abt a software which i allows me to gain access to facebook and youtube..and various websites. its called freegate..those smart chinese bastards even blocked the website to download the software...but i had something up my sleeves... ^^

Asked my friend from KL ( u know who u are, thanks a bunch <3.) to download it and send the installation over here via msn..AND IT WORKS!! not so smart they are anymore eh!!
Well it kinda backfired.. because it slows down my internet even more..having trouble watching youtube vids and uploading stuff..thsi is why my blog is so unupdate..so plain..so not funky-sized and has no pics..because it takes ages for it to load and sometimes it jams..BUT ILL FIND A WAY TO MAKE IT WORK! HAVE TO!

My roommate wanted to go back to wangfujing to eat scorpions. yes, scorpions...but i recalled i didnt see anywhere where they were selling them. Aparrently when i weas there. i missed this small aleey on the OTHER side of wangfujing, hwo stupide does that osund. This alley sells so many funny stuff...funny toys..and gifts...nothing special..but they had live scorpions which they deep fry so u can eat it fresh and hot...and fried starfish, sheeps testicles ...yes i can go on forever..pretty sick...=S

Saw a store that looks like nike, i wonder why, see for urself =)

Had a great dinner tonight with roommates and friends and i visited this place which does great chinese dishes, funny thing was all the dishes we ordered were all with chili..and they where SPICY!!...but it was GREAT!

Class has begun

2009-09-03T00:44:00.000-07:00

Day 3, my first real day of lessons where we got our books and all...

I have to say my current state of chinese according to this level im at i can read about 70% of the characters but can only write roughly 45% . This was my real problem because i havent practice it for about 6 years already.
But today was a good day because i manage to recall back words and stuff i learnt like in primary school, which was pretty amazing, you would be amazed how fast you can remember the stuff u learnt long time ago, 1 or 2 months of practice of this i guess i could almost read the whole book without any problems and no half-second pauses in between sentences. *cross fingers*

Homework: SPELLING! to remember how to spell 40 words, these invole 2 or 3 characters in each word.

Our lunch break is an hour and this guy, who is in the level below me, who has been here before last year for 1 sem ( 5 months). (is back for more action i guess). He took us to...beleive or not...A MALAYSIAN RESTAURANT! He is a big fan of malaysian food! ^^ It had everything, nasi lemak, fried kuay teow, rendang,...i order nasi lemak which cost me 33Yuan, roughtly around 16 17 RM...RIP OFF!. It was good...but the one back home are better...who can beat OUR VERY OWN nasi lemak?!?!

During the evening my roommates and i took a trip down to the party side of beijing, with bars and clubs, it was pretty crazy even for a woringk day, mainly because most are foreigners, it had like pole dancing and gay bars which was rather disturbing...just like the silk market they literally pulled u in and force u to stay.
We went to a shisha bar instead, had a couple of drinks and had a long good chat with them.
they let me try a cuban cigar for the first time as well.
The walls of these bars were filled with graffiti with different languagers and funny quotes and signatures of different customers, some are quite funny !

Day 2 - Orientation

2009-09-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

A knock on the door woke me.

"Bus is leaving in 5 minutes" said my roommate.

Took me 5 seconds to register that..HUH!??!!? i checked my clock..6:54am. BUS ARRIVES AT 7AM!

yes i have to take a shuttle bus to go to my campus, about 10 min drive. Apparently when i was packing my alarm clock, mom told me i shoud take out the batteries, i guess it was unwise to have something ticking or gives out a ticking or beeping noise in the airplane...ppl might be shouting the "B" word. So when i arrived and assembled it back...i set my alarm to 6pm not 6am..hense it didnt ring. wth right? gayyy..

We barely made it to the bus but yea...we had everyone waiting... thank god for china's lack of punctuality and it was 10mins late.

Wel..arrived at the academy...it has around 8 classrooms..each class are suppose to have around 4-8 ppl...ill just skip all the placement stuff and talks...all the boring stuff.
Was put in a class...level 3 out of 6!! WOOHOO! (because my lack of knowledge to read and write , if not i prob would be in 4 or even 5 .)
After a short introduction of outselves and teacher...that was it....ended at around midday, was told classes offcially start 2moro (tuesday.)

Met a few interesting ppl, but sadly they werre all in either the totaly beginner class, who have no knowledge of the language..and could only say Ni Hao ...and even that they were struggling, or ppl in lvl 2 with very basic which i would quite amusing because they actually can read, just pronouciation was way off...quite funny though lol.

Afternoons expeiernce was the most shocking- me and my roommates went to the silk market, a 3 to 4 story build which sells just about ANYTHING. from puma shoes to nike hats and shirts, to LV and gucci handbags and rolex watches, to electronic devices where u can buy an iphone for 500YUAN! around 260+ RM, and it LOOKS ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME....seriously...pirated stuff in china are the best...dvds are like..3rm. HAHA.
I tell u, its crazy...the ppl literally..LITERALLY DRAG U INTO THEIR SHOPS...they grab ur hand and pull u in and stuff and they wont even let u leave!! (yes i was pulled in once.)

But the best thing abt this place is...its a bargin town inside there...and my roomates who i went with, are pros, its because they have been staying in beijing for abt 2 weeks and been to that place like 6 times already, they buy EVERYTHING! A typical conversation they have with the shopkeepers goes something like things

S: shopkeeper
R: roomates

S: *funny chinese accent*- HALLO, YOU WANT TO BUY JEANS? KALVIN CLIAN VERY FAMOUS ALL AWOUND THE WORLD!

R: smiles and says''oh no thanks, too expensive.''

S: I GIVE U WERY GOOD PYICE! 150YUAN!

R: Reluctantly says ''too much, no thanks''

S: "WHATS UR BEST PYICE?"

R: pretends to think really hard, but already knows how much he wants to offer. "60"

S: ''NO NO TOO CHEEP, OK OK I GIVE U MY BEST PRICE, 100''

R:" ok, ill pay 70"

after 3 long entertaining minutes of watching them bargaining, he pretends to walk away shopkeeper eventually agreed for 70yuan. HA! for a pair of CK jeans...sick.
Well i got a set of headphones for 65 instead of 120!! HAHA!

Next stop at night, WangFuJing!
This place is full of stores and shops..with 2 big department stores ajacent to each other..full of ppl, especially at night. Good for if u wanna walk around to buy just about any original branded stuff but no bargaining of course. =)
Got my Nokia charger and sim card here. Might get my guitar here too! saw some pretty nice ones.

Day 1

2009-08-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

DESTINATION: Beijing, China.
DURATION: 5 months
MISSION: To learn the language of Chinese fluently in all areas in writing, reading, speaking and listening.

(Writing as the day was the 30th of August, 2009)

Well i guess this would be a great idea to blog to remember this once in a life time trip im about to take, a chance to study Chinese, in a country, all by myself, without any parental supervision where i have no knowledge of the geographical area and with people who speak with a very rich thick accent where u can barely understand. Sounds scary? HELL YES I WAS.

Arrived at Beijing airport, phone died. Check for charger, didnt bring. Internet is a non-wireless connection and can only be used in the living room and guess what, it was slow as hell!
Tried to call home from the phone at my apartment but it restricts any international calls, felt so desolated.

Worst part is that China has block the usage of facebook and youtube, and any other video related websites. No more football highlights or free online guitar lessons, all that is a no no for 5 months! WHAT THE HECK!??!

So as i entered my apartment at around 6pm-ish, my 2 new roommates who were from switzerland were about to leave, so after a short informal introduction, i was alone.

All alone.

AND I JUST GOT HERE!

Then it hit me, i was in a country all by myself, total freedom! I should feel like a kid who had sugar for breakfast with full of adrenaline, but i guess i was just too tired due to the fact i was up all night yesterday. So i went for a walk around my area, had dinner (by myself)- DUMPLINGS! and had an early night in.