Notice: Change of Name

I heard that the boss of an ex-colleague liked to call out his name several times to get him into her room. With the possibility of me (and the rest of the department) going under her too, I’ve decided to change my name to “Ruth” after the move. My current boss shall be called “Woof”, so his new boss can call for us all she wants!

Going Chee-na

McDull recently has a new movie 麦兜响当当showing in China. Lots of HK-style jokes had to make way for the huge market to rake in Renminbi. He’s doing the right thing and I’m proud of him! Let me tell you why it’s important.

We were supposed to buy someone in the department birthday lunch at a rather expensive restaurant. Someone else commented that the place was really not so affordable. Solution? That someone else ordered the most expensive food for that lunch. In the end, we split the cost evenly. (Most) China people never lose out!

Homecoming

I went to the zoo earlier this month with a bunch of colleagues. It’s been YEARS since I last went to see the animals (or now, their offspring and newer generations, rather). The polar bears I met during my primary school visit would have died of heat, or boredom since there’s hardly space for them to swim and roam freely. Forget about born-free giraffes and zebras acing across grasslands. All the animals look pretty lethargic (esp the pony which walked the same track n times a day with varying loads on its back), except for the squirrels which won’t stop doing the cartwheel. Good thing is, they are well-fed and spared of the animal food chain.
I saw a giraffe with a big head. I wasn’t really happy with what I saw cuz that’s not what I’ve seeing on tv, postcards… then my colleague immediately reminded me that my head’s pretty big too. He’s so darn right! Anyway, he is the most irritating person I have ever seen at a zoo. He never failed to attract the attentions of the orangutans, chimps, ostrich… squashing and cracking his mineral water bottle; tapping on the glass to drive up the snake…leaving no animals spared (except for the tigers and lions). But when we needed to capture the front shots of animals, he would be of great help!

Watching elephants chewing on coconuts while they were peeing and poo-ing was a joy. Of course, I had to visit my favourite, now world-famous, human-eating white tigers. Unfortunately, they weren’t performing (eating humans) that day. We also brought our animals along for cultural exchange.

Weifeng the Primate

Chee Yei the Hamster

Didn’t see Kungfu Panda a.k.a my boss, cuz he’s now at home serving H1N1 quarantine. What a responsible denizen!

中国须知

Reporting from Beijing: Here's what i've gathered in my one week in Beijing and Dalian:

Terms –

• 换一下 – means “excuse me” when u need to get off the train, out of lifts. But doesn’t help when beggars approach u on the subway (esp the main line 1 that runs along Tiananmen) cuz everyone will be crouching in one corner.
• 清真means 'halal'. so dun try to ask for pork at the 清真bbq stalls like i did
• 兜 - at the airport security check, the gong an (police) asked me what i had in my "dou", i was stumped for a while - how did he know i had a dou (mcdull) in my bag... then i realised he asked if i've anything in my pocket.
  

Shopping -

• i love wandering around the main shopping strip - wangfujing dajie
• Don’t bother cuz prices r the same, if not more expensive, especially in the malls. Unless u r looking for fakes. Silk street is then a good place to go but nothing special. Evry level looks the same. Otherwise, give me Bangkok anytime.
• Shoes – lots of nice (track) shoes and girlish shoes with画蛇添足 designs. But if u r a bigger than size 39 like me, forget. My feet are so big that foot reflexologists at dalian commented that they r 四平八稳and asked if I can swim well. I told them I dive.

Toilet –

• bring your own if possible. Otherwise, door/door locks, wet tissue, hand sanitiser, soaps and toilet paper
• Rare to see toilets and water coolers in the stations, only at the Olympic station! Didn’t visit the toilet but the brand new toilets near the bird’s nest already have no hand soaps and broken doors. Quite consistent with the toilets throughout Beijing.



• ONE of the toilets in my friend's house - shud give u an idea of the size of her house!
  
  

Subway -

• There’re security checks at every subway station, so bags have to go umpteen times of scanning every day. To prevent handphone from going haywire, keep it switched off. Watering hole - A rare sight in subway stations, n whole of china. As difficult to find as clean toilets
• Their version of the ez-link cards can be purchased easily at ALL subway stations BUT refund at 3 ulu stations only. How “ulu”? so ulu that when I offered to give mine to my friend when I left, she refused to take it cuz queuing will take at least an hour.

Food -

• Beijing
  Peking duck at the overrated Quanjude; 刷(shua4 - don’t have the exact word in pc) 锅 – not a lamb (骚) person so didn’t try
  Exotic food - 现炸现卖scorpions on a stick
  
  
• Breakfast: My chinese friend's mom said my appetite is as huge, if not bigger than theirs. Anyway, dou juang there is not sweet and alittle chao tar, dou hua is salty with spicy soup. Normal breakfast portion is a bowl of porridge, a plate of steamed buns and 2 doughsticks. Love the eatery right outside my difficult-to-find hotel in the hutong, which turned out to be a warm stay
  


• Tried korean cold noodles for the 1st time and it's authentic! (don't know what's real but i believe my friends.)
  

Friends

• really thankful that my fren invited me to join her for home visit to Dalian and stopover in Beijing. Her mom really took care of me - covering me with blanket after i came out from the shower, topping up my bowl with food
• Saw another friend in Dalian

– Yes, this is the source but I heard all小黄, no toy dogs

Places – my favourites

1. Forbidden city


2. Tian tan – where emperors prayed to gods and ancestors for good harvest and luck for country


3. Great wall – where mcdull was supposed to have his photo taken and i was climbing on all fours
   




4. Summer Palace – the famous long corridors!


5. Ming tomb – the one in Nanjing is better, grander



6. Ming Dian café in Dalian - beautiful!! (er…. But I think bad investment for taiwanese company cuz chinese tea and water are the favourite drinks. For the Chinese, even latte is drunk with at least a packet of sugar and lots of milk. No wonder starbucks is so popular with them).




7. 
   
   Good location – near village (where my friend’s house is) which is like Korean setting in korean dramas

Other obligatory mention:

birds' nest actually, i prefer tis version

Air quality in Beijing – just BAD.

The locals said I speak mandarin like them but without the accent, and that I don’t sound like those singaporeans on tv. Should I be glad about that??? Ok, I don’t say儿（鹅） , 侠（虾），青花（蛙），尊（蹲）and I’m happy to stay at that…

I had an eventful time even b4 landing in China!

Flight connecting time between Singapore – Hong Kong and Hong Kong – Beijing was supposed to be a perfect one hour. I was eagerly waiting at the boarding gate at 2.30pm for the 3pm flight. Then came the announcement – flight delay. Come back at 4pm for the next announcement. Extremely bad weather in Beijing. So I went shopping, net surfing and back to the gate. “Please come back at 5pm for the next announcement”. I was so hungry, I had to ask for food voucher which I thought should automatically be given out to passengers when we went back to make enquiries. So I went eating, net surfing, contacted my friend I was supposed to meet for dinner and postponed that to supper, and back to the gate. “Please come back at 6pm for the next announcement”. Yes! Boarding at 6pm! When we were all settled down, the captain made an announcement – Apologies for the delay due to thunderstorm in Beijing and airspace control. Good news is, we’re second in the queue to take of which is I guess is at about at 8pm…” called my friend again to wish her good night and would meet her directly at the hotel.

I thought my kay-poh-ness/friendliness saved my day. I started talking to the uncle next to me to find out where he’s from cuz he’s definitely no China Chinese. And he really is my neighbour – Malaysian. Upon landing in Beijing at 11.30pm, health officials including 2 astronaut-looking guys dressed in space suits came onboard to take everyone’s temperature. 3 people on the flight were running a fever, and one, an Indonesian was sitting 3 seats away in another block! So the 3 rows side, front and back had to put on mask and had the items we used on onboard discarded. After the chickens tried to question the duck about his illness, the Malaysian finally stepped in to help with the translation.


By the time we got off, it was 12.30am. And if the Malaysian uncle hadn’t showed me the fastest way to get out of the airport and given me a lift, my next plan was to watch flag-raising at tiananmen square. The taxi driver was equally important cuz he provided the dose of humour I so needed after such an eventful day! He said the weather that afternoon was so bad it was like the end of the world. My hotel was located in a secluded (?) hutong and he couldn’t find it. 你这酒店儿订得可真好啊！So we called the hotel to ask for directions and I think the receptionist mumbled. 他说话怎么象小鸡一样儿!

I flew on cathay pacific/dragon air. Why did I not take SQ and went on cathay pacific and dragon air instead? Not b’cuz I’m going to dragon land, but I “gian” the Cantonese shows on cathay, and shopping n food in HK airport. My screen was flickering for the full 3.5hours on flight from sg to hk. And the only next available seat was right at end by the window, outside the toilet. So no go. No inflight entertainment on dragon air. Only HK and majority china cabin crew. But I will still take the airline when possible cuz I really love the Cantonese programmes!

Of Chicken and Pork/Pigs

Hello!

How does Kenny rogers’ honey glazed spring chicken and drumstick for dinner sound? Actually, these were leftovers from lunch cuz portion too big we didn’t even touch them, so don’t know how they TASTE, or supposed to taste. We only finished the PORK ribs. So I tar pau-ed them home. My mum was too lazy to bring out the mini oven, and instead heated the chicken in a wok. Upon prolonged (over) cooking, I think the coats of honey melted and the ‘homely’ taste? It was the usual roasted chicken mom buys from the market on Sunday mornings and heats them up in the evening. My sister asked why there was no dip. I had to repeat that this was Kenny rogers.

In any case, my mom always asks me how long it takes to steam a fish, fry a chicken etc… she attributes her lousy skills to her mom for not imparting her any. So my standard reply is - my mom doesn’t teach me any either. But she says I watch tv and read magazines, so should have learned something. We watch similar programmes and read the same magazines actually.

I’m so glad that the movie I’ve been waiting for, will finally be showing after a 2-year delay! Not Transformers, Harry Potter or Terminator but 《武当。麦兜》 (name now changed to 《麦兜响当当》)! I can’t tell you how elated I am cuz wudang has been with me for more than half a year, bumming around not doing anything and started going on holidays with me this year. He just came back from China and IS angry with me for forgetting to snap a picture of him on the great all, cuz that was what he really was on this trip for. No evidence to prove that he’s a 好汉. But he needs to know that he really is as popular as anyone out there!

Anyway, back to the movie. I won’t be catching it in the cinemas however, cuz:
1) No Cantonese version, so not 原汁原味
2) I need to watch it with the McDulls at home, can’t possibly everyone including the stickers and pins, there
3) Good to watch on dvd and keep a copy. MUST!
4) If it’s really showing Singapore

Dim dim, dumb dumb

“illuminate” means to give out light. illumnia however, which is opposite bugis junction, is an absolute waste of electricity, totally environmentally unfriendly. With all the lightings on the exterior, I had expected it to look like a jewel glowing in the darker surroundings. Instead, it looks like one of those nearby night clubs. With so many individual lights hanging on the exterior wall, maintenance must be expensive and tedious!!!

Check out the interior! The hollow and spooky building is pathetically dim inside. No useful/substantial shops among its sparse tenants, and the eateries on the top floor are no saving grace. I heard the cinema sucks too, and the seats are worse than our buses.

Oh yes, even my friend who is managing the building agreed with me, wholeheartedly. We have decided that this project is not going into her resume.

Ok lah, one positive thing about the building – it acts as a covered walkway between bugis junction and queen street.