Hello... I am back!
Ok, I got to put a disclaimer first, coz someone requested loads of photos
I got those photos but I am too tired from packing and washing the clothes
to upload, I promise to do so by tomorrow or latest Thurs k? And my legs hurt, still.
THIS POST IS SUPER LONG... Got to split into parts, here is PART 1.
My legs hurt from walking so much,
felt like I flew to China to take part in some race man,
it was draining but fun, and eye-opening at how organised the Chinese are!
What Singaporeans can do, the PRC in China, can certainly do BETTER!
No kidding!!!
Our edge remains as effectively bilingual individuals,
that's probably the main selling point we have over our Asian counterparts, till date.
When I spotted Chinese Text and could read them,
be it in Shenzhen, Guangzhou or HK,
I would be doing a flip or somersault or fireworks would go off in my head.
Like YAY, I did not let my Chinese teacher, Ms Yip and my tutor down.
(Thanks Ma for the tuition!!! Haha...)
Shenzhen
We flew in with tiger air
(yes, I told a friend that i have not take SQ before, shocking eh? Me too. I am shocked, but soon, at the rate I am travelling, every two months this year, I am sure that will happen soon!!!)
Flight took off in the evening,
I went for a facial appointment prior my flight to preen myself
afterall, it was a work trip for my hubs and a half and half for me,
I went there with an open mind to look for opportunities hopefully
I can uncover suitable products to trade in SG...
haha, so i had to look the part of a potential Boss,
I even printed name cards for me-self.
Managed to munch a Mac Burger before flight and landed after midnight
it was a mere 3.5hours... and Shenzhen was impressive!
The airport had LED lights that were scattered on the HUGEASS ceiling of the airport
and they looked like a zillion stars... pretty!
(yes, I can feel you nagging, where are the photos?) akan datang....
Transport was organised, neat, comfortable... cab drivers were a dream
except you got to speak rather good Chinese for them to understand you,
saw some Ang Mohs haggling with a small group of PRC private cab drivers over pricing
and how cute the broken English sounded
PRC: " How muchhhiieee?"
AngMoh: "40 Dollars for 3 of us to town"
PRC: "How... How how? How muchhiiieee dollars?"
At this point, I was hysterical, yes, i got a low threshold for jokes,
I laugh very easily, laughter is literally free and a smile brightens any face!
Ang Moh: *started hollering* "I just said 40 DOLLLLLARRSSSS for THREE of us!!!"
PRC: "Whattt? 40 dollars?!!!" PRC started discussing with his buddy nearby before replying "NO, TOO CHEAP, 100 DOLLARS OK? Ok we go now!"
Ang Moh: "WHAT? 100 Dollars!!???"
PRC went at him like a charging bull and placed his face in front of the Ang Moh..
"HOW HOW? Price Ok? 100 Dollars Cheap, you can pay, very cheap to you Yankees...!!"
AngMoh: "I am not a Yankee and ..." his voice drowned out before I could hear the end of this banter. So fun! Pure entertainment for a flight that landed around 1am.
And it is nice for a change to see the stereotype befalling the White Man
that all Whites are Americans...
like how most Whites assume all Chinese
descend from Bruce Lee and can do Kungfu.
The next two days in Shenzhen was spent at a supplier's factory
we saw some cool machines that were high tech with RFID, chips etc and decently cool
spoke to the sales, engineering and marketing persons,
I really can click with them, I would love to think my Chinese sucks,
like a potato trying to be rice... aha! But they kept talking to me
and only spoke to my hubs on the technical aspects..
machiam I am literally working for my hubs.
Did you know, when they heard we were meeting them that morning,
they prepare the conference room with 4 platters of fresh fruits!
Like in SG, you sometimes don't even get water,
they serve you and heap you with fruits (so healthy!)
and different drinks for your picking. (Blown away!!!!!!)
They hosted us to great food during lunch (yes lar, photos will come!!!)
and every meal was at a restaurant
it was GLORIOUS!
Like Taste Paradise, Min Jiang, Cherry Garden and Wah Lok kind of standard
Decor was avant garde and majestically chic!
Crystal walls, gold finishings, chandeliers and opulent plush velvety chairs!!!
Another restaurant looked decadent and very expensive
The Chinese really know how to 'LIVE IT UP!'
I am so glad to be Chinese.
To them, I was seen as a triple threat as I can speak English, Mandarin and Cantonese
but save for English, the rest is like a half pail of water, bahhh....
Anyways, Shenzhen will be a city i wish to explore more
I really enjoyed Shenzhen so much,
their "SIM LIM SQUARE" is like ours except
that they have 20 such Buildings of Sim Lim Sq
It was HEAVEN ON EARTH FOR THE MEN,
I never seen more men shopping and buying their guts out
I had to explore the frenzy.. observing the frenzy was magical.
Never seen men shopped like there is no tomorrow before.
My eyes nearly popped after my fifth building,
coz each building had 10 floors to comb thru.
It was a friggin' GREAT SINGAPORE WORKOUT 101 man...
training for what's to come.
Cables, plugs, components, Xbox, laptops, mobile phones, chargers,
TV set top boxes, every single electronic and IT gadget in the WORLD
is there, everything and anything electronic you can dream of, is there too!!!
I am so happy to be Chinese. Dam proud of my roots!
The hotel was good too. Old but acceptable, I cannot recall the name,
too hard to remember... but it was at HUA QIANG TRAIN STATION
Shenzhen sealed the deal for me when the cab driver informed me
that a shopping haven, similar to Bugis Village but multiply it by tenfold
can be found at LAO JIE FANG STATION,
I made it my mission to go there,
even if it meant my legs had to break from all that walking
and I got lost... in every sense of the word.
Did not know where to start, so many alleys, turns, corners, basements...
I think, we CHINESE are very 'KUA ZHANG' folks..
if want something, we go all the way, if not, don't do.
I was every word you can associate HAPPINESS WITH.
Gleeful, Happy, Overjoyed, Excited, Overwhelmed..
you get the picture?
Basking, soaking in the sights, colors, sounds and smells...
INSPIRING! That night, i crashed into bed like a dead log.
Walked so much... Ate so little, like some weight loss regime.
But very very UBER HAPPY!!! I saw stars. :)
My hubs was a trooper, did not complain (much),
he just walked and helped me with my things
coz I shopped. Haha! Yay!
The next day, we headed to Guangzhou.
GUANGZHOU
Where cantonese originated from
and the people are way too rude and curt
and the food, according to the hubs, is unrefined (I concur)
even the Chee Chong Fun dim sum was untidy.
No idea how to eat man... was a plate of mess. Pppfffttt..
Side track... 13 years back, when i met Daniel (my hubs),
he did not have much standard when it comes to food
or how it is presented .. slowly, i trained him
to taste his food, enjoy the presentation and food art.
Today, I kinda regret it (hahahahaha!) he can be too picky
even when it comes to my cooking,
and I am one of the best chefs in the entire family (his side and my side combined)
yet, he can say, not enough salt, or too bland or why all the colors look the same..
I mean, everyday after work, I still got to come back and try to cook
and you want MasterChef standard, aiyo, facepalm can??
Maybe weekends then MasterChef appear.
We went to the
It was massive. Beyond massive. It was a nightmare to walk.
You don't know massive till you have seen China's exhibitions!
And that was on top of the crazy walking I did in Shenzhen already...
My soul man was like.. "Die, die, sure mati one. How to survive?"
Daniel was flabbergasted, jaw dropped and small eyes opened to the max
and he said, "Dear... why so many people one?"
I was like, "Come on, let's do this, you have gone thru enough NATAS Fairs with me when i worked, we can do it!"
So I had a simple plan, we comb the circumference then zigzag our way inside to the middle before moving to the next hall.
IMAGINE A SINGLE SINGAPORE EXPO HALL and multiply that by 16 Halls.
Yups... that was the scale of the Fair we originally wanted to cover.
But we gave up after 3 Halls, as their one Hall is
already double a singular Singapore Expo Hall.
My flats gave way, I had to buy new sandals.
My legs are still tired and painful from all that walking.
We shall continue tomorrow.... Nights!!!
Xoxo,
Sleepy Ruth
I made a decision. Guided by loads of good intentions and wiser people than myself.
Supported by a large pool of uber sweet colleagues turned friends
who rallied behind me and want me around for longer.
I am gonna say NO to them tomorrow. Say NO to $600 more.
I think my heart pains a little.
That's like $600 x 12 = $7,200 more a year
But I believe in the bigger picture.
I still believe my noble intentions when I decided to join my current place
and literally grab the bull by its horns, is right.
There is a place for me, room for me to ONE FINE DAY
flex my creative muscles,
see my ideas translated and executed perfectly.
So goodbye $7,200.... Deep sigh... I am but human, let me bemoan the loss for today.
Lunch was crazy awesome and treated by the one person I least expected
and I don't really work with her much,
yet she can read my feelings and cheer me up with AWESOME WONDROUS DIM SUM!!!!
And I love her jolly nature. She could tell I was deeply upset yesterday.
She need not even bother with me. Coz she doesn't work with me.
But she made the effort to cheer me up.
I AM SO MOVED. I will do so much more for her, should she need assistance one day!!!
And MY OH MY, Szechuan Court has really good dim sum!
It fights pretty well with my favourite Lei Garden for No.1 spot.
Crystal Jade Golden Palace and Imperial Treasure are still in 3rd and 4th place.
With Cherry Garden and Min Jiang in 2nd place tied...
Oops, pardon the deviation, I can rant on and on about food I love... hahahahaha
And another two colleagues whom one wanted to buy me my fave milk tea to cheer me
but i rejected nicely coz me on weight loss lar... no choice, discipline!
and the other successfully dragged me for tea. (Yes, yes, i caved... I need to cut on sugar...argh!)
I am so blessed, one who treated me to great atas food, the other 2 with simple milk tea.
I am grateful. Its wonderful to have allies who care sincerely and have synergy plus chemistry with.
I believe friendships at work, do help to speed up work and make work easier
and it helps when crap gets thrown at you!
So I shall pray for you all today, for God to bless u all,
Yups... all my friends at work. Whom I count as friends.
U know exactly who u are. I am grateful .
Xoxo,
Ruth
Yons ago . . . literally like YONS ago,
I was schooling and I was tutoring at the same time.
Yeah, the independent streak in me was very prevalent
and I had a strong backbone
I loved what earning my own keeps did for me
and at the age of 18 to 19,
I was going for facials in the heart of Orchard,
buying over the counter cosmetics and skincare (experimental age)
and I joined a gym!
The strange fact was,
my metabolic rate was insanely good
I could get away with doing little yet maintaining a decent figure then
in spite of eating and snacking on my fave sardine puffs in the school canteen
OH HOW I ADORE THE LATE TEENS and ROARING TWENTIES!!! Yikes!
The gym I joined then was California Fitness
which was the newest and largest in LaLa land then
and it was spanking new alright!!!
3 floors of floor to ceiling glass windows
where the sun rays can peek in from all angles
with new state of the art equipment for gym rats
BUT I AM NO GYM RAT
so why on earth did I join one?
I got a confession....
I loved the idea back then of running on the treadmills facing the current cineleisure
and looking good while doing so
basically, I loved the full on idea of being a true blue POSER! Ha.
What's there not to love,
boys will look at you,
your self esteem (and ego) basically shoots up rocket high
sending you to infinity and beyond at times,
personal trainers come up to you and try to pick you up
offering you free tips and classes once in a while
You get free meals, shakes, drinks, gym bags and the likes that comes with that attention
Those were glorious days (hahaha....)
AND THEN... Fast forward a lot,
I met a boy whom I grew to love
married him, cooked a lot, ate a lot and busted my knee during a half marathon
so I stayed away from exercising for 2 years and 35kg later
I COULD NOT FATHOM WHAT ON EARTH HAVE I MORPHED INTO!!!????!!!!
It was an alien invasion!!! Of the highest order too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The image staring back at me in the mirror was.... Gasp! H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E
I mean, even if my true love did not mind (which i like to think he didn't)
this nagging thought was surfacing, though it often is a backburner but
right then, when it hit me, I was like.... "One Day, if the boy you love
decides to go all superficial on you and prefer a skinny monkey over you,
you are so dead... cos you are just not attractive anymore"
Besides this deeply seeded thought that incepted itself somewhere in me
I was also avoiding a lot of my friends, a lot of weddings and basically,
places where humans gather. It was bad.
My self esteemed plummeted big time. And whose fault was it?
As they say, the rest is history, I took control of the situation,
am discipline, determined and exercise like crap, signed onto a gym that fits my personality
and helps me attain my goals... and am consistent in the stuff I do. Including healthier intake.
I lost 20kgs. I have 15kgs to go. I just got to keep on keeping on.
Today, I saw a colleague strolling into office,
hollering my name and when I turned back,
she had a mat with her, stating she signed for yoga classes held within my office grounds
gesturing if I also joined, I told her I cannot stand slow exercises,
though I believe in yoga, the results are too slow for my liking.
She is double my old size, meaning she will take longer to see results esp if she plans on
just using yoga as a form of exercise, but so long as she sticks to it, consistently,
it will work, results will creep in, dresses will fit better and love will find her.
Just that, when we were in the ladies later in the day,
she was like, I am wearing a sports bra, I think my top is bigger today.....
(my eyes rolled a little at this point...haha)
Hope the instructor is good looking,
(eyes kept rolling and I smirked)
I hope to be healthier and lose weight and be like you...
(at this point, i can understand her, coz being overweight can be challenging,
you can be bullied and overlooked in promotions and gatherings and whatever else.)
I am glad to have inspired her to want to work out
but don't be like the old me... who wants to look good going to a work out...
instead be like the current me, where even though I got 15kg more to lose
and am still fluffy in certain areas (yes yes, I call the fats - Fluffy ok... cuter lar)
I am comfortable and more confident under my own skin.
Coz besides good looks and a decent figure,
I got other talents and a great attitude towards life, work and people
and I am no longer a POSER
I just want to be a hot commodity in areas other than outer appearances
besides, my theory goes ---
GOOD LOOKS CAN TAKE YOU ONLY SO FAR, IT GIVES YOU A PASSPORT,
A PUSH THRU THE DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY BUT
HOW YOU STAY ON THERE AND SHINE IN YOUR ROLE,
SOLELY DEPENDS ON YOUR ATTITUDE, SKILLS AND TALENTS.
XoxoXO,
Ruth
Dejavu days seem daunting
they seem to hit you when you least expect it
yet the force feels like you got rammed by a 2kg Kettlebell on the head
with a bloody tear and a painful yelp,
much like the war cry on drama "man flicks"
However, being stuck in Dejavu land
seems to be a whole new ballgame altogether
to be exact, for 3 weeks now.
Days seem to consist of mainly and namely Mookata indulgences
day consists of playing dead and no cross sharing,
a lot of mopping and side talking to at least keep creativity alive!
Then it just hits me
What the Heck Am I Doing?
My soulman asked
A barely audible 'I dunno..." escaped from my lips
And so the painful process of fighting with my soulman embarks
DEJAVU
So I brought forth date night
instead, date night spurn into a life of its own
he became my shrink,
my therapy session, my verbal dumping ground,
and much to my delight,
my date provided relief, some humour and the right dash of everything,
as if the stars had a conspiracy theory, unheard of,
they aligned and he sought to really listen
and then drew conclusions, recap the main points
and rendered a huge assistance in making me see the big picture
I COULD NOT LOVE HIM ANY MORE, BUT I DID.
Some place in my heart had more room to grow deeper in love with him,
shocking, surprising but oh so true!
he is now my wise sage, my yoda, my official BFF, my muse,
it is wonderful to really have his full attention
and a side note, to see him kicking a fuss and
sort of forbiding me from mingling with too many male company.....
it took quite a while to get to this stage,
but a once-in-a-blue moon fit, is welcomed.
Just shows the other side of love.
The greener version. Haha!
At least him getting riled up is a good sign that he bothers.
And that my weight loss is not unnoticed.
Till something conclusive is drawn,
therapy sessions sound fun! Date nights might be passe for now! Ha.
We shall see.
XoXo
R
