Pooh Talk

Read a friend's email abt learning to ski in Sydney and it came to mind my own farnie attempts to ski at Nanshan. Good memories there. How times really flies huh? Hope I get to ski this winter and maybe even snowboard but mind my knees. Already I am hesitating to rollerblade with my trusty knee guards but it just keeps raining and I am not sure whether Chaoyang Gdn is really flat or just filled with junkies so I cant just go there on my own. I really miss rollerblading.... you know, I said I wanted to be a story teller when I get back to Spore. That is why I am here - to collect stories and tell friends what is this and that in BJ and somehow I fear I have no great story to tell. And I think I am getting fat. And I can go on and moan and groan abt everything or I can do something about it. Sometimes I do get my experiences but I don't document them. I have to write them down or take a pic but I just don't. Hey just this moment, a certain thought came to me: What IS the difference between bagels and donuts? They both have holes in them dont they?

Pple tell me I have 10 days more to go b4 autumn arrives. That is actually comforting considering I had been warned of a terrible summer with temp going as high as 40 deg. However, these days it had been gloomy and even rainy - huge downpour this morn. So it wasnt too bad so far beyond taking not-so-deep breaths. Cant believe that I have been here for a year already and going into autumn again. Looking back and I wonder wat the hell have I done so far. I have had successful bumming and read a lot of books. Not very serious books but at least I started picking out authors like John Grisham and Sidney Sheldon. I have gone around BJ and visited almost ALL shopping areas.... although I have not gone to Lan Dao (Blue Island) where they sell computer related stuff. And I sort of learnt to cook a few dishes by trial and error.... learnt a bit of tennis and some french. So far so good lah..... this is how I spent my 30th year of life. Compare this to working from 9 to 6pm and going home to TV and weekends of lazing around. I laze around here too but at least I got to learn french and tennis and read. I stopped reading in Spore because I read too much at work. A time of reflection..... ad new goals for a new term :) maybe learn to cook stewed pork... still cant get that in my list....

Lunch today was yummy at Bi Feng Gang at Dong Xi Zhi Men area. Obviously it would be Hong Kong fare and slurpy mango ice. There's something abt mango that I do not eat it by the fruit but processed. Kind of the same with durian. I would eat it as ice cream, cream puffs, cakes and even in chendol but never will i go near the actual fruit. Do not attempt to ask me why coz I have no idea either. And so we were eating when suddenly we spied a local (lady) in a knee length skirt but sitting with her legs wide wide apart (knees at least a metre apart). You have to MAKE an effort to sit like that (similar to some hooligan), a little hunched and picking her teeth with a toothpick. She wasn't some old elderly ah ma (who can blame those grandmas - they haven't got much time left anyway) but probably in her early 30s AND sitting across  guy! This was no Sharon Stone here but it gives you a frown and I am the casual sort. While P was shaking his head, I told him what I saw in another Vietnamese restaurant a few days back - another lady (not sure if still can call her that), also in a knee length skirt and sitting across a guy, had one of her legs up on the chair and RUBBING her toes with her fingers. She rubbed for 10 mins then when her food arrived, she merely picked up the chopsticks and started eating.... I also feel vomit coming up.... gross is an understatement. Trying hard not to be snobbish but it is really apalling in some ways. Ok, even if I can accept the "sit with legs WIDE apart" but the toes thing was a tad unhygenic.... almost spoilt lunch for me.... so hoping that these scenes don't permeate my consciousness till they become the norm.....

Do you know that at any time of the day, there are just TOO MANY locals at any one place? I know it was summer break and the weather a tad dusty... there is something abt a grey and musky foggy/smoggy sky that makes you hallucinate that you are suffocating. I was at a shopping area Xidan the other day and suddenly I felt claustrophobic - there were pple EVERYWHERE and they push and shove you around like a tidal wave. I think I am getting the "impatience virus" coz it just gets to me. Was abt to get on the bus when I was cut off by 2 girls who asked the bus driver abt the route he was going and when they decided they won't get on the bus, they didn't move aside for ME to get on and just stood there on the road, in FRONT of me, discussing abt where they wanted to go and the BUS closed its doors and went OFF!! Felt like PUNCHING them and I am not a violent person. Now why wld I be violent just because of this minor thing? But I was HIGHLY irritated and that is bad. I am already not a very patient person by nature and now I am worse. It's like P being a bad tempered driver. Now usually he is really nice but when he drives here, it is bad. He might grow to be a Oscar.

Spoke with a friendly local who mans a stall in Hong Qiao selling necklaces and pearls and was surprised to know that she speaks may languages: Russian, Japanese, English, Malay, French, German and obviously Chinese. Of course that means she knows a few phrases and key words and probably numbers so she can counter offer without the use of a calculator. It also means that I can't use English to tell my friends whether it is cheap a not. Had to resort to smattering of Cantonese and Teochew. But she is learning fast and is willing to ask questions on how to say this and that and to correct herself. I admire her spirit :) Here, they say girls learn the languages faster too since more girls work in sales and most customers don't mind talking to them a bit more. But the hunger for learning and attitude to learn fast and sharp does speak of a growing psyche among many locals nowadays. Even taxi drivers are asking how to pronounce names of kep locations in English to prepare for 2008. Even I feel I have come to a standstill in my own learning and growing. Yeah, this is a LONG break for me but I cannot allow my brains to grow rust and mould away!!!

Water water water.... heavy downpour today and really strange in summer here (I hear). Was stuck in a flower mkt with some frens and had to grab a brolly to run in the streets and MAKE a cab come get us. Well at least i don't have to worry that my plants are withering in the heat. It has been raining here and there for the past few weeks. Fake rain if the news reports are true.... rain makes one pensive... I like watching the water fall into puddles and the skies all grey and sleepy. I do like blue clear skies too but there is something about rain that makes me think of home. Spore is ALWAYS wet. It can be messy and muddy and irritating to be wet and have your shoes all cold and damp. But it is nice sometimes to watch from a window and just reflect and yeah, even pray.

It is sad to watch news on CNN lately to see war raging in the middle east. How do pple live in such conflict and why must it come to such? Perhaps I am unable to comprehend the extent of the hatred and anger and to wonder if I am living in dream world to go about my own business as if nothing is happening. One news article call it the end of the world and that some christians were excited about it. I think we should all feel ashamed of ourselves as humans to be unable to stand each other and start killing in large numbers. So what if it is the end of the world? I think God won't be happy to see us thus. Everything is so silly that I believe that God is weeping with all those who suffer and ask why. No other species have such power to destroy and hate each other than us. Who can say we are better than them? I do not know why or how to explain or comfort. May God have mercy on us all!

Saw a chinese doctor earlier this week and I deliberately didn't want to tell her anything and allowed her to take my pulse for 15 mins. So she started asking me some questions and hey presto!! She was able to tell me that I have not been sleeping well and that I dream a lot. Without any prior knowledge, she was also able to say I lose heat easily through my feet and that I eat little. Meaning I don't eat much during meals and feel bloated after a short time. That was COOL!! Other than that, I am ok..... she was however, unable to tell that I don't eat veggies and eat way too much meat. With my friend, she was asking questions about high blood pressure and cholesterol..... so I figured - I must be healthy even if I am not eating my veggies!! YAAAYYYY! This way, I can tell all the nice friends I have who tell me all the time to eat more veggies that I am HEALTHIER this way.... hee hee.... of course I do know that as I get older, it will be harder to digest meat and ONE FINE DAY, I will have to eat those green stuff. Maybe even eat them everyday..... gosh.... scary..... ANYWAY, the nice chinese doctor prescribed many many many many little balls of bitter brown medicine to swallow and that is PRESCISELY why I don't GET chinese medicine. Why so many little balls or one HUGE one to chew on or BAGS of powder? Why not a nice little pill or capsule? TCM has so much more to learn.....

People tell me that it is wierd for it to rain in BJ in the dead of summer. Today it was wierd the whole day - as if we are in Genting Highlands but no mountains - coz we were plagued by poor visibility (clouds of smog not vapour though).But the great thing about it is the coolness. I have been bugging P abt the horrible refrigerator he has since it so doesn't keep the food cold euff in summer. Pls note the brand Haier.... *evil grin* I am not sure if it is just the HOT summer but my fridge has been sweating. Yeah, it practically drips. I blame the brand of course and P is prob sick of me complaining abt it but everytime I pull out a carrot or onion growing its own landscape, it just sets me off. Granted that potatoes tend to grow their own colony within 1 week here (outside the fridge) also amazes me. Does it happen in Spore too? Or does my mum throw all these away secretly so I stay innocent? Our dear ayi says it is normal. The guy I lugged from P's office to check out the fridge says it's normal but I truly cross my heart that I have not seen a fridge sweat so much that I cannot keep veggies in there for more than 2 days. It sweats and drips and then freezes up but all my veggies get iced up and I mean even the margarine grew mould. Now you think I left it there for years right? NO!!! It is a few months old and all this doesnt happen in winter leh.... I feel clueless.... forces me to do marketing daily. Duh....

I know this is already old news but I thot I will just mention the Jian Guo Holiday Market in Taipei which we visited on our last morn in Taipei. It is actually located under a flyover which is really BAD for us since the temperature was hovering at 37 deg. We could have a cool air conditioned breakfast in some posh cafe but I chose to explore (again) this flower market opened only during weekends. We stumbled upon a jade market first (next to the flower stuff) which is similar to the Pan Jia Yuan in BJ but no way as big. So finally we ventured to the flowers and plants and they actually wired to have water sprinklers above to keep the air cool for the plants. Quite a few orchids and lotus flowers around. Would have stayed to smell the flowers but the heat was getting to P and so we left hurriedly (anyway we had to check out of the hotel early). All in all, I think Lady's Street in BJ is better than this Jian Guo Flower mkt (flowers were also cheaper) but still worth a visit. And so this wraps up my Taipei trip and we went on to HK after that for 3 days of MORE shopping and MORE eating.... believe me, I ate all the dessert when I could. The only reason why I didn't eat mango dessert at every meal (although I ate it everyday) was because I was too full with other yummy stuff like WANTON noodles!!! You can never find wanton noodles in BJ :( but I wasnt THAT used to the ones in HK either. I like my noodles in lots of sauce even if they are dry but in HK they just dump some oyster sauce on top and that was it. I so miss the one at Lavender Street hawker centre!!! And Fei Fei Wanton noodles!! But the best in HK was still mango dessert (Xu Liu Shan among others) which was at every corner. HK was as I remembered it although less fun in shopping. Used to think Women's Street was the BEST fun but I think Taipei's night market has more colour. And BJ has the same but cheaper clothes. HK also not cheap ne - a pair of shoes normally cost abt S$50!! No wonder P's fren in HK said when they go bk to Spore, they feel rich. Anyway, was kind of happy to get bk to BJ. It has been a tiring trip - prob I am not good to shop and binge consecutively for 10 days yar? I need to do other things like trekking, seeing nature stuff like when I went Tasmania or Hokkaido.....