Lingshan Big Buddha Part Two

I was surprised to see that there are many more things than other than the big 88metre Buddha statue.

Here's a shot.



There was also a museum that showcased several jade (white, green, black) and wood carvings depicting various buddhist idols (correct phrasing?)

Im no buddhist, but i thought these were real intricate.



There were too many and I was too lazy to take my hand out of my warm pockets.

Here's an interesting one:



I sometimes forget that these guys are monks. You would have noticed that Monkey isnt there. My colleagues all went on to make monkey poses to complete the montage. Haha. I seriously thought that this was the purpose of the display - to have people pose as monkeys. All of them made the same pose - one hand curled up over the head and the other hand held up like you are holding a serving tray with your lips pouting. I even looked around to see if there was an instruction for a standard pose. Haha.

Alas the inscription read:



This was probably the part where the Tripeka banished Monkey during the battle with the White Bone Vixen.

I wonder why the artist chose this scene. He didnt have enough jade? Wouldnt it be easier if he chose the scene: Before Tripeka met Hairy, Piggy and Sandy.

Did you see how I made a play on the movie "When Harry met Sally"?

Tea

Hmm.. i just realised that this is another entry titled "Tea".

I wanted to share this pic of a tea table.



I saw this once in a client's office and here he has, all of the Chairman that he is, sitting there behind his tea table and making tea for us with a glass kettle, then using the tea to wash the cups and then throwing the tea away. There's a hole in the table in front of him and he'd dump the waste there.

Then he'll proceed to make another batch of tea. This time to drink.

I was so fascinated the first time i saw this because he was able to do these so deftly while talking!

Lingshan Big Buddha

Part of the Wuxi company outing was a trip to Lingshan Big Buddha.

I was somewhat looking forward to seeing some touristy things, then i heard that the lunch was going to be vegetarian. I thought the meal was going to be in the hotel so I thought I might just make an excuse to go to room and eat something. Then i realised that it was going to be at the Lingshan place.

The lunch place wasnt some restaurant but some large Expo-like hall and tons of people.



There were tons of people jostling for seats and oddly jostling for vegetarian food!!



I was the only dumbass there more interested to take pictures.

Really? Seriously?

So Im back to reviewing reports. Havent really done that for almost five years now and this time it doesnt get any easier because Im reviewing reports done by Chinese people.

I always thought Big V was going to be a problem, with her age and all. Older women are always a stubborn lot.

I was reviewing her revised report after I first made (many) changes. By the fifth page, I saw that she didnt make two big changes that i had asked for, i stormed to her desk to ask why.

For the first change, she went all stuttering and flustered and first said I wasnt looking at the right version, then said she should sent the tracked-changes version, then blah blah.

Never mind.

For the second change, she said she felt she was right.

SHE SAID THAT CITI BANK WAS SPELT AS CITY BANK!

She was sure. She had seen it before.

Of course I was right in the end. I cant fathom how any, ANY chinese can argue English with me. Who did she think I was?? I cant even think of many English-speaking people who can fault my English!!?!

I got A1 for PSLE leh! A1 leh!

I cant state my PSLE score though. It's a state secret now.

Tea

Because it's so cold, i started the habit of making tea in the office. Plus it's so convenient with the kettle in my room and Small V just takes the tea from my drawer and makes it for me.

One day, she noticed that I'd throw the tea bag after drinking one cup and told me that she can add more water so that i can make more cups with just one bag! I know one would do it at coffee houses, etc but I have never done it in a domestic setting.

That day, I felt that my head spinning at about 4pm so I went home. Kinda weird type of spinning and Small V asked if I was low on sugar. I was like.. "Me? Low on sugar?" In any case, I went home early to rest.

It stopped spinning after some time and then i just couldnt fall asleep until 3am! Then i realised that I had drunk three cups of re-filled tea in the office, and i had tea at lunch, then I also has bubble tea during, wait for it, tea break!

So i had five cups of tea. That's  probably why my head was spinning.

Expressway

Yet another pic of the expressway. Haha. I look out of my window when I want to think so expect to see more expressway pics.

Shanghai has traffic lights to highway entrances when they detect that the expressway is crowded. The traffic lights arent those that change color in a few minutes so it can be quite a wait on the ramp to enter the expressway. Kinda weird really.

Wuxi Again

Despite attending the conference last month in Wuxi, the Shanghai office decided to have the annual company outing in Wuxi again.

The hotel gave me a suite. I dont really care for suites because it's pointless when Im just one person. But it seems like the suites are decked in L'Occitane toiletries. So i took all of them. Ever since moving to dry dry Shanghai, I have earned an appreciation to body moisturisers. These L'Occitane ones dont come cheap!



Being in a suite also means one gets two towel elephants. It's so silly really. I had to dismantle them in order to use the towels.

Man Tou

I see my secretary bringing in a man tou with soya bean once in a while for breakfast.

Some days I feel hungry and I yearn for a warm piping man tou. It costs S$0.40 with meat and because it's from a well-known shop, it's certain (i think) that it doesnt contain cardboard.

So I told her, whenever she buys one, buy for me and I'll buy her breakfast.

So now a $0.40 man tou costs me $2.

Freezing

It's freezing in Shanghai.

It's 13 degrees in the day and 9 degrees in the night.

It's about four degrees cooler in Chongqing and Chengdu, where I was last week, but because it's dryer, it was more manageable.

It was so cold this morning that even the Chinese people complained. I decided that a Singaporean shouldnt been too brave or stubborn and fight the cold.

So I ordered a heater and it came the very same afternoon.



All nice and fixed up. The white grill in front is apparently for me to hang things to dry. Small V suggested socks??!?

Appraisals

I havent done appraisals for anyone for a good five years now and with my new role, I need to do it for my team.

It's actually pretty scary to be determining someone's bonus and future in the company. Plus my company has a nine-point matrix and some pretty extensive review process that there is even a manual to read and there was a briefing which i missed cos I was travelling.

Yawn.

Crowded No?

This is a scene from the train station in Chengdu.

It's so crowded that the entire station looks dark.

Shudder

Even in my old job, i get to travel first class for domestic flights. There's no business class for domestic flights so first class is really just one step up from economy.

First class has obviously bigger seats and better food but I have reached a zen level where I control myself by not being greedy and stop myself from eating on flights. I just am not sure of the hygiene level on board the domestic flights, business class or not.

My attitude was further reinforced when i saw this recently. But the number of trays, Im guessing it's for the first class cos there're only eight seats in first class. 



Yes, some domestic flights require you to board or disembark from the plane from the tarmac. There will be a bus that brings you to the airport. That sucks when it's raining or when it's freezing. There is of course a separate bus for first class passengers so you only have to wait for eight passengers before it goes.

Startled

When I was in Chengdu, I had morning meetings with the client in their boardroom until lunch time, so they took me out for lunch.

After lunch, they brought me back to the same boardroom to wait while they prepared a vehicle to bring me around.

I took out my laptop and begun working for a good 15 mins before I heard a weird sound.



It was someone snoring! And the guy was just right in front of me!! Haha. I didnt even see him.

Most Chinese companies allow sleeping during lunch time, with some people even bringing foldable beds which they keep under their desks but this is the first time I actually interrupted someone's siesta. Hilarious!!

Online Shopping

Because the labour here is so cheap, delivery of stuff here is so cheap. I heard that same-day couriering here of a document is S$1!

Because of the cold weather and also because our pantry has a nice big bar-counter, the admin gals always order 外卖. I love ordering 外卖 too because i dont have to wait but i typically dont join them in the pantry cos all they speak is Shanghainese. I just prefer to sit in my room and read the news.

Online shopping is fun too. So far, I have ordered a wireless keyboard and mouse, kettle, Macbook Air power adapter and an MP3 player for my office.



Nice or not?

Then i also discovered online shopping for groceries. Some stuff are dirt cheap. Like five one-litre bottles of Dove shower foam for S$36. So I bought five, along with a pillow, shaver, and chocolates. Haha. 

Accident

I took this from my window.



Nothing much really. Traffic here so so chaotic that i see an accident every other day. Traffic here is so chaotic that I have seen drivers make a left u-turn when they are three lanes right of the central divider.

I wonder if we would get a car. It'd be odd not to get a car when we each have our own car in Singapore.

But im not sure if I'd dare to drive. Maybe we will get a driver. I heard it's quite cheap.

Busy Busy

You know you're busy when you take your work laptop to do work instead of ipad to watch TV when you're in a flight.

Becoming a Local

Unsurprisingly, I am becoming more and more local every day. And because I'm living alone now, I am becoming more and more domesticated.

I worry about groceries and worry what will happen to my fresh milk when I travel. I look out for deals online for cheap groceries, especially when I buy in bulk.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with being domesticated but sometimes I am amazed that there are so many things to think about.

Being more local here means being a member of various services so that you get a discount. So i signed up for a RMB2,000 massage membership for a 20% discount, RMB1,000 laundry card for a 30% discount, and an EZ-link card for transportation, but that latter is only so that i dont have to deal with all the dirty notes all the time and be left with so many coins.

Being local also means that you not only dont drink from the tap (i dont do that in Singapore anyway) but you cant even boil the tap water. Yes, here, most families have a water cooler where you would boil that before you even drink it.

I heard some people have a separate tap that comes from a separate source that has potable water. 

So troublesome for something so basic.

Racquet

My racquet came a couple of weeks ago.



I didnt want to feel bad by being choosy with my friend who was ordering for me so i told him to choose for me. Turns out he ordered the top of the line (read:expensive) one.

The Yonex Z-Voltric.

Im not sure if im too much of an expert or too much of an amateur. I told him to string it at 24lbs. That's one measly pound above my usual 23lb and the grip is a littler thicker than my usual. The racquet is also stiffer than my old one. I knew that from the website.

Consequently, my game was so lousy in the last few weeks.

I went on to change the grip and my game actually improved. I actually feel like changing the strings but just too lazy to and quite wasted since they're new.

In any case, this is the zwa long i use to bring my stuff.



I bought it from Carrefour cos they charge me for plastic bags and I obviously didnt bring my badminton bag to Shanghai. Haha.

Sour grapes

You're going to read more and more often here about how imported goods are so expensive here.

I bought some grapes from a japanese supermarket here because i needed some fibre and i didnt really trust the fruit sellers here.



S$4 for such a small bunch of grapes. Not nice some more. Bleah.

Nothing is Impossible

I bought this DVD player to put in the room so that I dont have to only watch DVDs in the living room. Chose a local chinese brand at the recommendation of the sales person because she said that it was more suitable to read the "locally-made DVDs".

Seems like the packing also concurred.



Alas, I was duped. The player keeps skipping and im back to watching DVDs in the living room.

Carrot Cake

Ate at this Malaysian restaurant the other day.

S$6. What a rip off. I told them i wanted chilli and they used chopped chili to fry. Odd taste.

Play Here Play There

The chinese like to play with words with similar sounds:

Krispy Kreme

If you follow my facebook or even this blog, you know that i have been through a donut phase. Ive passed that phase now but when i see this sign, my loins are stirred. Somehow this isnt as nice as the time we ate in Tokyo. Is it the case of the Chinese screwing it up or a matter of the company i was in or was it both?

XLS!

I chanced upon this Xu Liu Shan when i was grocery shopping! W00t! This makes moving to Shanghai all that more worth it - Moving to a city that has an XLS. Then I also saw the Gong Cha the next day. W00t w00t!

Pocky

Check out the galore of Pocky available here. Fr some odd reason, although they are just 20cents more expensive than in Singapore I couldn't bear to buy them. I don't know why. I think I've become more stingy. That's a weird feeling. I hate having to think so much about costs. In the end, when I first did my groceries, I didn't buy much although I spent a long time in the supermarket dividing everything by five to see if they're worth it.

Signage

Rather inappropriate choice of outlet name. I imagine I'll see more of this here and there.

Color

I told Small V that I preferred things with color. So she printed the "In" and "Out" in blue. Hahaha.

Lessons

I saw this note on Small V's table. The first was when I corrected her to phase it as "final negotiations" and not "final negotiate". The second was when i introduced her to Wikipedia. I told her I preferred research from wiki rather than Baidu because it has more English words.

Jam Jam Jam

Here's a view of the perpetual jam taken from my office. Because we are on the 16th floor, i get to see quite far aways. It's pretty cool.

Ang Pao

I found this picture among my old iphone pictures. This was written in a farewell ang pao my mother in law gave me before I left.
 

Chinese Fast Food

There was never a time that i was concerned about the food ill be eating in Shanghai. Some people had said that food is more expensive than outsiders think. I think it's true. I chanced upon this shop beside my office. Interesting name. It's basically set meals of one dish and one rice with an option for veggies and soup. I ordered this for S$3. It wasnt enough. So i ordered one more portion. It came with another big bowl of rice. I didnt finish that. Subsequently, I found that that they all order 外卖 here. Huge huge array of stuff you can order to be delivered to my office. I ordered this the first time. Beef cubes and meatball soup. All for less than S$5.

Apartment

Here's a panoramic shot of my apartment taken with the panoramic function of my S3 for the first time. Quite nifty although i moved too fast.

Badminton

Quite fortutiously, I met an old industry friend at the recent Hong Kong conference. We see the same people day in day out. He's a Singaporean living in Shanghai too and i asked him for some tips on living in Shanghai. He told me he played badminton at least twice a week! I was actually in two minds to join him because I wasnt sure if i was going to be sociable so i didnt bring my racquet or shoes to Shanghai. However, after that wasted weekend i hate, i decided i shouldnt waste my weekends anymore, so i called him up to say i'll join. He offered to order a racquet for me. I quickly went to buy a pair of shoes. The first session was last Saturday and was supposed to be at a school in the suburbs. I was there 30 mins early and i saw this. Turns out the school was having a "last minute" accounting exam and we cant use the location. But then my kakis said there's another place we can play. We quickly rushed there. here's what the courts look like. Looks like a typical Chinese sweatshop-like badminton training facility. Badminton was quite fun although i didnt play too well because it was just too cold and all my joints were frozen. For some reason they felt very on about it and we played on Sunday again. Haha.

Passwords

It was a conscious decision for me to join a larger company. I have never worked in one before and I was fascinated by that prospect. I very soon found out the numerous paperwork larger companies entail. One other thing is the number of systems and processes. There's of course the email log in. Then there is a system for company intranet, another password. Then there're websites to apply for leave, approve people's leave, approve expenses and submit expenses. That's four more passwords there. Then there's new Internet banking password, QQ email account, taobao account and 360buy. I have already forgotten my QQ password as well as resetted my leave approval passwords. Tough man.

Weekend

It was a tiring first week. Hit the ground running getting my feet deep in the deals. It was my first full Saturday here and although I dressed up to go out to explore, I went to the supermarket downstairs to buy fresh milk and then went back. So much for exploring. Sunday wasn't much better. I explored a little around the area with an intention to cut my hair. The nearest one charged S$10. That's a third of what I pay in Singapore. In fact in Singapore, I used to cut S$80 for a while until I felt it wasn't worth it. As I walked further, I found another place that charged S$6!! I wasn't sure if S$6 haircuts would make me look stupid. I didn't want to look like an idiot in front of my new colleagues. I subsequently also found a place that costs S$5! In the end I decided to go with the S$10 one. Decided to slip into mediocrity slowly. So that was the first weekend. Fresh milk and haircut.

The Team

There are three people in my team. I'm supposed to hire one more. As it turns out, two of them have the same first name and two other people in the entire shanghai office also share the name. Great job. Out of four of these same namers, two are in my team and one of them even has the same first AND last name as someone outside our team. I'm not sure if this makes sense to you. In any case, one of them is much older than me. I have tried to be open minded but with my various interactions with her, I think it'd be hard managing her. Because of her age, they call her 大大V. Then the other girls are called 大V，中V and 小V. 中V is my secretary. Fr the purpose of this blog, I shall call them Big V and Small V so that I don't have to keep changing to the Chinese keyboard. The other team member is P. We feel like a motley crew. I shall try to make this a well oiled business development machine.

Day Two

Days two, three and four were spent away from Shanghai as I had to attend an offsite conference by my new company. It was quite fun really. Meeting all the regional heads as well as our President from the US. China is going to be a focus of growth for the company after lagging behind the competition for years now. My AP president presented the strategy and called me out to introduce me as the one to be leading the charge. It was a proud moment but yet a little stressful because now everyone knows my KPI for 2013.

Day One

The send off was more difficult than I thought it would be. I thought it would have been easier as Someone was in Geneva on my departure date. I was wrong. It was tearful and tough and I was so distraught that I didn't buy some stuff that I needed to buy at DFS. Shanghai was its usual grey but this time it reflected my mood. The apartment was exactly how I thought it would be. Except maybe the living room was larger than I thought with a resulting smaller bedroom. But it's fine. The living room will be more used when Someone comes. As I laid in bed on the first night, the reality hit me like a ton of bricks.. This is real. I'm really here now. I feel so alone now. That's weird for me because I'm very used to being alone. Was it a right move to uproot our lives, abandon my weekly golf and badminton games, leave our families and friends, sell my new car in search for a better future? Was it worth it? In some weird way, I felt like my grandparents who left their hometown to come settle in Singapore. Lots of people work overseas. It should be fine. I hope.

Back!

I managed to get VPN! Able to access Facebook, YouTube, etc! W00t! I will be updating this blog with some of my musings in my early days in Shanghai on my laptop.

Farewell

In part due to my prodding, Someone has decided to go on her work trip to Geneva this weekend. This means that she wont be around during my last week in Singapore. This also means she wont be around when i depart for Shanghai. That means that when she returns from Geneva, Ill be gone. That's a depressing thought. I hate farewells. Sometimes, i think that cascades to how i communicate with people. In my whatsapps, MSNs, etc, I dont ever say bye. I just keep quiet until the conversation dies a natural death. I think farewells provide the people staying behind an avenue for them to say bye and grief appropriately. Sometimes, its more for the people staying behind than the person leaving. It's like a funeral. But sometimes, i really dont care. It hurts and sometimes I just want to grieve alone. It feels like I'm dying because I have been cleaning up my affairs in the last few weeks - closing bank accounts, cancelling credit cards, arranging for GIRO payments, etc.

Work Work Work

My new boss called me the other day and asked if I can start earlier in the Singapore office so that I can teach some of the people there financial modelling. Im a bit sian to cut short my leave but in effect, it's just working one working day earlier and getting three more days od pay cos I start on a Friday. So, I start work this Friday.

Hit the Ground Running

I start work on 8 Oct in Singapore then i fly to Hong Kong on 10 October for a conference. I return to Singapore on Friday 12 October before flying to Shanghai on 13 October. After one night in Shanghai, I then take the high-speed train to Wuxi for a management conference on 14 October that stretches till 17 October. It's going to be a fast two weeks! It's quite coincidental because when i started with my previous company, I also started in the week they had a management conference in the US. Hope it's fun!

Overkill

If there's one thing i hate more about waiting, it is boredom. This is the amount of things I brought to keep me/us occupied during a one-night stay at the hospital. One Macbook Air 2 iPads One Kindle One Bose noise cancelling earphones

Excited

While im relishing my break but yet not really looking forward to being away from family, im also excited about the new job. There are of course the shallow things like new laptop, new blackberry, new email address, etc. I was curious to know what my email address will be. So i emailed myself using different permutations on my name. I now know what my email address is. I know it's the one because when i did this some time back, the email bounced back but this time it didnt. I will also have a team to manage. It's been some time since I have to manage people. Indeed, I left my first job because I didnt want to manage a team of fresh grads. I think I got more than what I have asked for because now the team is bigger with one manager and one director and one assistant. Im supposed to hire one more director and one more manager when i come on board. That'd be exciting. A little potential bump would be that one of the existing director is born in 1960. I wonder how it'd be like managing an older woman. I even manage to find out that I'll be getting a room there. W00t!

Busy Busy

So many things have been happening in my life recently. In the last 15 months, we bought an apartment, we embarked on our first time renovation project, then we decided to get married, then marriage preparations. We havent yet made the bed warm before I made the decision to relocate to Shanghai. In an odd way, these various events gave me the opportunity to connect or re-connect with friends - from informing friends of my newly renovated apartment and inviting them over and of course inviting friends to my wedding to meeting up with friends before I leave for Shanghai. Oddly enough, I feel more and more like a recluse of late. I never did had many friends over my new place. I also kept my wedding invite list uber short. As for catching up with friends before I leave, in some ways I feel lazy to meet. In some ways, if people dont contact me with a suggested date, I usually would just ignore it. I have no idea why. I have mentioned in a very old post here that Im bad at keeping up with relations and more so for friends who live away from Singapore. I'll probably end up with no friends in Shanghai really. Haha. Sometimes i think that i only want to meet people for golf and mahjong. Other than that, Id rather be home watching TV or reading. I think i inherited my mum's hermit personality. Well, at least there's cheap DVDs in Shanghai.

Ancient

I also returned this ancient blackberry that my company issued me on the first day i started in 2008.

I only used it for a short while before I got my own BB Bold, BB Bold 2 and now BB Bold 3. Trading in my BB 3 now. I heard that my new company has already purchased my BB with a local Shanghai number and has passed it to my new boss to bring it back to Singapore. My name cards are also already printed. I like such efficiencies. I hope this isnt just at the onset.

Best Leave

I have always told people that the best sort of leave is the leave that you take in between jobs.

Your previous job wont bother you. Your new job has nothing to bother you.

All this time you're getting paid for clearing leave.

I have a month of this sort of leave but it's a pity that there's so much things to do and pack before I leave.

Yawn.

Final Word

Here's another farewell that I sent out - this time to my colleagues. Sometimes I surprise myself with the words I come up with. 

Hi everyone

It’s been a great honour and privilege to have worked together with you during my time in XXX.

From the time I joined the company when it was just boss and I, then another colleague coming on board shortly, we have now grown in terms of family members to number of projects.

Our Chairman told me once that he thinks a “decent-sized” company should have at least XXX projects. That’s the reason why I have a running list at the back of where I sit. The number stands at YYY now. We are YYY projects away from being a “decent-sized company”.

Regretfully I won’t be around to push on for this effort. I'm sure you will support my replacement as vigorously as you have with me in order to meet this target.

Stay well and work with integrity and don’t be a stranger.

Yours

Cornball

Last Day

It was a rather emotional goodbye on my last day. That was a week ago. Immediately after my last day, we went to Hong Kong for a holiday. That explains my silence on blogger.

Im not sure if everyone faces this on their last day but there are always different groups of people to whom you'd want to say different type of good byes. I sent this to my bosses and their family members:

Dear members of the XXX family

Today is my last day at YYY.

It has been a huge pleasure and even greater privilege to have worked together with you in the last four and a half years.

I leave with a tinge of sadness today because of the bonds we have formed during this time but at the same time, I leave with the blessed assurance that we will keep in touch and our paths will cross.

My personal email address is cornballz@gmail.com and my cellphone number will remain at ZZZZ ZZZZ.

Thank you again.

Always

Cornball

And on my last day, this is all i took back. This NTUC bag of stuff. Haha. 

End of Days

This coming wednesday is the last day at my job.

I dont know how I'd feel really. On one hand, I'd feel a sense of relief and on one hand I'd feel a tinge of sadness.

Sometimes I think i put in too much emotional capital into jobs, so much so that i develop an emotional bond to the job. But maybe that's what makes me good at my job.

I've always thought that resigning from a job implicitly says to your colleagues that "Ive found a better place to go to every day. Better place, better pay and probably better colleagues."

With that in mind, the relationship just changes immediately after you tender. It's like breaking up from your boyfriend/girlfriend. Something isnt quite the same again.

But nonetheless, I have one more month before i relocate to Shanghai. I hope that's exciting.

Massage

I just found out my regular masseuse has gone back to China. I liked him because he studied TCM in the military and was very strong too.

I think I need to move to China to look for him.

 

Outlawed by Inlaw

I always thought that it was clichéd during thank-you speeches in wedding banquets that the newly weds would joke sheepishly that have to change mouth and call the in-laws “mum” and “dad”.

 

IT IS VERY DIFFICULT!

 

I have tried a few times but I have failed.

 

So I devised a plan, whereby instead of calling “Hi Dad and Mum”, I just say a very loud “Hello!”. I have managed to get away with you.

 

Or so I thought.

 

My mum-in –law just told my wife that she noticed I don’t greet them anymore.

 

Kwa kwa.

Socks

I have basically two types of socks for work.

 

Thin or thick socks.

 

Thin socks are for those shoes which are tighter and thick socks are for shoes which are looser.

 

That’s a no brainer you may think.

 

Once I decide on which sock to wear, I’d decide on which shoe to wear. And then depending on the color of the shoes (black or brown), I’d decide on the color of the belt.

 

Once the belt color is decided, then id decide on the color of my pants, then I’d decide the shirt color.

 

So, in actual fact, the choice of  my look, depends on what type of socks I want to wear on that day.

 

I came to this revelation a few days ago and I thought it was a little weird.

 

Parents

One small thing im thankful for of late is that my parents get along well with my in-laws.

 

My parents are nice and easy-going people and so are my in-laws.

 

But that doesn’t mean anything, especially when I sometimes hear horror stories about in-laws and expectations of their new child-in-law and I don’t take this harmony for granted.

 

It helps that both families like to eat, especially crab.

 

Now, all I need are my in-laws to know how to get to my parents’ place so that they can go directly to pass them things, rather than pass through me. Haha.

 

Looking Forward

Sometimes I think I cant sit still.

I must always have something to look forward to.

I must also look forward to something next to buy, some new event coming up, some new change. I just cant sit still. It's irritating sometimes.

Yet at the same time, it's exciting. What a dilemma.

Eerie?

This is another gift i got from the wedding.

It's a little eerie i think.

First Clothes

This is what I wore in the morning of the wedding. I like to be well prepared. Everything hung near the toilet with even the cufflinks in the cuffs.

Can you see how textured and shiny my Hermes tie is?

First Gift

We received our first gift a week before the wedding from T|ny. Still got ang pao even though she didnt attend. How thoughtful! I love unsolicited money!

1 Week On

Phew, it's been a little over a week since the wedding is over.

It feels like a huge burden has been removed. It feels like it's after the exams now and I dont have to worry about feeling guilty about doing something else other than wedding preparations.

Now, onto our next project. And Im not talking about making babies.

Today!

Today is the day!

What kind of underwear do you wear on your wedding day?

You know it's a special day and that warrants a special thought to your choice of underwear.

But at the same time, because it's a special day, you want to be with one that you can rely on, i.e. an old one.

Plus, it's been raining a lot recently and my laundry hasnt dried as fast as they should.

Decisions decisions.

By the time I blog again, i think ill be married. That's a scary thought. 

Gifts Exchange

We did the whole gifts exchange thingy last Saturday. I think it's just dumb.

There's a specific list of items to bring - wine, oranges, a large ang pao, cakes, and some pork. I said "some pork" is because actually tradition dictates it to be an entire pig but because it's so troublesome, people find alternatives. However, this doesnt simply mean you cut a small piece of pork. It has to be "a whole piece", whatever it means. And it must be cut in a certain way. But! But But But! It can however be replaced by the canned pig trotters. That's so incredulous really.

Some of the canned pork and other items that i bring over will be returned to me and these have to come in a quantity that fulfils some criteria - must be even number, the number, after returning to be must also be an even number and not be "4". The said number must also, logistically, be not a too big number.

So basically, I lugged 8 bottles of wine and others all the way there and then brought 6 back. Actually brought S$1888 in ang pao and the female side was supposed to keep $888 but last minute decided to keep $88 because $888 is a three digit number. So in that regard, I just saved $800. w00t!

I think it's just silly. Traditions aside, we just spent so much effort acquiring these things and packing them for a 10-minute exchange.

Bangkok

We stole away to Bangkok for four days because there was a good deal on Groupon.

$480 for return tickets and accommodation for two! WOW!

And so we went on our first holiday in 1.5 years.

There isnt much about Bangkok other than cheap shopping and food. Therefore, unsurprisingly, all the pictures we took were of us eating. Here're some from night street food place called Sukhumvit 38.

You need to turn into this alley where the best stalls are congregated.

Check out this mango sticky rice stall. One of the best I've ever eaten. 

Try also the porridge, pad thai and wanton mee. The pad thai is one of the best ive eaten despite going to Bangkok more than 20 times.

Blogging

I find that these days my posts are very short.

Sometimes I am just too lazy to type, sometimes I just have so many things in my mind.

So many things occupy my mind these days that i sometimes just stare into blank space.

For the last 5-6 days, i have been dreaming about the wedding. They arent exactly nightmares but when i awake from them, i cant sleep anymore. Bleah.

Rain and Laundry

It's been raining on and off recently that it's so hard to get the laundry dry. This reminded me of my mum's frequent complaints before. Now I know how she feels. Called her to tell her and she said "Now you know la!"

Haha.. my mum.

Wedding Planning

Wedding planning is such a pain in the ass.

There are so many details to look into and at the same time so much money spent. Bleah.

I hope the ang paos will be substantial so that I dont have to pay so much.

Bleah.

In order to get away from it all, we are going for a holiday to Bangkok next weekend. Hope it wont be that hot.