Boracay 2014

Uhm.

SUP GUYS?

I'm finally doing up a proper post again.

On 31 Aug 2014, Sunday, Eugene, John Lim, Yanting and I left Singapore for Baracay!!

Took tiger air (because it is the only airline that flies to Boracay and also cuz we don't really trust other countries airlines lah :X) Reached Kaibo Airport around 5.30pm and the first thing we did was to BUY PREPAID CARDS!!! lol. We now can't live without our phones anymore.

There were mainly 2 booths right outside the airport selling prepaid cards from different service provider. And we weren't sure what's the difference between the two so like how I would usually ask questions; which isn't actually directed at anyone, I did.

Me: Huh? So what's the difference between the two??

And all of a sudden, a guy in front of me turned around to answer my question. lollol. Then John lim and I just started talking to the guy and his friend, asking about the prepaid plan, what they are going to buy, their transport and their hotel blah blah. Then came another group of 5 Singaporean girls and all of us just started talking and helping each other out with the prepaid card thingy.

Anyhows, after buying our prepaid card, we hard to take another 2hrs++ car journey to Katiclan Jetty Port to take a 15mins ferry ride to Boracay.

Reached Boracay and had a tuktuk ride which took act another 20mins before reaching our hotel.

We stayed at The Regency Spa and Resort which is one of the best hotels there and 

in all our opinions, the most convenient hotel because it was located in the middle of the whole beach. Wahahah

After settling down in our hotel and putting all our stuffs down, we headed out for dinner around 8.45pm. And while walking along the beach to find places for dinner, we were already being followed. (I think it's cuz the locals there could tell that we just arrived or something? Because the next few days when we were there, it wasn't as bad)

Had our dinner -which really wasn't very nice and decided to explore the beach and malls a little before going back to our hotel. Walked along the beach and then we bumped into the 2 guys we met earlier on outside the airport!

Decided to exchange numbers so that we can let each other know the rates etc we've found for water sports and also, so that we can all meet up and go to the bars tgt :P

On to the next day, 1 Sept 2014, Monday!

Our hotel provides pretty good complementary breakfast every morning 

AND FINALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY,

………………………………….

…………………………

……………………..

…………………

……………..

…………

…….

….

.

We went to the beach!!!!

(Like I've said, we did explore the beach the previous day but it was at night so we couldn't really see how nice it was. Till the 2nd day)

Got the waiter who was serving us breakfast to introduce us his friend, June, who's the agent for different activities and we basically got June to help us with planning our activities the next few days. He became our "pa pa" hahah though he also earned quite a lot from us esp at the end of our trip because we gave him a pretty huge amt of tips.

Anyway, told the 2 guys (which by now, I should at least have introduced them; Stan and Rayden!) that we've found someone who's pretty reliable and asked them to join us for ATV!

It was pretty fun but we expected more from it. Unfortunately, the more challenging course was closed for construction. 

):

And throughout the whole course, the 6 of us spoiled a total of 2 ATVs, lol.

Yanting's ATV caught fire which was super funny and Stan sped into a puddle of muddy waters and spoiled it too.

Went for lunch together after our ATV activity at this famous burger place and it was one of the better meals we had thoughout whole trip. The food there was really MEH to me…

BUT YAY TO YUMMY BURGERS!!!!

After which, we headed to Station 1 of the beach in search of a smoothie which according to many, said it's a must try. 

And then, we explored willie's rock for a little while!

Did Island Hopping on 2 Sept 2014, Tuesday.

Snorkeling was our first activity!!!!

And that was like my 4th time snorkeling and I really enjoy snorkeling but I WANTED TO DIE.

The seawater there was really damn bad, your throat literally burns. It's like you've got throat infection + ulcers in your throat. It was really damn painful whenever the water goes into your mouth or nose. To make things worse, I had 2 freaking huge ulcers and I was constantly out of breath because…………….. the last time I really swam (not playing in the pool kind) was when I was in freaking Primary 6 when I was still learning swimming -.- 

Next, we went to this Island called Crystal Cove and swam in the cove -which was pretty lame. lol.

BUT the view there was amazing.

Our last stop was Magic Island where we had lunch and did cliff diving!!!!

I was honestly so excited for Cliff Diving cuz apart from Parasailing, this was the one water sports I haven't tried and have been wanting to try.

Cliff diving was……. MEH. 

I'm not saying that it isn't scary cuz it was but once you take the first step and jump everything else is basically nothing much. The only difficult/fun/stressful part I would say is really when you've made the decision to jump. The rest really isn't scary at all.

Back to white beach after that and we managed to catch the sun set!!!!!!

And that was the only day we caught the sun set because for the rest of the days it was either raining in the evening or we couldn't really make it because we were on the other side of the island and not at the white beach.

Went out for private sailing before dinner and spent the rice of the night at the cafe chatting- mainly us telling Stan and Rayden about all the shit we did during secondary school. lol

3 Sept 2014, Wednesday was Water Sports activities day for us!!!!!!!

Everyone was initially thinking of doing only Parasailing and Flying Fish because Jet skiing was too expensive but I told them that they have to do jet ski and guaranteed them that it would be the most fun. And being the whiny ass bitch like I always am, I pouted when they said "No too expensive" to me. 

However, thank goodness for John Lim who bargained for us, we managed to get June to give us a good package for all the waterspouts which included Parasailing, Flying fish, Jet skiing and banana boat (yeah I asked for this too cuz I am childish whatever).

My first time doing parasail and I was really excited!!

But it was really just another "meh" thing for me. I guess parasailing is just a form of sightseeing… in this case, SEAseeing and it wasn't as thrilling as I thought it would be. The only fun part was when the wind blows.

The ride back was thrilling though!! 

Because it started pouring really heavily when we were about to go back and we were in the middle of the sea. We couldn't even see anything far and the driver was speeding and it was really exciting. I even recovered from my motion sickness after my parasailing (because I forgot to take my motion sickness meds) because it was so thrilling!! LOL

I didn't really enjoy jet skiing as much as in bali (I still enjoyed it though!! Just not as much) as they only allow you to go in a clock wise direction. Which is damn lame lah. Seriously who the hell rides a jet ski in circles -.-

Nevertheless, the guys enjoyed it which meant more credit points for me and proved them it was a good choice to trust Charman. Muahahah (Y) Jet skiing is something I will never miss out whenever I do water sports.

Next up was banana boat which was when the real fun started. (Fun as in it was the start of me laughing ReallyHardTillMyStomachHurts for consecutively 2 days)

The banana boat ride started off really really boring. The guy driving the speed boat was so damn slow and as if that wasn't enough, it wasn't the usual banana boat whereby it's skinny and narrow. It was the one with the double sides for 12 people which makes the speed even slowerrrrrrrrrr.

And because of that, the guys start lying down, relaxing and shit and when the driver turned around and saw all of them lying I think he got really agitated and so he started speeding. YAY.

But because it was really really sudden, Stan and Rayden who were lying at the back couldn't get up to hold onto the rope handle and seeing them trying to get back up into the sitting position without falling into the waters was really really funny. In effort to "save" Rayden from falling into water, I grabbed him while laughing really hard and my stomach was hurting so much, the other hand that was holding onto the handle wasn't strong enough anymore so both of us fell off. 

He fell of first because he needed to save his shorts from falling off. LOL.

Initially I was a little sian about doing Flying fish because my experiences from doing it at bali were all not really thrilling…………….. as the ones in bali were played in a lying down-to-standing position (which is the correct position to play flying fish).

Well, apparently in Philippines, the people don't really care much about your safety but how much they earn and so they allowed all 6 of us to go on the boat together and because we also paid more for a faster speed boat, it was damn fun. I would say the best Flying Fish experience ever!!

But of course, you put your safety at risk.

John Lim, Stan and Rayden went to the Fish Market (D'Talipapa) after that together with June to get us some good bargains for seafood and brought it to a restaurant to have them cook for us.

After dinner, we headed to Wave Bar (which is under Regency Spa and Resort) for our 

flaming lamboghini!

And because that wasn't enough fun, we decided to head back to our hotel for more drinking games and we did that for consecutively 2 days. lol. I think though the drinking games probably has got nothing to do with Boracay but it was still one of the highlights of the trip. 

Circle of death has NEVER been as fun/funny.

Our last 2 nights were definitely the best nights at Boracay, really. 

5th December 2014, Friday 

We arrived back in Singapore at around 6.45pm.

Had dinner together at a Thai Restaurant over at Changi because I've been chanting for tomyum throughout the day. lol.

Post by Charman Chuang.

P/s. I was bored, I created ask.fm so come at me with your questions to entertain me and ask awayyyyyyyy!
http://ask.fm/kissonyou 

Updates: My first few days of the holiday

A very warm hello to whoever the hell who is still reading my blog ThatHasBeenDeadForSoLongIWonderwhoStillReadsIt.

 I finally found some time (since it's now my hols -no excuses) to update it!!

This semester has been crazy for me with so many things to do and so much of "not-used-to" because well, I've simply never had so much to do before/I just don't do them (in Secondary School). But you see, yours truly; which is I, Charman, is a changed person. So now, I do. I've been very coped up with never ending assignments and rushing out my CV/portfolio for this first half of the semester.

My first test of the sem ended just on 12th of December which is a Thursday and then on Friday I had a mock interview for my upcoming internship....

Which the stupid irresponsible school made me wait 1hrs 3mins for.

Still, here's a happy pic of myself while waiting for the interview because my long awaited hols is finally here!! (I waited 8 weeks for it okay!!)

After which, I headed down to JEM for awhile to get some stuffs then met Eugene and Nais to go to Holland for dinner @ Yoshimaru Ramen Bar.

Love the eggs, didn't really enjoy the ramen and the soup base.

Udders after that for dessert and chilled to 12am before we finally decided to go home.

(Also because I became quite moody and was whining about being tired/wanting to go home)

Work on Saturday and was pretty excited because Joanne and I were exchanging presents!!

Christmas presents for me and birthday + Christmas present for her! 

Here's what I got! 

And obviously, I couldn't resist not getting myself a charm so I got one for myself the next day (Sunday)! 

I also influenced her into liking pandora and now, both of us have it!! HAHAH

 Here's us doing the "Pandora Shake" LOL

(Mine isn't really much of a shake action but aiya, must look nice in photo what. lol)

On Monday, I went for a little shopping for our overseas trip with my fam!

Love family time the mostttt.

Met up with John Lim and Minjiang on Tues and went to East Coast Park for dinner part1! LOL. 

Super love the food there esp the Char Siew noodles?!?!?!?

Since everyone said I've matured quite a fair bit (I think so too!!), I asked Minjiang to let me do the dumb mental age test to see if I really did!

The last time I did the test, which was 2yrs ago, I got 12yrs old -_- 

And the test result showed that I did become more mature!!!!!

:D

:D

:D

Damn happy ok!!!!!

I matured by 3yrs... -_-

FML.

Thought I'll have my schedule freed up once the hols start but I was wrong. It's almost about the same?!?!?! Plus, I still have to wake up early and sleep late!!!! URGH. But well, at least I don't have to go to school so I guess that's one thing to be happy about?

Also, I just passed my FTT! YAY!

One more step towards getting my license!

(Which I think would take me a long time because I only go for my practical lessons like once every 2 weeks?!?! And because I've been busy for the past few weeks + going overseas soon, I'll be stopping my practical for 2 months! LOL ZOMG)

Before I end this post, here's a photo of me I took while I was in school a week back 

I'll be flying off to Bali tomorrow and then 2 days after I come back I'll be flying of again to Bkk.

Have a great holiday guys!!

Updates: September so far

Hello People.

I finally got my lazy ass up to update my blog a lil' on my hols so far.

A day of my life at work whereby I'm being forced by my boss, Joanne to put on girly floral dresses.

So yeap, this is one of the very first floral dress whereby she got me to put on. I know "sweet" was never in my blood. lol.

And then, on a random Monday night (16th Sept), Minjiang, John Lim, Fiona and I decided to go for supper together at WCP's mac. lol. I was at JEM earlier on with Joanne to have tea together, went home had dinner and then an hour later, Minjiang came to pick me up together with John Lim and drove back to Jurong to fetch Fiona from her korean class.

Anyways, it was really a night well spent. It's been long since we hung out together as a clique. Last time was like my birthday?!?!? Which was like 2 months back! Wtf?!?! So I'm glad that we could at least spend some time together even if it's just a few of us.




And on Friday, after meeting for lunch at Shakery with Shushia, Fiona, Minjiang and Eugene, we went over to westmall for Sogurt while accompanying Shushia to wait for her boyf to meet her.

(lol. We weren't advertising for sogurt. The photo above was taken in attempt to make Fiona jealous after she left us for work because we knew that she has been craving for sogurt the past few weeks)

And then, just on Monday, my conversation with John Lim using Eugene's phone. lol. I met Eugene after my driving lesson and we had no where to go, no one to meet up with so I was feeling really upset and whiny. Was whining to John Lim and told him I was bored and he did this to entertain/cheer me up. lol. Well, he succeeded. Btw, voice note from me after the photo was "WHY U HURT YOURSELF" and I totally LOL-ed at his reply. HAHAHAHA

-

Carrying on,  I know that I've been neglecting this blog for a really really long time. Was looking at my posts and I realized I only have like a pathetic average number of 1 post per month. And there were even months when I didn't post anything at all.

Which is sad to me I guess? Because there were like NO "memories" made this year. All I've been doing this year really has been school, work, staying at home sleeping and shit like that. I guess my blog/life has mostly been about my secondary school years and now that I've graduated, I basically have no life at all and nothing to blog about.

My friends stopped making time to spend time and have fun, priorities for them changed, people stopped making an effort and really, the times when we used to have fun together are just gone.

It upsets me honestly to see these changes and yet, I can do nothing about it. I mean for the first and only time I'm gonna use this word but #yolo.
If we don't spend time now and have fun, then when are we gonna do it? We won't be able to have fun when everyone is already married with kids?

Meh.
I shall stopped my ranting here.

But yes, I think it's time I revive this blog again. I shall not be lazy anymore and do something to change. There's so many drafts stashed aside in my blog and my computer of things I wanted to blog about but because of procrastination and things I have going on in my life, I didn't manage to finish writing to put them out.

So in the meantime, keep a look out on this space.
I will update. X

BEIJING TRIP

As many of you would know, I just came back from Beijing 3 days ago! (Right, now that it's 12am, it would be 4 days.) Didn't really have a chance to blog about it because I was procrastinating and on the other hand, I only had the day itself to rest and right after came parties after parties and celebrations after celebrations. The only reason why I'm able to blog about it now is because I came back early from a party/gathering and decided to force my lazy ass up to get my blog post going. Right now, I'm so damn tired I really wanna sleep ):

Anyhowzzzzzzzzzzz
AFTER 18 YEARS, I WENT TO BEIJING AGAIN!!

You must be really confused now wondering how did I even go to Beijing 18 years ago when I am 18 now. But well, I did! I went to Beijing when I was just 5 months old with my mummy to visit my dad who was handling a project over there!

This time, 2 of my brothers joined me and we went there together as a family.

This was really a contradicting decision for my family because my mum, doesn't buy things that are made/produced in China! Especially food. (YES I AM DAMN SERIOUS) Come to my house and check where all the food I've got at home were produced and you won't, I am pretty sure, YOU WON'T find one which was produced in China. (Unless my dad buys it but my mum would start nagging at him and get him to finish it on his own.)

She doesn't even buy the Japanese instant noodles which was my favorite brand of maggi mee now because they have stopped producing it in Japan and now changed to produce it in China ):
Probably a good thing though.
Because I used love eating instant noodles and I could have it on a daily basis. Now that she no longer allow us to buy it, I stopped eating it as often. (I think I only had it 8 times this year?!?!)

My dad was the one who was extremely happy when we decided to go to Beijing because he could meet up with his ex staffs and bring us around to see where his apartment was and where he used to work.

Pardon my following spam snaps of the plane and the clouds.
It has been 4 years since I last took the plane because during these 4 years, we only went by sea for our vacation, going on cruise to different countries or taking the ferry to Batam for a vacation at ClubMed.

Really dislike airplane's food. For my 6hrs trip there and back, I only took a mouthful of bread and didn't touch the rest of my food.

The bread was stale, the fish was dry and the tea was tasteless.
I know I shouldn't be expecting a lot from airplane's food but really, no matter how much I wanted to eat at the point of time, my appetite will just go from 100 to 0 the moment I take the first mouth.

Our trip was 11 days?! I'm confused myself as we took the plane on the 17th in the afternoon but only arrived there at 1am in the night. And we left on the 25th at 12am so it's technically 26th right?
HAHAH. Okay, now I probably got you people confused too.

We embarked on our trip in Beijing starting with a 4 day tour.

Reached Beijing at around 1am in the night and only arrived at the hotel around 2am. On the way to our hotel, we were told that there's a change in location.
This is what I call the "China Style" where even when you have booked the hotel, it is NOT CONFIRMED and you have to be at the hotel to confirm it or they will give your slot to other people.
So the tour agency told us that there was a last minute change in hotel location and we were being drove to this other hotel.

I haven't stayed in a 4 stars hotel before and have all along stayed in a 5 stars one. But I wouldn't say the hotel is lousy because from the flooring some of the materials used for the room, I can tell that it was once a good hotel but now, it's just old.

But honestly, the bed is shit I can feel the wire framing when I lie on it.

Woke up early after only a few hours of sleep for the tour.

And we went to visit the Palace.

The palace was hugeeee! But as far as I can remember, there wasn't as much to see as compared to Korea's palace.

I have this thing for snowman I got no idea why. They just look really cute and happy but sad at the same time.

OHOH.
And I'm not really in for going to cold countries because it's such a hassle. You have to put on numerous piece of clothing on and when you go indoors, you have to take it off and put it back on when you're going out again.

When I was in korea, it was such a hassle to put on and take off clothing especially because it would be really warm indoors as they would switch off the aircon and turn on the heater during winter seasons. But I guess it's better than having to feel cold even when you're indoors so I decided to make do with it.

BUTTTTT. Some shops in Beijing are seriously damn smart??!?! Not only did they not turn on the heater indoors, they freaking still have the aircon on and blowing. So each time I go indoors hoping to get away from the cold outside, I go indoors feeling just as cold. Zzz

Went for some shopping after that.
And because my brothers and I have always been hearing "ping tang hu lu" when ever we watch some shows of the olden days, we decided to try it!
It costs $3-4 for a stick.

Next day, we went to visit the Great Wall of China and be good soldiers.

Because there were leftover snow from the snowstorm a few days ago, the ice that were melting made it so damn slippery. Plus the steps were really steep and not all of the stairs have railings to hold on too, I was damn scared to fall and gave up halfway while my brothers and my mum went all the way to the top for that part of the Great Wall.

Went to take a walk along the "bu xing jie" at night. It's some place like orchard but cars are not allowed to travel side and to get to places, you have to walk.

Had "bing tang hu lu" again!

The 3rd day we were invited to this part of the palace which isn't opened to public.

No photography was allowed inside though. We went in and we were taught fengshui and how Beijing is a city made up of fengshui. And yes seriously, every single building in Beijing has it's purpose for the structure and the reason for where it is located because of their fengshui. lol.

So we were told to tell the fengshui teacher our year of birth and she could tell our fengshui.
And this was the exact words she said to me "Ni zhe ge ren de ge xing hen qiang. Hen zhi shuo. Ye fei chang shan liang. Sheng bian hen duo peng you. Dan ni xu yao zhu yi xiao ren. *turns to my mum* ji de yao zhu yi xiao ren. *turns back to me* yao zhu yi xiao ren.

After asking numerous number of people for their translation of what it could mean, I finally understood clearly.
She said "You have a strong personality. And you are very straight forward. (WA. Okay, true!) You are also extremely kind hearted. (HUH?!?! REALLY MEH!!) You have many friends around you but you have to beware of two headed snakes. *turns to my mum* Remember to be cautious of two headed snakes. *turns back to me* Must be cautious of two headed snakes.

Not sure how far I could trust what she said but she has got some degree or PHD in the studies of Fengshui. Yes, fengshui is not a believe or superstition but a study. Too lazy to explain here or find out more but I'll leave it as that.

We were brought to this health study building where the President of China has his health taken care of in the opposite building. And had foot massage. While having foot massage, there would be a few physicians going around to check our health. And there was this senior physician who came to me and immediately said I had a problem and started taking my pulse rate. He said my blood isn't circulating well and it would cause me problems.
OF COURSE MY PARENTS KNEW. But they just pretended they didn't know and asked what they should do. Then the physician started prescribing me this medicine which cost $800. SIAO LOR. And my dad sad no. After which, the physician doctor started lowering the price of the medicine and bargained with my dad.
DOCTORS GOT LIKE THAT ONE MEH!!?!??!

A few other of the people who were from our tour were also asked to buy some medication and theirs cost up to $1000. Of course we were smart enough not to.

And that's when my dad said to all of us, "This is how Beijing is like".
My dad's cousin is a doctor in China and she told my dad before that she wouldn't help a patient unless her patient gives her a red packet. Which is true. Our tour guide also told us the same thing. That in China, if you do not have money to pay for your medical fees, the doctors would basically leave you to die.

I HONESTLY THANK GOD FOR SINGAPORE. For the government who would help us pay some of our medical bills.
AND TO ALL THOSE DOCTORS WHO REALLY DO HAVE THE PASSION TO SAVE PEOPLE, THANK YOU.

I wanted so much to cry at the point of time seeing how the doctors were behaving. Getting us buy the medicine and trying to negotiate a good price so that we would buy the meds.
Really?
Is this what all doctors in Beijing are made for?

You are a doctor because you want to save lives.
Not because you want money.
Ah, whatever about that, don't wanna make this post all about how inhumane and twisted the doctors are.

We went on to our next location and found Saprino while we were in this "Fake goods mall"
And of course, after eating shitty food for so many days, we had to go in and get some good pizzas.

Plus I was real happy they had my favorite tabasco sauce! ^^

I'm not a fan of Chinese food. Like I have mentioned in my previous post, I don't like going to chinese restaurants at all. I'm okay with home cook food and I kinda love them. But I just don't like chinese food I got no idea why. Not talking about laksa or hokkien mee etc. Just talking about those individual dishes they serve in restaurants like fish, veggie etc.

Awhile later while we were having dinner, it started to snow!!
From what I know, it's a "miracle" to have snow! So in Singapore, it's like a double miracle if it snows here! Because for it to snow, 2 criteria must be fulfilled. 1st, the temperature must be at least 0 degrees. 2nd, it must rain. So snow comes down as a form of rain. But in the cold, it hardly rains and therefore, it rarely snows!

I didn't have a chance to see snow falling when I was in Korea and this time, I was lucky enough to see it in Beijing! I rushed out of the restaurant immediately trying to capture shots of it but failed ):

The fourth day was our last day with the tour before we go off to explore Beijing on our own.

The first stop was this factory that produces silk. Which ruined our whole mood early in the morning.
Basically, the whole of the 4 days with the tour showed us a lot about the bad side of China.
Our tour guide was good though. And so is the bus driver. I want to believe that every single one from China are good people just that they have a different culture.

Why did I say the bad side of China then?
Because for our 4 days of tour, my family and other 3 other families from our tour group have been buying all sorts of rubbish we didn't need for A HIGHER PRICE than what we can actually get it for. -Only because we wanted to help our tour guide save his face. So that the factories that our tour guide's agency made him bring us to would not be angry with him because his group of tourist didn't buy anything.

YES, it works like that in China.
And every time we were brought to a factory, the salesgirls would be begging us/negotiating with us, trying to get us to buy their stuffs.
Plus because they are being paid by commission, they would sell the things to us at like triple the actual price? DAMN BITCHES.

The factory we went to on the last day was the worst. They wouldn't let us and the tour guide leave as long as we didn't buy anything. We didn't need bed sheet covers or quilt covers!??! SO BUY FOR WHAT.

Nvm about that. My mum was interested in a silk cover and asked how much it is. The girl immediately  told my mum, 50000 RMB which is $1000 Sg.
My brothers and I were like "Go fuck yourselves!" Before that, their manger told us all the silk covers would be sold at 600RMB which is only like $200. So we asked the salesgirl why that difference and she said "oh, it's because this is the last piece" Last your lj! How can like that one? Oh, because it's the last piece so I shall x5 the amount and sell it to you.

My mum immediately said "no" and she started following my mum all over the place to persuade my mum. She thinks we're Bill Gates can sleep under a $1000 blanket. She finally asked my mum why we can't buy and my mum told her we can't afford.
Without hesitation, she decreased the price to $400. WOAH. SUCH A BIG DIFFERENCE. SO NOW, HOW DO WE TRUST YOU. And we refused to buy. We spent like 2hrs inside before they finally gave up and let us go. After which, when we were about to go off, they spoke ill about us. My brothers were all so pissed and they wanted to insult them.
Whatever lah, no pride beg people already then later wanna bad mouth us cause we didn't want to let you earn our money.

Can't blame them though, because their pay is really low and they only earn by commission.

My tour guide was held back for pretty long and he finally managed to get out.
Seeing us all unhappy back on the bus because of what happened, he tried to reschedule our trip for the day and took out all the factories that isn't compulsory for us to go to so that we would be able to enjoy our trip better.

Before we left the tour, we were brought to this jewelry shop which was huge.
This shop was being opened by the government for this family business after they sponsored jades for the Beijing Olympic.

When we were inside, the "shao dong" which means the son of the CEO of the company came to entertain us and brought us around personally. He also taught us how to differentiate a real pearl, jadeite and jade from a fake.

So because he humbled himself and brought us around, my dad decided to buy us all a piece of jade as souvenirs. The CEO's son also gave us each a pearl ring.

Left the tour group after that and we headed to our hotel.
Novotel.

Wished we could stay at St Regis there or Shangri La though. But because we had to go tour around ourselves for the next few days, my parents decided to choose one which is located at the Central area and just beside the subway.

The hotel was small but it was pretty good. Spring shower water and it is 5 stars.
Rested in the hotel for a little while and later on, my dad ex staffs came over to pick us up.

Like I said, my dad used to work in Beijing because he had to handle projects there.
And this time, because his staffs all heard about us going over to Beijing for a trip, they all flew back to Beijing to meet my dad.

The guy who picked us up book a room for us to have our dinner and I was in awe the moment I stepped in.
The room itself consist of a big dining hall, a living room and also a personal toilet!

Dinner was served and it was the first time my brothers and I saw such a huge suzy table!

Being my dad, he went to ask for the amount of the dinner and it cost $1000 O:
Of course they didn't allow my dad to pay but wow.
Most of my dad's ex staffs are now running their own business. And because my dad took real good care of them in the past and treated him as a part of his family (because we weren't with our dad when he was working and he were all alone there) so they were really nice to him.

My dad's staff got his driver to send us back while my dad went drinking with them after that.

Here's the jade my dad got for me!

And the pearl ring the shao dong gave us.

I pestered my parents many days to get an animal beanie. lol.

Breakfast next day was delightful.

I miss international breakfast so much!

I was so happy to hear from my mum that I don't have to eat chinese food anymore!!

Headed to the subway after breakfast and daddy took us to where his office was.

The next day, we took a bullet train to Tian Jin to visit the English Village.

Got the first class cabin!
Some people in China are really dkjfhsdkfh
They wanna sit in the first class seats but refuse to pay for it. There were a couple of times when my brother went to the toilet and some from the 2nd/3rd class cabin came and took my brothers seat till my mother told them to go away. ZZZ

Princesses have square faces too!! :P

Back in the city and we went to try Beijing's speciality.
Beijing's roasted duck!

We went to take the public bus the next day to the skiing resort because my brothers have been wanting to ski ever since we got break from our Korea trip.

And I made my first snowball!!

On our way back which was on Christmas Eve, we found RafflesCity!!
Such saving grace. It felt so family and so homely. I was so proud to be a Singaporean because the mall   is so much better than the rest of the mall in Beijing! (sorry, bias is me)

And like how it is like in Singapore, they got people to perform on the first level. Definitely a familiar sight.

It honestly made me appreciate Singapore so much more. The weather, the things, the government and all. 3rd day was just walking around the city and waiting for time to pass before we go to the airport.

OH. And I would like to clear the misconceptions many people have. Though Beijing is China, stuffs in Beijing aren't as cheap as China because Beijing is their capital. You can expect to be rich and of a higher class when you go to China but not Beijing. Because people in Beijing are rich. The average price of a top there cost $200 and stuffs in Singapore are much cheaper than in Beijing.
SO YUP! I'm happy to be back and to shop!

And it was really cold her me there. The temperature goes from 0 degrees to -16 degrees.
My brothers and I wore 5 layers and it was fine for my brothers but still freezing for me. I disliked the weather there so bad! I was shivering every single day!

Overall, it was a good experience though. But I don't think I'll ever have a reason to go back again.
1) Because I suck in Chinese and I couldn't read the menus there. 2) It's dirty and I don't like dirty places. 3) Every guy there smokes so I started coughing as soon as I got there. 4) I don't like Chinese food esp food from China. 5) I got laughed at a few times when I tried to communicate in chinese.
Oh, but my chinese did improve!!

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeee.