Wc was being her cranky self. Shara was trying not to be an obstruction to wc while I took the photo. I dont know why rm was laughing so hard. LOL.

Self posed picture. Stupid wc refused to be in our picture. Think she got moody (and more cranky) after I started suaning her about her face. HEHE.

There are 3 reasons why I made such a comment. 1) Its a good game to waste some time away. After a round, I would look at my watch and gasp in horror, because 30min has passed by just like that.

2) You could save money! (That is, if you're not betting with money) Sitting down and playing Mahjong beats those expenditures on food and stuff u made outside in those shopping malls right?

3) Mahjong is such a comfortable game, because u just plop down on a chair, play and do nothing else. On the other hand, shopping/window shopping is such a tiring activity for me most of the time, because I just walk and walk about without buying anything. Argh.

2nd Gathering: I met up with my clique, Jos, Zhiguang & Spastic in orchard. It was supposed to be a trip for the guys to visit The Buddha Tooth Relic in Chinatown, but I dont know why things evolved to such a stage :P It was such a loooooong time since I saw Spastic, and well, he's still as Spastic :D I was laughing so hard at all the stupid comments he was making throughout the meal. But then, the atmosphere also became kinda tense a few times, probably because we dont know what to say to one another. But things somehow got better when we (or rather shara & the guys) started playing pool.

3rd Gathering: Gathering with Ruaners! Another typical Chat/Catch up session. Kee Wei looked so fair now, which was totally unlike the last time we met him. I was hoping somemore people would turn up, but well, things wont always turn out the way u want it to be isnt it?

We decided to pose outside esprit because it was brighter?! Its weird to be asking strangers to help us take photos, especially when the setting is in a shopping mall. lol. We even asked this customer service officer to help us take the photo, thinking that he wont reject since he was in customer service. As it turned out, he rejected us flat because he needs to do some closing. Does it take THAT long to take a photo? If i didnt remember wrongly, that guy seemed to be from ajco in the past. All the more he should help us since we were all from ajco.

4th Gathering: Visit to Botanic Gardens last Sunday. I happily dragged Yilin, Chew Xia & Siyao along to see this tree which only started flowering 10 years after it was planted or something. I shall let all the pictures do the talking. Hehe.

2 Swans by the Swan Lake. Its hard to shoot a photo of them when they are swimming at such a fast speed. Somehow they were always swimming away from me.

Yilin & Chew Xia feeding the fishes and tortoises in the lake. Yilin kept worrying that she might kill all the creatures in the pond with the food, and yet she continued to feed them while worrying. LOL.

Very nice tree in the garden.


Swan Lake.

Tembusu tree! (If i get the spelling wrong dont blame me) It has super huge branches! You can actually climb and sit on the branches. Yilin wanted to climb but stopped upon seeing other kids doing that. Hmmmm.

Another nice big tree which we were seeking shelter from, while waiting for Siyao.

Nice flower. I dont know its name though.

This was the tree that I had been wanting to view! The full name's XX flame (its too scientific for me to remember) Apparently, there were posters at many different spots in the garden informing people that this tree had flowered. It looks nice, but it doesnt have the wow factor? Still, I am glad that I managed to see it flower (:

The flower in full view. There were so many bees swarming around it then. Well, they should grab the chance since i think it'll be sometime before they can see this flower again...

Cactus

Introducing Singapore's national flower- Vanda Miss Joaquim! It is really special because the flower grows on the green stem or something. All orchids look elegant to me, and I cant believe Ray grows them in his house!!!

This scene looks damn english to me. I dont know why. I like the yellow tree beside the pavilion though.

I like the leaves (: Looks like those fir trees. (I think)

Posed near this mini garden. As usual, Siyao is afraid of showing her face in this picture. Yilin's cartoon fan reminds me of Liu Wei. arrrrrrr.

Before the Sunday visit, the only thing I remembered of Botanic Gardens was some stage, because that was where I used to watch SCO perform last time. I was surprised that the garden surpassed my expectations. Singapore is kind of greeny, but the Botanic Gardens is greeny in a nice way :D I felt like a tourist once again snapping all those photos of all the flowers. Hehe.

5th Gathering: Met up with the Wuhan exchange peeps on Wednesday. The setting was in Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe in Cine. That was the closest we got to a Chinese setting. The most ironic part was when I was having Fish & Chips in a Hong Kong cafe. :/

Guan's western meal.

Well, as what Ruyi said, it really felt weird to be meeting them in Singapore, because I am used to seeing the peeps in a Wuhan setting. We have already set the date for our next gathering. Just hope that the enthusiasm for outings last mans, because I really dont want to lose contact with them! (:

6th Gathering: Thurs evening was spent with my seniors from NTUCO. Another group of longlost friends whom I havent met for a few months. My stomach was really hurting from all those laughing, at their comments. Too bad we're just a bunch of 'aunties' who seemed to have a common enemy to laugh at. HEHE. Still, I wish October would quickly come so that Yan Suan can treat us. We want a free meal at Tung Lok! *Evil grin*

Michelle and Yan Suan (The senior who cant be bothered with me :P)

Weiling & I. We had come so far ever since the swiss days...

Michelle posing with this toy dog beside our table.

Weiling looks so xin fu with the toy.

7th Gathering: It isnt really a gathering, but just met up with xiao qian, ash & guan for photo taking. I managed to apply for leave for the photo taking session! Anyway, I was looking forward to this much awaited leave for sometime, especially when client N pissed me off with her stupid remarks on Thurs evening. As usual, I loved to squeeze activities into my off day so as to utilize time fully. Rushed to paragon in the morning for my dental appointment, met up with xiao qian for her makeup appointment, and then rushed all the way back to the West, to NTU. It didnt help that I was trying to chiong from a centralized position like orchard to NTU, which is ulu.

Anyway, xiao qian seems to have a phobia for makeup after the makeup session. To put it simply, xiao qian looked like a xiao qian after the makeup. The fact that the lady was trying to be careful (which turned out to be slow) didnt help things as well. I think I would go crazy if I just sat there and see them doing all kinds of stuff to my face.

The most amazing thing that happened in the day was that Guan and Ash were waiting for the same train that xiao qian and I were in. To think I was getting kan chiong that we were so going to be late for everything.

When we reached the career services centre, we saw loads of people there! I had thought that the slots we booked for were purely for us alone. Well, so it wasnt so bad that we were late after all. I had grown so fat that I was so scared that I cant wear any of their blazers. Somemore, I had to spray this stupid black hair spray (and pay a dollar for it) because they felt that it is bad to show prospective employers that u've coloured hair. Hello my hair only has streaks of brown, not bleach/green/yellow or whatever scary colours. I really dont see the point of spraying the hair spray. Arent we all stereotyping people with coloured hair as well? Are people with coloured hair worse interns? I did a really bad thing by forgetting to pay up on purpose. :/ The lady didnt mention anything as well. BUT, she actually called Ash when we were in vivo, asking for the dollar -_-"

The worst part was the makeup. I had 3 nannies fussing over me in the toliet throughout the whole makeup process. Ash was applying the powder on my face, while Guan dealt with the lipstick and xiao qian was supplying me with toilet paper. Things worsened when I applied this super pink lipstick of my mum's, and I looked horrendous. They were even joking that I should wear a cheongsum to go with the lipstick! At that moment, I felt that I was going to a wedding dinner more like a photo taking session. But anyway, I was super touched for their help.

But anyway, it felt bad to be back in school again. While walking about NBS, I felt all the dread coming back to me, all the notes printing, presentations, tests, projects, etc. Although I am abit motivated to mug, but still...

Went to eat in yet another HK cafe in vivo after that. The food seemed better than Xin Wang, and it was super filling! Too bad I didnt have time to see weiling, who was crying like siao after her last day in NYK. I would have loved to see how Uncle Ang looks like as well. HEHE.

8th Gathering: This is not really like a gathering, but more like an exercise session. As usual, I am fretting over where to go on a nice Saturday evening. Really felt like climbing Bukit Timah hill, but I didnt know who to find! Luckily, Shara & Wc accompanied me because they were nua-ing at home like me as well. keke. It was quite late when they reached because the bus took sooo long to reach.

Apparently, dear Shara Tay hasnt even been to the hill once though she stays near there. You can even see the top of the hill from her room. HMPH. It was near 7pm when we started climbing. Eventually, we didnt reach the summit because it was getting dark soon. Anyway, Shara was breathless when she reached the top of this really steep slope. Her mum chose that time to call her (of all times), so I guess she should be worried sick to hear Shara's voice, because Shara sound like she's suffering from some asthmetic attack. hehe.

Well, we still survived the whole thing, and I hope our exercise plans will come in place when school reopens! Too bad rm couldnt join us today...

shu xuan is tired. she feels that she has been running about everywhere for the past 3 months.

she misses rotting at home. she hopes to end work soon, but there are still 2 more days at work to endure.

she dreads school as well, but for now, school seems to be a better alternative compared to work, because she has targets to achieve there, but not so in work.

We are happy, because at last we're flying to Wuhan!

1 of our 2 meals on the plane.

We reached Chengdu at 11something am. Unfortunately, there were no direct flight from Singapore to Wuhan, and hence Chengdu was our transit point. Anyway, we were to visit Chengdu after the exchange, so it doesnt matter :) If we were to transit at Guangzhou, we wouldnt have to spend sooooo much time waiting for our transit flight in Chengdu airport.

The interior of the airport may look nice and modern, but the service shook us! We had heard that there were food outside the airport, so we approached the Customer Service for help. As it turned out, the pretty ladies at the counter were more like salesladies than customer service crew. They happily showed us this internet bar/cafe where we could chill out and wait, while enjoying some food or using the internet. Part of the cafe was quite ok, but the rest of it was smoky. Anyway, we were not interested in eating there anyway, and I really felt dumb following them.

While looking for a decent place to eat, we passed by some other areas in the airport. Basically, the 1st floor of the airport was just the departure hall for international flights. It was a long stretch of space. On the floor below it was the arrival hall, and the cafe was 1 floor above it.

We saw this amazing sight at 1 of the transit counters. Just amazed that they could stack so much baggage together. The sight kind of comforted my thought that my baggage is heavy and overweight. Hahas. Note that some photos were taken at my own risk, because it IS weird to see a girl shooting such a scene in an airport.

Fruit stall in the airport

Again, this picture of pipa was taken at my own risk. The sales lady was glaring at me after I took the shot. I was ignoring her happily while she advertised about the fruits, and then I just took a shot and ran off. So, you can imagine her reaction.

Guan & I infront of a counter.

Besides the internet cafe, there were 2 other eating places in the airport. Of course, we chose KFC over another restaurant :D The service from the crew inside KFC was superb. I dont know why, but all this felt propagandish to me, its like, everyone was working happily, and they were shouting to welcome you. At the counter, you see pretty ladies at every counter serving you. It felt great. Its really different from what we got in Singapore.

This is Guan's meal. See the packet of chilli? Its not chilli sauce but chilli powder, in the Sichuan flavor! It felt weird to be eating powder, but still.... Guan tried it, and she was quite ok with it... The ingredients of the salad was also different from the Singapore version as well. They added corn and some other stuff I think.

The best part about my meal was the drink! They have this really cute straw cum spoon for you to drink the drink and scoop the ice cream. There were 4 different designs I think. At that time, I even swore to Guan that I would collect all 4 designs, but anyway, I didnt get to doing that :/

After our meal, we were fretting over what to do, when I suggested switching on my laptop to try out the internet (if there were any) Turns out that there were no wireless connection around. But, something worse happened when I was switching on my baba. There was a super loud screech coming from my baba while I was waiting for it to load. In panic, I pressed alot of buttons to switch it off. The same thing happened as I attempted to switch it on again.

Just when I was chiding myself for such an embarrassing event to happen, I noticed this guy from another table. He was smiling at me. At that moment, I realized (with horror) that he saw the whole thing! After smiling, he actually came to our table and offered to check my baba to find out the source of the problem. Guan & I were staring at 1 another, unsure of what to do. After that, Guan politely declined his offer as I looked blur and unsure. he didnt seem to mind, and walked off.

We continued to stone, and decided to let the guy take a look after some discussion. But then, we spent sometime trying to find him! I felt like I did another stupid thing previously by rejecting him. Luckily, we spotted him just as he was about to leave for his flight. We chatted with this Nice Guy A after he managed to repair my baba, and as it turned out, he was working in HP! He was from Tianjin, and he was in Chengdu to attend some meeting for his company, while having a holiday at the same time. I was damn touched, because I could just meet a nice stranger barely hours after we touched down at Chengdu!

Soon, we were hit by extreme boredom, and we took a brave step out of the airport, even though we were half expecting nothing but highways.

I first saw this clock. The panda is a trademark of Sichuan Province, and this panda toy could rotate! Cute.

There were quite a few of such posters outside the airport, promoting Chengdu as a tourist city. Think uniquely Singapore posters. hahas.

Guan & I posed for a picture at this wide big square.

We continued to walk away from the airport since there was still time to kill. As it turned out, the area outside the airport did not constitute of expressways only... We had seen a row of taxis near the airport, where drivers were doing all kinds of stuff. Some were washing their cars, while some were smoking etc. What amazed me was that some drivers could wear shorts together with their taxi uniform!

In the picture above, there are some hotels for the transit tourist. There was even a Southern Airlines office I think (or Air China). Pardon my short memory. :D

Pretty flowers along the roadside... Seldom see such nice flowers back home.

There were just a couple of eateries outside the airport. All looked dirty and empty, and you could see people trying to rush you into their shop. Worse still, we could see aunties parked along 2 sides of the road, and some of them were speaking to you in their Chengdu dialect which you couldnt understand a single thing.

We made a roundabout back to the airport after some walking, as we needed some rest before catching our transit flight. We saw this horrific looking restaurant (top picture), which sells rabbit head!!!! I seriously hope they were really selling the heads of rabbits, but anyway, Guan & I were really freaked out by the sign.

Interesting sight. Hmmm. I wish I can be as relaxed as him.

Box for storing rat's poison.

While we were back at the airport, we saw a man carrying his child in this traditional looking bamboo chair! As usual, the 2 of us tried to chase the man all over the airport just to catch a shot of this discreetly. LOL.

All the walking around and about the airport has made me so sian-ed, that I could recognize any spot of the airport, even by closing my eyes! The picture above is a posed 1, exaggeration here. Hehe.

We were also tired by all the walking and waiting. When is our flight ever going to come?!

When you're thirsty and grumpy, Kang Shi Fu's drink is the solution! It not only appeared in Beijing, but in Chengdu as well!

YES! Our flight is going to come.... After a drink and some pinball on my baba, we were happier... and more spastic. :D

The clear blue skies outside our plane...

The meal we had on the transit flight. The tomatoes were superb. Since our combined baggage had 3 more kg to go, we were thinking of storing and buying 3 more kg of tomatoes once we are in Wuhan. KEKE.

It was night when we reached Wuhan. Just as we were preparing to leave the gate, we saw this guy whom looked like a student, and who kept staring at us. I was betting that he was Liu Hong Sheng Wuhan Uni mentioned, but as it turned out, he wasnt the guy. When we left the departure hall, we saw a girl and guy holding the university signboard. -_- The girl was called Helen, and well, you know the guy's name. Both of them were super friendly, and we were amazed, again. We took a school van back to the school, and we actually oohed and aahed at this temple like structure, thinking that it was the university, when it wasnt -_-

After we reached, we were surprised to see that we would be staying in a hotel instead of a hostel! We headed for a late dinner after registeration, and managed to see some others from the exchange. I felt really weird and embarrassed, as the Chinese kept asking me questions. I actually had no appetite, but Guan was surviving. She IS a friendly girl ok. On the other end, my mum was complaining that I had only called her at such a late timing.

We managed to see Nice Guy B, whose name is Juwen. He had set up our internet for us at a late hour-11pm? I was surprised that he could carry my heavy baggage single handedly upstairs to the 2nd floor. -_- Anyway, the internet help happened after our dinner. We managed to know a new girl, Ruyi from NUS. The 3 of us were going up to our rooms upstairs. Ruyi went to our room to check out the internet as well, when we realized that Juwen is nowhere to be seen.

We went out of our room to find him, and he was standing right outside our room, waiting for us. I just found that hilarious.

When everything was finally settled, I went to sleep. It was a tiring day...